Episode 77

In this latest installment of the How Were Your Barriers Removed series, we interview Leopold, a Senegalese man with an incredible testimony of how God saved him from nominal Catholicism and a life aimed at fulfilling his own desires and goals. How did God break through the doctrinal strongholds in his life that are often present in the lives of most religious people? What is his new aim in life, and what is he doing to obey God’s leading day by day? Join us on this episode to find how Leopold’s barriers to salvation were removed.

Because I’m an analytical person and that’s how I was trained to study, to analyze, look at data. So that’s my training. So I like to do that. And as I’m doing that, searching those questions, how do we know we Christianity has the truth? How do we know Hinduism does not have it? Because I had many Hindu friends and they used to share their belief and it was difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Okay, they saying this, Christians are saying this, Muslims are saying this. Who has the truth? Or is the truth in between somewhere? Is there a sentences of all this religion that will lead you to the truth? So those questions, I wrestle with them for years.

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers Podcast. I’m Jay and I’m NCG and we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross. This is episode 77 of the Removing Barriers Podcast. And this is the 20th in the series of How Were Your Barriers Removed? And in this episode, we’ll find out how Leopold barriers were removed when he came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hi, this is Jay MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to Removingbarriers.Net and subscribing to receive all things removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider Donating at removingbarriers.net/donate. Removing Barriers a Clear View of the Cross.

It’s a pleasure and welcome to the Removing Barriers Podcast. Thank you very much for having me into this podcast. It’s a pleasure. Great. I know you’re a busy man, but I’m glad you can able to fit us in your schedule a little bit. Yeah. So let’s jump right in.

What state or country were you born in? I was born in Dakar, which is the capital of Senegal in West Africa, looking in a map south of Morocco. So that’s where I was born and grew up there and went to school and all that before I landed into this country.

Great. Tell us some more about it. Tell us about the community you grew up in and stuff like that. Let’s say Senegal is a French speaking country, so as you can realize from my accent, so I learned basically when I came into this country, that’s when I start really practicing in school, we were taught some basic English, so I was not able to communicate in English. So my whole schooling, elementary, secondary, even University level was in French. And after Senegal, actually, I went to France to go for my graduate studies, to finish undergrad and also go for my grad studies. And from Senegal, that’s where I moved into the United States. But in Senegal we have like about, I would say about ten ethnic groups. So my ethnic group is called the Sarah, and they are mainly located in the center and in the center of the country, I would say, and a little bit in the coast of Senegal in the Atlantic Ocean. But my parents, when they moved to the city, and that’s where I was born in the car, had eight siblings. And how we grew up, just normal childhood playing, especially in our country, the main sport that we play is soccer. So I grew up just playing with friends and just being a kid and growing in that environment. And also I grew up as Roman Catholic. So in Senegal, actually, most of the Christian code are Catholics, so we have the majority are Muslims. So I grew up my parents were Catholic and went to a Catholic school. And also later on when I started, I would say 7th grade. Then I went to what they called seminary. I mean, that’s a little bit different from when you hear seminary here. It’s usually at a University level. Over there in the Catholic Church, they have what they call little seminary and then middle seminary. And then you start really what they call seminary now at University level. So I went from grade seven all the way to grade twelve, literally five years in seminary. It’s like a boarding school where they teach you how to become a priest. So I was interested in becoming a priest, but then my trajectories changed after grade twelve. I did not want to go to a really seminary to become a priest. I was questioning a lot of things in the Catholic Church, even though I did not understand a lot of things. And obviously I did not know what Salvation was even while being in a seminary. So I knew a lot about the Bible. I knew a lot of stories about the Bible, but really know what Salvation was until I came into this country.

So you said that while growing up you play soccer. I’m not going to let you get away with that. I’m sure in Senegal they don’t call it soccer. Tell me. And my wife, Jay, what is the proper name of the sport label? Yeah, they call it football. Not what we see here, your listeners who might be thinking, oh, you’re calling football football only exists here in America. No, I’m from the Caribbean and we call it football and we actually use our feet. I see. Okay. We play football. Yeah. Growing up. Oh, goodness.

