God and Churchill: How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours

by Jonathan Sandys (Co-Author), Wallace Henley (Co-Author)

When Winston Churchill was a boy of sixteen, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. “This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion . . . I shall be in command of the defences of London . . . it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire.”

It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II. But Churchill persevered, on a mission to achieve his purpose. God and Churchill tells the remarkable story of how one man, armed with belief in his divine destiny, embarked on a course to save Christian civilization when Adolf Hitler and the forces of evil stood opposed. It traces the personal, political, and spiritual path of one of history’s greatest leaders and offers hope for our own violent and troubled times.

More than a spiritual biography, God and Churchill is also a deeply personal quest. Written by Jonathan Sandys (Churchill’s great-grandson) and former White House staffer Wallace Henley, God and Churchill explores Sandys’ intense search to discover his great-grandfather―and how it changed his own destiny forever.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Christian, World War II, Religion, Faith

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Jonathan Sandys is a great-grandson of Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, and is an international public speaker and author of 'GOD & CHURCHILL: How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed his Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours'.

Since 2005, Jonathan has been communicating the morals, values and leadership skills of his great-grandfather and those of the "Greatest Generation" to both young and old alike, in a vibrant and interactive way.

Though born ten years after his illustrious relative's passing, Jonathan very much credits Churchill's legacy as a major positive influence in his life. As a result, Jonathan found the "Never, Never, Never Give In" attitude of Churchill made it possible for him to rise above the challenges of dyslexia and social isolation and achieve success. Jonathan's life mission is to use both the experiences of his great-grandfather and his own to encourage and inspire people of all ages and walks of life to "Never Surrender!"

Reviews

[Katherine Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

God & Churchill isn’t my typical read, nor is this shaping up to be my typical review. Instead it seems to be landing somewhere between a review and an exhortation. To start, let me just say that after reading this book, I’m convinced that lessons learned from and about Churchill, particularly in regard to his faith, are supremely relevant to our generation today.

If when you started reading this post you simply skimmed past the book description, go back and read that first paragraph again. The fact of Churchill’s eerily accurate premonition is both fascinating and well documented. His vision laid the foundation for every substantial decision that followed. Could he have become the great leader he was (arguably the 20th century’s most pivotal one) without a foundation of the Judeo-Christian belief system? After reading the underpinning role of Christian faith in Winston Churchill’s life, I believe not. The Prime Minister was at his core an ethical man. He once said, “…someone told me that Ethics were concerned not merely with the things you ought to do, but with why you ought to do them” (p.13). Christianity is what gave Churchill his why.

Before reading this biography, I knew next to nothing about Winston Churchill’s early years or his private life. Upon learning about several key events in his earlier years, the significance of them cannot be dismissed. “Churchill could not have known at the time how all of these events, high adventures, miraculous unscathings, and even the most dire setbacks and failures were preparing him for the day when his number would be called to step up and lead the free world against the incursions of tyranny” (p.46).

Though it may be stating the obvious, if Churchill was the great hero of the story of World War II, Hitler was the villain. And again, it cannot be denied that these two were pitted against each other, on behalf of nations, in a battle of life or death. The personal parallels between these two men are fascinating. For instance, Hitler, like Churchill, “was sixteen years old when he predicted a grandiose role for himself in the future” (p.49). Even more fascinating–and for us, more troubling–are the parallels between the rise of Nazism and the rise of terrorism–ISIS in particular–in our day.

If there is one overarching theme to Churchill’s life, it is God’s sovereignty. While the first part of this book is an interesting–if, at times a bit dry–analysis of Churchill’s life, leadership, and the study of his faith, the last part is the most relevant. Within its pages, I found hope, and yes, even guidance, for our time. If you read this book (and if you are a serious student of today’s current events, I recommend you do), and you read but one chapter, may it be this one: Churchill and the Character of Leadership. One year from today, we Americans will have elected a new president. In the next twelve months, our responsibility toward that end has never been keener. It’s up to us, today, to educate ourselves on the candidates, the issues, and what’s at stake. It’s up to us to elect a president who will, because of his or her character, rise to meet the unparalleled challenges we face as a nation and on the world stage. I don’t believe I’m using hyperbole to say that the fate of civilization as we know it may depend on our choice. Just as it did for the British people in Churchill’s time.

Thanks to Tyndale House for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

[Taylor Rollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine with some helpful aspects to in, which I will get to, but it also was disappointing in other ways.

My first disappointment was how hard the authors worked to try to squeeze Churchill into a mold of being a man driven by Scripture and Christianity. They admit on a number of occasions that Churchill was not a pious or religious person, but then they also tried to show that he was driven first and foremost by Christian principles. I am no Churchill expert, by any stretch, but it seemed to me that their attempts to align Churchill's personal principles with Scriptural backing was forced. They do a whole chapter on the Sermon on the Mount, but all the attempts at paralleling Churchill's motivations to this passage were basically a kind of "Well, what he did was like this, so it could have been that this was his driving ethical fuel," yet that does not demonstrate anything necessary. It was the ethical equivalent of a "poc hoc, ergo propter hoc" fallacy. And, when they did show Churchill as quoting the Bible, it seemed that it could just as easily have been a political move as it was principled, and they did not demonstrate that it was principled. I am not saying this to try to say to discourage anyone from respecting Churchill's ethical values and stances, but I do not think they made a good case for saying he was even a Christian, much less someone driven by Christian principles.

