Category: Updates

Most of you will have followed the ‘outcome’ of the Catalonian elections. I write ‘outcome’ as it is far from clear what the outcome will be. How does one get an outcome through imposed elections when half the people respect the centre that imposed those elections and the other half resent the same centre? How does one get an outcome when two positions are defended from a typical male approach of immovable strength? Rhetoric without listening… re-telling history that does not address injustice, but keeps a wound open and increases the depth of the wound.

The result of the vote seems to clearly indicate one thing – the 7 million people are divided and the division is very deep. When we have prayed – and we have prayed into these issues for the past years – we have been calling for a Spain that recognises diversity. One land mass but a family of nations / cultures. For diversity to rise voices have to be heard and voices have to be listened to. What though is ‘the’ Catalan voice? Almost 2 million of those in Catalonia are not from that ‘Communidad’ but adopted Catalonia mostly for economic reasons. Does their voice carry any weight? The historical perspective – is there / was there ever a Catalan nation (defined by language)? The Catalonian region was a semi-autonomous region of Aragon…

Perhaps the inconclusive result was the best result we could have hoped for. Central government had a bad night with their returns being a clear ‘no-vote’. The independent parties had a good but not overwhelming night. Back to where we were.

Our conviction is something much deeper is going on. There is something seeking to break through from the hidden place, away from the public eye. Change is from grassroots. That is certainly in line with the ‘Christmas’ message of one born to save a nation from exile. The economy of Barcelona (the capital) will be impacted greatly and sadly those on the margins are almost always those who feel the effect deeply at a survival level, but behind the neo-liberal prosperity is a city that has a long history of pulling together. In June 2017, Barcelona en Comu held the world’s first ‘Fearless Cities’ International Municipalist conference, gathering 700 urban activists from over 40 nations. The invitation to Fearless Cities began with a ringing declaration:

In a world in which fear and insecurity are being twisted into hate, and inequalities, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise, towns and cities are standing up to defend human rights, democracy and the common good.

We (Gayle and I) are committed to continue to pray for Catalonia, but wider for Spain. We were recently at the Supreme Court in Madrid. We are committed to see corrupt judiciary being exposed and for the constitution being changed. The judiciary are political appointments and as noted in The Guardian

Certainly the alacrity with which the justice system has responded to the Catalan crisis is in marked contrast to the glacial pace with which it is handling the hundreds of corruption cases involving members of the ruling Popular party.

In all places there is a Babylon that rises up. That Babylon will dominate, refuse to shift, and any beast that represents it that has a mortal wound will simply live again to dehumanise the many while rewarding those who comply. There is also a gift from heaven that can come. Tomorrow marks the day when God appeared in a surprising way. That event is unrepeatable, Jesus is unique. Signs point to the event, but the event also releases signs. Those signs are surprising, but are marked by those who occupy the high place losing their seat, and of the hungry being fed. Mountains brought down and valleys brought up.

So Spain, Europe. Bumpy ride – wide swings and shocks in 2018… but signs for those with eyes to see.

Steve Lowton has been video blogging, a series entitled Stories from the edge. Here is a link to the latest:

We often comment on Steve’s walk with a team to Rome that ended there on December 21st, 2005. I had texted Steve a few days before they arrived to say that as a sign my first grandson would be born after they arrived in St. Peter’s Square but before they made their declaration. Into that 90 minute slot Luke was born. An earlier part of that story was that I had also informed Ashley (Luke’s mother) that he would be born on the 12/12 as a sign of the rising of the apostolic anointing. Trouble was that Ashley did not have – nor did I(!!) – any contractions that would have contributed to the birth taking place on that date…!!! one can be wrong, very wrong I hear someone say… and also one can simply say something out of the obvious. 12 – the number of government, hence a straight line to 12/12, but in a 24 hour (1440 minute) period of time the obvious does not take place. When this happenned I prayed over the next few days then rembered that Andy Knox had said in 2005 that we were going to get our sight re-calibrated, that what we thought we were seeing would be like a reverse image. It was then that I sent the text to Steve. What I had missed through a commitment to the obvious in 1440 minutes, God brought about in a 90 minute period of time.

