Reverend Father Ebere Magnus is making waves through the Canaanland Adoration Ministries, known by most people as E-Dey Work Catholic Centre, Nnewi-Nnobi Bypass.
Through his ministrations, many who were faced with various spiritual challenges had experienced turnarounds in their situations and testified about the healings and breakthroughs they got after the priest prayed for them.
In this interview, Reverend Father Magnus talks about how the ministry started and how it came to be known as “E-Dey Work Centre.
Excerpts…
You have a ministry. Can we know the name?
I don’t have a ministry. God is the owner of the ministry and the name is Canaanland and Adoration Ministry a.k.a E-Dey Work Catholic Family. We are under the Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese, Anambra State.
Why did you decide to carve this ministry out of the Catholic Church?
Well, we are still in the church and working for the church. There is no such thing as carving out a ministry from the Catholic Church. What we are doing is a call, and in the priesthood we are called to serve. It is aimed at spreading the gospel. The gospel must be preached in all parts of the world. What we are doing now is in response to our calling. God calls in different dimensions. When He calls you, He assigns you to what you should do for Him in the church. In the church, there are priests who are good in administration, there are some teaching in the schools, there are others in the parishes doing pastoral work and there are priests who are in Catholic ministries like our own now, all in the Catholic Church.
Why did you give this ministry the name, E-Dey Work?
Well, the name sounds strange. You know that is Nigerian pidgin. People wonder how we came about this name. This name arose from the testimony of an Anglican woman who came for our programme. The woman had been suffering from a terminal disease for many years. She had gone to many places without cure. So, she heard about our ministry and the miracles God has been doing in our ministry. The woman told her husband that she would like to go to the ministry and being an Anglican family, the husband refused to allow her. When the husband refused, the woman sneaked out at night and came to our programme. Then that night I lifted up the Blessed Sacrament. As Catholics, we believe that when the priest has blessed the bread and wine they become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and we adore the Body of Jesus Christ. We adore Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. So, when I lifted it that night I told the congregation that Jesus as represented by the Blessed Sacrament is a mighty healer, and that we were there for Him, that any problem any one had would be solved right away, be it sickness or whatever. The woman connected herself to the programme and got her healing that night. When she went back home, there was no trace of that disease any more in her system, after going for a test. During the next programme, she came for testimony. When she was giving her testimony, narrating how the thing happened, about what I said about the Blessed Sacrament that I lifted up, she said she told Jesus that she was there to be healed. And she was healed. Sa as she was giving her testimony, and being an Anglican woman who did not know what Blessed Sacrament is, she started shouting “This thing here e dey work o, this thing here dey work ooo.” So from there the whole congregation started calling the ministry ‘E-Dey Work.’ That was how the name came about.
Many Catholic priests are not as spiritually powerful as you are. Where does your power come from?
Well, I believe that every priest is powerful. You know, it depends on what you think about the priesthood. It is the same anointing, the same ordination. So, the power is from God. All priests are powerful. Talking about me, where my power comes from, I would say that my power comes from God. And God is the one who gives power. Although we know that Satan can give power, some people seek power from Satan. But all power belongs to God. So, my power comes from God and whatever I am doing here it is not me doing it, it is Jesus at work, not me. He is the one working because no human being can do any miracle. No human being can heal the sick; God is the only one that can heal the sick and do miracles.
Is that the reason you encounter the devil without being afraid?
Well, the devil is not an issue because all power belongs to God. Devil can be powerful, but the God I serve is All-powerful. Since I am connected to my God, then I can’t fear devil.
How old is this ministry?
By His grace, we will soon celebrate our third anniversary. But I will say that the ministry is as old as my priesthood.
When did your calling manifest?
God calls even when you are still in your mother’s womb. That is why even to Jeremiah God said before his mother conceived him that He knew him and had appointed him to be a prophet of the nation. Personally, even before I entered the seminary I had felt the calling. After my training, I worked in parishes and people knew there was something in me and I thank God for where we are now and I know that the future is still great.
