Apostle Uche Uchechukwu has enjoined every minister of the gospel to discover what he called the signature of their ministry that stands them out. The Presiding Priest of Glorious Saints of Christ Assembly, Aguda, Lagos, also shares the importance and the sacredness of altar to every ministry. He explains extensively the sanctitity and the power of altars and how some ministers of God are polluting the sacredness and the sanctity of their church altars in the below interview with Christian Benefits magazine. Excerpts
Please, share with us the secret of the fast-rising profile of Glorious Saints of Christ Assembly
The secret is the grace of God and our consistency in the area of our ministry. The secret is also our ministry signature. We do not copy cat unlike some other ministries. Every genuine ministry has a signature that distinguishes it from others. When you know or understand your ministry signature it will give you an edge over others. A lot of ministers or ministries don’t know or understand their ministry signature. That’s why many fruitlessly copying the patterns and the practices of others, especially the established ministries or ministers.
Where in the scriptures is ministry signature established, or characterized?
Ministry signature is a peculiar identity by which a minister or a ministry is known. This is established in the scriptures by the peculiarities of some of the prophets in the Bible. For instance, the ministry signature of Moses was his staff. The ministry signature of Joshua was the word. The ministry signature of Elijah was his mantle. Your ministry signature confers on you an authority from which you derive power. There is a clear difference between power and authority. Power is derived from authority. It is when you have an authority that you can exercise power. The fire Elijah called down was his ministry signature. He passed it down to Elisha. The ministry signature of Jesus was miracles. It distinguished him from the prophets of his time. At age 12 he was listening and asking questions in the Synagogue among elderly prophets. Jesus’ miracles amazed and swallowed all the older prophets. When you discover your ministry signature, develop it and people will submit to it.
How can a servant of God discover his ministry signature?
There are nine spiritual gifts in the Bible. So, every servant of God can discover his or her peculiar ministry signature; in other words, spiritual gifts in the Bible As a minister you don’t have to copy anyone because what you copy will only work for its original owner. There is no way a duplicate would be better than the original.
What then is the ministry signature of Apostle Uche Uchechukwu?
My ministry signature is working of miracles by the word and by directions.
Share with some testimonies from your signature of working of miracles
For instance, a particular man of God had an issue that spanned 16 years. For 10 years he stopped attending church. When I met him, I brought out my mantle and prayed for him and the 16 years issue disappeared. In one of my preaching engagements in South Africa, another man of God was brought to me for healing miracle. His case was whenever he ate, the food would not go into his intestines. It would hang between his heart and intestine. He had a surgery that had his intestines cut and fixed. Few days later, the illness relapsed. He had a massive church closed down due to his illness. I told the person who brought him that I could not pray for the man because my purpose in South Africa then was to preach. I noticed while we were talking the man couldn’t take tea or water except on his feet. So, I asked them to make tea. I read John 9, anointed the tea and gave it to the man to drink. He drank the tea and it passed into his systems normally. The Bible said the ministry of Jesus was approved by signs and wonders as his signature. It wouldn’t be approved by prophecies. Jesus performed all his miracles without prophesying. He came to the earth to fulfill what had already been prophesied in the scriptures.
A well known man of God said Jesus is not a miracle worker, that we; his followers, are the miracle workers. What do you have to say about this?”
Jesus is the father of miracles and he gave birth to children that also do miracles. He told us in the book of John that greater works would we do. The way parents hand over inheritance to their children is the same way Jesus handed over the ministry of miracles to us his children. In 2Cor5 he said that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation; bringing souls into the kingdom before any other one. When I was called into ministry I had two major challenges as burdens. First, what will I preach to the people three times in a week? Second, how would I solve their problems? The Lord said I should not worry; he would put His words in my mouth. I have never repeated sermons. I prepare sermons and share with other pastors. It doesn’t take me more than one hour to prepare a sermon. There are some things we would not get until we ask. God knows our needs but we have to ask him. When Jesus asked the blind man what he needed, he obviously knew the man was blind, but still asked him. In Acts 3 the lame man at beautiful gate was begging for arms instead of asking for help to walk. He begged for arms for years until he met Peter and got the needful, walking, despite that, as usual, he initially begged Peter for arm.
Over the years you often travel to South Africa on preaching engagements. Share with us some testimonies from your ministry exploits in South Africa.
