The undiluted word of God has been taken over by the prosperity message being propounded by Kenneth Copeland and the likes which has now shamelessly reverberated across Europe and Africa. People do not worship God in Spirit and in
truth but now lean on their own understanding of what is good and just. The congregation is called onto give thousands within 24 hours in order to reap ten fold. The church is now operating as a National Lottery Company where people go on to stake money in order to win vast amounts of money. The Church being a charity is exempted from paying taxes as such we all expect the church to be more involved in caring for both the physical and spiritual needs of the people.
We should endeavour to follow the foot steps of the orthodox churches because as missionaries they came down to Africa and made it a point to establish schools, health centres and hostels for caring of the destitute and the physically disabled in society. To be candid, most of our educated men and women in Africa who parade around with big titles benefited immensely from these churches. What have we also done to improve the quality of life to our kith and kin? I want the giants or the so called giants of the Pentecostal churches to start moving in the direction of investing in the welfare of their congregation and beyond, instead of becoming experts on fund raising. Fundraising has now become a
calling for some pastors and this is quite disturbing indeed. Competition is rife among pastors each wanting to undo each other in both dressing and the number of cars and planes they have. A famous pastor in Ghana while opening a branch of his Church in Kumasi, Ghana had this to say, “No matter how rich you are in my church, I will not allow you to intimidate me with your wealth because you cannot even buy the perfume I use not to talk of the attire I wear,” he told the congregation at the church located at Abrepo. Hear him again, “As a Christian, you should wear the best of clothing, drive in expensive cars, and live in comfortable houses so that the glory of God could be seen in your life because the God you worship is very expensive,” he intimated. If this is a mentality of a man of God, then I plead with the God Almighty forgive us and deliver us from our sins. I am not writing to castigate this mighty man of God but every thing must be examined in the light of God’s word. Let’s ask ourselves, are his words biblical and in accordance with God’s word? With thatin mind we can get the answer. In London, I have virtually seen pastors begging visiting pastors from Nigeria and elsewhere to be their father in the Lord, some to the extent of
paying huge amount of monies for that purpose in order for to preach on the platforms of these maga pastors and to be introduced to their foreign contacts. A visiting pastor who used to frequent London from Wari, Nigeria on preaching engagements, stopped coming to London for a very long time because he fell out with the pastor of the largest African Charismatic church in London for referring to Eddie Long as his father in Christ, because according to him he helped him a great deal when he left the Four Square Church that brought him to London to form his now mega church in Walthamstow, London. This pastor has now resurfaced after many years of absence but still refuses to preach for this pastor in question. We Christians have forgotten the love of God that surpasses all understanding. We don’t have the love of God in us, darkness has overshadowed the light in us and unless we expunge the darkness in us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (light) in us through prayers and the forgiveness of our sins we shall continue to be defeated souls. Let the love of God reign in us. Let us emulate Christ as Paul admonishes us to do. We should also pray for our jet flying pastors with flamboyant lifestyles who have joined the ministry with the sole purpose of making financial gains in the mist of squalor and poverty among the general population.
Though we Pentecostals or charisma tics lambast and make a mockery of the Catholics and the other churches, we have not been able to be in the fore front of outdoing them in giving to the needy. The only notable example of a giving Prophet is T.B. Joshua. He stands over and above his compatriots. Giving has become part of his life and that of his ministry. He as a pastor does not vilify the Catholic Church or any other faith but insist on people having a personal relationship with the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of glory. To examine whether a pastor is genuine or not, listen to his preaching and whether it is in accordance with the word of God and also ask God whether the person is really called by Him. God will definitely give you an answer. Don’t rely on man to give you the answer.
In concluding the series, I paste an article by the world renowned Bible scholar and a prominent lawyer in New Zealand, Bill Subritzky, who led a team of seven of his church members to Lagos to examine the ministry of T.B. Joshua. Read below
As an evangelist who has proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in many nations for the past 30 years and operated in the power of the Holy Spirit, I can assure you that the healings that we were received were not the work of hypnosis and shamanism. Why don’t you go there yourself and check the situation out?
You say that on your Truth Watch website there are articles by leading Christian apologists and teachers who have been to Joshua’s church and tested what he teaches and does against the bible. I can find no such apologists and teachers upon your website. To the contrary, on websites such as http://www.carmel-uk.org/stoke_report.htm there are testimonies of some of those who have been there, who have seen healings and confirmed that this is the work of God. [Note: Carmel Ministries International have approached Truth Watch, and have informed us that they no longer endorse the Ministry of TB Joshua. Therefore the link referred to by Bill Subritzky no longer exists on their website]
You mentioned Joshua’s statement that he was born with a gift of healing and you say that no gift of the Spirit is bestowed at birth. In 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul recalls a gift of faith that was first in Timothy’s grandmother Lois and in his mother Eunice. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mothers womb (Luke 1:15). They were obviously born with this gift of faith. In my own family five of my sixteen grandchildren have the same gift of faith as did my own mother. How can you say that God cannot grant gifts that go down through the generations?
In Jeremiah 1:4-5 God said about Jeremiah who was a herdsman “I said that before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you, I ordained you a prophet to the nations”.
You quote Joshua as saying that he claims to separate the sheep from the goats. In actual fact in commenting on identifying false miracle workers and the genuine ministers of God he says “I think we should leave that one to God who will separate the sheep from the goats at the appointed time”. That was his comment.
