John Heywood

It may seem strange that a professional aircraft engineer has written a book on theology. In fact my first two books were on aircraft engineering. The first was Light Aircraft Inspection and the second was Light Aircraft Maintenance. But at least it shows that I have an analytical brain and a desire to help other people to learn.

But my wife and I both studied at what was then the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow and worked for a few years with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Kenya and Ethiopia. We continued working in Kenya as I was employed by an aircraft charter and overhaul company. It was refreshing to find that people would respect me as a professional engineer whereas the label 'missionary' had been an obstacle for some people. Ever since that time we have both worked to provide for ourselves and our family so that our Christian work should not be a financial burden on the local church.

The same was true in Scotland where God led us to plant a church. It was whilst we were leading this church that I realised how little even relatively mature Christians understood of what the Bible actually teaches through its record. My book 'An Introduction to the Bible and Theology' has been developed from evening lectures that I taught many years ago. My desire is still the same that Christians may grow from what they learn and put into practice. We have an unbelievably great God who reveals himself and his ways in the Bible.

My new book "Learning from Battles in the Old Testament" is a study book suitable for a housegroup or individual use. We need to know that we have an enemy and that we are in a warfare situation. We also need to know that we have God given resources to fight and win those battles. By looking at what has happened in the past we can learn more about God and how to work with him to defeat our common enemy, Satan.