GOD OF MIRACLE! How Anglican priest received miraculous healing from blindness

Vows to remain itinerant preacher

 

Rev. Bennett Chukwura Ugwu, priest of the Church of Nige­ria (Anglican Com­munion), native of Amachalla Ngwo, in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu state, is a living testimony of the miraculous and divine healing powers of God. His testimonies is a proof that God still performs miracles in the contemporary times and not just as recounted in the Holy Bible.

Rev. Ugwu was not born blind but lost his eyesight in the beginning of 2014, af­ter suffering severe impaired visual loss for more than three years. But precisely on Wednesday, August 24, he miraculously regained his eyesight. This sudden occur­rence happened when he was about to walk into Bina Foun­dation located at ‘Thinkers’ Corner’ Enugu. Bina Foun­dation is Non-governmental organisation that caters for people with special needs. The reverend gentleman, af­ter losing his sight, resorted to becoming itinerant preacher and seeking solace form God pending when he would join his ancestors.

However, what Rev. Ugwu thought was a life-long jour­ney ended so abruptly and in a manner he never imagined could have been his lot. He told The AUTHORITY on Saturday that he couldn’t be­lieve himself when the blind­ers that gave his partial sight all the while he was being guided to cross over the road bump and other stumps that leads one into Bina Founda­tion premises by a good Sa­maritan cleared off and he was surprisingly able to properly see a road bump that had al­ways every time felled him, each time he walks into the premises.

Following this sudden re­gaining of his sight, walked all by himself right into the com­pound with boldness shout­ing and raising his voice tell­ing people around that he has started seeing properly. He equally said he could not just see the road clearly or build­ings, but that he immediately started identifying other vi­sually impaired students and workers, telling them the co­lour of the clothes, shoes and other items they were putting on. The excitement and ac­companying fuss immediately attracted the attention of pass­ersby.

How it all happened

Narrating how he received the miraculous healing, Rev. Ugwu stated that Wednes­day, August 24, was like any other day in his life. Accord­ing to him, he had prepared to make a journey to Enugu from his home town in Ngwo, to attend one of the training sessions at Bina Foundation, where he is learning how to use ‘Braille’ machine to write. Apart from learning how to use Braille machine, he was equally learning cosmetology. On that day, he was guided into a commercial bus that was going to Enugu by mem­bers of his family. But in his usual custom, he preached, evangelized the words of God and prayed for the passengers before they disembarked at ‘Texaco’ bus stop in Enugu.

He was to be guided into a mass transit bus that would take him to the Old Park but on a second thought, some­body flagged down a commer­cial tricycle, ‘Keke Napep’, and asked the cyclist to take him to ‘Thinkers Corner’ junction, along the old Akanu Ibiam International Airport Road, where he would then join an­other tricycle to the Thinkers Corner. They settled for N200 transport fare.

Rev Ugwu informed The AUTHORITY on Saturday that as usual, he also started evangelizing and preaching the words of God to the Keke Napep driver, as he was taking him to the Thinkers’ Corner junction. But while they were on the trip, he observed that rather than stone pitch-dark­ness, something seem to be happening to his eyes and he began to notice some blurred images that were gradually getting clearer as he tried to open his eyes wider, but he could not understand exactly what was happening to him.

Subsequently, when they arrived the Thinkers’ Cor­ner junction, it became clear to him that something mi­raculous was happening to him. The hitherto cloudy and blurred images he used to see was now getting clearer and better than what it used to be before then such that at that point, he was now able to de­tect a little bit of the bumps on the road even though another passerby guided him into a Keke Napep that was head­ing right into Thinkers’ Cor­ner. What happened confused him, but he kept his cool, meditating over what it was all about.

Narrating his stories fur­ther, he said that as soon as he was dropped off at the Bina Foundation bus stop where the inmates are normally left to sort out their way into the organization’s compound, he discovered he could see rea­sonably, the speed breaker (bumps) which usually pulls down most of the blind and other visually-impaired in­mates as they managed to enter the premises. Following this development, he stated, he raised his voice and told the world that he could see images and objects in front of him reasonably. He therefore, needed no guide as he walked all by himself into the com­pound to the admiration of others.

When our correspondent arrived at the Bina Founda­tion’ remises, Rev Ugwu was seen moving about in the premises, identifying other inmates, telling them the wonderful things God has done for them and how beau­tiful each one of them had been. He also told them the colour of their clothes, their shoes, the walls in the prem­ises and gave them message of hope from the Christian Bible.

The genesis of his problem:

According to Rev. Ugwu, “my partial blindness started in 1997, and so, it became a very big risk for me to stay away from my house as from 7.00pm. If that should be the case, I must beg somebody to guide me to my residence. Amidst the medical attention, my eyesight deteriorated. Pre­cisely, in 2013, after writing a book which I titled, “The na­ture of Christian Ministry”, I went blind completely, and so cannot even read my own book. My Bishop also retired me in 2013, due to the prob­lem.

Rev Ugwu further in­formed that he was ordained a Deacon in the Anglican Com­munion on June 27, 2010 and elevated into priesthood in July, 2011 and thereafter, was posted to the All Saints’ Angli­can Church, Ihiala, Anambra State, under the Ihiala Dio­cese. He was however retired in 2014 when he became com­pletely blind and was paid a token N500,000.

He added that before he became completely blind, he had devised a means of task­ing her wife to read all the verses of the Holy Bible that he will teach from the pulpit on Sunday. In order to try and carry out his duties as a priest, he would then cram and re­cite the verses appropriately before going to the church the next day. He explained that he managed to adopt the strategy until completely lost his eye­sight.

Hope restored:

Rev. Ugwu disclosed that although he passed through bitter experiences, ranging from inability to cope with his immediate family responsibil­ities, his wife, Mary, has been very supportive in taking care of their three children (two girls and a boy).

He was subsequently en­rolled into the Oji River Spe­cial School for the Blind and Deaf but was but the psycho­logical horror traumatized him coupled with rising blood pressure, until somebody di­rected him to register at Bina Foundation, where people with special needs are re­trained and supported to sur­vive in the society.

At Bina foundation, he works as a volunteer priest while learning how to write on the Braille and how to prepare detergents before the miracle of Wednesday, August 24.

New life:

Rev Ugwu, attributed his experiences and subsequent healing as act of God, adding that he will dedicate the rest of his life to evangelism and preaching the word of God. He further added that he was no longer going to serve as a priest in the Anglican Communion, only that he will be an itiner­ant evangelizer, preaching the word of God at public places and gathering and not to be at­tached to a church or specific Christian denomination.

He said his ordeal was a way God revealed that evan­gelism was the original rea­son why he chose the calling which he erroneously diverted to priesthood in the Anglican Church. Ugwu maintained that “it was when I rediscov­ered myself in the right track by preaching and evangeliz­ing while I entes public trans­port that my miracle occured. Therefore, there will be no lim­itation to evangelism as long as I am alive.