I rebranded Christianity in this country. And some don’t like it Jerome Fernando

“God is involved in everything”

• “If someone wants me to fail, it’s too late because it’s all fallen into place and I’m genuinely called by God.”
• “To me, I look at everybody in the Christian, Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, whatever tradition they belong to, as my brothers and sisters.”
• “I apologised not for preaching the truth, but apologised for hurting their feelings, for whatever they went through.”

• “I was criticised when I was 16. Today I am 47, and that persecution, that criticism has amplified.”
• “Three reports have been filed against my finances and they’re all clear and clean. I’ve paid taxes for 16 years in this country.”
• “Success makes you controversial. Straightforward, let me say.”
• “First and foremost, nobody can call themselves a Prophet. You need someone in a higher rank to point you out.” 

Jerome Fernando is not an unknown name is Sri Lanka. He is a name that has caught attention in the religious world and beyond as thousands of people follow his preachings and believe he is the modern day chosen ‘Prophet’ of God. In a first of its kind exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, Jerome said he had his first encounter with God when he was only 16 years old and since then has been preaching his story to the world. He says he has been a tax paying citizen of this country and all his wealth is clean and recorded despite him being investigated. However he has warned of ‘Prophets’ rising in Sri Lanka with no one’s finger pointing at them and has alerted the public to be aware. Below are excerpts of the interview   

Q  Jerome Fernando is not an unknown name in this country or in many parts of the world anymore. How did you start your journey?   

 It started when I was 16 years young. My mother fell ill with an incurable sickness. And I was seeking for solutions, seeking for truth. I grew up in a Catholic background. Went to St. Peter’s College. But something was missing.   

There was nothing wrong with the Catholic tradition whatsoever. But I was looking for something deeper because my mother was not well. And my father was a gambler.   

So we grew up in poverty. And I was searching, I was seeking. And when my mother fell ill, that broke me into pieces.   

And one of my friends took me to a charismatic church. Around Manning Place in Wellawatte. And that’s where I heard the gospel.   I heard the message of Christ. I gave my heart to Christ. I then had an encounter with God.   A face-to-face encounter. And I believe that’s the day He equipped me for what I’m doing today. So that’s where it all started. I was 16 years back then.   

Q You said you were 16, you were still a student and you were very young. How could you convince the people that you were one of the chosen ones?   

So I had the privilege of seeing my parents start a church at home. No sooner, my mother was healed. So what happened after my encounter with God, I came home that night and I laid hands on my mother. She had an incurable skin disease. Today I don’t know what the medical profession says about it, but she had what was called vitiligo. And at the time, there was nothing any dermatologist could do. But I came home, laid hands on my mother. I said, the Lord is healing you. Jesus is healing you.   

And in less than 25 days, there was no patch on her body. She had patches all over. And my father had lost his job in Abu Dhabi and was in Sri Lanka.   

My prayer was, you know, I want my father to know who Christ is. He’s an atheist. He’s a gambler, he’s an alcoholic.   

And with that comes all the vices under the sun. So when my mother got healed, the neighbourhood came for prayer to my home. And I was watching all of this and my mother would lead those prayer meetings.   

It was on a Thursday. And that prayer meeting is what grew into the church that we know today.   

Q How could you convince the people that what you are saying is the truth amidst all the criticisms that you receive?   

See, one must have their own convictions. And the word conviction is one of the synonyms for faith in the Bible. So when one says I have faith, you are in other words saying I have a conviction.   

And funny you ask because ever since I was filled with the Holy Spirit and experienced the power of God, I was still in school. So I would preach, I would share the message with teachers. I captained the college cricket team, first eleven.   

From under 13, I would play, and I remember this time when there was a big match and I was the captain. The Catholic priest asked me to pray for the team before the match. So I would pray. So I didn’t try to convince people. I was convinced.   And my conviction had notable, tangible, measurable proof from my mother’s healing and of course the encounter I had with God. So all I did was, if someone’s heart was open I would share the story.   

I would keep sharing the story. And lo and behold I got opportunities. I got opportunities in the Methodist Church. I got opportunities in the Anglican Church. I would get opportunities at birthday parties where Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus are. And I saw these doors opening for me.   

I was known as the so-called Jerome who had a story to tell us. And he’s a cricketer, let’s see what he has to say. So that’s how those early days were.   

