About the Book:
Sometimes sensitive, sometimes provocative, but always encouraging, Arnold guides readers toward leading Christlike lives amid the stress and strain of modern life. Perhaps the hardest thing about following Christ is translating our good intentions into deeds. Christ calls us, and we yearn to answer him, but time and again we lose resolve. Is discipleship really possible today? Many of the selections in this book offer answers to specific needs or problems. Others grapple with broader themes such as world suffering, salvation, and the coming of the kingdom of God. All of them pulsate with conviction and compassion, giving fresh hope to those who and themselves lonely or disheartened in the daily search to follow Christ.
My Thoughts:
“The only way to
become free from darkness is to turn to the light, confess our sin, and come to
the cross.” (p. 203)
Discipleship is
like a concentrated taste of common sense, drenched in the Holy Spirit. Arnold’s thoughts, from letters, journals,
sermons – a variety of sources – are recorded by topic. The broader topics, The Disciple, The Church,
and The Kingdom of God are divided into very specific topics ranging from
repentance and purity to forgiveness and baptism. There are never any overly long passages to
consider. Sometimes it is just a
sentence or two, or maybe a paragraph or two, but each word is laden with
purpose and meaning! I may not have
agreed to be a part of the movement he led during his lifetime, but this was a
man dedicated to bringing others to the Saving knowledge of Christ!! He knew
where life began!
God blessed this man with clear thinking, common sense and a
boldness we are sorely lacking in the 21st Century. I am happy to recommend this to
everyone! Read the Scripture
passages. Meditate on his thoughts. You
will be both challenged and encouraged!
About the Author:
Johann Heinrich Arnold (also known as Heini and Heinrich) is best known for his books, which have helped thousands to follow Christ in their daily lives, and for his pastoral care as elder of the Bruderhof community movement.
When Heinrich Arnold was seven, his parents Eberhard and Emmy Arnold and their five children left a bourgeois life in Berlin for a dilapidated villa in the German village of Sannerz, where they founded the Bruderhof, a Christian community based on Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.
As a young man, Heinrich Arnold refused to serve in Hitler's armed forces and was forced to flee Germany. He studied agriculture in Zurich, Switzerland, and in 1936 married Annemarie Waechter, a kindergarten teacher and fellow Bruderhof member.
In 1938 Heinrich and Annemarie Arnold moved to England, where Heinrich managed the Bruderhof community’s farm, which by then had been expelled from Nazi Germany. In 1941 the Bruderhof community was forced to emigrate to South America. In 1954, however, Heinrich Arnold and his family moved to the fledgling Woodcrest Bruderhof in Rifton, New York, the first of many Bruderhof communities in North America. From 1962 until his death, Heinrich Arnold served as elder and pastor of the growing Bruderhof movement, guiding its communities through times of turmoil and crisis, and pointing again and again to Jesus Christ.
But those who knew best him remember Heinrich Arnold as a down-to-earth man who loved life and would warmly welcome any troubled person in for a cup of coffee and a chat.
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