Taming of a Villain

"One thing seems abundantly clear: the gospel truly is the only answer to the challenges that life brings. As career criminal Allen Langham found, anything and everything in life can drag you down, but only one thing could release him and lift him back up." - Peter Wreford, editor-in-chief at New Life Publishing

"This is a story of transformation. Allen was addicted to violence and drugs, and spent years in prison. By God's grace he has found a path to freedom, peace, purpose and hope. His well-told story grabs the attention from the first page. If you want evidence of the power of Christ to change, heal and redirect a man's life, you will find it here." - Tony Collins, editor and author

"There are three things that I love and share in common with Allen Langham: Jesus Christ, fishing and Rugby League. I always smile at the humorous irony that there were many fishermen among Jesus' disciples. Interestingly, he also chose 12 disciples, which, including himself, makes the perfect rugby league team.

Rugby League has been the vehicle through which I have lived my life. It's where I have realized much of my success, experienced many of my failures, and met most of my friends. Most importantly, it's where I came to Christ. I'm fortunate to have had many opportunities to share my faith in Jesus and profess that all things in his absence are - in the Ecclesiastical sense - utterly meaningless.

The first time I met Allen I was giving my testimony at St Peter's Church in Doncaster back in 2015. We chatted afterwards, having realized we had the great game of rugby league in common. We stayed in touch, and while following his work I heard about this intriguing biography, which tells the story of a man whose life reached a level of living hell that would have made Dante's imaginative blood curdle. In what seems like an impossible struggle, we are reminded in Allen's story that nothing is impossible with God.

Allen's journey challenged me, encouraged me and gave me a renewed zeal to live for Christ in my own walk with God. We often live in a structured, legalistic world, but Allen's story - as in scripture - reminds us that God uses those who are born-again in Christ in the most unfathomable and wonderful ways.

John 3:8 says: 'The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.' And so it is with Allen Langham, it seems. God bless you."

Jamie Jones-Buchanan, professional rugby player for the Leeds Rhinos