Exodus 7 (résumé): Aaron to speak for Moses

God told 80-year-old Moses and his 83-year-old brother Aaron to go and tell Pharoah everything he told them to say, with Aaron as the spokesman because Moses always said he couldn't do the speaking because he had faltering lips. (It makes me wonder if Moses was not just scared, but perhaps had some sort of speech impediment?) God said however that stubborn and perverse Pharoah would not budge and that God would even harden his heart further. "In no way does God force Pharoah to act against his own will. To the contrary, he gives Pharoah the courage to obstinately resist and stick to his original plan." (R.C.Sproul) When Moses and Aaron asked for the release of the Israelites from Pharoah he asked for a miracle in order to back up their request, so they threw a staff on the floor and it became a snake. However Pharoah's sorcerers and magicians did the same thing before Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Despite this Pharoah continued to reject their request. So God commenced sending a sequence of plagues upon Egypt and firstly turned the Nile into blood killing all the fish in it making it undrinkable, but the Egyptian magicians managed to imitate the plague as Pharoah totally rejected the appeal for freedom. 

Exodus 6 (résumé): God promises deliverance

The Lord said to Moses that now he would see what he would do to make Pharoah set the Israelites free. God emphasized that he had not forgotten his covenant with them and told Moses to tell them that he was going to deliver them from the yoke of the Egyptians and take them to Canaan as he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. However the Israelites would not listen as they were in a very low state. So God told Moses to go and tell to Pharoah to free the Israelites, but Moses retorted that if the Israelites wouldn't listen to him the chances of Pharoah listening were a lot less! There then comes a genealogical insertion into the narrative which has the purpose of focusing on the lineage of Moses and Aaron and the steadily unfolding plan of God. "All through the Egyptian bondage, God was quietly and unobtrusively at work so that when the moment of deliverance came His instruments of deliverance were there to meet it." (H.R.Jones) 

Green Pastures

I went to Green Pastures and saw the following birds: Caatinga Cacholote, Eared Dove, Picui Ground Dove, Burrowing Owl and Southern Wren. Everything is scorched dry as we haven't had rain for months now and the heat is increasing by the month as Christmas approaches. The coldest winter time in the UK is the hottest time in north-east Brazil.

Being on the BBC's Global Minds panel it was interesting to see that in their latest survey on arts and culture one of the videos they sent didn't work, which made it impossible to complete the survey. Even the BBC get bugs in their systems! They have now apologized and fixed it, so I have now answered it.

The mining giants BHP and Vale have signed a deal with the Brazilian government to pay nearly $30bn (£23bn) in compensation for the Mariana dam collapse in 2015 that caused the country's worst environmental disaster. Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva attended the signing of the deal on Friday. The dam collapse released toxic waste and mud, which flooded nearby towns, rivers and forests. It killed 19 people, left hundreds of others homeless, and poisoned the river.

Britishers are famous for their tea drinking and I was wondering how much tea you drink a day? I drink 4 mugs of tea in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening which is at least 1.5 litres of tea per day!

Yesterday QPR managed an heroic 0 x 0 draw at Burnley which is next to top in the Championship.

Last night we were involved in a head-on collision on our way to preach at our Teixeira church's 59th anniversary service up in the mountains. I still managed to preach despite us being pretty shaken up. A drunken driver suddenly veered off his side of the road and smashed straight into us leaving our car a mess. A police car was soon on the scene. The drunken driver had no driving license and the vehicle was not taxed! He was taken to the police station and his vehicle was impounded. A recovery lorry came and got our car bringing it back to Patos for repairs, and our son-in-law Hutan came and got us after the service. We are grateful to God that we were not injured in the accident.

The latest edition #102 of EAB's magazine is now available online at www.eabrazil.org. The hard copies on paper will be with everyone by post in the near future.

Exodus 5 (résumé): Bricks without Straw

Moses and Aaron went and asked Pharoah to allow the Israelites to go and hold a festival for God in the desert, but Pharoah refused and told them to get on with their work. Pharoah was annoyed by their insistence and so increased their workload by no longer supplying the chopped straw used in mud brick making. The Israelites were forced to find their own straw whilst maintaining their daily production levels. Israelite work foremen were beaten by the Egyptian slave drivers for not maintaining their daily quotas. When the foremen complained to Pharoah he just hit back by calling them lazy. So the foremen said to Moses and Aaron that they had only made things worse, and Moses passed the complaint on to God.

Exodus 4 (résumé): Signs for Moses

Moses further questioned God as to what if the people didn't believe him or listen to him, so God gave him some signs to encourage faith. God told Moses to throw his staff on the ground and it became a snake, but when he picked it up it became a staff again. So too God made Moses's hand leprous and then restored it just by putting it inside his cloak. Hence Moses was to show these signs to the Hebrews to reinforce his credibility. However, Moses still placed obstacles before God saying he wasn't eloquent enough for the task, but God said he would help Moses speak. Yet still Moses resisted, asking God to send someone else, which infuriated God who said he would make Moses's brother Aaron his spokesman. Moses therefore went with his wife and children in the direction of Egypt and warned Moses that Pharoah would stubbornly resisted letting the Israelites go. On the way there was an incident because one of Moses's son's had not been circumcised. His mother placated the wrath of God by quickly circumcising him so that Moses's life was spared. Aaron joined Moses, they did the signs before the people and told them of God's concern about their situation  

Exodus 3 (résumé): Moses and the Burning Bush

Moses went to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, and he saw the angel of the Lord in a burning bush which did not burn up. When Moses got nearer God spoke to him telling him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. God identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so Moses hid his face. God said that he had seen the suffering of his people in slavery and had come down to rescue them and take them to Canaan which was flowing with milk and honey. And God told Moses that he was sending him to Pharoah so as to bring his people out of Egypt. Moses reacted saying "who am I" to do this? God guaranteed that he would be with Moses and that once delivered the people would come and worship on Mount Horeb. Moses also asked God's name so as to be in a position to answer the Israelites' possible question about this, and God told him to say that I AM had sent him. So, God told Moses to go and assemble the elders of Israel and tell them that God would set them free and take them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Then with the elders Moses should go and request from Pharoah permission for the Israelites to go on a 3-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord. However, God knew that Pharoah would not agree and that he would need to strike the Egyptians with many things in order that he be willing to set the Israelites free. Nevertheless, God said her would work on the Egyptians so that they would be disposed to give them silver and gold objects prior to their deliverance.   

Patos anniversary

Patos celebrated yesterday its 121st anniversary as an independent political entity or municipality. Brazil is divided into 5,570 municipalities which are themselves divided into 26 states (our state is called Paraiba) plus one federal district where the national capital Brasilia is. The states are divided into five regions: South, Southeast, North, Northeast (where we are!) and Central West. To celebrate our municipal anniversary it was a local holiday yesterday.

Brazilian President Lula did not go to the BRICS conference in Russia because he slipped in his bathroom, whilst cutting his toe nails, and cut his head open needing stitches!

QPR actually managed to play a match this week and not lose! They drew 1 x 1 at home to Coventry and moved off the league's bottom spot to 23rd out of 24! Amazing! 😂