When Elephants Fight

Why did Solomon Tate punch out a fellow missionary, befriend a witch doctor, experience a "holy laughter" manifestation, while trying to expose its dangers, and stare down a wild bull elephant? How will he conquer his fear of confronting abusive church leaders? What choices will two Xhosa brothers make when they are confronted with the Gospel and compelled to choose between cultural witchcraft and biblical Christianity, and how will they live out those consequences? What spiritual connection is there between the lidloti spirits, dancing in the "borrowed bodies" of an African sangoma, and the involuntary convulsions of hyper-charismatics? What would happen if an American missionary couple planted a tent church in the heart of a South African township and had to withstand the witchcraft of an angry sangoma, who opposes their new church, and battle powerful forces within the Pentecostal Holiness Fellowship, who accuse them of the attempted murder of their fellowship's leader? This is just the beginning of the challenges that Solomon and Goldie Tate face in the novel, "When Elephants Fight." Set in the culturally-rich environment of the Xhosa tribe of post-apartheid South Africa, the Tates risk their lives to expose a coup attempt by those who would hijack their fellowship into the extra-biblical River Movement. Throw in Nelson Mandela's new presidency, apartheid, Desmond Tutu and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 9-11, the "river snake," a kidnapping, and a "who-done-it" murder mystery, and you have an historical novel that will appeal to a large spectrum of Christian and secular readers in both the U.S. and Africa.

Pages: 352, Paperback, Alan Kern