I am not an ex-ex-gay; because I did not accept myself as a homosexual when I tried to be an ex-homosexual.
"Homosexual lifestyle" is a two word _expression created by those who hate homosexuals.
There is no more of a "homosexual lifestyle" than there is a "heterosexual lifestyle" because neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality require a lifestyle.
If one is "practicing a 'homosexual lifestyle' because he is having sexual activity with a member of the same sex," is he a homosexual if he has never had any kind of sexual activity?
If one is "practicing a 'heterosexual lifestyle' because he is having sexual activity with a member of the opposite sex," is he a heterosexual if he has never had any kind of sexual activity?
Are persons who have never had sexual activity "asexual," i.e. without a sexual orientation at all?
Oh, I believe that it is very possible that God can heal a person of his sexual orientation and make it completely the opposite of what it is. But, I have NEVER seen that happen, I have NEVER seen actual proof of that happening and God refused to change my sexual orientation from being exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual.
I am just as Pentecostal as the the Original Founders of Exodus were when they were at Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim, California. [Exodus International has re-written their original history to make the original founders just mere members of Exodus at the beginning.] True Pentecostals all believe that when you and others agree on something in prayer and your motives are correct as well as your faith right in asking, God will do what you ask him to do.
People have said that I did not have enough faith for God to change my sexual orientation; but, then again, not a one of those people were ever homosexual in the first place.
Well, I date women until I was past 35 years of age. I know the Bible very well; especially since I took 18 undergrad hours and 30 plus graduate hours in Biblical Theology at Oral Roberts University, while working on a Master of Arts in Theological and Historiacal Studies degree there. I already had a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Education from Northeatern (Oklahoma) State University. I was in my 30s when I went to ORU.
In 1982, I decided that I needed to ask God again to take away the down-inside-the-lower-body feelings that I had toward certain men (this means that I did not have those feelings just because I thought in my head that a man was sexy, they happened without me even thinking about sex). I had had people praying with me and for me that God would change my sexual orientation since 1971. And, they were not people without faith; because when they prayed for God to meet my other needs, they must have had enough faith because all of their prayers were answered.
At that time (I was 40 years old), I was quite familiar with the teachings of Exodus International and what they claimed were verses which "proved homosexuality is a sin."
One evening that year, I was alone by myself in my parents' home where I was living at the time (I had never lived with another guy with whom I was not related except in college and university - I lived alone when I was teaching school). I and my parents had several Bibles and I got enough of them for each of the "Clobber Passages." My parents and I were attending Assemblies of God churches, but not the same one.
I took those 6 Bibles and opened each to one of the different passages. I read each the verses again, not the complete text of the verses though, and then I prayed aloud.
I asked God in believing faith, "Because I want to be more effective as a minister of the Gospel for You, please take away these feelings that I have toward certain men."
Since God had talked to me aloud many times before in my asking for help in the LORD's word, I expected to hear an answer, too, not just think one.
I heard God respond in very loving fatherly voice; but somewhat irritated like a parent of a child who keeps asking for the same thing over and over, "Joe, I made you that way and I love you just as you are."
People who are Christians but have no idea what it means to be homosexual have said words to this effect, "Oh, that was not God who was talking to you, it was the devil."
So, I asked them, "Has God ever spoken aloud to your ears? [Meaning through the power of the Holy Spirit]
The answer has always been, "No, I have never God speak aloud in an audible voice."
Then I ask, "Has the devil ever spoken aloud to you?"
And they always answered, "No, that has never happened either."
So, I responded with, "I have heard both God and the Devil speak to me and I certainly know the difference in how they talk and what their voices sound like. And, I also know the difference between the postive loving Spirit of God and the negative hateful spirit of the devil and his demons."
And then I tell them, "Don't ever tell a person that God did not do something through the power of the Holy Spirit when the person knows that He did do that."
The Pharisees said that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Jesus said that they blasphemed the Holy Spirit by saying that. And "Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" is an unpardonable sin.
I have been ordained by the LORD to minister to those who are exclusively homosexual in their sexual orientation. And that includes telling them that when the "Clobber Passages" are read in context, the Bible does not talk about what we know as "homosexuality." And in the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, which I have and can read, too, there is no such thing as a "sodomite" either. The residents of Sodom are just called "people" in the Hebrew Text of Genesis. And "sodomite" is the mis-translation of the word "KDSh" aka "kadosh" which as a noun means a "holy (person, place, or thing)," or "saint" or the servant of any god, including LORD God himself.