THE SECRET OF FAITH
In a message that was briefly started during the live Saturday service and firmly continued during the Sunday Service, Prophet T.B. Joshua unveiled, in his own words, 'The Secret Of Faith.' In the message, he said, "Jesus Christ is the surety of every Word from Matthew 1 to Revelation 22. No Word from God is void of fulfilment for God watches over His Word to perform it. If any Scripture should go by default, Jesus becomes responsible."
Speaking of the bold confidence a believer has to approach the throne of grace in prayers and supplication, he added, "When you know that the Lord is on your side, your heart becomes quiet. You look up into His face and whisper your request and you know it is going to be granted because it is your Father who is on the throne, it is your Lord who is seated by His side."
He concluded that faith was not abstract as it could be practiced and told the congregation that despite the challenges life would throw at them, faith was there for them through it all. "In your challenges in life, faith is there for you," he said. A time of testimonies, mostly concerning the Anointing Water, preceded the powerful message.
URINATION WITHOUT OPERATION
Mr Austin Uba, from Imo State, Nigeria came to the church with his wife, Rose and son, Kinsgley to thank God for His wonderful work in his life. He had suffered from a urinary tract blockage, such that he was unable to urinate for a painful period of months. He was referred to India for an operation, by a doctor who had given him a catheter to enable him to pass urine. However, he was told the operation, if conducted, would only have a 50/50 chance of success and there was a high probability that he may not be functional as a man thereafter. Having seen God's power in action on Emmanuel TV, he decided to come to The SCOAN for healing. After receiving the Anointing Water, he prayed and sprayed it on the affected area as well as in his mouth.
Merely hours later in his hotel room, Mr Uba, to his greatest surprise and delight passed his urine normally without the use of the catheter! Upon returning to the hospital, the doctor said he no longer needed an operation as he was already healed. Mr Uba encouraged people to look up to God and counselled them that He could do for them what He had done for him.
A COCKTAIL OF DRUGS AND DESTRUCTION
Mr Raphael Kpogli from Ghana had been a drug seller, smoker and addict for some 30 years, dealing specifically in heroin, Indian hemp (marijuana) and cocaine, while living a life of recklessness, waste and violence. In a shocking account of the debilitating and destiny-decaying effects of drug addiction, he narrated his sordid life experiences. He literally had to smoke a 'cocktail' of these drugs before going to bed, talking communicably with people or even eating, his wife and children always afraid of him at home due to his erratic nature. Having travelled to over six countries as a drug dealer, he acknowledged that although he never used a gun, he had caused multiple deaths by introducing drugs to people. His insatiable lust for this 'cocktail' of chaos crippled him financially as he sold cars, properties and even stole his wife's clothes and jewelleries to sell to pay for his indulgence. A once thriving and intelligent man was reduced to a nervous and hate-filled wreck, staying in a single room in a house for months on end and only emerging to purchase more of the poison that was slowly crippling and killing him.
However, his wife, whom never doubted that one day God would turn her husband around, kept praying for his life to change and stood by him through thick and thin. When a few drops at the bottom of a bottle of Anointing Water were given to the Kpogli's, Mr Raphael had no idea that within them contained the freedom he so sorely needed. After ministering the Anointing Water, Mr Kpogli said he felt a cold sensation envelop his body, as if a wave of liquid love was cascading through his entire system and reverberating within to eject all dependency on drugs and the darkness that embodied them. Mr Kpogli, who was about to embark on a rare journey to Accra, was worried at how he would complete the journey without taking the drugs. However, after many hours of travelling without even a thought of the substance, he realised that all previous craving for the drugs had disappeared. He tucked into a hearty meal and completed it, the first meal he had finished without taking drugs in 30 years. After three weeks of a drug-free life, he travelled to The SCOAN to share this life-changing testimony, exhorting friends who were still in the same business to abandon a life fuelled and filled by drugs which had reduced most of them to criminality. He said people must depend on God to be released from their plagues and a life of uncertainty.
TUTORSHIP FROM ABOVE
Miss Taffy Mukombami came all the way from Ireland to share her remarkable testimony. The Zimbabwean student explained that she had been both stressed and depressed because of the challenges she had faced to gain citizenship in Ireland. However, after discovering Emmanuel TV, her situation changed drastically. After being opportune to receive the Anointing Water, she prayerfully sprayed it on her application form for citizenship and sent it off. To her greatest surprise, a couple of months later, her residency was granted, something that some people had been waiting years to receive!
Aside from this, Taffy had also been facing difficulties with her Master of Arts Programme and almost took a year off due to the tremendous stress and pressure. However, at the verge of giving up, she saw Prophet T.B Joshua appear in her dream, take her to the library and show her the books she needed to study to perform excellently in her academic pursuits. Upon waking up, she was shocked to discover that the books he had divinely pointed out to her were exactly what she had been looking for. After the submission of her thesis, which she proudly showed the congregation, she explained that her results were suggestive of her obtaining a First Class a result, an achievement she knows is a product of Divine providence.
