700 Club Testimony Dramatic Deliverance of a
Homosexual
www.bible-knowledge.com
just heard another unbelievable testimony. This one
came off of the Pat Robertson 700 Club. Pat Robertson said it was one of the
most moving and inspirational stories of deliverance, healing and forgiveness
he has ever heard. The power of God was all over this story as this guy was
telling everything that had happened to him!
This story will serve as a very nice follow-up to the
article I just did titled “ How to Handle Negative Feelings When Wronged by
Someone Else.” This story has a dramatic example of God wanting this man to
fully forgive someone who had horribly wronged him as you will see as I tell
you the story. As a result of being able to fully forgive this man, it set up
an astounding healing and a sequence of events that was truly mind blowing!
You will also see some unbelievable chess moves made
by God in this story to help a few other people out. This story is a whopper!
Per the article we have on homosexuality in the Current Issues section of our
site, give a copy of this story to anyone you may know who is gay and really
struggling as to whether or not God can really heal and deliver them from this
condition. As I said in that article, the power of God can deliver any
homosexual from this condition if they really want the deliverance. This story
proves that point without any shadow of a doubt.
1. The man’s
name was Matthew Manning. He said he was sexually molested by one of his older
brothers before he was 10 years old. All of the cool kids at school used to
make fun of him and he was not getting any true nurturing love and acceptance
from either his family, friends or school.
As a result of craving some type of unconditional
love, he started hanging out at a park that was known to have gay men
frequenting it. This was when he was only 10 years old. He said he literally
became a practicing homosexual at the age of 10.
He said he would go to the park whenever he would have
problems at home. All he was looking for was a hug from an older man. This
obviously led to other things in the park and he always felt shame and guilt
afterward, but it was the only place he could find any type of unconditional
love and acceptance from anyone.
As a result of all this in his early years, he became
a full pledge homosexual as he got older. He was also raised up in a Christian
school and recalls one of the teachers always making him memorize Scripture
verses.
2. When he got
old enough, he joined the Coast guard. And where did he first get stationed at
after joining? San Francisco – the gay capital of the world! He said he was out
saving people during the day and then going to gay bars and living the gay
lifestyle at night.
During his time with the Coast Guard in San Francisco,
he had a horrible experience. He did not know it at the time, but a serial
killer had been operating in the area killing gay men and throwing their bodies
off of a bridge.
One night as he was sitting by himself close to the
bridge and water, a man approached him from behind, put a knife to his throat
and told him to follow him. This man had told him that he had been sent to
teach him a lesson. When Matt asked him who had sent him, the man replied back
“You’ll find out when you end up burning in hell.”
Matthew did not know it, but he was being accosted by
the guy who was the serial killer. The man took him off to the side and
molested him. During the molestation, Matthew was able to break away and run to
safety. There was no doubt that this guy was going to kill him. He immediately
went to the police to report what had happened. Initially, the police thought
that these were all suicides from the bodies they found floating in the waters,
but later this guy admitted to killing other people as you will see further
down in the story.
3. After all of
the above, Matthew continued to live the gay lifestyle. During all of this
time, he had encountered numerous street preachers trying to get him saved and
delivered from the homosexual lifestyle. He thought all of them were judgmental
and wanted nothing to do with any of them or even God Himself. He figured, like
most homosexuals, that he was born with this condition and that there was
nothing that either he or God could do to change his condition.
Then one day he met a woman and her five-year-old son
who were out preaching on the streets. This little boy comes up to him and
tells him “Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you.” He had heard all of that before
and was not really moved by it. However, the little boy kept trying to get him
to come to his church, which was just around the corner.
Initially, Matt had no desire to check the church out.
However, one day as he was driving past the church, he literally heard an audible
voice say to him – “This is the last time I am going to ask you.”
He knew right of way that this was the voice of God
talking to him. Beset by some fear from this statement, he decided to check the
church out. When he walked in, they had a band playing very lively
worship/praise music and he initially thought that he had walked into a cult.
As he went to sit up front, he saw the little five-year-old boy who had been
witnessing to him earlier in the streets. This boy was sitting up in front
where they could see each other.
Then here is where miracle #1 occurs.
As Matt was gazing around the church, he was not
really being moved by anything he saw. And then all of sudden, he looked over
at the little five year old boy who had been witnessing to him out in the
streets earlier. The little boy was standing up, hands held straight up in the
air and he was crying. He was praying to God and the words he was praying to
God were – “Please God, show Matthew that we are not all nuts in this church.
Please God, show Him that You are real.”
