In this personal story, Stella Wood provides a detailed account of her encounter with Prophet T.B. Joshua, founder of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
It was very hard for me to comprehend what life had to offer to a man like me facing all sorts of problems, limitations and hardships which made me look like a living dead, little did I know all these numerous and uncountable problems were due to the treacherous way I lived my Christian life in the past. I went through a lot of difficulties during the early stage of my life which still makes me shake my head pitifully during my reminiscence.
I reside at Garki, Abuja in Nigeria where I grew up presuming T.B. Joshua as a false prophet, deceiver, scammer and even the devil’s incarnate. All these attributed to the man of God made me develop a deep hatred towards him without really finding out the truth or even knowing what exactly made me hate him so much with passion. I used to involve myself in anti-T.B. Joshua discussions, discouraged Christians and even unbelievers to never watch the man of God on Emmanuel TV and I went as far as publishing many articles online and in local newspapers with a sole aim to blaspheme and counter any single thing concerning T.B. Joshua.
As if these were not enough, I partnered with some locals that heard the same thoughts with me about T.B. Joshua and we kept on spreading this negative gospel as much as we could. During this time, we noticed that the more we blasphemed, the more the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) kept on increasing with an alarming congregation and the man of God’s anointing ceased to stop increasing drastically; this was a mystery to us. It made us confused and stunned but despite this fact, we continued criticizing SCOAN the more and this was a great battle. When many years passed, I decided to give up the fight but I never stopped believing the man of God was false. I never tuned to Emmanuel TV and I vowed to never take even a glance at the channel.
The tragedy of my life commenced when I lost my dad and mum in an automobile crash on the 23rd of March, 2014 and this made me ponder over how my siblings (a set of twins – a young boy and girl) and I would make ends meet; I am the eldest child therefore I decided to take responsibilities. I am far older then my siblings because it took my parents 16 years to give birth to another child after I was born. Back then, I was into trading of building materials- Tiles, ceiling, roofing sheets, cable wire, steel rods etc. I faced a lot of challenges during this period and felt like committing suicide. My business was not moving forward and I was finding it difficult to pay my suppliers. My younger sister (one of the twins) became very ill therefore I had to rush her to the hospital, the doctor told me she had leukemia a very deadly disease especially to a girl of her age (she was just 11 years old).
When my appalling problems persisted, I decided to take a bold step; I went to a friend of mine pleading for assistance, but his unimaginable response was what increased my problem. He told me to come along with him to his private room which I eagerly did because of my desperate search for money; surprisingly I found myself in a tunnel looking room which was an inner chamber filled with splashes of blood stain all over the wall. This initially made me scared but I summoned up courage because of my despicable situation, he then told me all what I sew in that room at that time were his source of wealth. I was startled but kept calm; he proceeded by asking me if I was ready to accept the terms he was about to give me? I answered affirmatively without hesitation. He then smiled and poured a yellowish liquid on my head which looked more like he was embarking on a demonic cult initiation process. He asked me many weird questions to which I answered affirmatively without even thinking about the consequences. One of these questions was this: “do you vow to worship the walls of this great fraternity no matter what comes?” I still answered with a loud yes to this question.
I was so eager to make money without knowing I had just added to my problems immensely. I started seeing demonic creatures chasing me in my dreams because of this demonic initiation; my days were filled with acute pain and sometimes I felt my heart was about to drop. After my initiation, my financial life was still down and as a result of this; I had no penny not to talk of taking care of my sick sister and her starving twin brother. I went back to my friend who initiated me to explain things to him but he told me the abominable, he asked me to do the appropriate thing which he said was to kidnap an underage girl, a virgin for a spiritual ritual. He said after the rituals I would finally become rich and I won’t see those creatures in my dreams again. He also said if I choose not to perfume the rituals, there was nothing he could do for me; when I tried to tell him I was no longer interested in his evil cult, he threatened me severely and told me not to try quitting the cult nor tell anyone about it. He told me that if I tried to go against his warning, I would die immediately. I became very scared, then I immediately left his house and ran to the doctor to ask about the status of my younger sister, he told me she was very weak and would die soon if I didn’t provide the necessary finance for her treatment.
