The General Overseer of Miracle Assembly Bible Church, Maryland, Lagos, Bishop Theophilous Ugochukwu has described the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ravaging the world as satanic. In an interview with Christian Benefits, the cleric said that early November 2019 God revealed to him millions of stranded people while the body of Christ was busy singing and dancing. He disclosed that he shared the revelation with his church members and some men of God to pray against an imminent global crisis that would bring the entire world on its knees.
“The COVID-19 pandemic was shown to me on the first Friday of November 2019. The Lord showed me millions of people that were stranded. And in the midst of the pandemonium I saw a church where people were singing and dancing. They did not know that millions of people were stranded and the night was coming upon them. In that revelation I said I will not be stranded. I shared the revelation with our church members and we prayed about it. I made a video of that revelation, shared the revelation with some men of God and urged them to pray against it. Unfortunately, the entire world found itself in that pandemonium called COVID-19 pandemic. This is satanic. What I saw in that revelation was satanic and the Church of God has to seriously pray because it is not something to joke with,” he urged.
Bishop Ugochuckwu said he would not want to dabble into the various theories, postulations and explanations made by some people as the possible cause of the deadly virus since he was not a scientist. He said as a pastor his responsibility was to pray and counsel people on the pandemic. His words: “Many world leaders have given different theories and postulations on the pandemic. I don’t want to dabble into all that because I’m not a medical person or a scientist. I’m looking at the pandemic from a spiritual angle. That is what I focus on by prayers, by speaking against it and by prophetically declaring that COVID-19 cannot go beyond this level. Whatever the government is doing to control the pandemic is left to them.”
Bishop Ugochukwu noted that the Nigerian government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country was based on what other countries are doing in curbing the spread of the deadly virus in their respective countries. He however enjoined the government to look at the pandemic crisis from a spiritual angle. “The government is trying in their efforts to control the spread of the virus in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that Nigeria is lagging behind in the health sector all this while. Both the federal government and the state governors are finding the curbing of the COVID-19 pandemic very challenging. It has not been easy for them. They are trying, and I believe God we shall overcome the pandemic,” the bishop prayed.
“From what I saw in that revelation the pandemic is satanic. People were agitated. They were taken suddenly. They were stranded because they were not prepared for it. And the night was coming upon them. The people were agitated and afraid. This was what I saw in that revelation. It was a satanic arrangement. It has nothing like God sending a plague to punish the world. We have some lessons to learn from the pandemic. We were unprepared for it. This is satanic. That was what God showed to me. If the people and the governments do not pray and do not do what they are supposed to do they will be stranded. This is what God showed me,” he warned.
Bishop Ugochukwu dismissed as untrue the view that the coronavirus pandemic across the world was a signal of an imminent end of the world. He emphasized that the pandemic was a clarion call on people to pray, and added that it was intended to make people to be more spiritual in this end time and to desist from careless entertainment and celebration whilst the world was in danger. He expressed a strong believe that if people all over the world can pray the pandemic would cease.
The prophetic general overseer of Miracle Assembly Bible Church disagreed with the Nigerian government on the lock down of churches as part of the measures by the government towards curbing the spread of the virus in the country. He pointed that churches are supposed to be the spiritual backbone of the government, and disclosed the solution to the pandemic as he said God shown him in that revelation.
His words: “To be sincere, I’m not in support of the lock down of churches by the government due to COVID-19 because churches are supposed to be the spiritual backbone of the government. When prophets make known events that would happen there will be solution. For instance in that revelation the Lord showed to me he gave a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the solution is that the Nigerian government should organize a prayer for the the country. And men of God that would be invited to pray for the the country should not collect a dime from the government. The men of God should even transport themselves to the venue of the prayer for the country. There is a reason why God said so. But I doubt if many men of God would be ready to bear the cost of their transportation to the venue of the government organized prayer to stop COVID-19 in the country. But this is what God said that men of God should not collect envelope or honorarium for praying for the country. If men of God do not follow this way, I have my reservations because I saw a lot of things in the realm of the spirit,” the cleric warned.
Buttressing his warning to men of God not to collect any form of gratifications from the government for praying for the country over COVID-19, the bishop cited I King 13 where a Prophet rejected gratifications from King Rehoboam after he prayed and restored the withered hand of the king. He assured that if men of God can assist the government to pray for the country without collecting honorarium God would intervene and heal the country of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While stressing that the lock down of churches has become unnecessary in view of the large crowd at political rallies, banking halls and market places, the General Overseer of Miracle Assembly Bible Church noted that the lock down of churches and schools in a bid to control the spread of the virus in the country has drastically affected the socio-economy situation of the country. He recalled that before the pandemic Miracle Assembly Bible Church regularly visited hospitals with various gift items for patients, particularly those that lacked the wherewithal for their treatment.
“We collect these items and donations from individuals who come to the church to support the sick in the hospitals. We don’t only pray for the sick, we also give them materials like beverages, food stuffs and even cotton wool and we also assist those of them who cannot settle their medical bills. We also take care of widows, orphans and other needy with donation items from individuals. But since these individuals who are supporting the church are no longer coming to church due to the lock down of churches we get little from them probably because the pandemic has affected their businesses. Nevertheless, we still give palliatives to needy people within and outside the church to cushion the effects of the pandemic. We credited the accounts of several individuals, particularly during the first lock down. We have distributed palliatives more than five times since the outbreak of the pandemic.”
Bishop Theophilous Ugochukwu, who acknowledged that the coronavirus is real, said the lock down of schools has affected many students most of whom he said have lost interest in their academic pursuits. He also added the large number of people who have died from the virus infection as one of the several losses from the global pandemic which has reportedly killed millions of people across the world, including Nigeria, since the outbreak of the virus last year 2019 at Wahum, China.