Letter to Prophet TB Joshua – 13 August 2016

13 August 2016

Prophet T B Joshua
Synagogue Church Of All Nations
Lagos
Nigeria

Good morning Prophet TB Joshua,

OUR ORDEAL AT THE SCOAN – JOHN CHIBWE AND WIFE (26 & 27 JULY 2015)

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is now a year since I and wife left the SCOAN on our last visit in August 2015 and thereafter wrote to you giving details of our ordeal at the SCOAN in my letter dated 18 November 2015. Whilst I reproduce the contents of the said letter below, I wish to point out that the recent events associating you with certain “prophets” in Zimbabwe, labeling you as their spiritual father, have confirmed the reasons for the negative attitude and the hostile treatment I and my wife received from SCOAN during our visit to Nigeria last year. In spite of this new revelation, I nonetheless would want to once again furnish you with details of my said letter to yourself, for which I never received any response and in this respect advise that I will now be proceeding avail it to the public for my accusers to be put to shame and Jesus Christ is glorified.

My Name is John Chibwe from Zimbabwe and am probably the last person you expect to hear from. Admittedly I am the least of all saints in the Kingdom of God and therefore, unqualified to address your office as the esteemed Prophet of God or any of the evangelists privileged to work under your mentorship. Nevertheless, please allow me to narrate our ordeal (myself and my wife) at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) during our most recent visit in July 2015. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 v 1-23, whether one plants and another waters, we are a team and God gives the increase. This you have often reiterated in your messages. It is with this in mind that I wish to bring to your attention our experience at the SCOAN, which we viewed as a necessity in order for the glory of God to manifest in our lives.

I have agonized over whether or not I should bring this to your attention. In the end however, I felt compelled to bring it to your attention for no other motive other than for the good of the body of Christ. In doing so, I am cognizant of the fact that you may not be aware of our several attempts to visit the SCOAN and our eventual visit in July, and the ordeal we went through. Unsure whether this letter would be brought to your attention, given our experiences of the past, I initially intended to post it onto the public media, but was however persuaded to first write to you, in keeping with the word of God on dispute resolution amongst Christians. I was convinced that writing to you first, giving all the necessary details of our experience at the SCOAN before resorting to public media was the right thing to do under the circumstance, which would preserve the integrity of the Church as the body of Christ. Although there have been many misconceptions about myself and false accusations that I was presenting myself as a SCOAN imposter in Zimbabwe, I felt it was important to furnish you with all the necessary information. In doing so I was guided by the word of God that says, one who honors a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. For this reason, I viewed the use of the public media as a last resort after exhausting all other options as provided in the word of God to preserve the bond of peace and avoid division in the church as the Lord says in Matthew 12 v 25 “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and every city or household divided against itself will not stand”. I would only consider public media as a last resort, in the event that I get no confirmation that this letter has been brought to your attention as has happened in the past with all my efforts to contact your office seemingly being blocked.

After more than two years of relentless effort, my wife and I, finally had the privilege of attending service at the SCOAN on 26 July 2015 for which we are very grateful. We fully realise that it was within your power or that of the evangelists to deny us entry into the church auditorium, having come without a church invitation, like many other foreign and Nigerian congregants who may also have come without invitations. However the unpleasant events and the attitude towards us by the SCOAN team that followed soon after the Sunday service, resulted in us having second thoughts on the genuineness and sincerity of the SCOAN hospitality.

The ORDEAL that followed left us in no doubt that we were unwelcome visitors at the SCOAN and were thus convinced that, if the SCOAN team had their wherewithal, they would have barred us from entering the church auditorium. We were left with many unanswered questions in our minds, as we sought to relate the word preached at the SCOAN to the reception we had received. Notwithstanding, we still believed God has ordered all and consequently we were able to see His goodness in the humiliating treatment we received at the hands of the SCOAN team and thus viewed our experience a necessity allowed by God for our spiritual growth and an opportunity to honor God. Below I give an account of our ordeal at the SCOAN;

