T.B. Joshua, US elections and matters arising
One Osagie Ogunbor in The Punch newspaper of Tuesday, 06 December 2016 tried in vain to rubbish the hard-earned reputation of Prophet T.B. Joshua, basing his arguments on premises, which belied a clear stereotypically negative perception of the cleric. First, he argued that Prophet Joshua relied on polls and media coverage for his prediction, a position that clearly shied away from objectivity. He refused to look at the impressive prophetic record of accomplishment of T.B. Joshua who once prophesied the victory of the late John Atta-Mills of Ghana at the presidential polls, as well as the emergence and rise to power of the All Progressives Congress in Nigeria (APC) – against all media and public permutations.
While highlighting the tensions that ensued in the aftermath of the historic election, the writer additionally did not point out that in American political history, no candidate has won the popular vote by such a huge margin yet failed to ascend to the seat of power. The protests that swept across the United States after Trump was announced as winner have given further steam to growing insinuations of electoral malpractice that necessitated the current ongoing recount – a process Trump’s lawyers are fighting tooth-and-nail to quash. Even the NSA Director, Admiral Michael Rogers astonishingly admitted that Russia was involved in a hacking scandal that affected the outcome of the elections – causing question marks to still linger over the veracity of the supposedly sacred democratic process.
Aspersions cast by the writer that the social media ‘backlash’ is somehow affecting Joshua’s reputation or spiritual standing show the writer’s clear unfamiliarity with the subject matter. Irrespective of all campaigns of calumny, Prophet T.B. Joshua and The SCOAN remain among the most respected Nigerians abroad and West Africa’s most popular tourist attraction, respectively. Statistics on YouTube show Emmanuel TV as the most viewed Christian channel globally, figures that have actually increased in the wake of the contentious prediction. Indeed, if anything, the election prophecy has served more as a ‘free advert’ for the cleric.
The writer’s additional comments mockingly reminding readers of Joshua’s alleged ‘inability’ to predict the tragic building incident at The SCOAN in September 2014 proves further the write-up was nothing more than a sponsored hate-piece. How can someone who is writing draw such comparisons on such sensitive, spiritual matters? Do prophecies originate from man? Can a mere mortal choose what and when to speak forth the mind of the Almighty? This is beside the point that Joshua did in fact prophetically warn of the tragic incident months earlier.
Those such as Osagie who have taken to the media to condemn and criticise the Founder and General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) should have been more liberal in their outbursts, bearing in mind the indubitable fact that prophecies originate from One who can neither be questioned nor queried. Even though the outcome of the elections has gone in favour of the Republican candidate and business mogul, Donald Trump, going by the consistency and accuracy of Joshua’s past prophecies, one thinks it is too early for him to be the subject of such wrath.
Indeed, there are biblical examples of prophecies that were altered due to the actions of the recipient. In 2 Kings 21:21-29, there is the account of how God sent a message to King Ahab through Prophet Elijah about the impending doom that was to befall him. Upon receiving the prophecy, King Ahab humbled himself and repented. God in His infinite mercies saw his sincere repentance and averted the doom that would have befallen him. There is also the case of King Hezekiah whose impending death was prophesied by Prophet Isaiah only to be averted by God after the King humbled himself and asked for mercy. God even added 15 more years to his life (Isaiah 38:1-4). Based on the foregoing, it is only God that has the final say as far as prophecies are concerned. No mortal can be as perfect as the Creator who knows all can can can can can.
There is definitely a shroud of uncertainty hanging over the emergence of Donald Trump as President-Elect, heightened further by his already unorthodox approach to transition. Hence, the media outburst against Prophet T.B. Joshua is more of a baseless reactionary outrage that does not take into consideration the Prophet’s intimidating record of accomplishment in the hallowed field of prophecy. Remember, prophecies are not bound by time. They can even take years to be fulfilled, irrespective of their seeming physical exactitude. The man of God is a global brand that has since attained equity and no contagion of ungodly market forces can diminish his Olympian reputation.
Ikechukwu is the Public Relations Manager for Arise Africa, Lagos,
