From 1980 to 1990, Liberia had its first native African Liberian President, Samuel K Doe. Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson became allies to hunt down Samuel Doe and tortured him to death. Eventually, Charles Taylor became President of Liberia with a very trivial slogan.

Shane Smith did a documentary on the Warlords of the Liberian Civil War era with Myles Estey, a Canadian journalist who lived in Liberia at the time. Joshua Milton Blahyi, whose nickname was ‘General Butt Naked‘ during the Civil War, later became known as Evangelist Blahyi. He was one of the notorious warlords of the Civil War. He is the founder of the End Times Train Evangelistic Ministries with the slogan “turn futile to fertile.”

Shane had to visit some of the ruined places of the war with Joshua Blahyi and ask him some questions about the Civil War. He had done many hideous acts and even admitted before a judiciary post-Civil War to killing over 2000 people during his days of initiation as a fetish priest to his tribe and warlord. On their way to visit his evangelistic mission, Shane asked Joshua how he was able to get rid of that seed of violence within him, and this was Joshua’s response, “Violence is not the best way. It’s an ancient strategy. Once violence as a seed is sown in a child, it becomes very difficult for the child to come out of it. I have not accomplished a hundred percent getting rid of the violence; it’s not completely gone. I still have memories, flashbacks, nightmares, and wish I had never taken part in the war.”

Joshua Blahyi, however, revealed that he wanted to run away from his mess, the mess he had created with his life before and during the civil war. One day, someone referred to her daughter as Butt-naked’s daughter, and this was after the Civil War. She came home crying because of that incident because she never knew who Butt-naked was. This was why I wanted to desert my homeland to begin a new chapter of my life in a different land, he said.

Then he continues to say that one day, my daughter, when she gets older, would have to visit her hometown, and since there is still time, why not go back and undo my mess by building an honorable monument she can be proud of? A time will come when someone may reference the works of Butt-naked, but she may have the honor to speak of the works of Joshua Blahyi. There would be a monument raised for her, a monument she would be proud of. That was how Joshua took the challenge, to evangelize the young men whose lives had been ruined during the Civil War to make a difference and a change after the Civil War.

In one of his sermons, Joshua said, “The whole world knows me as General Butt-naked; a killer and rapist, but my children will know me as a man who stands for the truth of God’s word. The world is changing, and the mistakes of our fathers cause less harm than the mistakes we would be making as parents, that’s if we fail as parents.”

Joshua Milton Blahyi is now an evangelical preacher and writer. He is the author of the book “The Redemption of an African Warlord.” He has a redemption center of about twenty-four acres of land capacity with a sixty-four-unit block and halls under construction. His ministry focus is to give hope to the outcasts of Liberia, to share the gospel in Liberia’s worst ghettos, to bring peace where there is violence, and to bring love where there is rejection, thereby changing the country (Liberia) and advancing God’s Kingdom.

Joshua Milton Blahyi is a great inspiration to many across the globe. He is indeed the epitome of turning futile to fertile. The Lord Jesus is still in the business of revealing Himself to people, taking them out of darkness, and bringing them into His marvelous light. We will always stand in awe given his amazing works in the lives of His Children. All glory be to the Lord Almighty!