HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHINYERE IFEANYI

 Tony Eluemunor pays tribute to Pastor Chi of the Pool of Redemption Assembly

The development-forsaken section of Area B, Last

Road Extension, Nyanya town, on the outskirt of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory,

comes alive Tuesday and Saturday mornings. An influx of people rolls into

that luckless section between the high stretch of hills and a small

but a jagged outcrop of stones, a mile or two wide, for prayers at the Pool of Redemption Assembly, (PORA). On other days, an eerie silence engulfs the entire zone. When it rains, a torrent

cascades from those hills and rocks deluging the valley and erosion would wreak havoc on the dusty foot paths and byways which

pass for roads. The little stream which runs through easily overruns its banks, adding to the woes. Thus, while the other parts of

Nyanya are bustling with human activities, the hillside is bare except for the relic of a disused water works outfit, complete with a

picturesque reservoir grafted into the hills and a few but scattered houses erected by some obviously hardy hearts.

The hardiest of such hearts belongs to Pastor (Mrs) Chinyere Ifeanyi, (popularly called Pastor Chi) from Afikpo, Ebonyi State; married at Oha Ozara, Ugulangwu, also in Ebonyi State. Her Christian

ministry, the Pool of Redemption Assembly (PORA), sits there. If anything has injected life into that area, PORA did; and a

first time visitor will locate the place by asking any “Okada” rider for the “Blue Roof” church. It should not have been otherwise; PORA

injected life into the place, championed the construction and reconstruction of a concrete bridge over the small stream there, and

when that road was blocked recently, Pastor Chi spurred PORA members into

action; to reclaim a disused and denuded foot path. Within a week, vehicular traffic could dare that bone shaker, and as the days went

by, it became better under PORA’s diligent care. PORA members keep the place

alive!.

PORA is a place of inter-denominational prayer. Its prescription is

simple; come with a Bible and dress decently;

no trousers for women who must cover their hair, and no shorts for men.

Pastor Chi would often ask that different versions of a particular Bible passage be read aloud by various persons for the actual

context to sink in.

Saturday, 21 September 2024, PORA members will be there in full force;

for Pastor Chi’s birthday celebration, and for those who will remember, the 15th year celebration of PORA’s coming to that site. But

hey, the story jumps!

The ministry began fully in April 2010. Pastor Chi who was counselling

people at home said:  Firstly, I didn’t believe in having a ministry like this. I just wanted if you come I’ll pray for you. Sometimes I

used to take people to the mountain but as time progressed, people

were coming in greater numbers and I needed to have a place instead of

counselling them in my house. That was when God used a Pastor, oh, he

is late now, who gave me a place to use. Around April 20, 2010, which

was a Tuesday. That’s how we started”. One of the PORA workers told me

they came there in 2009 – 15 years ago.

Question: How did the counselling, the praying at home begin?

Answer: By the grace of God I was brought up in the Assemblies of God

Church. The gift came just naturally from God. Even from early

childhood, I usually saw things and told people what I saw.

It started just like that …and much later, I was ordained…and that

was how the

whole thing started. It was all by the grace of God. Actually before

then, I also worked in a couple of churches, then I decided, having

been instructed by the Holy Spirit, to be on my own. That was how and

when the counselling at home started fully. At first it was a partial

thing as people would come and go. Or I would take them to the church

where I was pastoring at that particular time. The ministry started fully in

my parlour …then in no time the number was becoming too much such that

people were sitting under the sun, and a day came…a man of God had

accommodation problems and had to drop his things in my house, so he

came by and said let me use this as a seed to God, and gave us a piece

of land. I built it because it was just an ordinary piece of land, open and empty.

By the grace of God we started our Saturday programme there, and we

started doing the deliverance which we usually used to go to the

mountain for. That is how the ministry started.  It was in that process that we got this piece of land. When they said we should leave

there, the Lord made a way and somebody told us that there was a piece

of land for sale here.

How does she feel when somebody deliberately disobeys a prophecy and

suffers a calamity?  She said: “Honestly, I usually feel bad  because

I know that if that person had listened, he wouldn’t have had anything

to regret, so…. (her words trailed off and

ended in a pregnant silence. She shook her head, as though she was

remembering some particular instances of such unfortunate

happenings…then slowly, she began to complete the answer; her voice

rising, gaining in decibels little by little) I have this soft heart

such that even if God had used me to warn you not to take a particular

action, and you disobeyed and reaped terrible consequences, I still

feel, oh God, this thing shouldn’t have happened.

