2017-03-19 14:30:37
This post is a kind of an update as to our main focus. I will try to make it short, but not likely to succeed!
The big focus for us now is the pull to pray into the ReConquista. The ReConquista is the description given to the period of history in Spain when the Moors (Muslims) were finally driven out and Spain / Portugal were reconquered for ‘Christianity’. We have heard on the street when listening to guides the shorthand description of: ‘We were Muslims, now we are Christians.’ That is quite a worldview!!
We have done some prayer work into the expulsion of the Jews (the Shephardic Jews both of the OT and of more recent history). We have also been deeply encouraged by those who have done so over years. We are sure that the shift in response from the Spanish government has been as a result. The government will now give back Spanish citizenship to those who are genuinely of Shephardic descent. It is often not too difficult for Christians to repent for what has been done to Jews in terms of abuse. There is both a right connection (‘because of the patriarchs’) and also at times a false connection (confusion over the centrality of Jesus), but the result is repentance and for that we are grateful.
But repentance into Islamic history? That is another aspect all-together.
The ReConquista was the re-conquering of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) for the Christian rulers and the driving of the Moorish (Islamic) kingdom out of the land. It began in the north and over centuries it eventually completed its goal when the final stronghold of Granada fell in 1492. Into that scenario why repent?
Repentance does not mean that we want to turn the clock back and see Islamic rule restored!!! It is crazy to write that but better be clear than leave any doubts! But neither are we looking for some kind of ‘christianized’ rule, the sad effects of the Constantinian paradigm. The alternative to Sharia law is not some form of Christianised law, indeed we consider the root to the Islamic spirit is Christendom.
The original taking of Spain by Islam occurred in 7 short years in the 8th century with a smallish Islamic invasion taking place through Gibraltar. (Gibraltar – a physical reason for the entry there but also this is contested land spiritually.) Generally speaking, though, the Islamic rule was benevolent. Christians and Jews alongside the Muslims were allowed to co-habit and work together. The level of the arts and education was high. A huge question we have is:
The ReConquista (the ReConquering of Spain)… but for what?
We do not for one minute suggest that the Islamic rule was good and the Christianised rule that replaced it was worse. The issue is that what was done in the name of Jesus carries such weight and ‘we’ have to take responsibility for that. The ReConquista had as its vision that of militarily restoring the lost lands to their version of Christianity all the way back to Jerusalem. We consider that vision to be deeply anti-Christian.
We also consider now is the time for the push and it will entail us getting on the road visiting some of the key places. If we do not do this then the land is very vulnerable to terrorist attacks. We consider that where there is a Christian push to see Islamic people as the enemy and dehumanise them that the effect is not to strengthen defences against terrorism but to seriously weaken them. In recent months Dayesh have released videos particularly featuring Cordoba and Granada with the warning that they are coming for their lost lands. The Western end of the Islamic world was once Spain, the Eastern centering in Constantinople.
1492 – quite a year!!!!
This year saw:
- the fall of Granada,
- the edict for all Jews to convert or be exiled (and if not persecuted), and
- Christopher Columbus sailed off to the New World to conquer it for King and Queen, pope and for the power that appointed them to rule: God and his sovereign king, Jesus. That mission to the new world was accompanied by those who proclaimed the sovereignty of Spanish royalty and the one true God. Proclaimed in the Spanish language those who were ‘privileged’ to hear the message were given the opportunity to respond! When they did not respond the conquerors were then free to do whatever they needed to to extend the boundaries of both the Spanish domain and the domain of Christendom.
There are times in history that are ‘full’. Obviously the coming of Christ was at the fullness of times. A threefold cord as we have discovered in 1492 puts that year truly on the radar. The possibility of the effects of praying into that culmination seem amazing.
We have prayed into the issue of Columbus day and have been glad to see the greater level of unrest that has been visible since. We were able 18 months ago (probably under the watchful eyes of security cameras) to place a piece of art, calling for a shift on the issue, right under the largest Spanish flag in Madrid in Columbus Square on the eve of the large military parade that passes through there. We did not understand the link of the three fold cord of 1492 back then.
Then into the mix… last year we travelled through the Celtic lands of Asturias and into Galicia. So wonderful to get to the furthest north point of Spain and then the most westerly point of mainland Spain on that journey. While travelling through the land Gayle was very stirred (her Celtic blood!!) with the Celts and Christianity. ‘They have been here’, she would say. No concrete evidence, such as Celtic crosses or the like, but her conviction persisted. The land is Celtic – and for the historians the concensus is that the Celts came to the lands of Britain up through Spain.
Making some enquiries about the presence of Celtic Christianity has opened up something incredible. Well that can be the next post…