Categoria: News

The renowned author Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born and lived in the area of Basingstoke. This year the 250th anniversary of her birth is being celebrated and we went to visit her home in the village of Chawton where she lived for 8 years whilst she wrote some of her novels. Her famous novels are: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion – all of which have been made into films or TV series. It was a very interesting visit together with a visit to Jane Austen’s brother’s estate and their old little church. 

Yesterday we went on a wonderful 2-hour boat ride on sea and river thanks to an invitation from Pearl Skivington who is Liz’s cousin. The boat called the Alison Macgregor left the Hythe Marina at 10.30 am and took us to see all 5 cruise ships in Southampton Docks at the time, plus container ships and ferries. We also saw the Southampton Football Stadium going up the River Ichen. Along the way we saw a number of Cormorants/Shags, enormous quantities of Common Terns and other gulls I don’t know how to identify, and we even saw a Black Swan. After our trip we went to Hazel and Dave Flowers’ house together for a lovely lunch.

QPR beat Charlton at home 3 x 1 and are now 18th in the Championship out of 24! Well done Rangers! 😀

Today we ministered at the Lighthouse Community Church in the town of Hardley near Southampton. It was the church of Pastor Frank Dyer and his wife Ivy and is today pastored by Roy Dyer. It was a lovely service followed by a fellowship lunch together. 

The prophet Elisha sent one of the company of the prophets to find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and anoint him privately with oil declaring him as King of Israel with the mission of destroying the house of Ahab. Upon discovering what had occurred Jehu’s companions readily accepted the move spreading their cloaks before him, sounding the trumpets and loudly announcing that Jehu was king!

Then King Jehu of Israel conspired against Joram because before he could take up his office of king he needed to dispose of the reigning king Joram. Jehu chased Joram, drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders piercing his heart and having his dead body thrown on to Naboth’s field. Jehu then chased Ahaziah king of Judah and his men killed him and he was buried in Jerusalem. 

Then Jehu had Jezebel killed having her thrown out of the window where horses trampled her, and dogs ate her body as had been prophesied by Elijah in 1 Kings 21:23. All the dogs left were her head, her hands and her feet!

The first part of this chapter tells of the Shunammite woman, seen earlier in chapter 4, whose son had been resurrected by Elisha. At the time Elisha advised her that she should move away so as to avoid an impending famine that would last 7 years. The woman thus went away to the land of the Philistines, but when she returned her house and land had been taken so she went to the king seeking help. Just at that time the king was talking to Elisha’s servant and he was relating how Elisha had raised the boy from the dead. Lo and behold the Shunammite woman appeared just as her story was being told and clearly the king was moved decreeing that everything be restored to her. 

Then Elisha went to Damascus where King Hadad of Aram was ill. Hadad sent Hazael to consult the prophet regarding his prognosis. Elisha said that Hadad would recover from his illness, but that however he would die from another cause and Hazael would become king of Aram. Then Hazael went and assassinated Hadad and replaced him as king. 

The chapter then moves to Judah when Jehoram began his reign as king at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years. He was a wicked king but God did not destroy Judah because of his covenant with David. During his reign Edom and Libnah conducted revolts.

Following Jehoram’s death Ahaziah began to reign in Judah at the age of 22 and he reigned for 1 year. Ahaziah too was evil in the sight of the Lord. He joined King Joram of Israel in a failed war against Syria during which Joram was wounded.

The first part of this chapter tells of the Shunammite woman, seen earlier in chapter 4, whose son had been resurrected by Elisha. At the time Elisha advised her that she should move away so as to avoid an impending famine that would last 7 years. The woman thus went away to the land of the Philistines, but when she returned her house and land had been taken so she went to the king seeking help. Just at that time the king was talking to Elisha’s servant and he was relating how Elisha had raised the boy from the dead. Lo and behold the Shunammite woman appeared just as her story was being told and clearly the king was moved decreeing that everything be restored to her. 

Then Elisha went to Damascus where King Hadad of Aram was ill. Hadad sent Hazael to consult the prophet regarding his prognosis. Elisha said that Hadad would recover from his illness, but that however he would die from another cause and Hazael would become king of Aram. Then Hazael went and assassinated Hadad and replaced him as king. 

The chapter then moves to Judah when Jehoram began his reign as king at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years. He was a wicked king but God did not destroy Judah because of his covenant with David. During his reign Edom and Libnah conducted revolts.

