It was only three days before Christmas and expectedly, the ambience in ‘The Arena of Liberty’ reflected the colours of the season. From their stand, The SCOAN Choir dished out songs of praise and worship that echoed around the world. “Holy Spirit breathe in me,” they began. Thereafter, they asked the Holy Spirit to take more of the people and give them more of Himself. “Abba Father!” they also sang in praise, preparing the hearts of the people for a life changing encounter with Jesus.
The sermon, titled ‘Measure Your Life By Your Love For God’ began with the Bible’s assertion that only the virtue of love can set faith to work, thereby pleasing God. Prophet T.B. Joshua read from 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV): “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” He said that love conquers evil and that Christians should depend on the Holy Spirit to lead them on whom to show love. “Love looks around to see who is in need, who is sick, who is unsaved, who is depressed, who is worried,” the man of God said. As such, he advised Christians to measure their lives by their love for God via unconditional display of concern for the welfare of those around them, who are the very image of God. However, he cautioned, Christians should not be discouraged by those who fail to appreciate their acts of sacrificial charity. In his words, “God says that we should give, so give. He wants to see your genuine willingness. By the time you get to a certain point Jesus will now help you to give to the right people.” He concluded with the need to maintain a relationship with God.
Similarly, Prophetess Yinka gave a message titled “AT CHRISTMAS, LET YOUR SEED MOVE GOD.” She started by noting God’s unconditional offering of His Best Seed, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of humankind. She described Christmas as a time to plant seeds of love in a way that will move God and help to reshape our destiny. Prophetess Yinka questioned why people are able to give up their worldly possessions but tend to be unwilling to give up sin, noting that it is important to be reconciled with God. Starting with Isaiah 9:6, she explained that Christmas is significant as “the basis of our eternal hope,” representing “a glorious light that will dispel every shade of darkness in our lives, a glorious increase and complete joy arising from His birth and a glorious liberty and enlargement with good reason.” Failing to walk in love, Prophetess Yinka said, will lead to suppressing God’s promises in our lives. Seeking to prick congregants’ consciences, she noted, “Perhaps that seed of love, that seed of forgiveness, the seed of patience, humility, may be what God will use to reshape your destiny, even the destiny of your children.” She therefore urged people to plant seeds with genuineness, simplicity of heart and humility.
After the sermon, congregants saw evidence of God’s awesome power as stubborn contrary spirits got booted out of people’s lives by the authority in the name of Jesus Christ.
TESTIMONIES
THROAT PAIN VANISHES AFTER PROPHECY
Last Sunday, the testimony session began with Miss Mabel Agyei, a Ghanaian who had received a word of prophecy two Sundays ago as Prophet T.B. Joshua ministered during The Mass Prayer. The Holy Spirit had spoken through him as Mabel rushed towards The SCOAN Altar, imploring the man of God to help her, “You know there was something you took – a charm.” The Holy Ghost also disclosed that Mabel had taken the charm with honey and that she had been spitting blood since last year, as she had a sore in her throat. Mabel confirmed it all. Prophet T.B. Joshua then asked Mabel to place a hand on her throat as he prayed for her. “How do you feel now?” he asked her. “I am free now!” she shouted. “I took a charm with honey,” Mabel told the church during her testimony last Sunday. She said her health condition worsened after taking the charm, making it hard for her to do her job as a teacher or take care of her children. “Now I am free and can breathe well”, she confirmed. She advised people to seek help from Jesus, rather than native doctors, when having problems.
POWER OF PROPHECY SILENCES EVIL VOICE
Edo State indigene Miss Helen Omijie looked every bit the innocent young girl barely past her teens. However, she regularly heard evil voices telling her how to mix herbs in a black pot and chant incantations over them so that she could use it to harm people or cast a spell on them. In one instance, Helen made a neighbour forget about her plan to report her to her father for keeping bad company. In a second instance, she chanted incantations to derail her older brother’s life and he began to misbehave. In a third instance, Helen’s father caught her chanting incantations that would have killed this same older brother. All of these bits of information came out during Helen’s testimony last Sunday.
