Milwaukee, Wisconsin — An ex-homosexual who now serves as an evangelist states that he has decided to join the boycott against the coffee king Starbucks following recent remarks made by CEO Howard Schultz regarding the company’s support of homosexual “marriage.”
“It’s an unGodly, Christ-hating position,” he said of Schultz’s comments.
A Changed Life
Robert Breaud of Wisconsin told Christian News Network that he had been involved in the homosexual lifestyle until his 30’s, but has served Christ now for nearly 20 years.
“I basically got my fill of the emptiness of sin,” he said. “I was never happy, never filled, never satisfied with male-to-male relationships.”
Breaud, who was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, explained that he even utilized homosexual prostitutes for a time after seeing a report on the news.
“One day, they talked about male prostitutes in the French Quarter, and I said, ‘That’s where they are? Okay, I’m going,'” he explained, noting that he always felt used after such arrangements. “It’s like, you pay your money, have sex and ‘Goodbye. Get out of here.'”
However, from 1990-1994, Breaud felt that God was drawing him to a walk with Himself. A number of those in Breaud’s life began sharing the Gospel with him, most notably, a very special relative.
“I found out that my aunt Rose, who had been a Christian for decades, had prayed for me a long time,” he said. “I didn’t know she had been praying for me so long.”
“I remember sitting in the driveway in the car in front of my old house and she was basically [speaking] out of Romans Chapter 1, telling me in a loving way but firm, ‘Robert, it’s perversion. God will give you over to a reprobate mind,'” Breaud recalled. “And she said, ‘Robert, you’re going to have to die.’ And I was like, ‘Who wants to die?! Nobody wants to die!’ [But she was talking about] dying to self and the lusts of the flesh.”
He said that he knew in his heart that what he was doing was wrong.
“Everyone knows deep down when they’re fighting against the created order,” Breaud stated. “Jesus said, ‘In the beginning, God created them male and female, and therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife.’ That’s God’s created order, and when you fight against that, I don’t think you’re ever really fulfilled and satisfied.”
So, in 1994, after coming into agreement with God and His design for creation, Breaud, who had also been struggling with alcoholism, repented of his sins and believed the Gospel.
“It felt like the power of death and sin was just broken off of me,” he recalled.
In 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, Breaud decided to take his story and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the streets. He still does so today as he speaks on college campuses and at other public venues.
“I use Romans Chapter 1 just like my aunt Rose used on me,” he stated, adding that he also points hearers to 1 Corinthians 6, which glories in those who have been set free from behaviors such as homosexuality, declaring, “and such were some of you.”
“I always remember to get to that verse,” Breaud said. “There’s hope. You always have to offer hope.”
He outlined that he receives a mix of reactions to his testimony, especially from college students.
“An old preacher said, ‘You either make them mad or you make them glad,'” Breaud said. “Some of course say, ‘You’re lying! You were never a homosexual!’ I say, ‘I can put you on the phone with a number of people back in New Orleans who can testify [that] it was how I lived for a long time.'”
The Decision to Dump Starbucks
Breaud advised that he has been a faithful Starbucks customer, drinking as much as 2-3 times a day for the past 5-6 years — until now.
“I was aware [that they supported homosexuality],” he said. “But, to me, it was like, choose your battles.”
However, this past weekend, Breaud saw the headlines about Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and his response to a shareholder who was concerned that the company’s support of homosexual “marriage” was taking a toll on its earnings.
“Not every decision is an economic decision,” Schultz replied to the shareholder. “We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity — of all kinds.”
“If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country,” he continued. “You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much.”
Breaud said that while he was troubled, a question that his pastor posed in response to the matter convinced him to find another place to get his cup of joe.
“He said, ‘Who do you love more, Christ or your coffee?'” Breaud explained. “So, I didn’t go to [Starbucks] today. I went to Alterra to get my coffee.”
He said that if he could sit down with Schultz, he would urge him to do what is right.
“[I would tell him,] if you want God to bless your business, run it in accordance with His law … with His revealed will in Scripture,” Breaud stated. “You’re promoting sin. You’re helping to destroy young people’s lives. … God will not bless your business in the long run if you consistently thumb your nose at Him and support things He calls sinful.”
Breaud urged others to join the boycott as well.
“There’s really no good reason not to join the boycott,” he said. “There’s only excuses.”
“Who do you love more, Christ or your coffee?”
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