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Wife EVELYN Talks About Their Love Life
+Her Roles In SYNAGOGUE Church
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The founder and Senior Pastor of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T. B. Joshua, on different occasions has been in the news for different reasons. However, one aspect of the life of this highly popular Prophet is his life as a family man, which is not open to the public. In fact, not too many people are aware that Prophet T. B. Joshua is married. This is because this aspect of his life has been shrowded in some sorts of secrecy. Prophet T. B. Joshua is married, and his marriage is about 24 years old. He is married to a 40 year old Delta woman, Evelyn, whom he tied the knots with in 1990. Evelyn granted a rare interview with The Spectator Newspaper, where she spoke on how she met Prophet T. B. Joshua at the age of 17 and how she got married to him. She spoke extensively on the very intimate lifestyle of Prophet T. B. Joshua and her role in his ministry.
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How exactly did you meet Prophet TB Joshua?
I visited a sister somewhere at Ikotun-Egbe, and, then they were talking about a particular man, a prophet. It was a kind of meeting to be precise. And it’s like everybody in that gathering, or at least half of the people in the room, had actually visited him. So, they were saying a lot of good things about him. I was thrilled. At the end of the whole thing, I called a sister outside and asked whether she could take me to the prophet. I didn’t ask to go there out of curiosity. I actually needed a guide at that point in time.
Were you at any crossroads at that point in time?
Not really. I wasn’t at any crossroads, but I desperately needed a guide.
Spiritual guide?
Yes, a spiritual guide. A counselor.
Could you tell us the church where you were worshipping?
I was in Assemblies of God Church.
What were people talking about that made you get interested in him?
Many things. One said he prayed for him and things became okay from there. Another said her life was at a bend but straightened up when she met him. You know, things like that. So, we went there. Unfortunately, we did not meet him at home. But looking back now, I thank God that we didn’t meet him that day.
Why?
Because that would have been the end of this story.
Why would it have been the end of the story?
It would have been because what he told me the very first day that I set my eyes on him, if the sister was there, I would have believed that maybe she had gone behind me to tell him all about me. And that would have ruined it.
So, did the man of God tell you the story of his life?
Yes, of course.
Without any pre-knowledge of who you were?
Yes. Okay, I’m coming (laughs…). Some months after, I visited him. That was in 1990. I could remember that day was a public holiday. I remember also how I nearly lost my way because I had never been to the place before, except that day I went with the sister.
That is to say, this time you went alone?
Yes, I did. I went alone. But before I was able to locate the place, it was a bit difficult for me. When I got into the waiting room, I met two men waiting to see him. Before this time, the idea that I had about a prophet was that of an old man with a white, long beard and things like that. So, on that day, I was reading a novel that I came with when I suddenly saw someone come into the room, pick one or two things and went back. But the shadow of whatever I saw was not that of an old man.
Did you greet him?
No, I didn’t even look at his face. But when he left, one of the two men was telling the other one, ‘that’s him. That’s him.’ I looked up but he had gone. They went into the consulting room before me. Finally, it was my turn, and I went in there. We sat opposite each other. And, he was gazing at me for about a minute and some seconds. I gazed at him, too. Transfixed as I was, I noticed that there was a piece of paper before him. Still looking at me, he wrote the word, ‘Ejide’, on it. (Transliterated, Eji de – twin has come). Lest I forget, I’m a twin.
And before then, you had not told him anything about yourself?
No, we were just looking at each other until he, at a time, wrote my name on the piece of paper. So, we started talking. He told me a lot of things about myself, both things that I knew, and those that I never knew. I was shocked. He told me about my family, about my past, my present and my future. Altogether, we spent about 45 minutes. At the end of the whole thing, he spoke to me in Yoruba and said: Joo ma binu o. Ma ro pe bi mo se nba gbogbo eniyan ti o ba wa s’odo mi soro ni eleyi o. Mi o ni ale, mi o dee fee ni ale. Sugbon, se oo fe mi? (Transliterated, this means: Please, don’t be annoyed. Don’t think this is how I talk to everyone that comes to me. I don’t have a concubine, and I don’t want to have a concubine. But will you marry me?)
Just like that?
Just like that. It was strange, but that gives us an insight into what the Scripture says that the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. I think that was it. That was how I met him. Some months later, I asked him why he thought it was right seeing a lady for the first time and going on to propose to her. He said he had seen me four days before that very day.