I was also disappointed by how much this book seemed to push the idea that "Christian civilization" and "the Kingdom of God" are the same thing. Much of the book was about Churchill wanting to defend "Christian civilization," which may very well have been high on his priority list, but then it also tried to argue that God raised up Churchill to defend the Kingdom of God by defending Christian civilization against the Nazis, thus equating Western Civilization based on Christian principles with the Kingdom of God. Those two things are not the same. The Kingdom of God is wherever God's saving power is going forth through His gospel; not wherever Christian principles inform societal norms. There is a line in the last summary chapter of the book that I think represents this: "Perhaps Churchill, knowing the Bible as he did, saw Hitler’s dream of the Third Reich as one of these rival empires to Jesus’ Kingdom of love, grace, goodness, peace, and joy." While Hitler's Reich was evil and even demonic, I do not think we can say it was a rival of Jesus' Kingdom, nor can we say that Churchill was a deliver of that Kingdom that God raised up. Jesus' Kingdom is not of this world, as He said so Himself, so no empire of this world can rival it, even if it tries to. In fact, the book of Daniel would show this clearly: even the successful Babylonian and Persian empires that politically ruled Israel did not stop or rival God's Kingdom during their reign. They could not, since the Kingdom of God is spiritual; not physical.

Now, I did appreciate their historical sketch of Churchill that they painted, which was helpful to know and really what I was looking for from this book. I also appreciated how they did some helpful historical comparison between the rise of Nazism and our time, which is dealing with similar threats from ideologies that want people to submit or be eliminated. In our polarized political scene, there are a few ideologies that are vying for power and using the same tactics that Hitler did when he was consolidating his power. The authors note: "One of Hitler’s great aims was to silence the church’s prophetic voice. To mute those who were speaking out against the regime, the Nazis followed a progression that is often still used today in political debate: caricature marginalize vilify criminalize eliminate." We see this same pattern in our culture today. Yet, the difference is that this is not a foreign power. Even when it comes to terrorism like ISIS, it is not a consolidating foreign power with which a country can wage war if it were necessary. Yet, the historical perspective is a good one to have to help us think about our times and what needs to change if we are not going to follow the same route Germany did.

Even though I do not agree with their attempt to create a spiritual sketch of Churchill, at the same time, their chapter on "Churchill and the Character of Leadership" is good. It gives a sketch of a kind of leader who uses authority well and does not just seek power. (In fact, their distinction between authority and power is also important.) People of our time would do well to read such a sketch of leadership and then analyze political candidates based on it and not who can give us power.

So, overall, I am glad I read this book, and it was a helpful introduction for me to Churchill. It has issues as I described above, but I do think I am better for reading it.

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book. Churchill believed since he was a teen that he had a sense of destiny that would safe Great Britain. He believed that Providence (God) prepared him for this task. The book compares the times of the 30s and 40s with today and says we need leaders of Churchill's kind to lead us now while keeping Judeo-Chrisitian values that made us great. The author compares Hilter's time to what the Western world faces today. Will we great the leaders we need to prevent the disasters ahead?

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

History, 5 stars. Spectacular. Perfect.
Overarching theme of trying to shove spirituality into Churchill’s biography? 2 stars.
There’s no doubt that Churchill believed in God, knew the Bible inside out, and held Christian civilisation as the best in the world. But there’s also little doubt that he was barely religious, and saw the spiritual realm more in art than in prayer. Trying to take his speeches, which were edited ad nauseam for specific audiences, and imply that he believed what he said, rather than simply quoting scripture as a book, is far fetched, given that Churchill wrote enough to fill three libraries, and nowhere in his personal letters or diaries can we find what the authors are trying to imply is there. We have more evidence of his preference in whiskey glasses than we have of any personal relationship with God, and the whole “God chose him for X, Y, or Z” is tenuous, for me. I mean, if God chose him to lead Britain through WW2, wouldn’t it have been wiser for God to choose him to be PM 10 years earlier and stop Germany before it all started, saving countless lives?
Another small point? Too much Hitler. In 15 chapters, at least 4 are almost entirely about how Nazi Germany was spiritually naughty, with Churchill hardly making a cameo.
Is it worth reading, yes. Do I wish it were lighter on stretching facts to fit a mold that they just can’t fill? Also yes. Would I read more from these authors? Absolutely. As historians and writers, they’re phenomenal. And I admire and share their strong Christian beliefs; I just don’t feel the need to strain credulity gnats to find my faith in my heroes.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's refreshing to read a new take on someone so well covered, so when I saw God & Churchill pop up on NetGalley, I had to go for it. I really enjoyed this new perspective. I thought most sections were strong and well written, especially those about Churchill's earlier years. The weakest section of this book, by far, is the last. I wish that whole section had been cut. It would have made for a much stronger ending. The whole "modern day" aspect just felt out of place and awkward. But, despite of that, I thought this was an enjoyable read.

**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Steve Worsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very worthwhile book. All too often, today's secular spirituality is projected back on to the stories of past figures. So this look at the spiritual influences on Churchill feels refreshing and honest. It was fascinating to hear about his sense of destiny/calling, first expressed at age 16, as well as the profound christian influence on him by his nanny. Churchill's knowledge of scripture and his constant quoting of it together with his frequent reference to 'Christian civilization' tell us a lot about where he stood, even if he was not an outwardly devout church attender.

The parallel story of Hitler, his own sense of calling also from age 16, and the influences of Wagner and Nietzsche were fascinating.

Consideration of how the world may have looked if Churchill had never lived is very sobering.

I struggled a little with the talk of 'christian civilization' at the heart of the British Empire who committed many atrocities in other people's countries. But I recognize that those atrocities weren't committed by Churchill and he may at his point in history, have been unaware of the extent of them.

