Pastor Oladele Isola was born as a Muslim in Kaduna State in Nigeria. But now he believes Jesus is his Savior and Lord. On today’s podcast he tells us about how be became a believer in Jesus.

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Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Oladele Isola was born as a Muslim in Kaduna state in Nigeria, but now he believes Jesus is his savior and Lord on today’s podcast. He tells us about how he became a believer in Jesus.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:17):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall C. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith. They’re powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:52):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus on today’s podcast. I am joined by pastor deli from not India, but from Nigeria, Pastor Deli. (Oladele Isola) Thank you for joining me today.

Oladele Isola (01:12):
Thank you, Reverend King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:13):
It’s so wonderful to have you with me. And we want to talk about what God is doing in your life. You have come from Nigeria here to the United States and you have been going to Bible school at victory college. That’s right. And then you have been Atma the last few years. Tell me some about how you ended up here in the United States.

Oladele Isola (01:43):
Yeah. very briefly I was serving in the church where God privileged me to start in the Eastern part of my country, Nigeria, which is called a Saba in Delta state. And we started a work there in the year 2013. And after about two years when the church was growing appreciably I got a lead to, to come to the United States and got opened the door for me to attend the Bible school here. And so here we are to

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:23):
Day that’s so wonderful. Now in Nigeria, you were actually born in a Muslim fam family’s and you grew up as a Muslim, but now you are Christian that’s right. So tell me, how did that happen? How did you become a believer in Jesus Christ? Oh, well,

Oladele Isola (02:44):
I, that was when I was about 25 years old. I just finished high school. We call it you know, secondary school in my country, Nigeria. And at this time in the family, I had a, a kind of a freedom of choice because in my family, you had no choice other than to follow the religion of your parents and grandparents, you know, especially that my grandfather was in ALA and a very strong and disciplined one. So at that time of my life, I, I put the Quran side by side with my Bible and I discovered some things about Jesus Christ being the way, the truth and the life, which was contrary to what Muhammad said. And at one time I was almost confused, but later on, I got convinced that this is the way I needed to follow. So that’s how I became a Christian. And also because Evan made that decision. I began to encounter people who preached to me often and in the bars, traveling to Lego state at one of my, you know, periods of vacation. I met a brother from the poly technique who preached in the bus and

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:05):
He, so there was a guy. Yeah, you were, you were driving in the bus. Yeah. A long trip. That’s right. And a guy stood up on the bus and began to preach to preach. Yeah. And

Oladele Isola (04:14):
He did that a lot in my country. Yeah. And,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:16):
And so what did he say about Jesus that, that pricked your

Oladele Isola (04:21):
Heart? Well, like I said, he began to say things that I had known before about Jesus having read, you know, throughout my school, days in the Bible you know, about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life being the savior, the one who can, who has come to save us for my saints and all, all of that. So I, I, I was, I was persuaded in my heart hearing him preaching that boss and with the boldness and confidence that he said, I, I knew that in me, I needed Jesus. So I gave my life to Christ and he began to follow me up because he showed up in my house about two weeks. I, after, when we lighted from the boss, I didn’t see him again. But two weeks after that, he came back, you know, to visit me at home. And from then on, he began to follow me up. So, and then I, I had no choice, but to fully surrender my life to Christ.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:19):
So later you became a pastor and actually planted a church in Abuja, Nigeria, which is the capital of the nation. And in the nation of Nigeria up north, if I understand correctly, there there’s many Muslims. And then down south, there’s more of a, a Christian pop, but Abuja is kind of where the two sides meet. You have both Muslims and Christians there. So tell me, what did your church do to reach out to people and tell them about Jesus in your area? Oh,

Oladele Isola (05:56):
Well, we first off I was under a ministry when I was privileged to plant that church in another area, because there were so many branches being planted at the same time. So the area where I was sent to what we did was that we reached out to people in the neighborhood, like in that area, we had lots of prostitutes, people who were like, you know, and then so homeless people. So I haven’t stayed there for about three months trying to see how do we reach out to these people? So myself and my wife, we came up with some idea after praying that we need to go to

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:36):
Them, where are, because we can’t just stay in church and be giving out flyers, maybe at the entrance, expecting them to come. So we needed to go there into their brother. So we went there to meet with the head of the, you know, the prostitutes. And then we told them our intentions and we bought some gifts, you know, to brushes, we packaged some food items just to reach out to these people. And that, that was like an encouragement to them. And that made us to witness some few tens of handful of people that came to church to following Sunday. So what are some of the ways that you, your church would go outside the walls of the church? I think what you’re saying is absolutely correct. The church. Can’t just wait for people to come in the doors of the church. They have to go to them fish. Don’t usually jump in the boat. You gotta go catch the fish and bring them into the boat. So, so what are some of the ways that your church reached out to people in your neighborhood?

