Ozzy Osbourne Refused to Leave His Personalised Bible Behind, Here’s the Surprising Story Behind Why
Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Words: ‘My Only Hope Is Christ’Ozzy Osbourne was an unlikely candidate for elevating the gospel.
Yet, the late Black Sabbath frontman’s fondness for a personalised NLT Bible has prompted colleagues and fans to reach for Christ.
According to the man who gave him that NLT in 2023, Ozzy had finally found a Bible he could understand.
Celebrity Evangelist Dylan Novak said he caught up with Ozzy’s son, Jack, a few weeks later, who asked Novak about the gift.
Ozzy ‘Treasured’ His Bible
Jack then said his dad “treasured that [NLT]. He insisted on going back into the autograph room to get the Bible to look at in his room.”
The Bible was the main subject of conversation for that particular weekend, Novak recalled in a new video posted on Facebook marking one year since Ozzy’s death.
Novak said that since 2023, he’s “heard from a lot of different musicians that he’d given a Bible to.”
They’ve told him that Ozzy was responsible for introducing them to Novak’s ministry.
“They were familiar with the ministry because of Ozzy, and they said that they had seen Ozzy’s Bible.”
“He’d invited people to his house to show them the Bible to talk about it.”
Novak then added, “Well, here’s where things start to get really encouraging.”
“I was talking earlier this year with somebody who was friends with Ozzy, and they brought up the Bible.”
“They brought up [Novak’s] ministry, and his had helped them to have more intimate conversations with [Ozzy] about who Jesus was.”
This included a discussion about “where he was going to spend eternity.”
Novak’s source told him that “three weeks before Ozzy passed, he shared with them that Ozzy had acknowledged Jesus was the Son of God.”
“He [had also] acknowledged that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.”
Ozzy, according to that close source, additionally “acknowledged that there is nothing in this life good enough that he had done to get to heaven.”
Allegedly sharing that he “had messed up too much to get to heaven,” Ozzy reportedly said, “My only hope is Christ.”
Novak concluded the 23 July post asking people to pray for the Osbourne family and that “we would see more souls come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour as a result of the gospel being shared.”
Celebrity Evangelist Dylan Novak Gifts Osbourne a Bible
Talking about the first time he met Osbourne with podcast Breakn Truth Ministries, Novak recounted, “I leaned across and handed him the Bible. And he said, ‘It’s got my name on it.'”
Ozzy then showed his manager, whose response appeared to be indifferent, and opened it. Novak said, “he was like, ‘Well, the font is big enough’, and immediately turned in the back towards the Gospels.”
According to Novak, Ozzy then remarked, “Oh, this actually makes sense. Thank you.”
While at the horror convention, Novak said he “met [Ozzy’s] whole family.”
“They were all there, and Sharon was nice, not overly personal. Kelly, the same. Jack was great. He was writing down on a piece of paper a bunch of theologies he had been looking at.”
Jack said, “Why don’t you research these? Because this is what I’ve been looking at. Then if you ever see me again, we’ll compare notes.”
Attending another horror convention for ministry reasons two weeks later, Novak said, “he didn’t have to approach Jack; Jack approached him.”
Verifying that Novak was the same guy who gave his dad the Bible, Jack testified, “Dad’s exhausted. We’re taking him up to his [hotel suite] and as Ozzy got to the elevator, he said, ‘Where’s my Bible?'”
“I’m not going upstairs without my Bible,” Jack recalled, adding that “all the people at the horror convention are like what?!”
Jack told his dad where the Bible was, saying it was already locked up, and that he’d get it tomorrow.
As retold by Novak, Ozzy was determined not to leave without his Bible, telling his son, “No, you’re going to get it now.”
Jack complied, went to retrieve the Bible, and because it was a Bible, people asked him if Ozzy was losing his mind.
He grabbed the Bible, handed it to his dad, who then asked for the book that went with it, and Novak’s personal letter addressed to the self-described “Prince of Darkness”.
Squaring that away, Jack said the next day Ozzy expressed deep appreciation for the gift.
The whole family eventually started talking about that Bible and when Novak had shared Jesus with them.
