Isaiah Saldivar’s Salvation Story
It’s January 12, 2011, and I’m about to go to church for the first time in three years. Although I was raised in a godly, Christian home and homeschooled my entire life, at sixteen, I graduated high school, got a job, and decided I would no longer believe in God or attend church. Instead, I would become an atheist.
Fast-forward three years: Now nineteen years old and soon to graduate college, I was ready to pursue my dream job and become a deputy sheriff in California. So far everything seemed to be going as planned. The only reason I agreed to go to church that night was that for months my little sister had been begging me to go. She said, “Just go one time, and I’ll stop asking you.” I told my girlfriend, “Let’s go one time just to shut her up.” I truly had no intention of ever going to church again after that night. Little did I know my entire world was about to be flipped upside down.
I remember vividly, as I stepped through the door of the church, telling myself, “This will be the last time I ever do this.” In all her pleading, my sister had said, “Isaiah, at this church you will feel God.” This was bizarre to me, as up until this point I had never “felt God.” I do recall, though, feeling something odd when I stepped into that church. The only way I could describe it was feeling as if there was a presence in the room. I now know this was God, but at the time, I was clueless.
I sat in the back of this very large church, thinking I was just going to get this over with. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, engage in any activities, or even be noticed. I just wanted to get in and get out and get this over with. The preacher began to talk about world missions and how many people were unreached for Christ. When he was ready to make the altar call, he said something that struck me: “Do you want to be next year in the same place you are this year?” I thought about how stagnant my life was, how each year I was partying with the same people, doing the same things, as if my life was just going in circles. Often, I would lie in bed at night staring at the ceiling, thinking there had to be more to life than this.
The pastor gave the altar call and said, “If you’re ready for change, if you want God in your life, come up here!”
My heart began to race, and I felt something—or should I say someone—pulling on my shirt. It was so intense I got out of my chair, stepped over my girlfriend and a friend I was with, and rushed down to the altar, thinking, “What is happening? What am I doing?” I did not know at the time that the Bible says in John 6:44 that nobody comes to the Father unless the Spirit draws him. I was like a fish being violently reeled in by a fisherman; I couldn’t deny it or even fight it. Here I was at the altar, having no clue what to do or say, and all that came out of my mouth was, “God, I don’t believe in You!” I actually used profanity. “But if You’re real, I’ll give You everything. I’ll break up with my girlfriend of four years. If You’re real, I’ll leave the career I’m pursuing in law enforcement. If You’re real, show me! I’ll do anything!”
Although I claimed to be an atheist, I was desperate for God. I was so desperate to know there was more to life than just partying, pursuing a career, and having “stuff.” The moment those words left my mouth, an audible voice spoke from the sky—not an inward whisper, not a still, small voice, but a loud voice from above said, “Isaiah, I don’t want 99 percent of you. If you give Me everything, I will use you.” I was in complete shock because not only did I realize God was real, but He knew my name. The God of the universe was calling me by name.
By now, I was experiencing some out-of-body vision with a bright light in front of me and around me. God showed me everything He was going to use me to do, and I saw myself on a stage preaching to thousands of people. In so many words, He said, “Isaiah, I want to use you to preach the gospel to the nations.” I responded, “I have nothing to offer You; I don’t know any pastors, I don’t know the Bible, I am unholy, I have a filthy mouth, and I live a filthy lifestyle.” To that God replied, “I’ll take your hands, I’ll take your feet, I’ll take your mouth, and I will use you.”
In a moment, I felt as if I was back in my body, and when I came to, I was speaking in tongues. Mind you, I had heard this only one time in my entire life as a young kid. I tried to cover my mouth because now my girlfriend was standing next to me at the altar, but the tongues wouldn’t stop—they gushed out of me. I bawled like a baby (I hadn’t cried in ten years because my heart was so hard), and the next thing that happened still baffles me to this day: Literal dirt started coming out of my eyes. As this was happening, the pastor got on stage and said, “There is a young man here, and God says He is removing the dirty scales from your eyes!” Keep in mind there were several hundred people at the altar.
Finally, I said, “Lord, what do You want from me? What do I do?” He responded, “Pray one hour a day, and I’ll show you.” The moment the Lord spoke that to me, the pastor said, “God is calling some of you to pray one hour a day.” With the pastor confirming everything God said, I couldn’t deny this even if I wanted to. That night, I was born again; I repented of my sin and put my faith in the finished work of the cross. I went from death to life, and years of anger, depression, anxiety, lust, bitterness, and addiction were broken by the power of the Holy Spirit.
To learn more about Isaiah Saldivar’s new book, How to Cast Out Demons, visit MyCharismaShop.com