Temitope Balogun Joshua/Balogun Francis was a Nigerian pastor and philanthropist. He is the founder and leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, Nigeria.

He asserted that his mother carried him for 15 months and that, days after his birth, he escaped death when a quarry exploded near his house.

His followers believe there was a prophecy about his birth, of a man of God to be born from a poor neighborhood in Arigidi Akoko.

Early life and education

T.B Joshua attended the St. Stephen's Anglican Primary School in Arigidi Akoko from 1971 to 1977 but did not complete one year of his secondary school education.

He loved the Bible so much while in school and was nicknamed Small Pastor by his peers. He organized Bible studies for local children and attended evening school during this period. While in school, he worked menial jobs to earn a living. One of such was working on a poultry farm carrying chicken waste.

His attempt to join the milliatry proved futile due to a train breakdown leaving him stranded on his way to the military academy.

T.B Joshua founded the Synagogue, Church of All Nations, SCOAN after he received divine anointing and a covenant from God to start his ministry which had more than more than 15,000 members. Joshua was widely known across Africa and Latin America and had a large social media presence with over 6,000,000 fans on Facebook, and over 1,000,000 subscribers on his Youtube and Emmanuel TV.

Joshua was married to Evelyn Joshua and had three children, Serah and Promise Joseph.

Miracles

T.B Joshua has healed so many people from all walks of life with diseases and illnesses both curable and incurable like HIV/AIDS open wounds, blindness, and so on. These miracles have been documented and published. He also claimed that his water could cure Ebola. He subsequently sent 4,000 bottles of the water alongside a cash gift of $50,000 to the Ebola-stricken nation of Sierra Leone. A Sierra Leonean politician later announced that the water helped stop the spread of the disease and cured several Ebola victims.

He had special anointing water that people claimed had healed them. Others claimed the special holy water which was prayed over by him protected them from calamities and deaddly incidents because they were carrying it on them.

Four people died in a stampede in the Ghanaian branch of the SCOAN in 2013. This was due to a rush for the water which was being distributed. It drew a huge crowd that exceeded the church's capacity in Accra, Ghana.

T.B Joshua is also known for performing exorcisms of people allegedly possessed by evil spirits. There was a case of an African girl who allegedly cried blood and a Liberian man who began behaving like a dog. He also transformed a Paraguayan transvestite from a being a woman to a being a man.

Some celebrities who claimed to be have been delivered by T.B Joshua include:

Kwabla Senanu claimed that he was delivered from a spiritual problem.

Veteran Nigerian Nollywood actress Camilla Mberekpe was also reportedly delivered at SCOAN.

Ghanaian musician Denise Williams said she was delivered from a demon that had pushed her to become a drug addict and to suicidal thoughts.

Popular Nollywood actor Jim Iyke also said he received deliverance at SCOAN, and a video of the event subsequently went viral.

Humanitarian work

It is estimated by a Forbes blogger that T.B Joshua spent $20 million on education, healthcare and rehabilitation programs for former Niger Delta militants. There is also a rehabilitation program for militants from Nigeria's Niger Delta region, repentant armed robbers, and sex workers who came to the church for 'deliverance'.

He had helped several poor and deprived communities. He donated over N26m to help restore electricity and put an end to over two years of power outage in four councils in the Akoko area of Ondo State. He ahs also made donations to police forces in Nigeria, Ghana, and Columbia.

The SCOAN also has scholarship packages for students at various levels of education. He sponsored a Nigerian student in obtaining a PhD from the Oxford University as well a Botswana student at the Havard School of Law.

He established the Clinique Emmanuel in Hiati after the earthquake. He also supported countries like Ghana, Philippines and India in times of need.

T.B Joshua has built the Emmanuel School in Lahore, Pakistan and rebuilt a school destroyed by the 2016 Ecuador earthquake.

He started a football club, My People FC, as part of efforts to help the youth in 2009. Two members of the team played for Nigeria's Golden Eaglets in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Sani Emmanuel was Nigeria's top scorer and the tournament's MVP and Ogenyi Onazi signed a professional contract with SS Lazio. Onazi is a key player for the Nigerian Senior Team, the Super Eagles.

WBO International Light Middleweight boxing champion King Davidson Emenogu said that Joshua has financially supported him throughout his career and purportedly prophesied that he would be a world boxing champion.

For his good work, was awarded a National Honour by the Nigerian government in 2008 as well a letter of appreciation from the United Nations.

Prohecies

T.B Joshua has been able to predict the death of people and events worldwide. These include:

The death of Michael Jackson

The winners of the AFCON which was won by Zambia and Nigeria

A video claiming that TB Joshua predicted the Malaysia Airlines MH370 event. The prophecy received a lot of attention on social media and its accompanying YouTube video amassed over 1 million views.

A Malian terrorist confessed that his group had planned to target Ghana after T.B Joshua's prophecy in 2016 that an impending terror attack would befall Ghana. 600 foreigners reportedly canceled their visits to Ghana in the wake of the prophecy.

Joshua incorrectly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 US election. After this prophecy failed to materialize, with Donald Trump winning the election, Joshua stated that he was referring to Clinton's win in the popular vote and any misinterpretation was due to a lack of "spiritual understanding".

Joshua claimed that COVID-19 would disappear globally on 27 March 2020.

Critics argue that Joshua's predictions are too vague.

Politics

T.B Joshua was a regular visitor to Ghana during Mills' early presidency and allegedly organized prayer warriors to be praying in Osu Castle. John Evans Atta Mills visited Joshua's visited the church for a thanksgiving service where he revealed the cleric had accurately ‘prophesied’ him winning the elections against Nana Akuffo-Addo.

He visited South Sudan in 2019 where led the president, Salva Kiir Mayardit and his his cabinet in prayers for peace at the nation’s Presidential Palace in Juba. In February 2020, South Sudan finally formed a unity government with peace brokered between Mayardit and rival leader Riek Machar.

He was 'blacklisted' by the government of Cameroon in 2010 and termed a 'son of the devil'.

He visited Tanzania during their elections in 2015. Commentators acknowledged his visit significantly reduced tensions in the country after the elections.

T.B Joshua died in Lagos Nigeria on 5 June 2021 one week to his birthday. This came after one of his evening services. There was no cause of death.

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