Following Jehoram’s death Ahaziah began to reign in Judah at the age of 22 and he reigned for 1 year. Ahaziah too was evil in the sight of the Lord. He joined King Joram of Israel in a failed war against Syria during which Joram was wounded.

I am back to wearing slippers! For my Brazilian readers let me explain that slippers are a warm soft furry type of shoe used in England to wear in the home to keep your feet warm. Whereas in Brazil I always wear sandals and shorts here in England I wear jeans and slippers. I already had my slippers from 2022 when we were here last and I left them at Philip & Gylmara’s house.

We got up late yesterday at 11 am after our long journey. It is lovely to just relax with the family. We had brunch rather than breakfast and lunch. The brunch was bacon, eggs and hot bread rolls with HP sauce which we hadn’t tasted for 3 years. For Brazilians I should say that in England the main meal of the day is at night. 

The climate here at present is very pleasant with a high of 22 degrees today and a low in the night of 7 degrees.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Thatcham Nature Reserve and enjoyed a lovely walk round the lake. We saw Wood Pigeons, Magpies, Collared Doves, Moorhens, Swans, Canadian Geese, Egyptian Geese, Little Egret, Coots, Mallards, Common Tern, Black-headed Gull, Northern Shoveler, Cormorant and Great Crested Grebe. The trees on the way to the Reserve were beautiful and the flowers there were lovely too.

We arrived in Basingstoke, a little southwest of London, tonight after travelling for 29 hours from Patos to Recife, then on to Lisbon, on to London Heathrow airport and finally to Basingstoke. At London’s Heathrow airport we were met by Liz’s sisters Eunice and Esther, Jonathan Eunice’s husband and our son Philip, so we drank tea and ate croissants together before heading home. Tonight we have had a lovely welcome meal thanks to Gylmara, and exchanged gifts. 

News from Brazil is good with Pastor Rafael and Robert Tiburtino reporting one decision for Christ yesterday in the Patos Men’s prison.

The prophets needed to expand their living quarters so they went near the Jordan to cut down trees, but one of the men was alarmed because his iron axe head he had borrowed fell into the water. Not to worry, Elisha made the iron axe-head float so that it could be recovered!

The King of Aram was at war with Israel and he was furious with Elisha because he kept tipping-off the King of Israel as to the Arameans’ whereabouts and the likes. So the King of Aram sent a strong force of soldiers to arrest Elisha. When the soldiers surrounded the city Elisha’s servant was terrified, but Elisha told him not to be scared because those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened and he saw the spiritual forces at Elisha’s disposal. When the soldiers came to get Elisha God blinded them and they were tricked into Samaria where they were fed and watered before being sent home. 

Some time later the Arameans sieged Samaria causing a massive famine where a donkey’s head was sold for a kilo of silver! One woman told the king of Israel that her and her friend had just eaten her son but now her friend wasn’t willing to kill and eat her son as had been agreed! And the king apparently blamed Elisha for the terrible situation and wanted to kill him.

Naaman was a highly respected commander of the Syrian army but he had leprosy. (a form of skin disease not necessarily leprosy as we know it today) A servant girl from Israel who worked for Naaman’s wife suggested Naaman should seek healing from Elisha so the King of Syria backed the initiative sending him with supporting gifts and clothes. It would seem therefore that Naaman expected a cure with fanfares, but when Elisha told him to go and wash 7 times in the River Jordan he seems to have felt the method of healing was puny and below his dignity. But even though he protested that in Syria there were rivers just as good he eventually obeyed and was healed. Naaman then tried to give Elisha a gift but he refused to accept it. However Naaman’s servant Gehazi went after the gifts behind Elisha’s back and received them, so God castigated Gehazi with Naaman’s leprosy.   

A prophet’s widow asked for Elisha’s help as her late husband’s creditors were about to take her 2 sons as slaves to cover the debt he left. Elisha asked her what she had and she said she just had a little oil. So Elisha told the widow to collect as many jars as possible from her neighbours and then pour her oil to fill up all the jars. The oil miraculously just kept flowing and filled all the jars so that she was able to sell the oil, clear the debt, and still have enough left to live off.

A Shunammite woman and her elderly husband were kind to Elisha showing him hospitality so he blessed them and prophesied they would have a son the following spring. He was born and grew, but one day he became ill and died. The woman sought Elisha’s help and he prayed and then laid on the dead boy mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hand to hand. Eventually the boy came back to life and he showed it by sneezing 7 times and opening his eyes. 

Elisha returned to Gilgal where there was a famine. There his servant cooked a stew for the prophets and inadvertently included a poisonous herb. The men detected it soon and cried out to Elisha that there was death in the pot! Elisha solved the problem with the help of some flour and everyone ate safely.

