Real Life Testimony: From Death to Life!

Complimentary Story
   It doesn’t matter if you turn on your television, pick up a newspaper or magazine or just simply walk down the street, you will be faced with a huge issue that is facing all Christians, as well as all of society. 

   The politics of personal values, as they relate to one’s beliefs, have been hijacked by an extremely vocal and relentless group of people, hellbent on redefining things like traditional marriage, education, and faith. 

   And while some try to remain neutral, in the hopes that they might not be labeled as “intolerant,” “bigoted,” or as a  “narrow minded fool,” it has become increasingly obvious that the lost and misguided among us simply will not be satisfied with anything less than total acceptance and participation of their personal belief systems, and total disregard for our own.

   Now as Christians, we understand that this is not possible in the eyes of GOD and as it is defined in Scripture. Moreover, we find ourselves defending the beliefs we hold dear, not in the sense that they are somehow wrong or intolerant, but as they are clearly the opposite of those held by this vocal group of deceived individuals seeking validation.

   Please pardon me if I seem overly political.  I’m simply frustrated by the razor-sharp clarity I feel in my heart on the matters of traditional family and the like, as a means to address many of our societal ills. 

   I only wish to explain the teachings of my Lord and Savior, and those of Scripture as my reasoning for the things I hold dear. I do believe there are clear and obvious consequences to a life lived in sin, and I cannot or will not deny that for the sake of political correctness or some societal “trend.”  My own “reward” for choosing to engage in homosexuality, prostitution, etc was HIV/AIDS. That was my recompense. 

   As someone who has walked through his share of fire, with more surely to come, I cannot emphasize enough that I see it as my responsibility as a Christian to pray (an action) that HIS saving grace might visit upon all who need it, and to try, using condemnation, to bring them into the Light.

   Surely, condoning that which we understand to be Biblically wrong must be the greatest hypocrisy. 

   So, as I struggle for the correct analogy and/or group of words which adequately reflect my deep sadness at watching the dismantling of our values and morals in favor of that which is without accountability, common sense, nature or reason, let me instead tell you of a man whose entire life speaks to that battle, as well as the will of JESUS CHRIST and the power of HIS healing Truth in our lives.

   This man, is me, David Arthur, and my story is a poignant record of turmoil to triumph, and from sin to a sense of purpose and worth, from death to life. You are about to read an all-too-real story of victory, snatched from the jaws of defeat, a story of JESUS over the devil, and of the power of a Living GOD, complete with all the riveting pain and joy, as well as the truth that “The devil really is a liar!”

   I never knew my dad, as he committed suicide just before I was born. As a young child, I was molested (“recruited” as some might call it) by more than one individual. But please understand that while these facts of life certainly affected me, and may have contributed to my fall, they were NOT EXCUSES for my life’s choices. They were tragedies, and contributing factors for what would come, but not the deciding factors. 

   My childhood was a blur of drugs, alcohol, and the homosexual deathstyle leading to me overdosing on pills by the age of 13. 

   By the age of 14 we moved away in hopes of changing my atmosphere and actions. This only drove me to run away from home numerous times, to the point where the state finally stepped in and placed me in an all-boys school. 

   Not unlike many young folks lost in the battles of depression and family strife, I actually excelled to an above-average standard in terms of my school work and intelligence level. Sadly, this would not be the trigger I needed to break the bonds of sin, already engulfing me with the fiery speed of a demon in hot pursuit of my soul. 

   By the age of 14, my growing love of the streets had taken over my entire life.  I’d finally run away from home and was prostituting myself on a regular basis. I was dressing as a woman, taking female hormones, and was fully engaged in a world that included an endless cycle of parties, sex, drugs and alcohol. Worse yet, completely taken in by the evil one, I was now HIV-positive as a result, at age 14, but I continued to dive deeper into the dark world of homosexual and transgender prostitution, a world of confusion and lies that would nearly take my life.

   As my life continued to spin out of control, one sin seemed only to lead to another. My sexual partners were many, some paid, others not. 

   As if things could not get any worse, my nefarious activities had drawn the attention of law enforcement and I found myself locked up at the age of 15, which became a “normal” routine for me. 

   I would eventually, many years later, serve two sentences in state prison.  In prison, the inmate population saw me as somewhat of a “commodity.”

