Change Begins with Choices

Dear Friends,

Recently, members of God’s family gathered in unity and spoke out against California Assembly Bill 2943. It was amazing to see people who once identified as gay voice their opposition to the bill’s infringement and outright obstruction of an individual’s right to seek pastoral or other therapeutic help with same-sex attraction or gender-identity issues.

Jim Doman, founder and pastor of Church United, organized this gathering and has been a mighty warrior of God in his dedication to bringing people of faith together as one voice serving one God. At this event, Jim provided a platform for people to testify to their God-inspired transformations. Numerous men and women shared—though they experienced some opposition—and each told their story of truth, love, and God’s redemptive power.

Perhaps you, like Jim, would ask God what you can do. I did. And here’s what I said on May 29th at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Santa Ana, CA.
“My father attempted to make all his pain and confusion go away during mid-life, when he pursued life as a transgender woman known as Becky.

Throughout his childhood years and into his adult life, he endured emotional and sexual abuse. He suffered from low self-esteem and from being bullied by peers during his childhood and teen years. His mother was an alcoholic, and he never connected with or felt loved by his father. These events and more created emotional and identity problems for him.
As an adult, he chose not to see a counselor to help address the experiences and dysfunction he faced as a child and the resulting long-term confusion.

It was his choice not to seek professional or pastoral help to understand the severity and consequences of the traumatic events in his life. Later, he stated, ‘This [living as a trans woman] didn’t bring me the fulfillment I thought it would.’

My father made his choices—and lived and died with them. But today, we stand here with freedom of choice being threatened.
I know many, many who freely decided that they no longer wanted to be gay. Some sought pastoral or therapeutic support. But Assembly Bill 2943 would take away that right and effectively mandate one must stay gay or transgender.

AB 2943 constrains self-determination and promotes the idea that change is not possible. Yet, here I stand with people who have experienced such change—people I’ve known for more than a decade.

AB 2943 presents a false narrative—a narrative that says lives don’t change. I’m here to tell you people are capable of change. But change begins with choices. Please don’t eliminate the right to choose. People are capable of change. But change begins with choices. Please don’t eliminate the right for someone to choose.”

Though it is difficult to take a stand in a today’s culture, God calls us to be brave. Ultimately, our struggle is not against a person or political party, but rather against the evil spiritual forces and principalities of this world.

History has taught us that freedoms are costly. Therefore, we must remember and proclaim—even in the face of opposition—that, just as God gives us free will, so should each person have the freedom to choose to seek pastoral or therapeutic assistance with same-sex attraction and/or gender-identity issues.

Pray for California. Pray for understanding and a just outcome at the judicial committee hearing on the bill on June 12. Pray for a revival of hearts seeking Jesus Christ—and for the lost to come home!
Blessings,

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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