In the mid-1800s, in the rural community of Aridigi in present-day Ondo State, a certain Balogun Okoorun, who was a warrior and farmer, had prophesied that from that rustic area would emerge a man who would be powerful, famous and have a large following all over the world.
Temitope Balogun (later to be called TB Joshua) was born a century later on 12 June 1963. TB Joshua’s father was Pa Kolawole Balogun from Osin Quarters, Imo, Arigidi, Akoko and his mother, Madam Folarin Aisha Adesiji Balogun, hailed from Ede, Agbaluku Quarters, both in Ondo State, Nigeria. The circumstances surrounding his birth were extraordinary.
“Unlike other babies, I spent 15 months in my mother’s womb! Even though my mother visited some medical centres for check-ups, the baby refused to come out. My mother carried me for 15 months until she was taken to Egbe Medical Hospital where I was at last delivered.”
Eight days after TB Joshua’s supernatural birth, a remarkable event preceded his naming ceremony.
“On the day of the naming ceremony, people gathered with extraordinary excitement over the birth of a baby who had remained in his mother’s womb for 15 months. One would imagine the huge numbers of people that would gather for such a miraculous occasion!
We lived close to a site where rocks were blasted for water in my community. Suddenly one of the stones flew from across the blast site, through the roof of my house and landed on the baby net where I was laid. Miraculously, something took me away from that spot, and the net on which I was lying immediately caught fire from the heat of the stone. It even threw my mother into a coma and she was suddenly rushed to hospital.
At that moment, the visitors who came for the naming ceremony abruptly went into awe and confusion. With that shock, people started giving me various names to demonstrate their excitement and surprise over the wonder and miracle that took place.”
When it was finally time to name the baby, Joshua’s parents chose ‘Temitope’, which means ‘What You (God) have done for me is worthy of thanks’.
From Joshua’s early childhood years, signs of unusual spiritual gifts had become increasingly apparent.
“I was so little before the death of my father. Consequently, I knew nothing about my late father and the entire family burden rested squarely on my mother’s shoulders. In my dreams, I was always taught the Scriptures, which gave me an edge over my colleagues in school. I was the smallest in the class but always led the prayer during school devotions. My colleagues and teachers always called me “small pastor”. During my elementary education, at St. Stephen’s Anglican Primary School in Agbalaku, Arigidi, I was a leader of the Students’ Christian Fellowship.”
One particular incident from those early days clearly signalled the supernatural ministry that lay ahead. A madman came to the school with a cutlass, causing pupils and teachers alike to run away in fear. However, the ‘small pastor’ confidently approached the madman and commanded him to hand over the cutlass in Jesus’ name – and the madman did.
“I found myself in a simple and humble family background. In those early years of my life, I knew I would be blamed for whatever I gave my attention to. Consequently, I did not want my focus to be broken. I continued to choose to direct my focus on what is right and anytime I felt I was missing my focus, it became a very strong motivation to pray and be closer to God. The more I prayed, the less people would see me and the more isolated I became. This affected all of my social life. In those days, my colleagues and age-mates complained that I was not social and civilized enough like them. In this way, wrong became an incentive that drew me closer to God, instead of otherwise. If you make a mistake, don’t run from God; run to Him.”
TB Joshua’s secondary school experiences were marked by enormous challenges, despite his academic brilliance.
“In my spiritual walk with God I have experienced both good and hard times. Who knows what would have happened if those temporary stops did not come at intervals? Consider how my education suffered epileptic fits. I attended six different colleges in less than one year, not because I was not smart in school. Today I was in school, the next day I was out, especially for want of money.
I don’t want to call it poverty because children of destiny can never be poor, though they may experience temporary lack. Before I knew it, I had gone around six different colleges in less than one year. I enrolled for JAMB four times and on each occasion, it was either I forgot my acknowledgement card and other necessary documents or there was an accident on the way to the examination venue. People who saw what was happening to me simply attributed my predicament to either sin or non-seriousness on my part. But rather than despair and blame my situation on family background, I began to take God at His Word in order to have His way.”