I wasn’t trying to convince anybody of anything. Genuinely, I was trying to share my story.

Q  So from back then, starting from a small home to about 7,000 people who attend your sermons every week today, its been a long journey. But still many criticise you saying you are not the path of God. They say you are going away from the Catholic Church. What can you say about that?

Well, the convictions have only grown because the encounters grow. I'm no longer 16, I'm 47. Today I'm married and have two daughters. From what I've seen, every 10 years there's a new cycle. At 19 I faced an encounter. Then at 29 I faced another encounter and I heard the voice of God saying I should leave what I am doing and enter the ministry full-time. At the time, I had a business. I gave everything up as God commanded me to.

The conviction only grows. 

Is there criticism today? Well I was criticised when I was 16, also.  

Not to dishonour my alma mater, but in school, at the time, this was the early 1990s, the Roman Catholic Church was not too happy with the charismatic movement. It was fresh out of the blocks. And one day,when I was in grade four I remember it was First Holy Communion preparation. They lined us all up. And my class teacher was asking all the children what their church was. So I was eavesdropping. I was listening. Everyone was saying St. Thomas’, St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s, St. this and that. I was thinking, man, I don't have a St. in front of my church. I was only 12 at the time. And my mother used to take me to the Assemblies of God Church, in Kollupitiya back then.

And when the teacher came to me and I said, Miss, I went to the Assemblies of God. She said, what? I said, yeah, I go to church for the Assemblies of God.

Innocent as I was, she held my wrist and said come with me. And reprimanded me. Took me to the priest. Made a big hullabaloo about it.  So, believe it or not, for the next two to three years, I was persecuted in my own school. It was crazy. 

They sidelined me in school. I don't blame them today because some of them are actually reaching out to me. 

But it was just ignorance. Today I am 47, and that persecution, that criticism has amplified. It's reaching me on a different level. But despite these criticisms I have had 10,800 international visitors visiting the Dome within the last 100 weeks. These are not made up numbers, they are actual people from over 100 countries. And it's only going to get larger. If someone wants me to fail, it's too late because it's all fallen into place and I'm genuinely called. If this wasn't genuine, I would have failed a long time ago. Especially with what I went through in the last three years, being in prison for preaching, etc. It would have been game over. 

Q In Sri Lanka, we have other churches as well and Catholic leaders. They say your way is not the way and that you should be investigated. You're facing criticism within your own religion.

To me, I look at everybody in the Christian, Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, whatever tradition they belong to, as my brothers and sisters. If anyone were to walk through the door today and say, Jerome, I need your help, I would never refuse anybody. 

Whether they are Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims or Hindus. Infact we have beautiful videos of Muslims hugging me, Buddhists hugging me, and Buddhist priests coming to visit me. Recently one Buddhist priest got healed and people persecuted him saying he is a fake. He got so fed up, he de-robed himself. He came and cried with me. He said, You healed me, no one has helped me for 12 years. 

So, success makes you controversial. Straightforward, let me say. I rebranded Christianity in this country. And people don't like it. Nobody knew the voice of the church to this level in this nation. Nobody cared. Not politicians, not church leaders. Nobody cared that there was even a church in this country. But what God did with me was He introduced Jesus to the people in a fresh way. 

Q Lately, we have seen quite a few prophets emerging. Going all around social media trying to convince people that they are the son of God. Some people do fall for that.  But that is also getting a lot of criticism saying that religion has become a money-making gimmick for these people. And today, you call yourself a Prophet yourself. What can you say about that? 

Unfortunately, it's happening all around the world. People might see someone like me and see what I drive and think this is the fastest way to make money. 

And it's wrong. It's far from the truth. Financially, I was investigated for two years.

Three reports have been filed and they're all clear and clean. I've paid taxes for 16 years in this country. Every asset of mine is linked to a proper pathway. Unfortunately, it's just the other day I went up on stage and said, Sri Lanka has so many prophets, so just call me Jerome. Everyone started laughing. First and foremost, nobody can call themselves a Prophet.

You need someone higher than you in rank, in authority, in spiritual discernment who has a track record to point you out and say, this man is a prophet. It happened to Jesus as well as we had John pointing his finger at Jesus to say, this is the one whom we've all been waiting for. Today, prophets are rising with no one's finger pointing at them. 

For me, on the other hand, I didn't know I was a prophet. At 13, I started prophesying. 

