SEAL of God
Written by Chad Williams
Narrated by Chad Williams
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." —John 15:13. Just days before Chad Williams was scheduled to report for basic training at the Great Lakes naval base, he turned on the television and was greeted with the horrifying image of his mentor and training partner, US Navy SEAL Scott Helvenston, being brutally murdered in a premeditated ambush on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. Steeled in his resolve, Chad committed himself to completing the US military’s most difficult training to become a Navy SEAL—and avenge his friend’s death. One of only thirteen out of a class of 173 to make it straight through to graduation, Chad went on to serve on SEAL Teams 1 and 7, completing tours of duty in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and finally Iraq. There, Chad’s journey came full circle when his team was ambushed by enemy machine gunners—close to the same road where his hero had been killed five years earlier. SEAL of God follows Chad’s extraordinary journey through twenty-five grueling weeks of BUD/S training and onto the hostile streets of Al Anbar Province, Iraq, where he witnessed the horrors of war up close. Along the way, Chad shares his own radical conversion story and discovers the true meaning of ultimate sacrifice.
Related to SEAL of God
Related audiobooks
Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reaching beyond Boundaries: A Navy SEAL's Guide to Achieving Everything You've Ever Imagined Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America 3:16 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5GUTS: Greatness Under Tremendous Stress - A Navy SEAL's System for Turning Fear into Accomplishment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murphy's Law: My Journey from Army Ranger and Green Beret to Investigative Journalist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Fought for a New Afghanistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unafraid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/512 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Punisher: A SEAL Team THREE Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Six Days of Impossible: Navy SEAL Hell Week - A Doctor Looks Back Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living With Honor: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Right Kind of Crazy: Navy SEAL, Covert Operative, and Boy Scout from Hell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Marine Sniper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow of Death: From My Battles in Fallujah to the Battle for My Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American Combat Sniper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Heroes: In Special Operations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Violence of Action: The Untold Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Run to the Sound of the Guns: The True Story of an American Ranger at War in Afghanistan and Iraq Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Killing School: Inside the World's Deadliest Sniper Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lest We Forget: A Ranger Medic's Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Way of the Reaper: My Greatest Untold Missions and the Art of Being a Sniper Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Military Biographies For You
1776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Clear Thinking: A Stealth Fighter Pilot's Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lives of the Twelve Caesars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wives: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary: Can't Hurt Me - Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Napoleon: A Concise Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Killing School: Inside the World's Deadliest Sniper Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for SEAL of God
181 ratings19 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a gripping and inspiring story about a Navy SEAL's journey and his commitment to Christ. The book provides detailed insights into SEAL training and the challenges faced by the protagonist. While some reviewers appreciated the spiritual aspect of the book, others felt that it became too focused on evangelizing towards the end. Overall, readers found the book captivating, full of passion, and a must-read for both Christians and non-Christians alike.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't always do book reviews but I wanted to do a quick review of the book “Seal of God” written and read by Chad Williams
I love reading military history and books about Christians that have endured trials for Jesus.
This book has both.
This audio-book was read by Chad Williams. Hearing the voice from this Huntington Beach native caused memories to rise up of my boogie-boarding days near the Huntington Beach Pier.
A lot of the book talks about his bratty wild past as a California kid with ambition that morphed into pride. Another major portion of the book reveals his mindset and the trials that he had to endure to become a Navy SEAL. If you're at all interested in becoming a Navy SEAL or interested in what they go through, Chad goes into amazing detail.
Chad had a divine appointment which changed his entire life. Chad became a radical, sold out Christian. Chad’s decision to follow Jesus caused some serious persecution.
This book illustrates that to follow Jesus, even in America, it may cost you. It also illustrates that God can turn those trials into good!
Check it out, and let me know what you think!2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I came across this book because I love seal adventures. and I love God. I am a 62 young femail that loves adventures. that I can not explore. but thru books. Im healthy. don't misunderstand. I am a girly girl with a little tom boy. I say this to explain myself . I wouldn't want to be a. seal but I sure do respect what they do. I got an extra bonus in this story. you never know what god has instore. for us. I loved this story and God bless you and the seals. very well written. I truly enjoyed . It helps me keep my faith. Thank You.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting SEAL story that isn’t too too terribly filled with evangelizing...until the end. Then it’s all out Jesus talk. But it was interesting to hear about his SEAL journey.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent book and one of the best authors whose material surmounts any books I’ve read lately.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book lacks some of the action of other Seal books. But it is still an engaging story of a life changed by Christ
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5First half of book was quite enjoyable but lost its way in the second half wonder about the assessments required to complete seal training
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Started a hair slow, but provided insight to the story. Overall Chad is a good storyteller and I thoroughly enjoyed his “all in” take on life and the detailed description of his training as a Navy Seal and his lifer after the Seals.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Love SEALS. Can't stand "born agains". Terrible combination in a book. Nothing against the author ... my hat's off to him and I thank him for his service. But I personally can't stand born agains. They have the audacity to think that they are the only Christians.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5if you weren't going to school while go on and on about it. Who cares about special class stupid. Skip the boring parts. keep to the stuff you excel in
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5this is the best book i have read and i think chad is amazing i think you should read it and i know you will like if you read this book you will find nothing that you do not like about it i love every part and it is so hard to stop reading it if i could rate it out of 100 it would be 110
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a book about an incredibly tough young man, a SEAL, who completely committed his life to Christ even leaving behind his career as a SEAL.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A navy seal street preaching ... need I say more ... that’s my kind of man!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story but to be saved you have to be baptized. And a preacher is a preacher and a pastor is more of a deacon.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ring that bell — that’s the Last thing a sailor wants to do, during BUDS training.
