A statement from Willem Ouweneel on TB Joshua

Willem Ouweneel is a Dutch biologist, philosopher and theologian and a well know figure in Dutch evangelical circles. In 2002 he visited SCOAN and wrote some positive articles about the experience, strongly endorsing TB Joshua and his ministry. He is probably the best known and most credible evangelical theologian to ever publicly endorse TB Joshua. Even 10 years later, SCOAN regularly put out articles on their numerous blogs using quotes from these articles to promote the ministry. Since Ouweneel had not written anything about TB Joshua for over 10 years, we thought we would get in contact to find out where he currently stands on the issue. He gave us the following statement to publish:

I do not endorse TBJ anymore, because:

1. I have had no contact with SCOAN for more than ten years
2. His irresponsible building activities, which cost more than 160 dear lives I believe  (Editors note: 116 deaths, but many more seriously injured)
3. Very serious rumors about sexual harassment of collaborators.

 

Must read post: Are TB Joshua’s miracles real?

Nigerian blogger Peter Adeosun has just published an excellent article examining one famous “healing video” put out by Emmanuel TV “Walking Dead Returned to Life”, a video we never got round to watching until now. Adeosun points out that the video is actually a composite of 3 videos, video 1 is inside video 2 which is in turn inside video 3.

It’s a video of the full congregation in the church auditorium watching another video on a big screen. The video they’re watching is the recording of a miracle healing session that took place sometime ago. And in the video they’re watching, TB Joshua is talking to a very small group of people (40? 50?) in another venue, a smaller room. The people probably came for healing too. And he himself is talking to this small group of people, running commentaries on the healing of a man afflicted with a skin disease, the healing he did sometime ago.

This kind of complexity makes it difficult to follow along and piece together the timeline, in other words, you are totally at the mercy of their narrative, and it is a perfect way to bury what might otherwise be obvious deception. What honest reason could they have for telling the story in such a convoluted way?

If that’s not suspicious enough, Adeosun goes on to allege (with good evidence) that the man before and after is not in fact the same man. In his article he shows a side by side comparison of the before man’s face and side of head with the after man’s face and side of head, comparing some of the facial features. It is indeed very hard to believe it is the same person. Click the link to go to Adeosun’s site and let us know what you think?

These are the kind of videos that help feed the myth of TB Joshua, slowly people are coming to realise that, much like his edited prophecy videos, there are a lot of tricks at play in these healing videos. Follow the links below for more information.

• The miracles of TB Joshua
• Anna’s story – another victim of TB Joshua’s bogus healing
• TB Joshua’s “raising a man from the dead” video debunked
• Fake claims of healing HIV at SCOAN
• http://peterkeyz.com/tb-joshuas-miracles-real/

TB Joshua fails to prevent Nice attack

Yesterday more than 80 people were killed in Nice, France when a man deliberately drove a large truck into a Bastille Day parade. The Sunday before, TB Joshua predicted an attack (on any country) on Thursday. He then led the congregation in prayers, covering Thursday with the blood of Jesus and praying that God will prevent the attack.

Sadly, the prayers of this “man of God/messiah of our time/Jesus of our generation” were completely unable to prevent this horror. The awful thing is, TB Joshua didn’t really want the attack to be prevented, because then he’d have nothing to release as a fulfillment of the prophecy. He wanted death, terror, blood, horror – he wanted a large news story to tag his vague premonition on to.

There are attacks every day at the moment in Iraq, Syria, South Sudan and Kashmir, so the chances of an attack “somewhere in the world” on a particular day of the week is certain. What if nothing did? No problem – he’d just never mention it again, like the attack on the UK he once predicted. These prophecies are so deceptive because they are framed in a way that makes them unfalsifiable. If something happens, his prophecy was correct, if something doesn’t happen, he predicted it. All you need is a large captive audience, and anyone could do the same thing.

TB Joshua’s pathetic “Brexit” prophecy (Updated)

Dear oh dear… As Britain still reels from the surprise Brexit result, ultra-narcissist prophet TB Joshua can’t bear to miss the chance to ride the wave. The day the result was announced, SCOAN released a video entitled “Prophet TB Joshua Speaks on the EU”. While they didn’t directly claim he predicted Brexit, many African news websites are publishing identical press releases claiming that he did, usually a sign that SCOAN (or one of their bankrolled journalists) is behind it. Here is a full transcript of the “prophecy” which cuts out half way through the word “back”:

“And Euro, we pray for this European community because I saw euro which hold them together will be affected and many country will want to go back.”

First of all, for those readers that may not know – Britain may be held to the EU by a lot of things, but the euro is not one of them. This “prophecy” appears to be talking about countries wanting to go back to their own currency, the UK never left in the first place. Secondly, this is actually the second time he’s wheeled out this vague prediction, the first time was in March 2015 in response to the plummeting value of the Euro (in this video release it included an extra bit at the beginning that made it abundantly clear he was talking about currencies failing, not countries leaving the EU). Finally, in response to those who say “well he predicted something, and it happened!” this “prophecy” was given on the 25th December 2011, just a couple of months after Forbes had claimed that “The European debt crisis is the most urgent crisis facing the global economy” and it was looking likely that Greece would leave the Eurozone. So not so much prophecy, more like regurgitating the news and exploiting the fact that many of his followers don’t keep up with world affairs. 

