An internet material which appeared under the title “Churches rap T.B. Joshua” on Wednesday, May 2012, would not have generated any response but for the fact that some misrepresentations and infamous attributions happened in the text.
The story is anchored on the outcome of the pastors’ in Harare, Zimbabwe. Such pastors (if they truly qualify to be so-called) were said to be members of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe whose President is Dr. Goodwill Shana (Center) and Secretary-General Reverend Lindani Dube (right). According to the report in the “Herald”, written by Felix Share, the Zimbabwean Church leaders said they were not prepared to welcome T.B. Joshua, the General Overseer of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in their country to participate in the National Day of Prayer “set for May 25, Africa Day”. The day, which is supposed to be accompanied with prayers, should naturally be an avenue for prayer warriors from all over the world to help reach out to God on their national problems.
The idea of the National Day of Prayer is not limited to Zimbabwe, it is a universal phenomenon, especially when a country and her people face serious socio-political and economic problems which are beyond human comprehension and handling. Africa is particularly noted as one unfortunate continent where most countries are breathing under, pressure of harsh and uncertain socio-political and economic realities. Even in Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State and Chair of “Nigeria Prays” has been known to have extensively used the platform to preach unity and solidarity while praying for an end to the dilemma facing the land.
The world will be shocked to see how the ‘anointed’ pastors in Zimbabwe suddenly met, and instead of discussing and praying for the political and economic survival of their country Zimbabwe, rather chose to discuss the Nigerian Church Leader, T.B. Joshua, accusing the respected man of God of “teachings which were of no help to the country as they were judgmental, partisan and unorthodox”.
The points raised in the write-up, being the arguments allegedly raised by these “men of God” (God has unlimited patience, indeed!) reminded people of the argument pushed some days ago by Professor Moyo, a cabinet member also in Zimbabwe, to the effect that there was some nebulous theoretical fallacy on T.B. Joshua’s prophecy concerning the former Malawian President, Professor Bingu wa Mutharika; he even suggested, so backward-thoughtfully, that Joshua either had a hand in the man’s death or he had security report on the coming death. But Moyo’s obvious day-dreamt philosophy has been punctured by many people, including Zimbabweans, to have emanated from a dirty mind of a man desperate to win political space in the heart of the reigning leader in that country, who himself boasted that he was “better than Jesus Christ” – a statement which none of these Zimbabwean “pastors” responded to!
Dr Goodwill Shana
In this latest internet story, the EFZ President and Spokesperson Dr Goodwill Shana was quoted as saying that the anticipated visit of Joshua to Zimbabwe (where exactly did he ever speak of being “headed for a troubled African Country”?) should not be used for partisan purposes: “Of course, we do not have the immigration powers to ban him (TB Joshua), but we have never invited him as churches. We think it is important to get (into the country) people who can help the country to move forward not people that are judgmental. People have a right to believe what they want, but it is difficult to believe a Word of God that comes on a partisan basis. We don’t want judgmental teachings, that is why we don’t subscribe to his teachings”.
But the “man of God” who spoke on behalf of “over 100 denominations, churches, para-church movements and individual Christians of the Evangelical persuasion” should have explained further what he meant by the word “judgmental”. This word should mean something being condemnatory, hated and abused, but except for fighting forces of evil manipulations and atavistic greed (we have some leaders in this class!) operating in human circles and degrading their countries and people before the world, which are always been condemned by all true men of God including Joshua, how else could his preaching and sermons be considered to be judgmental?
And why must priests of God, if they are true to themselves, have thought of “immigration powers to ban” Joshua (as if he was some terrifying oracle from outside the world) and why have “we never invited him as churches”? There is an obvious truth here: some pastors and theological leaders are much afraid of the name, class, acceptance and universal respect which Joshua has won through the instrumentality of God’s power. In a world where religion is free, and where “people have a right to believe what they want”, it should have been known to this “Evangelical fellowship” that “fellowship” means extending hands of friendship and solidarity to every person in the world to rejoice with Zimbabwe, if truly there was something to rejoice about. Dr Shana should not have employed the mantle of his office to attack a fellow pastor, even when he is not a Zimbabwean.