Two weeks earlier, she had been at The SCOAN when a prophecy located her as Prophet T.B. Joshua ministered. After prophesying about Helen’s actions, the man of God had asked if she wanted to become a native doctor. Helen said she used to have nightmares in which she saw snakes. One fateful day, as she sat in front of their compound, Helen told the church, a voice had told her to walk into the bushes and pick leaves for fetish purposes – and that was how it had all begun. Tired of seeing his daughter being tormented by the spirit in her, Helen’s father insisted on bringing her to The SCOAN where her case was miraculously located by God. The congregation and viewers watched live as in confirmation of the prophecy, she followed her father to bring the pot with leaves tied with a red cloth that she had left outside the church that morning. The following day, Helen urinated blood while using the restroom. To the glory of God, she has since become a different person, who respects her father and no longer hears the strange voice. She advised people to have faith in God, while her father advised people to monitor their children closely.
“MY DOCTOR CALLED HIM A PRECIOUS BABY!”
Pointing to a specific direction as he ministered during the Mass Prayer session of a Sunday Service, Prophet T.B. Joshua had prophesied, “There is a woman under the gallery, in that section. There is something inside you; it is not fibroid but it has burst. It is coming out in the form of bleeding. It is not something you can keep to yourself.” Promptly, a certain Mrs Happiness Chinweoke had come out to identify herself as the recipient of the prophecy. In company of the camera crew, she went to the restroom to check herself – and she indeed saw the blood stains. Months later, she returned to church to testify that she had become pregnant. In fact, the young wife had been told by doctors that she had tubal blockage, information that had caused her to panic about the possibility of ending up barren. The doctors had been surprised to find she had fallen pregnant. Last Sunday, the Chinweokes returned to church to show off their divine gift, baby boy Jesse Chinweoke. “I am here to thank God for what He has done in my life,” Happiness stated, advising people to trust in God’s power to answer their prayers. Her husband, Paul, advised, “There is nothing God cannot do.”
MAN DELIVERED FROM SPIRIT OF ANGER AND VIOLENCE
“I am the lion!” roared the evil spirit in Mr Sunday Elegamhe as Prophet Chris laid an anointed hand upon him a fortnight ago. It took three very strong men to restrain Sunday as the spirit sought to break free while confessing to have afflicted Sunday with the spirit of anger and damaged his career. “You dare not dare me or you will go home with blood,” Sunday had used to threaten both his mates and those older than him. “My friends had to accept everything I said as final,” he added. But Sunday knew something was wrong, so he started seeking help at churches and eventually landed at The SCOAN. One time, he burned his daughter’s skin with a hot pressing iron, just because she had lied to him about coming first in an examination. Even on his own wedding day, he had threatened to divorce his wife over a minor matter. Since last Sunday’s deliverance,
however, Sunday has now become remorseful about what he did to his now-married daughter. Sunday’s wife, Beatrice, accompanied by their little son, said their union had lacked peace and her husband used to beat her up at will. “He treated me as if I was his house help,” she recalled. She however thanked God for the transformation in her husband’s life. “I no longer wish to quit my marriage,” she said, even as she advised women to be patient with their spouses and to trust in God. Sunday urged people to seek God for restoration.
ASTONISHING LIVING WATER MIRACLE AS MAN EXCRETES LARGE KINDNEY STONE
Father of three, Mr Bamidele Adegoke had been battling with kidney stones for the past 10 years. The Ondo State indigene who resides in Kano State had ended up with a swollen kidney and swollen urethra and he was also unable to breathe well. Owing to the kidney stones, he experienced water retention in his kidneys and was always tired, not being able to sleep, sit or stand for long. To ease his pains, he always took pain-killing injections. Despite having surgery years back, Bamidele’s condition did not improve and his doctor suggested cutting up his bladder and inserting his urethra into it after removing the kidney stones. Alarmed, Bamidele ran to another doctor, who advised that he have a second procedure that might involve taking out his kidneys. This was another cheerless news, so Bamidele’s wife advised that he visit The SCOAN. Last Monday, Bamidele had participated in The Living Water Service, where he not only drank the water but also ministered it on the surgical scar just above the left side of his waist.
