The Sunday Independent

TB Joshua – not your ordinary pastor

STAFF REPORTER

NIGERIAN pastor TB Joshua was not your ordinary televangelist.

The hugely popular pastor, who died last week, rose to become one of the most influential evangelists on the continent and in the world.

Joshua, 57, was the leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations.

Born Temitope Balogun Joshua, the man who started from humble beginnings in Nigeria amassed a huge number of followers who claimed he was a prophet.

However, despite his popularity, he was not immune from controversy.

Joshua rose to prominence in the 1990s and was known for his claims to cure various diseases and perform miracles.

Controversy around him erupted in 2014 when one of his churches collapsed, killing 116 people, of whom 84 were South Africans who had travelled to Lagos to attend the church.

It was reported that a court in Lagos said: “The church was culpable because of criminal negligence.” However, Joshua never faced any charges.

Other investigations attributed the disaster to structural failures and found that the building had not received planning approval from the authorities.

Critics questioned his claims and accused him of profiting from people in search of hope, and that some of the “miracles” he had brought about were performed by actors.

In 2004, the National Broadcasting Commission in the US banned TV stations from screening programmes of pastors performing unverified miracles. However, televangelists were still able to broadcast in most of Africa through dedicated channels on free-to-air satellites.

Joshua was a tech-savvy pastor and became a social media influencer with millions of followers across his social media channels.

In April this year, his YouTube channel, with more than 1.8 million subscribers, was shut down following allegations of hate speech and a complaint filed about videos showing Joshua conducting prayers to “cure” gay people.

“He was rough. He was crude. His methods were unorthodox,” Abimbola Adelakun, assistant professor in the African Studies Department at the University of Texas, reportedly said.

Joshua grew his net worth to around $150 million (about R1.36 billion), according to Glusea, a website that ranks the net worth of celebrities.

He owned a fleet of luxury cars and had his own jet, yet he remained an outsider.

Upon his death, his church released a statement on its social media channels giving insight into his last moments.

“God has taken His servant Prophet TB Joshua home – as it should be by divine will. His last moments on Earth were spent in the service of God. This is what he was born for, lived for and died for,” read the post.

Despite the controversies, Joshua maintained his massive following across the globe. It is still not clear what will happen to the movement built around his personality or the considerable wealth his enterprises have generated.

AFRICA

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2021-06-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thesundayindependent.pressreader.com/article/282183653996426

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