We are 12 years on tomorrow from that walk. Catalonia goes to the vote. (BTW last night the world renowned ex-judge, Garzon, had his office broken into in Spain. It seems all his hard drives were copied. This is almost certainly politically inspired (the current government stripped him of all his permission to be a judge…). A few days ago Gayle and I stood outside the supreme Court of Spain to proclaim the judiciary is going to be uncovered. As often is the case this is the backlash. Annoying but we take it as a sign.)

Anyway back to Steve. I was very struck by the video and the comments. Inspired to put one up myself:

Inspirational… thanks for keeping us focused on the big picture and committed to the small. Too many committed to the big but only focused on self-promotion. Thanks for the recalibration.

I love Steve focusing on the big. I love the story of walking to Rome, of looking for a shift for Europe, for the banking system, for the economic world. So important that somehow we are focused at that level. Then the context he speaks and records from. Pulling up weeds, cutting trees, digging, mud, earth, compost, worms, insects, hippopotamuses, dinosaurs (OK I made the last two up, but hope you get the point). Such a contrast to so much that has disempowered the body of Christ with a commitment to the big. Big conference, big speaker, big promise. Unless the big helps us recalibrate true value (cup of cold water) it carries a potential danger, of fantasy.

The multiplicity of the small.

Christmas – the small. The Last Supper – the multiplicity of the small. Pentecost – the multiplying of the small.

The straight line is to 12/12. I think God’s line is to 21/12 (or in the USA 12/21), the reverse images, the shortest day, the deep place.

In a short break from Blood and Faith, but almost completed it. A tough (emotional) read. The author does not suggest it is simply bad ‘Christians’ and good ‘Muslims’, but given that those professing Christian faith were the ones with the power the responsibility has to come down on that side. It does seem a number of the Muslims had found faith in Jesus and found themselves in a particular hard place. Thrown out and then not welcomed where they went. There is a report of a group sent to Tetuan who refused to enter a Mosque as they were now Christians and were subsequently stoned to death. Thrown out of their land to their death.

It was in September 24, 1609 that the decree went out for the Valencian communidad that all Muslims were to leave within 3 days. On 27th the bishop in the Cathedral of Valencia preached, praising the action of the nation to purge them of ‘domestic enemies who wish to drink our blood and take over Spain.’

The end-result of the expulsion? One-third of the population of Valencia (the communidad and not simply the city) was expelled. It did leave issues as many of the ‘moriscos’ were the stewards of the land. There are even villages in the mountainous areas that were left so desolate that they had to import people from Mallorca (complete with language and customs) to look after the land.

To this day, along with a bizzare number of other titles, the king of Spain carries the title ‘king of Jerusalem’. All a throw back to the crusading era. Just a title? Probably, but when the Spanish troops went into Iraq they were given a flag of the Cross of Saint James (Santiago) to go with them – James who is known as the Moor Slayer.

1517 and one of the issues that riled Luther was that of Indulgences. The church was offering forgiveness in exchange for money… however, indulgences continue in the catholic church. Probably the harsh abuses have gone, but the church can still give out indulgences to lessen the length of time spent in purgatory the other side of death. This past week we have discovered that there are a few places (five) in the world that can offer ‘permanent indulgences’. Jerusalem and Rome – no great surprise there… and three other places. Two ‘holy’ places. The first one Jesus went to (no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem….) to break religious power and the compromising relationship with Imperial power, so that Paul could set his face to get to Rome, the centre of the ‘basileia’ (empire) of Rome and from the law and the prophets proclaim the ‘basileia’ (kingdom) of God!!

Three other places – in Spain!!! Santiago de Compostela… and,

Santo de Toribio de Liebana one of the main ‘holy sites’ in Europe. There is probably evidence that it is from this place the squashing of the Priscillian history and the promotion of the Santiago camino arose.