TB Joshua managed to gain late entry into a Muslim college known as Ansar-Ud-Deen Grammar School, Ikare, near his hometown. However, Joshua was there for only a few months before his academic ambitions again hit the rocks of disappointment because of insufficient funds.
Lying on top of a cassava truck, Joshua hitchhiked a four-day ride from Ondo to Lagos. In Lagos Joshua struggled to make a living, engaging in menial jobs such as disposing of chicken dung at a nearby poultry farm. Amidst repeated disappointments in academic pursuits, he attempted to join the Nigerian military.
“I could still remember vividly when I sat for and passed the entrance examination into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. I was invited for the interview and I had to board the train from Lagos to Kaduna. Behold, on our journey, the train developed some serious faults that kept us in the bush in Jebba for six horrible days with little or no provision. This was how the ambition to enlist into the military was aborted by what was obviously an act of fate. Who knows what would have happened if I had successfully attended that interview? I actually felt very bitter that I had missed another chance of making it in life.”
Returning to his village despondent and discouraged, he recounts his mother’s comforting words: “My son, do not mind the seeming appearance of things as of today. Do not be afraid of what the future holds for you. So be patient and you would see what God would do in your life. I am so sure of your future breakthrough, considering the strength of the predictions/prophecies about you even before you were born. I cannot forget so easily what I experienced when I was pregnant with you and I know God cannot lie. My son, whatever you may be going through today, just take it as a temporary setback which is meant to prepare you for the challenges ahead. Don’t forget your name is ‘Temitope’ and, by the grace of God, the whole world shall have cause to thank God for your sake.”
The Holy Spirit instructed TB Joshua to undertake a prolonged time of seeking God’s face on a prayer mountain near his hometown of Arigidi. After fasting and praying for 40 days and 40 nights, he experienced a heavenly vision.
“I was in a trance for three consecutive days. Then I saw a hand that pointed a Bible to my heart and the Bible entered my heart and my former heart seemed to immerse with the Bible immediately. Then the awareness came and I saw the apostles and prophets of old with someone whose head I could not see because He was tall to the Heaven and suspended, which I believe was our Lord, Jesus Christ, sitting in their midst. I also saw myself in their midst. After a while, I saw a hand of the same tall man; I could not behold His face, which was glittering with an unimaginable light, tall to the high Heavens and suspended in the air. But other apostles, I could see their faces, particularly Apostles Peter and Paul, Prophets Moses, Elijah and others. Their names were boldly written on their chests.
I heard a voice saying, ‘I am your God; I am giving you a divine commission to go and carry out the work of the Heavenly Father’. At the same time, the same hand of the tall man gave me a small cross and a big Bible, bigger than the one that entered my heart, with a promise that as I keep pressing in His time and name, I would be given a bigger cross but if I failed the opposite would occur. I also heard the voice of the same tall man (I could not see His head), saying, ‘I am the Lord your God who was and who is – Jesus Christ’, giving orders to all the apostles and prophets. The same voice said to me, ‘I will show you the wonderful ways I will reveal myself through you, in teaching, preaching, miracles, signs and wonders for the salvation of souls’. Since then, I have been receiving in my vision, every year according to my faithfulness to God, a bigger cross that means to me more responsibilities.
“Right from the beginning of my ministry, I have been staying close to nature. Nature enhances spirituality.”
An abandoned swampy area in Agodo-Egbe, Lagos was where the young prophet with a divine commission burning in his heart spent countless days in prayer, fasting and solitude.
After returning from a visit to The Synagogue of Old in Jerusalem, Israel – where Jesus Christ ministered during His earthly ministry – Prophet TB Joshua was inspired by God to start a church. With just eight members, the church was prophetically named ‘The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations’. Laying the foundation for the first church in 1989, he walked joyfully among the first set of members, who were seated under trees in the open air.
“My coming to your midst is just to lay a foundation. I am here to lay a foundation, that today we start The Synagogue here! The Synagogue has started here! I have come to launch a good foundation for the church. You should know that this man always says things in proverbs.”
When the first three church structures were destroyed by adverse weather and the number of worshippers began increasing exponentially, the Holy Spirit instructed TB Joshua to move to a new location about two miles away. Thus, in 1994, the church moved to Ikotun-Egbe, the current location of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations!
