5 March 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-
Pr Edmund Smith graced the Community Baptist Church at Kota Damansara on 23rd of February to share how God restored his identity as the son of the Living God from a homosexual lifestyle.
“All of you who are in Christ, you must remember God is not merely your God but He’s your Father, He’s Father God, He’s Daddy,” said Pr Edmund.
He shared how his late father rejected him all his life, but God not only restored his identity but also his strained relationship with his late father.
“We have a perfect Father (in Heaven) today, through Christ… We are no longer orphans, we are no longer beggars. A lot of Christians are still living their lives like orphans. Even though God is our father, God is not our father, we’re acting like beggars… But today, you’re in Christ; you’re the child of the most High God. But some people had been eating from the (emotional) garbage for so long that even today, (even though) they are the children of God, they are still eating from the (emotional) garbage,” said Pr Edmund.
Feeding on negative emotional garbage brings about a negative self-identity. But Scripture tells us that we are in truth—a chosen people, a holy nation, and God’s special possession (1 Peter 2:9)—not because we go to church or pay our tithes but because we believe that our God is our savior.
A transgender** since he was four years old, Pr Edmund thought that he was born that way because at that time, he was too young to understand.
In fact, even his mother’s womb, he believed that the devil has already been attacking him. After having three boys, his mother desired to have a girl and prepared dresses during the pregnancy. But in year 1970, Pr Edmund was conceived into the rejection of his mother.
“How many of you know that whatever that goes through in the emotion of a mother does affect the emotion of a child? A depressed mother gives birth to a very sad child… It is connected. And God didn’t create me that way. Something went wrong in the womb, and it’s not God’s fault because God makes all things beautiful… The devil throws lemon, God turns into lemonade,” said Pr Edmund.
His father was also devastated that Edmund was not the child he had been dreaming of. He never looked at Edmund, said anything nice to him, or hugged him; but he would shower his love to all the little girls, cousins and neighbors, who visited his house. During that time, Edmund felt that something was wrong with him; he wanted to be a girl at a young age of four years old.
“Children can tell a lot of things. Don’t underestimate kids. As young as two, three, four years old, don’t simply tell your child, ‘You are ugly, you are dirty, you are good for nothing, you look like a girl, should look like a boy.’ Don’t say things like that. And coming from someone who’s been through that, it would affect that child…There’s power in the tongue especially for certain kids with certain type of personality, just one sentence, it would affect them terribly,” said Pr Edmund.
Desiring to have a daughter instead, his mother would allow him to practice a transgender lifestyle at a young age, whereby he is allowed to wear dresses, grow long hair, and play with dolls. He grew up wanting to be a girl, until his first boyfriend taught him at 18 years old in celebrating his masculinity. That moment was the point he learned to appreciate his manhood. Nevertheless, Pr Edmund never lived his desire to be a transsexual due to the strictness of his mother, who stopped his transgender lifestyle as he grew older. He only dressed up as a woman on stage as a professional performer.
Although we often associate sexually broken people with Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals, Pr Edmund shared that the sexually broken also include the compulsive masturbators, prostitution involvement, porn addiction, and all the other sexuality issues. God gave us sex as an intimacy to be enjoyed within marriage but the devil perverted it. The truth is that all people are sexual beings, and the Church needs to be the source of truth, information, comfort, and acceptance for people who are struggling sexually. The church should be the place to offer godly counseling. But due to the lack of service, one who is sexually broken often needs to go to the world for counseling, obtaining worldly counsel.
In fact, many people who are sexually broken wore no name tags or display visible attributes. Pr Edmund shared that albeit the prejudice we have for the sexually broken, Jesus Christ came and died on the cross for everyone, including people who are sexually broken. Even though we may not be sexually broken, we need to acknowledge that we are broken one way or another. That is why all of us need Jesus Christ!
1 Cor 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
According to 1 Cor 6:9-11, Pr Edmund shared that a homosexual lifestyle is not the only sin, but one of the many types of sins (v 9). In other words, all of us are unrighteous before God and we should not be proud.
He also clarified that orientation is not a sin but lifestyle is. The scripture does not condemn orientation. For example, God does not condemn you when you desire to steal, but He condemns you when you steal. Likewise, God does not condemn your orientation towards the same gender, but He condemns engagement in a homosexual lifestyle. “There’s something higher than you emotions. You don’t live your life based on orientation and feelings,” said Pr Edmund.
And because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we were washed, sanctified, and justified in the blood of Jesus Christ (v 11), which is the grace of God! This grace of God is available to everyone, even the biggest hypocrite.
How are we going to live a pure life before Christ? God did not leave us here without any guide. Besides His Word, He has sent us the Holy Spirit (i.e. Spirit of our God) to help us carry our cross in this life (v 11).
Dwelling in us, Pr Edmund shared how the Holy Spirit helps us to change our prejudice into love, lust into love, and hatred into forgiveness. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is our guide in all truth (John 16:13), regenerator (John 3:5-8), leader (Gal 5:18), enabler (Luke 4:14, Acts 1:8), and encourager (Acts 9:31)! What makes Christianity different is that Jesus Christ didn’t give us a religion but a relationship with Him. And because we are in Jesus Christ and in the Spirit, we are therefore victorious in every sin in our lives!
“Today as I looked back, God was in my life from the very beginning… God was doing great and mighty things, bringing me to where I am today. God is amazing. I tell you He is doing wonderful things behind your back that you don’t even know of. Right now in your life, wherever you are, God is doing something behind your backs. Whatever God is doing is always good! Hold on to His Promises! In due time, you will see the good things that God’s been doing,” said Pr Edmund.
**Transgenderism is an identity, not a LIFESTLYE. But transsexuality is a lifestyle.
Leave a Reply