Categoria: News

King Darius had the archives searched and indeed King Cyrus’s decree was discovered on a scroll legitimizing the rebuilding of the Israelite temple as the Jews had said. Therefore King Darius ordered Tattenai to keep out of it and that the expenses of the work be funded by the royal treasury. He said that whatever the priests requested should be given without fail including what they needed in terms of animals for sacrifices. Darius yet said that anyone who disobeys his decree should be impaled on a beam of his house and have his house destroyed. Hence Tattenai and helpers were obliged to diligently obey orders and the temple’s rebuilding was concluded in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius and the dedication of the temple was carried out with joy. They offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 male lambs, and as a sin offering 12 male goats representing the 12 tribes of Israel.  And in the first month they celebrated the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

On Saturday the 87th EAB AGM and celebration was held and it was a real blessing. Thank you very much indeed to everyone who went! There was a very good number present.

First of all an EAB Board of Trustees meeting was held in the afternoon and that went very well with only Mary missing as she was caring for her 90-year-old husband Keith who had had a minor stroke the previous day. Get well soon Keith!

Next came the fellowship tea beautifully done by Hazel and team. There was enough to feed the 5,000 and all was delicious. We had a good time chatting to folk while we ate, and sadly it was at this point that I learnt that QPR had been beaten away to Derby 1 x 0. 😞

People kept arriving and it was a joy to see my best man Peter Miles arriving with his wife Marion. Peter is a friend since childhood who used to live in the next street to mine in North Kensington and we went to the same church Peniel Chapel. It was good to learn that he is still preaching at his local parish church. Pastor David Fiddy and his wife Margaret arrived from Wiltshire, my in-laws arrived from London and so it went on! The number present was most encouraging.

The celebration service was great. Roy led; Dave, Philip, Mike, Amy and Russel led the praise and worship; Liz and I spoke; Philip sang Psalm 84 in Portuguese to a Brazilian Bossa Nova rhythm; we prayed for Amy who will be doing a mission trip to Brazil in January, and so things came to a joyful close.

Yesterday we had a nice meal with my nurse sister Joy who came to spend time with us from High Wycombe. It was a lovely day.

On Saturday the 87th EAB AGM and celebration was held and it was a real blessing. Thank you very much indeed to everyone who went! There was a very good number present.

First of all an EAB Board of Trustees meeting was held in the afternoon and that went very well with only Mary missing as she was caring for her 90-year-old husband Keith who had had a minor stroke the previous day. Get well soon Keith!

Next came the fellowship tea beautifully done by Hazel and team. There was enough to feed the 5,000 and all was delicious. We had a good time chatting to folk while we ate, and sadly it was at this point that I learnt that QPR had been beaten away to Derby 1 x 0. 😞

People kept arriving and it was a joy to see my best man Peter Miles arriving with his wife Marion. Peter is a friend since childhood who used to live in the next street to mine in North Kensington and we went to the same church Peniel Chapel. It was good to learn that he is still preaching at his local parish church. Pastor David Fiddy and his wife Margaret arrived from Wiltshire, my in-laws arrived from London and so it went on! The number present was most encouraging.

The celebration service was great. Roy led; Dave, Philip, Mike, Amy and Russel led the praise and worship; Liz and I spoke; Philip sang Psalm 84 in Portuguese to a Brazilian Bossa Nova rhythm; we prayed for Amy who will be doing a mission trip to Brazil in January, and so things came to a joyful close.

Yesterday we had a nice meal with my nurse sister Joy who came to spend time with us from High Wycombe. It was a lovely day.

On Saturday the 87th EAB AGM and celebration was held and it was a real blessing. Thank you very much indeed to everyone who went! There was a very good number present.

First of all an EAB Board of Trustees meeting was held in the afternoon and that went very well with only Mary missing as she was caring for her 90-year-old husband Keith who had had a minor stroke the previous day. Get well soon Keith!

Next came the fellowship tea beautifully done by Hazel and team. There was enough to feed the 5,000 and all was delicious. We had a good time chatting to folk while we ate, and sadly it was at this point that I learnt that QPR had been beaten away to Derby 1 x 0. 😞

People kept arriving and it was a joy to see my best man Peter Miles arriving with his wife Marion. Peter is a friend since childhood who used to live in the next street to mine in North Kensington and we went to the same church Peniel Chapel. It was good to learn that he is still preaching at his local parish church. Pastor David Fiddy and his wife Margaret arrived from Wiltshire, my in-laws arrived from London and so it went on! The number present was most encouraging.

