UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

David Lu, 51, was a former gangster and murderer in Taiwan who was sentenced to 38 years imprisonment.

Against all the odds, he is now a Christian preacher / pastor.

An expert in tae kwon do and boxing, a member of what is still Taiwan’s largest organised crime syndicate, the Bamboo Union. His job was working as the gang’s debt collector – threatening force to get people to pay back money they owed from gambling.

It was during his second term in jail that he converted to Christianity. At the time he was receiving letters from a Christian girl, the sister of a man he had recruited into the gang. The turning point came with the sudden death of a prison inmate who had become a mentor figure to David. It forced him to reassess his life – and turn to God.

When he was finally released from jail in 1979 – cleared of two charges of kidnapping and robbery – he entered a seminary, where he was joined by the Christian girl who had written to him in prison.

The two fell in love and later married.

His remarkable story of bad boy-turned-good was described in his autobiography, The Sword and The Sheath, and inspired many in Taiwan.

Source
The BBC, 14 June 2005

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