Discipleship by J. Heinrich Arnold

Discipleship  is a newly explanded book by the late J. Heinrich Arnold who died in 1982.  Mr. Arnold grew up in post WWI.  His upper-class family left everything in Berlin to live in Sannerz, Germany living as directed in Acts in communal living.  This book explains the Bible in ways not usually expressed by the preachers of today.  He tells of a loving savior who forgives all of our sins but he doesn't let the reader off the hook.  He does not preach of living however you want and then repeatedly asking for forgiveness--he straight out tells the reader that our God is not stupid nor easily fooled.  One cannot continually ask forgiveness if one plans to continually repeating the sin.
This is a difficult read.  It does not tell the story of Jesus' love in anyway that the reader has ever heard before.  If you are ready to change your life and want a life lived close to God then read this book.  This book tells you that you have not become so sinful that you cannot be forgiven.  This book tells of Jesus love for the reader and his sacrifice and grace.  Jesus stands ready to forgive and love all who come to him.  This book teaches humility.  He teaches that the least of these, the poor, the children, the unloved are those who we the Christian must love.  Mr Arnold backs up all of his writings with scripture readings and I don't mean he has a few footnotes, virtually every paragraph has scripture backing it and also has a reference guide in the back.  This book need not be read front to back.  It is divided into 3 parts: the disciple, the church, and the kingdom of God.  Each of these are further divided into little chapters so that it can be used as needs arise in the reader's life.  In the words of Mother Teresa who wrote after reading it said: "....He has not called us to be successful, but to be faithful."  This is a book for those who are seeking and for those who have found but need a guide to keep them on track.  I would advise reading this book for adult readers.
This book was provided by Handlebar for this review.