The celebration service was great. Roy led; Dave, Philip, Mike, Amy and Russel led the praise and worship; Liz and I spoke; Philip sang Psalm 84 in Portuguese to a Brazilian Bossa Nova rhythm; we prayed for Amy who will be doing a mission trip to Brazil in January, and so things came to a joyful close.

Yesterday we had a nice meal with my nurse sister Joy who came to spend time with us from High Wycombe. It was a lovely day.

The prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem and so Zerubbabel and Joshua son of Jozadak restarted their building of the temple. Then the Trans-Euphrates governor Tattenai went and asked who had authorized this work? The Israelites replied saying that the reconstruction of the temple had been authorized by King Darius of Babylon in a decree, and who even returned many gold and silver articles that had been removed from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar so as to be available for the rebuilt temple. So Tattenai requested a search of the royal archives to see if this decree was indeed made. 

The prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem and so Zerubbabel and Joshua son of Jozadak restarted their building of the temple. Then the Trans-Euphrates governor Tattenai went and asked who had authorized this work? The Israelites replied saying that the reconstruction of the temple had been authorized by King Darius of Babylon in a decree, and who even returned many gold and silver articles that had been removed from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar so as to be available for the rebuilt temple. So Tattenai requested a search of the royal archives to see if this decree was indeed made. 

Please pray for our worker called Antonio Gelsheuchter who has had open heart bypass surgery after having a heart attack. Antonio is 60 years old and works with us up in the mountains at Imaculada where Lindon Carlos is the senior pastor.

Further deaths have occurred in Brazil in the poisoned alcoholic drinks scandal and 10 people have now died.

I am happy to have concluded my résumé of 2nd Chronicles which is the 14th book of the Bible. This means I have completed 403 chapters which is nearly 34% of the Bible done. Now on to Ezra!

Please pray for our 15-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (Bia) who has been diagnosed by a specialist in João Pessoa as having an extremely grave allergy to cats fur and grave allergies to maize, melon, coconut and oranges. Bia is the youngest daughter of Sacha.

Last night I was back to winning ways against Philip in chess winning another 2 games. 

Please pray for our worker called Antonio Gelsheuchter who has had open heart bypass surgery after having a heart attack. Antonio is 60 years old and works with us up in the mountains at Imaculada where Lindon Carlos is the senior pastor.

Further deaths have occurred in Brazil in the poisoned alcoholic drinks scandal and 10 people have now died.

I am happy to have concluded my résumé of 2nd Chronicles which is the 14th book of the Bible. This means I have completed 403 chapters which is nearly 34% of the Bible done. Now on to Ezra!

Please pray for our 15-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (Bia) who has been diagnosed by a specialist in João Pessoa as having an extremely grave allergy to cats fur and grave allergies to maize, melon, coconut and oranges. Bia is the youngest daughter of Sacha.

Last night I was back to winning ways against Philip in chess winning another 2 games. 

The Israelites assembled in Jerusalem and Joshua son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel began to build the altar for burnt offerings, and once built they started offering sacrifices morning and evening and then they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles. After this they resumed regular sacrifices according to the law of Moses even though the temple was not yet rebuilt.

Then they paid the masons and carpenters to rebuild the temple and organized the bringing of cedar logs from Lebanon as authorized by King Cyrus of Persia. Then they started the rebuilding of the temple supervised by the Levites. When the foundations were laid the priests and Levites praised the Lord saying: He is good; his love towards Israel endures for ever! Then all the people gave a great shout because the foundations had been laid. The older priests and Levites wept whilst others shouted for joy making a noise that could be heard afar off. 

This chapter contains a census of the 42,360 exiles initially returning to Jerusalem plus 7,337 slaves, male and female singers, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. The census focuses especially on the priests, Levites and musicians essential for the temple to function, which was the aim of this first group of returning exiles, but some would-be priests were excluded because they could not prove their priestly descent and credentials. Some gave freewill offerings totalling 500 kg of gold, 2.8 tons of silver and 100 priestly garments for the rebuilding and functioning of the temple.

This chapter contains a census of the 42,360 exiles initially returning to Jerusalem plus 7,337 slaves, male and female singers, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. The census focuses especially on the priests, Levites and musicians essential for the temple to function, which was the aim of this first group of returning exiles, but some would-be priests were excluded because they could not prove their priestly descent and credentials. Some gave freewill offerings totalling 500 kg of gold, 2.8 tons of silver and 100 priestly garments for the rebuilding and functioning of the temple.

