Portugal and touching the history of the Inquisition

One of many rainbows during my time in Portugal: God is faithful!

My visit to Portugal is a continuation of what began in 2018 with a preparatory prayer journey with TJCII in Portugal. We then traveled to Portugal with a group of intercessors from different church backgrounds (Catholics, Protestants and Messianic Jews) to learn more about the history of the Inquisition in that country and to begin to touch that history in prayer. This is my 3th trip since that first prayer trip. Meanwhile, Vera, 1 of the intercessors, who was with me on the prayer trip at the time, has settled in Portugal and has been “plowing the field”. For the 3rd time, she wanted to actively mark the national day of remembrance for the victims of the Inquisition. I went to Portugal to support her in this and to try to establish contacts with local Catholics, as Vera with her non-Catholic background had not been able to do so until now.

I’ve been here 4 weeks and God did very special things! I spent most of the time with Vera (3 weeks) and we shared a lot and prepared things together in prayer. I also went with her to the very young Messianic congregation she is part of. In light of the history of the Inquisition and the elimination of any Jewish expression in the country and in the church, this is a very special development. It felt like a great privilege for me to witness this.

During the week, when I could not stay with Vera, Abba opened a door for me in Lisbon, with Sílvia a consecrated sister of the Catholic Emmanuel community. This time was also very rich and it was a joy to be able to share things with Sílvia. During these days in Lisbon, Abba gave me a few “prayer tasks” to carry out, even though I had no clear idea of them when I started. For example, I had it on my heart to go to Belém, a place where Jews had been lured to under the false pretense, that there would be ships, which would take them to Israel. However, no ships came, but everyone gathered there was forcibly baptized. Now when I arrived at the Tower of Belém, there was a boat bobbing in the water next to the tower with the text: Ready to Live!

It felt to me like a word for the Jewish expression in the Body of Messiah and for the descendants of the Anusim, the Crypto-Jews. I prayed Ezekiel 16:1-14 over them. I spent some extended time there and prayed. Then I strolled around the neighborhood a bit and I stumbled upon an art gallery.  There was an exhibition there by a Swiss artist of Jewish descent on the theme of Collateral Memory. It is a profound investigation into historical memory and restitution. The artist writes about it: Restitution goes beyond the simple return of objects or artifacts and poses as a shared responsibility to reintegrate marginalized memories into history. When I read this, I was completely astounded! This was exactly, what I had talked to Vera about the week before: that more is needed in the history of the Inquisition than simply asking for forgiveness. Restitution is also needed, especially that reintegration of marginalized memories, even just in the way we speak about and teach on the Inquisition!

The next day I strolled more through the center of Lisbon, and through all kinds of inner and outer signs, the theme of the day was Healing. It started with a song, then unexpectedly I stumbled upon a hospital with a tremendously long history. In the chapel of the hospital there was written on a stand, in both Latin letters and in Hebrew Yeshua HaMashiach! I was so amazed and encouraged; I prayed and cried there for a long time. There was also a picture of the Prodigal Son there (by Rembrandt). I realized, that we as Christians are often like the eldest son in the story: we so often do not rejoice over our brother, the Messianic Jews, who was dead and lives again, who was lost and is found (Luke 15:32).

QR code of the museum in Coimbra

I was also able to travel one day to Coimbra, where a seat of the Inquisition was located, and was able to experience some extraordinary things there as well. When we were in Coimbra in 2018, there was nowhere a monument or commemorative plaque reminiscent of the history of the Inquisition. At that time we prayed with supplications that this would come. Now since 2021 at the Patio of the Inquisition there is a small museum, telling the story of the Jews in Coimbra. This is a big step on the path of remembering and commemoration!

On March 31, the national memorial day for the victims of the Inquisition, I participated in the memorial march organized by Vera and her team. We started at the church from which 3,000- 4,000  Jews were killed in a pogrom. Right next to it were the headquarters of the Inquisition (it has since been replaced by another building). We heard about the history of the Inquisition in Portugal in the square in front of the church. After this we walked on to a central square, where the Auto-de-Fés took place, the public penances (acts of repentance through which exoneration or lighter sentences could be obtained) of the Jewish people, who were condemned by the Inquisition. Here Vera, among others, spoke about the history of the Inquisition from a Biblical Christian perspective. This touched us deeply. A little further on, at the place where Jewish people were burned at the stake, we concluded the commemoration with, among other things, a speech by the ambassador of Israel and a prayer. It was a very good and special time. I am so grateful, that I could be in Portugal this time and for all that I saw God do during these days. With a heart humble with gratitude, I returned to Israel.