Don Truman Wilson tells well here his personal story of coming to grips with the conflict between his once-loved Pentecostal Christianity and his once-latent homosexuality. Attempted suicide was the turning point. No longer a closeted gay man, neither is he a gay activist.
Beginning in the early 1980s, Don attempted to mold his life into the “ex-gay” philosophy of religious asceticism, by prayer and fasting. He often browbeat himself to the point where he was afraid he would go one sin too far and be cast into Hell. Once in desperation, he called upon an elderly couple who were supposedly experienced in matters of demonic deliverance, in hopes their prayer of deliverance could rid him of the “spirit of homosexuality,” as they called it. All to no avail.
Though Don’s faith would be severely tested over the years, he never lost faith in his Savior and his God. The chief desire of Don’s heart is to model Psalm 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.”
Like most of the rest of us, Don would like to get on with his life, accepted if not celebrated, being both loved and loving. As he has changed from a timid child to a confident man, Don has learned much, and the reader will share in that education. One sage remarked on the value of learning from mistakes, preferably those made by others, mistakes like Don’s ill-considered marriage to a much older woman who wanted to “make a man” of him, but not a gay man.
You will come away from reading this book with an enhanced understanding of the conflict between certain Christian denominations and their homosexual members. You will admire the transition of the author from insecure to secure, from puzzled to aware.
We are instructed to love our neighbors. Well, some of our neighbors are gay, and we are to love them, too…platonically, at least.