The book of Ezra is a book about Israel re-emerging as a nation after the 70 year Babylonian exile. This book picks up exactly where 2 Chronicles ended. The first section covers the initial return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem over the first 6 chapters, culminating with the re-building of the temple. The second section from chapters 7-10 covers the second return of exiles led by Ezra who was a priest. 

Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC led by King Cyrus the Great bringing to the end the exile of Israel. Chapter 1 relates the decree of Cyrus, given to him by God, which authorizes the release of the Israelites to go and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus encouraged people to give the returning exiles silver, gold, goods and livestock as freewill offerings for the Jerusalem temple, and many made their contributions. Cyrus also gave those returning to Jerusalem 5,400 silver and gold articles that had been seized from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 

Now Josiah’s son Jehoahaz became king of Judah at the age of 23 but his reign only lasted 3 months because the king of Egypt dethroned him and replaced him with his brother Eliakim whom he renamed Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and did evil in the sight of the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon put him in bronze shackles and took him to Babylon together with articles from the temple. Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin and he reigned for just 3 months and 10 days until Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon and replaced him with his uncle Zedekiah. He reigned for 11 years and did evil before God and did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke God’s word to him, and the nation became consistency spiritually lost. God sent messages consistently to Judah but these were not heeded and they even mocked God’s messengers so that the Lord perceived that there was no remedy for the people’s perverseness. Hence God brought up the king of Babylon against them and they killed the young men of Judah with the sword and many more with them. They carried off the treasures from the temple, set fire to the temple, burnt the palaces and destroyed everything of value. Those who were not killed were carried into exile in Babylon until 70 years were completed according to the word spoken by Jeremiah, until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

Another person asked for information about a man who was her sponsored child in our school in the town of Juru many years back. Today he is 26, got married in June, and they are expecting a baby girl. He is very well and very happy, and sent profuse thanks for when he was a sponsored EAB Action Child. Today he lives in São Paulo where he works at a sugar-making processing plant.

Yesterday we had a nice lunch and chat in the Basingstoke shopping centre with my music teaching sister Jean. I explained to my sister about the Bolsa Família benefit for the very poor which was a wonderful thing President Lula introduced 22 years ago. I also explained to her the SUS health system which is Brazil’s NHS, only in Brazil you can see your GP easily! Our grandson John David is a GP. I also explained the role of Agentes Comunitárias de Saúde which are community health visitors.

Last night QPR won away to Swansea 1 x 0 and are now up to 8th in the Championship. In chess my son beat me twice. He is learning fast!

I have heard from Brazil that sister Amélia, wife of Pastor Arnóbio, who used to be pastor back in the 80s of the Patos Congregational Church, went to be with the Lord yesterday, aged 77. Please pray for Pastor Arnóbio. I also am told by Pastor Rafael that the Lord blessed the Life Squad evangelizing the Men’s Prison yesterday and one prisoner made a commitment to Christ. Please pray that this will be a genuine conversion.

Don’t forget the EAB 87th AGM, tea and celebration on Saturday night at 6 pm! See you there! 😀

Another person asked for information about a man who was her sponsored child in our school in the town of Juru many years back. Today he is 26, got married in June, and they are expecting a baby girl. He is very well and very happy, and sent profuse thanks for when he was a sponsored EAB Action Child. Today he lives in São Paulo where he works at a sugar-making processing plant.

Yesterday we had a nice lunch and chat in the Basingstoke shopping centre with my music teaching sister Jean. I explained to my sister about the Bolsa Família benefit for the very poor which was a wonderful thing President Lula introduced 22 years ago. I also explained to her the SUS health system which is Brazil’s NHS, only in Brazil you can see your GP easily! Our grandson John David is a GP. I also explained the role of Agentes Comunitárias de Saúde which are community health visitors.

Last night QPR won away to Swansea 1 x 0 and are now up to 8th in the Championship. In chess my son beat me twice. He is learning fast!

I have heard from Brazil that sister Amélia, wife of Pastor Arnóbio, who used to be pastor back in the 80s of the Patos Congregational Church, went to be with the Lord yesterday, aged 77. Please pray for Pastor Arnóbio. I also am told by Pastor Rafael that the Lord blessed the Life Squad evangelizing the Men’s Prison yesterday and one prisoner made a commitment to Christ. Please pray that this will be a genuine conversion.