This book also got me thinking more about how God guides the world's leaders and about parallels between Churchill's day and ours. Putin's invasion of Ukraine, talk of China doing similar in Taiwan, and a rogue, nuclear capable North Korea make the thought of a new world war far from imaginary. And meanwhile the inexplicable adoration that so many Americans have for megalomaniac Donald Trump, and willingness to believe anything he says regardless how far fetched, and Trump's blatant attacks on democracy show striking parallels to Hitler. As such, the historical amnesia the book talks about is hugely concerning. I'm very glad I read it.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I concur with Lech Wałęsa, the great Polish leader who played a vital role in helping end the Cold War, who said: 'Sooner or later we will have to go back to our fundamental values, back to God, the truth, the truth which is in God.'" (loc 181)

"Churchill was small and often the object of bullying, but he overcame it all through the force of his ego, strong will, and persistence. Such struggles shaped in Churchill the attitude that he would articulate one day: 'Never give in, never give in, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.'" (loc 208)

"Among the unique factors that made Churchill who he was, Mrs. Everest's role is major. Sandys and Henley do not pretend that she made hi a deeply religious man. However, she gave Churchill a love for the King James Bible and an understanding of the ways in which Christianity formed a 'certain way of life' (in Churchill's own words) that he spoke of again and again as 'Christian civilization.' He was passionate in its defense, as the many references to it in his speeches demonstrates." (217)

"As my great-grandfather once said, 'Words, which are on proper occasions the most powerful engines, lose their weight and power and values when they are not backed by fact or winged by truth, when they are obviously the expression of a strong feeling, and are not related in any way to the actual facts of the situation.' Those words became my standard..." (loc 320)

"But the most important thing I [Wallace Henley] did while working at the White House was to participate in a prayer breakfast every Thursday morning in the West Wing. Those gatherings brought me into contact with people who believed that God works through the events of history. I had never thought much about that, but I was intrigued. When Proverbs 21:1 says, 'The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will,' was it more than simply beautiful poetry? Does God raise up leaders and bring them down, as the prophet Daniel says?" (loc 364)

"In 1990, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union and of Eastern European communism, I assisted a British agency in responding to numerous urgent requests from former Soviet Bloc nations for conferences to equip leaders. Communism, I saw, had devoured the leadership infrastructure of the nations it had controlled - in families, churches, school, governments, and businesses. The church had played a key role in overthrowing of communism, and many people were now seeking help from the very institution that had once been all but banned in most of their nations." (loc 373)

"Though he respected Britain's rich historic traditions, he had no need for pomp. After the Second World War had ended, Churchill's wife, Clementine, asked her husband what memorial he would prefer. 'Oh, nothing,' he replied. 'Perhaps just a park for the children to play in.'" (9)

"It would be easy to attribute his lofty adolescent prediction [that he would be very prominent in the defense of London and England during disaster] to an overwrought quest for the recognition, acceptance, affirmation, and significance that his parents had not provided, except for the fact that what he predicted came curiously and remarkably true." (11)

"As it was I passed through a violent and aggressive anti-religious phase which, had it lasted, might easily have made me a nuisance. My poise was restored during the next few years by frequent contact with danger. I found that whatever I might think and argue, I did not hesitate to ask for special protection when about to come under the fire of the enemy: nor to feel sincerely grateful when I got home safe to tea." (16)

"I realised with awful force that no exercise of my own feeble wit and strength could save me from my enemies, and that without the assistance of that High Power which interferes in the eternal sequence of causes and effects more often than we are always prone to admit, I could never succeed. I prayed long and earnestly for help and guidance. My prayer, as it seems to me, was swiftly and wonderfully answered." (37) // when escaping from a POW camp during the Boer War

"...what they do not see or realise is the capacity of the ancient and mighty nations against whom Germany is warring to endure adversity, to put up with disappointment and mismanagement, to recreate and renew their strength, to toil on with boundless obstinacy through boundless suffering to the achievement of the greatest cause for which men have fought." (54)

"Upon hearing that Churchill was to serve on the French front, his friend Violent Bonham Carter wrote to him: 'For one who knows as you do what he has to offer the world, it is a very great thing to risk it all as you are doing. So fine a risk to take that I can't help rejoicing proudly that you should have done it.'" (54)

"Upon his arrival at battalion headquarters, a ruin called Ebenezer Farm, Churchill received an icy reception from the troops. Undaunted, he pressed ahead with making the proper introductions, and soon his personality and wit won the day. Before long, he commanded the respect and good wishes of everyone under his leadership - a remarkable feat considering the untenable nature of his situation: an international disgrace, stepping down from the Admiralty under a cloud, and now serving among troops who neither liked nor trusted him. However, on reflection, the years Churchill had spent in Parliament, and the times he had been cast aside by those he once considered friends had prepared him for this great challenge. 'It will always be a source of pride to me that I succeeded in making myself perfectly at home with these men and formed friendships which I enjoy to-day. It took about forty-eight hours to wear through their nature prejudice again "politicians" of all kinds, but particularly of the non-Conservative brands.'" (55)

"When great causes are on the move in the world... we learn that we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells 'duty.' - Winston S. Churchill, The Unrelenting Struggle" (75)

"As Churchill left Buckingham Palace after his meeting with the king [to be made PM], his bodyguard, Walter Thompson, stated the truth that was on both of their minds: 'You have an enormous task.' With tears welling in his eyes, Churchill replied, 'God alone knows how great it is... I hope that it is not too late. I am very much afraid that it is. We can only do our best.'" (82)

"'If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.'" (83)

"We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God ca give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival... I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men." (84)