Yes, I feel the pain. It hurts. You don’t want people you have come

across to suffer or for bad things to happen to them. I think it is

just a part of me that is somehow, I don’t know”. (Then she chuckled

as though she wanted to brighten up. Then a smile lit up her face

again and she added…) “It is well”.

It was obvious that the last question brought her painful memories. I

didn’t want to extend the torture that question caused her but I later

brought it up with someone who had been with her over the years and

he said that such reckless loss of life hurts her badly…and he

narrated the loss of a Department of State Security (DSS) operative

whom she had advised to shun any trip outside Abuja on a certain day.

Then the man came to her, with some money which he called “seed”,

saying he was sowing the seed to enable him act against the prophecy

because his boss had nominated him for a trip to the Northern part of

the country. Pastor Chi rejected the money, saying that God never told

her about the seed but that God instructed him not to travel during a

particular time. The man took back his money, went on that particular

trip and ran into an ambush and died..

In this modern era, many people doubt the existence of God. So, how

does she tell them that demons exist? She replied: “Demons exist and

Angels exist, too. If

people read the scriptures, they would know that there are demons. And

without an iota of doubt, God exists. He is the creator of all things.

He made the earth. But if you are not born again,

you will have that mentality that God doesn’t exist. And also, He

might delay answering their prayers and they will conclude that there

is no God. There is a God and there are demons”.

I asked if there has been any special event that stands out in her spiritual journey? Any special deliverance or message from

God?

Answer: “I see every day as special and I see every deliverance

as equally special for individuals are different. So, too, are their

needs or problems different and special. But I remember one or two

events that made me feel…. I remember that a deliverance was going on

here. The lady was manifesting but the brother was living in Malaysia

and he was having a mental problem. I was doing the deliverance on the sister and at the same time praying for him.

That young man received his instant healing as the madness left him

immediately. Now, this is the interesting part; I later talked to the

man on the phone, through the sister, he said he was walking aimlessly on

the streets of Malaysia, and saw a fair woman and as he was describing

that woman, it became obvious that he was describing me – height,

complexion, etc. He said the woman asked him to go back to his

apartment which he had abandoned for the streets, and he should go and

wear his clothes. He said that it was only when he got to his

apartment that he knew he was in boxer underwear. That was how the

mental problem left him. So, he now called his sister and narrated the

story about the woman she saw on the streets. The sister told him that

the description fitted Pastor Chi unerringly and narrated the deliverance session she experienced that day from Pastor Chi in

Nigeria. They were left with a shared experience they could not

explain.”

Pastor Chi added: “I don’t know how God did it”.

Author’s comment: Had the brother and sister been Catholics, they

could have heard of “bilocation” in the miracle stories of some saints

such as St. Anthony of Padua, St. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina, St.

Anthony-Mary Claret or Sister Mary of Agreda; the act of being in two

places at the same time, or a person’s

appearing in a distant place – without physically traveling there and

while remaining visible in his normal place of abode or work.

Pastor Chi recounts the second wonder: “One day before coming for

prayers, I had a revelation where oil was falling from heaven. Later,

during prayers, I made

a declaration that people should open their hands so that God would

pour oil on them. Suddenly, people were seeing oil on their hands. In

addition to that, I also told them that they should pray hard because

many would receive alert of money deposits on their phones.

Immediately the prayer session ended, many people saw alerts on their

phones. That was a special day. Such

things have not happened again. It is still

dazzles me despite the passage of time.  Some of the people who had

that wonderful experience are still here and can confirm it.

There is another incident; about a particular deliverance session. I

was particularly touched because a man had not only been killed but

those that killed him were about to kill the wife also. Moved with

extreme pity, I declared God’s judgment on those that killed the man.

I said, “Sir, wherever you are, I loose you from the grave and I

summon you to fight those behind your death”.

Physically, people were calling from the village that they saw him.

After three people had died in a particular house (I expressly asked

him to go and kill those that killed him), that was it for me because

I couldn’t explain it. So, I called the sister-in-law who was present

at that Saturday prayer session, and asked for the dead man’s name.

Then I called the man by name and said if I’m truly the one who roused

you from your grave, I send you back there. And truly, since that day,

nobody has seen him again. There are very many stranger than fiction

real wonders that God has performed here. We can’t list them all”.

Eluemunor is a Veteran Journalist