The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and other famous Christain clerics in the country have conspicuously maintained silence over the death of founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations Prophet Temitope Joshua.
Known to the public as TB Joshua, the SCOAN founder died on March 5 after a church programme in Lagos.
The preacher was reportedly not a member of neither CAN nor PFN, both of the faith’s most prominent bodies.
Joshua was reputed to have said that he was converted in his mother’s womb.
His unarthodox methods turned his contemporaries against him.
General overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; presiding bishop of the Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo; and the general superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi have not publicly said a word concerning Joshua’s demise.
Adeboye, had in 2009, said he would never go to Joshua’s church to minister.
He was quoted as saying in the Vanguard when asked whether he could worship in Joshua’s church, “No! Definitely not! If he wants me to come and minister in his church, we will sit down; we will discuss the issue of salvation the way I understand it, according to the scriptures.
“If we agree on that and he now wants me to come and preach the same message of salvation in his church, then I will go.”
While Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor was PFN president, he was quoted to have said the body would not admit Joshua to its fold because they were not convinced that he was a child of God.
“Jesus did not say by their words you will know them; he said by the fruit you shall know them. If T.B. Joshua can show me his pastor who pastored him before he said he was called into the ministry; if T.B. Joshua can tell me when he got converted and how he got converted, then we would consider him. Anybody who is a Christian is a Christian because he received Jesus Christ at a point,” he said.
“I gather he said he was converted in his mother’s womb and I don’t see anybody like that in the Bible. It is a conscious decision you make and it doesn’t happen in your mother’s womb.”
Joshua, who died aged 57, was into the healing ministry, becoming the go-to person for sick people who needed healing.
