Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2022 / 11:33 am (CNA).
As more men and women publicly share their stories of how they “de-transitioned,” or reversed their gender transitions, one man is talking about how his experience led him to Christ.
British singer and viral social media influencer Oli London credits the Bible for the new life he is living and for being able to “accept” himself for the way God made him.
“This actually kind of saved my life. It’s brought me back to who I am as a person, finding God,” London told CNA Thursday.
‘Identity issues’ spurred transition
From the age of 13, London told CNA, he struggled with body dysmorphia and “identity issues,” leading him to hate the way he looked. He experienced bullying in adolescence for being overweight.
London, who is now 32, resides in London, England.
“I’m sure a lot of young people can identify with that. At school, sometimes, we all get bullied for the way we look or who we are,” London said. “But that’s kind of what spurred my journey to begin with — just having that kind of hatred of myself.”
After moving to South Korea to teach English in 2013, London says he was “bombarded” with messages about how plastic surgery could transform those who were “deemed not beautiful.”
South Korea is the “plastic surgery capital of the world,” performing 24% of the world’s cosmetic alterations.
London began consulting with plastic surgery doctors to change the way his face looked, going on to eventually have 32 surgeries.
“That is kind of the reason I had problems with my identity. I wasn’t sure: am I meant to be feminine? Am I meant to be a boy? The more surgery I had, the more feminine I wanted to look.”
London has faced criticism for pursuing facial feminization surgeries that emulated Korean pop stars.
A recent Fox News story said of London that “his desire to look Korean stemmed from living in South Korea and his love for the people and culture.”
Desire to return to ‘how God made me’
London said by early 2022, he started to be “happy” with the way he looked after having multiple surgeries, including chin surgery, a facelift, a neck lift, eye surgery, and shaving his cheek fat and forehead bone to make his face appear more feminine.
“When I saw the results of this, I was super, super happy. I thought, ‘you know what, I’m better. As a woman, I look more beautiful. I think I will feel happier. Maybe that’s the reason I had all these identity struggles my whole life, [because] I am trapped in the wrong body.’”
That’s when London started his social transition into a woman, wearing female clothes, shoes, and makeup. But he said that he “didn’t feel right.”
Then, in August, London walked into a Catholic church.
“Three months ago, I started reading the Bible after visiting a Catholic church,” London — who was formerly atheist — said, adding that everyone’s welcoming kindness encouraged him to keep attending.
London recalled that he spoke with a priest after the service who gave him a Bible.
“I started going a few times a week. I started reading the Bible myself at home,” he said.
“It made me [realize]: ‘You know what, God made me a certain way, God made me who I am. Why on earth would I want to change that? Why am I going for all these extreme procedures? This is not how God made me, this is not what I was meant to be in life.”
London said that his experience at the Catholic church made him realize that changing his appearance was not important — what was important was “on the inside.”
“Letting Jesus and God into my heart [has] saved my life. It’s brought me back to who I am as a person, finding God.”
His next plan? To get baptized.
“I consider myself Christian but leaning towards more Catholic. I would like to get baptized soon,” London said.
He added that he would like to get baptized in America by a “very well-respected priest [who] has a good connection with God and [a] strong belief system.”
London believes that baptism will help heal him from the past “traumas” of his surgeries and from the “mentality” of living as a trans person.
“One of the things that I liked the most about the Bible is the story about when Jesus treats the leper,” London said.
“This person was rejected by society. Nobody would go to this person because they thought they were infected. And then Jesus … wanted to help this person. He washed them.”
Since London has spoken out about his story on social media and in interviews, he said he’s received “thousands and thousands of messages from Christians and Catholics” praying for him and sending encouragement.
He urged Catholics to reach out to those with gender dysphoria, especially children, and invite them to church.
“If you can give them some moral support and pray for them, I think that will help them incredibly and help them turn their life around. Most of these kids are lost, they’re confused,” he said.
“Suddenly you get a kind Christian person saying, hang in there, stay strong. I’m really grateful to the Catholics and the Christians that have done that so far.”
As for his future? London said he plans to use his platform to help people with no faith, particularly teens and children who struggle with gender dysphoria, to accept themselves for the way “they were intended by God.”
“I want to try and spread this message of self-acceptance, [that] we are the way God made us. Let’s accept that. Let’s help them realize that.”
In London, England, where London currently lives, the country’s National Health Service halted transgender treatments for children this month after determining gender dysphoria is most often a “transient phase” and that puberty blockers and hormone drugs have severe health effects.
London “thank[s] God” he did not go on any feminizing hormones or have any other surgeries.