Oladele Isola (07:41):
Yeah, like I was trying to say, we look at the needs in the, in the community, in that neighborhood after starting them, after doing the kind of survey or interview with people on the streets. And once we know that, then we go back to church. We pray together as a team, we, we consider ways of, you know solving and meeting their needs because Jesus also met the needs of the people. And that’s why they were able to follow him. In fact, the hungry people with, with you know, with food and, and they were, they were able to follow him after he had preach of them. So that’s one of the strategies in which we use. We, we talk to the people and then we go out there to, to actually distribute, you know, what they need to them. And of course that’s what people need. And once they hear that, they’re able to hear your gospel. You, you give to them. And then the, I mean their need. And then they also vision, which is the primary need of their lives. They listen to you. So I haven’t met their needs, they’re able to listen. And then they come to church.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:52):
You’ve been here in the United States going to Bible school. What are some of the lessons that the holy spirit has been teaching you? What, what is the message that has been burning in your heart?

Oladele Isola (09:07):
It’s it’s just about souls. The world need people who compassionate for the loss, because what I’ve seen here is that people are too how will I put it? They’ve grown like lethargic to the gospel. And it’s like, it’s not reaching them because of comfortability. But I know from what I’ve seen, that many souls are hungry and they’re actually need Jesus. And so we need to, to just not talk about any other thing, but Jesus, as the main thing, that’s what they need here. They don’t need, like I’ve just said earlier on the needs of the people, what they need is not food. Food is not their problem here. It’s not some other, other, other stuff, but they need to present Jesus. There there’s something in the souls of men here that have discovered, you know, once Jesus. And once that is, once you hit that point, you see, most of them brought crying because you have actually touched what they need in their soul, the void in their soul which is Jesus.

Oladele Isola (10:24):
And that’s, that’s only Jesus. That can feel that it’s not what you’re gonna give to them, because they’re not much after what you can give to them. You can’t lay people with money. You can’t, it’s unlike many other African you know countries or other continents where you use you know, meet their, their needs. And then you can easily reach them. But here, the lesson of learned is that you actually need to talk to the souls of man by preaching Jesus. Jesus is the man. He said, the man, Jesus. So once you, he, that, I mean, you see salvation is the result.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:01):
Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men onto me. Exactly. And so you were born as a, a Muslim, but you got exposed to Jesus. You, you told me that you actually had gone to some Christian schools as a, a young man and, and they, they taught you praise songs. You, you began to hear about Jesus. What was it about Jesus that really attracted you?

Oladele Isola (11:31):
Wow. You see, like I was saying earlier on, there is something that Jesus feels inside of a man, which is eternal. It’s spiritual. You can’t, you can’t explain it. There is no other teacher, no other religious leader, no other person on earth that ever was that can feel that gap, that longing in any man. So in answering your question, what it was that, that attracted me, that made me kind of is, is part of the teaching. She said, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. I, I be began to, I was exposed to the truth from, from kindergarten. I went to St. Burnett’s private school in Abel. I went to African Joe grammar school in the same Abel. I went to McJob grammar school, all these are Christian schools and they exposed me to the Bible. And in my CRK I was score like almost a hundred, you know a, I was Aing all of this.

Oladele Isola (12:32):
So I grew up with the knowledge of, of, of, of, of, of Christianity and about Jesus, especially Jesus hearing songs about Jesus singing, songs of praise on the devotion, in the assembly about Jesus painting, a picture of him that died on the cross to save my sin, me from my sins and, and me, she in his blood Pictor I could, I could see him there and that was it. And there was no other person that, that could do that. And in my heart, I believe something opened up in me. And then that’s that’s it. I just decided this is the way I must follow him.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:11):
Often when people choose to follow Jesus, us, there is a price to be paid. And when you became a believer in Jesus, your mother was very unhappy that you had started to follow Jesus, very angry. Tell, tell me about that. How did that affect your relationship with your family?

