TB Joshua’s 2011 Boko Haram prophecy revisited

This week, Boko Haram burned alive 80 men, women and children. Does anyone remember what TB Joshua had to say about the crisis back in the 2011 Candlelit service? Watch the video below to find out.

This is one prophecy that we wish TB Joshua had got right. But unfortunately he couldn’t have been more mistaken. Since then, Boko Haram have only escalated their campaign of terror, and the death toll has been devastating. The horrific events of this week is just the latest example.

When TB Joshua’s prophecies coincide with reality, his followers claim that this is proof of his divine gift. SCOAN release cleverly edited videos bragging about their accuracy. However, they keep very quiet when his prophecies turn out to be completely wrong.

SHOCKING! TB Joshua lied about his Abuja bomb prediction

On Monday the 14th April, dozens, if not hundreds of people lost their lives in a massive bomb attack in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. For most pastors and religious leaders, this is a time of mourning. A time to reach out the bereaved to comfort them and pray for them. Not so TB Joshua. For TB Joshua, even a tragedy on his own doorstep is fair game for exploitation. Hours after this horrific attack, SCOAN edit together a video proudly claiming that TB Joshua had predicted it. In the video he claims (to audible gasps of horror): “Listen to me, my people in Nigeria. Once again, take note of this: Our security should be vigilant. I am seeing a very big strike — explosion. They should take care of Abuja — capital.”

We have managed to track down the unedited version of this prophecy, given on the 10th November 2013. As usual, a critical aspect of the prophecy has been edited out (see the bold text).

Listen to me, my people in Nigeria. Once again, take note of this: Our security should be vigilant. I am seeing a very big strike — explosion. Towards the end of this month, or the middle of next month they should take care of Abuja, capital.

Based on this, the bomb was meant to happen towards the end of November and the middle of December. It happened on the 14th April.

But he predicted a bombing in Abuja, and one happened! Isn’t that enough?

No! Prophecies are words from the all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient God. Real prophecies are not 5 months wrong with their dates. Real prophecies glorify God, not the prophet. Real prophecies bring people to repentance. TB Joshua’s prophecy does none of this, and due to the current situation in Nigeria it was certain to “come true” given enough time. This “prophecy” was given on November the 10th. Just one day before on November the 9th, Reuters reported that “Intelligence available indicates that the terrorists were in the process of finalizing plans to carry out simultaneous suicide attacks in Abuja and Kano” (source). As usual, all TB Joshua was doing was reporting the news, dressed up as prophecy.

It’s time Nigerians stop standing for this nonsense. This man is making a mockery of a national tragedy and exploiting it for his own gain. As Deuteronomy 18:22 says “If the prophet speaks in the LORD’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared“. TB Joshua does not need to be feared, he needs exposing. 

Links:

The full, edited video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsrk_Z48r0
The full, original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-YOCZEp-0

TB Joshua’s US Election dilemma

How the polls looked around the time of TB Joshua’s first prediction

Back in May, TB Joshua faced a huge dilemma.  The US elections were fast approaching, but polls were showing it to be a very close race. This was going to be the biggest news story of the year though, so he HAD to predict something. He couldn’t possibly miss this opportunity to show off his prophetic prowess to the world.

What is he to do? If he guesses one outcome over the other he might get it wrong, then he will have no video to release. It will be too high profile an event to do a video editing hatchet job like he’s often done before. In this case, whatever he says – people will remember and hold him to it.

It’s just too close a call. How can he possibly get out of this one?

Unless…. Yes. That might work. It may be too close an election to guess the outcome, but one thing is certain – it will be a very close election! The polls have made that quite clear.

So that’s what he did. He predicted the “battle would be very, very close” *.

So Ladies and Gentlemen, for your own amazement amusement – here is Mr Joshua’s incredible prediction:

* He may have waffled on about a few other issues as well, but the only prediction related to the outcome of the election was that it will be a close battle.

