THE CONCERT OF PRAISE IN SANTIAGO

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Saturday, August 14, 2004

From C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries

Colorado Springs, Colorado

             The international prayer assignment which God has currently given to Global Harvest Ministries is to mobilize prayer for the 40/70 Window.  The initiative began in 2000, soon after the concluding public event of the AD2000 United Prayer Track, Celebration Ephesus, was held in October 1999.  For a decade, international intercession was focused primarily on the 10/40 Window with notable changes being seen in the spiritual atmosphere of that region.  To celebrate God’s powerful activity in the 10/40 Window, 5,000 intercessors from 61 nations of the world gathered in Ephesus, Turkey to exalt Jesus Christ for four hours non-stop.

The 40/70 Window

             The 40/70 Window, extending from Iceland to Hokkaido, Japan, is divided into two general sections, “Target Europe” and “Target Silk Road.”  Our prayer for all 64 nations of the 40/70 Window is that the power of God and the blessings of His kingdom will move in like a flood so that both individuals and societies will be transformed.  We have coordinated numerous prayer journeys into the 40/70 nations, we send Eagles of
God rapid-deployment intercessory teams to strategic points on a regular basis, and we are convening one large intercessory event per year until our assignment finished in 2005.

             In 2001 2,500 intercessors from 62 nations convened in Hannover, Germany to focus on Target Europe.  In 2002 over 2,000 met in Sophia, Bulgaria with many from Central Europe.  The year 2003 saw us with 2,000 from 35 nations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, beseeching God for the Silk Road.  Every Silk Road nation was represented.  From every one of these events, scores of prayer journeys were launched into the nations of the 40/70 Window.

A Prayer Event of a Lifetime

             That is all history.  Now, let’s look to the future.  The date is Saturday, August 14, 2004.  The place is beautiful Santiago de Compostela, located in the renowned region of Galicia in northern Spain.  On that day, thousands of intercessors, prophets, pastors, and apostles from nations throughout the world will gather together in the huge plaza facing the magnificent thousand-year-old Cathedral of Santiago to exalt Jesus in worship and prayer for two hours.  From there, prayer journey teams will move into strategic prayer sites in Spain, other nations of Southern Europe, and elsewhere in the 40/70 Window.

             This “Concert of Praise” promises to be one of the most unforgettable prayer events of a lifetime.  It has the potential of cracking open the spiritual iceberg that the Queen of Heaven has succeeded in establishing over Europe, once the center of gravity for spreading the Christian message around the world.  We believe that, once again, we will see fires of authentic revival covering that continent.

Why Santiago de Compostela?

             Why Santiago de Compostela?  Let me explain.

             After our meeting in Hannover in 2001, my wife Doris and I felt that God wanted us to do a prayer journey in Spain.  We teamed up with our main apostolic contact there, Paco García, who felt that we should pray in Santiago de Compostela. 

             Santiago is a highly strategic location.  The region of Galicia, according to history or tradition, was first evangelized by the Apostle James, one of the sons of Zebedee, who was later killed by Herod while he was visiting Jerusalem (see Acts 12).   The cathedral is built in his honor.  James in Spanish is interchangeably “Santiago” or “Jacobo” or “Diego.”  Interestingly enough, the Roman term for this region was finis terra, meaning the “uttermost part of the earth,” words that James would have heard from Jesus Himself (see Acts 1:8).

             The story continues with the two principal members of what we would now call James’ apostolic team, Theodore and Athanasus, supposedly returning his body to be buried in his beloved Galicia.  Apparently the site was soon forgotten and for centuries a thick forest grew over the tomb until in the early 800s a hermit named Pelagius, or Pelayo, who lived in a nearby church, heard strange noises and saw flashes of light that appeared to be stars in the woods about ten miles away.  He investigated and discovered the ruins of what was later thought to be the tomb of James and his two disciples.  By that period of the Middle Ages, many segments of the church had begun to backslide into the abuses that Luther later encountered, including the worship of relics such as the bones of dead Christian leaders like James.  This was the beginning of an escalating focus on what was to become known as Santiago de Compostela (“compostela” in Spanish meaning the “field of stars.”)

             The first church containing the supposed coffin of James was consecrated in 893, then the area was destroyed by the Muslim invasion of Spain.  The elegant rebuilding of the cathedral which we see today began in 1075 and architects regard it as one of the finest enduring exhibits of Middle Age Romanesque construction in the world.  Interesting additions, many with prophetic implications, were made until the mid-1800s, about 150 years ago.  I must say that this cathedral may be the most impressive building I have ever seen, both inside and out.

Millions of Pilgrims

              I had no previous idea of its incredible national and international significance of this location.  It turns out that the cathedral in Santiago is arguably the number one destination for Catholic pilgrims in all of Europe, at least rivaling or possibly even surpassing Rome and Jerusalem.  In 1999, for example, no fewer than 7 million persons from multiple countries made pilgrimages to Santiago expecting to have their sins forgiven.  This is not a healing center like Lourdes or Fatima, but it is a place where people seek salvation of their souls.

