Reality TV star Duane “Dog” Chapman, also known as “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” has chronicled his transformation from an outlaw to a man of faith in a new memoir.
During an appearance on “The Eric Metaxas Radio Show” earlier this month, Chapman told Metaxas about his upbringing and how he was raised by a deeply religious mother who was a preacher in the Assemblies of God denomination and how his father was an abusive alcoholic.
After pulling a knife on his father in an attempt to stop the abuse when he was 13, Chapman ended up leaving home and dropping out of school. He later joined a biker gang called “The Devil’s Disciples” as a teenager, telling Metaxas that he was “demon-oppressed.”
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“I wasn’t completely turning my back on God, just three-quarters of the way,” he added.
Recalling that other members of the biker gang noticed he always prayed before he ate, Chapman said he was given the nickname “Dog” by the gang's leadership because it was “God spelled backwards” and he was “always talking about God.”
After having his first child at the age of 16, Chapman took the baby outside naked and held him up to God while declaring, “I dedicate this baby to you.”
“I still had God inside me,” Chapman maintained, even as he acknowledged his rebellious ways. When one of the biker gang’s attempted robberies resulted in one of the gang members dying from a gunshot wound, Chapman ended up going to jail. While in jail, he met a prison chaplain who asked if his name was “God spelled backwards.”
This prompted Chapman to respond, “How did you know that?” The prison chaplain told Chapman that he intended to pray to God for his bond to get lowered. The following day, Chapman’s bond was reduced.
The decrease in bond enabled Chapman’s release from jail and got a job cleaning a church. Upon getting the job, Chapman recounted telling God, “I’m so sorry that I did this, please help me.” While he was found guilty of murder in connection with the shooting at the robbery gone wrong and ended up receiving a five-year prison sentence, Chapman used his incarceration as an opportunity to grow closer to God.
Although he had to keep his devotion to God secret because of hostility toward the Christian faith behind bars, Chapman ended up performing an exorcism on one of his fellow inmates when he had an “epileptic fit.”
During his incarceration, Chapman became the “warden’s pet” after taking on a job as the warden’s barber. He ended up securing an early release and after getting out of jail, Chapman became a bounty hunter. When asked how he got the idea to embrace that line of work, Chapman responded: “God.”
While Chapman and Metaxas didn't discuss most of what has transpired since Chapman has reformed himself as a bounty hunter, an Amazon description of his book, Nine Lives and Counting, notes that it includes stories of “triumphs and failures from his days as a single dad, new previously untold stories of bounty hunting, the tragic loss of his beloved wife Beth to cancer, the unexpected blessing of finding his new wife Francie, the work he and Francie are doing to preach and share about Jesus, [and] his relationship with his kids and family.”
“With all the plot twists of a page-turning novel, Nine Lives and Counting is a real-life chronicle of God’s amazing grace and restoration that have marked Duane’s journey of faith. You will be inspired,” the description concludes.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