And, in 2020, my spiritual father, Prophet Uebert Angel, in 2019 actually, pointed his finger at me and said, do you know God has called you a prophet? 

Q How old were you then? 

I was 41. He pointed his finger. And he's a major prophet. He's respected around the world. We were in the UK and he pointed his finger and said, “Jerome, God told me to tell you are a prophet.” That's when I realised that it all makes sense.

Q But do you think the rise of so many ‘Prophets’ has affected you?

No. Because you get to a place where you're not competing, you're not comparing. 

You're in your own lane. I'm in my own lane. Minding my own business. 

Doing what God has called me to do. I have really no time to even look at what someone's video is talking about me, or someone saying something about me as I run a large organisation and with my influence increasing every day. 

Q But if there's one message you would give these rising prophets what would you say?

I would say, find a mentor. Find a father. Because if not, you'll be here and gone tomorrow. This is the issue. Without strong roots, a strong foundation, without a genuine calling, without someone with a higher rank pointing you out, your journey is going to be short-circuited, short-lived. 

There's a danger in calling yourself a prophet. Because in this prophetic office, there's a certain level of challenges that are aimed only at prophets. Pastors don't go through what prophets go through. 

Apostles don't go through what prophets go through. Teachers don't go through what prophets go through. Prophets are a different set of creatures that have a separate set of issues aimed at them. 

The arrow that is shot at a prophet is not used at a pastor. So the moment you come up and say, I'm a prophet, those arrows are being aimed at you. You won't survive it if you're not genuine.  

Q You have been investigated for your finances as well. People are asking how you gained so much wealth in such little time by being a prophet. What can you say about that? 

Very simple.  It's the eighth wonder of the world. It's called compounding. My desire was to be a professional cricketer.  I played for Sri Lanka under-19. 

I did one tour. Most of the guys that went on to play for the senior team played with me. But because of an injury, I had to give up cricket. Then I came into the apparel industry. Started with MAS Holdings. Then went on to become a merchandising manager until I started my own sort of buying office operation where I used to ship garments to Liverpool through TriStar Garments. 

And at 29, when I heard the voice of God saying to leave all of this, I left it all. So it wasn't like I had nothing to eat and nothing to wear.I was making money. Infact I have been paying taxes even back then. Then the church started growing. 

The biblical text has it that if a man plants a seed and it becomes a tree, that man who planted that tree has the right to the fruit. It's basics. It's scripture. 

If you plant a seed and it becomes a tree, you have the right to decide how much fruit you want to eat from it. He who preaches the gospel can live by the gospel. That's the scripture.  So that means the priest has a God-given right to receive remuneration from the church that he shepherds. But I didn't take advantage of that. That's the amazing thing.

So when I was investigated, I'm sure the CID also wanted to find out whether I've stolen money. But when they looked at the records and we scraped through, we did forensic audits, we paid a lot of money for forensic audits, they realised Jerome is not taking any money from the church. 

So how do I make my money today? I have 20 schools. I teach, I mentor people and they pay me for it. I have online schools, physical schools, I teach business. I have three PhDs. I'm a doctor of philosophy.  I'm a doctor of leadership, management and economic development. And I've received an honorary professorship for leadership management. But that's not what made me wise.

What made me wise was the scriptures and my walk with God. So when people hear me speak and they know this guy is a wise man, they'll pay anything. 

Q So this is all the wealth you have worked for? 

Absolutely worked very hard for. Schools are just one side. Of course, there is the aspect of personal offerings. I sit with a lot of business people. And I strategically help them make more money. And when they cut a deal somewhere, or one of their projects just goes through the roof, they'll come back to me and say, Prophet, you have really blessed me. 

I want to give you a house. You know, just the other day, someone wrote a house to me and I gave it back. So many don't see the houses I've given back. Then there was this young couple in the church who got their first house just around the corner. They claimed that God spoke to them saying give the house to Prophet Jerome.

They came with the keys and they're standing in line to give it to me. I said, God told you to give it to me? I said, it can't be because God is telling me to tell you that is your house, that's not my house. So I gave it back.

Then there was a gentleman who was sick. He had about a 200-acre property, some factory somewhere. While I was walking through the aisle, he said, Prophet, my land I really want to give it to you. I told him please get healed first and then we can see if you want to present an offering to the church.

So people from overseas would call me and say, I have a house in a certain country. I want to write it in your name. 

