‘I Gave My Life To Jesus’: Ex-Porn Star Shares How He Found Faith
By Movieguide® Contributor
Pastor Joshua Broome is opening up about how he escaped the pornography industry and found God.
“When I was 22, I thought it was a good idea to move to Hollywood,” he said, explaining that he was hoping to become an actor. “It was hard. The grind wasn’t something that I was really prepared for.”
Broome got a job at a restaurant, where a group of girls approached him and asked if he considered entering the porn industry. He agreed to meet their agent but “knew that this was not a place that I should be.”
He agreed to do one movie and immediately regretted his decision. In addition to his guilt, his girlfriend broke up with him after he revealed what he had done.
“I’m humiliated. I’m ashamed. I don’t have friends, really, anymore,” Broome listed. “I can’t go back to that restaurant, I don’t have a job anymore.”
The agent called and asked if he wanted to do another movie.
“I didn’t know what else to do, so I said yes,” Broome said. “And that one film turned into six years and over a thousand films.”
He shared that while he had the money and success he dreamed of, he still felt “empty and broken and disappointed.”
Broome fell into a deep depression and even considered taking his own life. He shared that his disconnection was deepened because he went by a pseudonym in the movies that everyone in his life called him.
One day, he cashed a check at the bank, and the woman at the counter said, “Joshua, are you okay?”
“What she didn’t know was that it had been almost a year since I had heard my name,” Broome said. “It crushed me.”
He went home and called his mom and agent, telling them he was quitting the porn industry. Broome moved home to Raleigh, North Carolina, and started working at a local gym.
One day, he asked a woman on a date. While hanging out, Broome shared that he had worked in the porn industry.
“She looked at me and said, ‘You know, a person’s not defined by the worst thing they’ve ever done, and a person’s not defined by the greatest thing they’ll ever accomplish,’” Broome said. “She said to me, ‘I believe God defines who you are. Do you know who God is?’”
The two talked about her faith, and the woman invited Broome to attend church with her the following Sunday. That day’s sermon was about how we all sin and fall short of God’s glory, yet Jesus sacrificed Himself for us anyway.
“It met me where I was in that moment,” Broome explained. “That day, the Holy Spirit just softened my heart and I gave my life to Jesus.”
Broome went on to marry the woman who had invited him to church and even earned a degree in biblical theology.
“The way that Jesus has become very real in my life is that He gave me a new purpose, and it’s because of His love for me. It changed everything about me,” Broome concluded.
Broome continues to share his story and encourage others not to define themselves by past mistakes.
“I think that trauma and pain and mistakes may entangle you,” he told Fox News. “They hold you back from the life that God designed you to live. I want to be the person to help untangle that web.”
He’s also spoken about the importance of being “active” in your faith.
“I have to talk to Him. It’s like your faith. It can’t be passive,” Broome explained. “It has to be active. So, I have to actively be walking out and stepping into my relationship — not my status, but my relationship with Christ. That is where intimacy is found.”
Movieguide® has previously reported on the dangers of the pornography industry:
While objecting to violence in the media has become politically correct, concern about pornography and obscenity in the mass media is much more pronounced among moral conservatives, particularly Christians. In response to those few people who hold to the myth that pornography is essentially harmless, Dr. Victor B. Cline has said:
“For someone to suggest that pornography cannot have an effect on you is to deny not only its unique educative impact but to deny the whole notion of the educative process itself. . . . If you say that a pornographic book can’t affect you, then you also have to say that Karl Marx’s DAS KAPITAL or the Bible or the Koran also have had no effects on their readers. And that’s nonsense. . . .
“Many of the educated commentators or even ‘experts’ that I know who suggest that pornography has no effects − really don’t believe what they are saying, or they will reluctantly admit to the possibility of harm from just ‘violent pornography.’ In many cases they are pretending ‘not to know’ because of their concern about censorship, and loss of First Amendment rights. Thus, for some of them, the issue is really political. It also has to do with their personal values – and much less with what the objective truth is. They fear the tyranny of a moralist minority who might take away their rights to view pornography, then, later maybe, free speech and expression.”
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