Read more on TB Joshua’s fake prophecies in the following posts:

• The self serving motive behind TB Joshua’s “prophecies”
• The tricks behind TB Joshua’s prophecies: revealed!
• God speaks through Emmanuel TV!
• Proof that TB Joshua DID NOT predict the Colorado shooting
• US Cinema Shooting: another tragedy, another fake ‘prophecy’ from TB Joshua
• TB Joshua and his Champions League prediction

President Bingu wa Mutharika is dead. Did TB Joshua predict this?

 Since the recent death of Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika, the internet has been alive with claims that TB Joshua predicted it. The claims referred to a prophecy which TB Joshua gave during a live service on Sunday 5th February 2012. Numerous rumours were circulated about the time period of the prophecy; many believed he said this head of state would die within 60 days. SCOAN denied that there was any timescale given with the prophecy, which I expect they are regretting now since Mutharika died precisely 60 days later.

In this article, we aim to cut through the hysteria surrounding this prophecy to look more closely at the facts and the context.

First of all, we need a reality check:

1. Mutharika has had ill health for a long time, so much so that he was even rumoured to be dead a year ago.
2. Despite popular rumours, TB Joshua did not predict the time frame. Any time up to a year of the prophecy could have fitted.
3. Mutharika was 78 years old. If we were mathematicians we’d be able to calculate the probability of an ill, 78 year old, Malawian male dying within the next year (if anyone is clever enough to do this, please let us know!). If you were to calculate this probability for all heads of state potentially fitting TB Joshua’s prediction, the probability of one of them dying is almost certain.
4. SCOAN clearly stated that TB Joshua “did not say that the prophecy was unchangeable”. Again making this is a win/win prophecy – if it happens he’s a true prophet, if it doesn’t he saved the presidents life.
5. TB Joshua never named the country or the president to allow for specific prayer or support to be given. Why didn’t he name names even when he said he would? Did the death come sooner than God told him? Did he not even know the name at all?

Secondly, the questions should be asked about how much TB Joshua already knew about Mutharika’s state of health. His Vice President Joyce Banda has very publicly expressed her support for TB Joshua in the past and regularly worships at SCOAN in Lagos. She said she visits the church “just the way some Christians visit Israel, or Muslims visit Mecca”, a comment which tells us a lot about how she views TB Joshua. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that TB Joshua had some insider information that Mutharika was already on his death bed. Despite being constitutionally placed to succeed him, Banda was not on the best of terms with Mutharika after falling out with him in 2011 and being expelled from the party, leading some to speculate an even more sinister connection than this, but we’ll leave the conspiracy theories to others.

Finally, the bible makes clear that even if a prophecy seems accurate,  this does not mean it was necessarily from God. The accuracy of a prophetic word is only one factor to consider when weighing the legitimacy of a prophet (which lest we forget, all Christians have a responsibility to do).

So again we must ask the question: What purpose did this prophecy have?

• Was his death prevented? No.
• Did he name the country or president, so specific prayer and support could be given? No (although he said he would).
• Did this bring glory to God? No.
• Did this bring glory and fame to TB Joshua? Yes.

We’ll close the article with a comment from Noah Bishop of Life and Liberty Churches International (source)

“(This prophecy) is unbiblical. There is no biblical precedence to that prophecy. God’s character is not given to inciting or causing confusion, despondency, apprehension or fear in individuals or nations.

In the Bible, when a prophet is given a message regarding an individual’s ill health, death or demise of a leader, whether it is a good leader or bad leader, the prophet is given specific instructions to approach the particular leader and speak directly in the presence of some witnesses.

TB Joshua has caused despondency, fear and apprehension. The prophecy is so general and open to anyone’s interpretation, it is not of God. He is very clever to make vague prophecies and has never been caught to be a false prophet. This guy is just a trouble causer.”

