Review of “The Bible or the Axe”
(The Bible or the Axe was provided to me free of charge by Mind and Media, who received it from the publisher for the purpose of being reviewed.)
William Levi has an amazing story to tell. Mr. Levi was born a Messianic Christian in the Sudan, exiled to Uganda, returned to the Sudan as persecution and bloodshed began again, and was miraculously brought out of the Sudan by God in order to help his country rebuild.
I know I am sheltered. I am a white, Christian American, and I have not experienced suffering like Christians in other parts of the world. I forget, sometimes, that our freedom to worship is something other believers do not enjoy.
I did not realize that there is a Christian presence in Africa that dates back to the early church. My ideas of Africa have been shaped by our Western culture and media. Africa is somewhere we send missionaries to, not somewhere I expect to see Christianity as old as the church. And yet Africans have been worshiping God the Father as Jews for thousands of years. The same African Jews were brought the good news of Jesus Christ and believed. And they have suffered for their belief.
This book has a message that needs to be read and shared. It is too easy for us to turn a blind eye to the suffering endured by our sisters and brothers in Christ. Stories like Mr. Levi’s make it personal.
God brought William Levi out of the Sudan to receive an education and to help his nation in ways he never could have if he had remained. And he is helping and giving back, not only through this book, but through his ministry, Operation Nehemiah.
The Bible and the Axe does more than tell Mr. Levi’s story. It explains the history of the religious war in the Sudan in a way that I had never understood before. Anyone whose heart break’s over what’s happened in the Sudan, and is still happening in the Darfur region, needs to read this book. It will renew your desire to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, and prompt you to help in any way you can.
