ONE of Hollywood's latest screen heroes is coming to Noosa to talk about his "real-life" African mercy mission he embarked on armed with the Bible and bullets.

Sam Childers - known as the Machine Gun Preacher - did not star in the action flick of the same name, but the former bikie and born-again larger-than-life character, has enjoyed the international spotlight since actor Gerard Butler's portrayal of his modern day crusade to rescue child soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army.

And in recent times "Reverend Sam" has become a fairly large target for critics who question his motives and the veracity of many of his claims made in his memoir Another Man's War - which the film to be shown at the Noosa Christian Outreach Centre on Sunday, February 12, is based on.

Rev Sam, who walked the red carpets at the premiere of the movie with Butler (the star of the action hit 300), agreed to be guest speaker at the screening.

And NCOC Pastor Josh Usher believes, despite Rev Sam's unusual and confrontational methods, his has an inspirational story to share with local people who feel swamped by day-to-day pressures of life.

"When you learn about what Sam Childers and the children he has helped through his orphanage Angels of East Africa have faced, it really puts things like our present economic downturn into perspective," Pastor Usher said.

Much has been written about Rev Sam's hell-raising days as a bikie drug dealer from Minnesota, who was released from prison and through the efforts of his wife Lynn found God.

And on a later trip Uganda to help build homes for refugees, he found himself eventually in South Sudan on a mission to build an orphanage. According to his memoir, he was so incensed by the mass child abductions - reportedly more than 30,000 - by the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader Joseph Kony, the Rev Sam decided to literally go gunning for them.

The MA15+ movie involves his raids with the Sudan People's Liberation Army to strike a blow for God against child slavery. And the Rev Sam liked to go armed to the teeth.

In recent times, he copped a lot of flak from his detractors about claims he stores an arsenal of weapons at the orphanage. According to the publicity blurb for the Rev Sam's visit, his orphanage The Children's Village houses and educates more 300 orphans, with a thousand children rescued since its inception.

"The staff at the Children's Village are primarily Sudanese orphans and widows themselves. This is currently the largest orphanage in Southern Sudan and is unique in its approach of leading armed rescue missions directly into LRA territory."

An article in the Foreign Policy magazine took aim at the Rev Sam's claims: "Childers says he started leading a heavily armed posse of Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers to rescue Kony's child soldiers by force. And, apparently, he set out to track and kill Kony himself.

"It would take a miracle for all of Childers's claims to be completely true, starting with the SPLA story. In his book he describes leading a group of SPLA soldiers who call him their commander.

"The SPLA begs to differ: as Childers was touring the United States to promote his book and raise money for his charity, an SPLA spokesman released a statement saying: 'The SPLA does not know Sam Childers ... the SPLA is appealing to those who are concerned to take legal measures against Sam for ... misusing the name of an organisation which is not associated with him'."

But Rev Sam's reputation is enhanced, in part, and questioned, by a Vanity Fair article by Ian Urbina who went hunting the LRA with the Machine Gun Preacher.

"It is hard to know what his African allies make of this Bible-wielding biker from the Alleghenies. Before setting out on his most recent hunt for Kony, Childers had ordered his men to bow their heads in prayer and ask for God's help.

"No one remarked on the irony of one man's invoking divine sanction in order to kill a man who also invokes divine sanction.

"I once asked an SPLA officer about Childers and his activities, and he said simply, 'He is a man of God. That's what I can say to you. He is a man of God'."

All this will add to the intrigue of the Rev Sam's visit and address in Noosa. Machine Gun Preacher will screen in the main auditorium of the NCOC at Noosaville - tickets are $5 per person payable at the door.