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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Joshua Milton Blahyi

Several months ago, I commented on the case of  Joshua Milton Blahyi, an African warlord who, by his own admission, was responsible for at least 20,000 deaths. Blahyi converted to Christianity, and has since been working to help others.

For some reason, I have been thinking about Blahyi over the last couple of days. However, I can't find any recent news about him, other than this brief article from the middle of last month, which notes (in the Google translation):
A team of filmmakers has Blahiy accompanied for 5 years and documented his dramatic transformation from General Butt Naked [to] an evangelist and pastor in a movie. "The Redemption of General Butt Naked" raises the deep question of how much a person can change - and what repentance and forgiveness really make. How can a person from mass murderers to be a preacher? Is the whole thing just a trick - or is there a force behind it that really turn evil in a man, and thus may also be a response to a deeply divided country?
 I don't know if Blahyi will ever read this, but I have related his story to my family, and prayed for him tonight to continue his path into the light of Christ and truth. I believe the gospel of Christ can bring peace to this Earth.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2014 at 6:04 PM

    A few weeks ago, I watched a VICE documentary that spent a lot of time with this guy in Liberia. Yes, he appears to have done a lot of good as a preacher. I was not quite convinced Mr. Blahyi's sincerity. But, my distrust could be a function of my general distrust of preachers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo
    http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-to-liberia-full-length

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2014 at 6:05 PM

      BTW, the VICE video is not suitable for children.

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    2. DocentFebruary 14, 2014 at 10:40 AM

      Thanks for the links. All I've seen are a couple of articles about the man, and I may just suffer from too much optimism. I think what started me thinking about his account is that, as a family, we have been reading the Book of Mormon and just finished reading the section about the conversion of Laminites who took upon them the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehites. They had been savage and warlike, but completely repudiated that life after accepting the gospel, becoming complete pacifists rather than risk falling back into their past behavior.

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