former skins/giant Roy Simmons gay to Christ story

[prophet]

NFL's Simmons Speaks of Former Gay Lifestyle and New Faith in Christ
By Andrew Knox






CBN.com – Roy Simmons is one of only three NFL players to publicly discuss being homosexual. All three chose to speak of their sexual orientation after retirement from the league. But there is another side to Roy’s story that hasn’t been told, at least not until now.

In 1992, on The Phil Donahue Show, Roy Simmons had a major announcement.

"He comes here today" Donahue told the television audience, "to tell you that he is now and always has been gay."

"I don’t think we knew the repercussions that were going to come after that," Simmons explains. "My friends were in shock – 'Roy, you must have gone out and just gotten toasted and you got a major hangover.' "

This was not just any man revealing sexual secrets on national television. Roy had been the epitome of a macho, 290-pound offensive lineman in the NFL whose career ended much too early. He had a bright future from the start, signing a commitment to play with Georgia Tech. He boasted the ideal physique for football – big and strong, lots of speed. He was drafted by the New York Giants in 1979. But off the field, he had a secret: he was having sex with men. It was a well-kept secret, but ultimately the double life affected his on-field performance. The Giants got rid of Simmons.

"I was in shock," Simmons admits. "It really hurt me that I was released. It really, really did."

Roy caught a break. The Washington Redskins took a chance on him, and that same year the Skins made it to the Super Bowl… but lost to the Raiders by nearly 30 points. That didn’t matter much to Roy. He had other things to worry about. Among the special guests Roy had brought with him to the Super Bowl were multiple lovers, two females and one male.

By this point, Roy was drinking heavily and snorting cocaine. But he didn’t last long with the Redskins; they didn’t want him either. Most of Roy's wounds were self-inflicted, except for one. As a little boy, Roy did odd jobs around town. A woman asked him to clean her house. While she was out, her husband stayed behind at home and sought out Roy's company.

"He had some cocktails; he had been drinking," Simmons recalls. "Eventually, he called me into the room, and he turned me around and basically he did what he wanted to."

That was the first big secret in Roy’s life, and it had a profound impact. After the Redskins dumped him, Roy's NFL career was over. He had a quick stint in the second-tier USFL, but he became a broke, washed-up athlete with a drug addiction and a secret sex life. In 1990, he headed out West.

"I had heard about San Francisco, the gay life. It’s the gay capitol. It was kind of crazy, but it was like, well, since you’re in it, go all the way," Simmons reasoned.

That he did. He drank and did drugs. Some nights he even slept on the street. Worst of all, Roy actually prostituted himself to fund his drug habit.

"[That was] something I thought I’d never do," Simmons says. "I always said there were things I’d never do, and I kind of caught myself with that. I shoplifted and I prostituted, basically. I think that through the years there was a lot of confusion brought about in my life due to the rape. It led me in areas where I cared not to go, but I went there."

Roy believed God wouldn’t accept him as he was.

"When you’re out in sin," Simmons explains, "you really feel like you cut yourself off. You’re ashamed that 'oh, look what I’m doing. I can’t go to Him like this. I can’t go to God in prayer.' "

He surfaced briefly, making his appearance on Donahue. A few years later, a doctor gave Roy a grim diagnosis.

"He called me in, and he gave me the results," he remembers. "My knees buckled. He told me that my tests came back positive. I guess the initial thought was I’m going to die. I’ve known people, some of them a month, and then they’re gone."

Upon learning that he was HIV positive, Roy felt hopeless, like he was just waiting around to die. That's when he made a desperate call to best friend Jimmy Hester and decided to move to Martha’s Vineyard. There a remarkable physical and spiritual cleansing took place.

Jimmy Hester is also HIV positive. He went to the Martha’s Vineyard Holistic Retreat because of his HIV. He has made great strides with his physical health, but he also found something he never expected – a relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship started soon after a Bible study invitation by his doctor, Roni Deluz.

Now Roy is also meeting with Dr. Deluz, and he’s feeling great. He was recently baptized.

Roy's pastor, Marcia Buckley, who quickly notes Roy's hunger for God, says, "One thing that he appreciates is the fact that he’s alive in the Lord and that God has given him a chance to live."

Roy has learned much from his pastor about his former lifestyle.

"We spoke on and learned about homosexuality and the connotations and everything that go along with it. It's really against God’s will," Roy states.

Roy devotes himself to the Lord and to purity. He has not been sexually active in more than three years.