BARRENNESS EXPELLED
After being barren for nine long years, Mr and Mrs Ebong Victory came to The SCOAN to share their wonderful testimony. Medically, the couple had been diagnosed as having a low sperm count. Mrs Ebong had come to The SCOAN in April 2012, got the Anointing Water and prayed with her husband. After a month of administering some, she became pregnant. She promised to come for thanksgiving soon, with her child. Her husband was obviously full of happiness as he stood close to her in church. She said people should trust in God have faith because He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
In another wonderful testimony to God's provision of fruitfulness, a video was replayed showing Prophet T.B. Joshua prophesying to a woman, asking her of a medical report and revealing that her stomach had been cut though the purpose was neither achieved nor her menstruation regular. Mr & Mrs Anvor Ely from South Africa came forward in response to the video. After many years of barrenness, Mrs Anvor had undergone an operation in her womb but the result remained unsuccessful. However, after visiting The SCOAN and receiving the prophecy from Prophet T.B. Joshua, the couple decided to trust in God for supernatural provision. They narrated how after the prophecy, Prophet T.B. Joshua had counselled them in the office, stating that the sickness was 'cancelled' and giving them Anointing Water. After ministering it and continuing to trust in God, building their faith by listening to messages on Emmanuel TV, Mrs Ely became pregnant! She stood before The SCOAN congregation to testify that she was now several months pregnant, to the glory of God! Mr Ely thanked God for the inspiring messages on Emmanuel TV and exhorted viewers that Jesus has the solution to all fundamental issues of life.
POSSESSED BY PORNOGRAPHY
A video was replayed in which Prophet TB Joshua prophesied to a woman about her marriage and how the internet had played an active role in their relationship. Coming forward with her husband to confirm the prophecy, Mrs MacAlexander explained to the congregation how the prophecy was true. A Kenyan working in Nigeria, she said she had not seen her husband more than twice in two years due to his regular travels but they talked trough the internet.
They would regularly strip naked before each other on a webcam and even engage in household activities such as cooking while viewing each other's nudity. However, both soon took to watching pornography on the internet to satisfy themselves, soon birthing an addiction that almost crippled their marriage. The few occasions they did manage to spend time together, Mrs MacAlexander explained that the couple had no affection for each other whatsoever and she had determined within to leave the marriage before the prophecy was given. Although she had a well paid job, she explained that she could not give any account of how she spent the money, adding that after she had started viewing pornography, she began to sleep with a strange man in her dreams.
Her husband, Alexander, from Imo State, Nigeria, reiterated what his wife had said. They had met in Nairobi, Kenya five years ago but had barely spent months together as he was a regular traveller. After talking on the internet, he also had resorted to masturbation and pornography, too. He explained he began to have harrowing dreams of sleeping with a strange woman and finding himself in a cemetery with dead people. Career wise, despite connections and experience as a music producer, he found himself in a cycle of disappointment and missed opportunities.
Prophet TB Joshua spoke on the tortuous nature of pornography, a sin he stated was even worse than fornication. He said up to 70% of the world populace struggled with pornography, specifying that the youth in particular were affected. Following their confession, TB Joshua assured the couple that deliverance, restoration and reconciliation would follow and they would not leave The SCOAN unless they were completely free.
FROM CHURCH-BOY TO CULT-LEADER
A video was replayed in which a young man manifested after prayer from Wise Man Racine at The SCOAN prayer line and the spirit spoke through him that it was a strong man which has been in him since birth. Chinedu Anagor and his parents came forward following the clip to share their experiences. Chinedu, a graduate of music from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was an obedient, trustworthy and churchgoing young man before his entrance into university. However, influence from bad friends and a desire to feel part of the 'crowd' led the intelligent student to delve into the dark arrays of cultism, as he was initiated into the 'Buccaneers'. Confessing that his parents were hearing this for the first time, Chinedu explained how he displayed a different attitude at home while growing steadily deeper into cultism and its attendant diabolic activities at school.
His roles in the cult graduated to include initiating other students, consulting oracles on the cult's behalf and acting as a bodyguard to the cult leader – all high ranking positions. With little concentration on his academic career, Chinedu ended up spending 10 years in university before graduating, deceiving his parents that he had completed his course whereas actually he hadn't. He confessed to the fact that he raped girls, caused violence and threatened people, though maintaining a pretence of calmness and coolness to the casual onlooker. Through God's influence, he was finally delivered at The SCOAN, after which he began to genuinely regret his past actions for the first time. Falling to his knees in tears, he begged T.B. Joshua to assist him to apologise to his parents for his disrespect and lifestyle of lies and deceit. Shedding tears, his aged father embraced his son, as the congregation looked on, many themselves wiping tears from their eyes at the touching reconciliation and incredible change in the life of Chinedu through the deliverance. Prophet T.B. Joshua counselled parents to learn a lesson from Chinedu's experience and ensure their children are regularly in the house of God.
ABILITY IN DISABILITY
One of the events of the day was the giving of scholarships to various physically challenged students who are part of The SCOAN Scholarship Scheme. The students were given different sums of money according to their various scholastic needs, totalling N3 million. They included the blind, crippled, deformed and amputees. One of the spokespersons of the group, Olurundere Adenike, said she had no support for education, and when admitted to the University of Lagos, she had dropped out for lack of funds. However, she eventually gained admission to the University of Ibadan to read Languages and English, requesting assistance from Prophet T.B. Joshua and Emmanuel TV Partners to pursue her academic dreams of excellence. Also, Emmanuel Aderemi, a student of Political Science, University of Lagos, also spoke on the uniqueness of the opportunity given them to be part of the Scholarship program.
The service was concluded in a fiery Mass Prayer in which the finger of God Almighty manifested mightily among the congregants. As the Prophet remarked, what a God we have to worship, what a son we have to praise and what a future lies before us. To those whose lives are centred in Christ Jesus, better is not good enough; the best is yet to come.