“In the College of God, however brilliant you may be, you will not be given double promotion; you will take every course. My first church with eight children – without a roof – was blown off by a storm. That was a stage. The second church was washed away by a flood; that was another stage. The third church also collapsed; that was yet another stage. Shall we say all these happened without God’s knowledge? No. In every situation, God is still saying something, which we may not understand because of our inability to understand the things of the Spirit.”
Like everything in the life of TB Joshua, meeting his wife, Evelyn, was also by divine arrangement. As news of a young prophet who “spoke the mind of God” continued to spread, people came to seek divine intervention and Heavenly counsel from him. Evelyn, a young woman from Delta State, Nigeria, was among those who came but the prophecy she received was unique indeed. In their first conversation, before any formal introduction, he wrote her name on a piece of paper. After prophetically revealing many details of her life, the remarkable 45-minute conversation ended with a marriage proposal and there was a heart agreement. It was later he told her that he had seen their divine union in a vision days before their first meeting. Evelyn has been an avid supporter of her husband’s ministerial journey, accompanying him on numerous international charitable events and crusades. Their happy union of 31 years has been blessed with three beautiful daughters: Serah, Promise and Heart.
Serah Oyindamola Joshua, Esq. has a Bachelor of Laws from London School of Economics, a Master of Laws from New York University School of Law and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Promise graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with a BSc. in Politics and International Relations and studied a Dual Master of Public Administration at LSE and Columbia University, New York. Heart, the youngest daughter is still in high school.
From the very outset, the supernatural power of God was evident in every service at The SCOAN. As the news of the miraculous move of God’s power spread, coupled with countless testimonies of divine healing, supernatural deliverance and prophetic accuracy, Ikotun-Egbe began attracting visitors from across the globe – people who were hungry to see God’s power.
True to its prophetic name, The SCOAN rose from eight members to become “Nigeria’s biggest tourist attraction.”
Figures released by the Nigerian Immigration Service show that six out of every ten foreign travellers coming into Nigeria are bound for The SCOAN. The popularity of the church has resulted in an enormous boost for local businesses and hoteliers, as well as an increase in flight routes to Lagos from several countries.
“In our ministry here, The SCOAN, the Word has been a living and growing force. It is not our logic; it is not our philosophy; it is not our knowledge; it is not our preaching but the Living Word. The mighty One that is in us is taken out of the Word, Jesus Christ. As we begin to do the Word, it begins to do in us and through us. He is with me in the Living Word.”
“They told me that miracles were banned on national TV. I removed my programme from all the stations. I went to The Prayer Mountain and God said, “I am aware. I want you to discover yourself. Open a channel and call it Emmanuel TV.”
In March 2006, Emmanuel TV was launched, bringing Prophet TB Joshua’s God-given ministry directly into homes across the world. Emmanuel TV’s popularity exploded online with the ministry’s multiple-language YouTube channels accumulating more than one billion video views and TB Joshua’s official Facebook Page followed by more than six million people. Videos of his ministration have been translated into more than 100 different languages, with Emmanuel TV rising to become the most viewed Christian television channel worldwide.
T.B. Joshua’s global outreach went beyond televangelism to multiple international crusades that filled Olympic stadiums and other large venues in Botswana, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Dominican Republic and Israel’s Nazareth.
“The SCOAN started with the giving ministry. The giving ministry has been part of our ministry right from the beginning. The two cannot be separated. What comes from our ministry goes to the other ministry in terms of support, finance, gifts or welfare.”
Since the emergence of the ministry, TB Joshua has spearheaded multiple humanitarian projects touching areas such as disaster relief, community support, scholarship provision and welfare for the less privileged. In TB Joshua’s words, “I am not a superstar but a man of the people.” Under the prophet’s direct leadership, the Emmanuel TV Team and Partners reach out to a troubled world, regardless of continent, nationality, religion, race, tongue or tribe in countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Indonesia, Russia, Lithuania, UK, USA, Haiti, the Philippines, India, Ecuador, South Africa, Botswana, and Israel, to mention a few.
