Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan

Not the kind of ministry you normally think of. Sam is defending the innocent best he can. Help him help the children!

I have never left a review of any of the books I have bought from Amazon, but was compelled to comment on this one. Before anyone reading becomes defensive of my review I will start by saying I bought this book because it sounded like a very inspiring story. What I found however, was the poorly written rantings of an egotist. I can not believe that this book has even one good review, let alone nine. The story is all over the place. One minute we are in the Sudan the next we are back in the US. Did anyone edit this rag? I particularly enjoyed those anecdotes about Childers' encounters with the LRA guerrillas. These same individuals who are war hardened, desensitized to death and dying, and have committed unspeakable acts of violence on their fellow humans, are struck with fear when Childers comes around. He must be a very intimidating person. I read about forty pages before I had to do a little digging on Childers. Sam Childers, even after some cursory investigation is at best a liar, at worst a murderer. I understand Christians embracing Childers because he never fails to remind the reader how often God speaks to him, but I am at a loss to understand how anyone reading this book doesn't come away with the perspective that Childers, while an expert on self-promotion, is nothing more than a sad, arrogant, braggart with Daddy issues and a serious Napoleonic Complex. Why do I have to read page after page of him beating up the biggest, baddest guy in town with two punches? Or when he was a teenager, that he was so irresistible to all the adult women in the neighborhood, they all just HAD to have sex with him? Has anyone seen a picture of this guy? He is always the shortest dude in the photo. Childers revealed something interesting when he told his family he was going to the Sudan to help construction projects. "... by that time, I'd been springing African schemes on them for years." (pg22) The use of the word "schemes" is an interesting choice. He says on the one hand God called him unexpectedly to the Sudan but reveals he had been thinking about it for years. It is obvious he has spent a great deal of time in the Sudan but it is hard to believe it has been in the capacity he has claimed. I think at best he does the average missionary work and then takes a bunch of pictures with the locals with guns in his hand to make the people back home think he is really fighting. I can not find any article or eyewitness account of anyone (other than Childers himself) actually seeing Childers in a combat situation. I think before anyone gives money to this guy's "mission" they should really look deeper. Christianity Today reported in September of 2011 that an American doctor visited Childers' orphanage in July of 2009 and reported he "...saw one child after another with fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, ruptured eardrums, fungus-infected heads, protruding bellies, and infected lacerations. ... I am at a loss for words as to the suffering of these children." In a letter dated October 2010 Lt. Gen. Kuol Deim Koul official spokesman of the SPLA, released a letter saying that Childers is NOT associated with their organization. And even if Childers were associated with them, his credibility as a savior of the Sudanese children comes into question. According to a 2004 report issued by the Coalition to Stop Child Soldiers the SPLA themselves had in their ranks between 2,500 to 5,000 children. Anyone who has been associated with drug users will know that they are the most selfish, self-absorbed people walking. In this book, he claims he only fought for people who could not fight for himself. In an April 27 2010 Vanity Fair article, Childers is remembered very differently by people who knew him growing up. They remember him more for fighting for no reason at all. One man even remembers Childers demanding to have sex with the his girlfriend and saying that Childers only went away when the man gave him all of his drugs. That same Vanity Fair article reports of a stockpile of weapons that Childers KEEPS IN THE ORPHANAGE!!! The article goes on to say he sells the weapons from this location to SPLA. I lived in the deep South, around Mobile Alabama for a lot of years and if there is one thing I learned about Christians is they will lie through their teeth if that will get you into their church and give your hard earned money. Childers is no different. Like that idiot preacher in Florida who burned the Koran to shine a spotlight on his insignificant little church, Childers is the same. So many people have bought into it because it reads like a Hollywood script. But that is all it is. A story concocted by an opportunistic nut who is only whoring out images of poor suffering children to line his bank account. Its sounds like he is nothing but a petty arms dealer in the middle of a conflict. I think he saw this during his missionary work early on that he could make a buck down in Africa selling illegal Russian weapons to the SPLA then when the media comes he plays it up like he is fighting with them. I know times are hard and we are all looking for heroes but Sam Childers is not one of them.