   Comporting myself like a female, I felt a misguided sense of belonging. I even ENJOYED my time of incarceration, at least to the degree that I could even understand true happiness or enjoyment. 

   So, with that misplaced sense of belonging, I set about doing my time and “living” my life. As my health continued to worsen in prison, I eventually began to find myself longing for something I could not quite understand or identify. Time, especially time spent in jail, can do this to you.

   One day I was on the recreation yard and a certain Correctional Officer (CO) called me over and said to me, “Do you know that GOD did not Create you this way?” — and I was offended, hurt, angry and pretty ticked off; but I was also intrigued. 

   When he would work in my unit, I actually WANTED to talk with this Christian man, while the other inmates would scramble and say, “Let’s go… Here comes Bishop.” (To this day, I do not know “Bishop’s” real name).

   I began to speak with Bishop on a regular basis. I read some of the Bible my mother had sent to me, only the Book of Psalms (it was supposed to be inspirational), and listened as Bishop explained to me that “this was not who GOD had intended me to be.” 

   For the first time in my life, I had come across a person who I just knew truly and purely loved me, but wanted absolutely nothing FROM me, but rather only wanted to GIVE me something. This was strange and almost alien to me, but I simply needed to know more of this saving God that Bishop spoke of. Our conversations continued and my interest continued as well.

   I was eventually released from prison, but sadly, I did not continue on my path of wanting to know more of GOD, but instead, I returned to my old life (like a dog to it’s vomit) not long after being released. 

   I did give it a try (living “right,” that is), but it seemed the harder I tried to live right, the more opposition and turmoil I was faced with, so I went back to my “old ways.”

   Returning to my old ways had me laying on my death-bed within three years. My health had become a major issue by now and was rapidly deteriorating. 

   In 2008, doctors explained that I now had osteoporosis (I went from walking with a cane, to a walker very quickly), hunched over, unable to stand upright, and was also suffering from diabetes, among other ailments. 

I was diagnosed with chronic major depression, anxiety, bipolar, PTSD, sleeping disorders, etc.... I was also placed on an array of psych medications. 

   By 2009, I was suffering from infections in my brain and blood while experiencing mini-strokes brought on by the infections, as well as a devastated immune system, ravaged by the virus raging inside of me and was nearly confined to the hospital bed that was placed in my home, along with the other “fixtures“ that came with hospice and being able to die in peace.

   At one point, in 2009, doctors told me they could do no more for me and that I would likely die at home. The devil had apparently done his job well with this chain smoking porn addict, and stood proudly poised to claim his prize in short order. 

   Oh wait, But GOD…..

   Yes, but GOD was not prepared to accept defeat in my life. I hadn’t forgotten my friend in prison, and remembering his words of encouragement, I picked up my Bible and opened it up. I had read some chapters in Psalms before, but had never read The New Testament. 

   The very first verse I ever read in the New Testament was Romans 1:27, which spoke of men burning in lust for one another, giving up the NATURAL use of the woman — and oh, how that verse hit me like a ton of bricks!  It crumbled my foundation I stood proudly upon for 30+ years!

   That verse told me that not only was I living sinfully, but unnaturally as well. And the words of Bishop began to ring in my head, “GOD did not Create you to be this way.” 

   I began crying out for GOD to “take it all away.” Take away the pain of addiction and sin. Take away the misery of depression, loneliness and sickness. Take away the anguish of living without the knowledge of HIS love and mercy.  I knew I did not want to go to hell, but somehow knew that is what I deserved and where I was heading if GOD did not intervene.

   I had reached the lowest point in my life and was surrendering to JESUS no matter what those consequences were. I was begging for HIM to intervene in my life and to save me and take me home. 

   I knew that my life was in the hands of my Maker, and strangely, I wasn’t troubled by that. I prayed with the power of a man struggling to throw off the enemy in favor of my one, true, living GOD, and I pledged everything I was about, everything I could, or would, become, and everything in my life. 

   I knew at that very moment, that if it was HIS will, that I would not be going to hell.

   It was one morning I woke up in excruciating pain but also felt peace and joy in my heart and all was suddenly very quiet.  For the first time in my life, I was truly unafraid.

