A former leader of the Ku Klux Klan changed from a path of hate and intolerance to one of love and acceptance. His remarkable change of heart came about in part after he met Rev. Wade Watts, a black man he had intimidated and threatened while in the KKK.
Johnny Lee Clary was an American who served as a Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard before he became a Pentecostal Christian, traveling around the world preaching the gospel and teaching against racism and hate groups.
In a TV interview with Andrew Denton’s “Enough Rope”, Clary recounted how his friendship with Watts began despite he and the KKK throwing trash over the preacher’s lawn, setting fire to his church and intimidating him in public.
Clary said that during one of their encounters Watts told him, “‘You can’t do enough to me to make me hate you. I’m gonna love you and I will pray for you whether you like it or not.’ And I didn’t know how to deal with that. I had never had that happen to me before.”
After leaving the klan, Clary joined an evangelical church and reached out to the man he had formerly harassed for guidance and friendship. “Rev. Wade Watts and I became best of friends,” he said. “He took me on the road with him, and he began to mentor me.”
Click and watch this inspiring story of a very brave man who changed another man’s life for the better.
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