"A number of people waiting outside the private entrance greeted him with cries of 'Good luck, Winnie. God bless you.' He was visibly moved, and as soon as we were inside the building, he dissolved into tears. 'Poor people,' he said, 'poor people. They trust me, and I can give them nothing but disaster for quite a long time.'" (84) // Lord Hastings Ismay memoirs

on Western/Christian civilization and the individual's rights (93)

"The Greek word prautes actually refers to strength under proper restraint. A common example is that of a mighty stallion under control of a bridle. But true meekness is not baed on external restraint, for that would imply an inner weakness that required the control and enforcement of law. Rather, the idea is that of self-control. . . Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon the appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there be within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." (95)

"'The finest combination in the world is power and mercy,' Churchill wrote to his mother, Jennie, in 1919. 'The worst combination is weakness and strife.' . . . Both power and mercy were evident in Churchill's speech to the House of Commons on July 14, 1970, when he said, 'We may show mercy - we shall ask for none.'" (97)

"Churchill understood Jesus' words in personal terms. 'The old man is very good to me,' he once remarked to Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe. 'What old man?' Fyfe asked. 'God,' Churchill replied." (119) // Paul Addison Churchill: The Unexpected Hero

"Churchill may have been a humanist, but he was one in the sense of classical Christian humanism - which, unlike secular humanism, starts with God at the center. Whatever is good in human beings is because of the indwelling presence of God." (120)

"'...[we] are fighting by ourselves alone; but we are not fighting for ourselves alone.'" (123)

"Andrus told the prisoners: 'Be informed that the considerate treatment you receive here is not because you merit it, but because anything less would be unbecoming to us.'" (132) // US Army Colonel and commandant of the prison w/ major POWs after Nazi defeat

"All too many of my [Hughes] contemporaries in science have accepted without question the yhype that suggest that an advanced degree in some area of natural science confrers the ability to pontificate wisely on any and all subjects." (148) // Austin L. Hughes "The Folly of Scientism" The New Atlantis no 37, Fall 2012

Hans von Dohnanyi (brother-in-law of Deitrich Bonhoeffer) made Bonhoeffer a nominal agent in the Abwehr (Germany's military intelligence org) to exempt him from conscription and allow him to travel outside Germany AND introduced Bonhoeffer to the group seeking to overthrow Hitler (158)

"Bruce Walker notes that the primary institutation opposition to the Nazis came not 'from universities or science or art or literature or radio or newspapers, but only from religiously serious people'" (160) // Bruce Walker "Christian Opposition to Nazi Anti-Semitism" American Thinker 11/19/2007

"Only the Church opposed the fight which Hitler was waging against liberty. Till the I had no interest in the Church, but now I feel great admiration and am truly attracted to the Church whihc had the persistent courage to fight for spiritual truth and moral freedom. I feel obliged to confess that I now admire what I used to consider of little value." (161) // A. Einstein

"They confuse authoritarianism with true authority. Lucifer was the first to discover that being cut off from God means losing one's authority, and he was the first to undertake a perpetual quest for raw power in an attempt to fill the void and emain significant." (162)

on authority versus power (163)

"True leadership only exists if peole follow when they have the freedom not to." (163) // Jim Collins Good to Great and the Social Sectors

"Johann Sebastian Bach, born in 1685, could be the poster child for all that was good in the soul of German Christianity. 'The aim and final end of all music,' he said, 'should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.' He inscribed most of his compositions with the letters SDG, representing the Latin words, soli Deo gloria (to God alone be glory)." (170)

"But what have they to offer but a vague internationalism, a squalid materialism, and the promise of impossible Utopias?' (183) // Churchill "Wit and Wisdom - 'St George and the Dragon'" Finest Hour 145

"Christianity, said Dawson, 'is the soul of Western civilization . . . . When the soul is gone, the body putrefies.'" (184)

"Someone once said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." (190)

"As a testimony to the importance of her role in his life, Mrs. Everest's picture was still at Churchill's bedside when he died in 1965 at the age of ninety." (196) // what an incredible compliment

on faith and destiny (196)

"In his very first speech as prime minister, Churchill said that the policy of his new government would be to wage war against Hitler 'with all our might an dwith all the strength that God can give us.'" (197) // Churchill "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" speech

"The power of man has grown in every sphere except over himself." (199) // Churchill's acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature 1953

"Churchill led from the rare equipoise between grim reality on one hand and confident hope on the other. He demonstrated how visionary leaders can gauge their present sufferings by the value of the outcomes they desire fo the future. Jesus displayed this same balnace in the days and hours leading up to his crucifixion. . . Jesus saw the Cross and its horror; but he also saw beyond it to his resurrection and ascension, and he declared that the sacrifice was worth it all." (215)

"One characteristic of our current age is a disregard or disdain for history. Deconstructionist academics, infused with principles of existentialism - or, worse, nihilism - have trained the upcoming generation to see history as either meaningless or unimportant. For others, it is a past easily rewritten and squeezed into the mold of modern times." (217)

"There is a narrow zone in which all of us can functin with remarkable excellence. It is bounded by our God-intended identity and purpose; the gifts he has given us to accomplish our high purpose; the functional talents and skills we have that lend themselves to the task; and the quality of our inner core, which is formed by the way we respond to our trails and learn from them." (224)

"It was Churchill - and only Churchill - who had made resistance to the Nazis his political mission..." (228)

"'One nation under God' was added to the American pledge of allegiance in 1954." (234)

"'How odd of God to choose the Jews,' quipped British journalist William Ewer. Poet Ogde Nash is said to have replied: 'It wasn't odd; the Jews chose God.'" (237)

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another book on Churchill. A few chapters cover his childhood and then how he rose to be Prime Minister.
One chapter touches on the influence of Darwinism on Hitler.
Some interesting quotes I noted:
"Anthony Daniels, writing under the pseudonym Theodore Dalrymple, a retired psychiatrist and physician who spends his career working in emerging nations and serving institutions in Britain's social welfare system, ties the destruction of civil society to a progressive breakdown in the constitutional, traditional, institutional, and social restraints on evil. Being unconventional, breaking taboos, and opposing traditional social rules are now terms of the highest praise in the vocabulary of modern critics. Yet the consequences of this breakdown in moral restraint are simple and obvious. When the barriers to evil are brought down, it flourishes."

"Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so too does the human soul. As we forget who we are and where we've come from, the great void is being carved out in the soul of the West, and many other belief systems are seeking to fill the vacuum. In the ever expanding marketplace of ideas, it's no surprise that ancient paganism and idolatry are making a strong comeback in the midst of Western Civilization. In our time, the loss of the vision for preservation of Christian civilization, that was so central to Churchill's thinking, has also resulted in the devaluation of history. As Theodore Dalrymple (Anthony Daniels) observes, 'Critics of social institutions and traditions should always be aware that civilization needs conservation at least as much as it needs change.'"

"John Kerry, Secretary of State during President Barack Obama's second term, said 'Some people believe that people ought to be able to live by their interpretation of something that was written down a thousand plus, two thousand years ago. That's not the way I think most people want to live.'"

"The example of Churchill and his times can give us hope in our present circumstances. If God was engaged in human history back then, we can be certain that He is guiding its course today as well."

"In 1740, during the Age of the Great Awakening, Benjamin Franklin wrote the following reflection after a visit by evangelist George Whitefield: 'It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manner of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thru the town in an evening without hearing songs sung in different families of every street.'"

[Chet Weld · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of "God and Churchill" tells how Churchill became a deep man of faith through the tutelage in his early years by Elizabeth Everestt. His parents were extremely distant, rarely visiting him in the boarding school they sent him to and, in some ways, his father was quite ashamed of him. But Churchill's faith grew, and it was this faith that saw him through many battles that should have taken his life. He fought with the passion of a man who knew God's favor was upon him because he was destined for great things. At sixteen years of age, Churchill even predicted he would one day save the nation of England. Not only was this self-proclaimed prophecy fulfilled, but he was the most instrumental figure of the 20th Century, saving the world from centuries of darkness. The authors invite the reader to experience the excitement that untold biographies also engage us in, but the difference between those great works and this one is that the great faith of Churchill is not ignored. An exciting read!

[John Majors · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was skeptical going into this book - but I loved it. It's a great overview of Churchill's life through the lense of his dependence on a divine order to life. I was skeptical that the authors would try to turn this into a case for Churchill being an evangelical - but it was very carefuly written with plenty of nuances, without taking the steam away from the thrust of the book. The main contrast was between what drove Hitler (pride, egotism, control, revenge), versus Churchill (sense of God's divine hand, honor, respect for individuals). I was pleasantly surprised. It was well written, well researched (much more research included than I expected) and engaging. For example, their short retelling of his escape from a POW camp was well done. It's worth reading, and at 240ish pages, doesn't take much time. Well done Jonathan Sandys! (who I had the opportunity to meet).

[Amy Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this book in theory, but the execution was lacking. It felt as though the authors were trying desperately to force Churchill into a Christian paradigm that doesn't quite fit. I really enjoyed the early chapters about Churchill's life and I read the beginning of the book with gusto... Then I got half way through and the text became very plodding. I actually loathed certain chapters, especially the one in which the authors take the Sermon on the Mount and try to apply it to Churchill. Perhaps it is because I had just finished reading Dickens, but the writing seemed very amateurish. Overall, this book leaves a lot to be desired. If you are searching for an insightful glimpse into the life of Winston Churchill, I'd look elsewhere.

[Devan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read that shared some insights into a different side of Mr. Churchill. Honestly, as someone who has read many Churchill books, I didn't learn all that much. Someone just coming into it would probably learn a lot more. There is still stuff here for the initiated though. I learned a fair bit of information about the secularist movements in Germany that led to Nazi ideology and got several good recommendations for further reading.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique look at not only the theology of this great leader but also a look at both England and Germany leading up to the war and the religious changes that happened in both countries. Churchill's and Hitler's backgrounds and influences are looked into and the creating of these adversaries. The book ends with some views of our current world and what kind of leader God may raise up.

[Jasmine Shadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that there is much more to this book than Churchill and his relationship with God and the Bible. The author did not try to tell us that Churchill was a strong man of faith or that he demonstrated a great deal of piety. On the contrary, he often points out that Churchill was not outspoken about his faith. However, this book does show that the Bible and Churchill's respect for God were a large portion of his decision making and strengths.
Churchill was a great student of history, and as I stated in a review of another of my reads, I find this to be of great importance. So did Churchill. Let us start to acknowledge that the great leaders of the past were all students of history, and they learned many lessons that helped them be successful in their leadership roles.
There is a warning in this book, but there is also an encouragement in this book. There were a few portions that I found a bit dry, but I would encourage you to read this book. Let us all stop letting history be erased. We need history to learn things that can only be learned from history. There were wrongs in every history, but there were many rights as well. We are to learn from them both. Let us not make mistakes that have already been made, but let us heed the warnings from those that made them before us.
I appreciate the intent of this book, just as I appreciated Churchill. The author of this book echoed some of the very things that I have been saying for quite some time regarding the lack of enthusiasm in the teaching of our children. You can't hand them books that are nothing more than dry facts and expect them to find themselves enjoying it. that was when we started to fail our children. There was a time when history was taught to inspire our young by the character, achievements and struggles of those who had gone before us. The history of humanity is not filled with perfect people. It is filled with struggles and mistakes, failures and losses, but it is also filled with perseverance, successes, accomplishments and gains. What it all boils down to is that it is filled with lessons for all of us today.
So read this book and take away from it the spirit and intent that it presents. Churchill had many times that were not his best, but he learned from them and went on to turn this errors into right. We can do the same.
I have a great regard for those that do not try to hide behind their past but chose to rise above it. this man did that very thing. He lived what he learned; both from his past and from the Word of God. He may not have been a deeply religious man, but he did have a regard for God and His word that few leaders do today. He respected what he had learned from its pages and tried to practice. It isn't an exhaustive biography of Churchill. It wasn't meant to be, but it was meant to bring out what made Churchill the strong leader that he was. So please read it.

