Brazil Chronological Series, version 1

THE INTRODUCTION

Who made the stars? Who made all the mountains and rivers? Who made everything? Was it you? Was it Satan? If not, then who?

I am going to tell you about the God that made all that we see. He made the stars and the moon and the sun. He made the woods with the trees and the animals. He made the rivers.... And He even made us.

God wants us to know Him personally, up close. That is why He chose persons to write in a book the words that He had spoken. This book is His message for us.

Listen. I'm going to tell you what God's Book says. This book tells us how God made this world. It also tells us how God can be gracious to us.

It's going to be good to hear what God spoke. Pay attention. You are going to hear good words.

THE CREATION

God tells us in His Book how He made this world. I'm going to tell you what it says.

Long ago there weren't any woods, any rivers, any mountains, any sun, any persons. Nothing. That's how it was in the beginning before God made this world. Nothing else existed - only God. He lived before there was anything else. He has always existed.

You might be thinking, "Well, what did God eat? How could He live if there was not rice or beans?" Listen, God is Spirit and powerful. He doesn't need to eat. He doesn't need anything to live, because He is God.

God decided to make all that we see. He made it how He wanted it. He just spoke and it all appeared. He said: "Let there be night and day." All of a sudden, there was night and day. God is very powerful.

Then God said: "Let there be earth and plants and trees that bear fruit." All that grows began to grow- beans, mandioca, etc.

Then God made the sun and the moon and the stars. He just spoke and they appeared. God also made the fish and the birds and the animals- animals such as the horse, the dog, the alligator. Can you think of other animals? God made them also.

And finally God made the first man and the first woman. The name of the man was Adam. The name of the woman was Eve.

God saw all that He had made and He saw that it was very good. All that God made is good. You have already seen this. God always makes things right. Look at the parrots and the birds, that fly high and fast. They have many pretty feathers. That is because God made them that way.

God made all that we see. There is nothing that God does not know how to make. We know how to make some things, like hats or pots, but God made the trees. Do you know someone who is able to make a tree? Nobody can do that. God can because He is very powerful.

God made the spirits also. After He had made them, some of them disobeyed Him. They didn't want to serve Him anymore. But God has power over all the spirits and He defeated them.

We cannot see God, but we can see what He has made. We ought to give thanks to God. It is He who sends us rain. It is He that sends the sun each day. It is He Who makes all the fruit grow so that we can eat them. God is very kind to us. He is also very powerful. That is why we should never forget to give thanks to God.

THE FALL OF MAN

I have already told you how God made this world. Now I'm going to tell you about the first man and the first woman. You remember their names? The name of the man is Adam. The name of the woman is Eve.

God put Adam in a wonderful garden where many fruit trees grew. There Adam and Eve lived and cared for the trees. It was a marvelous place. They could eat of any of the trees of the garden. There was just one tree whose fruit they could not eat, for God had said to Adam: "Don't eat the fruit of this tree in the midst of the garden. If you eat, certainly you are going to die'"

One day Satan came to the garden and he spoke to Eve. He said to her that she could eat the fruit of the tree that God said they couldn't eat. Eve listened to what Satan said, and was tricked by him. She took of the fruit and ate it. Afterwards, Eve gave some to Adam and he also ate.

That's how Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Now they feared God. They wanted to hide from God, but God found them and expelled them from the garden. They couldn't remain any longer in the presence of God.

God is pure and holy. For this reason they couldn't stay in God's presence any longer. Because Adam and Eve sinned, suffering and sadness came into this world, along with sickness and difficulties and hard things. People began to die. Their spirits were turned away from God.

We do like Adam and Eve did. We listen to Satan. We don't listen to God. Our forefathers did the same thing. They chose to listen to Satan. Satan tricked them so that they believed that Satan had made various animals. Satan told them other stories that aren't true. Satan always lies to us.

But God always tells us the truth. God knows what is best for us. We should always listen to God's words. We shouldn't pay attention to what Satan tells us.

CAIN AND ABEL

I'm going to tell you the story of the children of Adam and Eve. They were the first children to be born here in the world. The name of the first was Cain. The name of the second was Abel. Adam and Eve taught their children about God. Cain grew up and became a farmer. Abel grew up and became a keeper of sheep.