Our visit to SCOAN (Lagos) on 26 July 2015, was after several attempts to obtain a SCOAN letter of invitation to help in obtaining a Nigerian visitor’s visa, in addition to several attempts to obtain the visa through independent means. By the grace of God, we finally managed to get visas from Zambia. The change in the SCOAN attitude towards myself or any member of my family bearing the surname Chibwe seems to have taken place much earlier, well before 2013. This followed the phone call I received from evangelist Yinka (“Administrator” in the office of the Prophet) on 15th February 2013 instructing me to stop whatever I was doing in Zimbabwe, ostensibly, because people were now confused on whether or not there was a SCOAN in Zimbabwe. Following this phone call all communications were abruptly cut-off and no explanations were given. Even her phone call was punctuated by an unceremonious cut-off in the middle of the conversation as I sort to explain myself to her. Thereafter, all my attempts to communicate with the church were to no avail. Though I had been voluntarily offering my services as SCOAN coordinator (for no material gain) at that time, I only discerned that I was no longer a SCOAN coordinate when all my communication with the SCOAN was being ignored. No formal communication was ever given, notwithstanding that it was not by self-appointment that I was assigned that role neither was I doing it for personal gain, but for the glory of God, the salvation of souls. I pray to God that He gives me the grace to continue honoring Him with my body and all that is within me, despite this negative attitude exhibited by the SCOAN team.

Having stated the above, I wish to advise that our primary objective in coming to SCOAN was to meet you, Prophet TB Joshua. As has already been stated above, this, followed many false accusations and outright lies made against myself (John Chibwe), communicated to SCOAN by those whom the Lord in Revelation 3 v 9 and John 8 v 44 says; “they claim to be children of God, yet they are no different to those of the synagogue of satan, claiming to be true believers/ Christians, though they are not, but are liars who delight in lying and making false accusations against brethren and causing disunity in the body of Christ. They belong to their father, the devil and want to carry out their father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”. In visiting The SCOAN therefore it was not my or my wife’s intention to beg for material or the blessings of man, neither were we in any way desperate nor after worldly riches and fame, but our motive and mission was one, to honor the Prophet of God by letting him know the truth and thus making peace with him. Over the years since my last visit to the SCOAN in early (January) 2013, it had become clear that I was an unwelcome visitor at the SCOAN for reasons best known to the SCOAN and Emmanuel TV members which were never formally communicated to me. As time passed by I increasingly became aware of the reasons why I was allegedly blacklisted and therefore barred from visiting the SCOAN, namely the false accusations and allegations made against me, key amongst them being:-

1. That I was an imposter claiming to be a Wiseman running a SCOAN branch in Zimbabwe
2. That I was conducting anointing water services in Zimbabwe and claiming to represent Prophet TB Joshua
3. That I had been or was fraudulently and deceitfully collecting people’s money for personal gain using the name of SCOAN or that of Prophet TB Joshua

Following the above accusations and allegations brought to my attention by Yinka of SCOAN and other individuals such as Beulah (an Emmanuel TV partner) and many others such as Tambudzai, a regular SCOAN visitor assigned to carry out an undercover investigation on my conduct in Zimbabwe on the allegations leveled against me of misrepresenting myself as a SCOAN appointee, I sought to have audience with you or any of your duly appointed representatives, hence our visit to SCOAN of 26 July 2015. The objective of our coming was principally twofold, namely,

1. To clear my name of the malicious accusations and allegations leveled against me and be at peace with you and the SCOAN team as per the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 5v23-25 and Rom 12 v 18.
2. To establish whether or not it was true that I had been black listed from visiting the SCOAN, a development I found to be very strange and inconsistent with LOVE and the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ consistently preached at the SCOAN.