When Matt saw this little five year old praying with
that kind of sincerity and intensity, he was immediately touched and moved. He
said that when he saw that, he knew that this was the agape love he had been
searching for all of his life – someone that could unconditionally love him for
who he really was.
Matt then gave his life to the Lord that night and got
saved, but told God that he would have to change him on the inside to handle
his homosexual desires for men.
Matt continued to go to church and began to study the
Word. However, he also continued to live in his gay lifestyle. He said the
desires were still there and he figured he’d still act out on them since God
had not taken away these desires.
Now here is where miracle #2 comes in.
One night while in a church service, he gets slain in
the Spirit. While resting in the Spirit on the ground, he gets a vision and
sees Jesus standing in front of him. As soon as he sees Jesus, he starts
arguing with Him in reference to his homosexual desires and the fact that he
can’t get rid of the desires. Jesus then looks him straight in the eye and says
to him: “Every time you commit a
homosexual act, you are committing that act against Me.”
Jesus then says something else to him that I can’t
recall verbatim, but it had something to do with His sacrificial death on the
cross and that His death on the cross had already set this man free from this
condition.
Matt said that when Jesus said all of this to him – it
was the “truth of God” cutting right into him to go against a lie that he had
been living all of those years. Matt was still trying to hang onto his
homosexual lifestyle and yet serve God. When Jesus spoke these direct words to
him, he knew that he had been living a lie and that he had no more excuses for
remaining in this lifestyle.
Right after Jesus said all of this to him, he got up
and literally started puking all over the place. I believe the puking was God’s
way of vomiting all of the contamination that was in this man from his
homosexual lifestyle all those years. I also believe there was a possibility
demons were being expelled out of him at this point.
When he got up and went outside the church, he heard
God say to him that he would heal him from this condition if he would agree to
witness to other homosexual men about God’s grace, mercy and power to set these
men free from this condition. Matt agreed with God on this condition and he
said from that day forward he has never had another homosexual encounter and
has lost all natural desire for it!
4. Now hang on
– the story is not over.
Matt then proceeds to totally serve God. He then joins
the church’s prison ministry team to preach to criminals behind bars. As he is
doing all of this, he suddenly starts to get physically weaker. He couldn’t
swim as long as he used to, his endurance and stamina are weakening, and he
starts having problems with his intestines. He goes to a doctor, tests are run,
and he finds out that he has full-blown AIDS – he is HIV positive!
He then starts yelling at God – how could He do this
to me? God had healed him from the homosexual lifestyle and he was fully
serving God and now all of a sudden he comes down with AIDS. God then very
quickly tells him that the AIDS he has come down with is not as a result of any
judgment being passed onto him by God – the AIDS has come upon him as a
“consequence” of the homosexual lifestyle that he had been living in earlier
and that he was simply reaping what he had sown over all of those previous
years.
Matt then received realization and revelation that
what seeds you plant in the ground will grow. And if you plant seeds of
destruction, then you will eventually reap death and corruption as a result.
God then tells Matt that He will fully heal him from
the AIDS, but only if Matt is willing to agree to fully forgive everyone that
has ever wronged him in this life – including the man who had given him the
AIDS.
Matt at first wrestled with God on the issue, but he
went ahead and did it. He forgave his brother who had molested him, he forgave
his parents who had not properly loved him, and he forgave the man, whoever he
was, who had given him the AIDS. Matt said he did not feel any forgiveness towards
these people when doing this before the Lord, but he went ahead and confessed
it out with his mouth and gave it all to the Lord.
Shortly after doing all of this, Matt’s AIDS takes a
turn for the worse. He literally comes down with all of the symptoms of AIDS
and ends up bedridden just waiting to die. As he is in bed literally dying from
this disease, he keeps telling the doctors that God is going to heal him.
Everyone thought he was crazy. They had also put him on AZT, which eventually
makes him sterile as you will see further on down in the story.
Then one day as he was lying on his deathbed literally
waiting to die, he gets a Word of Knowledge from the Holy Spirit to speak out
this Word of Knowledge to the man who was attending to him in the hospital. God
tells him to tell the man that he knows that he is gay! Matt speaks the Word of
Knowledge out to the man. The guy can’t believe Matt would know something like
this since they did not know each other. This man had been a Christian, but had
turned away from God.
This man then tells Matt that if God will really heal
him like he is claiming, then this guy would give his life back to Jesus and
turn from his homosexual ways!
Then here is where miracle #3 occurs.
While in bed dying from the AIDS and being hooked up
to the life support machines, all of a sudden his vital signs start to rebound!