Don’t forget the EAB 87th AGM, tea and celebration on Saturday night at 6 pm! See you there! 😀

Now King Josiah celebrated the Passover on the 14th day of the 1st month, in the 18th year of his reign. He ordered the slaughter of the Passover lambs and the consecration of the people. Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and goats for the Passover offerings and 3,000 cattle. Officials also contributed to the Passover voluntarily with lambs and cattle. Then the Passover lambs were slaughtered and roasted, and the priests were sacrificing burnt offerings till nightfall, and the musicians and gatekeepers were in their rightful places. Following the Passover the Festival of Unleavened Bread was celebrated for 7 days. Never had there been a celebration of the Passover like this since the days of the prophet Samuel and no other king had celebrated the Passover than had done King Josiah. 

So after Josiah had completely set the temple in order King Necho of Egypt came to battle with Josiah, and in the stand-off which ensued Josiah was killed and he was buried in Jerusalem. Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah and many laments were sung.

Today we went to Bedford with our good friend Marian Rashleigh who very kindly drove us there and back. In Bedford we saw old Peniel Chapel friends whom I have known all my life. They are Michael and Joan Heard aged 98 and 88 respectively. They are so well and it was great to see them and have lunch and fellowship with them chatting about the work of the Lord. On the journey I saw a Buzzard and a number of Starlings.

Last night we had a lovely British roast beef meal at the house of Ben and Miriam Price. Miriam is a Brazilian from Princesa Isabel. They met when Ben came to Brazil with a group from the London School of Theology in 1996 and I conducted their wedding 2 years later. For a number of years they led our church at Ibiara. It was great to have a good chat together and to learn about Ben’s greatly improved health. Praise God!

I am thrilled to hear from Patos that one of the young people, Danrlei, who had withdrawn from the church, is back! Glory to God! We faithfully prayed for him in the Thursday night prayer meetings for a long time, putting his name on the flip chart list… and God has answered our prayer. 

Josiah was 8 when he became king of Judah and he reigned for 31 years. He did what was right before God and ruthlessly combatted paganism smashing its altars, idols and poles. He purged Judah of paganism even burning the bones of pagan priests on their altars. He then repaired the temple and used the money received in the temple to pay the carpenters and builders. The Levites oversaw the workers from job to job. Then amidst their work renovating and restoring the temple Priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law and reported it to King Josiah. When Josiah heard the words of the Law he tore his robes and sought God as to its meaning, sad because it had been previously ignored and had not been obeyed. Then they went and consulted Hulda the prophetess and she said that all the curses of the book would come upon the people because of their disobedience, but because the king had been humble and contrite he would die before God’s judgement fell upon his people and not have to see it. So King Josiah renewed the covenant with the Lord and he made all the people pledge themselves to it. He removed paganism from the land and all were faithful to God under his leadership. 

Manasseh was 12 when he became king and he reigned for 55 years. He was a wicked king completely the opposite to his father Hezekiah. He revived pagan Baal and Asherah worship, he sacrificed his own children burning them alive, and he practiced divination, witchcraft and spiritism which all greatly angered God. Manasseh completely led the people of God astray. God spoke to Manasseh but he would not take heed. So God brought the Assyrians against him and they took him prisoner, put a hook in his nose, and took him in shackles to Babylon. There Manasseh humbled himself and cried to God who had mercy on him and restored him to Jerusalem. There he rebuilt the outer wall and installed military commanders in all the fortified cities. He then greatly reduced paganism, removed the image he had previously put in the temple, and reintroduced worship and sacrifice to the Lord. When Manasseh died he was succeeded by his son Amon, at the age of 22, who only reigned for 2 years and did evil in the sight of God reintroducing paganism. He was assassinated and replaced by his son Josiah. 

You may remember me talking about our new Donkey Haven at Green Pastures and the young female donkey that we have. Well I have just spoken to Orlando in Patos who tells me of a possible young male donkey acquisition. We hope the couple will be very happy if things work out! 😊This donkey haven is a Christian response to 94% of Brazilian donkeys having been killed for the Chinese market.

Thanks to Linda Elliot in Canada, and Roberto Tiburtino, Veronica Morais and Manoel B. Lucena in Brazil for their kind comments on this blog. 