The reception we received (I and my wife) confirmed the reports we had received about the accusations and allegations as the animosity and hostility directed towards us were quite evident. At the time when we were receiving negative reports about what was being said about me at the SCOAN and SCOAN’s views and perception about myself (whilst back in Zimbabwe), I did not believe them as I always endeavor to see good in every situation. However, the hostile attitude we received when we visited the SCOAN (we stayed in private hotel outside the church) confirmed the reports we had received back in Zimbabwe. As much as we wanted to disregard all the bad things reportedly said about myself at SCOAN, we found ourselves with no option but to be convinced that the reports we had heard, allegedly made to SCOAN by some of those who seek to please man than to fear God, and the resultant views adopted by SCOAN about myself and my wife were true. One such report was that one of the Wiseman in addressing visitors in one of the pre-departure messages mentioned my name (John Chibwe) as one of those blacklisted from coming to SCOAN for reasons best known to SCOAN. In stating the above it is pertinent to highlight the following:-

1. Since my last visit on an invitation to the SCOAN on 30 Dec 2012/ 1 January 2013, all communication lines were severed and ever since then I never received any response to all my communications, whether email, phone calls or through emissaries I requested to go and explain my position/innocence to the prophet. I WAS COMPLETELY SHUT-OUT. No reasons were given by SCOAN verbally or otherwise. Knowing that, man changes with time and circumstances, the change in attitude by SCOAN members did not surprise me, as I found it to be akin to that of Laban towards Jacob in Genesis 31 v 1-2. I continued with my efforts to secure a visa and come to SCOAN to clear my name with the prophet and by the grace of God, finally we managed to obtain the visas after more than two years.
2. I and my wife managed to get into the church auditorium without any incident, by the grace of God like many others who were staying in private accommodation, outside the church premises, and had come to the church without an invitation. We attended the Sunday service and were privileged to be given TWO (2) “TO WAIT – SUNDAY SERVICE” notes from one of the ushers, leading to a brief interview with Wiseman Christopher and another white young man.
3. After a brief interview with Wiseman Christopher, we were given a note “Please wait” to go and meet Prophet TB Joshua. To us this was a great opportunity we had been waiting for as it was going to enable us put things straight with yourself on all the accusations made against me over the years without being given a chance to defend myself. We were really looking forward to shame the devil and all his agents.
4. As we headed towards the waiting area for meeting with the Prophet, an usher was sent to call us back, to which we obliged and were made to sit for more than 45 minutes whilst waiting to see the evangelist who had summoned us back.
5. Finally we were brought before Yetunde (I assumed she is one of the evangelists) who was with a young white man (a disciple I presume) and Wiseman Christopher, Yinka and another young man sat nearby.
6. Yetunde instructed the young man to give me SIX anointing stickers; ONE for me which according to Yetunde I was to keep on my person; ONE for a house; ONE for a car etc, which she said Prophet TB Joshua had instructed that we be given these. She proceeded to withdraw the “Please Wait” note meant for us to see the Prophet. To her we had come for stickers as she viewed us as a couple from Zimbabwe who were so desperate for worldly blessings and therefore seeking after worldly riches, money, houses, cars etc. I found this to be very insulting for evangelist Yetunde to assume that our contentment was derived from material possessions and thus coming to a conclusion that our visit was solely to seek after worldly possessions. This was certainly the opposite of why we had come to SCOAN for, we were seeking the face of GOD and GOD alone, hence our effort to try and make peace, as Paul says in Rom 12 v 18 “if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone….” and Matthew 18 v 15-17.
7. Yetunde instructed us to go, as the stickers were all that we needed. I informed her that the reason we came was not to seek material possessions but to explain my position regarding all the accusations and allegations made against me to the prophet. I sought to give her back the stickers but she refused to take them back. Yetunde with sheer arrogance suggested that I give these to my wife as if she was one who was desperate for material possessions; this again was not acceptable to my wife, which she found to be insulting. I protested to Yetunde and told her that I could not keep the stickers as it was clear to us that they were not given from a cheerful and sincere heart, since they were being given at the back of barring us from seeing the prophet. She suggested that we give to anyone we meet in the streets of Nigeria which again I found to be grossly absurd and inappropriate, given that the stickers are the property of SCOAN and not ours and to do what she suggested would only serve to reinforce the basis of the accusations made against me, which was the very reason we had come to the SCOAN. Against my will and for fear of the Lord and to avoid desecrating the anointed medium of God I held on to the stickers, which I still intend to return to you. In this respect, I would be most obliged, once you are aware of this issue, if you could allow me to hand them over to the SCOAN coordinator in Zimbabwe for returning to SCOAN, together with the Emmanuel TV badge you presented to me in January 2011. Should no response be forthcoming I will in due time be returning these via DHL.
