Money, Fame, Fortune: It Doesn’t Satisfy

JOSHUA’S STORY

Joshua was raised by a single mom who taught him values and morals and even took him to church regularly. Because he grew up in a home where they were struggling financially, he began to believe that if he had the things money could buy then he would be happy. Plus, the absence of his father created a void that Joshua chased with momentary success and accomplishments. “I made so many mistakes because I believed there was something wrong with me simply because my earthly father chose not to have a relationship with me,” recalls Joshua. He was promiscuous throughout his teens and college years. He even tried drugs and alcohol for a short time.

At thirteen, he was signed as a model. He enjoyed pursuing the process of doing commercials, print, and runway modeling. In college, he majored in theater, but dropped out and moved to Los Angeles. To pay his bills, he worked in a restaurant where two girls approached him about becoming a porn actor. The reason he said “yes” to being in the industry was because he lacked a foundation for a real identity. 

AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

“After appearing in more than a thousand adult films, traveling the world, and earning well over $1 million, I thought I had it all. I was desperately trying to measure up to the idea of success driven by my insecurities and at the same time quiet my own path, yet the more money and fame I accumulated, the more empty I felt. I was miserable, disconnected, and lost, and I really started to hate myself,” shares Joshua. 

When he had been in the industry six years (2006-2013) Joshua decided to end it all. He laid out the pills he would take to end his life on his countertop. Then he remembered he had not deposited his last paycheck. He did not want the degradation he had put himself through to get the money to go to waste. Also, he knew his mother could use the money if he died. So, he went across the street to make his deposit. As he waited in line thinking through his plans for suicide the teller interrupted his thoughts when she asked, “Joshua, are you okay.”

It was the first time in months someone had used his name instead of his stage name. “She reminded me that I was Joshua and not a fictional character in a never-ending nightmare I couldn’t escape. I was more than this prostitute who had his most embarrassing moments all over the internet,” shares Joshua. He ran out of the bank and back to his apartment and cried. The scales that had clouded his eyes fell off. He decided to leave the industry. Then he picked up the phone and called those people he had cut off from his life because of feeling shackled with guilt and shame. Within days Joshua left California and began to try and rediscover who he was.

DISCOVERING TRUTH

At the time, he was not a Christian. He struggled with shame and guilt as videos and images of himself from his past life were all over the internet. People recognized him as he tried to start a new life. He began working in gyms doing personal training. A few years later, he asked a girl named Hope out for a date. She asked him two questions that changed his life, “Do you know who God is?” and “Do you have a relationship with Him?” He started going to church with Hope and soon became a Christian in 2015. The next year they married and today they have four young boys. Their latest son was born in January 2024. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

After Joshua became a Christian, he began working in the ministry. He even began taking classes in 2019 at Liberty University and completed his degree in 2022. Today he travels the world preaching all over North America sharing the joy and freedom he has found in Jesus. Joshua shares, "Today I am a passionate communicator of a message of restoration. I am healed through the life-giving power found in Jesus and I’ve spent years replacing lies with God’s truth.” 

He has also worked with Covenant Eyes since 2022. It is a resource that he points others to and one that he has used since becoming a Christian. “I believe it is a responsibility for all people to protect themselves from what is far too accessible on the internet,” shares Joshua. If you go to the Covenant Eyes website at https://www.covenanteyes.com/JoshuaBroome/ and use code Broome30 it will give you free access to this resource for a month. 

Joshua has spoken at Capitol Hill the last two years at symposiums before active members of Congress. He says, “The bills I have helped advocate for are around online child safety, age verification, consent, sexual exploitation, artificial intelligence and technology and image based sexual exploitation.” He has also served as an advisory member to the White House State Task Force for imaged based sexual exploitation. 

COUNTERFEIT LIES

Joshua shares seven counterfeit mistruths that our culture wants us to believe that will substitute the person God has created you to be. He dismantles these lies and shows how each of them points us back to our need for God:
•    Imitation Intimacy – Society embraces self-gratification and equates sex with love. When Joshua left the porn industry behind, he found it difficult to get close to people in his life. He says, “Whether it was an employer, a new friend, or a potential romantic interest, my past always seemed to bubble back to the surface and obliterate any possibility of my being close or vulnerable on any significant level.” It wasn’t until he left the industry and met his wife that he was able to differentiate between true love and counterfeit intimacy/lust. 
•    Hijacked Healing – Learn to let go of what pains you the most. “The absence of my father in my life caused me to feel inadequate and somehow unworthy, and my high achiever personality compounded the crisis as I tried to compensate for the feelings of poor self-worth and incompletion.” Joshua began to blame his behavior and choices on everyone else but himself to evade personal responsibility. When he became a Christian, he realized that Jesus forgives us of our sins, and he needed to forgive his dad. When they met, Joshua extended forgiveness to his father and let go of his anger. “It was one of the most freeing acts I’ve experienced in my life, lifting off those repressive weights and opening up newfound love and adoration.” He now has a relationship with his father, although they are not close as he would like.
•    False Approval – Don’t look for validation in the wrong places. Seeking society’s acceptance at any cost led Joshua down the wrong path until he understood his identity in Christ. 
•    The God of Self (Counterfeit) – “Culture is selling the lie that following your feelings and desires is the best way for humans to follow,” shares Joshua. When we choose to believe this mistruth, it can hijack our lives. For Joshua, when he was in the porn industry he bought into the lies of money and fame. He cut off all ties with people who cared about him. He did not want to hear the truth. His shame and guilt took over and left him on the brink of suicide. 
•    Counterfeit Cleanup – When you choose to ignore circumstances and calamities in your life. “For a decade, I lived in a broken state, refusing to properly address the internal chaos I was feeling,” recalls Joshua. He stuffed the pain he had experienced after leaving the porn industry instead of getting counseling. It would be a few years later before he discovered who He was in Christ which brought about total healing. He also had to be honest with himself. Despite his dad’s absence in his life growing up, Joshua had to accept the responsibility for his decisions that led him into the adult film industry.
•    Faux Freedom – True freedom is found in following God and being free from the slavery of your desires and passions. The world would define freedom as “immediate gratification” and doing as you please. 
•    False Purpose – Joshua shares, “Scripture affirms that God has a unique, meaningful, and impactful plan for each of our lives.” However, it is easy to get distracted from His plan. You need to trust God with everything and establish and maintain a daily relationship with the Lord. 

Learn more about Joshua Broome's ministry and speaking engagements at www.JoshuaBroome.me. To purchase Joshua'a book, "7 Lies That Will Ruin Your Life," please visit: 7 Lies That Will Ruin Your Life.