Angel Colon’ probably shouldn’t have survived the 2016 massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. He was shot 6 times in the Pulse nightclub massacre and was then a practicing homosexual.
The deadly Massacre sparked a radical transformation for him. Today he is following Jesus — his life has been preserved for a purpose!
After realizing he had miraculously survived the June 16, 2016, killing, which left 49 people dead, Angel thanked God and promised to use his life to share the Gospel.
“I look around again and everybody that was around me was dead and I am alive,” he said. “And I just started thanking God: ‘Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. … The moment I get out of here, I’m testifying about you. I am worshiping you for the rest of my life.’”
Angel Colon’s transformation wasn’t immediate, though. Weighed down by fears of how those around him might react to his decision to abandon the gay lifestyle and embrace Christianity, his conversion took time. He knew the vitriol that is usually directed at anyone who leaves the LGBTQ lifestyle to serve Jesus.
Nevertheless, he eventually became a servant of God, a faithful soldier that isn’t scared anymore to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
One of the reasons Colon was so hesitant to walk away from the LGBTQ community and run toward the church was because of the backlash another Pulse survivor — Luis Javier Ruiz — faced for his conversion.
Angel said it finally clicked for him when he realized that — despite some ongoing homosexual temptations — “it’s not a gay to straight thing; it’s a lost to saved thing.”
Since making the decision to follow Jesus, both Ruiz and Colon have started a ministry called Fearless Identity, specifically designed to reach those in the LGBTQ community. They are also leaders in the Freedom March, a gathering of people who have left the gay lifestyle and now cling to Christianity.
On Sept. 14, a little more than three years after the Pulse shooting, Angel and Luis Javier Ruiz will be hosting a Freedom March in Orlando just 10 minutes away from the gay nightclub.
Praise God!
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“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).