Zogos The Forgotten Soldiers Pt 1

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese. A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus.

And nothing says Christmas better than that. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is absolute, transforming and restoring lives, healing hurt, and making all things new. This power set Michael Bowen free from the captivity, darkness, and hell of addiction, and delivered him back to God. This is Jesus Breaks the Chains.

Addiction in Liberia. Hello and thank you for tuning into this podcast, which is part of the Jesus Breaks the Chains series. I'm evangelist Michael Bowen, and I pray that the Lord blesses you greatly, and you receive this word in love and in truth. Five years ago, I was driving in my truck, and I received a phone call from a strange number from overseas.

I usually ignore numbers I do not recognize, and especially ones from other countries. This day, however, was different. I felt in my spirit that I needed to answer this call, and I did. On the other end of the line was a pastor from Liberia, West Africa, Boimadouwa, who said he had just read my testimony and it touched his heart. We had a great conversation and enjoyed speaking with each other about Jesus. Over the next several years, we became friends, and I found out he was coming to visit America. And when he did, I went to meet him, and we ended up both preaching at the church where he was visiting. After church, we all went to lunch, and I had conversations with him, and he invited me to come to Liberia to evangelize and have a crusade. Not too long after my invitation, I began to plan for my trip to Liberia. In my preparations, Pastor Boimadouwa told me about a group of people in Liberia called Zogos. The Zogos are those that were addicted to drugs and living in the cemeteries and ghettos on its edges and throughout Liberia in different ghettos and different communities.

Some of the drug addicted people actually had broken open the tombs and were living inside of them doing drugs amongst the bones of the dead. I was riveted when I heard this story, and I told Pastor Boimadouwa that when I was in Liberia that I wanted to go there. He said to me, but nobody goes there.

I said, I don't care. Set it up for me. Make this happen.

And he did just that. Once I was in Liberia, we went to the Palm Grove Cemetery on Center Street in the capital city of Monrovia and the largest open drug market in the country and set up a sound system at the edge of the cemetery, and we had church. Once the music started, the people came out of the cemetery and out of the abandoned buildings and began to worship and praise Jesus with us, and there was a mighty move of God. I fell in love that day with this people. I was one of them, and they were just like me, how I used to be when I was addicted to drugs.

I was addicted to smoking crack cocaine for 25 years, and I know that if I had been born in Liberia, I'd be right there in the tomb smoking drugs and in the ghettos. I told them my testimony, and they could see the truth in my eyes when I told them Jesus set me free from drugs, and I wanted to show them how Jesus would set them free, too. At the end of the service, we fed them, and they kept begging me to help them because no one was there to help. They felt abandoned and had lost all hope. They were just left there to waste away and die in the misery of their addiction. I made the decision that day that I'd be the one to help. I believe God has chosen me for this work in Liberia because of what I had to come through to get back to him.

I am not afraid, and I have the love of Jesus in my heart for these people, my people, God's people, and help has come to them now in Jesus' mighty name. I want to share with you the history of addiction in Liberia. In Monrovia, the capital city, drug addicted men, women, and young people have taken over the Palm Grove Cemetery and the Center Street Ghettos on its edge.

There are hundreds of tombs in this cemetery, almost 13 acres of them. 14 years of death by machete civil war left no shortage of bodies to bury in Liberia. Some of the older drug addicts are the former child soldiers and victims of abuse from this bloody and brutal war who became addicted to drugs and had nowhere to go when the war was over. The warlords kidnapped the young boys and often killed their family members in front of them before making them go off to war. In order to get the frightened children to fight, the warlords gave them drugs to make them brave, and they became addicted. They gave them marijuana and cocaine and fed them a mixture of alcohol, cane juice, and gunpowder that got them high and supposedly made them unafraid.

The warlords even made the children cannibalize their victims. Once the disarmament came, the government took away the guns and machetes, but the addiction and trauma stayed. This brutal civil war seeded drug addiction in Liberia, and now there's an entire population of people of all ages addicted to drugs and living in cemeteries and ghettos across the country in the most horrible conditions imaginable, and they've been forgotten by the rest of society. There are babies being born into this environment that never have a chance at a decent life, and the infant mortality rate is high. Drug use is not criminal in Liberia like it is in the United States.

