Whenever the history of Christendom in Nigeria is written, the story of Prophet Temitope Joshua, popularly known as TB Joshua, and his church, the Synagogue Church of all Nations, will sure get a good space and mention.
From the very beginning, TB Joshua was rejected even by his ‘brothers’ in the home built by Jesus. To many of them, he was a wolf in sheep’s skin. His miracles, which ultimately dragged many to his church and put Ikotun on world map, were fake.
Despite Joshua‘s exploit, the Christian bodies in Nigeria never accepted him, both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). To them, Joshua was simply an exorcist or a charmer and so on.
On daily basis, newspaper pages were filled with stories of one attack or another from fellow pastors who never saw anything good in him. Perhaps the most notable of his many battles was with the founder of Household of God, Reverend Chris Okotie. The funky pastor once described Joshua as the vicar of the devil on earth.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) refused to touch Joshua, even with the longest of poles.
Senior men of God like Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of Nigeria (RCCG), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Bishop David Oyedepo and many others refused to acknoledge him as one of them.
A report by the Vanguard nespaper reported Adeboye, in 2009, to have said he would never go to Joshua’s church to minister.
He was quoted as saying, “No! Definitely not! If he wants me to come and minister in his church, we will sit down; we will discuss the issue of salvation the way I understand it, according to the scriptures.
“If we agree on that and he now wants me to come and preach the same message of salvation in his church, then I will go.”
Oritsejafor, as PFN president and CAN chairman, said the body would not admit Joshua to its fold because they were not convinced that he was a child of God.
He had said then that before Joshua could even qualify to be a PFN member, he should show who tutored him as a pastor in the first place.
Oritsejafor was quoted as saying that “Jesus did not say by their words you will know them; he said by the fruit you shall know them. If T.B. Joshua can show me his pastor who pastored him before he said he was called into the ministry; if T.B. Joshua can tell me when he got converted and how he got converted, then we would consider him. Anybody who is a Christian is a Christian because he received Jesus Christ at a point.
“I gather he said he was converted in his mother’s womb and I don’t see anybody like that in the Bible. It is a conscious decision you make and it doesn’t happen in your mother’s womb.”
Oritsejafor emphasised that healing and miracles were not criteria for admitting anyone into the PFN fold or CAN.
According to Oritsejafor, “We are not taking T.B Joshua. But like I said, he too can repent and be converted tomorrow. T.B Joshua can say I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal saviour; I repent of my sins. Then he can say, come check me out and see what I am doing then we can consider accepting him. PFN is for all; nobody is really excluded.”
In September 2014, the guest house of the church collapsed, killing more than 100 people, most of them foreigners who were in Nigeria to attend his services.
While authorities say the building collapsed because of structural defects, TB Joshua insisted the building was blown up by a small plane that he claimed flew over it shortly before it came down.
But Joshua rose above all the condemnations and tribulations to become widely known across Africa and Latin America. His large social media presence with 3,500,000 fans on Facebook and YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV, with over 1,000,000 YouTube subscribers was the result of concerted efforts in the face of serious challenges.
Joshua was awarded various accolades, notably receiving the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by the Nigerian government in 2008.
He was voted the Yoruba man of the decade by Pan-Yoruba media outlet Irohin-Odua, and was called one of Africa’s 50 most influential people by Pan-African magazines The Africa Report and New African Magazine.
As of 2011, according to Forbes, Joshua was Nigeria’s third-richest pastor, although the claim was immediately denied in a statement by the church.
His church, the SCOAN is described as “Nigeria’s biggest tourist attraction” and “the most visited destination by religious tourists in West Africa,”, with thousands of foreigners flocking to attend the church’s weekly services.
Figures released by the Nigerian Immigration Service indicated that six out of every ten foreign travellers coming into Nigeria are bound for The SCOAN, a fact discussed in Zimbabwean parliament when addressing the economic potentials of religious tourism.
At the time of his death, Prophet Temitope Joshua can rightly be said to have fought a good battle.
Hate him or love him, the testament on his tomb stone may likely read: The man who gave others reasons to live.
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