For instance, in one of my trips to South Africa while I was ministering a particular woman with infirmity kept quite because she was collecting palliatives from the government. When she saw a fellow woman on a wheel chair stood up, she asked me to heal her partially so that she can still be collecting the government palliatives. What she wanted was different from what the woman on the wheel chair wanted. People walking out of wheel chairs are no longer news in my ministry. A particular man came to Nigeria with N150m and was locked up by the evil people. After two years in Nigeria his visa got expired during COVID -19. He could not boast of N20,000. His blood pressure rose to almost 200. He came to our church; we prayed for him and God fully restored him. You must not underrate power. In our ministry when your faith says yes, God cannot say no. What your faith cannot download you cannot receive. Faith is the secret of the working of miracles in our ministry. As an apostle I have given birth to prophets and pastors. There are divisions of labour in ministry. I am contented as an apostle. I’m not contending for titles. If you are a prophet, stay in your office. Once I get to my office it becomes a seal because I know my calling and my signature. I employ ministers in the callings that are not mine. Moses was on the mountain but the victory was for everybody.
Please, share with us your breakthrough into South Africa and other nations?
It is a promise from God that I would preach unto the uttermost part of the earth. My breakthrough into other nations began when a certain preacher from America hosted a crusade at the national stadium, Lagos, which a lot of ministers attended. I saw this as an opportunity to advance my ministry. So, I supported some ministers financially for transport them to the crusade. Unfortunately, some ministers thought the American preacher gave me the funds to transport them to the crusade; whereas I was using my own money to transport them to the crusade. Some of the ministers even accosted the American preacher and told him that the amount of money I gave them was not want they wanted. One day the preacher called me, and asked me the reason I was funding the transport of the ministers to the crusade. I told him it was my own little way of sowing to his ministry for coming to Nigeria. Shortly after the crusade. I received an invitation to come to America to preach. Then, my church was barely one year old. By documentations if I am not qualified, then my church is not qualified. Nevertheless, I visited the America embassy in Lagos and I was granted America visa. That was how the doors of my international breakthrough into nations were opened since then just as the Lord had promised.
There have been concerns on the abuse of God’s altar by some pastors inviting comedians on God’s altar in their churches. What is your take?
Altars generally are not a just an ordinary platform for staging the theatrics. Altars are beyond platforms. Altar is a place of spiritual transactions between humanity and divinity. It is a place of give and take; a place of deposit and withdrawal. Altar is a place of battle. It is a place of enthronement and dethronement. Behind every great man there is an altar; whether a secret altar or an open altar. The name of an altar controls those names that do not have altar. An altar can never officiate, function, act, or be activated without a sacrifice. If you refuse to give your altar a sacrifice, you will become the sacrifice. That is why Jesus became the sacrifice for us all. The worldly people understand altars and sacrifices. One of the keys God gave to me to solve problems is sacrifice. I have written a book on sacrifice. All altars deserve honors and respect. Altar shouldn’t be subjected to desecrations because all altars are sacred places.
Talking about altars and sacrifice; what is the sacrifice for the altar?
Sacrifice is different from tithes and seeds. You don’t make a sacrifice when there is no need. The sacrifice brings the presence of God Himself; not angels or human beings. God comes down by Himself for examples are in 2 King 2:6 about King Solomon’s sacrifice at the altar, and in 2 kings 3 when there was a battle between the Israelites, the Edomites and the Judah against the Amorites. The Bible said when the battle was severe the king took a sword and offered his own son as a sacrifice in order for him to overcome the severe battle. Why the altar of the devil receives a better sacrifice than the altar of God is because the people of the world rules over the people of the Lord. Either the altar of God lacks sacrifice, or receives a lesser sacrifice while the altar of the devil receives higher, they both control because they are spiritual exercises. There are three personalities on every altar that eyes cannot see. On every altar there is God, an angel and the priest. Any altar that has not taken sacrifice from you cannot fight for you. Some people worship in a church but their altar don’t know them. Every altar hears the voice of its priest. Altar can be polluted or defiled. What are those things or practices that can pollute an altar? One, an altar is polluted or defiled when one offers a stained or an unacceptable sacrifice on the altar. It is not everything one brings to the altar. It is not every offering that comes to the altar that would be accepted; a reference point is the case of Cain’s and Abel’s sacrifices on the same altar in the book of Genesis. Understand the ministry of covenant. Elisha’s prophecy that did not come to pass completely was because the sacrifice they brought was not enough for the effective results. Both the king of Moab and the king of Israel brought enough sacrifices. Most preachers are ignorant of the mystery of altar. Altar is a place of transaction.
There are altars that people pay sacrifices, yet such altars do not answer for the people. What could be the problem, either with the altars or the people?
In this situation somebody has broken the covenant because there is a covenant attached to every altar. In our church, we have three categories of congregation. We have people that serve God by the covenant on the altar. We have people that serve God by sacrifices on the altar and we have physical worshippers. Those who come with sacrifices on the altar, their prayers are often answered quickly.
