God Wouldn't Hide What He is doing from His Holy Prophets

God is still saying something and this has become part of Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) and his ministry of prophecy. Hence when you hear the word "Prophet TB Joshua” what comes to your mind? Do you think of a man with some mystical powers that enable him to see the future? Or does your mind go to the Bible, thinking of high-profile prophets like Samuel, Elijah, Daniel or John the Baptist? It is a great honour to be chosen as a prophet of God, God's spokesperson of any generation. The position demands total obedience to God, courage, diligence and selflessness; and fortunately, God is always with them every step of their usual hard way. They don’t have to rely on their human strength, wisdom, opinion, or confidence, otherwise, they may derail and fail.

The Bible mentions several occasions when God spoke to His people. For example in (Genesis 18:17);  The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" Also, God called out to Adam in the garden, even though He knew where he was hiding (Genesis 3:9). God spoke as a man to Abraham, even though He already knew how the conversation would proceed (Genesis 18:1–3). Jeremiah said that "The Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:9-11).

The events in Genesis 18 is very appropriate here where the Lord visited Abraham and his wife Sarah. When Abraham saw three men coming he ran to meet them cheerfully and generously entertained them. After the entertainment and the further confirmation of the birth of Isaac, the men got up to leave and Abraham walked along with them. They were now four "men" standing and looking at the city of Sodom, a city that would soon be in flames, in the distance from a high vantage point. One of the four men was Abraham. One was the Lord in human form. The other two were angels, travelling companions of the Lord on this mysterious journey. By this time, Sodom had already gained a reputation for wickedness (Genesis 13:13). God chose to make Abraham aware so he would be all the more convinced of God's power and sovereignty. This patient process would also emphasize the extent to which Sodom had fallen.

Today prophecy is confused with forecasting or prediction and prophet confused with terms like a seer, future teller, etc. In science, we build models for prediction and forecasting. The prophecy that comes from the Lord is where God makes His plans known to man for the congregation to be edified and to appreciate the awesome power and sovereignty of this Almighty God. Prophet TB Joshua has many gifts of the Holy Spirit including the gift of prophecy. Every God's gift is after all for the edification of the Church of Christ. A human model built for forecasting the future trend, say covid-19, is deemed good enough if it gets it right 70% or more whereas prophecy is the exact revelation of God's plans because God puts His Word in the mouth of the prophet.

For instance, the rest of the world had predicted that Africa would be a major death centre of covid-19 but God has been kind to Africa to this period because God's prophet is here in Africa. The estimated population of Nigeria is 209 million while that of the USA is 332 million. The officially reported death statistics due to covid-19 in Nigeria currently is 1184 given a per capita death rate of 5.67 per million. Similarly, the USA has at this moment recorded 285351 deaths from covid-19 and a per capita death rate of 859.49 per million. Even the vaccines being produced around the world are too expensive for most Africans to buy. It must be that there is at least a prophet of God in Africa. Prophecy is walking with God and hearing from God and relaying God's message as sent. Abraham was able to plead for the release of his nephew Lot and his household otherwise they might have gone with Sodom firework of God. God is still actively saying something audibly through the prophet in SCOAN.

EMMANUEL!!! GOD WITH US!!!

Prof. R. A. Ipinyomi, University of Ilorin, Nigeria