My name is Oscar Obando Soto. I was born in the city of Pasto, Nariño, southern Colombia, in 1979. I am the son of Carlos Obando Bados and Adalgiza Soto Valencia. I was born into a Catholic family by tradition, although not very devout.

I am married since 1999 to Angie Muñoz; our children are Oscar and Angela. I am the youngest of 4 children.

I could say that I was very loved by my parents in what they understood as love: a lot of pampering and overprotection on the one hand, and rudeness, criticism and demotivation on the other hand, which made me an insecure, fearful person with low self-esteem. This caused me to hide behind a mask of rebelliousness, false security and hypocrisy, to hide how small, useless and worthless I felt inside.

I do not tell this to criticize my parents or blame them for my failures. Although at some point in my life I did; today I have understood that they did the best they could with the knowledge and abilities they had to try to make me a good person. I have also understood, thanks to the Word of Elohim, that everything works for good and that there is nothing that escapes His will. I comment on this to give the reader some context from my perspective.

When I was in my teens, Mom got to know the Protestant faith and that seemed to help her a lot as a person; it helped her to give up bad habits, gave her a new perspective on life and gave her a new purpose. This is what I could tell from afar, as at that stage of my life (I think like most people) I was wrapped up in myself, trying to “be happy” and give my life direction.

My wife and I came to the Christian church at a time when we were going through a severe crisis (due to bad decisions I had made because of my shortcomings and internal problems). This led me to almost destroying my home. Angie and I were able to find help at the Protestant church where my mother served. It was there where I first heard the Gospel and, thanks to the circumstances and the severe crisis I was facing at the time (praise Yah for that!), I set my eyes earnestly on the Savior (Yeshua). I began to read and learn the Bible for the first time and it was amazing to begin to understand the why of many things. I understood that it was normal for our lives to fail when they are not built on the solid Rock and biblical principles that were given to instruct us in The Path and keep us from making so many mistakes.

I was also able to find my worth and start the long task of transformation after realizing the great love that the Creator of all things and His Son had for me. So I decided to give my life to Yeshua and was baptized. Then I understood that I wanted to dedicate the rest of the time I had left in my life to follow my Master and help His Kingdom to be announced and established on earth.

My wife and I started studying in the church to be able to serve, and little by little we became more and more involved in the church activities. On the one hand, that helped me a lot to make new relationships with different people, because it was very difficult for me to leave my life in the world; (I really loved my friendships, music and the worldly lifestyle I was living at the time).

Being involved in church service allowed me to begin to realize some things that were going on internally in the church system, and doubts began to arise. Some things I saw in practice did not coincide with what I read in the Scriptures. One of the things that caught my attention was how much importance was given to economic issues over more important issues such as sanctification in the preaching. Also, it bothered me that the national church director was involved in politics, which meant that, somehow, they involved us in political activities.

As I began to know the Scriptures better, I was able to realize that there were commandments that were highly emphasized in the Scriptures and, even so, we were not taught much about them (for example, the Sabbath). While there were commandments that were not emphasized much in the Scriptures (tithing), but were given much relevance in the preaching. This led me to ask my teachers why we barely studied subjects such as the Sabbath, being one of the 10 commandments and one of which is said to be “a perpetual statute for all our generations” and “wherever we dwell”; and, instead, we did preach a lot about tithes, first fruits and offerings.

The answer I received left me very unsatisfied: “Oscar, what are you reading?” I answered: “the Bible”. Paraphrasing, they told me: “That was in the Old Testament; the Law is very difficult (impossible) to fulfill. That is why Christ came to fulfill it perfectly. And Christ nailed the Law to the tree so that we don’t have to keep it. We are under grace, not under the Law. Better read the books we have in the church and focus on our mission”.

Inside me I thought: if what my church teachers teach me is true, and if tithing is also within the Law, and if the Law was nailed to the tree, then why the emphasis on encouraging people to tithe? Since then, the feeling that something was wrong began to grow inside me and other doubts began to arise, because the Messiah Yeshua always spoke of being obedient to His Father and keeping His commandments.

So, trying to answer my doubts, after understanding that, although the Christian church is a vehicle for people to know the good news and the Messiah Yeshua, the doctrine that is taught actually presents a different version of the Messiah, not the Biblical one, and ends up presenting another message (another gospel).

I must admit that the Christian church was a good place of transition and was very helpful for my life and my marriage at that time, but it is really important to go deeper in the search for the truth in order to have a correct faith and really become Yeshua’s disciples.

So, with a lot of sorrow and disappointment, we had to leave the church and continue the journey (following Yeshua). In this way, I was able to understand the Master’s words about how the Path is indeed narrow and troubled, and few are those who find it. On my journey I went through the Messianic movement, where I got a little more knowledge, but I also received wounds and was very disappointed when I realized the great division, lack of organization and bad testimony that exists in that movement, lacking a vision of unity and brotherly love, and a real commitment to all of Elohim’s ordinances.

Finally, when I began to doubt and felt very tired from the journey and unmotivated, after much prayer and fasting, Yahweh reminded me that “the gates of Hades would not prevail against His Assembly”, which means that a vestige of the original faith would survive the deception and confusion of the great Babylon. So I regained my courage and continued the search for that place, until finally I was able to find a book by Brother Norman Willis (Nazarene Israel) surfing the internet. And through Brother Norman’s studies, I was able to get a better perspective of the Great Commission and the Kingdom of Heaven.

That is how I felt motivated to help as a volunteer, putting my gifts, talents and resources at the service of the Kingdom. Thanks to the Father I was able to realize that, although the Path is not simple, there is a place where they really strive to do as much as our Master commanded. So I hope that this testimony will be of help to other brothers and sisters who are on the journey and that it will help them to regain their courage and restore their faith.

Even though the Path is not easy, the reward is completely worth it: to one day hear the words of our Master saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things; enter into the joy of your Master”. May Yahweh Almighty help us all to remain faithful to His Son Yeshua until the end and to face whatever it requires in order to reach that day.

Amein.