[Toby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review originally published on www.theosthinktank.co.uk

With a few notable exceptions, the occupants of Ten Downing Street have not been famed for their religious zeal or piety. William Gladstone and Tony Blair both brought their faith into public affairs in a way that discomforted many of their colleagues, but these two men aside, the post of Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury has mostly been filled by quiet Anglicans or cheerful agnostics. Sir Winston Churchill is probably the most famous, possibly the greatest, and certainly the most written-about prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom. He also appears to have been amongst the least religious. That claim, however, is scrutinised in this book by Jonathan Sandys, a great-grandson of the Great Man, and Wallace Henley a journalist and ardent admirer of Churchill.

The authors seek to show that Churchill was not the irreligious agnostic that many have put him down for. Indeed, they set out a case for considering Churchill as a man thoroughly grounded in Scripture and shaped by an evangelical piety, whilst not himself being exceptionally pious. It is fair to say that they have their work cut out. Churchill happily disavowed Christianity as a young man. Aside from state occasions he rarely attended church. One of his more famous aphorisms was that he supported the church as flying buttress on the outside rather than a pillar from within. He counted no churchmen amongst his closest friends and preferred to keep religion distant from politics - never more so than in the conduct of war. In all his copious and diverse writings, the name of Jesus Christ barely crops us.

The authors, to an extent, recognise this. They do not seek to make Churchill an exemplary Christian. Instead they look at how Churchill conformed to Christian principles in his leadership, and how God used Churchill to deliver the British people and save “Christian Civilisation”. The former is a historical question that can be addressed through judicious use of source material. The latter is a theological question that requires a rather different approach. To approach both questions in one book is a bold move, and, in my opinion, not one that pays off.

In addressing Churchill’s own spirituality, the authors make much of the influence of his low-church nanny, who had a far greater influence in his life than his disastrous parents. Churchill kept her picture by his bed for the whole of his life; how much her piety influenced him beyond his childhood is rather more debatable. What is certain is that Churchill considered himself a man destined for great things. Famously he predicted (prophesied?) to a schoolfellow that a time would come when England would be in grave peril, fighting off an invasion, and it would fall to him to save London. Throughout his life, even in his wilderness years, Churchill maintained a remarkable self-belief that his hour would come. On 10th May 1940 it duly did.

Churchill’s sense of destiny is well-documented, but he rarely spoke of it in terms other than Providence. His language gives little indication of a personal God guiding him. Sandys and Henley turn for inspiration to the Sermon on the Mount, finding ways in which Churchill’s character matches up to Jesus’ exacting standards. At times this feels too much like an exercise in shoe-horning. Did Churchill hunger and thirst for righteousness? Was he persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Was he a model of humility? The authors try to argue the point but it fails to convince. I question whether the attempt really needed to be made.

And this is the essential problem at the heart of the book. The enthusiasm and passion of the authors is understandable: Churchill was one of the most remarkable men in British, even world, history. He has become an icon of all that is admirable in the British character. Yet such is the hero-worship manifest in this book that reading it feels at times like wading through syrupy adulation. The best in Churchill’s character is inflated and held up as an example. The worst is barely acknowledged. ‘Rarely’, the book concludes, ‘have all the elements of greatness converged so quickly, and with such completeness in a crucial moment, as they did in Winston Churchill’.

The question of Churchill’s understanding of faith and religion is certainly an interesting one, but it needs to be put into context. Churchill loved the King James Version and derived some comfort from the faith into which he was born, but this was part of the cultural landscape in which the late Victorians strolled. Churchill may well have derived much of his rhetoric and self-belief from the words of Scripture, but Macaulay and Longfellow were just as influential and probably more so. Ironically the most religious statesman of his time was Neville Chamberlain’s foreign secretary, Lord Halifax - the man most people assumed would become prime minister in 1940.

For the authors, Churchill’s appointment in 1940 is nothing less than an astounding miracle that shows God’s hand in British history. It was not, they contend, the only miracle in Churchill’s life. He flirted with death at Omdurman, in the Boer war and in the trenches. On each occasion his life was spared. He certainly felt that something or one was watching over him and the authors are happy to name this as God preserving Churchill for the great hour of reckoning.

It is of course very difficult to argue for or against such an assertion. God’s ways are hidden from us and human history does not seem to me to be the best canvas on which to advertise God’s caring providence. Perhaps Churchill was under special divine protection, but if so, the question has to be asked as to why God left it until 1940 to bring Churchill to power, why Hitler also “miraculously” survived the various attempts on his life and why so many millions died. The authors know that they cannot answer these objections, but the argument that God works in his own ways and that Churchill was in some way a prefigurement of the Great Deliverer, Jesus Christ, fails to satisfy.

