Posted by By Christopher Oji on
Some call him the miracle worker of Obawole Estate in Ishaga, Lagos. Others liken him to the great Elijah of the Old Testament. But the General Overseer of the Spring of Life Global Mission, Rev. Jerry Osaro Nwor simply says he is a tool in the hands of God.
Some call him the miracle worker of Obawole Estate in Ishaga, Lagos. Others liken him to the great Elijah of the Old Testament. But the General Overseer of the Spring of Life Global Mission, Rev. Jerry Osaro Nwor simply says he is a tool in the hands of God.
In the beginning
I am an accountant, a chartered accountant. I read Accountancy in the University of Lagos (UNILAG). I worked for Pan-African Bank for eight years and I resigned in 1990. I assisted in uncovering many frauds in the bank to the extent that people I exposed made several attempts to eliminate me. After my resignation, I went into business and I became successful. I became an importer. I was importing chemicals from Germany and medical equipment from Japan. When we made so much money, my partner and I built a 3-star hotel at Eleme in Port-Harcourt. It was on 17 plots of land. We invested N20 million. The name is Zina Motels. It is still functioning but at the same time, I still opened a factory at the present church premises. I was manufacturing chalk there. I was a millionaire, a big guy until the arm of God arrested me. God warned me to steer clear of the hotel business and to close my chalk factory. The hotel is yielding money now, but I left everything for my partner. He is a good man, now a born again Christian, too. He would come with the profit, but I refused to collect it because God said I should stop hotel business.
How I was called
I was a successful businessman but at the same time, I did not allow wealth to cloud my notion about God. I was a member of the Jehovah Witnesses for some time before I joined the Deeper Life Bible Church. Before I became born again, I had a sickness. Somebody whom I don't want to mention his name nearly killed me and I was searching for a cure. This sickness occurred each time I visited my home town, so I started avoiding my home town. My mother was worried. Once I stepped into my father's compound, my body became dried. If I should stay up to five minutes, I must die; so I started running from one native doctor to the other. I even travelled abroad for native doctors but there was no cure. I joined a secret cult for a solution, but no solution. One day, the cult leader asked me to pay $10,000 (dollars) so that the person pursuing me would die. While I was thinking about how I could kill a human being and blood would be upon my head, a voice told me to be born again and turn to Christ, and that was where I would get solution. So I ran to Deeper Life Bible Church and I gave my life to Christ. Nobody preached to me. Nobody advised me. My brother, do you know one thing? After some prayers, I went to my father's compound and said I cover myself with the blood of Jesus Christ, the sickness disappeared. I came into my mother's room and said she must give me food to eat. My mother shouted at me to go away so that the sickness would not come again. She was afraid because, I am the only son. I said mum don't worry I am alive. She said, my son where have you gone to prepare this juju that has made you stay more than five minutes in my house? I told her that it was Jesus Christ, son of the living God. My mother said that God who has saved me and made me sleep in her house, she must serve Him and she became born again instantly till she died few years ago.
As I started evangelism with the Deeper Life, pastors and ministers of God began to notice some signs and wonders and church members were noticing too. I would pray for people and they became healed but I did not call it anything. I was having dreams that God wanted me to preach his gospel but I would discountenance the dream because already I was a preacher in Deeper Life. What did God want from me? I started having signs and dreams at every two years interval for 10 years. A voice would say "go preach the gospel. I became confused because, I was into full evangelism, in my church. I kept on having these dreams but I could not go to anybody.
A strong member of the Deeper Life begged me not to form my church but to use the power that God gave to me and support the church ministry. I agreed with him but to my surprise, one day, this same man came to me and said that he had a vision for me. That God said that I should form my own ministry. I became confused. I asked him where did God want me to open my own ministry but he said that God did not tell him. You know that I have an office where I minister to people. I started being very serious with it. One day the man of God was praying and giving counseling to me, he stopped at the middle of the prayer and said "Look Jerry, God is angry at you. Look at the crowd that he wants you to minister to. I am sorry that I did not give you the right message initially. God said that you cannot fulfil your ministry in Deeper Life. He said that you should found your own ministry. When I heard that God was angry at me, I bent down and wept. I begged for forgiveness because for 10 years. He had been showing me signs in dreams so I found my church at this place. I removed my chalk producing machines and started my ministry in 1999.
Proliferation of churches
It is good; you see, in some churches, they don't want to hear anything deliverance or healings. If you allow only those churches to exist, people will be dying in sickness, in sickness and painful death. And we must appreciate that without miracle, the ministry of Jesus on earth is not complete. He preached the gospel and healed the sick.
I know that people abuse deliverance, healing and miracle but that does not mean that we should not perform miracle and deliverance because people abuse the Bible too. Because people abuse the Bible, does it mean that we should stop using the Bible? Let us face the truth, in the beginning of churches in Nigeria, we heard of the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican, Methodist, CAC and other Pentecostal churches. Now can you see the impact of the Foursquare Church, the Winners Chapel, the Redeemed Christian Church and the Deeper Life Bible Church. If we say why must they come out what would have happened to the many souls that have been saved through the churches. Remember that the churches are big now but when they came out, they came out very small so proliferation of churches is a good thing.