The author of a controversial book - which portrays President Jacob Zuma as the biblical shepherd Jacob - has received multiple death threats from Christians who consider it blasphemous. Sabelo Mandlanzi, author of Dear Jacob - due to be launched in April - is considering hiring a bodyguard because he fears for his life.Mandlanzi said he has received more than 40 threatening calls since November.Although he had not laid any complaints with the police, because "the threats have not become physical", he had informed the Presidency which had expressed "shock".But, even before the threats, he said Zuma had warned him when they met to discuss his book, that "he was scared for me and he mentioned that everything that touches him is shot down".Mandlanzi said many callers were outraged at his comparison of Zuma to Jacob in the Bible because they were critical of the president's leadership ability."They said Zuma is taking the country down and yet you are using the Bible to compare him and that my comparison is an insult to the Bible."They said I'm trying to put a good spice around the president," Mandlanzi said.He said callers threatened to find out "where I live".In his book, Mandlanzi tries to capture Zuma's trials and tribulations ahead of Polokwane in 2007 and likens Jacob's conflict with his brother Esau to Zuma's relationship with former president Thabo Mbeki."I could not pretend I did not see the relationship," Mandlanzi said...