We have just got back to Basingstoke from an excellent weekend in Essex. First we went to Leigh on Sea to visit our dear friend in Christ Sid Wilder who will be 93 next Sunday. We have known Sid for over 50 years and he has been a fine supporter of EAB. Sid is reaching the end of his life on earth, but it was a joy to share with him news of the work in Brazil which clearly filled his heart with joy. His peaceful faith amidst his suffering greatly spoke to our hearts.

We then went and had a lovely meal with Mark and H’tay of the Danbury Mission followed by a meeting with their home group in which we shared about our life and ministry. Then today we spoke at both morning services of Danbury Mission, followed by a lovely fellowship lunch at Geoff and Maggy Spence’s house followed by a long slow drive home in heavy rain.

Sadly QPR lost at home to Millwall 2 x 1 yesterday! 😖

Bad news from our neighbouring state of Pernambuco where a coach accident killed 17 and injured another 17. The driver lost control of the coach, hit some rocks and turned the coach over. 

You may remember me talking about our new Donkey Haven at Green Pastures and the young female donkey that we have. Well I have just spoken to Orlando in Patos who tells me of a possible young male donkey acquisition. We hope the couple will be very happy if things work out! 😊This donkey haven is a Christian response to 94% of Brazilian donkeys having been killed for the Chinese market.

Thanks to Linda Elliot in Canada, and Roberto Tiburtino, Veronica Morais and Manoel B. Lucena in Brazil for their kind comments on this blog. 

We have just got back to Basingstoke from an excellent weekend in Essex. First we went to Leigh on Sea to visit our dear friend in Christ Sid Wilder who will be 93 next Sunday. We have known Sid for over 50 years and he has been a fine supporter of EAB. Sid is reaching the end of his life on earth, but it was a joy to share with him news of the work in Brazil which clearly filled his heart with joy. His peaceful faith amidst his suffering greatly spoke to our hearts.

We then went and had a lovely meal with Mark and H’tay of the Danbury Mission followed by a meeting with their home group in which we shared about our life and ministry. Then today we spoke at both morning services of Danbury Mission, followed by a lovely fellowship lunch at Geoff and Maggy Spence’s house followed by a long slow drive home in heavy rain.

Sadly QPR lost at home to Millwall 2 x 1 yesterday! 😖

Bad news from our neighbouring state of Pernambuco where a coach accident killed 17 and injured another 17. The driver lost control of the coach, hit some rocks and turned the coach over. 

You may remember me talking about our new Donkey Haven at Green Pastures and the young female donkey that we have. Well I have just spoken to Orlando in Patos who tells me of a possible young male donkey acquisition. We hope the couple will be very happy if things work out! 😊This donkey haven is a Christian response to 94% of Brazilian donkeys having been killed for the Chinese market.

Thanks to Linda Elliot in Canada, and Roberto Tiburtino, Veronica Morais and Manoel B. Lucena in Brazil for their kind comments on this blog. 

We have just got back to Basingstoke from an excellent weekend in Essex. First we went to Leigh on Sea to visit our dear friend in Christ Sid Wilder who will be 93 next Sunday. We have known Sid for over 50 years and he has been a fine supporter of EAB. Sid is reaching the end of his life on earth, but it was a joy to share with him news of the work in Brazil which clearly filled his heart with joy. His peaceful faith amidst his suffering greatly spoke to our hearts.

We then went and had a lovely meal with Mark and H’tay of the Danbury Mission followed by a meeting with their home group in which we shared about our life and ministry. Then today we spoke at both morning services of Danbury Mission, followed by a lovely fellowship lunch at Geoff and Maggy Spence’s house followed by a long slow drive home in heavy rain.

Sadly QPR lost at home to Millwall 2 x 1 yesterday! 😖

Bad news from our neighbouring state of Pernambuco where a coach accident killed 17 and injured another 17. The driver lost control of the coach, hit some rocks and turned the coach over. 

After all Hezekiah’s faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah as he aimed to conquer Jerusalem. So Hezekiah reinforced the defenses of Jerusalem and controlled the water supplies so that is wasn’t readily available to the Assyrians. He also worked on encouraging his people to trust in God despite the vast superiority of the encroaching army. Sennacherib ridiculed Judah’s trust in God saying Assyria was unbeatable. Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah therefore cried to the Lord for help and God sent an angel who annihilated all the Assyrian fighting men, officers and commanders. This led to Hezekiah being highly regarded internationally. 