Several doctors come running back in, check out the machines and tell him that
they don’t understand it – but that all of his vital signs are rebounding back.
Matt literally stands up in his hospital bed and
starts jumping up and down saying God has now healed him. They then do some
more tests and tell him that even though his AIDS has miraculously gone into
remission – that he is still HIV positive – the AIDS bug is still in him and
that it could re-activate at anytime during his life.
As a result of the above miracle, the man who Matt had
spoken the Word of Knowledge to earlier gave his life back to Christ and
renounced his homosexual lifestyle!
Matt then continues on his walk with God believing
that God will someday complete the healing and completely take out the HIV
virus where he will no longer be HIV positive.
5. Now here, in
my opinion, is the most powerful part of his testimony. This is miracle #4.
Matt continues to stay on the church’s prison ministry
team, witnessing to criminals and homosexuals. One day he was scheduled to
speak in one of the prisons to 20 criminals wanting to hear his Christian
testimony.
When he walked in, he saw 20 men sitting in chairs
directly in front of the podium he was going to speak from.
And guess who
was sitting in the front row directly in front of where he was going to speak?
The serial killer who had raped and molested him years earlier when he had been
serving in the Coast Guard.
As soon as he sees this man, he starts feeling anger
and wrath rise up in him. But then he had remembered his deal and covenant with
God, that God would completely heal him from the AIDS if he would be willing to
forgive all of those who had ever wronged him in the past – including the
serial killer who had raped him.
Matt knew he was being tested and knew he had to try
and forgive this man – even though his feelings were not initially lining up
with it. Matt’s sermon for this particular group just coincidentally was going
to be on forgiveness!
Talk about an unbelievable chess move made by God to
arrange for all of this to occur!
Matt then delivers his sermon to the 20 inmates. After
he gets done, he then makes an altar call to see if anyone wants to receive
Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Only one guy raises his hands to come up to get
saved – and it is the serial killer!
Matt says that the man then starts to break down and
cry in front of everyone. He then proceeds to tell Matt and the other 19
inmates that he has killed other people, that he has AIDS, and that he has
given AIDS to other people during the course of his crime sprees! Matt finds
out, right there on the spot, that this man was probably the man who had given
him the AIDS when this man raped him back when he was in the Coast Guard.
Matt then asks the man to come forward in front of
everyone else. Matt then tells this man that he was one of this man’s past
victims. He tells the man that he was the 18 year old that he had raped at
knife point at the location that it had occurred. Matt then tells him that he
has fully forgiven him for what he has done to him and that God will also fully
forgive him and accept him into His kingdom if he is truly sorry for his sins
and is willing to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.
This man ends up getting saved that night with Matt.
As a result of this man’s dramatic confession and Matt’s response to him, the
other 19 inmates, who initially had not raised their hands to come forward to
get saved, all broke down, came forward and accepted God’s free gift of eternal
salvation as the serial killer had just done.
Matt later found out that this serial killer, whose
name was Kyle, died a year later in prison. Matt firmly believes that this man
is now in heaven as a result of getting saved that day with him.
6. Now here is
where miracle #5 comes in.
Shortly after all of the above occurs, Matt receives
another powerful message from Jesus. Jesus tells him to go back and re-check
his status on his AIDS. Jesus tells him that he has now received a full
healing.
Matt says that Jesus spoke these specific words to him
and he says he will never forget these words. Jesus said to him – “This day I
have purged your blood with My Blood.”
Matt was literally choking up as he re-said those
words back to the person who was interviewing him for this story. Matt then
goes back to the doctor and has his AIDS checked out again. The doctor comes
back completely dumbfounded and said he was now HIV negative. There was no
trace of the virus anywhere in his system!
This doctor then interviewed other doctors who are
experts in the treatment of AIDS. They said they have never seen anyone get
diagnosed HIV positive, then break into full blown AIDS with all of its
symptoms, then go back into remission while still continuing to be HIV
positive, and then all of a sudden go into complete HIV negative!
7. Now here is
miracle #6.
After all of this occurs, God then leads Matt to the
woman He wants him to marry. Matt had become sterile as a result of all the
medication he had been on earlier trying to combat the AIDS.
At the time of this interview with TBN, Matt’s wife is
now pregnant and they will be having a brand new baby boy very shortly! God has
now also healed this man from his sterility! Matt gets himself checked out
every 6 months to see if the AIDS have come back. The AIDS has not come back on
him since 1994 when he had received the complete healing from the Lord on it.