One day, on a special day which God had chosen, Cain and Abel brought presents to God. Cain brought a part of his harvest. Abel brought one of his lambs and killed it to offer to God. God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice but didn't like Cain's present because it wasn't right.

The Cain got really mad at Abel. He went with Abel out into the field. All of a sudden Cain attacked his brother and killed him.

Cain thought that he had killed his brother without anyone else knowing it. But God saw what happened. God asked Cain: "Where is your brother?" Cain responded: "I don't know." But Cain lied.

But God said again: "I see the blood of your brother. I know that you killed him and I'm going to punish you. When you plough the soil, it is not going to give you any produce. You are going to be scared of other people and you are always going to be fleeing.

Cain became very sad. He knew God was right in punishing him. Cain had sinned. He had done wrong against his brother Abel. But he had also done wrong toward God, because it was God that made Abel.

This story teaches us that when we do wrong against other people, we are also doing wrong against God. God made everyone. That is why we should respect other people.

God knows all the evil that we do against other people. He sees what we do in the dark. He knows when we speak badly about a person and when we don't like another person and when we lie and when we scheme on how to do wrong to another person. All this makes God angry with us.

NOAH

Adam and Eve had other children after Abel died. They grew up and also had their own children. Many years passed and the people multiplied. But, these people did evil like Adam and Eve and Cain had done.

God became very sad because He saw all the bad things that they did. There was fighting on every hand. One person was taking vengeance upon another person. God became sad because He knew the evil thoughts of the people. They only thought how to do more evil to one another.

God regretted that He had made people. God let them go on for many years, but no one stopped doing the evil things. Then God decided to destroy all the people and animals on the earth.

But there was one man who loved and obeyed God. His name was Noah. Noah was an upright man. He did what God wanted. He did not like evil. He reproved the other people who could only think about evil.

One day God spoke to Noah and said: "I can't stand any more the sin of this people. I am going to send a great flood. All the people and animals are going to die. Build a large boat! You and your family are going to enter it and you will be safe."

Then Noah began to build the large boat as God had showed him. While Noah built the boat, spoke to the people and told them that God was going to send a flood that would finish off all the people. But they just laughed at Noah. They didn't believe in Noah's words. They kept doing their evil things.

Then God said to Noah: "Gather your family and a male and female of all the animals. Take them with you inside the ark." Oh what a noise they made! After all of them had entered the boat, God Himself closed the door of the boat.

Then it rained and kept on raining. The water arose and covered the fields, and it covered the hills and all the mountains also. All the persons died. But Noah and his family were safe in the boat. They had believed in the words of God.

We can see that God doesn't like evil things. He punished the people in Noah's day because they did badly and they thought badly. God doesn't like sin. When we want to do evil things toward other people, we should remember that God doesn't like evil. We should not revenge the other evil that people do toward us. We should allow God to take vengeance on the evil people have done toward us.

There is coming a day when God is going to punish each person for the evil that they themselves have done. This suffering is going to be very bad; it won't be like the suffering in Noah's day. We ought to think: "What is God going to do with me when He punishes people?" Certainly many people are going to be very sad for the evil that they did when they lived on the earth.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Many years ago God showed how we ought to live in this world. He gave us His commandments. These commandments tell us how we ought to be and how we ought to do toward God. I am going to tell you the commandments of God:

God says that we should not worship other gods. We should worship only Him because He made us.

God says that we shouldn't make any image so that we can worship it. We should not bring presents to any image or spirit whatsoever. We should worship God. We shouldn't worship those images people make, nor should we be afraid of the spirits.

We shouldn't use His name in vain and without respect.

God says that we should work for six days. One day each week we should rest so we can worship God.

I've already told you four of God's commandments. Have you been obeying God's commandments? God is going to punish the people that don't obey His commandments.

There are other commandments of God which tell us how we should be and how we should do toward other people. Listen.

God says that we should respect our father and our mother. We should obey them, we should not speak evil of them, nor should we hit them.

God says that we should not kill other people. When we kill because of anger, we are doing what God doesn't like. We shouldn't even desire that another person die.

God says that we should not commit adultery. A man shouldn't even think about lying with a woman who is not his wife, nor should the woman think of lying with another man who is not her husband. Because God knows all that we think. He does not like evil. Also we should not send our wife away or have more than one wife.

God says that we should not rob - not even cattle, not the crops of another person, not even the possessions of another person.

