War criminal hears, “Stop being a slave!”

For interesting news stories from around the world, I recommend Joel News. For
example, check out this
story below. I love the line, “Jesus
appeared to me and asked me to stop being a slave.” Isn’t that what Jesus does in
one way or another with all of us who follow him? “Stop being a slave to self-will and stupid
living,” he tells us.

LIBERIA – Rebel Commander Confesses
Atrocities and Christ

Source: Joel News, January 22, 2008
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.”