Leopold, you mentioned that you grew up in a family of eight children. So ten people total. Your mother, your father. Is there eight siblings total or is it eight plus you for a total of nine? I have a brother and seven sisters, so we are nine in total. I see. Wow. Nine in total. So was your family nominally Catholic or were you fully Catholic, believing in it and living it day in and day out? What type of family were you born into? So basically I was baptized as an infant and I did the first Communion, as you know, all the traditional Catholics and my parents used to always send us every Sunday we go to school, I mean, go to Church. Sorry. And we’ll involve in Church activities when they have different fairs or even catechism. My mom, for example, used to teach catechism, and my dad was the how do they call it again, the head of the Church, the board of the Church, basically because he was one of the members who actually started the Catholic Church when I went to school. So he was very well connected with the Catholic Church. And so that’s how I grew up. But I did not grew up like reading the Bible at home or even I would say praying. No, we used to pray. I remember my dad used to take us to we used to have these weekly prayer meetings where we go from house to house, like we rotate and they used to reside the Rosary. We used to reside the Rosary. And so that’s sort of like how I was raised. I would not say I was devout, but I was quite involved with Church. And that’s how actually what led me to want to become a priest, because I was always serving at the Church. And how do they call it those who are helping the priest? I don’t know. The boy, the auto boy. Yes. So I did that. It was quite fascinating. And I remember those days when after the Mass, when the priests had left some wine, we would hide in the back to taste that wine because that wine is very tasty. So I remember. And that’s basically how I grew up. So my dad was quite involved in the Church and in our community as well. Okay.

So you would probably say that before Salvation, your life and your upbringing was very moral, very religious, but it was void of the true power of the gospel. You weren’t instructed in what literally thus say at the Lord, but you definitely were moral and religious. Would that be accurate? That’s right. Yeah. Because the focus was more on Sacrament, just basically attending Church, participating in rituals, not a lot of emphasis, focus on the scripture, on God’s Word, on the preaching. Now, obviously, they have sermons and all that. But even me being in seminary, it’s quite amazing that when I look back, I look at myself, how was that? I able to even hear the gospel all those years because we were having when I was in seminary. This is when I was in seminary. Daily devotion and daily access, and it’s a requirement. You cannot escape it because you’re in a boarding school. So you follow all the rules and regulations. But it’s quite amazing. I never heard the gospel, never until I came into this country. Wow. Interesting.

So you never heard the gospel until they came into the United States. Do you remember the first time you actually heard a clear presentation of the gospel. Yes, actually, when I attended a Church, Macklin Bible, which is the Church that I attended before, that’s where I heard from the pastor a clear presentation of the gospel. But at that time, before I even came to attend the Church over there. So let me backtrack a little bit. When I left seminary after grade twelve, I went to University. So my focus was I was actually because I had all this question about the Catholic Church, so many things that did not feel right, but I did not feel the need to pursue, to try to understand what’s going on with the teaching, with the belief and all that. So I kind of left it in the back burn. I went to University. I was more focused on my studies, trying to get ahead to succeed in a difficult environment because it’s very tough back home, I’m sure. Maybe it’s the case in your own country that at University level you have let’s say I was studying economics and we were maybe in the first year about maybe 12,000 students. I may be wrong, I don’t remember. But around that range. And in the first year I could remember only 200 people pass through the next year, mainly on my studies, try to make sure I succeed. And also I like the Catholic Church. I was not attending Church. I did not feel any need. I would go only when it’s a wedding or the traditional ceremonies or funeral. Then you will see my Church. Otherwise, I’m disconnected from Church and I started living in the world. Let me say it that way until I went to France.