There is a school of thought that says since Jesus had already paid the supreme sacrifice there is no need for another sacrifice to be paid by people
Jesus came to show us the way and pointedly declared, “I am the way.” But the scriptures through the writing of Apostle Paul admonishes us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice despite that Jesus had presented himself as a sacrifice for our sins. So, one may ask, why is Apostle Paul asking us to present yourselves again as a living sacrifice? All that Jesus did we, his followers are expected to do likewise.
What does making altar call mean?
Making altar call is not done because the man of God is on the altar. It is done because the man of God is standing on the altar of Jesus calling people to come out from the altar of Satan to the altar of God. Altar call is inviting people, especially sinners, to have a relationship with God. There is no other altar or foundation by which anyone can be saved except by the altar of God. And Jesus is the altar.
How can people connect with the right altar?
They will need to seek the face of God for leading and direction. I have testimonies of people directed in their dreams or led to the our church altar here. Many church altars are wrong, or have been polluted by stained or compromised sacrifices and practices on such altars.
How do you distinguish an altar from a shrine?
One (altar) is Godly and the other (shrine) is ungodly. However, both places are for transactions. So you choose where you transact. Anyone that goes to either of them cannot go there empty-handed. Many people need to get understanding of these things. A woman had a friend who was pregnant with a boy. The altar of the husband never wanted her to have a male child. From the day she conceived, it became a war. The doctor told her that her delivery would be by chance; they also couldn’t operate on her. Either only she or the baby would be alive. She was told the same thing in the assembly where she worshipped. This triggered her blood pressure. She shared the situation with her friend in another assembly. The friend who understands the meaning of altar took a sacrifice to the altar in her assembly. She prayed for her friend and the baby. That morning, her friend was admitted for a CS. The angel from the altar moved to safeguard the delivery of the baby. When the angels of death came to take the lives of the woman and her baby, the angel of the Lord chased them away. They went into the realm of the spirit and checked. They saw that a sacrifice had been offered. They saw the woman that offered the sacrifice and went after her. They attacked her business and marriage to the point of separation but she never knew where the attack was coming from. When she got pregnant; she was carrying a demonic pregnancy. They wanted to take her life in exchange for the one that had been rescued. She came when I was ministering on what an altar is. The power of God came down and the demon in her began to talk. We ministered to her and she was delivered safely
What kinds of sacrifices are offered on the altar?
You offer sacrifices on the altar as you are led. You should seek the face of the Lord to know what to give. There is a testimony of a woman with a burden. She was always in tears. At a point, she said the assembly she was would be the last. She said if God didn’t answer her, she cross to the other side. When I asked her the reason for it; she said her husband’s brother, who was a Reverend Father wanted to take away her inheritance. Her husband was the first son. After he died, the younger brother wanted to share everything. Whatever a Reverend Father says nobody could challenge him. After she narrated everything to me, I told her to go to the market and buy the biggest ram. I told her to start praying from the point when it is tied and burst into tears when she gets to the altar. God hears the prayers of widows. I told her to tie it to the altar when she gets to it. I then told her that if after she does it and nothing changes; she is free to go on with her plans. She obeyed and did as instructed. After some time, the Reverend Father called to tell her that he wanted to share the property. She called to inform me. I told her to wait since they haven’t shared it. Miraculously, he didn’t talk about it again.
How can offering of sacrifice save Nigeria from her economic challenges?
In the case of Mordecai and Esther; they all fasted and prayed to God. We do not speak with one voice in this country. We have different denominations with different believe systems. Without humbling ourselves and crying to God we would continue to suffer economically; even if we cry many people will suffer.
With this present government, is there any hope for the nation?
I am in this world but not of this world. There’s no hope in man. My hope is not in the Nigerian government. If I should answer accordingly; the answer is that there’s no hope. The government is not built on a good foundation. If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? It is deeply rotted in corruption.
What are the programmes in your ministry where the church altar affect lives?
We have altar meetings every January. No one has died in this ministry for 16 years. It’s a seven-day programme.
Can you share with us some of the testimonies from this programme?
A woman was admitted in the hospital. When I got back from abroad, I went to see her. As I was praying, tears dropped from my eyes and she was healed. The nurses were shocked. They were transfixed to a spot. Altar determines the patterns of lives of the people. The affairs of men are controlled at the altar. In the realm of the spirit, there is no distance. It is in the physical realm that there is distance.
What should people expect from the ministry in the new year, 2025, and how can they key into the promise of it?
They should expect Open-heaven. They can key into it by coming to hear the word of the Lord; the principles that guarantee open-heaven. Parts of these principles are humility, prayer and faith. If you don’t come to church, you wouldn’t understand these principles