Finally Elisha miraculously multiplied 20 barley loaves to feed a 100 men leaving leftovers like Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.

 When Joram was king of Israel the Moabites baulked at their high taxes (100,000 lambs + the wool of 100,000 rams) so Joram formed an alliance with Judah and Edom to bring Moab into line. However on their 7-day march to confront Moab they ran out of water, so they went to Elisha for help. Elisha asked for a harpist to play and when he played the hand of the Lord came upon him and he prophesied that God would fill the land with water, not by rain but by a miracle. When the Moabites saw the water they thought it was blood from an internal fight of the enemy so they nonchalantly came to the camp of Israel where they were routed. When the king of Moab saw that the battle was lost he rallied 700 swordsmen to try and break through to Edom, but it was not enough. Such was the fury of the Moabites that their king sacrificed his son, who was heir to the throne, on the city wall and at that sight Israel withdrew.

We leave for Europe tomorrow and value your prayers. How good it is to be going in good health as opposed to our last trip 3 years ago when I was far from well. We will leave Patos in the morning, have lunch in Campina Grande, and then drive to Recife airport where our 7-and-a-half-hour flight to Lisbon leaves at 10:15 pm. We will then change planes for a 2-and-three-quarter-hour flight to London Heathrow arriving there at terminal 2 at 3:35 pm on Thursday to be met by our son Philip, his wife Gylmara, their sons Lucas and Luis, and Liz’s sister Eunice and her husband Jonathan. After having tea and coffee together we will drive 40 minutes to the town of Basingstoke where Philip and family live and where we will be staying. Basingstoke is a nice town in the County of Hampshire with a population of 178,000.

Our address in the UK will be 34 Britten Road, Basingstoke, RG22 4HP. Our UK telephone number will be 07762 846695. To contact us by WhatsApp my number remains the same as 0055 83 98852 2745 and Liz’s number is identical apart from the last number which is 6.

I led the service on Sunday night in Patos and co-pastor Rafael preached on Isaiah 1:18-20. This will be the last service I’ll lead in Patos for about 3 months. It was a good service with a lovely spirit of praise and worship.

Brazilian football club Santos (current team of Neymar and ex-team of Pelé) lost 6 x 0 at the weekend at home to Vasco da Gama. Neymar wept at the end and the manager was sacked!

Yesterday I finished the summary of another book of the Bible. This was the 11th book (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings) covering just over a quarter of the Bible (26.4%) and just over a third of the old testament (33.6%). I have summarized 313 chapters of the Bible’s 1,189 chapters. If I can keep this pace up I should be able to complete a summary of the whole Bible by 2028 when I intend to publish the summary of the Bible in both English and Portuguese. I value your prayers for this project which is my way of introducing people to the Bible.

We leave for Europe tomorrow and value your prayers. How good it is to be going in good health as opposed to our last trip 3 years ago when I was far from well. We will leave Patos in the morning, have lunch in Campina Grande, and then drive to Recife airport where our 7-and-a-half-hour flight to Lisbon leaves at 10:15 pm. We will then change planes for a 2-and-three-quarter-hour flight to London Heathrow arriving there at terminal 2 at 3:35 pm on Thursday to be met by our son Philip, his wife Gylmara, their sons Lucas and Luis, and Liz’s sister Eunice and her husband Jonathan. After having tea and coffee together we will drive 40 minutes to the town of Basingstoke where Philip and family live and where we will be staying. Basingstoke is a nice town in the County of Hampshire with a population of 178,000.

Our address in the UK will be 34 Britten Road, Basingstoke, RG22 4HP. Our UK telephone number will be 07762 846695. To contact us by WhatsApp my number remains the same as 0055 83 98852 2745 and Liz’s number is identical apart from the last number which is 6.

I led the service on Sunday night in Patos and co-pastor Rafael preached on Isaiah 1:18-20. This will be the last service I’ll lead in Patos for about 3 months. It was a good service with a lovely spirit of praise and worship.

Brazilian football club Santos (current team of Neymar and ex-team of Pelé) lost 6 x 0 at the weekend at home to Vasco da Gama. Neymar wept at the end and the manager was sacked!

Yesterday I finished the summary of another book of the Bible. This was the 11th book (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings) covering just over a quarter of the Bible (26.4%) and just over a third of the old testament (33.6%). I have summarized 313 chapters of the Bible’s 1,189 chapters. If I can keep this pace up I should be able to complete a summary of the whole Bible by 2028 when I intend to publish the summary of the Bible in both English and Portuguese. I value your prayers for this project which is my way of introducing people to the Bible.