Actually, before I came to America, I continued my studies in France. And as you can imagine, in France also, it’s even worse than Senegal because you could hardly see any Church in the town where I was living. First of all, even the idea of me thinking about a Church was foreign to me at that point. I was not searching for God. I was just living like a lost person and just having fun with my friends and just doing so many things that are, I would say, ungodly for a Christian now, hanging out with friends that I should not hang out sometime but studying. And so only when I came to America. And that’s after several years after I came to America because I was in New York first and then after working for the UN, I worked for the UN for two years. Then I decided to do my PhD. And that’s how I went to grad school. And then in my last years of grad school, that’s when I was interested in starting my own business. And while I was pursuing that, I came across some businessmen who were Christians. Right. And they were starting to talk about God in those business meetings. So I was not there looking for God. Like I said, I was looking to follow people who are successful. Okay. And to run my own business. So in my last year of grad school, I came across that business opportunity and I started hanging out with you and with those people and learning from them and to learn about the business, how to run a successful business. And little did you know, these people, being Christian, always talk about God. They give reference to the Bible. Talking about a man without vision shall perish my people perish for lack of wisdom. If you remember the book of Jose, if I remember. And at that point, like I say, I was completely disconnected with anything that has to do with God. And when they start talking about God, stopped. I was quite impatient. I’m like, what are these people talking about? We’re here in a business meeting. I want to hear about how they were successful, what they did to become successful, and how I can be successful as well. And as I’m listening to them more and more talking about God, and then usually at the end of those business meetings, they will tell you when you go back to your own place, wherever you live, trying to get connected with the Church where you can start learning this principle because they have the belief that your success is based on following some biblical principles. Right. If you follow them, like the law of sewing and ripping things like that, they will refer to that. So then I say, if I want to be like this man and this is what they’re doing, this is what they believe, I better find out what they’re talking about. Right. Even though I had, like I said, the Catholic background, I understood a little bit about, I have stories, I would say about the Bible and understood a little bit of Catholic belief, but not really what Salvation is. And as I’m exploring, they made me want to know what they know.

And I start searching, looking at the Bible, doing comparison. And at the same time, I started working for the World Bank and traveling a lot. So going to different countries and meeting people of different faiths and trying to also understand those faith in the process of trying to understand Christianity, what they teach and everything. I’m also learning, trying to learn because I was questioning, I was wondering who has the truth? Where is the truth? Because I grew up in a Muslim country and because the majority, 95% of Senegalese are Muslim. So you have to believe that they must have some truth. If you have 95% of people practicing doing things that I’m not doing, then there is a tendency to think that they must have something right, because they are the majority. There is no way they can be completely wrong. So I was wrestling with those kind of things. And that got me also to start studying Islam, the Quran, to try to see, OK, what they’re saying, what Christianity is saying, try to compare because I’m an analytical person, you know, and that’s how I was trained to study, to analyze, look at data. So that’s my training. So I like to do that. And as I’m doing that, searching those questions, how do we know which Christianity has the truth? How do we know Hinduism does not have it? Because I had many Hindu friends and they used to share their belief. And it was difficult for me to wrap my mind around, okay, they saying this, Christians are saying this, Muslims are saying this, who has the truth? Or is the truth in between somewhere? So is there a sentences of all this religion that will lead you to the truth? So those questions, I wrestle with them for years. But like I say, at the same time, reading the Bible, listening to sermons of pastors, looking at commentaries, doing that over and over. And I came to one book in the Bible as I’m reading it, the book of Daniel. And some of those questions that I had about how can we know where is the truth? I start finding answers in the book of Daniel. And that’s where actually I would say my search for the truth stop. I still had interest in learning about Islam and all this, but I found out from the book of Danielle, God was speaking about prophecies, and that blew me away. I was like, how do they know? How can we know that what Daniel is, prophesying really is the truth, right? What he’s speaking about in his book. And we saw it through history. And I look at the Quran, I could not find it. I look at the Hindu scripture, I could not find it. And I checked all the sources as well. And the Bible was the one providing profit after profit, book after book, mentioning those things. And when I checked what happened through history, they confirmed, they matched. And that’s where a light was turned on from me. And that’s where I got convicted. And at that point, the next thing I did, I remember clearly, I was by myself in my room, in my apartment. After finding out what Daniel was talking about, prophesying, what was going to happen, especially chapter nine, I went on my knee. I said, God, now that you have brought me to this place, I want to ask you for forgiveness. And at that time, also, I’ve been hearing the gospel being preached at Martin Bible, especially Elon Solomon, who was a pastor who had a big impact on my life by really clearly presenting the gospel. There’s no question he does it in a very unique way. And that made a difference in my life. And I understood what the gospel was. And the confirmation with reading the book of Daniel confirmed to me that the Bible stands on one end versus all these others because they’re not even close. And that’s how I give my life to Christ. What an amazing testimony, brother.

