Britain’s Got Talent contestant was bullied by classmates for his faith

A young Christian man who impressed the judges of the television show, Britain’s Got Talent, said recently that he used to be bullied at school because he read the bible.

Paul Gbegje, 19, was taunted by classmates because he would bring his bible with him to school while his classmates were reading Playboy magazines, according to The Christian Institute.

Gbegje said, “I was different because of what I believed in. In year eight I would bring my Bible for reading time and they would bring Playboy and stuff like that. They would call me Jesus Freak,” The Christian Institute reported.

Gbegje told The Christian Institute, “I didn’t swear, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t bunk. They were listening to things in the charts, whereas me I was listening to piano.”

He spent most of his lunch breaks in the music room, where he would play the piano and experimented with composing music. He said, “I’m not a good talker, but I do it through music. What I like from playing the piano is the feeling you get from it. It’s like a high. As soon as I got a piano, I’m just happy,” The Christian Post reported.

He also practiced on the church piano, sometimes for up to 10 hours straight. He had to make up for lost time, having only gotten started on the piano when he was 14 years old, The Christian Post said.

Gbegjo has received basic formal training but largely his output is the work of creativity and personal passion. Even before he had a piano, he used to think about music in his head, and he would play the tune on a ‘keyboard’ that he drew on a piece of paper, according to The Christian Institute.

Gbegjo said to The Christian Institute, “People didn’t understand my passion and they saw it as strange and weird. But now I am so glad I stayed true to myself.” He impressed the judges with his performance, and afterwards, some of the bullies contacted him and congratulated him.

Gbegjo told The Sun, “Some of them even emailed me on Facebook saying, ‘Well done.’ I feel like I’ve had some form of victory. I had the last laugh.”

Gbegjo is the son of preachers, and he hails from Dagenham, East London. Before performing in front of the judges he prayed backstage. When the judges gave him accolades he said, “I knew God was with me. He really came through for me,” The Sun reported.

Gbegjo’s piano performance was partly original, with the first and last portions composed by himself, and the middle being Bella’s lullaby from the movie, “Twilight,” The Christian Post said.

All three judges passed Gbegjo into the next round. Amanda Holden told him, “I just think you did an amazing job today.” Michael MacIntyre told Paul, “You were sensational,” according to The Christian Institute.

The show’s hosts, Ant and Dec were also impressed and lauded the young musician, The Christian Institute said.

A survey last year showed that Christians feel uncomfortable reading the bible at work in their free time. However, the same survey showed that most of their colleagues would not be bothered by it, The Christian Institute said.

In 2008, a report that was submitted by a charity on anti-bullying, which indicated that one out of every fourth child is bullied for their religion, The Christian Institute said.