Gerard Butler blockbuster about Christian biker who saved child soldiers in Africa is all a lie, says Sudanese

$50m The Machine Gun Preacher biopic based on life of Sam Childers under fire

The real-life tale of a former drug-dealing biker turned born-again Christian missionary who rescued child soldiers is the swashbuckling stuff that Hollywood dreams are made of.



The story of Sam Childers looks likely to earn millions next month when it comes to the big screen as The Machine Gun Preacher, starring Gerard Butler in the title role.



However all may not quite be as it seems. An army general has said that Childers claims he fought with the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are 'a lie'.

Hollywood treatment: Gerard Butler stars as Sam Childers in Machine Gun Preacher, but questions have been raised about the story's accuracy

Action aplenty: While Butler gets to fire a lot of weapons in the film, a Sudanese general has branded claims that Childers fought with rebels 'a lie'

'Missionary with muscle': An armed Sam Childers, pictured with members of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, seems to prove his claims

Childers is a one-time gun-totting criminal from Pennsylvania who changed his ways after finding God.



His missionary work lead him to the African state which was beleaguered by a violent 22-year civil war.

Lieutenant-General Obuto Mamur Mete, a senior official in the SPLA, said Childers never battled against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the brutal militia which kidnapped thousands of children to train as soldiers and murdered hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people.

Lieutenant-General Mete told the Sunday Times: 'Sam Childers was responsible for an orphanage in southern Sudan, that was all.

'His claims to have fought alongside us are a lie. He has never even seen the LRA.'

Sam Childers began selling drugs as a teenager and sunk deeper into a life of crime, eventually becoming an armed guard for a drug baron.

From Sudan to Hollywood: Sam Childers (left) and Gerard Butler who plays the missionary on the big screen next month

Childers and his wife Lynn, a former stripper, turned their lives around once the couple found God, according to his website machinegunpreacher.org.



He started his own successful construction business and the couple had a daughter.

In the late Nineties, as part of his work with the church, Childers arrived in Sudan to use his building skills to help repair villages ravaged by war.



Finding god: Butler and Michelle Monaghan, who plays Childers' former stripper wife Lynn, in a scene from the film

For the children: Machine Gun Preacher follows Childers' account of his exploits in Sudan in the book book Another Man's War

Saving souls: Born-again Christian preacher Sam Childers claimed to have rescued child soldiers from civil war in Sudan

It was while in Sudan, he is said to have received a message from God telling him to build an orphanage in a village near the Ugandan border.

He funded the project after selling his construction firm and almost lost the family home in the process.



It is once the orphanage was complete that Childers claims he rescued children from the LRA.



In previous interviews, Childers has claimed to have killed ten LRA rebels and that God sometimes instructed him when to take a shot.



According to the site: 'It wasn’t long before tales of his exploits spread and villagers began to call him ''The Machine Gun Preacher'''.

The missionary also wrote in his book that he was present during deals to broker peace which brought about the end of Sudan's civil war six years ago. The SPLA have denied these statements.

' Sam Childers was responsible for an orphanage in southern Sudan, that was all. His claims to have fought alongside us are a lie. He has never even seen the Lord's Resistance Army'

Although the veracity of some of his tales have been tested, the orphanage has stood for 13 years in southern Sudan and has cared for more than 1,000 children.



However, another Sudanese general Martin Kenyi said that the orphanage Childers founded is soon to be closed down.



The film starring Gerard Butler is based on Childers' biography Another Man’s War.

Earlier this year, another American philanthropist was accused of lying about his charity work.



Greg Mortenson, who is a favourite of President Obama, wrote the bestseller Three Cups Of Tea and is executive director of the Central Asia Institute.

Critics accused him of fabricating important parts of his story and using his charity as 'his own private ATM' during a programme by CBS' investigative news series 60 Minutes.

One claim, that he was kidnapped by Taliban on a visit in July 1996 - also related in Three Cups Of Tea and the later Stones Into Schools - was said to be untrue.

Mansur Khan Mahuud, allegedly pictured as one of the 'Taliban', is the research director of an Islamabad think tank and told 60 Minutes the men were not kidnappers, but protectors: 'This is totally false and he is lying. He was not kidnapped.'

Mr Mortenson explained: 'It's really complicated, but I'm not a journalist. I don't take a lot of notes'.

A stretch of the imagination? Earlier this year, philanthropist Greg Mortenson was accused of embellishing his book Three Cup of Tea about his charity work in Central Asia