Dive a little bit deeper because this is the episode we’re doing and how worried about is removed. And no one else has mentioned that Danielle was the book that brought conviction to their life. So what are some of the specifics about Danielle, like verses and stuff that you look up? I know you’re very intelligent, man. So dive a little bit deeper for us and tell us what were some of those specifics that brought you to conviction? Okay. Now, I specifically mentioned Daniel nine, because in Daniel nine, if you take from verse 24 to 27, if you want to take a look at it, we can. So basically, Daniel is speaking about a prophecy. And from verse 24 to 27, this is what he’s saying, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to celebrate the vision and prophecy and to annoy the Mosaic. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going force of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in travel time. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with the flood and unto the end of the war. Desolation. It took me let me think about it, literally six to eight months of studying the entire book of Daniel, but also specifically this verse and going through sermons, commentaries, doing extensive research. Like I said, I like analyze things in a deeper way when I understood what this prophecy was talking about and how it was broken down. And that was an answer to the question I had even while I was in seminary, in the Catholic seminary. How do we know the Catholic Church is the truth? How do we know Islam is not the truth? And Daniel 924 gave me the answer by telling me there was a man in history. And this is talking about the Persian King. There was a commandment that was given, okay. To restore it says to restore and to build Jerusalem. And that’s very specific because it’s talking about this is the reign of this Persian King called Athraxis. And he was given a commandment in the 20th year of his reign. Right. A commandment was given. So we know through history when that King came into power. And if you come 20 years from that time, a commandment was given to restore and rebuild because, remember, the Jew was sent in deportation to Babylon. Right. And they came back to restore the temple and to rebuild the city. And it’s telling us there was three score and two weeks. Okay, 70 weeks. So three score weeks. That’s 69 weeks. And it’s telling us from the going forth of the commandment until the Messiah comes, there will be 69 weeks. And this is weeks of years, not weeks of days like we know it normally. And if you count it’s 483 years specifically, you say from that time to the coming of the Messiah. And when you do the math, you come to the realization we are in the first century when Jesus Christ came into this Earth and he’s telling us specifically, until Messiah shall be cut off, meaning shall be killed, but not all. He is killed for the sin of mankind, not for something he has done. And Daniel wrote this in the 6th century BC. Now, you have a lot of critics who say it’s impossible. Right, because how can you be so specific about what is going to happen to three centuries ahead? Only God can provide such detailed and precise. And he mentioned it in the book of Isaiah, chapter 46, verse nine. I will declare the end from the beginning. And he has proven it over and over. But this one was the one that really hit me. And from that time on, it was clear to me there is no other revelation that constitutes the truth and the Bible that’s the word of God.

was that the first time during this study you came to the full realization of your sin. It was so I would say again, it was a process of realizing my life was not right. I was a sinner. I was just living for myself. I was just living for pleasures of this world, for lust and everything. But as I’m understanding God’s word, reading the Bible, I came to that realization that if I were to die before I realized all this, I was going to go straight to hell. Even though I spent all my life being a Catholic, going to Church, going to seminary, I came to that realization. I say God is merciful to me because he had to take me from Senegal to France to the United States so I can hear the gospel and thank God I was alive until I came here to rescue me. Amen. I was convicted.