   Within weeks of believing, praying and begging for forgiveness, I was out of bed and walking around without a walker. 

   My immune system was on the rise and my “viral load,” eventually became, undetectable. 

   A nurse practitioner who I visited regularly confirmed what the doctors just would not admit outside of the diplomas hanging on their walls: “it was a miracle.” 

   GOD really had performed a miracle. 

   Subsequent visits to the doctor’s office were no less dramatic, with the medical team explaining that “it must have been a radical diet change” or some other anomaly which was causing my “miraculous” recovery.

   I knew better, though. If it were not a miracle of GOD, how, then, would they explain that my bone density was now off the charts and I’d seemingly reversed the effects of osteoporosis which had left me nearly bed-ridden just months earlier? 

   How was it that the burning brain infections that had threatened to kill me were now eradicated? 

   I had even signed off of the psych medications I was taking for treatment, telling my therapist: “I just don’t need these anymore.” “I don’t need you anymore. I have JESUS!” 

   I recognized all of those “things”  were not diseases at all, but were results, or symptoms, of being “of the world” and I was no longer of this world, I was just IN it! 

   I was “on fire for the LORD” and there was no stopping me. There are simply no limitations to the power of JESUS CHRIST’S intervention, so long as you accept HIS love and forgiveness of sin and surrender it ALL  to HIM. 

   Needless to say, the power of this “tool” that GOD has granted me, this testimony, has left me in awe and slightly shaken.

   Don’t tell me of your conflicts.  Don’t tell me of your need for acceptance or validation.  Don’t tell me of your anguish over your position in this life. 

   While we all have our “crosses” to bear, none is greater than HIS — or its power to overcome yours.

   Now there will be those who dismiss this story as the extreme, and still others will try to paint me as misrepresenting my sexual orientation or previous “deathstyle” for the purposes of promoting my faith. And indeed there have been those from my past who’ve sought to derail my journey home to The LORD JESUS CHRIST.

   Well my friends, denial has become far too prevalent in our society today, and many of those same nay-sayers now seek me out, but for different reasons, begging me to help them find what I have found.  Begging to understand how the darkness in my eyes has now become a sparkling light of Life.  And I say to them, as I say to you, “It’s free for all those who truly seek it!”

   My story is, indeed, one of hope and rebirth, of being manipulated by the evil one, and then saved by the grace of a loving and forgiving GOD. And so looking at it through that lens, what’s next? 

   Well, I now regularly network and travel to share my testimony of GOD'S miracle in my life to any and all who will listen. 

   I hope to eventually initiate a “halfway house” project for those trapped by the LGBT world. 

   While there are intervention houses for all of the related issues of drugs and alcohol, there aren’t any to provide the assistance and spiritual guidance to the lost souls confused by the myriad of misinformation being spewed by the mainstream media and school system today.

   I believe that this type of support network is essential in providing everything from day-to-day living quarters for those on the street who’ve been shunned and cast out, to spiritual and Scriptural guidance away from the darkness of sin. 

   There is hope, and I am motivated as only GOD can motivate, and by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT that saved me and indwells me, to help rescue those lost souls trapped by a lie of monumental proportions.

   To that end, I am available to speak on request and will travel around the country in support of GOD’S TRUTH, in love, and under the banner of this ministry that HE has blessed me with. 

   I call my work “I Belong, Amen Ministries” because I do belong, Amen. 

   I truly hope that you are moved by this short representation of a life changed, and that you might consider supporting IBA Ministries’ efforts as we go out to set the record straight.

   This is not a social or political battle, it is a spiritual war!  This is not about saving face, or my space up on the internet, but saving souls!  I am living proof, a walking, breathing, living testimony, of that. 

   I am unafraid to speak the Truth, in Love (obedience) as I press forward into new territories of revealing the hidden secrets and agenda of the LGBT movement.

   Be joyful in the risen LORD, JESUS CHRIST, today and always.

NOTE:  A documentary film has been made of David’s testimony, titled “Fire and Brimstone.”  It will be shown at the WCN Ministry Center in Marshfield, Wis. on Tuesday, May 14 starting at 7 pm.  For more details,  you can view the movie “trailer” at:
www.detestablefilm.com/fire-and-brimstone.html  — also see Page 48 of this edition of WCN.

Learn how to email this article to others