It is treated as a disease like leprosy, and all the drug addicted people are pushed into cemeteries and ghettos and left there to waste away and die from disease, violence, sickness, and starvation. There are very few resources in Liberia to help them. These are the hurt, broken, and addicted people of Liberia, and they need our help.

Praise the Lord. God has given me a mission to help the drug addicted, poor, homeless, and disadvantaged people of Liberia. I've joined together with two Liberian men of God, Pastor Sam Nunu of Samaritan Action and Evangelist Sylvester Payne of Brighter Minds for a Progressive Future, and together we have formed a ministry called Sons and Daughters of Thunder Liberation Center, Liberia. We are here to show the hurt, broken, and addicted people of Liberia that Jesus has not forgotten them, and neither have we. You can visit our ministry website at www.LiberationCenterLiberia.org I would like to now introduce to you my ministry partners and let them tell you about drug addiction in Liberia and what the needs of the people are to be able to support them and get them the help they need to be able to overcome their addiction and become disciples of Jesus Christ and law-abiding, productive citizens of Liberia. This is our goal. First, I'd like to introduce Pastor Sam Nunu, who has dedicated his life to help this group of people, as well as his work in providing them an opportunity to get an education once they've been delivered from addiction and rehabilitated. Hello, Pastor Sam.

Hello, Michael. Thanks for the opportunity to share what is happening in Liberia. As Michael stated, the Zobos in Liberia are leftover soldiers from the brutal 40-year civil war. You know, we had a war in Liberia, and those who participated in the war, they were fed with drugs and cocaine, marijuana, to keep them high so that the war laws would fuel the war machinery. There were various different factions in Liberia. In fact, there were over six different factions that fought the war, and they recruited these young men and fed them with cocaine, fed them with heroin, kept them high, and gave them guns so that they would use them as soldiers to fight the war. And this went on for a period of 14 years. So even children were recruited as small as 9, 10 years old that were called child soldiers.

And one word that was all used there was small soldiers. By the time the war ended, these were either teenagers or some of them were in their late teens, early 20s. And so the disarmament went on, and the United Nations Mission of Liberia that did the disarmament said to us that over 90% of those who were disarmed were active drug users. They reported in the only report that over 90% of those who were disarmed were active drug users. So these active drug users that were disarmed in 2003, where the arms were taken from them, they were brought back into society. What was not taken from them was their addiction to drugs. And sad to say, the programs that were introduced after the war was only a program of disarmament just to disarm the fighters, but there were no programs to help them recover from addiction or anything that was put into place so that their lives would be better.

And many of them that were even given a little scholarship to go to school, they wouldn't go because they were addicted to drugs and all their minds were on drugs. So these addicts came into the community, and as they came into the communities, these dealers that fed them their drugs while they were on the war front came into the communities with them. And after the war, what was formed was these large drug communities, different drug communities, these large drug communities that were formed, the largest one that was formed was on a place on Center Street.

Let me say that again. The largest community that was formed was on Center Street, on a place called Blabber, and very close to the Palm Grove Cemetery. So because these fighters were rejected by the people and were pushed off from the community, they gathered themselves in the graveyard, opened the tombs, made homes in the tombs, and went there and became a whole community of active, very, very active drug users. So this community of active drug users, as police were, and because government had no solution to them, government had no solution, and the government had only one referral center, and the only referral center that government had was just 30 percent, and during this time that center was not active, it was inactive.

And because the center was inactive at that time, government had only this one referral center, and very, very inactive. So these fighters were just left lingering all over the community. And from one small drug community, many drug communities started to form all around the cities, and these addicts had no way of life. They became stigmatized.

They became branded in society as Zogo. Their parents did not want them. People did not want to interact with them. People did not want to see them.

It was during this time that I felt this urge to go and plant a church, but very unaware that where I was going to plant this church was somewhere in the cemetery, somewhere around the cemetery. And when I got there, I started interacting with these Zogos, and we started reaching out to them. Like Michael said earlier, we started providing education for them, we started feeding them, we started clothing them, and then we started to see that this problem was a larger problem in the Liberian society. And to date, it's a problem that has not been attended to. There are not many facilities for drug users in Liberia. In fact, they are caught up, they are ostracized, they are treated like the worst in society.

