Book Review: Rees Howells - Intercessor by Norman Grubb

I was given this book by a good friend, who found it incredibly moving and inspirational. I knew nothing of Rees Howells going in, so I had no biases or preconceptions about him or his work. While I found parts of the book interesting, I came away more conflicted and skeptical than anything else.

I'm not here to speculate on Howells' salvation or his relationship with Christ, nor do I want to discount the good work that he was involved in. I have no doubt that many came to faith in Christ and were impacted mightily by his influence, for which we should all be grateful. However, there were numerous passages and stories that left me conflicted, both mentally and spiritually. At one point the Holy Spirit convicts Rees of wearing a hat in public, so he's forced to go without one and feel the awkwardness of going against the common fashion for men at that time. He was also told (apparently) to let his hair and beard grow, as well as to eat one meal every two days in order to live as the poor live. While the Holy Spirit certainly does convict us of sin and refines us, I found these examples to be rather extreme and almost petty, as if God would see someone wearing a hat and shaving as an obstacle to their faith and testimony.

Rees also tries to take on the illness of tuberculosis from a suffering woman, believing that this will lead to her healing. I found this disturbing and none of these examples line up with Scripture. We're called to minister to the poor, give to the needy, and pray for the sick, yet nowhere does The Bible tell us that we must become like them or to attempt to take on their infirmities. I even read these passages to my wife and asked for her input; she also found them unsettling and suggested that Howells might have been dealing with spiritual psychosis. The more I read, the more this possibility gained traction. Maybe Rees was hearing from God, or perhaps he was hearing from other spirits and lacked the proper discernment to parse out what was from the Lord and what wasn't.

Even more egregious examples follow later in the book. Howells and company are credited with stemming the tide of World War II, including the events at Dunkirk, D-Day, and the Battle of Britain. This comes across as arrogant and misguided, as Hitler still rose to power and committed atrocities that continue to appall us almost a century later. It seems odd that Rees could somehow affect the war in some aspects and yet lacked the pull to influence it in others. It strikes me as bizarre to claim that one man or community was solely responsible for altering the outcome in this fashion. It also discounts the prayers and work of Christians throughout the world, not to mention the countless men on the front lines who sacrificed their lives to protect their homes and the world at large. We can't know all the ways God works, but it came off as Howells being on the same level as the Old Testament prophets. God does not need our help, nor our permission, to accomplish His purposes. Grubb's account seems to imply that God is waiting on faithful men and women before He can claim victory, which is absurd. God allows us to participate in the work He's doing, but at no time is He ever limited in power, knowledge, or might through human influence. Had Rees never prayed for these events, it's quite possible they would have played out the same way simply because that was God's will from before the dawn of time. 

Some of this hyperbole is the fault of the author. Norman Grubb writes as if Howells could do no wrong, as there is little mention of sin, failure, or struggle throughout the narrative. His account feels like all praise and no criticism, making the accounts questionable due to a lack of objectivity. It seems very unrealistic to assume that Rees just went through life receiving one blessing after another with little struggle in-between, as even the staunchest believers will experience seasons of doubt and hardship. If Howells went through these then they're rarely mentioned.

God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly righteous. He can work through anyone whom He chooses in whatever way He chooses. Perhaps He really did minister through Rees as this book describes, and if so then it's a phenomenal testimony. However, God's word tells us to be discerning and to test the spirts (1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Proverbs 14:15), weighing everything we read and hear against God's word. Grubb's account does not always pass that test, leading me to wonder just how much of this may have been embellished, misconstrued, or attributed to God erroneously. I have seen people get worked up emotionally, believing God was telling them something He never said and claiming promises that never came to pass. This leads me to wonder if Howells was often caught in this fervor and deceived himself into actions and thoughts that were not actually of the Holy Spirit. I wasn't there, and I can't claim to know the man's heart, but I walked away from this book skeptical and conflicted more than anything else.

May we all continue to seek God's guidance as we study His word and seek to reach a lost and dying world. "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."--Matthew 10:16