The ascension to heaven of Elijah was now imminent and this was common knowledge amongst the prophets. Elisha was close by his side and would not leave him, going to Bethel, Jericho and the Jordan with him. At the Jordan Elijah divided the waters and they crossed on dry ground. Then Elisha requested a double portion of Elijah’s spirit when he departed and Elijah said he would have it as long as he saw him leave. Then as they were walking along together a chariot of fire appeared and whisked off Elijah to heaven, and Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak. Elisha then struck the Jordan with the cloak and it opened for him to cross back over. Some prophets insisted on searching for Elijah but Elisha told them that they were wasting their time.

Elisha’s double portion of the spirit was soon evident in the healing of water at a certain city. Then there was a group of youths who ridiculed Elisha’s bald head. Elisha cursed them and 2 bears emerged from the woods and mauled 42 youths. Then Elisha went on to Mount Carmel before returning to Samaria. 

King Ahaziah of Israel had a bad fall and seriously injured himself, and he sent messengers to the Philistine god Baal-Zebub to get a prognosis. The angel of the Lord however told Elijah to intercept the messengers, objecting to the pagan consultation and saying that as a result of this Ahaziah would die. When the king realized the messengers had been intercepted by Elijah he sent a captain with 50 men to capture him, but God wiped them out by fire! Then Ahaziah sent more soldiers but they were incinerated too. When the third contingent of soldiers came God told Elijah to go with them and not to be afraid and Ahaziah died and he was succeeded by Joram.  

Naboth had a vineyard close to King Ahab’s palace and Ahab offered to buy it or to swap it for a better vineyard. Naboth rejected this as it was part of his family inheritance. The rejection put Ahab into a bad mood, but Jezebel said she would fix the problem for him. So Jezebel had Naboth falsely accused of blasphemy and executed as a consequence, leaving the road clear for her husband to take possession of the land. God was angry at this and sent the prophet Elisha to reprimand him saying that in the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they would do the same with his blood. Dogs, he said, would also devour Jezebel. However in the light of Ahab’s repentance the punishment was postponed to be meted on their descendants. 

Ben-Hadad of Syria, together with a confederation of 32 kings, besieged Samaria capital of Israel and demanded their silver, gold, best women and children. Ahab initially agrees but then changes his mind and a battle ensues which Israel wins miraculously despite being completely outmanned. However Ben-Hadad escaped together with some horsemen and a prophet warned Ahab to get prepared because in the spring the Arameans would be back. When this happened God again gave Israel the victory killing 100,000 Syrians followed by the death of a further 27,000 when the city of Aphek wall fell on them! Then Ahab made a treaty with Ben-Hadad and let him go. Following this a prophet tried to get a man to hit him, but when he refused a lion killed him as a result. Then another man did strike him and so he could approach Ahab disguised by bandages. The prophet proceeded to condemn Ahab for having set free Ben-Hadad against God’s command.

When Ahab’s wife Jezebel was told about Elijah’s great victory at Mount Carmel and his subsequent slaughter of the Baal prophets she threatened to kill him so Elijah was afraid and ran to Horeb. On the long journey God miraculously sustained him and encouraged and strengthened him as he was very down and depressed. On Mount Horeb there was a theophany accompanied by extraordinarily strong wind, then followed an earthquake which was followed by fire, but God spoke to Elijah after the wind, earthquake and fire with a gentle whisper. God told Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Aram, anoint Jehu king of Israel and anoint Elisha to succeed him as prophet. So Elijah saw Elisha ploughing the fields and he threw his clock upon him, and Elisha started to follow him.

 After a 3-and-a-half-year drought God told the prophet Elijah to go and have a show-down with King Ahab over his pagan Baal worship. Elijah met up with the chief of Ahab’s palace Obadiah, but he was reluctant to announce Elijah’s presence. However Obadiah plucked up courage, told Ahab that Elijah wanted to see him, and so they met with Ahab insulting Elijah as a trouble maker. The prophet replied that the trouble maker was him abandoning God’s commands and following the Baals. So Elijah threw down the gauntlet to Ahab to bring Baal’s 450 prophets and Asherah’s 400 prophets to decide once and for all if the Lord is God or if Baal is God – and they gathered for the challenge of fire on Mount Carmel. Each was to sacrifice a bull and call down fire to consume it, and the god who answers by fire is God. So the prophets of Baal cried out all day long for fire to fall, but to no avail and Elijah ridiculed them. Then it was Elijah’s turn to call upon the name of the Lord and first of all he had water poured over everything. When Elijah prayed the fire fell consuming the sacrifice, wood, stones, soil and water – so the people cried out the Lord, he is God – and they slaughtered the prophets of Baal! Elijah then prophesied that the rains would return and it was only for the 7th time of looking at the sky that his servant saw the first sign of rain coming. Then down came heavy rain and Ahab took off in his chariot in the rain to Jezreel, but ecstatic Elijah beat him running anointed by the power of God!

