Guardian

The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries (LCCRM) clocked 10 years on December 24, 2012. Its General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, is one minister who requires little or no introduction. From a humble beginning, the church, today, boasts of branches on all continents with more than 50 overseers reported to have handed over administration of their churches to LCCRM. The cleric spoke to CHRIS IREKAMBA on the goodness of God towards the Lord’s Chosen, as the church is widely known, and how, in spite of many challenges, God has demonstrated great faithfulness.

IT is all the grace of God, begins Muoka. He testifies: “Today, God has touched many souls all over the world. In Nigeria, this church has been established in every village. In Lagos, it has over 200 branches; in Anambra State, over 200 branches; in Enugu State, also, over 200.

“God has done the same in other states of the federation. Everywhere you go, you will find the Lord’s Chosen church. God has done great things for us. In fact, there’s no continent of the world where the church is not present. We are in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Arab world, India, Dubai, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea, China, South America, United States and Canada, among others. God has done a lot of things by using this church to touch the lives of people.

“There is no sickness God has not healed in this church. Name them: cancer, HIV, kidney problems… This is not just in our headquarters here. Anywhere you find the Lord’s Chosen, the same thing is happening. This shows that He is God.

“Don’t forget. When this ministry was established, God gave me a three-fold vision –grassroots revival all over the world; revival of the apostolic Christian experiences among the body of Christ and a 10-billion soul mandate. During these 10 years, God has fought for us, financed us, advertised us and done a lot of things for us. We give Him the glory.” 

BUT the ministry could not have dropped from the skies. It must have had some little beginning. According to the General Overseer, “it started on Monday, December 23, 2002, with few brethren who gathered. I told them my vision concerning the church. I intimated them that this ministry would take-off fully on Tuesday, December 24, 2002. On that day, we had a service. It was like a crusade. The impromptu event was tagged: ‘Do the will of God and prosper’. It lasted two days.”

“I used to pastor at a particular church,” Muoka said. “The Lord gave me the vision of this ministry in 1994. l doubted it because I loved my former church. I did not believe that anything could take me away from there. As revelations kept coming, l would go to my former pastor to tell him, ‘this is what l saw’. I wondered what they were all about.”

With time, it became apparent that there was a divine mission for him. He said: “In 1997, I was in a vigil,” said Muoka, “and surprisingly, I had a dream where a scripture –lsaiah 60:1– was given to me. It says: “Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” l became convinced that God was the one talking. l printed it out and posted it on the door of my office. l believed God had something to do with me.

“Notwithstanding, l continued with what I was doing in my former ministry. In one of the crusades my former church held, the General Superintendent announced that there was somebody who had a gift of God and that the person should come and pray for the people. He said I should come. When l arrived at the pulpit, I prayed and a lot of things took place. People with diverse kinds of problems were healed. After that event, people said that my time to leave the church had come. I told them that l would not go, even though l had received revelations.”

MUOKA said: “One day, I had a dream where I was told: ‘Escape, in order to preserve what you have’ I prayed. After that, I wrote a letter, informing my General Overseer that I was resigning. It was accepted. I shared the dream with my wife, who was seven months in pregnancy. She died after a serious complication. She did not live to witness my resignation. I was gripped with fear of the unknown. That same night, around 5am, the voice came again: ‘You will lose all!’ I concluded the burial and submission of the letter. I left the church on December 22. The Lord’s Chosen started on December 24. At llasamaja, we had our first programme. Very few people attended.   Subsequently, people began to come as a result of divine direction. Not long after, we started looking for a bigger place. Somebody offered us a land where Holiness Church is situated, today, but we rejected it. Later, God used a police officer to get this present place of worship for us. God has been so good to us.”

THE church’s strict teachings, of course, met with some resistance. Interestingly, however, the voices of complaint faded away, as more and more people embraced the new ministry. Muoka said: “When we started teaching, people said, ‘ who can listen to this type of message –don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t fix attachments, don’t use weave-on, don’t bleach your body– But I did the will of God. And the more l preached what seemed a taboo; the more God brought many people to the church. That was the beginning of the growth of this ministry. As we preached the truth, God continued to convict people to come to the Lord’s Chosen.

“There were also terrible trials and persecutions from cult people, native doctors and churches. There was terrible opposition. But in all these, God gave us victory.”