When Keii (pronounced Kay) Geno came to the capital city of Papua New Guinea to attend school, he had nowhere to live so he slept under houses that were on stilts. It was there that Major Baker, the pioneer officer for the Army in Papua New Guinea found him, struck up a friendship and led him to Christ. A couple of years later Keii went to training and eventually was appointed to open a corps in a village where the chief, called a luluai, was a fierce warrior who was known for the many men he had killed in battle.
Captain Keii was afraid because in that culture as an outsider he had no protection. But he began the work, asking the men in the village to help him build a corps building which was no more than a thatched roof with open sides, logs split lengthwise to serve as benches. Soon a number of people accepted Christ although the luluai refused to attend the meetings. But he heard the singing from the corps and noticed that people in the village were living differently. And he could not help but hear the singing from hut to hut at 4 AM as the people had devotions before heading out to the fields to work.
One Sunday he came into the corps with his seven wives and many children. Captain Keii was scared beyond words. But the luluai simply sat down and listened. After several weeks, he got up and walked to the front. The singing stopped because no one knew if he was going to kill the captain or order everyone to leave. Instead, he humbly knelt at the Mercy Seat and accepted Christ.
A few days later he asked Captain Keii to go with him. Together they walked through the jungle until they came to a mountain cave. Pushing the bolder aside, the luluai lit a torch and together they stepped inside. Set up like a small store, there were rows of shelves, with skulls neatly arranged on them. The luluai began to tell Captain Keii who each one was, when he had killed that person and where. Then he turned and said, “You see what I have done. Can God ever forgive me for all this?”
“Oh, luluai,” the captain said, “When you knelt and asked Christ into your heart, His blood washed away all your sins. God has not only forgiven you. He has forgotten all you ever did it.”
Happy to hear that, the luluai and Captain Keii stepped outside as the luluai used his torch to burn what was in the cave, rolled back the stone and they walked away together.