Bishop Owkudili Eze is the General Overseer of Zion Heritage and Miracles Ministry international Abuja, he speaks on his calling,the hypergrace message, his ministry, his books and other issues in an interview with Collins Nkwocha. Excerpts
Kindly give us an insight about your ministry and family?
The ministry actually started off from umuahia in the year 2007, but today, the ministry’s headquarters is in Abuja, Lugbe Phase 4, precisely. I studied marketing at Imo State University, where I actually had an encounter with Jesus Christ and got born again. I am married to my beautiful lovely wife, Pastor Ifeoma, and we have three children: David, Daniel and Dominion.
Why are you running the ministry alongside with your wife?
Thank you very much for this question. I am running the ministry with her because she has the grace and calling to be a Pastor and God has programmed and destined her to assist me in the course of the ministry. I am not like one of those General Overseers who flaunt their wives because they are beautiful, when you take a deeper look at their wives; they have absolutely nothing to do with the pulpit of the Almighty God. I must confess to you that 80% of men of God in Nigeria are enduring their marriages because of their ministry. The irony is that my wife does more work than I do, she is a teacher by calling and she is a very good administrator. Her presence makes things very easy for me, she is a pleasant gift from God to me and I am very happy to be married to her. I am a prophet with apostolic grace by calling, I function affectively in my area; my lovely wife equally has a direct call from God, that means that even if she is not married to me, she would have married another man of God or she will have her own church in order to fulfill her calling. God calls people individually, she is fulfilling her calling by being a pastor, but in Zion Heritage she is complementing the work of God in our hands.
Sir, you have the title of a Bishop, Sir what is your exact area of calling?
I am a Prophet by calling, it is an area of calling, I stated practicing before I had a church. The gift of Prophet started manifesting greatly in me shortly after my conversion. In my hometown in Anambra state, people will gather in my father’s compound around 5 to 6am everyday to hear me prophecy to them, I never invited them, they started coming on their own to hear from the Lord through me. The prophetic is the exact area God has called me to function in but I am teacher and a prophet, I am a prophet that derives power from the word of God, which is actually the gate way to the supernatural. It is quite pathetic that the prophets of these days don’t teach the word of God, they start to prophecy immediately they mount the pulpit, even our Lord Jesus Christ who operated the Apostolic and the prophetic derived his power through the word of God.
The Bible made us to understand that as our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the word of God, the power of God was available to heal the sick, and do all manner of miracles, including power for prophecy. I tell you candidly that the prophetic and apostolic will dominate the end time ministry; as you can see that everyone these days wants to attend a Prophetic and Apostolic church because this is end time. Christians must be very careful because true prophets of the Almighty God are very few; majority of the prophets you see these days operate with familiar spirit which is from the devil. In as much as the prophetic gift is very important because it gives direction and reveals the mind of God towards us, we must be very careful and pray for the spirit of God to direct us towards his own prophets.
Sir you have written 58 books, including the ones you co-authored with your lovely wife, how were you able to achieve this?
The bible said that I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. The grace of God is available for us in everything we do, I studied Marketing in Imo State University, but the lord has given me the grace to explore beyond my limit, he inspired me to write those books including my latest: Becoming a blessing to your church, a book which God gave me solution to problems that are 21 signs of a backsliding Christian, faith for Exploits and so on. God is using me to proffer solution to people that is why he is inspiring me to write, he is using me as a medium to reach out to people, I am very happy because my books have touched a lot of lives and it gives me great joy.
Zion heritage will soon be 11 years, how has the journey been so far?
I cannot really thank the lord enough for his mighty hand on this ministry. I must tell you frankly that the church is not mine; God has only put me in charge to take care of his flock. The ministry which started small from Umuahia has today blossomed into one of churches to reckon with in land of Abuja, where the headquarters of the ministry lies presently. This is our third year in Abuja but the lord has blessed us greatly, and we are full of thanks for these. 11 years of ministry, though has not been easy because serving God genuinely goes with tests and trials but the lord has given me the grace to overcome obstacles and impediments that came my way. The work of God requires patience and sacrifices, you must really prove to God that you love him and you’re ready to serve him forever. God has blessed me because of the patience I had to do his work genuinely without any compromise God has given us a permanent place to worship, we have a bible School called: Enthronement institute, we also have a television state called: Zion Heritage Television; you can see that the lord has really really been good to us
Sir, there is this hyper grace message that is going viral in church these days, what do you have to say about that?
I must confess to you this hyper grace message is a message from the pit of hell, it is message, fashioned or designed by the devil, in order to make people unconscious, and treat sin with levity, it is a message that the devil brought out in order to lead people to hell, especially the youth. Many people that are preaching the hyper grace message, will tell you, that there is no more sin, that sin gone to extinct with the Lord, that this era of grace, we are free to do anything we like because God is no longer recognizing our sins.
I must let you know that God hates sin No sinner will go to heaven, and the Bible tells us that anyone that commits sin, is of the devil. Please someone should tell this hyper grace preachers to stop deceiving people, because if they die like that, believing that God no longer counts your sin, therefore you can live your life the way you want it, you are definitely going to hell. No sinner would enter into the kingdom of God. People should please be aware that God hates sin and will continue to hate sin, if you are a thief, a fraudster, God is not happy with you, he can only be happy with you, if you stop them and ask for forgiveness. This is exactly why corruption is growing despite the massive presence of churches in Nigeria.