And if you want to describe it, they are the least of the least in the Liberian society, and that's why they classify as Zogos. And so they form their own place, they're setting their own world, and they are left to themselves. And all that they need is people with a love of God in their heart that will reach out to them and tell them that if you have nobody love you, Jesus love you, and you can give your life to Jesus Christ, and your life can be different. And that is what we started doing. I was very close to the cemetery, and we started reaching out to them. And in God's own time, God's own providence, I came in contact with evangelist Michael Bong, and we started to share what we were doing on Central Street.

And God brought us together and made us partners, and we started reaching out. And there is a very, very serious need in Liberia. And these men are addicted to drugs, keep multiplying around the city. You know, like, they are still so long and prolonged, so prolonged in Liberia, even people who did not form a part of the war, because there is so much drug in the community, unattended to, there are no drug laws to restrict it.

People, younger children, in schools, they go to schools and start recruiting younger children, and drugs being sold there, and so that many of our young children who are not even, who were never part of the fighting forces, are being recruited, and the drug community keep growing larger and larger and larger. I believe Michael Bong is an answer to prayer, of what we've been praying for, of people that we will work together, we'll team up together, and that God will be able to help our young men and women in Liberia to recover from drugs. Yes, and that's what we're doing. And when I met Sam, I saw his love for these people, and it was the same love that I had formed when I saw them, and I knew he was someone that I could work with. And so I've been to Liberia a few times, and we've gone out into these communities, and we've ministered to the men and the women there, and we've brought them food, and we bring them medical supplies, and the one thing they just tell us is, please help us, please help us. And so Sam and I and our other ministry partner, Evangelist Sylvester, we've joined together, American Resources and Liberian Resources, we pool our resources and our strengths.

Alone, me as an American, I can't go over there and do and have an impact that I could have without my Liberian resources. And we pool our resources together, and we come together, and we believe that God has brought us together for this purpose. And I say it all the time, that I believe that God, the fire of God, is going to burn the addiction out of Liberia, one soul at a time, in Jesus' name. So we formed this ministry called Liberation Center Liberia, and we've just got some incredible programs and some incredible plans going on. I'm working with Sam right now, and we're in the process of a construction project, and we are actually putting it on the roof today for a men's drug rehabilitation discipleship program. Tell us a little bit about how the work is going on with that, Sam.

Good to know that we put it on the roof today. It's a discipleship home where we are going to take these men out of the streets, out of the cemetery. We're going to bring them in this home where they can be free from drugs, first and foremost. They can get to know Jesus, and they can be properly disciples. They can have a tree for those who lack business skills, and they do not learn something. So teach them a skill. We can teach them a tree.

Maybe something that they can do with their hand or something they can do on the computer. And what have you, that they will learn it. And they're properly disciples. And then when they've learned it and they've been rehabilitated, they can go back and share the love of God with their other brothers that are there in the ghettos, in the cemetery, in other places. And so it's the whole process that we're starting. It's starting small, but like Michael said, it's going to burn addiction out of Liberia one soul at a time. And we're beginning the first men's rehabilitation center. And we believe that God is going to do many, many all across this country.

You have the problem of addictions or a lot of problems all across Liberia. So we believe that we're going to do many, many all across this country. And we're going to take men out of the cemetery, men out of the ghetto, bring them into this home, share the love of God with them, disciple them. And when they are a disciple, we teach them skill, teach them something they can learn, something they can do with their hands, and they can be a better productive citizen tomorrow. And like Ezekiel said, can these dry bones live?

Yes. And these dry bones are going to live and they are going to stand up an exceeding great army. So while I've been a reproach to Liberia, God is going to turn that reproach around and God is going to use these men and women to be a blessing to this nation. Those who are called Zobos, those who are called Orchias, their lives are going to be transformed. And from Zobos, they are going to be heroes because they are going to go out into society and they are going to make a difference in this nation, beginning with this place that we have started and we're putting the roof on, on this men's rehabilitation home.

