Former prostitute’s testimony brings tears

Declaring that there is nothing to be glorified about her past, ex-porn star and former prostitute, now minister of the gospel, Danielle Williams, on Saturday evening, delivered one of the most heartwrenching testimonies a Christian would ever hear on Vincentian soil.{{more}}

Williams moved the audience to tears at the Streams of Power Church at North Union, as she recounted a very dark side of her life.

The 21-year-old minister, who hails from Los Angeles, USA, offered a message of hope, especially for those who believe that they are far gone and there is no redemption for them.

She is here on an 11-day ministerial visit on the invitation of the Evangelical Association, which wishes to tackle the problem of pornography addiction among Vincentians.

Taking to the podium, Williams told the scores of young people in attendance: “I want you to know that… I don’t go to places just to tell you my business or to tell you what happened to me, not to glorify my past, but to give glory to the Most High God for what he has done.”

“I no way speak about porn, glorify anything that I have done, but I thank God that I went through what I went through, to get to what I am today,” said Williams to loud applause.

On the issues of her involvement in the porn industry and prostitution, Williams said: “When you think of someone who would do some things like that, the first thing that would come to a normal person’s mind is a measure of disgust in a way. What would make a woman or man, men do it too, what would make a person do something like this?”

Behind human errors and misdeeds, there are things that trigger such actions, Williams contended.

She noted that she grew up in a dysfunctional home headed by her Jamaican father, who was very abusive to her mother. Not being able to stand the beatings and cheating, her mother divorced her father.

But Williams was left behind and received her own beatings from her father, which landed her in the hospital.

At age eight, she was molested by her baby sitter’s 13-year-old son; badly beaten by her father at age ten (he suffered from Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and alcoholism); molested by a 40-year-old man at age 12; pregnant at 13 by her 27-year-old boyfriend (her baby died); turned stripper at 14; became a prostitute at 15; beaten; sodomized; raped on several occasions and in one instance by three men; shot at; became a porn star at 18; lesbian; and drug dealer.

“One situation that was really crazy, was a guy that I was with, he got angry with me and he pulled the trigger, he pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger. And the first shot went into the wall and the second time when he pulled the trigger, he aimed it right at my face and he said, ‘This time I am not going to miss’. And he cocked the gun back and he pulled the trigger. But somehow, somewhere, the gun jammed all of a sudden,” said Williams.

She said that this is just half of the story.

“I remember the point when I had no self respect, no self dignity, I had no pride in myself, I kind of hated myself,” said Williams.

Williams said amidst all of this, her lifestyle brought her money, cars, and lots of material things. However, deep inside she yearned to be saved.

She recalled that a few years ago, she ended up in a basement with a man in New York and was trapped and tortured almost every day. The young woman said the man, who engaged in voodoo, told her that he was going to kill her.

“I remember getting on the floor and I said Lord, if you get me out of this, I’ll change my life….Do not let me die like this,” said Williams.

She said she was rescued by one of the man’s friends, and was able to fly back to Los Angeles.

Williams said God honoured his word to her and she did the same to him.

“The fact that I stand before you is a miracle,” said Williams.

She ended her message by challenging the church leaders to refrain from being “holier than thou”.

Some “church people”, she said, tend to forget where they came from and proceed to condemn others, but they need to guard against this, she warned.

She also reminded them that instead of pulling down others with their mouths, they should seek to uplift.

During the week she will be visiting schools and will be continuing her ministry at the Kingdom Life Tabernacle, Mesopotamia, on Thursday from 7p.m. and on Friday, October 8, at Hope for Life Restoration Ministries at Arnos Vale from 6 p.m.

She will then take her message of deliverance to the Faith Temple Church at New Montrose on Saturday, October 9, at 6 p.m. and at the Bethel Gospel Assembly, Georgetown, on Sunday 10.