A VERY PRESENT HELP Testimony to the Faithfulness of God Sir William Dobbie Book Review

A Very Present Help: A Testimony to the Faithfulness of GodSir William George Shedden Dobbie, author

1945 Zondervan Publishing House (third edition)

Recommended Book

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46: 1 KJV


 First published by Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Ltd., London, England, 1944. This edition published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1945.

William Shedden Dobbie gives us the story of his childhood and testimony of salvation during his teen years, each Christian’s call to follow the path that the Lord has chosen, and following that his entry into service where he played a key role during World War II for England.

“God does not always call us to walk in the path which one would choose oneself. We may think that we could serve Him better in some other calling. But God makes no mistake. He knows what He wants, and what is best.”

Dobbie writes of placing complete trust in God, and witnessing faith by never being ashamed of the Gospel – that is, for others to know of our faith. He writes about what the Bible says about Christians being in military service as opposed to pacifism, and of God’s righteousness and peace.

A Very Present Help demonstrates a life lived fully within God’s will, from the time of personal commitment and thereafter. Dobbie demonstrates how he never walked without God at his side, and explains the necessity of the daily “spiritual meal” consisting of two courses – prayer and study of Scripture. He gives three ways of discerning God’s will for ourselves – from the Bible, circumstances, and inward revelation – all of which follows first being right with God.

The author closes the book with the following thought.

Pacifism in the present state of the world may be little less than a sacrifice of Christian principle to humanitarian sentiment. The Christian attitude must be “Righteousness at any cost,” not “Peace at any price,” for the best way to preserve peace is to be strong in righteousness.

babamarusia recommends this book

I recommend this book for both reading and discussion, for the young adult and older. Issues addressed in this book, along with those that arise from reading it, are important in every era. What is our concept as Christians as to when war is to be participated in and fought? Is righteousness more important than attempting world peace? Where is God’s hand in the world, and what is to be our role? Does God call Christians to military? Is it more difficult to witness ourselves as Christians at all times in 2009 as compared to 1944?

Black & White Photograph Plates
1. Frontispiece: Lieut.-General Sir William Dobbie, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., D.S.O

2. Map shows position of Malta in relation to Sicily and the Italian mainland. Top—the harbor of Valetta, with British men-of-war at anchor. Bottom—One of the big coastal guns.

3. a. On the eve of war – British warships at Malta. b. A German plane bombing Malta – one of over 2,100 air raids endured, earning for the island the unenviable record of being “the most blitzed spot on earth.”

4. a. “Alpine climbing” in Malta after an Axis air raid. b. One of thirty underground shelters in which the heroic citizens of Malta slept and lived during the long siege.

5. On Sunday, June 20, 1943, His Majesty King George VI visited Malta. This photo was taken as H.M.S. “Aurora” entered the grand harbor. It shows the King on the bridge saluting the heroic island fortress, prior to landing.

6. Premier Winston Churchill visited Malta in November, 1943.

Contents
1. The Crisis of 1940
2. The Beginning of the Way
3. The Christian and the World
4. The Life – Letting God Guide
5. Christianity and Military Service
6. God – a Very Present Help
7. Prayer – Contact with God
8. The Bible – God’s Word
9. Service – for the King of Kings
10. The Miracle of Malta (a) The Problem of Defense
11. The Miracle of Malta (b) The Solution of the Problem
12. The Miracle of Malta (c) The Hand of God
13. The Nation and God
14. Christ the Friend
Appendix to Chapter 5

Publisher: Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI
Copyright: 1945 by Zondervan Publishing House
OCLC: 3502282
Printing: third edition
Format: Hardcover
Size: 20 cm
Pages: 135 + black & white plates

Mary and Rick May own QualityMusicandBooks.com, an online music book and gifts webstore. 

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP Dietrich Bonhoeffer Book Review

The Cost of Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Author

translated from the German Nachfolge first published by Chr. Kaiser Verlag Münschen by R.H. Fuller, with some revision by Irmgard Booth.

Publisher: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
ISBN 10: 0-684-81500-1
ISBN 13: 978-0-684-81500-8
Publication date: 1 September 1995
Retail price: $15.00

babamarusia's Review: I recommend this book.
Since my first encounter with pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I have been enamored by how clearly he can put into words the essence of deep theological thought. As with the British teacher Oswald Chambers, Bonhoeffer didn’t live a long life, and as a matter of fact both died during a war—one with war as the cause, the other far away from home ministering to those who fought in the war. One lived imprisoned by the destructors of WWII, one lived and moved freely, leading many soldier in Egypt to Jesus Christ during WWI. Both were energetic in their faith, each given great wisdom that can only come from God through diligent daily study of the Living Word.

