Youtuber Lohanthony, a gay teenager who found internet fame as a sassy, cursing, zany personality in the early 2000’s, released a YouTube video sharing his testimony with the world, revealing he’s a Christian and has renounced his homosexual identity and lifestyle, exchanging it for celibacy.
“Hello, my name is Anthony, and I’m centered in Christ” starts out one video from the social media star, who has millions of followers on Instagram and Twitter.
Lothanony, whose real name is Anthony Quintal, 21, revealed in the video that he was struggling with drugs and alcohol for years, but has now been sober since early June.
In the videos he revealed that he was sexually abused when he was a child by an older boy and that this experienced absolutely recked him, wounding him deeply.
“When I entered middle school, I began what would be my decade-long search for gay love, that would ultimately end with disappointment towards the solace I thought I was bred to solely find in men- a void that would later be filled by Jesus Christ, my faith in Him, and His overcomings.”
“All this time I was trying to fit a circle into a square and trying to find God’s love in all of these other things. It’s no coincidence that through pursuing my same-sex attraction, I was also addicted to alcohol. I was also addicted to weed. I was also trying hallucinogens. I was addicted to money. I was addicted to views. I was addicted to attention. I was addicted to opportunity — opportunity that Earthly pleasures brought to me.”
“God showed me that my celibacy is the way. God showed me that chastity is the way. God showed me that abstinence is the way. God showed me that I do not need to find His love in His creation, but rather I can find His love in Him, the creator.”
The difference in him, for many, has been difficult to comprehend.
As for how we are to view the conversion of Lohanthony, it’s a mixed bag. Certainly, there is a change, but some of the theological expressions are a bit ‘off.’ He peppers his conversion story with a dozen bible verses and references, but there is little mention of the need for salvation in response to sin, but rather the idea that God saves because he just love so much, and we are saved almost by accepting that love, rather than repenting of our sins.
His Twitter feed reveals an eclectic, unfocused mess of a worldview, posting bible verses, support for Black Lives Matter, Roman Catholic memes and quotes, and support for abortion. He does not say how recent his conversion has been, but he has been posting scriptures for months now.
Pray for the young man, that he might get in contact with a good church that will lead him into all truth and into solid, faithful orthodoxy.
