Churchman who bashed World Cup has freaky past

After being condemned online for telling Christians to stay away from the World Cup, a former recording artiste who was known for freak lyrics, is insisting that he is the perfect person to preach God's word. 

Godfrey Jesse Williams, who is now a churchman, previously performed under the moniker J Amsterdam. One of his songs about oral sex resurfaced after his anti-World Cup comments sparked debate. He said critics are trying to use his past against him, but he believes his transformation is proof of God's grace.

"I was in the enemy's camp. I used to promote sin. I was a promoter of sin. I was the life of the party. When mi used to be out there, once mi step inna the scene, the atmosphere fi the party change," he told THE STAR. "So just as I was bold for the devil in the devil's camp, I also have to be bold for Christ."

The churchman said he expected backlash after declaring that sports is one of Satan's tools to unite people from different backgrounds and beliefs.

"When you touch the idols of the people, when you touch one of Satan's top channels through which he is garnering souls, then you're gonna expect to get a lot of backlash," Williams said.

But social media users quickly dug up a 2014 STAR article highlighting his days as a recording artiste whose lyrics centred on women, partying and sexually charged content.

"That's 12 years ago. And I don't know who went back into time because when I read Micah chapter 7 verse 19, the Bible tells me that Jesus Christ, when I confess my sins and forsake them, He put my sins in the depths of the sea," he said. “So you're going to tell me that somebody went seven miles deep into the ocean to dig up my sin? I tell you, that person has to be aided by the devil."

Williams admitted he deliberately courted controversy during his music days.

"At that time I was mingling and dangling in the things of the world and then suggestion from the enemy said, 'Why not get into this music business fully? And in order to make a breakthrough, just be outrageous. Just do something that is going to cause controversy'. And boom, it worked."

He described himself as a "church heathen" at the time, as he both attended church but also partook in the things of the world. He said he eventually walked away because he feared the impact his music could have on young listeners.

"The type of music that I was singing, they were very catchy and they would become like nursery rhymes for children, and I didn't want to be responsible for the destruction of millions of youths."

Williams also stirred fresh controversy when asked whether it was worse to be an obeah practitioner or a self-described freaky artiste. 

“Both of them fall under sin, but if you read the Bible, yuh see the gyallis dem inna the bible, when David had multiple women, when he took Bathsheba, God said if you had asked me, I could have given you. So, God will be more lenient with men who are womanisers than obeah man, because they are taking their source and their connection from God's chief enemies, which are devils and Satan,” he reasoned. “All sins are sin but obeah working is more dangerous than being a freaky man.”

Reflecting on the lifestyle he left behind, Williams said the road to becoming a churchman was not easy.

"Because I love many things out here in the world, the things that I used to sing about and promote, and all the things in the dancehall. [It was] girls, girls, girls and girls everywhere. And sports," he said. "And God say, 'You have to let go that lifestyle’."

Despite the criticism, Williams remains convinced that his journey from controversial recording artiste to outspoken churchman is exactly why he should be sharing God's message.

"If grace can save me, it too can save you. It's not what you have done in the past. It is who you have met," he said. “My life now today, going forward, it's all about Jesus Christ.”