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On 12 September, 2014, a guesthouse at the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) established by Prophet Temitope Joshua of collapsed in Lagos killing over a hundred South Africans. As at the time of the collapse, over 350 South Africans were said to be on ground at the Synagogue. A lot of people have asked the big question why millions of South Africans leave their country for Pilgrimage to the Synagogue every year. As the country continues to mourn, a South African Christian Magazine brings you a list of 5 prominent South Africans who influenced their countrymen into making the long trip down to the Synagogue Church in Nigeria. South Africans’ faith in Prophet T.B. Joshua did not start this year. Many of them have long seen in him the miracle worker and this cuts across all classes even with the crisis that has befallen the church lately.
WINNIE MANDELA
The legendary Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela ranks among South African powerful figures who have bowed before Joshua. She was interviewed on Joshua’s Emmanuel Tv in 2011 after her visit and she had nice words for the church.
JULIUS MALEMA
The country’s opposition leader Julius Malema has also sought out Joshua to help with spiritual backing for his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). Malema was defending the church recently, telling the South African Press Association (SAPA) that elders of the church were helping with rescue operation. The EFF leader said: “I am in touch with the elders of the church. They are doing everything in their power to ensure that every individual that was there is accounted for and that the rescue mission continues.” Malema said despite what happened, Joshua remains a great man, who should continue to inspire hope. He said he was at Synagogue for seven days, adding that at the time, no less than 16, 000 people were in attendance at the church “and 50 per cent of those were from outside Africa”. He said: “Yes, I was there to create friendship and take lessons from the prophet. He is my brother, we talk now and then. I also received spiritual guidance from him. The church is very big, he has a lot of followers. He receives people from all corners of the world, both rich and poor. They go there for different reasons and they all want to be blessed by the man of God.
“When I was there, I was treated very well. The hospitality is so amazing. The people who looked after us there did it with passion. They love what they are doing and they respect people. We also would like to say to the prophet that he should find strength during this difficult time. This is a testing time for him. “He is a very good man. He inspires hope in hopeless people. We hope he will not be discouraged. He must continue to inspire hope and feed the children of God. When I went to his church, he never asked for a cent from me. TB Joshua never preached about money and he never insisted on having contributions for the church.”
JOOST VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, RUBEN KRUGER AND WIUM BASSON
South African sport celebrities had also approached the prophet. They include Springbok rugby players Joost van der Westhuizen, Ruben Kruger and Wium Basson. Although there are conflicting reports about whether another rugby player Jaco van der Westhuyzen approached Joshua for help to cure a form of motor neurone disease. A report, in a South African online publication, said: “TB Joshua, known around the world as the “prophet of God”, previously prayed for Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks Joost van der Westhuizen.” But, a family representative Odette Schwegler said yesterday: “Joost van der Westhuizen has never gone to Nigeria to meet this prophet and he hasn’t engaged with him and he hasn’t sought his help.” He has been down with the disease since 2011 and is expecting death, as predicted by doctors. There is no controversy, however, that Basson came to Lagos to see Joshua. Basson died at his Pretoria home on April 21, 2001. He was 25.
Basson, who played for the Blue Bulls, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Doctors could not do anything to help him and gave him a few weeks to live. He flew to Lagos, to consult Joshua. Like the case of the victims of the collapse, Basson also came with a tour group of 130 people to see the ‘miracle worker’. But, for some reason, he could not see Joshua after waiting for hours on a queue. He returned home and died almost immediately. “He (Basson) did not know the Lord as well as he should have at that time. If your faith is not right, the Lord will tell TB Joshua not to heal you,” claims Westhuyzen, who said Joshua healed him when he ruptured his posterior cruciate ligament during a match in 2000.
In an interview with UK Observer, Westhuizen said: “Sure, I believe in miracles. I’ve seen them with my own eyes. From an early age I was very religious. Both my parents were Dutch Reformed Christians. But it was not until 2000 that faith healing and TB Joshua, the Nigerian they call ‘the Prophet’, came into my life. I had just broken into the Springbok team when I ruptured my posterior cruciate ligament playing against Western Province one Sunday in August 2000. The doctor took X-rays and said I needed to have an operation that Wednesday. I was really down, because I desperately wanted to go on the end-of-year Bok tour. “Here I must give credit to my wife…She, or rather her brother, had shown me this video of the Nigerian faith healer TB Joshua. I saw all the miracles he performed, such as curing people with HIV, freeing people from their wheelchairs, healing those with cancer. My wife said to me: ‘You’re pretty religious. Your faith is strong. I think you should give it a go.’ I was sceptical at first and I wasn’t too sure about the miracles. I read about them in the Bible but I thought: ‘Can this be true?’ Still, I decided not to have the operation and to take a leap of faith instead.
“Our church group landed in Lagos on a Sunday. We drove for about 45 minutes before coming to a very basic church site – 10 people to a wooden bench. It was just phenomenal to see how primitive Christianity can be while at the same time remaining so powerful. At each service, there are between 10,000 and 20,000 people, mainly poor blacks. Their riches are their faith. At five o’clock in the morning, there are 3,000 people queueing outside the church gates to get the best seats. For the first few days we had discussions with the disciples and talked about religion and its power. Then, on the Saturday, ‘the Prophet’ came out and delivered his message to the congregation, even though there were people in the church, scared of his powers, who wanted to kill him. It was a real eye-opener. But these doubters could not get near him. He said to us: ‘There’s somebody here who wants to kill me.’ If the guy does not come forward, the Prophet will identify him and the person ends up confessing to what he was planning.
“Towards the end of the service about 300 of us gathered in what they call the ‘healing line’. The Prophet walked down the line, identifying illnesses. When he came to me, he said I should remove my leg brace. He looked at me and it was like he had x-ray vision, like he could see immediately what was wrong with my knee. Moving his hands around as if he was tugging a rope, he seemed to pull out all the dirt and other stuff that was in my knee. Then he said to me: ‘Stand up and run.’ The brace had been on for weeks and running should have been impossible. Well, I trusted my faith and started to run – and at full speed. There was no pain.”
Back home he had another x-ray, and it showed the ligament was fine. The doctor, he said, could not believe or explain it. News of what happened started to spread and Kruger’s wife called him to see if he could take her husband, who had a brain tumour, to see Joshua. He agreed. According to Westhuyzen, “We went back to Lagos, Ruben’s brain tumour was healed and he has had no more symptoms since then.”
ZULU KING, GOODWILL ZWELITHINI KABHEKUZULU
When Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini visited the Synagogue years back, he did not come alone, he visited with his daughter, Princess Sibusile, who had epilepsy. The beautiful Princess was said to have been healed by God through Prophet T.B Joshua and the news resonated within South Africa in no time. The development is said to have contributed to the emmigration of a lot of South Africans to the Synagogue in Nigeria, with many of them seeking solutions to their spiritual problems and seeking the face of God. In South Africa. The Zulu King is highly revered being the head of the largest black tribe.
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