In the last section, the authors seek to apply Churchill’s example to our present situation. Western civilisation is unravelling, times are dark, and we need to keep calm and carry on like Churchill. There is an agenda here which isn’t difficult to spot. The enemies are Godless science (Richard Dawkins makes a cameo appearance), deconstructionist academics and militant atheism. Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron are both quoted with approval - the latter’s opinion on faith in society puzzlingly being described as having “Churchillian insight”. The final conclusion is that we need a latter day deliverer in the mould of Churchill and that as God provided one in 1940, so he will provide one today.

This is evangelical history written with a purpose. For those who like to see the hand of God in the rise and fall of nations, the case presented for Churchill as an instrument of divine salvation will seem compelling. For those for whom history is a messier business in which the purposes of God are but vaguely seen, this book may well be a source of some frustration and head-scratching.

[Cece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of regret that I chose to read this biography of Churchill before any other. It is a fantastic angle and the message truly resonated with me. I found myself reading whole pages aloud to my husband; when I finished, we'd both nod significantly to one another.

I would have loved to rate this book higher, but the organization threw me off. I feel, at parts, the writers assumed the reader already had a good understanding of Churchill's story. This is part of the reason I regret not reading another biography first. Furthermore, jumping from one year to another kept my head spinning and forced me to put the passages in their historical context-- that's a lot to undertake when the arguments can come off as a bit high level. I almost wish they'd worked chronologically, but I liked when they'd go through the beatitudes, cycles of history, etc. So maybe not... :)

I feel I learned a lot and I have even more admiration for Churchill now. What an amazing, interesting person! I hope we learn from his messages and have good leaders in the future.

[Shona Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Our contention is that Winston Churchill was a deliverer prepared and brought onto the human scene through a sovereign act of God to counteract the work of Adolf Hitler, who manifested the dark power he worshipped and was its agent in his historical moment and geographical sphere. We have not tried to cast Churchill as a religious pietist. But he was a willing and available leader with an intuitive sense of divine destiny. As we have shown, Churchill grew in his understanding that his destiny was set by God himself. He is a wonderful example of how God looks at the heart, not at 'the outward appearance.”

It’s an angle not often pursued by biographers or the critical public when seeking to understand the motivations of political leaders. It is indeed apparent now that all the experiences Churchill had all over the the world in wars involving Britain, he was getting the experience to be better qualified than his peers to be the island’s war time leader. Though the authors tended to repeat themselves throughout the book, it’s overall worth a read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by Churchill's great grandson and came to my attention after a visit to Winston's childhood home at Blenheim. It is especially relevant as both the leaders of Britain and the US regard themselves as successors to WC.

The paradox explored is the clear sense of God giving destiny from an early age which was fulfilled, without apparent zeal for taking part in or writing about Christian themes. This is resolved (spoiler alert) by saying that Winston learnt clear Christian foundations to his Christian life from his childhood nanny consolidated by school experience.

Adult experience of salvation from close calls with death, both during the Boer War and after, confirmed the sense of destiny and God's providence while having very little to do with organized Christendom.

The Churchill of this book comes across as a millennial born before his time, and provides great balance to his other biographies such as "The Churchill Factor" by Boris Johnson.

[Rod Zinkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors write of Churchill’s sense of destiny, from his youth, and his respect for ‘Christian civilization,’ a phrase he used in several speeches. He is not a professing Christian, though the authors tie biblical principles to his character, writing of how some of his behaviors illustrate characteristics taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Churchill was familiar with the Bible, evident by some writings, such as his essay on Moses. He was influenced early on by a nanny, Elizabeth Everest, who also was a long-time friend to Churchill. (He had her picture on his nightstand when he passed away.) The book is largely biography, but also goes into some detail of events in politics leading up to and during World War II. A good portion of the book sets up the contrast of character between Churchill and Hitler. The authors conclude that Churchill’s destiny was fulfilled, and that God used him at just such a time that he was the right man for the job.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"God and Churchill - your two favorite subjects!" my wife quipped when I opened this Christmas present. I do come favorably disposed to this book, and all told, I enjoyed it. The authors (wisely) do not attempt to present Churchill as a confessing Christian or committed churchgoer, but instead focus on the argument that God raised Churchill up for a particular purpose on the stage of history. Since I share belief in the Bible's personal and sovereign God with the authors, I agree with the conclusion. Readers who reject such a belief will likely disagree with the entire premise of their project.

[Mary Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soundbite:
“The great weight that Churchill carried was, to his mind, nothing less than the survival of ‘Christian civilization’ against the ‘greatest threat’ it had ever faced. Churchill knew it was not just Britain’s survival that had been laid on him, but also all the values of justice, freedom, respect for humanity, and peace inherent in Western culture. He sensed that, if he failed, the world would become hellish” (Jonathan Sandys & Wallace Henley, God and Churchill: How the Great Leader’s Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours, Tyndale Momentum, 2015, p. 88).

“Churchill knew where the ultimate outcome of the struggle rested—in the hands of God. This, as much as anything, distinguished Churchill’s confidence from Hitler’s arrogance” (p. 95).

Review:
I am not what is called a “history buff.” But I am fascinated with character studies. God and Churchill actually combines both perspectives. For lovers of history, Winston Churchill’s career spanned critical world events from the early 1900’s through the Second World War. The authors chronicle his youth and the ups and downs of his career into adulthood, noting his vision and Churchill’s indomitable spirit.

