Reality TV star Kat Von D has experienced a life-changing transformation nearly two years after she publicly threw away her occultic books and announced she had given her life over to Jesus Christ. She shared her story about God changing her life in detail with Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey, CBN News reports.
"I was 20, barely 21, and I was a full-blown alcoholic," she said on Stuckey's "Relatable" podcast. "I was drinking all the time. I got introduced to drugs at that point, but I was functioning so, like, somehow, I miraculously showed up to work every day, and I did a great job, but behind that was just this growing addiction."
Although she experienced her growing success as a reality TV star, she felt lost.
"I wasn't really actively pursuing any belief system. I was just sad. I was drinking, and I was trying to find answers in the wrong places, and it wasn't until I got sober, which is — it's 17 years ago in July that I really opened up my eyes to wanting to fix myself, and that's when I started getting into a lot of the New Age stuff," she continued.
As CBN News reported, Von D shared on Instagram last October that she was baptized at Switzerland Baptist Church in Indiana in front of a small group of friends and family.
"Katherine von Drachenberg, upon your profession of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to His Divine command, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," her pastor said before submerging her at the time.
Although her declaration of faith was met with a positive reception, some Christians criticized her for not looking like the image they expected of her.
"The amount of critical Christians on my Instagram now have become such a turn-off to people who are actually seeking God that I had to just block and delete," she told Stuckey. "You end up pushing people away."
She also addressed her critics in an Instagram video a few weeks after her baptism, noting that it was more Christians than her atheist followers who were most negative.
"Baptism is so beautiful and it's such a big landmark in time — for me, at least, it was one of the most important days of my life, so it's strange that these handful of negative, critical Christians would come at me in such a public way," she said of people who called her baptism "fake" and a "PR stunt."
"I think it's really insane that we live in a time where people still judge a book by its cover," she said, jokingly, "I wasn't aware that there's a uniform that you're supposed to wear once you give your heart to Jesus.”
Nevertheless, she said that she is on fire for Jesus.
"I'm on fire for Jesus, and I don't plan on this dimming out," she contended. "The more and more I learn, the more and more excited I get about things and the more at ease I am about what is happening in this world."
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Vivien Killilea / Stringer
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.