"All that lying and cheating and all that backbiting and all that deceitfulness – I don’t practice that," he says bluntly.

Roy is eager to study the Word of God and to grow closer to the Lord.

"Thank God for Jesus, for Him dying for my sins. On a daily basis, I can go to Him in prayer and just put it out there and be honest about it," says Simmons. "Coming into the fold, coming into the knowledge of God, just how wonderful and great He is and powerful, and feeling the love of Jesus – it’s a beautiful feeling."

[Johnny Punani2]

that rocks

[stevenaa]

"He had some cocktails; he had been drinking," Simmons recalls. "Eventually, he called me into the room, and he turned me around and basically he did what he wanted to."

Wow!!! You just can't imagine the impact this sort of thing must have. Some people just don't deserve to live.

[MaddogCT]

A true male homosexual does not have sex with women, just like a true male heterosexual wont have sex with men. This guy was parting and having sex with anyone, anywhere. To try to use him of an example of a "converted homosexual" is misleading and a lie. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he is happier now and has a much better life, but the implication that he was a homosexual just because he was having sex with men as well as women is wrong.

All Redskins are football players, but not all football players are Redskins.....

[skinsfan51]

This is a wonderful story, and it shows yet another side of Christianity that science can't explain: a changed life. Unbelievers can say all they want, but when a life is changed in a moment of conversion to Jesus Christ, there is no argument. Just a shaking of the head in confusion. Rehabs, hospitals, nut-doctors...nothing works. But then Christ changes everything! Ah, I love it!

[codeorama]

Originally posted by skinsfan51
This is a wonderful story, and it shows yet another side of Christianity that science can't explain: a changed life. Unbelievers can say all they want, but when a life is changed in a moment of conversion to Jesus Christ, there is no argument. Just a shaking of the head in confusion. Rehabs, hospitals, nut-doctors...nothing works. But then Christ changes everything! Ah, I love it!

So there are no cases of a life changing for the better with out Jesus?
What happens when someone finds Allah and their life changes for the better?
Or Buddah? Or Music, or exercise?

[Destino]

Originally posted by skinsfan51
This is a wonderful story, and it shows yet another side of Christianity that science can't explain: a changed life. Unbelievers can say all they want, but when a life is changed in a moment of conversion to Jesus Christ, there is no argument. Just a shaking of the head in confusion. Rehabs, hospitals, nut-doctors...nothing works. But then Christ changes everything! Ah, I love it!

Amazing how what you wrote is so similar to what others write about their own faith. The Nation of Islam comes to mind immediately. The glory of Christ is not spread by sticking out your tongue at science every chance you get. In fact such behavior is in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. You are instructed to humble yourself are you not?

Truth is Christ is not a cure all as some try to sell it. He offers you a gift if you are strong enough to look inward and recognize your faults. Even then sin is a inescapable part of man. The people damning you to hell for sinning are sinning themselves. Perhaps more people should take his advice and pray in their closet instead of making a scene?

[skinsfan51]

Originally posted by codeorama


So there are no cases of a life changing for the better with out Jesus?
What happens when someone finds Allah and their life changes for the better?
Or Buddah? Or Music, or exercise?

But only Jesus get give true internal peace and eternal life. There is none from those others. Even a "better" life than what one had before being converted to Islam, for example, doesn't get them past the grave, so it's really not better. Their 70+ years is just a speck in eternity. What good is it in light of that?

[skinsfan51]

Originally posted by Destino


Amazing how what you wrote is so similar to what others write about their own faith. The Nation of Islam comes to mind immediately. The glory of Christ is not spread by sticking out your tongue at science every chance you get. In fact such behavior is in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. You are instructed to humble yourself are you not?

Truth is Christ is not a cure all as some try to sell it. He offers you a gift if you are strong enough to look inward and recognize your faults. Even then sin is a inescapable part of man. The people damning you to hell for sinning are sinning themselves. Perhaps more people should take his advice and pray in their closet instead of making a scene?

The truth of a changed life has hardly been brought up in any previous debates, Destino. It's usually about scientific "facts" and theories. But here we see a story that can't be refuted. A man who was addicted and abused and found peace in Christ. There is no scientific answer to that. I'm not sticking out my tongue at science as much as I am challenging the atheists and agnostics to explain how a man in such a deplorable condition can be changed instantly.

