Ex-porn star-turned-pastor weighs in on Lily Phillips’ baptism

A former porn star-turned-pastor is weighing in on an OnlyFans star’s announcement that she was recently rebaptized and the criticism that has followed. 

News of Lily Phillips’ rebaptism last week drew mixed reactions from Christians, with some pointing to it as a positive development while others questioned her sincerity in light of her plans to continue creating pornographic videos and posting sexually explicit content on her social media.

Joshua Broome, a former porn star who has put his old career behind him and embraced the Christian faith, is the latest public figure to share his thoughts. 

Broome addressed Phillips’ baptism in an Instagram video Tuesday, saying, “I don’t know her personally. I don’t know the legitimacy of the baptism or her faith. That’s not something that I know for sure and not something I can determine. Only God knows her and her heart.” 

“God is not limited by imperfect people, unclear motives or messy beginnings,” Broome said. “I’ve read stories of people who were working on ‘The Chosen,’ men and women who were actors and actresses who did not have a faith and they were simply portraying biblical characters or reading Scripture as part of a role and yet something happened.”

Broome shared his own experience, recalling how “Before Jesus rescued me, I was in the porn industry.”

He added, “He (God) didn’t recognize me because I had the right intentions or the right words,” but rather, “He rescued me by His spirit who draws us to Himself through the prayers of His people and through His word.” 

“I wasn’t trying to fix myself, and we often underestimate intercessory prayer because God can do what we can’t and His spirit can accomplish what our words never could,” Broome said.

Detailing how “sex has always been an idol,” Broome expressed disappointment that “when someone’s story includes that kind of past, people say things like, ‘There’s not enough water in the ocean to baptize someone like her or someone like me.’”

Broome assured his followers that “God doesn’t put a resume of sin on a scale. The blood of the cross doesn’t just outweigh sin, it covers it.” 

“When Jesus saves, we’re declared righteous not because of our past but because of Him,” he asserted. “Jesus still saves, and if He can pull me out of darkness, He can pull anyone out. That’s who He is. That’s what He does.”

The video concluded with Broome’s advice as to how Christians should respond to Phillips’ baptism: “Maybe, instead of throwing stones, let’s pray for her. Let’s pray for real repentance, real discipleship and a real life that bears fruit.” 

“He is in the business of making dead things alive because that is what He does, and He will do the same thing for you and for her as He’s done for me,” Broome maintained. 

Broome shared additional analysis in a caption accompanying the video. “Was this for real or a hoax? Is she wrestling with her faith or is she leveraging a hot topic issue?” he asked. Acknowledging that he did not “know the answer,” Broome maintained that “Sexual sin seems to trigger a lot of outrage that other sins don’t.”

“We tolerate pride, greed, gossip and self-righteousness — but sexual brokenness often becomes the line where grace suddenly has its limits,” he wrote. “That should sober us. Scripture never minimizes sexual sin, but it also never places it outside the reach of redemption. The same Gospel that saves the morally respectable saves the visibly broken.” 

According to Broome, “If someone’s past makes us uncomfortable, that may say more about our theology than their repentance. Jesus did not bleed selectively. The cross does not cover some sins more than others. And mercy does not require our approval to be effective. The church’s role has never been to rank sins — it’s to proclaim repentance, walk with people in truth, and trust God with transformation. Grace didn’t excuse my sin. It confronted it — and then he healed me. That’s still how Jesus works.”

Phillips posted about her rebaptism on social media last week and spoke about her faith journey in an interview with US Weekly.

In addition to concerns that she has failed to repent of her sinful lifestyle and reform, criticism of Phillips’ baptism and the suggestion that she was insincere also focused on her continued support for same-sex marriage and her pro-choice position on abortion, both of which are at odds with traditional Christian teaching. 

In her interview with US Weekly, Phillips acknowledged that she did not meet the definition of a “traditional Christian,” she was “going to take more of a back seat in work and stuff like that just to really prioritize” her faith.