With his first four literary offerings, astute author Ace Moloi took readers to cloud nine and now, with his fifth book, he is catapulting them to seventh heaven. Ace Moloi Moloi, whose other works include Tholwana Tsa Tokoloho (2018), University of Free State’s Initiative for Creative African Narratives (2018), Holding My Breath (2016) and In Her Fall Rose a Nation (2013), takes the road less traveled as he grapples with Christendom’s sacred cows as they pertain to the everyday people through the lens of a church boy. His latest book – Diary of a Churchboy shines the light on some of the things that are usually tossed to dark corners in the Christian community. In this gripping master piece, where Moloi serves uncomfortable truth on a platter candidly, confrontation is the name of the game as the award winning author summons thorny issues – racism, patriarchy, poverty, purity, mental illness and umjolo to the witness stand in search of truth. “Christian leaders have to be relevant for the current times. It’s not God’s plan for anyone to be unwise about issues of their generation. If anything, God wants people who will keep Him in the conversation for every season in a believer’s life,” he writes. One of the matters Moloi, who is based in Bloemfontein, Free State, wrestles with is the issue of mental illness which has often been demonized from the pulpit. He argues that there should be a balance on how it is tackled. “A professionally diagnosed believer should be encouraged to take and complete their medication, downing it with a prayer of faith that they will overcome this illness. This type of prayer differs principally from the other prayers believers often recommend for mental health in that it has as its foundation the acknowledgment of the reality of mental illness. It’s an enlightened prayer which speaks candidly to the reality of depression using the power we have through the finished work of the cross. It’s an affirmation that medication isn’t an enemy of faith.” That he has had a bout with depression to the extent of attempting suicide is well documented in the book. “Dismissive Christianity will seek to bury the pain of believers in the spoken word of hyper-faith but, administrative Christianity will confront it with medication and meditation on the word of God.” Whether saved or unsaved, relationships have always showed people flames. Moloi also emerges in sackcloth and ashes courtesy of heartbreak which doesn’t discriminate – anointed or not. “Though I have had a casualty or two in my dealings with the Lord’s daughters, it really hurt when it was their turn to plant a bullet in my heart. I used to think girls in church could only give me a heart-itch and not a whole heartache,” he laments. In a Floyd Mayweather fashion, Moloi pummels racism with a repertoire of hooks, jabs and uppercuts likely to pierce even to the hearts of hardened racists hiding behind pulpits. The cries silenced by white supremacy and symbolism are echoed audibly by Moloi, who doesn’t just use cheap sloganeering and emotionalism but his submissions are backed by facts and truth. “Christianity doesn’t automatically annihilate the demon of racism especially in a country like ours where the Christian faith sponsored the theology of apartheid,” he fires. Diary of a Churchboy can be an essential tool for radical youth, though on fire for Jesus have to constantly navigate their way through waters infested with traps that can derail their Christian walk. In Moloi, they have a big brother, who has walked, stumbled, tumbled and dusted himself up and continued to walk on the path with the Lord has his light and salvation. This book is a testament that Moloi has been chosen for a time such as this. Through Moloi’s pen, God is rewriting many’s future riddled with love, hope and faith.
