TB Joshua Interview – The People Come First (Tell Magazine)

An in-depth interview with TB Joshua regarding his extensive charitable activities and the reason for his passion for the poor, as published in the prestigious Tell Magazine of Nigeria. There are many lessons to learn…

He was born in an unusual circumstance in the rustic and sleepy community of Oosin, Arigidi-Akoko, Ondo State. His birth was foretold about a century ago by Balogun Okoorun, a great warrior and farmer, who prophesied that from that rustic community would emerge a man who would be powerful, famous and have great followers. Though his biological parents had no inkling about it, his birth was an unusual one as he stayed 14 months in the womb as against the normal nine months. Born June 12, 1963, he was christened Temitope Balogun. He is today better known as Prophet TB Joshua, founder of The Synagogue Church Of All Nations.

Years after his birth, and having been prevented by poverty from having tertiary education, Joshua refused to say die and to Lagos, the city of aquatic splendour, he came. There he put into use the raw knowledge in him by being a private home teacher for some rich kids. As if in line with the prophecy of Okoorun at the back of his mind, he was always telling his pupils that one day he would become a great man. Today, he is not just great, he is helping others to achieve greatness.

Indeed, Joshua is like the proverbial prophet who is not so much honoured at home but highly esteemed and honoured across the globe, including Europe, Asia and the United States of America. His preaching, which is accompanied with signs and wonders, is criticised by many other men of God on the local scene, but this has not deterred Joshua from doing the work of the Master, Jesus Christ. In short, he has taken the message beyond preaching to providing for the weak, the poor, the rejected and the forsaken. “With the increasing rate of orphans and the needy in the society, the church cannot afford to sit on the fence anymore,” he states.

Prophet TB Joshua - You will begin to succeed with your life when the pains and problems of others begin to matter to you.
Prophet TB Joshua - You will begin to succeed with your life when the pains and problems of others begin to matter to you.

In this interview, the man of God sheds light on how God has been using him to cater for both the physical and the spiritual needs of the people. Excerpts:

What are the challenges of being a man of God in a country like Nigeria?
Let us put it this way: what are the challenges of being a child of God? Because if you say ‘man of God’, we are being personal. Well, the Bible says we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are just passing through. I am a stranger here. So, what do you expect of a stranger? We are in a danger zone.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations regularly caters for the less privileged. What informed this?
The Bible says we will begin to succeed with our lives when the pains and problems of others begin to matter to us. In the book of Philippians 4:12-14, Paul the Apostle said, “I know what it takes to be poor, and what it is to have more than enough. In verse 12, he said, “I have learnt the secret of being disciplined, so I am content,” content in the sense that before you can become what you want to become, you must know what it takes to be poor and what it takes to have more than enough. If you have not tasted poverty, you will not be able to manage blessing when it comes. If you have not tasted humiliation, you will not be able to manage honour when it comes. It is better to say long in the dark so that we can recognise the light when it comes. Also in verse 13, it says, “I can do all things,” which means I have the strength to take care of everything. It is difficult to take care of the poor if we don’t know what it means to be poor.

What informed your passion for the needy?
The Bible says, “Watch and pray…” – it means you need to look around before you pray. If there are people who need your help, do whatever you can to give them relief: love them. After this, pray – and your prayers would be answered. I know what it is to be in need. I have once been in this situation, asking for help. I know perfectly well what it means to be in need. I have tasted poverty, humiliation. I suffered dejection, neglect and what have you. But today, I am a product of grace. I do not blame anyone for being poor; I should not blame anyone for being humiliated. The fast runner does not always win the race.

How long have you been involved in helping the destitute persons at Okobaba?
I have been involved in this project for 17 years. Today, many of these destitute persons that I helped to school, to the glory of God, are graduates. They are well positioned in their various places of work. Recently, one of them called from Kano and said, ‘don’t I know him?’ I asked him to come down to Lagos and when he did, I discovered he was one of those I assisted to school then at Railway Crossing when he was following his father to beg for money. He is a Muslim. He told me that many of them have graduated and are working now.

The set of people that were given school uniforms are a different set. You could see that majority of them are of primary school age. There are others, a hundred plus, that are with in the age bracket for secondary schools, and their uniforms have been given to them. When I saw that there is no one to take up this responsibility, I charged myself to do more because there is no amount of price one can pay that is enough. We thank God for the privilege to do this. In a month, we spend between N2 million and N3 million to cater for these people. My appeal to the government is to come to the aid of these people by renovating their habitation at Okobaba and providing more accommodation. The children cannot continue to live there. We cannot do it alone. We need good people, inspired people and other corporate organisations to build a future for these children.