Secondly, the work of God is not a political office. As illustrated in the Bible, through the machinations of King Ahab (2 Chronicles, 18), we have always some pastors and prophets who are so politically motivated that they could even choose to follow some leaders who professed to be Lucifer than Jesus, even if their countries are boiling in the oil of joblessness, inflation and political negativity. King Ahab had some 400 prophets who prophesised to him that he was going to succeed in the war at Ramoth Gilead, but Micaiah, the prophet thoroughly hated by Ahab (whom he would never have invited but for the motivation from Jehosaphat, King of Judea) was the only man who told Ahab the truth, and Ahab asked his soldiers to detain him until he would arrive from the war, a success. But was Micaiah not proved right? Consider only one prophet to 400 others?
The so-called pastors and their evangelical messianism are too far from the truth. They have chosen to blackmail a man of God, just because they are terrified by Joshua’s well-known accurate prophecies over the years. Political power has no potential to cripple the Word of God and those who are opposed to listening to it should be pitied. If an Evangelical fellowship was against Joshua (a prophet of the most high), what would they do if some Boko Haram had existed in their midst? The world understands that when Joshua spoke of an African Leader who was to die soon, some Zimbabweans chose to attack him because they had thought they knew exactly what he was saying and unsaying. But was that a correct attitude to prophecy by these “pastors”?
If Joshua was accused of being “partisan” and “unorthodox”, how do we interpret the attitude of Dr Shana and his “over 100 denominations” on the Joshua issue? Did Jesus denounce people on the grounds of partisanship? Did he not embrace the Jews and Gentiles, the poor and the rich, the leaders and the led?
What exactly is the meaning of “unorthodox”? Is ritualism and true worship happening in The SCOAN, even when there is the advantage of the Emmanuel TV being viewed all over the world? There are many Zimbabweans who had received their deliverance and healing in The SCOAN, and Joshua has always been mightily used by God. If a people “do not want judgement teachings”, why not allow those who are not opposed to Joshua, in Zimbabwe, to enjoy the privilege of his presence (that is even if he wishes to visit Zimbabwe, in the first place). If South Africa is no longer practising apartheid, why should some evangelical maniacs start thinking of “immigration powers” to ban Joshua?
Dr Shana allegedly said that Christianity “should be platform for people to repent, not to die” (which is true), but why should Joshua’s prophecies be said to be “notorious for issuing death” examples? Just less than a week ago, he predicted that another leader would emerge in France, with only three points margin. Did it not happen? Was that about death? The politicians, statesmen, leaders and respected bureaucrats who had been prophesied for, are all over the world, and they are enjoying the blessings of God. What was Dr Shana’s kind of dream and interpretation of the Bible and the pastoral ministry?
The world will be shocked to see that Dr Shana was leading a crusade of persecution against a fellow pastor simply because of politics. Should the truth be murdered simply because some notorious old man is disturbing some political space? What has Africa ever gained from such foolishness over the centuries? Joshua had prophesied many good-fortuned developments for people, and there are evidences in books, journals, ex-publications, magazines, VCDs and DVDs, etc. to illustrate these. The millions of people who come to The SCOAN from all over the world know that “Our God is redemptive”, and His Word cannot be changed on any issue! If Shana and his myopic team are not biased, unorthodox, partisan and judgemental, why condemn a single prophet (out of several thousands all over the world) as if he is ordained to prophetically wrestle the political powers in Zimbabwe? God is truly redemptive, but He wants us to turn away from sins and self-inflicted tribulations, too. How would ritualists in Zimbabwe take Shana’s statement against Joshua? Should true men of God turn their own poisoned arrows and evil swords against another prophet just because he enjoys more universal attention and spiritual applause? What exactly is this crime of Joshua that he must be persecuted by “fellow evangelists”? The truth is that, from the example of Paul, fake and filthy-preaching “pastors” also exist in the world who hate the voice of truth. Elijah, Paul, Peter, Barnabas among several others, were almost battered by fellow gospellers during their time. And even Jesus was called Beezlebub! Great minds do not always enjoy the applause of all people; the facts of envy, hatred, mischief, marginalisation, ethnicity and nationality always create bottlenecks for angelic people. It is historically known that the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai visited The Synagogue, Church Of Nations (The SCOAN), and this, by itself, is creating a lot of discomfort and unease amongst some people, including the political class, who want to nail the man just because of his political differences with Mugabe. But must the work of God be so debased to the extent that political considerations must swallow its essence? If Tsvangirai had invited Joshua, it must be out of patriotism; it must have been engineered by a passion to move his country to a new level. Why should pastors be influenced by the cabinet in Zimbabwe to see Joshua as a politician rather than a prophet? If Joshua has predicted that Mugabe would spend the next 200 years in power, some “pastors” would have decided to invite him to that country for being “a voice of truth” rather than being “the voice of satan”. This is one of the troubles with Christianity – it is a house divided against itself!
