Have you ever wished that you could call down a bolt of fire from the sky to sort out a problem. Being able to use lightning or bolts of fire is often a popular powerful weapon in computer games. Normally one must do certain tasks or achieve/collect certain things to get this skill but once acquired it is very useful.

 But having the capacity to call on thunderbolts of fire is not just for computer games, as we read about Elijah in 2 Kings 1 being able to call on lightning and in this case it hits and kills a captain of the guard and fifty of his men by incinerating them. The captain had challenged Elijah and questioned if he was a “Holy Man”.

The captain had been sent by the king at that time Ahaziah to get Elijah to come to him as Elijah had prophesied that the king would not get better having fallen through some balcony railings on the rooftop of his house in Samaria. -

 The king had sent some messengers off to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron, but Elijah had met them on their way and given them a true prophesy from God

Elijah said 'You're not going to get out of that bed you're in—you're as good as dead already.'" Elijah delivered the message and was gone. 2 Kings 1 verse 4 (The Message). The King did not think much of this when the messengers came back and told him what Elijah had said.

I somehow think that was probably a bit of an understatement – I can just imagine him ranting and raving calling for Elijah as he wanted to confront him and wanted Elijah. Hence the captain and fifty solders were dispatched to go and get Elijah and bring him before the king.

Once Ahaziah heard that the captain had been killed he dispatched a second captain and fifty more men to nab Elijah. Elijah is just sitting there when the guard comes along. He says "O Holy Man! King's orders: Come down. And right now!"

Elijah answered, "If it's true that I'm a 'holy man,' lightning strike you and your fifty men!" Immediately a divine lightning bolt struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty. 2 Kings 1 11-12

News gets back to the king and I can just imagine how cross he is this time, and so he sends a third captain and fifty more men. This time the captain is a bit more respectful. I would think seeing the incinerated remains of over 100 men would help focus his mind.

Elijah goes with him to the king and I can imagine King Ahaziah asking Elijah what did you say would happen to me?

Elijah told him, "God's word: Because you sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron, as if there were no God in Israel to whom you could pray, you'll never get out of that bed alive—already you're as good as dead." and he died, exactly as God's word spoken by Elijah had said. 2 Kings 1 16-17 (The Message).

Most of us probably don't have anything to do with prophecy in our day to day lives other than looking at the weather and trying to guess when our British summer will start and it will start to warm up.

But the God of Elijah as recorded in the Old Testament in the Bible is the same God of the New Testament and is the same God of the 21st Century and He has given people the power of prophecy all through the ages including now.

The first two captains of the guards in our story did not recognise God working through Elijah, and sadly suffered as a result. We need to keep our eyes and ears open so we can recognise God at work in people today.

You can read more about what happened to Elijah at this time in our notes from our Bible Study on this passage here. 

This book is all about the political troubles in the late 1960's and riots against the establishment. There is a new terrorist group in town called the Crystal Faction and they want to get in on the act – They are led by Gabriele Schroeder – a tough, daring and utterly fearless woman, who is totally at home killing for pleasure.

Special branch has got to put a stop to all the troubles and this means that Nick Ryder has to try and infiltrate the cell, by pretending to be a mature student. Sadly when results are not immediate, his superiors and the lack of cooperation from MI5 make his life much harder.

And of course the final part of the puzzle is the little rich girl (well not so little really) who is trying to do good but gets caught up with the terrorists having fallen for an Italian.

All good fun and Clare manages to hold the suspense right to the end of the book, making this book 11 week 6 fiction 11 (5 on audio) non fiction 0

It is hard to put into words the weather we have had this last month. Our weather station recorder said we had had 345 mm of rain, though i find this hard to believe as this is over a foot in old money. I know it did say that on the 28th we had over 100mm. The reservoir built below kielder down the Tyne valley was built in an area of high rainfall so we should expect it but this has been exceptional.

Just as it is hard to put the month into words, so it is hard to choose which images conjure up the month. Part of the problem has been the light levels – grey to very dark seems to be the norm.

Being so dark due to lack of light and having a fast moving subject meant that this was taken at ISO 3200 for speed and f5.6 to try and get as much light as possible. Hopefully it captures some element of the speed and force of the water.

Moving a bit further along, whilst trying not to get to soaked I came across this tree that had come down due to the force of the water and it was acting as a natural dam.

For this final image as the light had improved and the water was not moving so fast it allowing me to step down the ISO to 100 – still f5 to try and get as much light in. Normally in the summer this watercourse could be easily jumped, and the bridge is there just to stop walkers getting their feet wet. At the time of taking it was solid water spreading across the field in the distance towards the far trees.

The only good thing about the rain is that the water levels go down nearly as fast as they rise up.

Each image has a link to a larger version of the picture on our fullersfolio site

 

Until I had come across this book on librivox,  I had never heard of Frederick, though I gather that he has written a number of books, either under his own name or that of his pseudonym of William Carleton.

I listened to this book trundling up and down the motorway to the Midlands. - Due to traffic a 12 hour journey, so the book zoomed by. The detail given in the story made it very realistic, especially when our heroes were stuck on the top of a mountain with only an ancient treasure map in the dark trying to escape from the locals who are out to kill them. One wrong step and they will end up in the abyss.

But I am jumping the gun - all that happens after a near escape in the city, progresses to a mutinous open sea voyage, eventually leading to the remotest areas on the slopes of the Andes of South America. Wilson, our hero, finds himself in the midst of a battle between a deposed queen and revolutionists who have banded together in an effort to bring their country together as a republic. Wilson, although torn between helping mercenaries, freedom fighters and revolutionaries, is more concerned with the rescuing of the girl he has fallen in love with, but who has been snatched from him by a mysterious priest. The treasure map is for the famed treasure of El Dorado.

 A gripping story full of mystery and intrigue. This was book 10 week 6 fiction 10 (5 on audio)