There are other projects I have also been involved in. I gave a building to the Muslim College, a school I once attended. There is also the distribution of food items and money for the aged, depending on their conditions and needs. That is also extended to other places outside the country. We begin to succeed with our lives when the pains and problems of others matter to us.

The projects that I undertake have helped me not to live a flamboyant life: having fleet of cars, houses and the rest. It would surprise you that I don’t have a car or house of my own. Even the house in my hometown, I have not been able to complete it for the past 10 years. It is not that I don’t have money to build it, but I consider first the needy around me. My own is to eat, sleep and ensure the work of God is going on. There is nothing to be excited about in life.

What other plans do you intend to pursue apart from what you are involved in now?
I want to have a standard hospital to help the poor and the destitute, build standard schools for the destitute: primary, secondary and the university. I pray that God will give me the grace to do it.

In achieving your aim of building schools, are you going to acquire hectares of land and centralise the schools, or the schools would be built around where the students stay?
The weak have not hope, but Jesus is their hope. It is not my plan, it is God’s. Man proposes, but God disposes. God will give us the directives to be followed. The whole essence of this is to save our society from hoodlums and other social vices that may result if these people were totally neglected. If you ask armed robbers how they started, you will be shocked at the story of their lives.

Your ministry to the aged, how has it been faring?
The aged deserve all that can be given to them. Some of them are very old, in their 80s, 90s and 100s. Some have lost their children – no one to cater for them. We have made provision for monthly stipends for the aged. Bags of rice and other food items are distributed to them from time to time. This we have done to play our part in making them enjoy their old age. Not only the aged, we also have widows and dwarfs. We have paid school fees for many of them and render assistance from time to time. The widows, as well as dwarfs, have special programmes from time to time. The widows, as well as dwarfs, have special programmes in the church to meet their needs. We have been doing this also for many years.

Many other men accumulate wealth for the future; here you are spending yours on the people. Are you not scared of the future?
I don’t have any money. If I have trillions of Naira today, there would be a trillion people around me to share the money with. I live my life as if there is no tomorrow. I sincerely believe that great man have great habits. This is my habit. I know everybody will give an account of what he or she did on earth. My reason for not being after wealth is because my desire and focus is on my destination. Whatever I am now, whatever I achieve now, I don’t concentrate on it. Therefore, there is no reason for wealth accumulation. Our spiritual walk with God is essential and should be paramount in our heart.

Whatever is your gift, that is what God will use to bless others through you - TB Joshua
Whatever is your gift, that is what God will use to bless others through you - TB Joshua

It is not every man of God that is into philanthropic gestures such as helping widows, dwarfs and the destitute. What are the things you think men of God should be doing for nation building?
Well, a point of correction – I want you to know that every man of God has habits. When you read your Bible, habit is a gift from God. If you are not a copy, you begin to do uncommon things because you take your directives from heaven. It is not what somebody has done before that you begin to do again and again. There is what we call supernatural gift of God and natural gift, and when you look at it, you see that divine wisdom tends to contradict the design of natural events. So, it is not just wisdom in the practical sense of it; it is pure wisdom of God. If you have such wisdom, others can copy; it is not for you to copy. I cannot do anything without the help of the Holy Spirit; I cannot do new things without the help of the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit teaches us new things. His mercies are new every morning. There is no repetition. We are created to change our world. There is no way we can change our world when we keep repeating what others have done. There will not be new things in the world if all we do is repeat what others have done… I think everyone has a calling. Ours is different from others. The way and manner God executes His plan in our lives differs. If others are not feeding the poor, it does not mean they are not people of God.

Can you shed more light on what the church has done in the area of nation building?
Like I said, if I begin to tell you all these, then it will look as if I’m boasting. I should not boast in what I am doing for God. I should boast in what God has done for me. Let’s give glory to God and thanks to God!

SOURCE: Tell Magazine, No. 52, December 24 2007

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20 Comments

  1. Man of God, may the Lord preserve your life to do more. For the less-priviledge. The grace and the anointing of God upon your life not run dry. God bless you sir.

  2. I pray to God that one day I should secure enough money for me and my family to come down to Nigeria and witness the work of Jesus live as prophet TB Joshua heals us.

    I am a married woman with two children. From my family side of 7 I am the only one who is working and supporting the whole family. My husband is also the breadwinner from the side of his family of 9.

    The two of us are faced with the greatest challenge of being very much hated and bewitched by our young brothers. Time and again we are involved in car accidents, our children get sick from very strange causes. What hurts us most is that our only daughter has this believe and behaviour that she is a boy. we have tried to seek help from our brothers to help us counsel the girl and to our dismay they were happy and they encouraged her to continue with that kind of life. Man of God please help.

