CHURCHILL: “According to Holy Writ” – Part 5 – Christ and the Sermon on the Mount
Winston S. Churchill’s returning from the Quebec Conference (September 1943)
Over the previous posts, we have been examining Great-Grandpapa’s character. If he was, as my co-author Wallace Henley and I claim, a man of faith, then he would display character qualities and a belief system to support that contention. How deep was Churchill’s faith?
“I am not a pillar of the church,” Great-Grandpapa stated, “but a buttress.” It is a common misconception that in order to be a person of faith, one must become dogmatic, or regularly attend some form of religious service. However, the Bible stipulates no such requirements. In reviewing Churchill’s military and Parliamentary career, we see his humility and humanity. Unlike Hitler, Great-Grandpapa clearly had no desire to topple governments so he could lead. He, like Hitler, could have manipulated situations and instead of seeking peace, sought only to be a thorn in his colleagues’ side, waiting in the wings to seize power at the first opportunity, but Churchill had no interest in political games. Churchill saw the dangers and against the sleeping world, did everything he could to prevent the war that came upon us in 1939.
Brooke, Churchill, Mongomery
To be a true Christian, one must first confess a belief in Christ. For evidence of this, Wallace and I stumbled across a conversation Churchill had with Field Marshal Montgomery in 1952. Reflecting on human greatness, John Colville, Great-Grandpapa’s private secretary, recalled the conversation. “Christ’s story was unequalled,” Churchill told Montgomery, “and his death to save sinners unsurpassed.” At the birth of his grandson and namesake, Great-Grandpapa proposed a toast to “Christ’s new faithful soldier and servant.” It is clear from both statements that although very personal and private, Churchill was indeed a man of faith, and that faith was foundational to his character and all that he did.
“Strength is granted to us all when we are needed to serve great causes,” Churchill said in 1946. His faith in God’s providence strengthened him throughout his life. And during the Second World War his confidence in that providence spread like an infection throughout Britain, Europe and the world.
Great-Grandpapa was not an idealistic visionary; he was a realist. He saw it as his job to be honest with the British people and unlike Hitler, promise them only what could be delivered with faith and determination. Hitler promised his people that Berlin would never be bombed. When two stray bombers unloaded their payload on innocent population of London, the Royal Air Force put paid to that promise. However, as I referenced in the previous post, Churchill, unlike Hitler, was devastated that the moral war he had hoped to fight had, because of Hitler, become an immoral war where anything goes and there is no restraint.
Further evidence of Churchill’s faith comes in the form of the theme he used for his six-volume account of the history of the Second World War:
In war, Resolution.
In defeat, Defiance.
In victory, Magnanimity.
In peace, Goodwill.
On becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, Churchill could have done as Hitler did, and take revenge on those who had been opposed to him and/or his ideology. However, Churchill’s faith raised his character above such pettiness and focused instead on the greater good. “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future,” he told those who were criticising him for allowing Lord Halifax, (a full-on supporter of appeasement), to remain at his post as Foreign Secretary. “Love your enemies,” was what Christ taught in Matthew 5, “bless those who curse you.” Halifax was a good man and loyal to his country. Great-Grandpapa saw the character of the man who could have been Prime Minister instead of him, and Churchill saw loyalty and ability, not malice. Halifax proved a great supporter of the wartime coalition. He fearlessly spoke-up when he thought Churchill was wrong, but supported him wholeheartedly when the decision had been made. Great-Grandpapa, unlike Hitler, knew that he would require the help of others to determine a final victory, and Halifax presented an opposition that forced him to think before he acted. It has been proven many times that a weak opposition in government particularly, gives leave for corruption and mismanagement. Men like Lord Halifax are the courageous-types who enable great leaders to run great governments. Churchill forgave Halifax for his opposition, and the two worked well throughout the remainder of the war.
Churchill addresses a joint session of Congress, 1943
On many occasions during the Second World War, Churchill proved his intention of forgiveness through magnanimity and goodwill. In many of his speeches to Parliament and the people, he went to great lengths to separate the German people from the Nazis. It was the same in his earliest book on the re-conquest of the Sudan, where he separated fanatical Muslims from those who show splendid qualities. Great-Grandpapa was determined that the end of the Second World War would not see a repeat of that of the First. As a result of his words, the moment victory was declared, the German people were seen as victims, not perpetrators of evil, and were invited to join what eventually became the European Union. Since the end of the war, Germany has shown herself to be not only a loyal nation who has put aside her warlike tendencies, but she has become the strongest nation in Europe and not one country in the Union has had cause to fear that position. Every good thing that Hitler desired for Germany and sought though war, has been achieved by the great German governments and people of Germany in peace.
Love your enemies and forgive those who persecute you.
Subscribe today so you don’t miss:
GOD AND CHURCHILL:
THE EVIDENCE EXPOSED
November 25, 2015
CHURCHILL: “According to Holy Writ” – Part 6
‘To be or not to be’
An in-depth analysis of Churchill’s 1891 prediction reveals the impossibility of its accuracy unless inspired by ‘that High Power’
Jonathan Sandys, a great-grandson of Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, along with former White House aide and current senior associate pastor of Houston’s Second Baptist Church, Wallace Henley, reveal compelling evidence that overturns the erroneous belief that Churchill was either an agnostic or an atheist.
FOLLOW JONATHAN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK: WSCSpeaker * TWITTER: JonathanSandys * LINKEDIN: JMESandys
RECEIVE A DAILY CHURCHILL QUOTE VIA TWITTER
CREDITS
QUOTATIONS
“I am not a pillar” – LANGWORTH, Richard: Churchill by Himself, p.481
“Christ’s story was unequalled” – SANDYS/HENLEY: God & Churchill: How the Great Leader’s Sense of Divine Destiny Changed his Troubled World and Brings Hope to Ours, p.197
“Christ’s new faithful soldier” – Ibid, p.197
“Strength is granted to us” – Ibid, p.197
‘In war, Resolution’ – Ibid, p.100
“If we open a quarrel” – Ibid, p.83
“Love your enemies” – The Holy Bible (NIJV), Matthew 5:44
‘show splendid qualities’ – SANDYS/HENLEY: God & Churchill: How the Great Leader’s Sense of Divine Destiny Changed his Troubled World and Brings Hope to Ours, p.126
IMAGES
Winston S. Churchill’s returning from the Quebec Conference (September 1943)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Brooke, Churchill, Montgomery
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Churchill addresses a joint session of Congress, 1943
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wi...
GOD & CHURCHILL
Front cover, 2015 – (US-Edition)