8. After explaining to her (Yetunde) that our reason for coming to SCOAN was solely to seek an audience with the Prophet, I explained to her that given all the false accusations and allegations made against me, it was only fair that I be given a chance to explain myself to the prophet. I further explained that if those who came to make all the accusations/ allegations against me were given audience by the prophet and the SCOAN/Emmanuel TV team, then surely it was only fair that I also be accorded the same chance. I told her that I found it ironic that the accusers were given audience yet myself, the accused, was not given the chance to defend myself.
9. Yetunde then asked me whether I was willing and ready to confess, to which I asked her on what it is I must confess. I told her there is no way I could confess to false accusations and baseless allegations. I further informed her that I and my family were content with what God had blessed us with and therefore by coming to SCOAN we should not be seen as having come to seek blessings for material possessions, wealth, money and fame. The following is what Yetunde went on to say and I quote:-
   • “Why were you (me and my wife) now coming to the SCOAN after three years; many things had been said about you John Chibwe”. I told her (Yetunde) that assuming the allegations were true, which of course they were not, even the prodigal son received a hearty welcome from his father after all he had done, why then would SCOAN condemn me on the basis of false accusations?
   • “You must have come and you know we would not have turned you back”. I explained to her of the challenges we had to go through in securing the visa all in an effort to come and clear my name from all the false allegations. I further told her that all attempts to get an invitation letter were unsuccessful. She said “why is it that the Phiri’s and brother Harry come to the SCOAN often”. I explained that whilst I do not know these two, obviously their visits were facilitated by the letters of invitation they obtained from SCOAN.
   • She went on to say “of all people, you John Chibwe was one who the Prophet always referred people to in Zimbabwe. The prophet always referred people to John Chibwe and we (SCOAN) were even showing your charity programs that you conducted in Zimbabwe on Emmanuel TV”. I was shocked by Yetunde’s assertion which, to me, suggested that the SCOAN’s motive of showing the charity programs on Emmanuel TV was aimed at enhancing my personality profile into some form of a celebrity status. I told her that for a start I never had appointed myself as an Emmanuel TV partner but that the prophet located me by the Spirit of God from amongst the congregation when I had visited SCOAN and hence all the charity work I did and continue to do was not aimed at seeking after worldly glory and fame, but for Jesus Christ to be glorified. I further told her that it never occurred to me that the reason Emmanuel TV was showing the charity work I was doing in Zimbabwe was to promote me, that is, my personal image rather than glorifying GOD. I further told her that had I known that this was the SCOAN/Emmanuel TV motive, I would have turned it down. To me, it is better to eat the dried crumbs of bread with the righteous than to eat plenty from the table of the wicked hence I derive joy in doing that which pleases God out of my love for Him than to do anything for the obtaining of worldly gain. In saying this, I am by no means claiming that I am perfect neither am I infallible, for we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – Rom 3v23.
10. She then gave us a note (To see Emmanuel TV team) for reasons best known to herself. We were then made to wait in the church auditorium from 15h00 and only for Yetunde to then come back at 19h45 after almost 5 hours of waiting, all alone, and confined to one place in the church, instructing us to go and come back tomorrow, Monday 29 July 2015 at 14h00. She gave us the office telephone number 08080800044, so we could send her our Nigerian mobile # once back at the hotel (we were staying in), to enable her to call us on our mobile. She also gave us a note to hand over to the security at the gate which read “to be allowed entry and be escorted to the Testimony Department”. As requested, we forwarded her our mobile number but she never got to call us as she had promised. We found her none adherence to her word to be inconsistent with love, for which we found Numbers 23 v 19 to be very pertinent, for in God there is no lie.
11. The following day we were at the church by 14h00 as agreed the previous day and were taken by the security to the Testimony department. We sat there unattended until about 16h00 when we were escorted into the church auditorium to join those who were to be attended to by the evangelists in what appeared to be counseling sessions. It was whilst we were there that Yetunde saw us and advised that she would shortly be attending to us.