I'm also an investor. All of this is documented in my tax files.  So that's how I've made my money. 

Q When we talk about Uebert Angel, who pointed out and said that you are the Prophet, he faces allegations of money laundering.  Hence, the allegation came onto your head as well, saying that Jerome Fernando may be involved in money laundering. What can you say about those allegations? 

When those allegations surfaced, I had to search for what money laundering meant. That's how innocent I was, of even the term. Prophet Angel always says to his thousands of followers, if you want to learn character, follow Jerome. See, he's an ambassador. He's a presidential envoy at large for 85 countries, appointed by the President of Zimbabwe.

And for whatever allegation that was out there, he has not been convicted on any count. It is not what it looks like. Even the gold mafia thing that went on Al Jazeera, there was a massive series done on him. It was a painful period. What people don't know is he was not meant to go for that meeting. It was the president of Zimbabwe. But the president of Zimbabwe told him to go and what to say. So when they investigated whether he had taken gold, whether money was paid, an independent body found there was nothing like that. They were freelance people, who were posing to be journalists.

Q Recently in one of your sermons, you hurt the sentiments of other religions, the Hindus, the Muslims, and even the Buddhists. By saying something which was derogatory against Allah, against Buddha, and against the Hindu God. You know, that subsequently led to you having to leave the country, but when you came back, you faced a jail term. What can you say about that? 

Thank you for the question. I didn't leave the country. I was in Singapore planning a church. Our vision is to plant a church in every nation.

I was in Singapore, and I had actually just landed at the airport when all these SMS's started coming in saying Jerome finds himself in hot soup. And all of a sudden I thought, Jesus, what is this soup? It was never my intention to hurt someone's feelings. 

Honestly, my desire was to show other faiths, other religions, that their thinking is not too far from the gospel of Jesus Christ. That was my intention. So I had to compare light, Jesus, the light of the world, and Buddhism. 

The biblical text allows me the freedom to speak what is there. So even to this day, if someone shows me the text, I say, look man, it's here. But it blew out of proportion and I don't blame anybody because they were watching me for many years and they wanted something to pin me to a certain extent, so I gave them the opportunity.

When I came back actually, I was ten months out of the country. Why couldn't I come back? Because they put a travel ban on me. And if I came, I would face an unlawful arrest.

So we were in court trying to say don't arrest me, so we did a writ. We got that through. 

My youngest daughter missed school for two years. It wasn't easy one bit. 

I met lawyers in London, central London, at the height of this persecution. Every day I was in the papers. I want to thank the papers because that's 500 million worth of publicity I got in eight months.

It helped the brand. Honestly, my Ministry grew. But there was a lot of pain.

In central London, lawyers looked at me, looked at my case and said, don't go back. These were not Asian lawyers, this was a South African and a Brit. They looked at me and said, don't go back to your country saying countries do this to people.

Back then I had the golden opportunity to live in Europe.  But I came out of that office and I said, this is not God. Because what God has called me to do, it's going to be hazardous.

I came out of that office and took the tough decision of talking to my family. My wife, Melanie, my daughters, Mikkela and Heavenya.  I said, kids, we are going home. We are leaving in two weeks.  Pack your bags. They started crying. I explained to them that God hasn't called me to live in the UK. He has called me to Sri Lanka. On 28th of November, I landed back in Sri Lanka. Two days later, they remanded me.

Q I'm going to ask you one again, what you said did hurt the sentiments of the people here. Of other religions here. Would you give an apology to them? Or do you think that what you did was completely according to your faith? 

A - When I knew that it had hurt their feelings, I was quick to apologise. Within the space of 14 days, not even 14 days, I went on TV and apologised. That apology was recorded even after I came back. It's in the courts. I apologized not for preaching the truth, but apologized for their feelings, for whatever they went through. I was very quick to do it.

Q I  see that you have made predictions as last year you said there would be some kind of a plane crash. And then we had the Indian plane which crashed early this year. Your followers were very quick to say that Jerome Fernando had predicted this. So, how do you make these predictions? 

So, there's a difference between prediction and prophecy. That's what our community needs to learn first. Prediction is when you can read the stars, the zodiac, and then predict. You can even predict the weather. But a prophet is not there to predict.