God says that we should not lie. We should not trick other people God doesn't like lies. He always speaks the truth.

God says we should not want things of other people. Not their house, not their wife, not their ranch, not their animals, not anything that is theirs. We should not be envious of the rich person. We should be satisfied with all that God has given us. We should give thanks to Him.

GOD'S JUDGMENT OF SIN

I have already told you God's Ten Commandments. Have you been obeying His commandments? God is going to punish the person that disobeyed His commandments. But we disobey His commandments every day. It is certain that God is angry with us.

God is going to punish all the people that disobey Him. But God is not going to send another flood as He did in Noah's day. When He punishes the people again, it is going to be worse than that flood.

God is going to send all the evil people to hell, where they are going to suffer forever. They are going to cry. They are going to be sad. There is going to be no one to help them. There is going to be no way to escape from the suffering.

Every person that disobeys any of God's commandments, when that person dies, God is going to send that person to hell. They have to stay there forever because they disobeyed God while they lived.

It is certain that God is going to punish all of us and He is going to send us to hell. Could it be that we can escape this suffering? There is a way of escape. Listen. I am going to tell you how we can escape hell.

INTRODUCTION TO JESUS

God Himself made a way for us to escape when He punishes people for their evil. It is necessary that God send people to hell, but He becomes sad. That is why God made a way for us to escape this suffering.

He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. That way, God doesn't need to punish us. He punished Jesus for our sins instead, because God loves us. Jesus was willing to take the punishment for us.

The story of Jesus is a marvelous story, a true story. Listen, I am going to tell you this story.

Jesus is the only Son of God. Before He came to this earth, He always lived in heaven with God. In heaven, there was not any pain or sadness. Jesus liked heaven because it was beautiful. He liked being with God. In fact, he was also God.

This is how God became a man for a while. God decided to send His Son into this world. About two thousand years ago, Jesus became a man. The mother of Jesus was Mary. Mary give birth to Jesus when she was still a virgin. When Jesus was born it was a miracle because Mary had never slept with a man. God told Mary that she should name the baby Jesus. The name Jesus means "Saviour".

As Jesus grew, He always did good toward other people. He never disobeyed any commandments. Satan wanted Jesus to do bad, but Jesus didn't listen to Him.

THE MINISTRY OF JESUS

When Jesus was thirty years old, He began to teach other people. He spoke and told people that they should leave their sins and that they should believe in the good news that He brought (Mark 1:15). He said that God cared very much for the people.

Jesus cured many sick people. I'm going to tell you a miracle Jesus did. (Mark 2:1-12)

One day Jesus was teaching inside a house. People heard he was there and a great crowd gathered. Four men carried a paralyzed man to Jesus. They could not reach Jesus because of the many people in the house. So they made a hole in the flat roof. They let the man down through the hole right in front of Jesus." Jesus saw their trust in Him. He said to the man, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Some religious leaders were angry that Jesus said this. They said, "God is the only One who can forgive sins!" They did not understand that Jesus was the Son of God. Then Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Get up, pick up your mat, and go home." The man was healed! He got up, picked up his mat, and walked home!

My friends this story teaches us that Jesus is able to cleanse us from our sins. No one else is able to cleanse us. Jesus is able because He is the Son of God.

Jesus also expelled demons from people. I am going to tell you how Jesus cured a young boy. (Mark 9:14-31)

The father brought his son to the followers of Jesus. He asked them to cast out the evil spirit. But they could not. Then Jesus came. When the evil spirit saw Jesus it made the boy have a terrible fit. He fell down and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. The man had very little hope that Jesus could help them. But Jesus said, "Everything is possible for him who believes." Jesus commanded the evil spirit, "Come out of him, and never enter him again." The spirit screamed and came out of the boy. He was completely healed.

We see that Jesus has more power than the evil spirits. He knows what they do. (Read Luke 11:24-26). Therefore only Jesus has power to expel the demons. When Jesus is leading us, the evil spirits can't enter our hearts.

THE DEATH OF JESUS

For three years Jesus taught people. The people liked Him. They always gathered to hear His words. But the leaders of the people became envious of Jesus. They didn't like Jesus because He spoke of their sins. That's why they became very angry with him, and they tried to find a way to kill him.

