TRIBUTE TO SENIOR PROPHET T.B. JOSHUA
As Father’s Day approaches, pays tribute to a man who devoted his entire life to humanity; spiritual father to many, prophet and philanthropist, Temitope Balogun Joshua.
Voice Woman
Senior Prophet T.B. Joshua was the epitome of a true servant of the Lord who served the Lord with all diligence. He helped most of us understand what it means to be a child of God, and the true essence of agape love; the pinnacle of the Christian faith is love. Furthermore, through him, the world received healing, deliverance and restoration as well as witnessed and experienced the glory, presence and anointing of God.
The Lord communicated Prophet T.B. Joshua’s passing to me - and others - but before I share just how, let me first disclose the following:
Apostle Paul in Hebrews 2:4 teaches that the evidence of a messenger of the Lord is that they should operate in three dimensions or manifestations; signs and wonders, miracles, and gifts of the spirit. And so while Prophet T.B Joshua touched the lives of millions globally, he was not without detractors. It is not surprising because the supernatural is for the discerning. It is not for everyone. People who don’t believe in the supernatural have trouble comprehending it or accepting revealers of God’s will such as Senior Prophet. We serve a supernatural God, and so unlike those who criticise the works of the Lord, for us, miracles, signs and wonders are normal. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So, we know that certain information is supernaturally revealed by God to the believer. Matthew 13:11 confirms this; “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”
REVELATIONS
In 2013, I travelled to the most populous city in Africa, Lagos, to attend the inaugural Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) - an annual awards ceremony by Multichoice that recognises exceptional achievement in television and film across the continent. Upon arrival at the airport, my chaperone led me through the packed immigration and passport control area, where an inhospita
ble and impatient official paged through my passport and barked, “SCOAN?” Confused, I asked her to repeat the question, which only seemed to irk her further. Thankfully, my kindly host came to my rescue. I quickly learnt that the immigration official had made the assumption due to the multitudes of fellow Batswana pilgrims who flow into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport weekly, en route to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). Lagos is a place of perplexing yet striking contrasts, even for an audacious traveller; it left a lasting impression on me. Anyway, at the time, I had very little appreciation of the much-revered televangelist. Like many religious skeptics, I was simply ignorant. However, on the last day of my short stay in Lagos island, Sunday, I was to return home on a midnight flight therefore rather than just lazy about in the hotel, I decided I’d ‘give this man of God a chance’ and travel to the mega church. When I asked the concierge to book me a cab to transport me to the synagogue, they advised against it. In fact, they suggested the nearest church, bemused that I wished to travel that far out just for a religious service. They couldn’t understand what the fuss was about this particular prophet (Nigeria has them in abundance). Utterly dumbfounded, I walked back up to my room and remembered the book of Mark 6:4 which says, “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” Four years later, I would begin to watch Emmanuel TV - albeit intermittently - and come to fully embrace the servant of the Lord’s teachings; it was his humility and charity that changed my mind about him. Little did I know that these would be his final years.
Though I haven’t watched much TV in almost a year, on Saturday 5th - the day of his passing - just prior to taking my usual siesta after a long morning of household chores, I remembered that my own church pastor had been absent the previous week after he was stricken by a bout of flu. I then said a short prayer for him, and seconds later, a thought crossed my mind; “I wonder what would happen should a man like T.B. Joshua die.” I didn’t entertain the thought at all, and went ahead to rest. Early Sunday morning, I was awakened by a Whatsapp message from a friend living in the UK who is an Emmanuel TV partner, “We thank the Lord for TB Joshua’s love.” Shattered, I immediately recalled God had conveyed this revelation to me the previous day.
I hastened to confirm the news on his Instagram page. Indeed the man of God had transitioned. Before I left for church, I shared the news via my Whatsapp status. On return from church, I found a flurry of messages, one of them from a sister in the Lord. She suggested I contact a friend of hers who had shared a similar experience on her status, and so 2 days later, I called her.
Like me, Mmapula Ditlhabi has never met the man of God in person but she says she travelled to Lagos for a 3-day revival where she was booked in a nearby lodge in December 2016. She, however, has so many testimonies of how God has used the man of God to guide, deliver, heal and prophesy to her through dreams and visions. “God is powerful in distance, distance is never a barrier! The first time I saw him in my dreams was in 2011. He confirmed I was carrying a baby boy, and in 2013 confirmed I was carrying a girl. Ever since, the Lord has been carrying me in His wings to witness what He was doing in the life of Prophet TB Joshua,” she says, adding that in 2016, the Lord revealed to her “His intentions to carry His servant home.”
Ditlhabi says over the years the Lord would constantly remind her of the imminent end of Senior Prophet TB Joshua’s earthly ministry and that his time to go home was nearing. “I saw a great light illuminating around his head in the month of March and I knew the ‘transition’ had already begun. On the 26th of May, I saw him coming from the South followed by the masses going towards the North. I tried to give him my prayer point but he just went past... I offer my sincere condolences to Mama Evelyn Joshua, the family and the entire Emmanuel TV partners and friends, I feel the LOVE of GOD all over me.”
May Prophet T.B. Joshua’s Soul Rest In eternal Peace.