Oladele Isola (13:31):
She was not only unhappy. She was angry. I mean, what did she say to you? She, she disowned us. I mean, when, I mean us, myself and my younger brother, his name is Samsung. I mean, two of us were born again almost at the same time. And we brought that light into the family, every other person, they were, they were Muslims. I tell you of one very, you know, quick account that, that just came to my mind right now. I went for crusade, a meeting at redemption camp along the Legos, IBA expressway. They called it God end time army conference. And after that program, I can’t remember the year vividly. Now I came back and I said, okay, let me pass time at IBA, before going to a BECU you know, back home. So I stayed with my cousin, my cousin, he was living with his dad and his mom.

Oladele Isola (14:23):
They were all Muslims on Friday when I got there. His name is Rashid, but now I think he has changed his name. Rashid went to mosque on that Friday. When I got there from the camp, I bunked in his room, I stayed there. I was doing my thing. I never spoke to him. I never did anything, but they already knew by now that I was a Christian and I was coming from a conference. So I, like I said, I didn’t preach to him. So he came back and he saw me reading my Bible and all that stuff. So I just told him, I said, do you know that whatever it is you are looking for out there, Jesus had much more that Jesus is the one that feels all, you know, is the creator. He knows. He was like, he was looking at, and then I was, I teaching one or two songs that I came with from the conference by Saturday, he went out to the neighboring places and saw, you know, there are all these small, small areas that people, they just read.

Oladele Isola (15:24):
Some wooden stands for crusades. So he went there and he had a little of the gospel by Sunday. Rashid was in church. And when the father came, the man was angry because I was at home, Rashid himself, went to church and came back in the reign, the Bible that I was reading, he did under his shirt. He didn’t want the Bible to get wet. And the dad asked him where you, you coming from? He was angry at this time of the night because the crusade cruise in the night, he said, he’s coming from fellowship. The man said, what is fellowship? Which of your friends name is fellowship? I was almost laughing. And then from there on that boy gave his life to Christ. They called me names. They called the family meeting over me. That’s what I’m saying. It wasn’t easy. My mother has to come from a BECU to sit in that meeting.

Oladele Isola (16:19):
The man said he was going to shoot me. He was going to poison his son and kill himself. If his son does not renounce that Christianity or that Jesus, that that happened from Friday to Sunday. So that’s how it was. So we settle that. I left their home. And when we got back to my place, my mom continued and said, did you see the shame that you have brought us? And then she disowned us, disowned me because my brother will always go with me. She disowned us. And then I was to go for youth service. Then she said, I should go and meet my Jesus to sponsor me. And that’s how I went. So I faced a lot of persecution. It’s not easy being a Muslim, turning a Christian. And in that kind of family setting. So it wasn’t easy. There’s so much, so many other aside to the story, but for time sake, let me just cut it short there.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:10):
Well, thank you so much for sharing that. What would you say to someone who is trying to make that decision of whether they should follow Jesus? How, how would you talk to them and tell them that they should follow Jesus?

Oladele Isola (17:27):
Oh, I would tell them that they don’t have to fear that they should just be wrestling. They should follow their heart. If they have a personal belief in Jesus, that he’s their savior because that’s where it starts from. God knows how to protect them from persecution. He did for many before me, he did it for me. He would do it for them. They don’t have to fear persecution. This time around there is no cult, no medicine or jazz. Like they call it no Juju, no caustic power, no power of darkness can overcome them moment. They accept Jesus and believe in him and his power. They should leave the rest to God. God knows how to protect his own. He will shield them. That’s all I will say. I’ll tell them to be resolute, to be confident in their decision.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:24):
That’s wonderful. Well, I know that God is using you to bring men, need people into his kingdom. My brother, my pastor. Thank you. Thank you so much for being a guest on the evangelism podcast. It’s so good to have you here. Thank you king.

Oladele Isola (18:39):
Thank you I’m please. I appreciate it. God bless you. Oh, bless you too.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:44):
Thanks so much for listening to the evangelism podcast today, our ministry is support by people like you, who help us go to the nations to preach the gospel? Our goal is every soul. It only costs us an average of about $1 for every person. We’re able to tell about Jesus. And so could you do me a favor, go to my website, king ministries.com and become a part with us for as little as $1 a month, you can start to partner with king ministries and help us lead. At least one person to Jesus every single month. Imagine for $1, you can start a party in heaven every single month. So right now, go to king ministries.com and partner with us and help us to preach the gospel to those who need to hear the gospel. The most, the least reach people in the world. Also, I’d like to ask you to go to apple podcast and give the evangelism podcast a five star re view your positive review will help other people find this podcast who are excited about evangelism. Thank you so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (20:03):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit king ministries com again, that’s king ministries.com.