From rebuilding a school in Ecuador after an earthquake, rehabilitating repentant militants from Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta region and setting up a medical clinic in Haiti after an earthquake to restoring electricity to an entire region in Ondo State which had been in darkness for four years, providing less privileged children with education by building Emmanuel School, Lahore Pakistan and supporting thousands of deportees and victims of human trafficking, Prophet TB Joshua’s philanthropic acts transcend race and religion. Passionately committed to the idea that we should spend more on others and less on ourselves, T.B. Joshua’s mission of love touched every strata of society – widows, orphans, the physically challenged, little people, the poor and downtrodden, the sick and the afflicted. There was also focus on COVID Relief in countries all over the world, hard hit by the virus and its consequential economic impact.
Recognised as one of Africa’s 50 Most Influential People, Prophet TB Joshua is the recipient of various international accolades for philanthropic activities, notably Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by the Nigerian Government in 2008, Yoruba Man of the Decade and Order of Merit from the Government of Paraguay in 2017. In 2016, in the iconic Monumental Stadium, Lima, Peru, he was presented with the key to the City of Lima by Mayor Elias Bautista. Also, in 2017, the historic crusade in the national stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic culminated in an award presented by a delegation from Congress for his outstanding contributions to humanity. Upon the opening of a school in Ecuador, government representatives from Quito as well as the armed forces and the ministry of education awarded the prophet with a Commendation of Honour for his humanitarian services to Ecuador. Moreover, following the historic Nazareth Meeting held at Mount Precipice, Nazareth in 2019, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism declared Prophet TB Joshua Tourism Goodwill Ambassador for Israel. Similarly, in appreciation of the historic visit that brought peace to his nation, the President of the Republic of South Sudan awarded Prophet TB Joshua with the key to the nation of the Republic of South Sudan in 2021.
“God is more powerful, majestic at distance but it depends on the state of your heart.”
Seeing these present times as an opportunity to prove that God is more powerful in distance, Prophet TB Joshua launched The Distance Is Not A Barrier Interactive Prayer Sessions. Since 2020, thousands have connected from their homes in every corner of the globe via video call to the Emmanuel TV Studios in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa and received healing and deliverance. Among the countless testimonies that followed these programmes were those of patients in isolation centres in Honduras who received prayer from Prophet TB Joshua from the Emmanuel TV Studios. Two days before God took him home, Prophet TB Joshua had on Thursday, June 3rd 2021, prayed for patients at an isolation centre in India during an interactive prayer session. After the prayer, all the patients testified that they had been healed by the power of God and they returned home after a few days.
“A prophet shall say that which he shall live to see accomplished.”
Used throughout the years as a mouthpiece of God, speaking forth what God had revealed about individuals, his nation and the world, Prophet TB Joshua gave countless prophecies that he lived to see come to pass. His prophetic ministry spanned the world, touching every aspect of life, revealing the outcome of political campaigns and notable sport events. Through this power of prophecy, countless lives have been touched, families reconciled and hope restored as the secrets of men’s hearts were brought to light.
On Saturday, June 5th 2021, TB Joshua gave a prophetic word. However, this time it was regarding his own departure from this world. It was on that same day that God took home His servant, TB Joshua – as it should be, by divine will. He had spoken in parables to a gathering of Emmanuel TV Partners at The SCOAN Prayer Mountain in Lagos, Nigeria: “There is a time for everything – a time to come here and a time to return home after service.” After leaving the service, TB Joshua sat down in a nearby room and immediately went home to be with the Lord. He spent his last moments on earth in the service of God, for this is what he was born for, lived for and died for.
In TB Joshua’s own words, “The greatest way to use life is to spend it on something that will outlive it.” Indeed, he left a legacy of service and sacrifice to God’s Kingdom that is living for generations yet unborn.
“I know you may ask, “How would I have known that this documentary would be relevant to this generation and even beyond? If not God, how would I have known to keep this record? Certainly, this could not have been a human act. The act is not mine but God’s – it is an act of God. He has a time for everything: a time to grow, a time to face persecution, a time to overcome and a time to show the proceeds of victory (Ecclesiastes 3:1).”