             When we arrived for our prayer journey, a sister in Christ, who was a professional tour guide, began to show us around.  She explained that millions of pilgrims come to the cathedral annually and that the focal point of their devotion is the main altar of the cathedral, centered around an opulent idol of James, along with his sarcophagus in a public display area behind the altar.  Pilgrims bow before the tomb, then climb some stairs to touch or embrace another wooden idol of James, believing that he will intercede for them and that their sins will thereby be forgiven.  Part of my struggle was seeing so much focus of attention on the idol and the remains of James when I actually expected much more of an overt expression of the Queen of Heaven as I had seen in many other centers of Catholic worship.  After all, the 40/70 Window was supposed to be “The Queen’s Domain.”  I helped put together a whole book by that title (order from www.arsenalbooks.com). 

             It was obvious that we couldn’t enter the cathedral directly from the front because Doris, with her handicap, could not manage the several flights of stairs to get there.  So, quite providentially, our guide led us around the outside of the cathedral where the streets took us gradually up a hill to cathedral floor level.

The Plaza de Platerías

             I say “providentially” because after an hour or more we found ourselves in the Plaza de Platerías (or the “Silversmiths’ Plaza”) surrounded by many silver shops reminiscent of the silversmiths who made idols to Diana in Ephesus.  In the middle of the plaza was, at first sight, a relatively unobtrusive fountain featuring four heads of horses with water coming out of their mouths and with an attractive woman seated above them. 

 Paco García, who was also making his first visit to the cathedral, approached me and said, “Peter, remember that when we do spiritual mapping we often do not find the principal power point in the places most expected.  Maybe it’s not there,” and he pointed to the part of the building that contained James’ coffin.  Then he pointed to the Fuente de los Caballos (Fountain of the Horses) and said, “Look!”  It immediately became clear that we were in the presence of the Queen of Heaven herself!  This beautiful, quite voluptuous, woman, was sitting on a replica of the sarcophagus of James with a wry but contented look on her face.  In her right hand she was holding aloft a staff topped with the eight-pointed star of Lucifer!

             This, obviously, is what God wanted to show us.  All the overt devotion to James was under the demonic control of this notorious goddess of darkness.  She did not have to be any more prominent there in Santiago because she was getting her way.  She was accomplishing her primary purpose.  The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela had become a mere tool in her hands, under the explicit lordship of Lucifer, to help usher millions of souls into hell.  No wonder that she had a contented look on her face!

The “Holy Door”

 Here is what she had been seeing for a thousand years.  Just to her left was the most sacred entrance to the cathedral, the Puerta Santa (“Holy Door”), also known significantly as the “Gate of Pardons.”  The Holy Door is firmly sealed shut with layers of ornate steel and bricks, opened only on the Holy Years, namely the years when the anniversary of James’ martyrdom, July 25, happens to fall on a Sunday.  On New Year’s Eve before a Holy Year begins, the bishop conducts a ritual in which he hits the Holy Door with a silver hammer.  That night construction workers open the door, only to seal it once again on the next New Year’s Eve. 

During that Holy Year, pilgrims who arrive in Santiago and pass through the Holy Door in order to worship the idol inside believe that they are thereby assured that they will receive “perpetual indulgence.”  The exact theological meaning of “perpetual indulgence” is complex and rather obscure, but in the minds of the faithful who go through the door, that act will gain them special favor with God for salvation. 

In order to enter the Gate of Pardons, they must pass in front of the Queen of Heaven who, with sinister satisfaction, watched no fewer than seven million of them fall victim to this spiritual deception in 1999.  As I was mixing with the mass of pilgrims in Santiago, I personally grieved internally because I don’t believe that there would have been one in five thousand of them who knew that if they simply put their faith in Jesus Christ, instead of in some ancient bones (if they are there at all) and idols, their sins, past, present and future, would be forgiven. 

 “Here Is Where We Pray!”

As these impressions were settling into our minds and spirits, Doris said, “Here is where we need to pray!”  So, as other people constantly milled around us through the area, including one tour group of around forty pilgrims, we formed a little circle and began to pray.  As the others were praying, I must admit that I was only half listening with my eyes open, and I was saying, “Lord, how do You want me to pray?”  At first I was getting nothing, then the Holy Spirit came.  Soon I heard the Lord begin to tell me that I was not to petition but instead I was to make an apostolic declaration.  O.K., but what?  It was then that I looked at a large set of stairs leading down into the Plaza de Platerías, and I saw flags on each side of the steps with the steps themselves and the plaza completely full of believers exalting the Lord Jesus Christ right in front of the Queen of Heaven!  The flags represented every city in the world which was named “Santiago” or “Diego” or “Jamestown” or whatever other name that represented the idol that the pilgrims were worshipping.

