Dr Bishop Venassie Mibenge, the founder
/President of Faith Fellowship Ministries International has a very
unique and life -changing testimony .When he was ten years old , he saw
a vision of the white throne judgement .He saw people in one single line
going to be Judged by Him who sat on the Judgement Seat , which was
beaming with too much bright light .He could not see the one who sat on
that seat because of the shinning glory which surrounded Him .When
people reached the place where the one who sat on the Judgement Seat was
, something like a magnetic field pulled them automatically , some to
the left and others to the right .He shared this with his Catholic
parents and the priest , who replied and said , ''God wants him to be a
priest ''.
When he clocked 11 years of age , the Lord showed him another vision
.In that Vision he saw his late mother seating with him on the verandah
.All of a sudden two Angels appeared to them and told them to knee down
.After kneeling down , the Angels laid their hands on his head and
prayed for him .After the prayer , they told him that ''God Loves you
and you will recieve something good in future but do not stop
worshipping God ''.He again shared this incident with his dear mother
and the priest.The priest said again ,''God wants him to be a Priest ''
Many years after these experiences , in 1979 November , something
tremendous happened to him .Then working for the National Marketing
Board of Zambia ,he was facing very serious problems .It happened that
that the auditors came to inspect financial books in all the towns
.Since NMBZ was dealing in perishables, they used to throw away
fodstuffs in non-saleable condition . It happened that in the same year
, NMBZ made a profit of K 22 000 000 and the wastages were valued at K 2
000 000 .This is quoted in our local currency which is about K3900.00
equivalent to one US Dollar(US$1). The auditors demanded to know why we
had K 2000 000 worth of wastage or disposables .As Area Manager ,he
tried to explain to them but they could not understand .They threatened
to take the matter to court if he did not properly exculpate himself .He
was so much troubled because he was very sure that he was an honest
man.He then decided to go to the witch doctor for help so that the
auditors may forget about the charges and accusations laid against him
.The witch doctor gave him a small piece of grass to put on his tongue
so that every time he would be called by the auditors , he may win their
favour .He was also given some ointment mixed with some herbs to apply
on his face so the can like him and forget about the whole case .So the
following morning before going for work ,he applied some ointment on his
face and put the grass on his tongue .When he arrived at his work place
the auditors came and that day was the worst of all the days .
When he reached home , he decided to throw the witch doctor's
medication away ,''because I felt so disappointed ..I had no option but
to commit suicide by taking an overdose of valium tablets so I could die
in my sleep.Praise God before I took the valium my telephone rang'' .
When he got up to answer the phone call and touching the reciever he
felt as if he had been elctrocuted .He tried to throw the reciever down
, but was unable to .He had no option but to put it close to his ear
.There and then , a voice called him by his first name ,''Venassie,''the
voice was vibrating and it was a very clear though the accent was like
the mideast accent .The voice continued and said ,''Venassie I have come
to visit you for the first time , because I Love you and I have called
you to serve me and to take you out of the problems you are facing at
your working place .He was not Born- Again by then and this happening
was a whole lot strange . The voice on the phone said ,''Iam coming to
your work place tomorrow but you won't seee me .Iam somebody who loves
you and called you to serve me.''Bishop Mibenge asked ,''where are you
?''.He responded ,''Iam here right with you but you cannot see me
''.Early morning he went for work hoping to see the man who spoke to him
on phone .He wanted to see anyone who looked like the Mideast people but
could not see one .But this day , the auditors came and never returned
back and that was the end . A month later , on 26th December , 1979 between 6:30 and 7;00 PM in
the evening , whilst at home the Lord spoke to his heart to go and see
his young brother in another town called luanshya to tell him about
Jesus Christ .He was told to quit work and to start serving God .He
wondered how he was going to travel to Luanshya , which is about 60
kilometres from where he stayed .He had no car and the last bus departs
at 6:00 pm .
At about 7:00 pm , he decided to go to the bus station .He asked the
Bus inspector if there was any bus going to Luanshya and the inspector
refused saying the last bus left at 6:00 PM .He said to the inspector
,''it is God sending me to Luanshya not man , please give me a bus
''.''You want me to give you a bus alone?'' the inspector asked .''Yes ,
he answered him ".Later the inspector left Venassie alone because
thought he was out of his mind .He stood waiting at the Bus station
alone up until 8:45pm.All of a sudden a private taxi came , light blue
in colour , and the driver called out for those who where going to
Luanshya.He went into the car and the driver never spoke to him neither
did he .
When they arrived in Luanshya around 10:30pm , he paid almost one
dollar .From there he went to the residence of his young brother Steve
and explained to him everything that had happened .He asked his young
brother to tell him more about Jesus . He narrated to him how that the
Lord had instructed him to leave everything of the world and serve Him
.Steve was very happy to hear this because on this particular day ,his
wife Rose ,now the late,and other people from their church had been
fasting for Venasie Mibenge's salvation .He was the worst son in the
family ,who never believed in God and believed church and government was
the same things .He believed both were too legalistic and full of do's
and don'ts - a life he believed he never wanted to lead .
Steve stated sharing the word with him .Venassie believed everything
he heard and was told about Jesus .At around midnight on 26th December,
1979 ,he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal saviour and Lord
of his life .He totally yeilded to the will of God and has never
departed from God's love .His desire to serve the Lord was too strong
handed in a resignation letter to his superiors.On 31st January ,1980 ,
his resignation was accepted.
The New chapter was launched in Venassie's life .He stated holding
crusades alone in various places .On 3rd February 1981 , he went to
church of God and asked the Senior Pastor there to baptise him in the
water .He had never met him but accepted to baptise him in the nearest
river about 7 miles away from the church building .On 8th february,1981
, while preaching in an open -air crusade , the Zambian Police came and
arrested him claiming that he had insulted the government and the
president .He was locked up for six hours .The cells were too congested
and dirty and not fit for Human Habitation .He asked the Lord to release
him from jail because he never said anything against Government and the
president and God did just exactly that . The man who was behind this
arrest and his family never had peace .Something like a mighty wind
rushed into his house and it troubled the entire family .He was so
troubled that after 3 days he went to Bishop Mibenge and apologised .He
prayed for him and he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour.
From the moment he left his job , he began to pass through
difficulties in his living .He lost everything he had acquired when he
was working , remaining with two torn trousers , two shirts and one
blanket and he moved from place to place and spent nights everywhere
.His family started suffering as he had nothing to give them .In 1983 ,
the Lord opened a door for him to attend Bible School in Zimbabwe ,
where he met his wife Getrude and together they are runnunig Faith
Fellowship Ministries International .''This is really hard to beieve BUT
this is what happened to me and my life is a miracle''. Bishop Venassie
Mibenge puts it in very vivid words .