The year 1492 is known for the discovery of the New World. However another historical event of equal significance also happened during this period. The anti-Semitic act of the Catholic Spanish Monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella, or as more commonly known, the Spanish Inquisition, occurred during this time. This act had as its end result the expulsion from Spain of all non converted Jews.

With the establishment of the Edict of Expulsion of 1492¹, the Sephardic, or Spanish Jews, (the term Sephardic has its roots in the Hebrew term for the Iberian Peninsula, Sefarad) found themselves facing the dilemma of whether or not to remain in Spain. To remain in Spain meant the Jew would have to deny his beliefs and traditions, convert to Christianity and submit to the supervision of the Spanish Monarchy, to do otherwise would result in torture and possibly death. His only remaining option was to leave his home with only those few personal belongings he could carry. The Edict of Expulsion carried with it the appropriation and seizure by the monarchy of all earthly properties belonging to the Jew. The ideals for which so many Jews fought, the idea of a different Spain, one with greater honesty, integrity, well being for all, coexistence, freedom and tolerance were crushed in the rabid desire to be rid of the Jews.

The process of religious and state persecution of the Jews, the Spanish final solution to the Jewish “problem” was selective, massive and consistently repetitive. Those that finally managed to leave Spain were sheltered by countries such as Portugal, Morocco and Turkey. However, the Portuguese crown soon followed the Spanish example and launched its own decree “baptism or expulsion”, forcing the persecution of non-converting Jews. The Spanish-Portuguese Jew found himself wandering once more. Fleeing Jews initially found refuge in Turkey and North Africa and then the rest of Europe.

The concepts of election, judgment, justification and salvation clearly reveal the difference between Biblical faith and Christian doctrine.

Following the inconclusive Gaza War, Israel continues to face a severe test as she comes out of national elections. Israelis are becoming increasingly aware of this threat posed by the Arabs living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (YeShA). If the government to be formed by Benjamin Netanyahu – assuming he is successful – continues to appease the United States, the Arabs and the rest of the world rather than act on behalf of the people of Israel one possible result could be a popular uprising in Israel and an eventual end of the democratic process there.

Democratic Principles

In our society we have generally accepted the premise that the democratic process is inherently "good". Our government is based on democratic values. Since the end of the "cold-war", we have been busy attempting to encourage democratic reforms in nations around the world. The question that we must ask is: Is the democratic process godly?

The word democracy is based on two Greek words: demos meaning: common people; and krateo meaning: strength or power. Therefore, democracy means: the empowerment of the common people.

One of the most fundamental concepts to understand concerning Jesus and His Church is that the local church is the vessel through which the Messiah is manifested in the world. Thus Jesus is mystically manifested in every community in the world where a local church exists. Indeed, a local church with Jesus as head should be exactly equivalent to Jesus personally present in bodily form himself. The phenomenon which started with one man in one place (Jesus in Jerusalem) has blossomed into this same man now being manifested throughout the world in thousands of local congregations. There may be cultural, lingual and other differences between these local churches, but they each share one thing in common: namely, the direct lordship of Jesus the Messiah.

The message of the church, wherever located, is the "Kingdom of God". We may study the Gospels to determine what is entailed by this message which Jesus preached. Some fundamental elements of this gospel are:

< Editor's Note: This article was previously published and so the figures included may be somewhat dated; however, the gist of the article remains solid. >

One of the remarkable observations that can be made today is that there is a uniform anti-Israel bias in the major media and governmental reporting. This is true of virtually every major news source and reflects the administration's position whether Democrat or Republican. This has led to a host of "conspiracy theories" attempting to explain this phenomena, especially in light of the fact that there is a strong grassroots identity with and support for Israel in the general population of the nation. We have written on this subject from time to time (see Tzemach Letter: "Conspiracy Theories", January-February 1998; "A Christian Revolution", September-October 1993). Is there a conspiracy or does this phenomena simply reflect a natural function of business? We will set forth the simple thesis here that the "conspiracy" is a result of an enormous transfer of wealth to the oil-rich Moslem states and their reinvestment of that wealth back into the U.S. economy. So, in effect, the quest for material prosperity for almost 30 years since the beginning of the oil embargo in 1974 has resulted in a transfer of ownership and, hence, control of many major corporations in this country. Whoever owns a controlling interest of stock in a major corporation obviously determines the policies of that corporation.