There are countless reviews on this book as it is, but for what it's worth...The Word says,"he who is forgiven much, loves much." I have been involved in biker ministry, prison and jail ministry and I have found that those who have come out a background that included not ready for prime time behaviour were the ones who sold out and applied that same energy and intensity to their Christian life. Sometimes it was a struggle to harness and aim the intensity in the proper direction, but when it happened, they became bulldozers for the Lord. Sam Childers is an example of this. To me, it is a relief to see someone who doesn't need to "feel led" to put it all on the line to do His work. I'm sure he is criticized by many in the church who will sit on their hands, year after year, growing roots into their pews and have to "pray about it." Then when the prayer gets answered using someone who says,"here I am send me," they will systematically dissect them for using unorthodoxed methods to save and change lives.Personally, I wasn't concerned how this book was written. If I wanted literature I would have read Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde. I wanted to know how Childers got from point A to point B and I found out. I saw many parallels in the lives that have surrounded my own. I hope celebrity doesn't change him as it so often does to those in position in the Christian world. There are enough rock star preachers. If you like getting dirt under your fingernails and you're a blue collar Christian, read this book.

When I call this book a "difficult and inspiring read," it's not because of the prose. The book is written in a matter-of-fact, conversational way and it flows well.No, the difficult part is the subject matter. Sam Childers pulls no punches about his past as a drug-dealer, a biker hoodlum, etc. He takes the same approach to his work as a Christian soldier fighting against the LRA in Southern Sudan, rescuing children abused and orphaned by the vicious militia.Make no mistake, this is a violent tale ... in a violent place. Childers starts out helping roof a building for charity and winds up establishing an orphanage right int he middle of a war zone. He talks about his walk with God, his inspiration ... and the desperate need for funds.This book was the inspiration for an equally difficult and inspiring film, "Machine Gun Preacher." Both are highly recommended.

Shipped quickly, book in great shape. A+

The sacrafice and transformation of one man.

While it does sound like something out of pulp fiction, the story of how Sam Childers became the gun-toting savior of thousands of otherwise forgotten African children is not only true but will make you wonder what you're doing with your own life. Do not try to give me the "Yet another tale of the white man saving the African" argument. No one else, regardless of color, was doing what Sam has done and continues to do, which is help the freedom fighters of south Sudan, attempt to care for the displaced and orphaned children whose lives are in danger everyday, and shine a light on the ongoing struggle. Why should it matter what his race is?I recently met Sam Childers and he is every bit as charismatic as he seems in the book. The book "sounds" like Sam, meaning it's definitely written in his own words. His words are not always eloquent, but are always passionate.

A gift

This book was awesome from beginning to end and I couldn't put it down. For me as a massive fan and supporter of Sam Childers and the works he does it gave a very honest account of the travisty and torture these people have and go through at the evil hands of LRA. No person should be subjected to and forced against there will to carry out the things this that the LRA do to children and their families. Thank the Lord for Sam Childers /Machine Gun Preacher. Now reading Walking on the Edge by Sam Childers, a true account of his life.

Loved it, not your usual style of book or usual style of writing a book, but this is not your usual type of guy in a usual type of situation , loved it made me laugh and brought a tear to my eye as well in several places but it opened my eyes to a lot of things and made me look at certain things differently

Inspiring story let down by Childers strange references to museveni as a righteous and honourable man who he considers a friend. This is the same museveni who got to power using child soldiers as a major force in his coup. And then systematically pillaged a country and imprisoned a large portion of his people in 'refugee camp's while plundering their land and belongings!

Wonderful book - possibly the most inspirational book I have ever read! God took a wild, violent, drug dealing biker (probably with ADHD) and turned him into a fierce force for good, fighting one of the most evil organisations that ever existed on this planet!.

I'm sure this is an amazing story but reading but book is torture. I saw the film based on this story so wanted to get the full background. The book is so religion heavy as a non believer it just too much. A really inspired experience and tale but I'll stick to the Hollywood version which is rare as I always prefer the book