Then Hezekiah became seriously ill but he prayed and God healed him. However he filled with pride over this which angered God until Hezekiah repented. Hezekiah’s wealth and honour grew and grew in silver, gold, spices, grain, wine and olive oil, and he acquired great numbers of flocks and herds. Hezekiah succeeded in all he undertook. When he finally died it was his son Manasseh who succeeded him.

This coming weekend we will be speaking at the Danbury Mission, 54 Maldon Road, Danbury, Chelmsford, CM3 4QL in Essex. There will be 2 services on the Sunday at 9 am and 11 am and I will be speaking at both. Please be there if you can. We will also be taking part in a house group at Colchester on the Saturday night linked to this church. On the way to these meetings we will be going to visit EAB supporter Sid Wilder who is unwell.

Liz went to London by train yesterday to do some shopping with her sister Esther. She enjoyed her day.

I have received news of someone in one of our churches who was tricked into giving £2,500 to thieves through an online scam. I recommend that all our pastors give a word of warning about scams to their people.

This coming weekend we will be speaking at the Danbury Mission, 54 Maldon Road, Danbury, Chelmsford, CM3 4QL in Essex. There will be 2 services on the Sunday at 9 am and 11 am and I will be speaking at both. Please be there if you can. We will also be taking part in a house group at Colchester on the Saturday night linked to this church. On the way to these meetings we will be going to visit EAB supporter Sid Wilder who is unwell.

Liz went to London by train yesterday to do some shopping with her sister Esther. She enjoyed her day.

I have received news of someone in one of our churches who was tricked into giving £2,500 to thieves through an online scam. I recommend that all our pastors give a word of warning about scams to their people.

 After the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread had been celebrated the people went to the towns of Judah in a campaign against paganism smashing the pagan stones, destroying the high places and cutting down the Asherah poles of the Canaanite goddess of fertility. (Asherah is mentioned 40 times in the Old Testament. This goddess clearly was an attraction to the Israelites and therefore a stumbling block to them with apparently licentious rites and “sacred” prostitution.)

Then King Hezekiah reorganized the work and ministry of the priests and Levites in the temple and personally contributed from his own possessions in terms of offerings. He then ordered the people to contribute in the support of the priests and Levites to that they could dedicate themselves to the work of the Lord, and they gave generously a tithe of everything producing great heaps of contributions, so they prepared storerooms for this. Kore was in charge of the free-will offerings given to God and a list is given of people responsible for the distribution of the tithes and gifts. Thus Hezekiah always worked wholeheartedly for God and for this reason he prospered.

King Hezekiah decided to celebrate the Passover which hadn’t been done for many years. However it was celebrated a month late because neither priests or people were prepared earlier. Hezekiah sent out a proclamation to all Judah and Israel calling everyone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He called on all who had escaped Assyrian exile to not be stiff-necked but to submit to the Lord. However many people in Israel scorned and ridiculed the messengers, but some humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. There was unity in Judah to follow the way of the Lord. So a large crowd gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread. They slaughtered the Passover lambs and offered up burnt offerings in the temple. Hezekiah interceded for those from northern Israel who had not come adequately prepared and God forgave them. After the Passover the people celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for twice as long as usual such was the happiness and rejoicing! Hezekiah provided 1,000 bulls plus 7,000 sheep and goats and the officials provided 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep and goats, and there was great jubilation. There had been nothing like this since the days of Solomon. 

Hezekiah was 25 when he became king of Judah and he reigned for 29 years doing what was right before God. Upon taking up office he immediately opened the temple doors and repaired them. He then called the priests and Levites to personal consecration and the consecration of the temple. He told them to remove all defilement from the temple because the time had come for them to reverse all the evil practiced by Ahaz and their fathers. Hezekiah then told the priests and Levites that he intended to make a covenant with God. They then consecrated themselves and set about purifying the temple removing everything unclean which they found there from the previous reign, and the consecration of the temple lasted 8 months. Then King Hezekiah went up to the temple with all the officials and sacrificed 28 animals. They sacrificed the animals to the sound of triumphant music and then they knelt down and worshipped with fervent praise. Then the general assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings and they sacrificed 70 bulls, 100 rams and 200 male lambs and the total number of animals sacrificed was 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep and goats, and the priests were helped by the Levites to cope with the workload. Thus the service of the temple was reestablished.

