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The Conversion of the Executioner In the heat of a Burmese village, Adoniram Judson preached under the open sky, his voice weakened by years of suffering, but his eyes burning with eternity. Among the crowd sat a man no one dared to speak to an older, muscular figure with eyes like stone and scars to match. He had once been the royal executioner in Ava, tasked with beheading prisoners and torturing enemies of the crown. He had overseen the deaths of countless men and, years earlier, had watched Judson rot in prison with quiet amusement. Now, that same man sat cross legged in the dirt, unmoved. Or so it seemed. Judson preached on Christ’s cry from the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” The executioner’s lips began to tremble. Tears formed. When the message ended, he approached Judson slowly and dropped to his knees. “I heard this man cry that same thing,” he whispered, “when I beat him in Ava. He prayed for me… while I tortured him.” He wept aloud, the Gospel breaking years of cruelty in a moment of mercy. That day, a killer became a convert. The hands that once wielded death were lifted in worship. No lightning flashed from heaven only grace fell like rain. And Judson, who had once suffered at this man’s hands, embraced him as a brother.