Related posts

• Did TB Joshua predict the London riots?
• Did TB Joshua predict the worldwide protests?
• Did TB Joshua predict Steve Jobs’ death
• Nigeria knocked out of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, and players blame TB Joshua

Nigeria knocked out of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, and players blame TB Joshua

examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good (1 Thess 5:21)

Nigeria versus Guinea

On Saturday the 8th of October, Nigeria’s 2012 African Cup of Nations bid came crashing down, thanks to a 2-2 draw in their match against Guinea. This result has made many Nigerians mad with TB Joshua. Why is this?

The previous Sunday, in a live service TB Joshua made the following claims:

“I was just sitting down and God showed me the game between Nigeria and Guinea next week, What I saw was not favourable towards Nigeria. If at this time we are stopped, it would be very shameful.” Expounding on the match details, he said, “Anyone who scores first takes the day… I am seeing the Guinean side shouting.” (source).

He then finishes the prediction by leading the congregation in a rousing chant (mis)quoting St Augustine “Pray as if it all depends on God, play football as if it all depends on you”.

This is an unusually detailed “prophecy” for TB Joshua. Usually his prophecies are undated, and vague enough that the chance of them being applied to an event in the future is assured (see for example his London riots prediction and his prediction of Steve Jobs’ death). This time however, his prediction related to a clearly stated event (Nigeria versus Guinea), he predicted that it would not be favourable towards Nigeria (it wasn’t!) and that whoever scored first would “take the day” (Guinea scored first, they didn’t win the match but the draw did get them into the finals – “take the day” is vague enough to apply to this scenario).

What should we make of the apparent accuracy of the prediction?

First up, we shouldn’t overstate the accuracy. Really there were only 4 possible outcomes:

1. Nigeria score first and win the game (prediction mainly correct, tables were turned due to prayer)
2. Nigeria score first and lose or draw (prediction partially correct)
3. Guinea score first, Nigeria win (prediction incorrect)
4. Guinea score first, Nigeria lose or draw (prediction correct)

This shows TB Joshua had over a 50% chance of the outcome being favourable to his prediction. The only outcome which would show his prediction entirely wrong would be number 3, but even then he could claim they won thanks to his prayer.

However, the reality is, the outcome did match his prophecy. Maybe he did “see” the game a week before it was played? Does this prove he is a true prophet? Some are claiming that the fact TB Joshua made this public prediction despite it being unfavourable with his fellow countrymen proves that he is a true prophet, not one tickling the itching ears of his followers with whatever it is they want to hear.

The bible clearly shows us that these facts are not enough. In the book of 1 Samuel Saul consults the witch of Endor who accurately predicts that that Israel was going to lose its battle and that Saul and his sons would be killed and Saul’s kingdom handed over to David (1 Samuel 28:5-9, 11-19). This is an accurate prediction, unfavourable to the receiver. It also absolutely was not from God. Even today there are numerous seers, mediums, soothsayers and prophets of different religions and spiritual persuasion who produce accurate predictions. The bible warns us that even some of those who prophecy, perform miracles and drive out demons in Jesus name are not of him (Matt 7:21-23).

What this looks like is another shameless attempt at self publicity. These prophecies as always involve simple binary outcomes (it will be good for Nigeria, or bad for Nigeria, there will be a fire in a place starting with EN or there will not be, an American hero will die or… well actually that one’s fairly certain). These predictions are setup to make TB Joshua the winner no matter the outcome. Imagine Nigeria won the match and got through to the finals, was that a wrong prophecy? No – they won because TB Joshua saw the impending failure, warned them about it and prayed it away. Man of god to the rescue! Alternatively it happens the way he predicted it, proving his prophetic prowess. Unfortunately for TB Joshua the stunt backfired slightly this time. Many Nigerians (including some of the players) hold his prophetic powers with such high regard that they believe his prophecy actually caused the loss. There are even rumours that the Nigerian senate are considering putting through a bill banning TB Joshua from making negative predictions in the future.

There is one thing we can be sure of from these prophecies: they bring a lot of attention to TB Joshua. The big question is: do they bring any glory to God?