SCOAN and the Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, has impacted religious groups in various ways, including the Synagogue, Church of All Nations, (SCOAN). The cancellation of the worship services, the closure of various programmes in the Church such as the opportunity to partake in Living Water Services, taking part and be prayed for on the prayer line, pilgrimages to SCOAN, and all others, have impacted mainly on the affected individuals and the Church. Although SCOAN has been offering worship through Emmanuel.TV studio amidst the pandemic such cannot replace live services and where fellowship, healing and deliverance taking place with testimonies.

The SCOAN and Emmanuel.TV Partners Relief Wings across the globe have been busy dispatching various relief materials including cash and food to some affected areas. This is commendable, as it was in the days of Apostle Stephen that was stoned. It would be recalled however that Prophet TB Joshua has been for many years sounding the warnings, of this coming dooms, in various ways and at different times; Whether the Church had listened or not, whether the warnings were enough or not, the prophet did his part. The prophecy is probably the most significant impacting contribution the church can make to a society bent on going opposite God’s way. Just as someone who always see I watching Emmanuel.TV said to me, “Prof. I like SCOAN Choir because they can sing and dance. I also like the giving of charity and the prophecy of TB Joshua but I am not comfortable with the man himself, I fear him”. SCOAN is a total package, offering Total Christian Living, with or without a pandemic era. One cannot like the birth of Jesus because of Christmas Carols and the giving on Boxing Day without the Crucifixion, the Resurrection of Jesus and His Ascension. 

Hence the impact of SCOAN to society is felt more in service cancellation, because of its various benefit components to people, and lack of pilgrims coming to Nigeria. The prophet has already said it that Airline Business will be affected more, especially in places like Nigeria, post COVID-19 pandemic. Unless the Church continues to pray the various World Governments are not going to be in a hurry to allow the Church they didn’t want to re-open. Most governments see the Church of Christ as in the days of John the Baptist. The COVID-19 episode will be their license to deal with the Church and yet many people need healing, physically and spiritually, beyond just COVID-19. In fact, the Church could handle the pandemic it has prophesied about better than politicians who seemingly have walked blindly into the pandemic. The prophet who sees a coming doom is better prepared to handle the case than a king who simply wishes to avoid a war with coronavirus. Whilst governments are considering partial reopening of business centres that have come to mean so much to them they should see worship centres as places where citizens, traumatized or not, can get inspiration and encouragement to bounce back on their health or economies. The Church is the foundation of any successful and thriving society on moral and human rights. Any organization may give relief materials but the Church is the bedrock and succour to every community citizen. The coming post COVID-19 “Economic Pandemic” would need the Church of Christ to prepare people, encouraging them to stand on their two feet and follow Christ to walk.  

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

Faith Working Through Love by Prophet TB Joshua of SCOAN

The Bishop of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Senior Prophet TB Joshua, in his opening teaching at the Living Water Service yesterday (February 3, 2020), gave a profound exposition on how "our faith works through our love”. He gave the teaching from Galatians 5:6. We would have most probably read from this part of the Bible many times hitherto but what Prophet TB Joshua is simply saying is this; “For our faith to work, we need to walk in love toward God and other people. If our faith hasn’t been working lately, the reason is probably that we haven’t walked in love well enough”.

Many times we wonder where this prophet draws his inspirations from. They are so precise, simple and yet very deep and sufficient for our deliverance and the salvation of our souls. We need to get it very clear that in Christ Jesus neither circumcised nor uncircumcised has any value. It is not how long we can fast, it is not because we would put in some big efforts at all. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Unfortunately, religion has stolen the gospel from the general public and presenting them with work and personal efforts; of course, all of which are good but they are not the first things. 

Faith is having complete trust or confidence in God whereas love is an intense desire to meet the needs of others without the slightest expectation of receiving anything in return. Ordinarily, the two requirements, faith and love, seem to be working differently but Prophet TB Joshua has put them together for our success. It is heart gladden knowing that our faith works through our love. Hence we are taught that our faith works through God’s love for us; not our love for Him. When we understand how much God loves us, the width, length, depth, and height we will be full with all the fullness of Him. God will then be able to do more than we can ask for or think according to the power that works in us. 

We thank God for the gift of prophet TB Joshua at this particular time in history. His love for humanity is deep-rooted. Many of us who know him since the early 1990s will testify that he is a consistent generous giver in love, expecting no repayment. Similarly, those coming across him daily today have free opportunities to be healed, prayed for and directed by revelation in prophecy. This is Jesus' command to all of us to love God and to also love our neighbours. Giving is the actual seed sowing to produce a hundred folds as re-echoed by the prophet in the SCOAN. 

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

Video - Another woman sees Jesus inside T.B. Joshua’s church

 

I can see Jesus

Another Nigerian lady has sensationally claimed “seing Jesus Christ” during a service at Prophet T.B. Joshua’s the Synagogue church in Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos, Nigeria. The woman says Jesus is the most handsome Man she has ever seen.

In a clip published by Emmanuel TV’s YouTube channel, Chelsea Oghene Tega from Delta State is seen amidst congregants collecting ‘living water’ when she suddenly points her finger towards the ‘church altar’ and starts wildly gesticulating and shouting.

“I saw a man in a white robe with smoke. There was smoke everywhere from His feet,” she vividly described when pressed with questions. “The glory was too much; I could not even look.”

Testifying in a subsequent service, Tega explains with greater clarity about the ‘open vision’ she saw.

She admitted she was skeptical of Christianity and specifically critical of TB Joshua’s ministry and television network Emmanuel TV.

“I was fed up with churches. I felt all they would do is ask you to bring offerings and tithes – so I got upset with them,” Chelsea explained, adding she watched Emmanuel TV intermittently but never ‘believed’ in the miracles she saw.

According to Tega, she was heading to a market in Lagos when she saw the huge crowd of people amassing outside The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) for the Friday ‘Living Water Service’.

“My cousin had really pressed me that I must come to The SCOAN – since I was in Lagos – to get ‘the water’ for my elder brother who was sick,” she explained.

Her interest sufficiently piqued by the crowd – coupled with the request of her cousin – Chelsea resolved to join the mammoth queue to enter the service.

“I just wanted to enter and see this Synagogue I had been watching on TV,” she surmised, adding she still harboured doubts at that moment.

Eventually entering the service, the young lady described her subsequent encounter as “beyond human comprehension”.

“As soon as I got the water, I felt a force hold my leg. I couldn’t move. It then became cloudy as if it wanted to rain. I saw some angelic beings coming like diamonds – glittering, sparkling. I then saw a Man coming out with smoke. He was just rising, growing big. Then, the people I first saw come out were all bowing down, worshiping Him,” she graphically recounted.

According to Chelsea, the ‘Man’ said, “Do you now believe? I am the Living Water; anyone who comes to Me will never thirst again.”

She described His appearance as “the most handsome Man I ever saw”, adding He was adorned with a crown and “glittering regalia”. “It was too bright. I wasn’t seeing them on the ground,” she added.

Concluding, Chelsea admitted her perception of The SCOAN had radically shifted in the light of her ‘encounter’.

“God is here! God is in this place because what I saw was not just angels; Jesus came Himself. He was here. He showed Himself to me so I would trust and believe in Him,” she asserted.

“Everything I had been watching on Emmanuel TV – it’s true, it’s real. I doubted but God had to reveal Himself to me,” she concluded.

BY Ihechukwu Njoku