Interestingly, that had been the day he was supposed to pay for the second surgery. After the water ministration, Bamidele began to feel the kidney stone move downwards and he eventually passed it out painlessly. Before Bamidele excreted the stone, his wife had had a dream in which she saw Prophet T.B. Joshua remove a rotten substance from his body, telling her, “This is what has been disturbing your husband.” Although he described himself as a man of “little faith”, Bamidele glorified God for healing him through the medium of the Living Water. He said he can now breathe well and urinate normally and no longer feels weak. More important, he now eats the foods he had been unable to eat before. Bamidele advised people to grow in their faith.
YOUNG MAN PARTS WAYS WITH VICE
“I made him to drink alcohol. I made him to lie. I made him to join bad gangs. I made him to join a secret cult.” It was an intense deliverance session for Mr Usman Umar two Mondays ago as he climbed on The SCOAN’s Mountain of Prayer during The Living Water Service. From his mucus-splattered nostrils and lips and sweaty face as well as thrashing body, one could tell that the Holy Spirit was at work on the contrary spirit that had been disturbing Usman’s life. He lacked respect for not only his mother and aunt but also other people around him. Besides, he was always stealing things, smoking, drinking, fornicating and engaging in bestiality – all of which vices he had picked up after his initiation into a secret cult at university. As a ‘Baby Marine’ in the cult to which he belonged, his major responsibility was to spy out potential targets for the cult. Motivated by a sense of motherly duty, Usman’s aunt had ‘dragged’ him to The SCOAN in the belief that God’s Right Hand would fall upon him. “I had not even reached for the Living Water yet when I started vomiting and manifesting,” Usman told the church last Sunday during his testimony. “To God be the glory, I am delivered,” he declared. Usman’s aunt attested to his transformation, saying he no longer steals, fornicates, drinks or smokes. She advised parents and guardians to watch over their children and wards and to pray for them. Usman advised the youth to have faith in God.
AFTER LETTING GO OF OFFENCE, MAN MOVES FROM ZERO TO HERO
“My problem before was stagnation,” began Mr Douglas Moji during his testimony last Sunday. An attendee at The Nazareth Meeting With T.B. Joshua, held in June 2019, the Botswana national testified about how his experience there transformed his life, lifting him from grass to grace.
“There was disunity in the family and I had marital problems,” Douglas opened up. He added that the sermon at Mount Precipice all about love made him change the way he was relating with his family. “The moment he [Prophet TB Joshua] touched me, I started to feel peace come through me and I started to miss my family, having realised the mistakes I had been making,” Douglas disclosed. When he returned home, his family received him cheerfully and he began to see open doors. He got promoted to the position of project management executive and got an official car. Soon, two other cars followed and the family no longer had to make do with a jalopy. In the light of the breakthrough that followed reconciliation with his family, Douglas advised people to open their heart to receive from God.
I STOOD UP FROM MY WHEELCHAIR AFTER 10 YEARS
“I am a living witness to the fact that the Lord is good all the time! My heart is full of joy!” so exclaimed Mrs Promise Kejeh when she returned to church on Sunday to testify about how she has maintained her healing from facet joint arthropathy, which had been the cause of her total body paralysis. Two weeks ago, her husband had interrupted Prophet T.B. Joshua’s prayer ministration as he called desperately for help for his ailing wife, who was on a wheelchair and had been unable to gain access to the church for the past month. After waiting for a divine instruction from God, the man of God had asked Promise to pray in the mighty name of Jesus. He explained that this was unlike her former prayers because the Holy Spirit was involved. As she joined in the prayer with all her heart,
Promise received her healing and to her joy and amazement, stood up unaided from her wheelchair and began to walk! Promise said she had encouraged her husband not to give up when he had expressed doubts about her likelihood of getting healed. “I knew it just had to be my time,” Promise asserted, even as she assured her family, friends, neighbours and colleagues that she has indeed received her perfect healing. “God has done it!” she insisted. Now able to eat, stand, raise her hands, bend and walk unaided, Promise acknowledged that there are indeed prayers and there is a prayer. “Don’t give up,” Mr Kejeh advised the church, while Promise urged people to believe in God’s capacity to heal them through any medium.