Okay, let’s go back to the time you entered his consulting room. At that particular moment, what was going on in your mind?
A lot of things. In the first place, I was expecting to see an elderly man.
But instead you saw a dashing, handsome, young man?
(Laughs). Oh yes! That was it.
He too must have been captivated by a ravishing beauty like you…?
(Laughs again…) I wouldn’t know. But like I told you, he wrote my name on the piece of paper before him. That was the first thing that really shocked me. And the fact that he proposed to me the first time that we met without waiting to know some things about me.
What qualities eventually cemented the relationship between you and Prophet TB Joshua?
As I told you, he is a very honest and humble man. Yes, he is a God-fearing man too. I saw a kind-hearted man, a zealous man, a man of one purpose, a man with a sole aim: to please God at all times, with every other thing being secondary. I think those qualities were what cemented our relationship.
Okay, how were you convinced that he was the man that you were going to spend the rest of your life with?
When I woke up that very morning, I never knew. But something in me said: ‘Go to the prophet.’ And when he proposed to me, it was strange, but then, my heart agreed with it instantly.
Did you say ‘Yes’ there and then?
I don’t think I have said yes up till now! (General laughter)
How many months or years of courtship did you have?
I am not sure that we courted for long. The wedding took place the same year – 1990.
Where did you get married?
In my place (laughs)
Was it a church wedding or traditional wedding?
Both.
Tell us more about you.
I was born about 40 years ago into a family of 7. I was born to the late Mr and Mrs Nicholas Akabude in the quiet town of Okala Okpuno in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. I started my primary education at St. Emecheta Primary School, Ezi Town, also in Delta State. Years later, I came to Lagos, that was in 1977, and completed my primary education at Orile Primary School, Oshodi, and my secondary education also in Oshodi. That’s all about my education. But a few years later, my husband sent me to Ghana and I was able to take some management courses there.
Tell us about your ministry.
It’s the ministry of reconciliation.
In marriage?
In all aspects – parents-children relationships, marriage and things like that. I think they go hand-in-hand with one another. You can’t actually separate them.
How does this ministry complement your husband’s ministry?
When we talk about reconciliation, you need a lot of time to listen to people, to hear them; they want to bare their minds and a prophet hasn’t got that time, especially after talking for hours. But I do that.
Yes, are there challenges that you face?
Life is all about challenges. All those problems and trials, I see them as challenges.
Maybe you are getting used to not seeing him regularly as you would have loved to…
No, no, no. What’s he doing? Whatever it is, he has my support.
Seeing a lot of people and having to minister to them…
That’s good.
You mean it doesn’t affect the home in anyway?
Not at all.
How do you combine your roles as a minister of God, as a mother, as a wife? And, as a mother too, to the teeming crowd that comes to The SCOAN…
Where God guides, He provides. And those whom God has called for any service, He makes them fit for it. So, there is not much problem about that at all.
People believe that there are a lot of myths surrounding your husband. Do you feel any bitterness?
Point of correction – it is not affecting my family, and can never affect my family in any way because I know my husband, I know who he believes, and I know who I believe. I don’t have any doubt in my mind and I know that the good work the Lord has started in him, He will accomplish and complete, in Jesus’ Name.
So, you don’t feel any bitterness when people write negative things about your husband?
Not at all. I don’t because I know him very well, and I know the God he serves.
How do you help your husband to overcome the temptations that come his way?
You see, you don’t have any alternatives in life. I can as well tell you that we don’t have alternatives in life. Anything that is contrary to what we stand for or what God sent us for, is what we are going to fight against. I can say that God has been merciful enough, guiding and protecting us in that angle.
Do you have that feeling in you of having been married to a superstar?
All we do here is just absolute grace of God. Everything that happens here is by the grace of God, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, we don’t feel anything special because important people are coming. Rather, we appreciate the grace of God upon our lives, upon the church, and we give Him all the glory. So, there is no superstar feeling. If there is any superstar, that superstar is Jesus through whom we can do all things.
If this man were not Prophet TB Joshua, would you have married him?
As I told you, apart from being a prophet, I actually saw what I needed in a man. So, it is not a question of being a prophet. It is about his character, his inner being.
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