Zion: the dwelling place of the Lord turns 2

On Saturday, 22nd May, Zion Prayer Ministry, arguably the fastest growing Ministry of its kind in Nigeria, turned two. to mark it, the pastorate and members rolled out the drums, as never before, to give thanks and praises to the Almighty God, for within those two years graduating the ministry in the words of Pastor Tony through his grace which flows so cheaply and abundantly therein, from the university of faith and believe in him at all times and in all things. To add colour to the ceremony, the members were encouraged to attire themselves in the heavenly colours of blue and white while the choirs--the indigenous and cosmopolitan--went for separate colours.

During the service which lasted until the early evenings, the great servant of God, Prophet Victor Great who had earlier told the congregation that it was going to be a complete service of song to the Almighty God for all HE had found the Ministry and her members worthy of receiving from him could not hold back when the HOLY SPIRIT came calling with some prophetic messages.

In his message to the people, the servant of GOD retold the story of the birth of the ministry which in many ways was entwined with the story of his life. According to him, he had purposed it in his heart to be a politician with his ambition being to govern his state of Delta. Recognizing the value of knowing persons of Northern extraction in the politics of then Nigeria, he had opted to go up north for his university education. He went to the Kaduna Polytechnics and the Bayero University.  It was in the course of his sojourn in the north that a prophet of God, Chris Christian called him out from a congregation and told him that he was a prophet and servant of God; and that there was nothing he could do to change his destiny which was to help God free men from the bondage and captivity of satan for manifestation of their destiny.

Thereafter, he prayed for him and gave him his handkerchief as a mantle; an item that he took home and quickly set ablaze. His other reaction to the prophesy was to avoid both the Man of God and his church where he had originally gone to with his uncle only because there was a girl whom he knew and was interested in a relationship with and therefore, only wanted to take advantage of the fact that the girl was a member of the church. He finished his schooling in their north and returned home to his people who almost immediately sent him to the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun for further studies. The story of how he got a job and a very lucrative position at that with the NNPC after his youth Service scheme is a study on God’s favour for those that love him. He made millions of naira while there, under the counter.

Then came the call to the Lord’s ministry work, as prophesied. This meant a resignation from his job. He promptly refused to heed the call. It continued through dreams and visions and repeatedly, he ignored it. He was still too much into life and money to consider such request, however the source. Even at the risk of death, he refused to heed the call. Then a day came when he was alone at home and he fell sick and was also dumb. A voice spoke to him that unless he heeded the call to go into the vineyard, he was going to die. Still, he refused to answer to the call. Even when Rev. Adeboye appeared to him in his dream, then he did not know who he was, and invited him to a program he was billed to address, with a promise to him that should he attend and see his face, he was going to have a ministry that would ultimately be bigger than his. He dismissed him, outright.

God finally allowed him to live and on his own, he went to a church which he did not disclose.  He met the women having a program and left. That was his first attempt to take the message seriously. When he finally decide to go into the ministry work, he had to give away all he had made—millions he made illegally— working as the person in charge of ticket in NNPC.

He finally started praying for persons starting with his sister’s friends, as his first members. As for how he learnt the bible, he said he does not prepare anything; that whenever he needs to say something from the bible, he just finds a book opening before him with chapters and verses.  

It was within those two years that he finally moved the prayer group from a one room apartment that he found himself after giving away all to a rented accommodation. From there, the Lord blessed with him with a very kind-hearted woman, seven cars, all gifts from people he had prayed for, his personal residence was equally built within those two years and the ultimate, he was able to raise, within one week, twelve million naira with which he bought the permanent site of the group and is speedily raising it, with out any form of launching or fund raising exercise. See some of the pictures from the anniversary celebration. Click Zion Anniversary Pictures to follow.