    I fear that if our family fails in life then the whole of our two parent families will be attacked by poverty and distruction.

    my name is Sophie Moalosi
    I work for a centre for the Blind

    my emai is : [email protected]
    cell: 00267 71537787
    fax; 00267 5777871

    MAY GOD CONTINNUE TO PROTECT AND BLESS PROPHET T. B. JOSHUA SO THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE SAVED

  3. Whilst I have been watching this station for more than 3 years now, every single day when I sit in front of the Television, I still get mersmarised with God’s power as it flows through prophet T.B. Joshua. I pray to God that he keeps him in this world for many many many years to come.

    Just like how he has changed my relationship with God, I believe that many others all over the world have also changed on their attitudes towards God.

    May our Lord continue to guide and protect you and may he give you His grace so that you may never allow yourself to move away from the path that you chose.

    Long live TB Joshua.

  4. GOD is indeed Great..Thank you JESUS for your true servant…i always experience the Holy Spirit when reading or watching anything about this man of God. Thank You Jesus

  5. Jesus said watch and pray, I watch and pray with the man of God TB Joshua everyday. I am a middle aged woman with two children. I believe God has anointed TB Joshua to help people like me to encourage people like me. I was born in a family of eight. Our third born was a sister died aged 2 years, Our second born brother died died aged 26. Our first born brother died aged 57 left 3 very young children as he married late. Our parents also died. Many people complained and pointed fingers to people saying they have witched my family. I had accident which was completely unexpected to rescue anyone but through the grace of his Almighty God I survived. I am a miracle living, I am linked with TB Joshua through the Holy Spirit. I am waiting for the invitation to come to Nigeria to worship with you in the SCOAN for my total healing. My email address: GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

    Yours in the Love of JESUS CHRIST

  6. Man of God T B Joshua, may God continue granting you abundant Grace so the whole world should acknwoledge the work God is doing through you man of God. May God give you a full life time. I have been applying to come because both my family and my husbands needs deliverance,salvation,healing and freedom in everything in our life. We need fruit of the womb. Man of God pray for us.

  7. Emmanuel !!!!!!!! thank you jesus for blessing my life and my children with the annointing water i sent someone to get it for me at synagogue for the opportunity to get places at school of which they failed their cambridge they will start their lessons next year i pray to god that he helps me pay for their fees and me i have passed 2 tests for my drivers licence and left with the final one i would like to visit i have emailed the questionnaire and waiting for the response may god bless tb joshua and everyone at synagogue for they are true angels of god thank you Jesus Amen!

    1. Dear pliz use capital letters when yo write names like Jesus,God, Man of God or Prophet T B Joshua or any Man of God you know. God bless you

  8. I salute you Prophet TB Joshua,you are indeed a blessing not only to Nigeria but the whole wide world.may the gracious Lord keep on giving u much strength to reach out more and more.

  9. God is doing wonderful things through TB Joshua in Zimbabwe. I pray that God gives us more grace on humankind from serving dead works so as to worship the true God only.

  10. my name is joshua bella, based in south africa durban, will like the man of God to pray for our ministrie in south Africa durban , p j bella

  11. Indeed Prophet T B Joshua u are sent by God, shame unto the devil he tried to kill such a wonderful person by keeping him in the womb for 14 months. God is great indeed he has plans about our lives thats why he protected the Man of God in the womb long overdue. You always touch my heart the way you give to the less privilaged I hope God will help me to give also cauz it is always in my heart to assist. GOD BLESS U MAN OF GOD, MAY HE GIVE U MORE DAYS IN THIS WORLD TO HELP HIS PEOPLE BOTH SPRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY. GLORYYYYY IN JESUS NAME

  12. A prophet is never known in his own land;;;;;;;;;;As for me you are my mentor. I bless God for your life. Considering the way you grew up;what you went through and what you are now;its only the power and grace of God that can do such.Prophet may GOD bless you and give you long life for some of us to make just a trip to scoan and ricieve more blessing. You are a blessing to our generation. May you and the wise men live long in jesus name MIRABEL TAMUNA from cameroon

  13. Emanuel !!!!,indeed TB Joshua is a man of god .Its only the spirit of the lord that can help you believe whether someone is a man of God or not .I thank god for that lively spirit in me.May the lord continue to give us the grace to understand the need for life and to keep the course to our destiny.I pray that the lord reveal to me my duties to support his work ..

    By their fruits we shall continue to believe .Thank you Jesus..

  14. May the nations of this world open their eyes so that they may see that Tb Joshua is a special grace from God to the world.May God give u more anointing in Jesus’s name.

  15. Man of God,You are indeed a blessing to the entire universe.Pls send me some annointed oil & stickers or jst email me the annointed sticker and all my problems will be over in Jesus’ name.I have written severally to scoan bt no response.I believe one day God will administer to you & I will get my answer in the name that is above all names;JESUS.Amen.

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