Founder of the Synagogue Church of all
Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, says he
has been facing hard times since the collapse
of his church guesthouse in Lagos.
He, has however said that he would survive
the trying times.
A six-storey guesthouse belonging to the
church collapsed last Friday, killing no fewer
than 80 persons.
A message on SCOAN official Facebook page
quotes TB Joshua as saying that he would
not be “destroyed” by the incident.
“Hard times may test me, they cannot destroy
me,” TB Joshua said, adding, “To withstand
hard times, stand with Christ. When you face
trials, hard times, you can count it all joy if
you add faith.”
Quoting the Bible, TB Joshua appeared to be
reaching out to his thousands of followers
across the world via the social network, just
as he stated that God sometimes makes use of
hard times to “draw us to Himself.”
According to TB Joshua, God visits His people
with hard times because people often become
“proud and stupid with wealth and pleasure.”
He added, “It is through hard times that you
gain the necessary experience and maturity to
handle whatever responsibility given you. We
are most likely to go astray from God and
forget Him when things are easy with us in the
world because we often become proud and
stupid with wealth and pleasure.
“God visits His people with hard times that
they may learn His way. His ways, though
hard to the ungodly men, are desirable and
profitable because they lead us to safety unto
eternal life. God allowed the enemy to
overcome Israel so that they may learn the
difference between serving God and serving the
devil.
“If not for our hard times, we would not have
sought the face of God. I mean, if not because
of hard times, man by his wicked nature,
would not have sought the face of God. This
means, God sometimes uses hard times to
draw us to Him so that we can take our
proper position and possession in Him.
But despite his words of admonition, some
commentators appeared to be sore with the
popular televangelist.
A South African public affairs commentator,
Allan Taylor, expressed concerns over the
number his compatriots lost in the tragedy.
South African President, Jacob Zuma, on
Tuesday noted that in recent times, the
country had not witnessed the death of a
large number of her citizens in one incident in
a foreign land.
Taylor lamented that TB Joshua was allegedly
deceiving and luring South Africans to his
church.
Taking a swipe at TB Joshua, he accused him
of unfairly personalising the tragedy at the
expense of the “unfortunate victims.”
“I’m saddened by the death of up to 67 South
Africans in the Nigerian church collapse and
at the hands of TB Joshua’s greed. It is also
important to expose those who lured the
unfortunate victims to Nigeria on false
pretences.
“Innocent lives of people have been lost; yet
TB Joshua makes the tragedy about himself.
He is a disgrace,” the enraged South African
wrote on Twitter.
Another Bloemfontein-based South African,
Portia Tsotetsi, said TB Joshua owed the
families of her compatriots lost in the building
collapse some answers.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the
families of the 67 South Africans who lost
their lives in Nigeria. What bothers me most is
the silence of TB Joshua and his church
concerning the 67 who died.
“Where are messages of condolence? When is
the church (SCOAN) offering a statement of
condolences to the families? When is TB
Joshua speaking about this tragedy? What
bothers me is the amount of blind loyalists
who refuse to see facts. They will do anything
to protect their church,” Tsotetsi tweeted.
But a member of the church based in South
Africa, Neo Motlokoa, stated that her faith in
the Christian leadership of TB Joshua “is not
shaken” despite the criticisms that has
followed the church disaster.
“I am a South African who loves Jesus. This
morning every TV station and newspaper is
carrying the news about the tragedy.
“Has Prophet TB Joshua all of a sudden
become questionable to you? Is he still a
servant of Christ? This is about not only
SCOAN and the Prophet (TB Joshua). My faith
is not shaken,” Motlokoa wrote on the
church’s official Facebook page.
A Ghanaian follower of the clergyman,
Ebenezer Donkor, insisted that despite the
widespread criticism of TB Joshua, nothing
would keep him away from the church
“Even if another building collapses to kill one
billion people, I will still follow Christ through
Prophet TB Joshua. My faith is unshakable.
God bless the man of God and all those who
follow him,” Donkor said.
