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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.

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, 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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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Images via screenshots of Instagram.