In my declaration I personally identified with the real Apostle James who heard the word of the Lord in Acts 1:8 that, full of the Holy Spirit, he was to go to the “uttermost parts of the earth,” and that, in obedience, he eventually arrived at finis terra.  I thanked God for his apostolic ministry, and expressed regret for the perversion that had turned the site of his ministry into a doorway to darkness.  I then declared that this plaza, for centuries dominated by the Queen of Heaven, would be a place filled with believers exalting the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that many of them would come from cities and towns of the world which had been dedicated by their founders to perpetuate the idea that Santiago—in any sense of the word—saves or helps people be saved.  I declared that the only true savior of the world, Jesus Christ, would be lifted up here sometime before 2005, the ending year of our Target 40/70 Window initiative.

August 14, 2004

When I finished, I asked what would be the most appropriate date.  Our tour guide immediately said that the next Holy Year when the Holy Door would be opened would be 2004.  That was the year!  Paco said that August would be a holiday month in Spain.  Saturday, August 14, seemed to be the best day.  By then, the huge influx of pilgrims for the “Day of Santiago” on July 25 would be waning.  We clearly heard the Lord say that we were to convene a major international prayer event in Santiago de Compostela on August 14, 2004.

Paco looked me in the eye—apostle to apostle—and there was instant agreement.  He and his office of his ministry, Kairos, in Chiclana (located in the southern part of Spain) would prepare Spain for the event.  Paco would be the apostolic convener, inviting the world to Spain.  Given the backdrop of current events in the world, it occurred to us that we might be setting out to uncover one of the Queen of Heaven’s most powerful covert international networks of spiritual terrorism.

Santiago Matamoros

Speaking of spiritual terrorism, Paco García brought up a very important fact.  He said, “We must not forget that Santiago has a very significant second name:  ‘Santiago Matamoros.’  Matamoros means ‘killer of Muslims.’  He was given this name because he was supposed to have appeared on a white horse just at the moment that the Muslims thought they would finish their conquest of Spain in the area of Galicia. Supposedly Santiago himself turned the tide of battle, and from that point the 800-year reconquest of Spain began and finished with the expulsion of Muslims under Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492.  Santiago, or rather Santiago Matamoros, had thereby become the Spanish god of war!”

Paco went on:  “Through this process, a very destructive demonic spirit of violence arises.  The spirit of Santiago makes it a virtue to kill others in the name of God.  When the Spanish conquistadores went to Latin America, for example, they had no qualms about killing hundreds of thousands ‘in the name of God,’ but the god who inspired the massacre was in reality a demonic principality named Santiago Matamoros!  Now we can easily see how this spirit has become entrenched in cities and towns named ‘Santiago’ in South America and Central America and North America.  It was the same spirit, under different names, that provoked the Crusades and the one who is now working in Osama Bin-Laden.  I think that all this has been orchestrated through the centuries by the Queen of Heaven herself!”

The Confirmation

In two days after receiving the word of the Lord in Santiago de Compostela, it was marvelously confirmed.  We had moved on to Madrid for a Kairos training session for leaders.  There we announced the 2004 event.  During the break a Gypsy pastor, Luís Romero Navarro of the Philadelphia Church in Madrid, told me that five or six months ago he had received a prophetic dream which he actually announced to his congregation.  The upshot was that the Philadelphia Church (this is a huge Gypsy denomination) was to begin preparations in February 2004 for a spiritual event in the summer of 2004 which would surpass anything ever seen in Spain.  The power of God would be so strong that even dead people will be raised.  Luís said that when I announced 2004 in the meeting he almost fainted in his seat!

            This is an invitation for you to join us in August.  Whether you are a veteran prophetic intercessor or simply a believer who wants to be where the action is, you will not want to miss this event.  Unlike some others, this is one of those prayer actions open for the whole family.  It is not a time of overt or aggressive spiritual warfare, but rather two hours of high praise, worship, and prayer.  No preaching or teaching or exhortation is planned. 

            If you feel that God may be leading you in this direction, here is what to do:

·        JOIN US!

Check out the Global Harvest Ministries website at www.globalharvest.org for tour options to join us in Santiago de Compostela on August 14, 2004.  Join us in one of the most unforgettable prayer events of a lifetime.

·        GATHER FOLKS TOGETHER!

Gather your prayer partners, prayer group or church group and plan your own prayer journey to strategic places in Spain or other parts of the 40/70 Window.

·        SPREAD THE WORD!

Spread the word in your churches, prayer groups, and through the Internet.  Let people know about this missions focus and ask for their support.

·        PRAY!

Pray diligently for the event.  Gather the intercessors!  Ask that this international Concert of Praise would bring great glory to God!  Pray that our time together will be a blessing to the Galicia region, as well as the entire country of Spain and the 40/70 Window.