Street Preaching

Street preaching is a pretty common sight in Monrovia; it often attracts a relatively substantial crowd and can last anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours. If I have time, I stop and listen to what they are saying. The topics are often the same- Liberia is being taken over by the forces of darkness and in order for Jesus to come again we all must go to church. And then there is inevitably an offering or two, and the preacher will tell the crowd about his (I’ve only seen men street preaching so far) church, and give his phone number. Last week, I noticed a small crowd gathering on Randall and Benson Street, and a man franticly pacing back and forth and periodically ‘writing’ illegible things on the street with a rock. I stopped to listen, and one hour later the crowd had grown to about 40 people, and another preacher had taken over. Turns out both of these men were ex-Generals (one was called General Dirty Water) for the ‘rebels’- the NPFL – during the war. During the ‘preaching’, they were basically telling the crowd all of the atrocities they committed- killing hundreds of people, practicing black magic, traveling to the demon underworld to talk to Satan, killing and eating babies to gain demonic power, raping and killing women….fairly typical Liberian civil war stories.
After the preaching, and after 3 offerings, the second preacher did an ‘anointing service’, in which he had anyone willing to pay 60LD (1USD, a pretty high price for an anointing), stand in line in front of him (about 10 people went forward). He got a 2litre bottle of mineral water, held it in the air and turned it into the blood of Jesus. He then twisted the cap three times, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ The people walked forward and he poured water into their hands; they were to splash it on their face and drink some. They walked away healed.



Naturally, during this whole thing, I talked to everyone and asked what they thought of the preachers, etc. There were mixed opinions- some said they were ‘holy men’, others said they were ‘robbers who are not preaching the Bible, they are just here to make money’. One man I met told me he was a Secretary in his Pentecostal Church, and he had some very interesting opinions on these preachers: ‘they are only here bragging about their stories, when what they should be doing is talking about how Jesus has changed them into better people’. This man, Bropleh, told me he would pass my card along to his pastor.
Later that day, I got a call from Bropleh’s pastor, Rev. RS. He told me he was interested to meet me, would love to give an interview, and could I meet him later in the week. I assumed I would be meeting him in his church, but when I arrived at the place he told me to meet him, he begins to tell me about ‘God bless Liberia ex-combatant rehabilitation center’, which he has opened and which is where we are going. Awesome. We arrive at the destination, and there are two older white men, one interviewing a large man; the other filming the room, and about 30 young men sitting around, listening silently. Turns out the 2 white men are with Youth For Christ and are in Liberia for a few days to ‘highlight the plight of ex-combatants in Liberia’- one of them starts crying as he tells the group, ‘To see what Jesus Christ has done for you is truly touching’, and it takes the power of Jesus Christ Himself to keep me from rolling my eyes. The man being interviewed I quickly realize because I’d met him briefly before after a crusade and seen plenty of pictures in the newspaper, is former General Butt Naked, Joshua Blahyi. This guy has recently become a bit of a celebrity, since appearing in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and admitting to killing 20,000 people, many of which were women and children, eating human hearts, traveling to hell and back, etc…but who is now a prominent evangelist and a bit of a hero for the born-again ex-combatant community. I’ve been trying to arrange a meeting with this guy for ages, so it was total luck that I happened to walk into this room. It also turns out that Rev. RS was the man who initially prayed over then-General Butt Naked and caused him to receive Jesus Christ and become born-again. Now, both Joshua and the Rev. run this center for ex-combatants-turned-Christians. So, now I have an ‘in’ to this community, which is a major breakthrough for my fieldwork. Just when I thought my life here couldn’t get any more interesting….