700 Club Testimony
Dramatic Deliverance of a Homosexual

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 forgive someone who had horribly wronged him as you will see as I tell you the story. As a result of being able to 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. 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 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 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 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, that 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, starts jumping up and down saying God has 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, his 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 knifepoint at the location that it had occurred. Matt then tells him that he has forgiven him for what he has done to him and that God will also 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. 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 dumfounded 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

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've 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 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 type of person he or she really is 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 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 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 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 error of his ways. 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 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 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 committed directly 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.

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 the 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'll 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 knifepoint. 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 forgive a serial killer who had raped him at knifepoint - 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.

 

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Homosexuality and the Bible

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Scripture taken from New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.


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