So it sounds like Leopold, that during this entire process of discovering what the Bible says, particularly in the book of Daniel, when it comes to prophecy and how only God can tell what’s going to happen in the future centuries ahead of time, with such accuracy and with such pinpoint precision. But at the same time, you’re hearing sermons from the Church, you’re reading commentary, you’re gathering all of this information, and then the light comes on when you realize to what extreme God went to save you. Like you mentioned, he brought you in from Senegal and he put you within the realm of people who knew these truths and would point you to the Savior. During that time, what barriers do you think were preventing you from being saved right up until the point you got saved? Do you think it was perhaps you holding onto a sinful lifestyle, or was it that you were holding out until you felt like you fully understood everything? What were some of the barriers that were preventing you from being saved during this entire journey that you’ve described? Yes. Let me say the first barrier which was preventing me from being saved is the care of this world. Like I say, I’m pretty ambitious and I grew up. My dad used to always instill in us, you know, the hard work and go for your dream, aim high. So I grew up actually, one of my desire was to work for the UN. That was my dream when I was ten years old because my dad always he really liked politics and what’s going on in the world. He was fascinated by that. And he was also involved locally in our community. So he would always make us read stuff, let us know what’s going on in the world. And I start developing that sense. I want to work for this organization. And literally, you know, I end up being in New York and working for the UN. And then after some years, I went to grad school, and when I finished, I start working for the World Bank. So to me, it was like a dream come true, right. To be able to work for this international organization because I have a passion for development. Right. And that’s what I study. Also in grad school, I studied development economics, where you’re looking at the economies of four countries. Me coming from a poor country, I have a vested interest to understand how we can get our countries out of poverty, bring growth into the country, employment, education, et cetera. So that is something that is a passion to me. And I was able to land at the World Bank and to be able to go to many countries to see the type of issues people are dealing with and to provide some expertise into that. So it was really a dream come true to me. And like I said, my focus was to be successful and to achieve that dream. But when I start hearing about the truth about why we are in this Earth, that’s where my mindset shifted completely. And I was no longer drawn to success into this world, to achieving certain things. I start shifting my priorities because I realized and again, while working for the World Bank, the image that I had of the World Bank, how smart people. Obviously, many people are smart there. But at the same time, the way I see some people living, I was not interested in living that way. You can have some financial stability and have a pretty good standard of living, but there is more to life than that. I came to that realization as I’m starting to understand the Scripture, to understand the truth of God’s word and why we are in this Earth. Those things start to become secondary. And I start to focus my attention on how can I serve God? Because he rescued me from an eternity of hell. Why? Because I never heard the gospel. I was never exposed to understanding what the truth is, you know, about Salvation. When I found out what the truth was, those looking for carrier, looking for success were no longer. So those were my barrier. And God had a way, I would say even God has a sense of humor because he had to take me to those things that I’m so interested in to draw my attention to him, back to him.

And that’s how those barriers were removed. God gave you what you wanted. Yes. But then there was like attached to it. Yes. Exponent? How were those by exactly removed? I know you already mentioned Daniel nine and all those things, but that’s tied up with the both of us. So when I got saved, obviously I start getting involved in Church serving and then I start attending Bible study, even at work at the World Bank. And then I would say even few months, maybe seven months after I got saved, I start my own Bible study. And because, first of all, I wanted to grow. It’s not like I knew so many things because I was just excited about what I found out and I wanted to share it with my colleagues, friends of mine. So I connected with a number of colleagues of mine because at the World Bank, you have the opportunity. You can have Bible studies, Muslims, they can pray and there’s a spot where they can go. So everybody is free to worship. And in my free time, when I’m at lunchtime, that’s when I would have my Bible study. So I start organizing a weekly Bible study with some friends and it starts growing, have more people attending, having interest. And we went through a number of books. Genesis, Daniel, obviously, I can miss it. Revelation. Those are my favorite books. So, and it took us, I would say two years to go through those different books.