There's so much to do here. We're putting the roof on here at the beginning of the process. And there's so much we need to do to have this rehabilitation center in place, getting it ready so that the men can come. It's a small center that we're beginning now that might be able to host at least 20, 25 men for the time. We're going to allow you to keep growing as God bless us. We have the opportunity. We are going to open other centers in other areas. And so we take these men out of the cemetery, take these men out of the ghettos.

God help us. And they're going to be free from drugs. As they are free from drugs, you learn a tree, go back into society and Zobos are going to be heroes in Liberia. That's right.

And I just also want to say something. Sam also has a Bible college and we've already sponsored, Sons and Daughters of Thunder has already sponsored some of the Zogos in their first year of Bible college. And we're going to continue in their second year. And soon they'll have a four year degree from his Bible school. Would you tell them a little about your Bible school, Sam? Bible school is Mission International, it's a Montserrat Bible training center. And we're in as much as we reach out to Christians, sharing the love of God with them, teaching them basic Bible training, discipleship, and that's what we emphasize, discipleship, that they will go out and teach others to observe what they've been taught. We also make it our duty to win over and bring into our schools those Zogos that will be rehabilitated. And we give them basic Bible training and Sons and Daughters of Thunder liberation center are in the business of sponsoring them.

We were able to sponsor a number of students, about six, seven students. And they went through the process and they've done with the first part of the program. They got a certificate and they go into the second aspect of the program to have the diploma so that by the space of four years, they will have a degree and they will be able to share the love of God because they have been properly disciple through the Bible school process. And they will be able to go out and share the love of God with others.

Some of them even desiring to be pastors and evangelists and ministers of the gospel as well. And that is something that God is doing. One soul at a time, addictions being burned out of Liberia.

Sons and Daughters of Thunder liberation center is in the center of what God is doing in this nation. And this is just so wonderful for me to hear because this is the process that we believe in. This is the process that I went through when I was addicted to drugs and I ended up in prison because I was stealing to pay for my drugs. And I had did a I was locked. I was in prison two separate times.

I've been locked up probably seven or eight years because of my drug addiction. But the last time I was locked up, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. And when I got out of prison, I went to one of these drug rehabilitation discipleship homes and I spent my time in that home. And I was properly discipled. And then after I was properly discipled, I went to Bible college and I earned my bachelor's degree in theology. And I became a licensed and ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now I go out and I serve.

I actually am involved in prison ministry and I'm a missionary to Liberia, West Africa. And so we believe in this process. We know it works.

I'm a living testimony that it works. And we're going to take this formula that God has given to us and we're going to plan it in Liberia. And this is the pastor Sam's been doing for years. He dedicated his life to and we just love that the Lord has brought us together and and that that we can do this and help the people of Liberia. We know that thousands of lives are going to be changed in this work of God. And so I just want to thank you, Pastor Sam, for coming on this podcast, coming on this show. And again, if anybody wants to read more about what we're doing, you can go to www.LiberationCenterLiberia.org.

Also www.SonsAndDaughtersOfThunder.org. And you can also, if you feel led to make a donation to help support this ministry and what we're doing there, you can do that through PayPal on either one of those Web sites. And we are a 501C3 nonprofit corporation. And we'll send you a receipt for your tax purposes, for your donation. And once again, I'm going to say it. We believe the fire of God is going to burn the addiction out of Liberia one soul at a time. One soul at a time. And you can be a part of that.

Yes. All right. Thank you, Pastor Sam. Do you want to have any parting words or the people listening today? I'm so blessed to be able to share what God is doing here in Liberia. And all we can say is, like, Liberia is a country that was founded by free American slaves. And we have so much in common.

Our flag, our parliament, the way we run our government. It's no wonder that God connected us to do this very work together. And I pray that many of you who are listening to me today will be a part of what God is doing in Liberia.

Let's help burn the addiction out of Liberia one soul at a time, in Jesus' name. All right, brother. I love you, Pastor Sam, and we'll be talking soon. Thank you. Thank you for listening. For more information on Michael Bowen's ministry, Sons and Daughters of Thunder, visit sonsanddaughtersoffunder.org. And remember, there is no addiction in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks the chains.