Caravaca de la Cruz where two angels flew in and delivered a cross when a priest was holding back from demonstrating the eucharist / mass to a Muslim ruler!!! This is not a large place but last time there was a Jubilee (2010) over a million pilgrimages came to visit.

So we have a focus and some work to do…!!!

We are amazed at how at the right time what has been tucked away somewhere hidden gets revealed.

Three years ago today – March 24th – we had arrived in Oliva and this was the first night we slept in our apartment. Boxes everywhere, not knowing what we would really be involved in but having found this place through by means of two dreams. Pursuing our understanding of the two dreams we had driven the geography that was in the dream over four days and were about to go back to Cádiz as we had found nothing that we connected with. Then right at the end when we were literally 7 kms from the end of the geography we felt this strange connection to where we now are. Then came the battle to buy the place… a timely phone call from Michael in Germany, a connection to one of the angels he described and within half an hour out of the blue the agent called saying ‘I don’t know what has happened but you now have your apartment.’

Three years so off to Gandia for a sushi lunch. A big celebration!

In the first couple of months of this year it has become clear that we are to focus on the ReConquista – the driving of the Muslims out of Spain. We believe there has to be repentance for this. Having got hold of a lot of information (thanks Noë in Calpe!) and adding to it with our own research we then were told of the book Blood and Faith by Matthew Carr that was originally published in 2010 but has now come out in paperback.

In April 1609, King Philip III of Spain signed an edict denouncing the Muslim inhabitants of Spain as heretics, traitors, and apostates. Later that year, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory, on threat of death. In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families and communities were obliged to abandon homes and villages where they had lived for generations, leaving their property in the hands of their Christian neighbors. In Aragon and Catalonia, Muslims were escorted by government commissioners who forced them to pay whenever they drank water from a river or took refuge in the shade. For five years the expulsion continued to grind on, until an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory, nearly 5 percent of the total population. By 1614 Spain had successfully implemented what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history, and Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist. “Blood and Faith” is celebrated journalist Matthew Carr’s riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of the history of Muslim Spain. Here is a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe – a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.

Timely or what!!

Then a few days ago Stephen Hill emailed to say he was sending his commentary on John to us. In Chapter 12 he has a quote from me on a talk I gave ‘The Empire is over’. He quotes where I talk about Judas. The last part he quotes:

The Judas spirit is a spirit of betrayal. ‘But Lord if we do so and so, look how good you could be. Look how far you could go.’ That is the Judas spirit, but I believe God is going to take the Judas spirit out of the Church.’

The Judas spirit is that which knows better than Jesus the ways of the kingdom. It does not submit to the revelation that his kingdom is not of this world, otherwise his followers would have taken up the sword. Rather it takes up the sword on his behalf (and there are many swords from the literal one as per the Crusades and the ReConquista to the dehumanisation of those we objectify).

The two books arrived the same day. Up the stairs our delivery came. She left. We opened them and were deeply impacted reading the prefaces. The two books are related. The purity of the love of Jesus and how John experienced and perceived that; the Judas betrayal spirit of Empire.

Three years and two books! We are planning the year. This is the year for us to dig deep into the land of Spain. We were sent a dream a while back of someone watching as we pondered over invitations and different nations written on pieces of paper on a table. We thought long and hard, then responded with:

We will go talk with the man of Spain and he will tell us where we are to go.

This is what we are to do… indeed he has been calling for some time. We will begin (as far as we are aware) in and around Santiago… then comes Toledo… Granada is an obvious one (1492 and all that)… maybe Gibraltar is a necessary destination… maybe north Africa… but the book has opened our eyes to where we live. The expulsion post 1492 was highly ‘efficient’ in the communidad where we are, that of Valencia. Many (maybe some 300,000) were expelled violently being ripped up from their land.

Three years today. Very grateful and so much to say about these past 3 years. Two books… A lot of pages to read!! And a focus – many things we all should get round to doing, but to quote Paul (and take him out of context) we need to make sure that ‘this one thing we do.’