Ozzy doesn’t keep many gifts because of a lack of room for them, Jack explained, “but that Bible is on his bedside table and everybody that walks through the house has to be shown the Bible with his name on it.”
Osbourne Was Frustrated by False Media Links to Dark Arts
An interview with The Guardian in 2014 might shed light on why the Black Sabbath singer didn’t just ditch it.
During that meeting, Osbourne declared, “I’m a Christian. I was christened as a Christian. I used to go to Sunday school. I never took much interest in it because I didn’t.”
Jack Osbourne, when speaking with Jamie Kennedy’s Hate to Break it To You Podcast in March this year, confirmed both Novak’s and The Guardian’s accounts.
“Nothing evil was ever in our household as far as channelling it goes,” Jack said.
“My dad was a believer in Christ. He had a Bible. He wore a cross every day of his life.”
Jack put the dark arts stigma down to clickbait reporting by legacy media.
This was something, he said, that Ozzy “would get frustrated about. Like people saying he’s this [evil] thing, and he’s not. That’s why you can never trust the news.”
Such as them saying, “Ozzy’s a satanist who’s going to do all this stuff because they’ve read into a song.”
Celebrities Need the Gospel
Celebrity-filled conventions are usually full of people looking to get something.
Dylan Novak does the opposite.
The Celebrity Evangelist gifts personalised Bibles to celebrities.
What was once a hobby for the Tennessee Baptist youth pastor in 2015 is now part of his full-time ministry.
Why Hollywood?
Well, “sharing the gospel with Hollywood,” his website states, “is a forgotten mission field, and a much-needed one.”
Holding discretion with distinction, Celebrity Evangelist has seen God open big doors, allowing them to “share the gospel with over 1,000 celebrities, and several life-changing decisions have been made!”
The ministry’s mission is “to spread the love of Jesus Christ, and tell the world that he is the one and only way to Heaven.”
Novak, who carries the vocation alongside his wife and chief encourager, Morgan, wants to encourage the church to get up, get out before it’s too late.”
Images via screenshots of Instagram.
ODM Daily Commentary
Let’s be honest: if anyone had told you that Ozzy Osbourne—the Prince of Darkness, the man who bit the head off a bat, the face of heavy metal mayhem—would end his life with a Bible on his bedside table and a confession of faith in Christ, you would have laughed. But that is exactly what happened.
The article from The Daily Declaration tells the remarkable story of Ozzy’s final years. In 2023, celebrity evangelist Dylan Novak gave him a personalised NLT Bible. Ozzy opened it and said, “Oh, this actually makes sense. Thank you.” He treasured it. He insisted on taking it to his hotel room. He showed it to everyone who visited his house. He invited people over to talk about it.
The story gets even better. Three weeks before he died, Ozzy acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins, and that there was nothing he had done good enough to get to heaven. He said, “My only hope is Christ.”
That is the gospel. That is the hope that no amount of drugs, fame, or money could ever provide. Ozzy knew he was a sinner. He knew he had messed up. But he also knew that his only hope was Jesus.
The article also reveals Ozzy’s frustration with the media’s false portrayal of him as a satanist. His son Jack confirmed that his dad was a believer in Christ, wore a cross every day, and was frustrated by the clickbait headlines that painted him as something he wasn’t.
The ministry of Dylan Novak is a reminder that celebrities need the gospel too. Hollywood is a forgotten mission field, and Novak has dedicated his life to sharing Jesus with the famous. He has shared the gospel with over 1,000 celebrities, and lives have been changed.
So here is the challenge: never give up on anyone. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. If Ozzy Osbourne can come to Christ, anyone can. And if a personalised Bible can prompt a rock legend to seek salvation, then maybe we should be more intentional about sharing the Word with the people in our lives.
Ozzy Osbourne found his hope in Christ. And that is a story worth sharing.
Keywords: Ozzy Osbourne, celebrity evangelism, Dylan Novak, personalised Bible, NLT Bible, Black Sabbath, Jack Osbourne, Prince of Darkness, faith in Christ, gospel witness, Hollywood mission field, last words, my only hope is Christ, Bible on bedside table, media false portrayal, celebrity ministry
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