LONGWOOD, FL-Abdul, an NBA star and devout Muslim, is the major role model for the youth in Mobile, Alabama. As he gains phenomenal popularity on and off the basketball court, he takes a back seat to the conflict between Islam and Christianity, morality and success, and contemporary and traditional worship styles. Local evangelical leaders struggle to maintain attendance and revenues in their churches as the rapid growth of Islam threatens Christianity. But a prominent pastor, believing himself on a mission from God, takes matters into his own hands. He soon commits the "perfect" crime, skillfully wielding the weapons of deception, betrayal, and ultimately murder in Leon Stewart's The Betrayal ($14.99, paperback, 1-60034-717-7), a fictional story about the conflict between Islam and Christianity in a small town.
Says Stewart, "Each of us can make a difference by the life we lead and the choices we make. There is a wrong way to do the right thing, and the end does not justify the means when compromising one's principles. Real change does not happen on a global scale, it happens in people's hearts."
The Betrayal includes a kaleidoscopic range of emotionsÑfrom pure horror at what heinous acts the pastor devises, to true friendship, sacrificial commitment, and moral living between the main characters-all in spite of the pitfalls of the political and judicial systems. The book is a riveting novel that captivates the reader from the beginning to the climactic end.
Leon Stewart, a retired bishop, spent 34 years in a large Pentecostal denomination and has been blind his entire life. He wrote Sunday school literature for 16 years and authored the novels Too Late and The Preacher. He and his family live in southern Alabama.
Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,900 titles published to date. Retailers may order The Betrayal through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing.
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2007