And at the end of two years, the idea came to me to write a book. And that’s when I started spending even more time studying the Bible. I would do literally 4 hours a day reading the Bible, doing career study, because to me, it was important, especially I was teaching so that I get a good understanding of what the Bible is talking about. And some of my colleagues would have question here and that would prompt me to want to go back and want to learn more. And I remember sometimes as I’m traveling to the Middle East, I had 13 hours flight straight before I get saved. As I was working while I’m on the plane, either I’m trying to get some rest before I get there, or I am reading a book in economics or preparing a paper that I’m working at the moment I got saved, as I’m still traveling to do my work, you will see that I shift. I will not do any of those. I will read my Bible on the plane. Sometimes I’ll read for 8 hours. I’ll sleep maybe 2 hours on the plane, but 8 hours studying, looking at commentary, listening to sermon until I get to my destination. Even while I’m there, sometimes I get jet lag. You know, the time difference. It took me like two to three days before I can adjust to the lot of time. So in those days, while I’m working still at night, I wouldn’t sleep. So I’ll just listen to the Bible, read the Bible, listen to sermons. That’s all I was doing. I was consumed with the word of God. And that’s how I even started writing pieces of my book. And it took me probably maybe a year or so to finalize the first draft of my book because I was really dedicated to it and because I wanted to share things that I learned from really studying very closely the word of God. And that’s how I wrote the book. And from there on, started really building that interest up to now. And I felt the need also to translate it in French because I wrote it in English. So that took me more time, actually, than writing the book. Many people back home in Senegal find it interesting, at least to have that French version so that they can also see what I was able to write. Yeah.

What’s the name of your book? The Divinity of Jesus Christ Revisited in the Third Millennium. And as I was telling you, so those questions about is Christ, God himself. When I look at all the religion, what they say about it, it baffled me that Christianity is the only religion which specifically clearly mentioned that Jesus Christ is God himself. All the others. And that’s what set Christianity apart from any other religion Besides even the prophecies that I wanted to tackle that issue in light of so many things that have happened over the past, I would say 2 million, because remember, in the first centuries of Christianity, there was a lot of debate, discussion about the nature of Christ. Some were just saying he’s fully man, he’s not God, and others were saying he’s fully God, he’s not a man. And you had a lot of heresy that developed over the years, and some of those heresy are resurfacing even in our contemporary era. So I wanted to bring a little bit of light into that. And also looking at some of these religious sects, I call them, who claim to be teaching the truth. But when you go underneath the surface, you will see that what they’re teaching is contrary to God’s word.

And we also have your book on our website displayed. So you can go and get a copy of Leopold’s book, The Divinity of Christ from Removingbarriers.Net/books and go and get a copy. It’s a very good read.

You’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We are sitting down with Leopold and we are finding out how were his barriers removed. We’ll be right back.

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Two Corinthians 517 says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Leopold after Salvation, what changes were evident in your life? Most people, when they answer this question, they talk about a brand new fire for the word of God. They want to read God’s Word more. They want to evangelize more. Well, when it comes to reading God’s Word and studying it, you’re already doing that in full force. So what changes were evident in your life after Salvation? Great. Actually, something I did not mention when I was telling my story. I used to be a DJ. Oh, wow. Yes, you’ll be amazed. So when I left the seminary, the Catholic seminary. So I went to University. Obviously, with student life, we used to have parties and all that. So I developed an interest, a passion for music, for mixing different music and entertaining people. Okay. And I carry that throughout. When I went to France as well, they were calling me the DJ in my school. We had a school where people were coming from different countries in Africa, in Francophone Africa. And then some French people obviously used to organize these social gatherings. And I used to do during those parties, even when I came to America, when I went to grad school, some of my friends in grad school, if they hear me today speaking, they will not recognize me because I was known for party freak, I would say especially I was in a small town where outside of studies, there’s nothing else to do. So the only thing you can go is hang out, go to a party, hang out with friends. So I used to do that and I had a passion for DJing. But now when I became Christian, that was one of the toughest things that I had to get rid of. I struggled internally. Like, I would remember those days on weekends because we can usually I would hang out with friends, go to a bar or go to a club or something like a house party. And when I became Christian, I understood that that lifestyle is not a lifestyle of a Christian. So I wrestle with that. I was quite tempted to. Ok, today is Saturday. I’ve worked so hard during the week. I just need a fresh air. But I will wrestle with that. It was the toughest thing for me get rid of and especially my friend. You called me because we used to hang out together so I would resist that. And to me if you want your quoting Second Corinthian 517 the old man to get rid of that old man. To me that was the biggest Dragon because that was my passion. Is that was where I would have some rest because I used to work long hours and for me I needed always a fresh air, rest and everything. Hang out with friends, not necessarily drinking or anything but just being with friends, being entertained, having good music, having a good time. And that was my life before I came to price. But thank God not on my own power but through the power of the Holy Spirit convicted me that if you want to be true to God you got to relinquish some of those old habits. You got to leave even some of my friends. So I had to leave some friends that I used to hang out with and many of them could not even understand why. I saw all of a sudden I shipped I was no longer being part of their grouping. Even some time at work I would refuse to even hang out with some of my colleagues and that even hit me in a sense because they always ostracize me. Oh this is the guy who claimed to be Christian or whatever because I would not want to mingle and do things that are contrary to what I believe. So that was the hardest thing but thank God I was able to overcome it. I definitely can relate to that.