Matt continues to serve God full time preaching about
the mercy, love, forgiveness and power of God and that God can forgive and set
anyone free from their past – no matter how bad or shameful their past may be.
Lessons
There are several major lessons to be learned from
this story.
1. The Love and Mercy of God
This story is a dramatic example of the love and mercy
of God. Per the description of this serial killer – at first glance and
appearance this man looks like there is no way that he would be salvageable in
the eyes of the Lord. He’s got AIDS and he is running around raping and killing
other gay men and infecting them with AIDS. This man appears to be pure evil.
However, God must have seen what was really in this
man’s heart and knew that he was really salvageable. God obviously sent Matt in
there at the right time to preach to this man to get him saved. The way the man
broke down and confessed to all of his evil deeds to everyone present does show
that he was truly sorry for all of his evil acts.
God must have seen his repentant heart, knew that he would
be willing to admit and confess these sins, and sovereignly chose to get this
man saved. From the outside, this man deserved nothing less than to burn in
hell for all of eternity for the heinous acts he had been committing. For God
to have mercy on this kind of heinous sinner really does show how merciful and
loving God really is. This act, in my opinion, was an awesome act of love and
mercy that goes way beyond the bounds of how far some people think God would
really go!
This dramatic story shows all of us that you never
know who is salvageable and who is not. That is why I always tell everyone to
stay open to the leadings of the Holy Spirit as to who to pray for and who not
to pray for. It may just surprise you the people God may have you pray for from
time to time.
God can see much deeper into the human heart than we
can and that is why we must be very careful not to judge too harshly by what we
are seeing on the outside. The Bible tells us that God does not look on the
outward appearance of a man. He looks on the inside – to the core of a person –
to the heart.
Sometimes what is in the heart of a man is not shown
or being expressed to the outside by the person. Some people are very good at
hiding their true feelings and emotions on things. Only God can see past the
outer appearance of a man to see what kind of person they really are on the
inside.
The most touching part of this story was the little
five year old boy who was used by God to get Matt saved.
If you’ll notice, Matt had quite a few conversations
with other adult Christians who were trying to get him saved. However, none of
them were getting the job done. Matt felt most of them were too judgmental and
too condescending and he thus was not open to allowing any of them to properly
preach the basics of the gospel to him. It wasn’t until Matt saw the little 5
year old boy praying for him in church that he was moved to allow God to start
to touch him.
This little boy had been praying specifically for him
right in the middle of a service. Matt knew that this was a true act of true
love and figured if one person could show this kind of love in God towards him,
that maybe there was something with the Christian God that they were all
talking about.
The Holy Spirit was obviously on this little boy by
the way he was crying and the specific words he was saying in his prayer to
God. This little boy was truly praying in the Spirit and look at the result – a
homosexual who had thought that he and his condition were completely hopeless
ends up getting saved and born again – all probably in the space of 45-60
minutes!
And as a result
of this man getting saved – the attendant in the hospital ends up getting
saved, the serial killer and 19 other inmates end up getting saved, and who
knows how many other people have been saved off of this man’s testimony as he
continues to preach about God and His ability to save and deliver people from
their past – no matter how bad it is.
And all of that
domino effect was started by the actions of a Spirit-led five year old boy! The
Bible tells us that God will sometimes use the foolish and simple things of
this world to confound the wise of this world.
The Spirit-led actions of this five year old boy show
all of us how powerful it really is if you will allow God to use you to get
others saved. If you get just one person saved in this life, you never know how
many other people will get saved by the person you have just saved yourself.
The domino effect could be tremendous! And this is the stuff that will really
be rewarded by the Lord once you enter into heaven.
2. The Homosexual Lifestyle
Per the article I did on homosexuality, the Bible is
emphatically clear that God will not condone or accept this lifestyle in any
way, shape or form. The Bible says that homosexuality is an abomination in
God’s eyes and that it is one of the specific sins mentioned in the Bible that
will keep you out of heaven!
Many liberal Christians are trying to persuade others
that God is open to accepting this kind of alternative lifestyle and even going
as far as ordaining gay and lesbian ministers.
If you’ll notice, when Matt first gets saved and
starts serving God, he continues to stay with his gay lifestyle. My guess is
that God was giving him a certain amount of time to see the errors of his ways
on this issue. When Matt was not getting it after a certain length of time, God
then literally arranges to have this man flattened to the ground. He literally
gets slain in the Spirit right in the middle of a service.
