Posted on 04/30/2018 10:35:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Former transgender, bisexual, lesbian and gay men and women, including an Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting survivor, will be gathering in the nation's capital for a worship event next weekend to proclaim how Jesus Christ liberated them.
Attendees from across the nation will assemble at the National Sylvan Theater from noon to 3 p.m. on May 5 for what is being called Freedom March.
Daren Mehl, president of the group Voice of the Voiceless, says he sees the event as "an opportunity for those of us who have a new life with Jesus to come together in fellowship and praise Him for the love and grace available to everyone who seeks it [and] to testify publicly of the life-changing grace available to leave the LGBT identity for something greater," he told The Christian Post on Friday.
Mehl, 40, is a Minnesota native who identified as a gay man for approximately 10 years. Today he is married to a woman and has two children. He will also be at next Saturday's march.
"Jesus instructs us to love others as we love ourselves," he said when asked what he hopes this event communicates to the LBGT community, many of whom have been wounded by religion.
"When anyone spews hate toward another person they are clearly not operating according to the Holy Spirit," Mehl said. "It is extremely sad when this happens and I hope that [Christians] would be convicted of their sin and repent and reconcile with those they hurt."
He told CP that when he encountered the Gospel his entire value system, purpose for living, and beliefs about who he is changed, including his sexual identity.
"Jesus asked me to lay down my identity at His feet and surrender it for a new one in Him. I decided the gay label and lifestyle didn't align to my desired identity as a Christian. Trying to align my choices in behavior to my Christian identity took years of struggling, and sometimes it was quite painful," he said.
He believes this Freedom March is necessary to showcase the many formerly LGBT lives that Jesus has transformed and to encourage those who are struggling with their sexuality and are seeking answers, many of whom often feel they are alone.
"They are not alone," he stressed.
Luis Javier Ruiz, a survivor of the June 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were murdered by Omar Mateen in what was at the time the worst mass shooting in modern American history, will be participating in the May 5 march.
"I should [have] been number 50," Ruiz wrote on his Facebook page Friday.
"Going through old pictures of the night of Pulse a memory were (sic) my struggles of perversion, heavy drinking to drown out everything and having promiscuous sex that led to HIV. [T]he enemy had its grip and now God has taken me from that moment and has given me Christ Jesus. I've grown to know [H]is love in a deeper level."
Ruiz lost several friends that night.
"I should [have] been number 50," he reiterated, "but now I have the chance to live in relationship and not religion, not just loving Christ but being in love with Christ and sharing [H]is love. I know who I am and I am not defined with who the enemy says I used to be but who Christ Jesus says I am."
Several of Freedom March's speakers and worship leaders are featured in the film "Here's my Heart: A Documentary of Surrendering to Freedom," which chronicles the stories of men and women who left homosexuality and transgenderism behind for a new life in Jesus.
But...but...born that way
Some federal judge will rule that they can’t be ex-gay..../s
Now they've cleaned themselves up and they'll be the enemy of the left.
The only freedom of speech protected under the left's constitution is that speech that advances their agenda.
Quick, California, pass a law against it. Someone may notice them.
When will it become a crime to change ones mind? THX-1178
These are the kind of people I pray for.
CA considering law that would have them arrested.
May God almighty reach His hand down to these fellow strugglers against the grip of sin
These folks scare the daylights out of the LGBT movement. They prove a person is not born homosexual.
Amen!
I have had two friends in my life who admitted their struggle with same same sex attraction but both of them loved Jesus more than their flesh. That’s why I get so angry when the lies about homosexuality and the Bible are repeated by propagandists.
Amen
Bump for later
God be praised.
Boy you aren’t lying!
They are incredibly brave for being light-bearers in the face of darkness.
May their bravery reach even more tormented souls for Christ! Amen!
[[ “These are the kind of people I pray for.” ]]
Ditto! This is very good news to hear. God love them!
Oh, thank You Jesus!!!!!!
I worked in the arts for 40+ years alongside many gays and lesbians, and eventually a fair number of them became ex-gays and ex-lesbians as the lifestyle began to take its toll. The fact that gay marriage was not available during my younger years certainly helped many of them make a logical choice to align their hearts and minds with their reproductive equipment and do what it would take to have a natural family in years to come. I haven’t kept in touch since I moved away from that city and don’t do facebook, but I do know of one such couple (in which only one of the two had this issue) have now been married almost 50 years and are enjoying grandchildren.
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