Chad eventually does ring the bell, but not the way you may think. Read the book, and find out how, when, why.
I’ve met Chad, personally, and heard him speak publicly. He’s a man of faith, perseverance, commitment, sincerity. A true patriot, and Jesus-follower. Those qualities are reflected in this book. Check it out… it’s a great read. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved the book for christians and non christians alike, how the path of one man led to the seals and encounter with god!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gripping, sustaining, and spiritually saturating. A must read. Thank you!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forthright, inspirational, insightful book. Captivating and full of passion throughout!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First off, let me say that I do not often read nonfiction, and even less often is the nonfiction I read centered on Christianity-based thoughts and ideas.
Being relatively new to Christianity myself, sometimes I find Christian-based works obtrusive and, for lack of a better word, pushy. With SEAL of God, this was not the case. While there is a Bible quote at the beginning of each chapter, and more references in the later chapters, it was unobtrusive and I was able to become absorbed in the story in a way that few others have been able to grab me.
Chad Williams' accounts of what basic training and advanced SEAL training entailed were descriptive enough that I could feel as though I was going through it with him. Of course, it may have helped that I had worked out for the first time in many years yesterday, so my muscles were sore and achy as I was reading! But seriously, I could imagine the pain and physical and emotional strain that one would go through in that kind of environment.
With the details of his rebellious childhood and achieving a goal, only to find it was not good enough, I was able to relate to all of those points. I was your classic overachiever as a child, always having to one-up myself, and sometimes, I still struggle with that even today.
When Chad accounts what happened that night at church, when it was intended to be just a rouse to get to stay another night just so he could continue his partying and what actually happened was a revelation and a change of life, I felt like I was there with him. When I found my way to church, it was because it was what I thought would make other people happy, and was just going along for moral support for my husband. Somewhere along the way, things just clicked for me, and the message had sunk in.
Not long after that, I struggled to find what God's purpose for me was, and yet, as I stopped struggling, the answer became very clear. My journey to faith is not much different from Chads, and I felt that I was able to relate on a personal level to a man I had never met. I literally had chills as I read this account of one man's life. I was so pulled in that I read this book in under 24 hours. For anyone who has struggled with what God is trying to tell them, I feel that this is a must read.
If I had to give criticism, it would be that I would have preferred for the footnotes to have been listed at the bottom of the page they appeared on, rather than on a separate page at the end of the book. By the time I found out what the footnote was related to, I had to go back and find where it originally appeared and re-read it to be able to relate it to the story. Thanks to Tyndale for a review copy. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I always had a special interest for military-themed books (even though I don't read them very often) and this one was a freebie on Amazon, so there was really no reason not to grab this book. The only reason why I did not give it five stars is because of the ending: it really felt like the author was forcing his beliefs onto me, and I truly dislike it. This is one thing that I do not think most of the fervently religious people will ever understand: you don't just shove your religion in other people's face. This is contradictory to the idea of "freedom of choice" that they so strongly defend. For heaven's sake, just let me believe whatever I want!!
That being properly vented, I dare saying it was even a bit better than I expected. The story itself is very enjoyable and the author talks about several aspects of the military training to which I was completely oblivious: the ordeals, the risks, the psychological effects it has on people. So far, I had only seen war through news and video games, but reading reports of war written by someone who has actually been there and seen all sort of things is a different thing. It was also interesting to know more about how the Navy SEALs acted when they were not working (and I was actually disappointed to see that some of them are no better than reckless teenagers, even when they have families worried about them back home), how was their lives as civvies (or at least part of it), how was their relationship with their colleagues (even though I thought this part was a bit lacking, but given the personality Williams said he had, it wasn't anything I was not expecting).
Even after the book started to have a stronger religious appeal (which I usually dislike - and SEAL of God was no exception), the story did not go downhill as I imagined it was about to happen (well, at least not until the final pages, when he finally drops off his job as a Navy). In fact, the story got even more interesting because, aside the excessive Bible quotations, Chad's most difficult problems actually seemed to start at that point, and this is what I really wanted to know regarding a soldier in war: not how his faith was tested, but how he dealt with personal issues in the middle of the battlefield.
Overall, I'm glad to say that this is a book that was definitely worth reading. It was really tough to put it down. But I think that for my next war-related reading, I'll look for something with a lesser religious appeal, for the sake of my own sanity.