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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

General Butt Naked

Here's another interesting story from Mission News Catalyst.

One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as 'General Butt Naked' for charging into battle wearing only boots, has returned to confess his role in terrorizing the nation, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. But in the middle of this, he had an encounter with Christ.

The atrocities he and his men committed during the Liberian civil war included magical rituals that involved slaughtering children and eating their hearts. Joshua Milton Blahyi spared no details as he told Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) last week of his years with one of the most feared militias of the war.

He also shared how in the middle of this he had a head-on encounter with Christ, that marked the beginning of his ministry as a pastor. "Jesus appeared to me and asked me to stop being a slave." It was this experience, he said, that prompted his religious conversion and his life since then, travelling the country preaching his Christian message. Blahyi, 37, said it was for the TRC to decide whether he should be given an amnesty or prosecuted. "I am willing to go to court if necessary," he said. "And I will repeat just what I said here."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coolest nickname ever!

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's incredibly interesting. I can't think of any reason other than a true conversion for him to suddenly convert, giving significant credibility to his claim, which is encouraging.