That God gives to some more than others is true. This doesn’t mean that wisdom is gleaned only to a faithful few, but in fact it is open to all of us. In chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells the parable of the sower. He tells us, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (NIV).

Certainly there are variable factors, but what is common to all is the diligence of study. Daily study is the key, and this doesn’t mean reading through the Bible—as beneficial as that may be—it means study. Think of how you might prepare a text on which you will be examined. You read it, and read it again. You look for what it is telling you, and learn the important points well enough to remember them. This is also the key to study of the Holy Bible, except that it is not us seeking out what is important, it is God bringing to us what He wants us to understand in His Living Word.

Perhaps the best known of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s offerings is his book, The Cost of Discipleship. Though some may find it difficult to comprehend, I don’t think it beyond an adult Christian’s capability of understanding, and well worth reading and making the effort for the message inside.

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church.
We are fighting today for costly grace.

What is the cost? What are we to make of Bonhoeffer declaring that grace has a price? Is the underlying message of such a statement heretical? I propose not, as is proved out by the reading of his book. Should you take only two words, costly grace, that absolutely seems to be a heresy. To do so, however, is to take out of context the complete message, and is no different than taking verses from the Bible to prove whatever one wants to prove.

Grace is free. Period. What is grace? It is God’s mercy, it is complete forgiveness of remorseful sin. Forgiveness without remorse is cheap, and it is false. As Bonhoeffer states, “cheap grace is the forgiveness of the sin without forgiveness of the sinner.” Costly grace came with a price, the price was the brutal execution of God’s Son who had no sin, Jesus Christ. Jesus was obedient to his calling, though in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed for his Father in heaven to take the cross away.

Our cost is insignificant compared to the godly price. Our cost is remorse—the understanding of our true human nature that has no ability to live sinless. It is the understanding that someone who never did a wrong thing to us or anyone gave His life, and painfully so was the accomplishment of that fact. Our cost is the turning away from the nature of the world, turning our backs on a future that is short-lived without hope of change to a future where there is positive change to growing goodness and a forever throughout eternity.

I am currently leading a class that is studying the Bible along with The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We are exploring what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, and what God’ Living Word speaks to us in 2009 on this subject. The fact of the matter is that the year 2009 is the same as when Jesus lived, and that without God it is impossible for the standards are humanly beyond reach.

What seems to be going in a circular direction, in Bonhoeffer’s book become truths. That God calls us to himself first is true, and the grace bestowed upon us is true, yet faith must also be present. When faith is present there must also be obedience.

“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."

Without belief (faith) there can be no obedience to the Christian way of life, and without obedience (in the following of Jesus’ teaching on the Christian life) faith will wax and wain.

I highly recommend The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as I also recommend the reading of any of his books.

Hello! I am babamarusia (Mary Katherine May), and with my husband, Rick we own Quality Music and Books. Our retail store in Minneapolis, Minnesota is open by appointment during the move to our new location, but our online webstore is always open. To go to our website, please CLICK HERE.

REQUIEM CD for FATHER KOLBE by Wojciech Kilar Reviewed by Mary Katherine May

Who was Father Kolbe?

Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe was born Rajmund Kolbe on 8 January, 1894, Those who know his story cannot help but understand how the way he lived his life continues to have a significant effect on Christians of all denominations and non-denominations.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -- John 15:12,13

Father Kolbe lived a life of service. He operated a radio station, and hid refugees and Jews from the Nazi regime. His ultimate gift, perhaps his true purpose in life, came during this time--not only for the saving of a life but also for the witness of his life given for the whole world.

Father Maximilian Kolbe, named the "Saint of Auschwitz" voluntarily substituted himself for another man, part of a group of ten, chosen to die by starvation as an example following the escape of a fellow prisoner. Locked in a cell with the other men, he continued to uplift his fellow prisoners, and after many weeks with no food or water he was murdered by lethal injection.

Who is Wojciech Kilar?
Kilar is a classically oriented Polish composer who has also written film scores.

Review: Requiem for Father KolbeYou may find it interesting to know that as I listened to the work I thought it sounded like a film score. It turns out that this is exactly what it is. Written for the film " A Life for a Life," the Requiem is beautiful for its stark and dark character as well as for the creative use of Polish folksongs and orchestrated effects. Kilar's imaginative orchestration of scales left me wondering a few times, "How did he do that?" At one point there is a shout, just as you might hear while dancing a polka.

I did not find fault at all with the sections that were dark, severe and stark because it is within the nature of the theme. One motive sounded like an off-toned "Beautiful Savior" to me. The close of the requiem was joyous and triumphant, cacophonous in nature and very exciting. I feel that Kilar has created an excellent composition musically and thematically for the subject presented.

I recommend this CD.

Reviewed by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.