The prophet Elijah told king Ahab that Israel was to be punished for its idolatry by a severe prolonged drought. However God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Brook where he could drink from the brook and be fed with bread and meat morning and evening by ravens. When the brook eventually dried up God told Elijah to go to Zaraphath where he had commanded a widow to feed him. When Elijah met the widow it was clear that the widow was not aware of God’s command, but she trusted Elijah’s instructions and believed in his promise that if she made him food her flour and oil would not run out until the rains returned and that therefore the widow, her family and Elijah would be sustained. However after some time the widow’s son died which naturally left the widow terribly distraught and she pointed the finger at Elijah. So Elijah took the boy and stretched himself out on him 3 times and cried to the Lord beseeching his resurrection. He then returned him to his mother live and well which obviously confirmed to her that Elijah was a man of God.

Our granddaughter Beatriz (Bia) is back in hospital with a severe allergic reaction to something, though allergy to what is the question, but it is probably an antibiotic she had started taking. She is swollen, is full of red blotches and has breathing difficulties. Please pray for Bia. 

Our deacon Dedé on his motorbike has been involved in a head-on collision with a car driven by a youngster. He is in hospital under observation because he has fractured 7 ribs and has pleural effusion. Please pray for Dedé who is the leader of our little Ipueira church.

The ‘Life Squad’ consisting of Pastor Rafael and Brother Roberto Tiburtino have been evangelizing in the men’s prison again. Please pray for this arduous work.

The Southern Wren sings joyfully outside my office window and House Sparrows constantly invade our kitchen to pick up any crumbs on the floor.

I am going to the doctor’s this afternoon to have my ears syringed prior to the ups and downs of flying next week which can be painful on one’s ears. I will be having my hair cut really short on Monday so that it will last me while I’m in the UK.

Our granddaughter Beatriz (Bia) is back in hospital with a severe allergic reaction to something, though allergy to what is the question, but it is probably an antibiotic she had started taking. She is swollen, is full of red blotches and has breathing difficulties. Please pray for Bia. 

Our deacon Dedé on his motorbike has been involved in a head-on collision with a car driven by a youngster. He is in hospital under observation because he has fractured 7 ribs and has pleural effusion. Please pray for Dedé who is the leader of our little Ipueira church.

The ‘Life Squad’ consisting of Pastor Rafael and Brother Roberto Tiburtino have been evangelizing in the men’s prison again. Please pray for this arduous work.

The Southern Wren sings joyfully outside my office window and House Sparrows constantly invade our kitchen to pick up any crumbs on the floor.

I am going to the doctor’s this afternoon to have my ears syringed prior to the ups and downs of flying next week which can be painful on one’s ears. I will be having my hair cut really short on Monday so that it will last me while I’m in the UK.

This chapter lists a series of wicked Israelite kings culminating with Ahab, the worst of all. It was clearly a period of severe moral decadence. First of all comes the continuation of Baasha with him receiving a message of judgement from God through the prophet Jehu. Again God will judge with dogs and vultures as he did with Jeroboam. Baasha died and was succeeded by his son Elah. 

Elah reigned in Israel for 2 years. However he was assassinated by his official Zimri who then replaced him as king. He then proceeded to eliminate the entire family of Baasha in his extremely short reign of 7 days. However when the people realized what at happened they made army commander Omri king with Zimri dying under siege in an arson attack at the royal palace. There was initially a power struggle between Omri and Tibni, but Omri prevailed and reigned for 12 years. However Omri sinned more than all those before him. Upon Omri’s death his son Ahab succeeded him.

Ahab reigned over Israel for 22 years and he did more evil than ever! He married Jezebel, who was the daughter of the king of the Sidonians, and introduced and practiced pagan Baal worship in Israel. Ahab built a temple for Baal in Samaria where he erected an altar to the pagan god. He further erected a pagan Asherah pole. Ahab was a very perverse king of Israel.