“Kids from the age of 12 are being pushed onto puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. I don’t believe that’s right. Kids need to be children,” he said.
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I hope this person finds peace with God.
Yes, now the Brits have had the sense to stop the transitioning of children. Pray God that we outlaw such here in the US very, very soon. I dont believe that transitioning is good for anyone at all but I think it should be outlawed for anyone under the age of 25.
Thank you so much for sharing this article. At the end of the day Christian witness and charity go so much further than contention. God bless this man on his journey to Faith.
Waiting to see this story in the MSM.
Arrgggghhhh!!!!!!!!!
How does anybody allegedly “de-transition” from one sex/gender to another sex/gender if they cannot “transition” from one sex/gender to another sex/gender in the first place? Once again, what he have here is yet another well-meaning author failing miserably to properly and easily defend a most important part of God’s objective reality by writing pure nonsense regarding impossible things that cannot occur. Making matters worse, author Heipel writes as if these fantasy actions that mock God’s infallibility did occur, and that the second fantasy action is praiseworthy. Sadly, many people who comment on such articles also play right along with the language abuse that directly attacks the truth.
Now, anybody who recognizes that they are suffering from gender dysphoria, and they work to overcome it is to be applauded and encouraged in this, but it is flat out wrong and irrational to lie to these people and others by praising them for allegedly engaging in impossible actions that defy the one and only way that God creates all of us (including those so-called “intersex” individuals who are born with some sexual characteristic ambiguities that will eventually resolve into a definitive sex/gender of either male or female).
Please, all good people: Stop caving in to the malevolence of using or excusing the language that directly assaults the truth, because such faux terminology is used primarily to get more and more people to accept the evil that it promotes, and this is indeed taking place. Fighting this requires not giving even an inch in what the proponents of this malevolence are foisting upon the world.
Arrggghhhh!!!!!!!! Back at you. I’m not transgender nor compelled to be. But this “My version of my religion is absolutely infallible” is a continuous thread to those who don’t want to just “have a seat at a table” but want to decide who sits there and who heads it (hint: them). The world is so divided and continues to be, I’m sure the author (and others) have decided that they are right and all others’ views wrong. There is right and wrong,but it is not black and white. Those who see a black and white world are not living in reality and what is truthful. Catholics are not the only ones persecuted for their religion, and there are many divisions among Catholics, as well. Shaking my head.
DocVer above – you may have a point. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks, Gilberta, but it’s actually more definitive than only possibly (“may”) have a point. It is an absolute point that cannot be refuted because it is completely based on objective truth that must be defended at all times for the reasons set forth in my previous comments. Too many people on our side continue to fall into the trap of adopting the language and the meaning of the language of those who push their malevolence, and the more this is not challenged, the greater this cancer spreads. Fight it at all times, and seek more allies in this noble battle.
Exactly right, DocVer. A related case of language manipulation is the unthinking contrasting of heterosexual with homosexual, as if the real binary (!) between male and female is now only another arbitrary and now obsolete classification.
So he transitions to a she, and now wants to detransition from a she to a he. Interesting, but weird. Hopefully it is true but not sold on his conversion story.
Grand Rapids Mike:
See my other posts regarding the impossibility of so-called “transitioning” and so-called “de-transitioning,” and the dangers in acting like such can really occur.
May all those suffering from the affliction of mental illness through the intercession of Saint Dymphna be delivered from their ailment by the grace of Almighty God.
DocVer again – Translation of “You may have a point”:”I hadn’t thought of it in that way”. I am totally on board with your idea of the dangers of the corruption of language.
How can one article get so much information wrong.
Oli London was never transgender. Oli London went to South Korea in 2013, became obsessed with Jimin from BTS, and got a ton of plastic surgery to look like Jimin.
Jimin, by the way, is a man/biological male.
You need to do your research, but of course this correction will be filtered out because the truth isn’t important if it means hurting other people.
London underwent multiple surgeries, including chest and jaw shaving and dressed like a woman for some time (several internet pictures show him dressed as a woman). The Oxford dictionary defines transgender as ” a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond to that person’s sex at birth, or which does not otherwise conform to conventional notions of sex and gender.” In his interview with CBN News on YouTube it is clear that he had some issues with accepting his biological identity. Moreover, NextShark website reports that he “had plans to go to Bangkok for penis reduction and breast implantation surgeries.” There is a series of progressive operations, and although he had not taken the final step to constructing female genitalia, it appears he was definitely well on the path to making himself as much a “Korean woman” as he could – thankfully, the grace of God found him and brought him home.