One night they grabbed Jesus and took Him before the judges. They spoke against Jesus and said He had done evil things. But Jesus never did anything bad against people or against God. Jesus always obeyed God's commands.

But the leaders of the people got what they wanted. Jesus was nailed to a cross. He had nails in His hands and feet. After much suffering and pain, Jesus died.

God saw all that happened when Jesus died. God let the leaders kill Jesus because God knew that Jesus died for our sins. God punished Jesus, not for His sins, because Jesus had never sinned. God punished Jesus for our sins. That's why Jesus is our Saviour. He loved us so much He was willing to die for us.

THE RESURRECTION

After Jesus died, some friends of His took His body from the cross and they put it in a cave. But Jesus didn't stay in that cave. Three days after He died, Jesus lived again. God has power. He made Jesus live again. The body of Jesus was the same body He had before He died. Many people saw Jesus after He lived again. They saw the wounds in His hands and feet.

After Jesus lived again, He appeared to His followers. For forty days He taught them. Afterwards, Jesus returned to heaven. His followers saw when Jesus returned to heaven. He went up into a cloud and he disappeared inside the cloud.

Now Jesus is in heaven. Again He is with God. Now Jesus is the Lord, the great leader that runs everything on this earth. He has more power than all the leaders, all the authorities, all the tribal chiefs. The powers of the witch doctors and the evil spirits and Satan are less than Jesus' power.

Some day Jesus is going to return. All people are going to see His great power.

THE TWO ROADS

There are two roads in this world. One goes to heaven and the other goes to hell.

Many people have walked on the road that goes to hell. It isn't hard to walk on this road, because the road is wide. Also, the people never walk alone. They always have many people with them. But the wide road arrives in hell where all the people are going to suffer forever together with the evil spirits.

But the road that goes to heaven has few people walking on it. It is difficult for them to travel this road because the road is narrow and hard. Many times they have to walk alone. But this road arrives in heaven where God lives. In heaven is no pain or sadness-nothing of evil.

All of us begin this life traveling the wide road. The people on the wide road always think of themselves. They think of how to get more cattle, more money, more possessions - all of it for themselves. They think of how to be respected by everyone and how they can be important people.

The people on the wide road like to do evil: drinking, fighting, taking other people's wives. They like to speak badly of other people. They like to laugh at others.

The people who walk on this narrow road are of another type. They always think about love and what God wants. They always give thanks to God. They listen to God's commandments and obey them. They think about how they can do good toward other people.

Also, they don't like evil. They are not companions with those who drink and fight and grab other people's women. They don't like to speak evil of others. They like to do what God wants.

Why are they this way? It is because God cleaned the sins from their hearts. So that, God isn't angry with them any more. God gave His Spirit that lives in them now. They no longer fear death, nor do they fear evil spirits.

How is it that these people got on the narrow road? I'm going to tell you. They recognized they had done wrong against God. They became sad when they thought of the evil they had done against God. They knew that God was right when He said that He was going to punish them.

They did more than become sad. They told God that they were wrong. They humbled themselves before God. They told God all their sins. They didn't hide anything. They asked God to cleanse their evil. Also, they decided not to return to their old life. They left their sins.

The persons on the narrow road trust in Jesus to save them - because God punished Jesus for their sins. That is why they love Jesus. They believe Jesus is their own Saviour. They accept Jesus as their Lord. They let Him rule in their hearts. They think that to do Jesus' will is much more important than anything else.

On which road are you walking? Are you walking on the narrow road or the wide road?

Many people that walk on the wide road want to leave that road, but they stay on that road. They agree with what this tape says. They think: "That tape is true." They know that they are doing evil but they stay on the wide road. They stay with the multitude until they arrive in hell.

Listen! Jesus lives. He is the Lord. He says to all of us that we ought to leave our sins and trust in Him. If we don't do this, He is going to punish us on the day He returns.

Do you want to enter onto the narrow road, the Jesus Road? I'm going to tell you how you can.

Talk with God. You can talk with Him right now. God is everywhere. He will hear what you say to Him.

Tell Him that you are very sad because you disobeyed His commandments. Humble yourself before Him and tell Him your sins. Tell Him you are going to leave your sins. Trust in Jesus to save you, since God punished Jesus for your sins. Let Jesus rule your heart (and life).

REVISED 14TH MAY 1987