While resting in the Spirit, Jesus literally appears
to this man. I didn’t mention this above, but the first thing Jesus says to him
is why is he continuing to remain in the gay lifestyle and still trying to
serve God at the same time. At this point, Matt said he actually started
arguing with Jesus, trying to somehow justify his actions as to why he was
still choosing to remain gay.
It was at this point that Jesus speaks a very powerful
word to him telling him that every time he commits a homosexual act – that he
is committing that act directly against Jesus Himself. Jesus then goes on to
tell him that His death on the cross has already given him the power to defeat
his homosexual desires and lifestyle, and that he is suppose to step out and
use this power by not engaging in the gay lifestyle, to completely turn away
from it.
Matt said those words were so sharp – that they
literally broke through and demolished the lie that he had been living all of
his life – thinking that the gay lifestyle was all right in the eyes of God.
If this man’s entire testimony is true, and I believe
it is, it is just more proof that God will not accept or condone the homosexual
lifestyle. Jesus made that loud and clear to this man when he appeared to him
and confronted him with it – telling him that every time he committed a
homosexual act, that he was committing that act directly against Him.
I don’t think there is any other interpretation on
these words other than God does not approve of any part of the gay lifestyle
and that it is a direct sin and transgression being directly committed against
God Himself!
From that point on, Matt had completely given up any
part of the gay lifestyle for good. His decisions and actions perfectly line up
with what God was telling him to do on this issue.
Those liberal Christians who think that God has no
problems with this type of lifestyle are going to be in for a big surprise when
they have to face God for their own personal judgment when they die and cross
over.
The Bible says that God will not be mocked! Liberal
Christians who are trying to re-interpret Scripture on this subject to justify
their own actions in order to remain in the gay lifestyle are mocking God and
His Word on this issue and are treading into extremely dangerous grounds with
Him.
3. The Deliverance Power of God
This story also shows that God can completely deliver
a homosexual from these desires – no matter how long they have been living in
it.
Matt had been a practicing homosexual ever since he
was 10 years old. He thought there was no hope on getting rid of these desires.
Once he was faced with the true word from God on this issue and agreed to abide
by it, he literally started puking right there in church. I believe at this
point, the power of the Holy Spirit had moved in on him to literally take these
desires out of him. This was the Holy Spirit literally doing inner spiritual
surgery on him.
If you’ll notice, Matt was completely delivered from
his gay desires at this time. He had lost all desire to want to engage in the
gay lifestyle and has never ever gone back to it since. This dramatic
deliverance does show that God can deliver any homosexual from these desires if
they are open to receiving it. And for some, He can do it very quickly –
sometimes in a matter of minutes like He did with Matt!
4. Unforgiveness
Probably the major point to take off of this whole
story is the importance in God’s eyes that we try not to hold any unforgiveness
against anyone who has ever wronged us in this life. If you will notice, God
did not start the healing of his AIDS until he would agree with God that he
would fully forgive everyone in his past that had ever wronged him, including
the man who had given him the AIDS.
And then God even goes one step further to test out
his resolve on this issue – God arranges for Matt to meet and confront the man
who had probably given him the AIDS – the man who had literally raped him at
knife point. Talk about a test! But Matt was smart enough to realize that he
made a deal and covenant with God and that God would completely heal him from
his AIDS, but only if he would agree to fully forgive everyone from his past,
no matter how bad he had been wronged by others.
If God was expecting Matt to fully forgive a serial
killer who had raped him at knife point – can you imagine what God wants from
the rest of us if we have any issues with others who may have wronged us on
much smaller matters?
This whole part of the story really lines up with
God’s Word on this issue. He says in the Bible that He will not forgive us if
we don’t forgive others and that we cannot even approach Him for prayer if we
are holding any unforgiveness towards others. God means serious business on
this issue and each Christian needs to get these matters straightened out with
the Lord before they can really expect to move forward in their own individual
journeys with Him.
I really feel that God is confirming the importance of
keeping our slates clean in our walks with Him – especially in the area of
holding any unforgiveness towards others.
The above story has quite a few twists and turns in it
all showing us how active God can really get in your life once you are willing
to open up and allow Him to come into your life.
The one thing that really blows my mind on this whole
story is just simply the love and mercy God really has for all of us and the
extreme lengths to which He will go to try and get all of us saved.
To arrange to get this serial killer saved after all
of the horrible and evil acts that he had committed shows us a side of God that
is almost beyond human comprehension.
The depth of God’s mercy, love and goodness may just
be truly unfathomable. Our God is truly an awesome God and He more than proves
it by the lengths He goes to in this story to get everyone saved and delivered.