Do you think the way your barriers were removed would be effective in reaching someone in our culture today? I would say the word of God has a convicting power and so long as these people are exposed to the word of God, the word of God will be able to if they are seeking. Again, I was at the point where I was also seeking. I was looking for the truth. I had a hunger for truth. Where is the truth? Because remember when I was at the bank to me I had achieved the success that I wanted to achieve and I could see everything. That when you work for a big organization like that, all the things that you have access to. So I was able to see all that, enjoy all that travel, business first class. So for me what am I looking for in life? That’s when those questions start coming in and that’s when I start seeking. So I would say if somebody is seeking that’s quite important because people are a different phase in their life. Sometimes maybe you expose the gospel but they don’t really hear it because they’re not ready for it. They’re not seeking. But somebody who’s seeking, you just need to expose him to the doctor and he will be convicted through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Leopold, you mentioned that you started a Bible study because you wanted to learn more and you wanted to make sure that when you were talking to people about what was in the scriptures that you were knowledgeable, you’ve also mentioned that you’ve written a book in order to describe and to explain to people the deity of Christ and to make him known to those who don’t know him. These are all evangelistic efforts. What other things are you doing personally in the area of evangelism to help remove barriers like the one you faced in your life? Yes. And actually, right now, following up on my book, I started a Ministry. And again, because I’m coming from Senegal, it’s a French speaking country. I had the privilege being in this country, having so many resources available to know about the Christian faith so much in this country, we are blessed, so many great pastors, so many great. And for me, when I look at now, the Francophone world, we don’t have as much resources. So the idea came to me. I want to reach out to people not just in Senegal, but people who are French speaking, because like many of these materials are English. And if you don’t speak English or you cannot read English, you can’t access those resources, listen to a sermon from a great Prophet or read a book or read the Bible itself. So I started this Ministry called Eddie Morph, which is like a discerning just to translate it in English. Discerning Ministry, where I’m trying to share the gospel with French speaking people, including Muslims, because coming from a country which is 95% Muslim, I have many Muslim friends, and my heart died to reach those people because I know I have the truth now. So I don’t want to be able to share it with them, knowing that. And this also motivates me to study the Islamic scripture so that I’m able to Minister to them. I’m able to share the gospel with them from their own vantage point. And I’ve listened to a number of your episodes. Man, I really like how deep you go into your explanation and stuff like that. Of course, we have a little bit of different focus on the removing barriers, but we’re on the same team, definitely trying to win the loss. Yes. All right.