We went to speak last night to members of the Hub Community Church in Basingstoke who will be going next year in July to visit the work of ACEV/EAB in the interior of northeast Brazil. The group is made up of 10 young people and their leaders Ben and Miriam Price and Rhoda Lawes. We had a good time sharing about the work of the Lord showing them videos of the carnival camp, action school, market garden, drama group etc. This group’s visit will be a good missions eye-opener for them.

On the way home last night we saw a hedgehog which is an important member of British fauna. A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the Erinaceinae subfamily, of which there are 17 species, and they are nocturnal. 

We went to speak last night to members of the Hub Community Church in Basingstoke who will be going next year in July to visit the work of ACEV/EAB in the interior of northeast Brazil. The group is made up of 10 young people and their leaders Ben and Miriam Price and Rhoda Lawes. We had a good time sharing about the work of the Lord showing them videos of the carnival camp, action school, market garden, drama group etc. This group’s visit will be a good missions eye-opener for them.

On the way home last night we saw a hedgehog which is an important member of British fauna. A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the Erinaceinae subfamily, of which there are 17 species, and they are nocturnal. 

 Ahaz came to the throne aged 20 and reigned for 16 years, but he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He strongly involved himself in paganism, Baal worship and infant sacrifice. In the light of this God delivered him into the hand of the Arameans and they took many prisoners to Damascus. He also was given into the hands of the Israelites and Judah suffered heavy casualties. In one day 120,000 Judean soldiers were killed and the Israelites took captive 200,000 Judean wives and children plus lots of plunder. However God was angered by these kidnappings and called for their return. Then some of the leaders confronted those returning from battles in Judah concerning their treatment of the people of Judah and they clothed the naked, gave them food and drink and healing balm. 

Then King Ahaz asked the Assyrians for help. The Edomites attacked Judah again and carried away prisoners, and the Philistines also raided towns. Thus the Lord had humbled Judah because king Ahaz had promoted wickedness in Judah. Yet Ahaz’s attitude only got worse, his unfaithfulness to the Lord increased as he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. Ahaz became increasingly pagan and opposed to the temple of God which greatly angered the Lord. Then Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah replaced him.

 Jotham was 25 when he came to the throne and he reigned in Jerusalem for 16 years. He did what was right before God and did not commit the errors of his father concerning the temple. He did important work rebuilding the upper gate of the temple and built towns in the hill country of Judah. Jotham conquered the Ammonites and they paid him 3.4 tons of silver, 1,600 tons of wheat and 1,350 tons of barley. Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord. Then he died and his son Ahaz succeeded him. 

Uzziah was 16 when he became king and he reigned for 52 years doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Uzziah went to war against the Philistines and God helped him, and the Ammonites brought him tribute as his fame spread and his power grew.

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem and fortified them. He also built towers in the wilderness and dug cisterns for his livestock. He also had a well-trained army of 307,500 men and he equipped them with shields, spears, helmets, armour, bows and slings as he became very powerful.

However as his power increased this led to pride which was his downfall as he became unfaithful to God. He illicitly went into the temple to burn incense on the altar and the priests confronted him as it was their job and not his. He was therefore struck with leprosy on the forehead which remained with him till he died. He was relieved of his responsibilities, lived in a separate house and his son Jotham took control of the palace and the government. Then he died and Jotham succeeded him as king.

 October 12th is both Children’s Day and that of the national patron saint. As we don’t believe in patron saints we of course concentrate on Children’s Day. Hence Saturday afternoon saw the Patos church packed out to capacity with joyful children praising the Lord and learning Bible stories about Jesus. I have seen many videos which are lovely! A parallel service was held at Green Pastures with the same joy in praising the Lord.

Yesterday we left Basingstoke for the city of Bristol which has a population of half a million people. We arrived at the Ivy church before anyone else an hour early! The service was lovely with Philip singing before I spoke. Afterwards we had a lovely lunch with Pastor Phil Watkins and his Irish wife Shirley before going on to the Bristol Pentecostal Holiness Church for a fellowship tea followed by a beautiful service at which I again spoke. It was nice to meet their new pastor and family from the USA.

What was especially good about our visit to Bristol on top of everything else was the presence of friends from Wales from Bridgend and Swansea.

I have seen here on Brazilian Globo TV the programme ‘Altas Horas’ with the participation of our friend and evangelical Christian singer Kleber Lucas together with the famous singer Caetano Veloso. It was beautiful hearing them singing ‘Deus cuida de mim’ (God cares for me).