Ex-Lesbian and Popular Spoken Word Artist Jackie Hill-Perry Tells How God Turned Her Life Around
Jackie Hill-Perry, a spoken word and hip-hop artist whose talents and unique testimony have garnered her popularity and praise, recently shared her story of leaving the gay lifestyle with televangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.
"Growing up, Jackie was molested by a family friend, bullied in school, and fatherless, which accompanied with (an) inherent separation from God, led her into a lifestyle of rebellion, homosexuality, drug use, porn addiction, and everything wicked," according to her online biography.
But, the biography continues, her sins did not keep God from loving her.
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Hill-Perry, 25, recently married and as a new mother, shared that testimony of how she believes God pursued her and helped her turn away from homosexuality and other sins for a Christian life in a recently-aired CBN interview.
In the 7-minute video of her interview, Hill-Perry tells how "around first grade" she began experiencing gender confusion, and eventually in her teens acted on her attraction to other women.
"I just distinctly remember wanting to be a boy, wanting to be the dominant role in any type of relationship," she explains.
Even though she knew the same-sex attractions she was experiencing were "wrong," as she put it, that knowledge did not stop her from pursing a relationship with another female in high school.
She eventually went on to have other girlfriends.
"I was having fun, but a deep soul satisfaction, I didn't have that," she says of her journey into the gay lifestyle.
Although she had been living far from God, Hill-Perry still knew about God, having been raised in church for the first 9 to 10 years of her life.
"I used to tell my girlfriends the truth," she explains in the video. "Yeah, you know this is sin, right? [And they would be like] 'well, why are you gay?'"
She didn't have an answer for them, but she "was always in a constant state of conviction."
Then, one day at the age of 19 while in her bedroom, she felt as if God was confronting her with the eternal consequences of her choices.
"It was as if every thought I had was just interrupted by this really strong thought that convicted me all at the same time. It felt as if God was showing me that the sins that I loved and were in would kill me, I would die and go to hell."
Hill-Perry became convinced that what the Bible says about God's judgment for unrepentant sin is true, and eventually chose to believe as also true what the Bible says of finding salvation in Jesus Christ.
That experience forced her to admit that she was "really holistically sinful" — homosexuality was not the singular problem in her life.
"Homosexuality is not the only issue plaguing a person. Sin is the issue plaguing the person. Homosexuality is just the outworking of that nature," she says.
After "weighing the cost" of continuing with her life and spurning God, Hill-Perry says her choice was clear: "I either choose God, or I choose death."
Watch the video below to hear Hill-Perry share how she believes God helped her on her journey from a broken life of sin to a healthy, though still imperfect one.
Hill-Perry, born in St. Louis, Missouri, garnered public attention in 2009 when she performed her spoken word poem "My Life as a Stud" (which you can watch in the video player below). Since then, she has signed to Christian record label Humble Beast and released an album entitled "The Art of Joy." Hill-Perry has shared her story and artistry via various platforms, including at the 2014 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission national conference, themed "The Gospel, Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage."
