Leader of one of the fastest growing Christian ministries, Zion Prayer Movement Outreach, Evangelist Ebuka Obi, has revealed how God saved him from gunmen’s attack planned by occultists.

He said that owing to the fact that he make people surrender their charms as well as quit life of voodoo and witchcraft, occultists sent gunmen to attack him, but the plot failed as one of the attackers was apprehended and two others escaped.

Evangelist Obi revealed that before he was born, his mother, who prayed for a son, was told in a trance that she would have twins.

He said that his mother was told that she would have twins and that the second of the twins would serve God.

The Zion Ministry leader said that from age eight, he became an instrument in God’s hands, solving people’s spiritual problems.

He revealed how a Catholic priest told his father to leave him to fulfill his destiny and also gave him three cardinal principles to follow in order to be a powerful pastor.

In this interview with ONUOHA UKEH and HENRY UMAHI, Evangelist Obi told the story of his life.

Evangelist, congratulations on your birthday. We noticed that not much noise was made about your birthday as we have seen of other pastors. Is this by accident or design?

I just wanted it to be so. I didn’t want to really invite a lot of people. Many people are angry, saying I didn’t tell them about it. The truth is that I wanted this one to be calmly done. But of course, that day we saw millions of people coming down from different parts of the world. Last year, there were so many things done, but this year I decided to have something small. 

Before now, Zion Ministry was relatively unknown, but then suddenly there was an explosion in social media and mainstream media. What happened? 

You know, the Bible says that there is time for everything. In Ecclesiastes 1.11, the Bible says, he beautified all things in its time. So, I believe this is time for our manifestation. The scripture said in Romans 8, 18 and 19, that the whole creation are waiting to see the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God.

Social media also helped. We have been here doing well, by God’s grace. God has been bringing people in thousands, even before social media. I believe it’s time of God for more people to get to know what is happening here. It’s just the time.

As I said, he beautified all things in his time. Even me, I’m surprised how suddenly we have branches all over the world. If you ask me to explain, I may not be able to.

Could you tell us how your journey into evangelism started?

That is a long story. It started when I was eight years old. My mother told my twin brother and I that when she got married, she was barren for 11 years. She kept praying to God asking for the fruit of the womb.  After 11 years of barrenness, she started having female children. First one was a female. Second one was a female. The third one was a female. I’m from a royal family. If you don’t have a male child, you are like an outcast. My mum kept crying to God, promising that if God gave her a male child, she would dedicate him to God. Eventually, she became pregnant and in a trance someone told her that she would have two babies eventhough she asked for one. She was told that the second twin should be named Chukwuebuka and would serve God all his life. So, I was kind of initiated from the womb, like the way Samuel was initiated through the mother, Hannah. I was born, or we were born. When I was eight years old, I noticed that people came to me for spiritual matters. Then, if I looked at someone I was able to tell the person what will happen to him the next day. And it was unmistakable. I remember I was eight years, and many pregnant mothers came every day. They would ask me to tell them the sex of babies they were going to deliver. I would tell them and it would come to pass. It was unmistakable.

My father was teaching in a secondary school and my mother was a primary school teacher. My father didn’t really agree with what was happening around me. He was not confortable seeing a lot of people coming to our compound trying to see a boy of eight years. So, he would flog me over this. 

Sometimes when I went to church, I would not return. My parents would be looking for me and they will find me in the chapel. When I became 11 years old, it became such that even my teachers came to me because I would not just say what would happen the next day, but also coming deaths. I remember when my mother took me to someone, who had been told by the doctor that he would die. I was 10 years old then, but when I looked at the person, I told my mother that the man would not die. The person recovered. So, I became famous even in the village. Among my schoolmates, I was popular because people came from other towns to look for me. My father continued to flog me, until one reverend father came to our parish, Rev Fr. Luke Odinkemmelu. Then I was 12 years old. He called my father and my mother and advised that they should stop flogging or worrying about me. He said that the grace of God was upon me and that I would serve God. He told my parents that God would use me mightily. It was the intervention of the reverend father, Luke Odinkemmelu, that made my father to slow down in flogging me. But I cannot forget that the reverend father warned me. He told me not to have sex until I marry. Yes, he also said that for me to maintain God’s grace I must not sleep with a woman until I get married. I was just 12 years old then. The reverend father also said that I should not open a church. He said he saw where I was talking to millions of people, but that I should not leave the Catholic Church where I was born. I didn’t understand what he meant by don’t open a church, don’t have sex until you marry. He also said I should not be money-minded. The reverend father said that if I kept these three things, I would go far. I was barely 12 years old when he said these to me. That time, he always went everywhere with me. He was a spiritual priest. If he was going to neutralise a deity or charm, he went with me because I could tell what would happen.Those instructions given to me by the reverend father have kept me till today. I had promised God that I would not have sex until I marry. I’ve not had sex before. Zion ministry is not a church. It is a prayer ground. Because of those instructions given to me, I don’t baptise. I don’t wed people. People come here, we pray together, and they go. Muslims come here, Christians, Hindus, everybody comes. Here is a prayer ground. I still maintain my Catholic faith. Then, being money-minded, I do not charge anybody. I’ve never asked anybody to give me tithes. I’ve never asked anybody to bring bazaar to me. I’ve never asked anybody before to touch the shoe of man of God with N10 million or whatever. I totally struggle to keep those three promises. People who bring money here do so willingly. Nobody forced them, nobody taxed them. God has been seeing me through till today. It’s a gift I was born with. I’ve not gone to any seminary school before. I’ve not gone to any Bible school before. But when people see me studying, preaching, praying, they will think one big man of God had lectured me.

Check this story on Part 2-5

Evangelist Ebuka Obi exclusive: Day I escaped gunmen’s attack (2)