Can you remember the first miracle God did through you?
Well, I can say that after my ordination, I woman came to me. That woman was barren for many years. She came to me that I should pray for her, that she believed that what she had seen in me even though she had gone to many places God would use me to bless her. And the woman was barren for about 15 years. I said okay, knowing who I am in the Lord, I prayed for that woman. After two and a half weeks the woman called me with joy, that her pregnancy had been confirmed; that was the first encounter I had about miracles.
Why do people collect sand from your prayer ground?
God has been using the sand here to do mighty things in this place. You know, sand somehow is valueless. But God uses things that are valueless most of the time to do miracles. The sand here has been a very powerful instrument of healing. Many people have given many testimonies about restoration, healing, even about the dead coming back to life in this place. The sand of this place has even healed people of cancer of the breast and so many things. So, God is using the sand to do lot of miracles.
How do you manage your anger?
As a human being, you know, there are things that can aggravate miracles. When you are angry, as a person, it is because something is not going the way it should go because when the devil has come to plant his own seed, as a child of God and the calling I’m into, I always deal with that manipulation. So, my anger is always towards the devil, against what he is doing in the lives of people. Whenever I speak in that mood, God picks it up, He takes it, you know, because I’m working for God. Like Christ Himself, the Bible says when He saw the fig tree that was supposed to produce fruits but was not producing, Jesus Christ cursed the fig tree in anger and it began to wither. So, the anger is not towards what is right but what is wrong.
Many priests get tempted in one way or another. Do you get tempted too?
Well you know we are still in the world, and because of that temptations must come. Actually, the issue is not about being tempted. The main issue is falling to the temptation. The issue is how you react to temptation. Now, if you ask me whether I have been tempted before, I will tell you that as a human being, yes. But the question should be what my reaction was. And when I’m tempted, first of all, I know the truth, what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. Knowing that the devil is at work, for the Bible says that the ‘devil your enemy is going around looking for someone to devour.’ And the Bible says resist him. That expression ‘resist’ means even though you are tempted, don’t fall to the temptation. That is why the Bible says not by might, not by power but by my spirit says the Lord. It is not by your power, it is not by your might but by grace of God. That is why every morning I ask God to give me the grace to do His will. And God is faithful. When you ask God for such you should also help yourself, knowing full well that God is helping you and the grace of God is there. As a human being you should try to avoid certain things. For instance, if I notice that a kind of food is not good for my system, I won’t go close to the food. If I know that staying with you now to discuss will lead me into temptation, I will avoid the occasion – occasion of sin means where the sin happens. If you can avoid the occasion of sin, you can avoid the sin.
Can you remember as a priest the hardest time you have had praying for a particular healing or any other spiritual exercise?
You see, I don’t perturb myself about the outcome of my prayers, because I know very well that I’m not the healer. God is the healer. So, I can’t say this is the most difficult experience I have had. This is the mistake people make sometimes. When you are praying for healing of people, even if nothing happens you don’t blame yourself because you are not the healer. So, any time I’m praying for people for healing or asking God for anything, I know that my own job is to ask and it is God’s own job to perform. That’s why the Bible says, ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ It is a kind of division of labour, asking and God giving. When you know the truth, you will not be devastated when what you have asked has not come. God answers every prayer but he knows the right time to answer the prayer.
What do you think can hinder prayers?
The simple answer is sin. The relationship between you and God matters a lot. You must be righteous, you must be holy and you must have faith.
Is every healing, every miracle from God?
God has the power to perform healings and other miracles because all power belongs to Him. But as a person, I can’t judge whether all miracles come from God or not from God. Again, I tell people that anything that is not from God will not last. And anything with God’s backing even if people are talking against it will continue to progress. It will last because God has the power to do all things and He knows the heart of every man. No one can ever deceive God because he is all-knowing.
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