A third strand is also woven through the book – hence the title: the providence and influence of God in Churchill’s upbringing and subsequent leadership. Churchill did not claim to be a religious man, but he evidently internalized the Christian values implanted in him by his nanny. Those values play out in his advocacy for “Christian civilization” and his fierce opposition to Hitler, whom Churchill felt was a threat to all the democratic values Christian civilization stood for. As the authors note: “One of Churchill’s gravest concerns in the face of the Nazi incursion was that ‘the lights are going out’ all over Europe. He recognized the darkness of Nazism as a vast abyss, the pit of evil” (Jonathan Sandys & Wallace Henley, God and Churchill: How the Great Leader’s Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours, Tyndale Momentum, 2015, p. 102). He understood the importance of the Golden Rule and recognized the Ten Commandments as the basis of all morality and law (p. 124).

In the book’s section on World War Two, the authors draw a sharp contrast in character and intention between Hitler and Churchill. Although both felt destined to shape world history, and did, their motivations were dramatically opposed and the consequence of their leadership clearly delineated. The authors’ depiction of the forces involved with and behind both men helps put the courage and confidence of Churchill’s leadership into context.

In the crises of global politics today, we are in a “time of unraveling” (p. 191). In that context, Churchill’s model rings true. It is a needed counter-balance to the power-hungry, narcissistic or blatantly evil rulers shaping the forces of history in our time. Churchill has been called “The British bulldog” for his dogged determination not to give up until Hitler was defeated and thus “Christian civilization” was saved. May his tribe increase.
M.L. Codman-Wilson, Ph.D., 2/13/17

Excerpts:
“Churchill saw the West in his day as benefiting from the values of Judeo-Christian civilization, but he did not view ‘Christian civilization’ as the exclusive property of the West. Today, given the shift of the center of world Christianity to the global South, it is even less accurate to conflate ‘Christian civilization’ and ‘Western civilization.’ According to religious historian Philip Jenkins, ‘Christendom…may well re-emerge as [a primary cultural reference] in the Christian [global] South—as a new transnational order in which political, social, and personal identities are defined chiefly by religious loyalties” (p. 236-237).

“Churchill’s internationalist vision and fervor meant that he did not see himself or his mission as narrowly restricted to the survival of Western societies. He sought their preservation as a crucible for principles that would benefit the entire world” (p. 237). [The authors conclude that] “the same God who brought forth Winston Churchill and other deliverers still rules over history, and he has a deliverer—or deliverers— for our season as well” (p. 237).

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprising but flawed book. The chapters on Churchill’s sense of divine destiny and his moral and political journey, as well as the counterpoint of Hitler’s sense of destiny were fascinating. The Sermon on the Mount chapter seems forced, and the term “Christian civilization” is problematic, though the authors do try to unpack it. The takeaway was that Churchill was used by God to defeat the Nazi threat, like a modern day King Cyrus or even Abraham Lincoln. And the hope for us is that God raises up such leaders in our hour of need.

[Matt Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

From what I understand, it is not uncommon for those with a desire to study the things of God to also want to study large figures in history. For me, Churchill is one of the most dominating. This book is part biographical narrative, but don’t read it for that, there are better ones. It is also no merely a list of quotes. It is however an extrapolation of how Churchill often though spoke and wrote. It is written by family but it is not overly biased, it shows the whole person. It also cause us to evaluate our whole person. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[NRG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoyed the parallels between what the Bible teaches us about servant leadership and also how God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

I think this is a great book for anyone who wants to learn about leadership, historical events, and for those of us who are in the faith – This man exemplifies what it means to have a calling from God and how people will tell you how wrong it is but to stay true to your vision and destiny to overcome to serve others.

[SharonJH Harman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5-4 star. I LOVED the insight to what made Churchill into the type of man who could stand up to Hitler and arguably save western civilization as we know it. It is published by a Christian press, so it presents events through that lens. While others may disagree with the concluding chapters about how we can interpret our own times in light of Churchill's life, the large body of the book makes for fascinating reading that weaves together the events that shaped this historical giant.

[Manfred Lemke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing new view on Churchill. The two introductions to the book are also very interesting. The book is in my view a bit disorganised regarding the themes it is treating. It moves almost arbitrarily between historic accounts of Churchill, as the title promises, to a wide, in my view a bit too wide, discourse of general philosophical topics. Both of them are interesting but in my view they interfere with each other rather than support as must have been the author's intention.

[Myra Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. Some of the writing dragged a bit but it was very informative I read it more as an account of Churchill's life than a religious book. I agreed with the biblical slant that Mr. Sandys used but my real enjoyment of the book was the stories and revealing of Churchill's character. The great influence of Winston's nanny Elizabeth Everest was very impressive. I loved the part about his dream at 16. He was truly the man who saved England and possibly Europe.

[Mark McElreath · Rating 4 out of 5]

God and Churchill serves as both a mini biography on Churchill and a short primer on the high stakes of World War II. The authors also juxtapose Churchill and Hitler to show how each functioned and were motivated. Most interesting is the comparison of being authoritative as opposed to being authoritarian. Churchill was not a Christian, yet he held so strongly to the working of Providence in the world - a Cyrus of our day.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. What you think about it largely depends upon your view of the existence of God. If you believe then the concept of devine guidance to the events of Churchill's life is easily made. There is no doubt that a large number of events happened in his life that are hard to put down to just coincidence.

[MEK]

Good history of the sovereignty of God in Winston S. Churchill’s life. He had a prescient understanding that he would save London and Britain. While not a churchman, he had a respect for The Bible, thanks to early influence of his nanny. He quoted scripture much and made many biblical allusions in his speeches. He desired to save “Christian Civilization” from Hitlers tyranny. I think he did!