Now I Call Him Brother
Written by
Alec Smith
Alec Smith was the rebellious son of Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Ian Smith. His father was the final leader of the nation (then called Rhodesia) before Robert Mugabe won the first free election in 1979. This book is about how he came to be born again, but even more so, about Alec’s own unlikely role in bringing together black and white Christians during the fight for independence.
Smith was a classic hippy, doing hard drugs while resenting his parents, living in privilege and embarrassing his father. His account of living a destructive waste of a life and then being found by Jesus is such a good reminder that God is always reaching out, no matter if everyone has given up on you.
The book was written in 1984, when the nation’s transition was only a few years old. Smith wrote it with high hopes for the future, and in the firm belief that Christians should get behind Mugabe with their full support. Unfortunately, this means that the book has aged extremely poorly with the benefit of hindsight, and that Smith was wrong. Of course, many people were, so we can’t really blame him. But knowing how the rest of Mugabe’s reign unfolded is an extremely sobering reminder to be careful not to put hope in our politicians.
Anyone looking to be encouraged by stories of people’s lives will be very encouraged by Smith’s salvation story, as well as his descriptions of faithful men and women who were brave and paid a high price for serving God.
Yes, but there are some things you should know...
There are beautiful moments in this book, but everything that happened after it was printed has added a deeply disturbing effect. Skim-read it and focus on his own salvation story, but skip over his ideas about how things were going to go for his nation.
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