THE MOST INTERESTING PART OF MY LIFE
I ran from one place to another searching for solutions to my problems but never found one, I went to friends and relative I knew in the in the F.C.T but none could help me with the required amount of money I needed to pay my sister’s medical bills. One day, I sat hopelessly in the hospital thinking about what to do next; I had no source of immediate finance and this made me very worried. Until a God sent nurse saw me in my poor state and decided to ask me what was wrong with me. I explained all my problems to her and was expecting her to assist me financially; she just talked to me about TB JOSHUA and advised me to watch Emmanuel TV. She told me that my solution lied in the SCOAN but I found this extremely hard to believe due to all I had done in the past. This made me initially reluctant but I finally decided to take a glimpse at the channel (Emmanuel TV). As soon as I tuned to Emmanuel TV, what I saw caught my attention; I saw someone being delivered by T.B. Joshua from a condition worse than mine, the person was suffering from severe poverty coupled with sleep apnea and asthma. This encouraged me a bit but I doubted because it could be a stage performance; I started contemplating about visiting the SCOAN as I was clearly not convinced about the happenings in the SCOAN. After much thought, I decided to come to the SCOAN to find out for myself the truth about T.B. Joshua. I never came to worship but came to see for myself if he was a real Prophet of God or a sorcerer.
MY VISIT TO THE SCOAN
Since I could not pay my sister’s medical bills, the hospital management later asked me to take her home; for it would be better she died at home. After taking her home, I left for Lagos and that was a week and two days after my encounter with the nurse, who advised me to go to SCOAN to see if the anointing there could help expose the evil powers behind my continuous failure, limitations in progress and restore my Sister’s health. I travelled by land which made my journey stressful and hectic, on my way to the SCOAN, I almost encountered an accident which made me doubt the more about my awkward coming to the SCOAN. When I arrived, I lodged in a nearby hotel to rest my head in anticipation for the next day because I was anxiously waiting to see the SCOAN finally and find out for myself all what I had been hearing from people.
The next day which happened to be a Sunday I finally came to the SCOAN and that was the first time I entered the church. When I entered the Church auditorium, I thought I would find the horns of the devil and the sacrifices people had brought for sanctification in the church as I believed but what I saw was different. I saw a lot of frame containing Jesus and His disciples in the church’s ceiling and the beautiful altar of the man of God well decorated with grasses, rocks, a pool of pure water and fruits of different kinds. The building was no respecter of persons; no matter how rich or successful a person is, once you are inside SCOAN you look just ordinary. I liked that very much but I was not totally convinced until I saw the man of God live for the first time. Immediately, I felt the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit. What struck me most were the long hours we all endured in the presence of the Almighty; I enjoyed every moment of that experience.
I was seating at the new comers’ section; I sat with my fingers crossed as the Man of God moved around the new comer’s section. The Prophet moved towards me and told me he would like to speak to me, I felt uneasy and reluctant because of my past but I finally allowed him to speak to me. He started prophesying to me and he was very accurate; he told me about my past which comprised blasphemy, my cult life, demonic attacks and financial problem. Hearing all these, I was perplexed; in fact, words could not explain how I felt at that spot.
He prophesied about my sister’s illness and declared her free of her illness; he also prayed for me. While the prayer was on, I just saw myself more like in the spiritual realm fighting with the demon in me. I finally won the demon I saw within me and found myself on the floor, I jumped up immediately and cleaned myself up; the man of God declared me free and congratulated me for my deliverance. I was really amazed when I saw for myself the man of God accurately prophesying to the congregation and the Prophets ministering healing and deliverance to the sick ones and the demonic possessed.
I was opportune to meet with the man of God in his office, there in the office, I apologized to the man of God telling him about the way I blasphemed him in the past; he just stopped me immediately and with humility and told me that the demon in me who was responsible for all my bad acts was gone and that I was free from my sins. He advised me and told me to go and sin no more. The man of God financed me and gave me the new set of anointed water to take back home to administer it to my family and loved ones.
When I got back to Abuja, I met my younger sister who had been seriously sick before I left for Lagos already healed; what surprised me was when I saw her playing around with his twin brother and other children in the neighbourhood. After all these, I had all reasons in the world to believe the man of God is not only authentic but also from the MOST HIGH GOD.
All these were still a mystery to me while I sat at home and reminisced my encounter with the man of God Snr prophet T.B. Joshua and also how he helped orphans, less privileged people, widows and how he gives scholarships to students who are in desperate need of help. But what I find very funny is how people just decide to blaspheme without checking their own physical and spiritual life. Many people that blaspheme today are even worse than the people they criticize; and I can tell them that they are simply fighting a lost battle.
Therefore, I came to a strong conclusion that it is wise to let readers know how delicate and deadly it is to criticize any prophet, church or even religion because you will never know where your problems are coming from and where they would be solved…Thanks!
Great living lifetime