Bishop Trevor Manhanga
The “pastors” could not even hide their political inclination on the matter. Bishop Trevor Manhanga, a Zimbabwean leader of the Pentecostal Assemblies argued that “Joshua has no power to change the political landscape in Zimbabwe”, because Tsvangirai’s “political fortunes would not be shaped by T.B. Joshua or any artefacts received from him” Should Joshua stop associating with Tsvangirai just because the Prime Minister has political differences with Mugabe? And why did the Christian leaders choose to foolishly politicise their position as if Jesus asked them to do so? By choosing to hate the Prime Minister and Joshua, have they not compromised their spirituality (if indeed they ever respected Jesus)? And who told these people that Joshua has refrained from praying for Nigeria? Bishop Mahanga spoke of a “burning” Nigeria where Joshua “was doing nothing”. And according to him, Joshua cannot influence “the Zimbabwean political landscape” because “the leadership of the nation of Zimbabwe will be determined by God Almighty, not T.B. Joshua”. This was a Bishop speaking! What does this man teach his congregation? What does he ever preach? Does he truly believe in prayers and prophecies – this is because we have Bishops in the world whose speciality is to do to Jesus what Judas Iscariot also did. Events in Malawi – except if he says so – may never be replicated in Zimbabwe. Why should the fear of Joshua make some people pee in their elaborate cassocks, even if they are bishops?
This Bishop said that the water people receive from The SCOAN “has no significance here and will not serve as a lucky charm to bring them power – politically or otherwise”. This is a Bishop! Shadows, sticks, dead men’s bones, water and mantles had been used by great prophets to achieve good results in the Bible, and these were not necessarily political. Changes had occurred in people’s personal lives (the poor, downcast, blind, lame, hopeless, etc) in the Bible through “materials” anointed by God in the hands of the prophets. It is unbelievers who see such as sheer fiction, and nobody can crucify them for their unbelief. But what of a Bishop leading a congregation? What of Dr Shana and his evangelical heroes who hated to be identified with “artefacts”? Since when have these “pastors” and “leaders of the saints” read their Bibles, for example? What do they preach in Zimbabwe?
Is there anything under Heaven that God cannot do or does not know, including “the outcome of football games”? So those who used the “artefacts” in the Bible (Elijah, Paul, Peter, etc) were not men of God? Did those (miracles and signs and wonders) not help their ministries and mould “people to be better citizens”? Is the Book of Ezekiel or that of Isaiah a lie? Could the Acts of the Apostles and the Synoptic Gospels be wrong? Joshua said, “What the world does not understand, they call names; what they understand, they destroy”. What do we call the attitude of these modern Bishops and their followers?
TB Joshua, persecuted and progressing!
Could it be true that the “Zimbabwean churches were not even afraid of T.B. Joshua’s coming”? Even the dead know that this is exactly the situation. On hearing Joshua, even on screen or radio, some “bishops” would surely defecate in their robes because what they stand to protect always is mischief, colourless hatred, jealousy and wickedness; they remind us of Ahab’s 400 prophets and their long robes. We may never know the exact number of those who attended the Evangelical Fellowship workshop in Zimbabwe, but we were told that the fellowship contains over “100 denominations, churches, para-church movements and individual Christians of the Evangelical persuasion”. Altogether, they must be over 400! Ahab is an African! And his palace is enjoying the presence of the selfish Bible-killing and Gospel-rubbishing pastors who wish to attack Tsvangirai by using Joshua as a tool, an artefact! If Africa remains a backward continent till today, it is because “our men and women in Christ” do not think it virile, progressive and meaningfully developmental to tell the truth to our leaders, as we have seen in Zimbabwe, even when the world knows what is happening in that country! Could that be the kind of attitude preached by Jesus?
It was also said – at a gathering meant to discuss National Day Prayer for Zimbabwe – that people were not afraid of Joshua (one man in a multimillion peopled continent!) and that his presence would “have no bearing on our politics. Our authorities have nothing to fear”. Are these “bishops” and “pastors” fighting for the “authorities” or for Christ?