In regard to your comment that he says that the “divine in him appears to people in their dreams”. Joshua’s reply is that this is gross misinformation and most misleading. He has never said anything like that. He points out Jesus Christ is omnipresent, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent “where shall I go from the Spirit, where I can flee from your presence” (Psalm 139:7). This is what he is referring to and not himself.
In Acts 19:11-12 it states that unusual miracles occurred by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were bought from his body to the sick and diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. In the 30 years of my own ministry I have seen this happen many times. Furthermore I have seen it happen when I have prayed over other articles of clothing. God is not limited. Jesus Christ spat on the ground to make mud to heal the blind. Elijah instructed the leper to go to the River Jordan to be washed and be cleansed of his leprosy. By the rod of Moses waters were turned into blood, the frogs came on the land of Egypt, lice filled Egypt. The mantle of Elijah divided the waters, and in the hair of Samson there was power. When the angel stirred up the water in the pool of Bethesda whoever stepped in first was healed in the waters. There was power on the hem of Jesus’ garment. Why should there not be power in water which has been prayed over by Joshua?
Accordingly when Joshua prays over the water and people drink it, it is not surprising that massive deliverance occurs as the power of the Holy Spirit flows. You call it all sorts of disorder and say that disorder should be foreign to God’s people. Obviously you have overlooked Acts 8:6-7 “And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.” There was plenty of disorder there when the unclean spirits came out of them.
You refer to the fact that he calls fire from heaven and mention Revelation 13:13. However, this scripture says satan makes fire come down from heaven in the sight of man. Joshua is not doing this. In Matthew 3:11 we are told that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. Obviously it is reference to spiritual fire and not physical fire. Again in the ministry of deliverance, I have called fire down by the power of the Holy Spirit, tremendous manifestations and have taken place and demons have left people.
You ask me to exegetically review various scriptures most of which refer to false prophets and false signs and wonders as well as the preaching of another Jesus and leading people into error. As I said already our group went to Nigeria to thoroughly test what we had already seen on the videos and heard about Joshua.
While we were there we heard the name of Jesus Christ being constantly raised up, as well as the need for repentance and salvation. We heard dozens of testimonies from people who had repented and who had come to Jesus Christ, sin constantly preached against and the people exhorted to go and sin no more. In Joshua we found a man of humility, dedicated to the work of the Lord and operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. We saw the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the thousands attending there. As we spoke to many of them we found people disciplined in their study of the bible, exhibiting the love, joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God pervaded the place.
Another brother and myself spent an hour with Joshua going over his doctrine and thoroughly satisfying ourselves concerning it. Before leaving he prayed for all members of our team and since then we have all known an even greater anointing of the Holy Spirit and the presence and power of God in our lives.
On the basis of what we have personally seen and heard as opposed to hearsay evidence, we clearly state that he is not a false prophet, nor a shaman but a true man of God. We have seen the evidence both in his approach to scripture and the fruit of the ministry.
In 2 Timothy 3:3 and 5 we read that in the last times there will be those who are slanderers having a form of godliness but denying the power of God. We are told to turn away from such people. This is a warning to us all not to deny the power of God. If we are going to judge other ministries let us not rely on hearsay evidence and prejudice but rather go to the person themselves and hear what the Lord has to say about them.
In Matthew 7:1 onwards we are warned by Jesus not to judge that we be not judged. Before we entered into judgment on Joshua we went and looked and listened for ourselves. We commend this course of action to you.
Eight weeks ago a man was raised from the dead when Joshua prayed for him at the Church of the Synagogue. The whole event was videoed at the time and this video is now available.
The prime accuser against Joshua has been a former pop musician turned preacher called Chris Okotie. He has published many allegations which are complete falsehoods. Other critics of Joshua have picked up on these allegations and circulated them around the world.
Attached you will find the report of the Religious Monitoring Board of Lagos. This Board made a request to the Lagos State Government and Federal Government of Nigeria to investigate the allegations made against Joshua by Reverend Chris Okotie and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. This revealed that there was no such substance in the allegations and the Government pronounced a verdict of innocence.
The government then issued warnings to Reverend Okotie and his Pentecostal Fellowship group to desist from their falsehood, unfounded, mischievous and malicious attacks, laden with blatant lies against Joshua.
You will note that the Religious Monitoring Group has monitored the Church of the Synagogue since 1993 and found nothing unusual or unbiblical in the practice, doctrine, teaching and made of worship of the church. It commends the life of Joshua as worthy of emulation and states that his anointing is of absolute righteousness and holiness which many of the Nigerian Pentecostal churches lack.
Reverend Okotie’s wife is now filing for divorce because of his adultery.
It is clear that this report is a complete vindication of the ministry of Prophet Joshua.
I am attaching a report from a leading Dutch theologian Professor Willem Ouweneel who holds doctorates in biology, philosophy and theology. He lectures in Universities in Switzerland, Holland, South Africa and Germany. Contrary to the commentators whom you quote, he has in fact visited the Church of the Synagogue and you will find that even though he comes from a brethren background he is totally supportive of T.B. Joshua and vindicates his theology.
We would also refer you to www.theremnant.com On this website you will find unequivocal proof from an independent commentator of the healings from HIV and other conditions at the Church of the Synagogue through Prophet Joshua.
There are 15 videos available showing the ministry of Joshua and various healing miracles. As I have already said, they are available on my website www.doveministries.com where you will find details of these videos. Anybody interested in the ministry of Joshua should watch these videos to arrive at their own conclusion.
God Bless
Bill Subritzky
Watching TB Joshua 