Even though in prophecy there is an element of prediction, it's not really predicting. Prophecy is simply the voice of God in the now. So, one day I was ministering to a group of Indian people who came for one of my programmes.

While I was walking up and down, I said, Indian Airlines. I'm seeing it in the air, mid-air. It's a mid-air May Day. I'm using exact words. I said mid-air May Day. It's not far.

I only know as far as God speaks to me. I don't know everything.

So, I have to depend on the Lord to say something to me. The pain started to increase in my spirit.  So, I knew some tragedy is close. So, at different occasions I would come to the church and say, ‘people, red body, avoid. Fuselage’.

Red wing. Anything with red, just run away. Maybe 19, 20 days before the crash, I said it again.

And when it happened all of India started hearing of this Jerome Fernando. 

I'm not someone special, I'm not manufacturing prophecy from behind some secret door. Power belongs to God. It's His voice. And of course, when I say something, and it comes to pass, according to the Bible, people are supposed to fear the Prophet because here is a voice. I've also done sporting prophecies. People think it's weird to do sporting prophecies.

God is involved in everything. 

Q Many of your followers come to be healed by you but there are allegations that some of these people are paid actors. How do you address those allegations?

It's been there for some time, right? By some time, I mean, every evangelist, every minister of God, every pastor out there, every prophet, every apostle has faced this.

When you see a certain degree of healing taking place, you ultimately sometimes come to that conclusion, ah, this can't be happening. It can't be this easy. That's where the problem is. How can healing be this easy? Surely they must be faking it. The truth is, there are some who fake it around the world. Absolutely.

And many of them have gotten caught faking it. But I have not allowed that nonsense here. How can we do that? There is such a thing as a conscience. If what I'm carrying is genuine, why do we need to compromise? So, the beautiful thing is, nobody has brought any of these so-called paid actors here. What you see here is real.  

Q Have you faced any kind of threats or challenges from the local community here that stopped you from doing what you're doing? 

Let me put it this way. I love the Sri Lankan people and they love me. So if we notice one or two incidents, they are very isolated. I am loved by the people. And I love them. So what we see on social media is really not the true media.  Media is what you are doing. 

Two years ago I went to Nawalapitiya. We were opening a Prayer Mountain. It was donated to me. I gave it to the church. When I went there to dedicate the location, half of the village came there with all the men saying no we won't allow you to do this. I quietly walked away. We waited for six months till things calmed down and we started building a wall.

Those thugs came back again and said, tell Jerome we are going to kill him if he comes here. Exactly a year later, the guy that made that threat, his house was about to be burned down by one of the other thugs. He thought it was me. These guys are crazy. We are peaceful people. So we have to now fight it through the courts. And again, these are all isolated incidents. People want to make money also. So they'll come on the pretext of, I know someone who wants to kill Jerome Fernando.

Because I'm a prophet, the track record I have is if there's something that's concerning my life, God has always shown it to me. Especially with my family. He'll always show it.

Q Do you sometimes fear for your wife and your children as well? 

Fear? If I feared, I would have stayed in the UK. That's another thing about a genuine Prophet. 

Q My final question. What's the road ahead for you now? 

In the recent past, people have recognised my service to humanity and community. Even in these recent floods, we've spent millions as a church. I didn't get my feet wet. I didn't go out there and give lunch packets to people. I have teams. Hundreds of them. Maybe two, three hundred in the charity arm of mine.

We have given millions and millions worth of dry rations. So with all this work and all that I'm doing, global organisations have recognised it. So I was appointed as the Bishop of the Global Apostolic Diocese of Ceylon. Then I was given a diplomatic passport. Given to me from the headquarters in Brussels for what is called the Global Mission for Peace and Security. So it's a mission-based organisation. 

And they've acknowledged me as a peace ambassador. And I just got my Tier 2 passport. So the Tier 3 passport is the red one where I won't need visas to any country. 

That's not the one that I have. I have the Tier 2 passport, which has its own benefits.

So with all these organisations and people acknowledging the work that I've done, the road ahead is to actually do more work.

And to be a blessing to Sri Lanka. My desire has always been to impact the economy of the country. That's why we're in front of the international airport. That's why we've had 10,800 international visitors  in the last 100 weeks.

So even though my country has not recognised me as an ambassador yet, I am functioning as an ambassador. Doing what ambassadors should be doing. And I'm going to increase that.

It's not just about healing and prophecy. We are doing work where it matters.