Not only did Rees Howells pray through to victory in World War 2, but his book on dictators was even sent to Hitler
The astounding story of the Bible College of Wales during World War 2
Rees Howells’ God Challenges the Dictators: Doom of Axis Powers Predicted
By Mathew Backholer
By Faith Media
The inspiring life of prayer warrior Rees Howells, and his Bible College of Wales, powerfully impacted the Christian public.
Add the accounts of the College’s staff and students praying day and night during World War 2, and you have an amazing story.
Howells wrote letters to Churchill
‘God Challenges the Dictators’ was the only book Rees Howells wrote in his lifetime, at the start of World War 2.
As a former student and staff member of the Bible College, Mathew Backholer has taken the book’s complete text of that book and annotated it, setting it in the context of the rise of Hitler and Nazism. He includes letters which Howells wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and many others.
He began the Bible College of Wales with two shillings in his pocket
According to the book jacket, “Copies of [the book] were sent to British government officials and prime ministers, and extracts were aired over occupied parts of Europe, while Hitler and leading Nazi officials were sent copies!” The book also contains photographs, press releases and newspaper articles, explaining the work of the College during the war years.
Rees Howells was a man who, alongside his wife, walked the walk of faith – first as a missionary in Africa and then in his beloved Wales. He began the Bible College of Wales with two shillings in his pocket.
Howells never made any appeals for money
When war broke out, the College stopped its normal activity. Staff and students committed themselves to coming together to pray three times a day, with their main prayer times from 7pm to midnight; they never missed a day.
They also cared for 1,000 Jewish refugee children
As God gave the conviction, other activities were added, including a school for missionary children, and caring for 1,000 Jewish refugee children. Howells’s most remarkable achievement was that he never made any appeals for money. His guiding principle was to teach the lessons he had learnt early in his life – walking by faith and telling his needs only to his heavenly Father. He proved God in a remarkable way.
Mathew Backholer has written many books on revival, including a biography of Samuel Rees Howells, Rees Howells’s son, who became principal of the College after his father’s death. Some years ago, I had the opportunity to make a series of programmes on revival with the author. His passion is to see revival break out again in our nation, and for the principles that Rees Howells applied to his own life to become the norm for the Church of today.
Oh Church arise!
Want to learn biblical Hebrew? Here’s a good place to start
Discover fresh shades of meaning lost in English translations
Hebrew Lessons for Beginners from the New Testament
By Rosamund Weissman
Fresh Olive Press
If you have ever dreamt of trying to learn Hebrew, this is the book for you.
It is not intended for serious Bible scholars studying for theological exams; rather, it introduces Christians to the Hebrew language.
His source of vocabulary was the Old Testament
Rosamund Weissman has a Jewish background and came to faith in her Messiah while studying law at Nottingham University in 1976. When she was 18, she spent eight months in Israel studying Hebrew on a kibbutz. Her husband, Robert, has spent most of his life in Jewish missions as an evangelist, and has written some of the lessons in the book.
Rosamund longs for believers to deepen their understanding of the Hebraic background of the New Testament. She explains how the Hebrew language was revived through Eliezer Ben Yehuda (and others) when they landed back in the Land in 1881. Ben Yehuda’s source of vocabulary was the Old Testament.
But how could he create words such as pencil and bicycle, which are not found in the Old Testament? You will need to read the book to find out how!
Lesson one describes the Hebrew letters and vowels. Lesson two tells you how to read Hebrew. The remaining lessons, all using Scripture as their reference point, help readers to understand topics such as the names of God, titles of Jesus, the Jewish calendar, the cross, the Holy Spirit and more.
“I defy you not to stop reading and bow down in worship”
Another reviewer wrote: “[This book] both informs the mind and warms the heart. Even believers of long standing will gain extra shades of meaning from the Scriptures otherwise hidden in translation… On page 29 you will read something astonishing, which can only be explained from the fact that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God down to the very letters the Holy Spirit employed. I defy you not to stop reading and bow down in worship.
“Here is a book to fuel your love for the Bible and for the Christ at the heart of the Bible.”