Christians aren't against science. We believe in the God who created science. What we are against is, as the Bible says, "science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20). I.e., the teaching that science has the answers to life and no Supernatural Deity is necessary. That's not science either; that's the religion of humanism.

[Destino]

Originally posted by skinsfan51
But only Jesus get give true internal peace and eternal life. There is none from those others. Even a "better" life than what one had before being converted to Islam, for example, doesn't get them past the grave, so it's really not better. Their 70+ years is just a speck in eternity. What good is it in light of that?

I agree Jesus is the only way. I have my own reasoning and beliefs. However I would caution you that heaven is not a sure thing. You will be judged on how you treated Jesus. Keep in mind that jesus is the lowest form of people we meet in life, per his own description.

[skinsfan51]

Originally posted by Destino


I agree Jesus is the only way. I have my own reasoning and beliefs. However I would caution you that heaven is not a sure thing. You will be judged on how you treated Jesus. Keep in mind that jesus is the lowest form of people we meet in life, per his own description.

But how can you say Heaven isn't a sure thing when Jesus Himself said it is sure for those that believe?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -Jesus Christ

According to Jesus, if I believe in Him then I "have" it. How do you see it?

(BTW, to clarify, I believe there are people who think they believe on Jesus, but their lives tell a different story. He said, "Ye shall know them by their FRUITS." No one ever got to heaven from just saying they believe. They have to have a heart-belief: a belief that produces a change in their lifestyle and compels them to follow Him and His words.)

[Destino]

Originally posted by skinsfan51


But how can you say Heaven isn't a sure thing when Jesus Himself said it is sure for those that believe?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -Jesus Christ

According to Jesus, if I believe in Him then I "have" it. How do you see it?

(BTW, to clarify, I believe there are people who think they believe on Jesus, but their lives tell a different story. He said, "Ye shall know them by their FRUITS." No one ever got to heaven from just saying they believe. They have to have a heart-belief: a belief that produces a change in their lifestyle and compels them to follow Him and His words.)

I think that way of thinking is highly misleading. You can know something is true, believe it, and still not do it. For example, people know for a fact that if you don't work out and eat right you will get fat. Yet people still don't work out and eat right. Why? Because despite the belief of some there is a difference between 'knowing' and 'doing'.

I don't know how such things are handled in every christian religion but Catholics discuss and believe in the need for good works. Some mistake this with thinking that you can earn yoru way into heaven....that's wrong. It's the opposite we believe that you can earn your way OUT of heaven.

So yes while belief is the key to the gates, it's only by faith in action that the gates will swing open. Jesus was clear, he is the least of us. That's a powerful statement.

(i wonder how many people are surprised I'm having this discussion lol)

[codeorama]

Originally posted by skinsfan51


Even a "better" life than what one had before being converted to Islam, for example, doesn't get them past the grave, so it's really not better.

In YOUR opinion. I'm sure muslims are 100 percent certain otherwise, I'm sure Budists are 100 percent certain otherwise.

[codeorama]

Originally posted by Destino


So yes while belief is the key to the gates, it's only by faith in action that the gates will swing open. Jesus was clear, he is the least of us. That's a powerful statement.

(i wonder how many people are surprised I'm having this discussion lol)

I agree with you 100 percent.
Is "god" really so shallow that he only wants us to believe that his son was real? Our deeds mean nothing?
I cannot fathom that a higher being would send a soul to hell because they never had the opportunity to learn of Jesus yet, a murderer or other form of a person that lived a life filled with vile, shallow or self serving deeds GETS to go to heaven just because he believes...

[skns4life]

Originally posted by Destino


I think that way of thinking is highly misleading. You can know something is true, believe it, and still not do it. For example, people know for a fact that if you don't work out and eat right you will get fat. Yet people still don't work out and eat right. Why? Because despite the belief of some there is a difference between 'knowing' and 'doing'.

I don't know how such things are handled in every christian religion but Catholics discuss and believe in the need for good works. Some mistake this with thinking that you can earn yoru way into heaven....that's wrong. It's the opposite we believe that you can earn your way OUT of heaven.

So yes while belief is the key to the gates, it's only by faith in action that the gates will swing open. Jesus was clear, he is the least of us. That's a powerful statement.

(i wonder how many people are surprised I'm having this discussion lol)

like skinsfan51 said...when you TRULY believe and accept Jesus as your savior, everything else will fall into place and all your deeds should be how God would want them to be. You do good things not because you want to work your way into heaven...but because you truly love God and want to please him just like anyone would want to please their parents...