In the piece, it was even mentioned that the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Cameroon, Eyebe Ayissi condemned Joshua as “a son of the devil masquerading as a man of God”. Salvation is personal, because thousands of Cameroonians besiege The SCOAN every other day for prayers, deliverance and healing. Ayissi was simply speaking for himself and not for Cameroonians, if he had been used to the media, over the years. Joshua’s so-called “diabolical miracles” have been what the world love and they come to share a part of – Americans, Britons, Germans, Russians, fellow Africans, Asians, etc. Ayissi could not have been more knowledgeable than the Presidents, Prime Ministers, National Assembly Members, etc who throng the church, everyday. He is no better than any of them. And it is true, as we all know, that most African position-occupiers depend on their traditional medicines, local charms, para-psychologists, palm readers and ritualists to maintain their positions.
Africans will never find it strange when some politicians – as also did Moyo of Zimbabwe – took up the mandate to attack those ‘anointed’ by Jesus to do His work.
This also relates to one pastor Godwin Chitsinde of the Spoken Word Ministries who said Joshua’s political interest was rather “too excessive”. How do we judge the veracity of this?) Is Joshua a politician? Has he ever contested for an election? Is he planning to? The man said Joshua does not qualify as a prophet? Who then is a prophet to Chitsinde? How will envy and jealousy – which even Satanists cannot talk of – assist the work of God to grow?
He said Joshua’s visit to Zimbabwe (if it even does take place) “is not good for the nation considering his interest in politics. We have no problem if he comes on another day but we say no when it is an important day like this one”. And listen also to Pastor Vukani Dhladha of the Abiding Hope Ministries. “Prophecy is not about telling someone his phone number or the colour of his underwear but it is about the Word of God. We do not need him here because we have our own reputable apostles and what riles us is that he is coming on a partisan ticket without consulting the churches.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai
In God’s own name, of what use are these “pastors” in the work of God? They could not even hide their minds of mischief, hatred and envy, yet they have ministries over which they preside. How did the issue of “phone number or the colour of underwear” influence the idea of a National Day of Prayer in Zimbabwe? Also, how could a true pastor speak of having their own “reputable apostles” as if Jesus is limited to Zimbabwe? Is Jesus not of the entire human race? There are terrible problems with Christendom – to the extent that even the omnipotent image of Christ is reduced to the size of Zimbabwe. And all these spiritual clowns and never-do-wells call themselves “pastors”? And just because Joshua must be stopped from travelling to Zimbabwe? He is said to be partisan because he is a friend to the Prime Minister, but has he ever acted and prophesied negativity because of his ‘love’ or ‘hatred’ for anybody? Is Christianity about politics? Is Christianity only about Zimbabwean National Day? Or the regime that is in place over there?
Sarkozy beaten by Hollande by approximately 3 points
These “pastors” have no business to be preaching the word, but should be transporting yams for sale in other countries because they stand against what Jesus preaches through the Holy Book; they are antagonistic, unfriendly, myopic, sectional and lack deep knowledge of the Word. This is where The SCOAN has kept trying to bring a change to Christendom. Most of these “pastors” have refused to be born again because envy and hatred will not allow them to understand the way of Christ; they are still besieged by satanic sensibilities and they revolt against the Gospel. These “pastors” have revealed to the world that they are disloyal and unfaithful to Christ, and swim in odious misconceptions about the Word. How limited can they be in religious matters, especially prophecies? That Joshua recently prophesied that Sarkozy would be replaced by another person, did not mean he is a friend to Hollande; or how could Christ be said to be limited in his form of friendship? Who, then, are the ‘diabolical’ and ‘agents of satan’? Why should Joshua’s hatred become a national affair in Zimbabwe? Why should some debased ‘pastors’ insist on misleading Zimbabweans and their chosen path to true Chrsitianity? Are Christians not supposed to be united instead of being separated, hateful, jealous? These “palace pastors” are doing much damage to Christ and His body because He preached tolerance, unity, love, forbearance, understanding and humility. What do these hypocritical evangelical touts teach people in Zimbabwe? Deceit? Hypocrisy? Indiscipline? Pride? Mischief?
What Joshua has done in the lives of people, through God’s anointing, has not been done for Zimbabweans by all these “pastors” and their funny spirituality. And we are talking of millions of widows, widowers, the poor, jobless, helpless, sick, and spiritually trapped. These “pastors” have a role to watch more of Emmanuel TV to know what their exact work should be in Zimbabwe and other places, if their world is not polluted by the devil and the acrobats of ritual bigots. Enough is enough!
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