Leopold, we’re going to go into a little bit of a fun section, find out some of your favorites. You can treat it as a rapid fire or you can explain it’s all up to you. So tell us, what is your favorite scripture verse? Yeah, actually, I have many favorites, but let me give you one speed. 315. Sanctify the Lord in your heart and be always ready. Amen. Give an answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. We made it actually as one of our Ministry. How can I call it motor? Because we need to be as Christian, we need to be equipped so we can share the truth of God’s Word. People have questions. Now, you may not have answer to everything, but be ready, be ready. You can point them to somebody who may have the answer or somewhere where they can get those resources, where, as you say, those barriers, how you can help them remove those barriers by pointing them to the right direction. And I strive in this Ministry to always give a reason why I believe what I believe. Amen. And that’s one of my favorite verse. Jeremiah 913 is another one also. Yeah, it’s amazing. You mentioned First Peter 315, because that’s one of the verses that we actually have in our podcast description. Definitely. Yes. It’s a powerful one.

What’s your favorite biblical historical account in the Scriptures? Now, Daniel is my favorite book. And obviously the story around Daniel is quite fascinating for me. But I love David, the stories about David, his life, how he’s such a man of God, man of faith, man of integrity in many respects. Now with failures as well, which make him so relatable. I love many of those stories.

What is the most convicted scripture passage to you? The most convicted scripture to me is Second Timothy 215, which says, Study to show thyself approved and to God a Workman that need not to be ashamed. Rightly. Dividing the word of truth. So this really is pushing me to take the Bible seriously and to take every single word of God. We live in a time where sometimes people take the word of God too lightly and the Bible says every word of God is pure. So we want to treat it with the reverence. And if we remember how the Bible came to us, those who start, let’s say, translate the Bible in English, some of them give their life. They can have access to the Bible, but today we have access in every device to so many Bible. But yet maybe that’s the reason why we don’t take it seriously. But I want to take it seriously. Good, because it matters. Truth matters.

What is the most comforting scripture verse for you and the Scriptures? I would say the most comforting scripture for me, Second Timothy. If I paraphrase it, if we are unfaithful, or if we don’t believe God, remain faithful, he cannot do stuff. So for me, that gives me a sense of comfort because I know no matter what and no matter the circumstance in which I am, I found myself. People betraying me, people rejecting me. Or I’ve seen even in the Ministry that I started, some friends because of the convicting message, sometimes that I’m sharing, some of them would get mad at me, would stop talking to me. But again, I know if I remain faithful to God’s word and to teaching rightly God’s Word, he will be faithful and he cannot be unfaithful. So to me, it’s comforting. All the people can be unfaithful. We can be unfaithful. But he cannot because he cannot deny who he is.

What is your favorite hymn of the faith now? So as I was telling you, I did not grew up hearing, especially in the English speaking world. I grew up as a Catholic in a Francophone country. So we did not have these hymns. So it’s only when I came to America that I start hearing some of these him. So I’m not really I would just sing it like most people, but I would say I like to listen to some contemporary singers like CC Wyatt. I love that song. The goodness of God. I like to sing, especially in the morning when I wake up just to get energized and motivated to start my day, I have to listen to those kind of songs. All right, great.

What would you say of all the people in the scriptures? What would you say is your favorite giant of the faith? I would say my favorite giant of the faith will be Job. And again, I cannot help that mention Daniel also. To me, he’s a giant of faith. But I would say Job, because what he has endured in his life, it’s incredible. Despite all the circumstances under which he was I mean, I could not imagine a person like that who remains faithful despite everything he has gone through. He’s my hero.

All right, Leopold, let’s wrap it up and tell us how can barriers be removed in the life of others? I know you do a fantastic job on your YouTube channel, but tell us how can barriers be removed in the life of others? I think that just reminds me of Paul when he was writing to Timothy, his disciples. He’s telling him preach the word in season and out of season. And to me, that’s the best way to remove those barriers in the lives of people. Just expose them to the truth of God’s word in season, out of season at every time. And somehow the light is going to switch with some, as I said, and with the help of the Holy Spirit to guide those who are really seeking to know the true God.

Leopold, thank you so much for joining us on the Removing Barriers podcast. You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure being with you guys. I really appreciate the work that you’re doing for the Lord. We are living together. Amen. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you for listening. To get a hold of us to support this podcast or to learn more about removing barriers, go to removingbarriers. Net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.