The Sword and the Sheath - Taiwanese Pastor's Autobiography to Be Made Into Movie

Caroline Gluck/Teresa Neumann Reporting : Jun 24, 2005
BBC News

51-year-old David Lu of Taiwan spent his younger years "fighting, stealing and bullying." As part of the Bamboo Union, Taiwan's largest organized crime syndicate, he collected debts. His criminal activities landed him two prison terms. Then he got saved.

Now Lu is a pastor and has inspired his countrymen with his autobiography, The Sword and The Sheath, which a U.S. film company plans to turn into a movie. "It's not very important for my story to become a movie," said Pastor Lu, "but I said to the Lord: if you can use it... to help people to change their life... let it happen."

As for his jail time, Lu describes it as little more than a "school for crime." "Prison in Taiwan is a place where, if you are a small thief, you learn a lot. When you leave, you become a big thief," he said.

According to a BBC report, it was during his second term in jail that he converted to Christianity. He had been receiving letters from a Christian girl, the sister of a man he had recruited into the gang. Suddenly, one of David's "mentors" in prison died unexpectedly, forcing him to "reassess" his life. When he was finally released from jail in 1979, says the report - 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.

Of course, the two fell in love and married, but even then his presence in the church was not easy. "But I apologized to people I had beaten, and helped people who were alcoholics or smoking or taking opium."

"After three years, many people had already changed. After five years, we had 300 in our congregation. And in the last 20 years, we have opened another four churches," he said. About 150 gangsters had also become Christians.

Today, media coverage of Pastor Lu's past is attracting new members to his churches. Reporter Caroline Gluck says his congregants describe him as a "highly intelligent leader, someone who can draw on real-life examples to demonstrate that he understands their problems - and can help them with their struggles."

"It's never too late to be changed," says Lu. "Everyone can be changed. It's never too late."