A former homosexual man has bravely shared his story of how God called him out of that lifestyle and gave him “identity, hope & a purpose”.
Adonis Aurelio Bemish used the beginning of the ‘LGBT Pride month’ to open up about how he once believed a homosexual lifestyle “would bring some kind of freedom”.
But in a Facebook post, he explained how actively pursuing other men, “thinking it would give me some purpose & I could truly be ‘who I was’”, never satisfied him.
Not in denial
Bemish wrote: “People have called me self-hating since starting to share my story of redemption in Christ & others have said I’m denying who I really am & telling me to just be gay & proud about it.”
Others told him he could “break free” and find happiness pursuing the gay lifestyle if he simply rejected his Christian upbringing.
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He said as he struggled to find acceptance in the gay “community”, he became more depressed, and began to question God “for making me the way I thought He had”.
He said he would “yell & scream at God” for making him go through so much pain and anguish.
Spiritual warfare
Despite this he said he could sense God’s “still small voice” calling him back.
“I felt condemned already though for living the life I had lived. That I had gone too far down this road to come back, but yet He still pursued me.
“I knew I was at war because when I would speak to God there would be the voice of the enemy saying ‘God won’t take you back, you’re worthless & He hates you, how could you think He could still love you. You have to clean yourself up first in order to be presentable to Him.
“These lies were constantly thrown in my face & I believed them & bought into it all.”
‘Transformed’
More than five years on, Bemish now says: “To see & know all the many others who’ve left the LGBT lives they were leading to pursue God with all they are has been so amazingly encouraging to me.”
But he’s clear where the praise for his changed life belongs. “It’s been the Lord who has transformed me & has called me by my name & not by my struggles. He’s given me identity, hope & a purpose.”