If he was a prophet of the status he assumes, situations like this give him great opportunities to prove it. Brexit is an unprecidented move, and was largely unexpected. Even after the result of the referendum it’s not 100% certain that the UK will leave, they have to appoint a new Prime Minister first. If God is really chatting to you about these events TB Joshua, and showing you future events “as clearly as if I am watching Emmanuel TV” as you have claimed before, why not bring some clarity to this confusing and unsettling situation? Why not bring the wisdom of God? Why not show an example of where you have accurately predicted something unexpected? This video is nothing short of pathetic, but at least it has given us a good laugh.

UPDATE:

Thanks to General who found the original, here’s a side by side comparison.

Day 2 of trial: Is the SCOAN site about to be demolished?

Lagos State have revealed SCOAN didn’t have a valid building permit for any of their buildings

Day 1 of the criminal trial against SCOAN and their engineers revealed the bombshell that SCOAN had constructed a 6 storey building without the services of a structural engineer. Day 2 (20th June) revealed that SCOAN was only in possession of a single building permit, but that was now invalid:

“The Electronic Document Management System was searched and the only building approval for the church did not cover the site of the collapse building. “The document, a five – storey building approval was meant for the church auditorium but as at the time of the collapse, the church auditorium had gone from five floors to eight floors. “By the Ministry’s definition, the approval the church had for the auditorium is no longer valid and there was no application for approval registered for the collapsed building (emphasis ours, source).

So not a single building at SCOAN has a valid permit. That means none of them will have been properly inspected, and given the shocking revelation that SCOAN seem to think structural engineers are optional, none of these buildings will be safe. According to former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Mr. Olutoyin Adedamola Ayinde “what SCOAN did constituted a breach, thus rendering the earlier approval invalid and the punishment [is] demolition under physical planning laws of Lagos State” (source).

So if Lagos State uphold the law, the entire SCOAN compound has to be bulldozered. If this doesn’t happen, it is only a matter of time before more people are killed. Incredibly, even the SCOAN website documents the fact that this is the forth building collapse they have experienced. On their “About The SCOAN” page, it says “Before moving to our present position, The SCOAN has had three previous locations. The roof of the first church was blown off by a storm, the second church was washed away by a flood while the third church also collapsed due to severe weather conditions.” Buildings built to the correct standards do not get washed away in a flood. We hope and pray those held captive will have an opportunity to leave before things get even more messy or more people lose their life.

Has Hungry Generation been dumped by TB Joshua?

Hungry Generation is a youth ministry in the US which although never an official SCOAN branch, has done a lot to promote his ministry including organising trips to SCOAN and most tragically of all, sending some of their members over to be disciples. Recently it has come to our attention that all the pages on their site about TB Joshua have been removed. They used to have a page all about TB Joshua, calling him “the mighty of God” someone that “God has raised in the last days for the blessings of the nations”. If you go to the same page now, you’ll find it’s been deleted.

Prophet TB Joshua page deleted

Hungry Generation used to advertise trips to SCOAN on their website, that page too has now been deleted.

No more trips to SCOAN from Hungry Generation

The only remaining link to TB Joshua that we can see is the advert for their weekly “anointed water” prayer lines, although we’ve heard from a reliable source that they’re no longer receiving any anointed water from TB Joshua, but instead fill up the old bottles with tap water.

We believe that the split has been initiated from TB Joshua rather than from Hungry Generation, possibly as a result of them inviting “fallen wiseman” John Chi over for a conference, but we have reached out to Hungry Generation for comment, but not received any reply. Either way, it’s less exposure for TB Joshua in the USA which can only be a good thing.

Visits to SCOAN down by as much as 90%

SCOAN auditorium during busier times

A few days ago the trial finally got underway, and day one revealed a massive bombshell. The six storey building that collapsed, was built without the services of a structural engineer. Yes, that’s right – six storeys built without involving anyone who is trained to know whether or not the structure will be safe. This is a major blow to SCOAN that will be hard to recover from, and is likely only the first of many other revelations. 

TB Joshua caught trying to cover up the adultery of his “spiritual son”

Walter Magaya is a popular Zimbawean “prophet” who has several allegations of infidelity against him, one case resulting in the mysterious death of the woman in question. It shouldn’t surprise us then that this is a “spiritual son” of TB Joshua. TB Joshua is of course able to empathise with Magaya’s situation, having multiple allegations of sexual misconduct himself, and yes, some unexplained deaths amongst his followers.

TB Joshua trial off to a “shaky start”

The collapse building that killed 116 people

Yesterday the trial of SCOAN trustees and the building engineers finally made a start, and you’ve got to hand it to SCOAN – they’ve bought top of the range lawyers. Finally a use for all the money TB Joshua has snaffled away in offshore accounts. No sooner had the first witness taken to the stand, and SCOAN lawyers objected due to the fact they had not been provided with the witnesses statement in advance. Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo upheld the argument, insisted all witness statements should be served to them, and adjourned the matter until June the 1st.

Delusional TB Joshua claims he saw the EgyptAir crash before it happened

Lots of people on social media and in our comments section were wondering when TB Joshua would release a video claiming he had predicted the EgyptAir crash, but it never came. Until the live Sunday service, when the pressure of not having any footage that matched a major plane crash became too much.