12. The SCOAN team, that was comprised of evangelists Yetunde, Chris, Yinka amongst others, came and attended to others who had been waiting as was the case with us, also waiting to be attended to. Once they were through with the Nigerians they were attending to, they all left and I and my wife were left in the church auditorium, all this time hoping to be attended to as had been promised by Yetunde. Time ticked on.
13. At 22h00, after 8 hours of waiting, (sitting in the church and confined to one place) unattended to, one of the security details was sent to attend to us. When he came he asked to see the note we had been given (unbeknown to us this was a way of managing us out). We handed over to him the note and he retained it and went on to tell us “you are free to go they will phone you tomorrow“. We explained to him that we had been waiting to be attended to for more than 13 hours having had more than 4 hours the previous day when we had again been made to wait and afterwards only to be told to leave without being attended to and no explanation from Yetunde.
14. We requested him (security detail) if we could see Yetunde whom we felt would perhaps explain to us what was going on and since we were due to leave for our home country Zimbabwe the following day. Upon this request, he left us in the church and went back (we assumed to consult with Yetunde). To our surprise and utter dismay the next thing we saw was a menacing and very aggressive security member (different from the one sent earlier) of the SCOAN who instructed us to leave the church building forthwith and if we still had issues to approach Gate 5. We explained to him that we had been instructed to come into the church and sit there by Yetunde who was to attend to us BUT he could not hear any of that, his instruction was that we immediately leave the church. We were commandeered out of the church building, literally bundled out as if we were thieves or criminals, yet we had been made to sit there by the SCOAN officials and besides, we believed then that we were in the house of God, which we also considered to be the house of our Heavenly Father, but alas, we were mistaken. Whilst we fully understand that the bombing incident at the SCOAN could naturally have resulted in heightened (enhanced) security measures and apprehension, we felt the SCOAN officials were heavy handed in dealing with us as if we were criminals (which to their mind could have been the case). In this incident, we witnessed another face of Nigeria which gave us a totally different picture of SCOAN to that which we had known in the past or the one we see on Emmanuel TV through the word that is preached. Certainly one would not wish anyone to receive such a harsh treatment we received at the hands of the SCOAN team. Had this treatment been to someone who is faint hearted, who leans on the wisdom and power of man, (whose trust and confidence rests and is dependent on man), it is quite possible they would have questioned their stand in Christ and therefore risked back sliding and falling from grace. We indeed tested the rejection that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ went through and it is indeed a very painful experience for one to go through, particularly when one is rejected by those he/she expects to receive him or her.
15. We did not see any reason to fight or argue with the security detail, but rather, we obliged and left the church auditorium. On getting to Gate 5 we met a brother (a member of SCOAN manning Gate 5), short and light in complexion with a thick beard, we found him to be very kind and gentle. It was very reassuring to talk to him. It was comforting that there was at least some in The SCOAN, who care and act love. Unsure what to do with the Emmanuel TV badge for partners which I intended to return as it is the property of SCOAN, which I believe could have the basis upon which some of the allegations were emanating from, I requested to leave the badge with him at Gate 5. He advised against this and I found his words of advice to be full of wisdom and reassuring and I obliged by taking the Emmanuel badge with me, hoping to get hold of you and thereafter returning it to yourself.
16. We left Nigeria the following day heading back home to Zimbabwe on Tuesday 28 July 2015, with one impression indelibly marked in our minds, a SCOAN team that had totally changed in attitude, which was now very uncaring, at least to us alone. We got the impression of a SCOAN whose members were intolerant, insensitive, inconsiderate and uncaring of the feelings of others, and hostile to the emergence of more laborers into the Lord’s harvest. We found it very disturbing that what was preached was in stark contrast and in conflict with the actions and attitudes exhibited by those at the SCOAN. Man of God, you have always said, “we are a team” and surely members of a team cooperate they do not compete or fight against each other. What we experienced at the SCOAN was certainly shocking to say the least and we wondered whether such treatment was given to us because we were Zimbabweans viewed by the SCOAN team as desperate and after worldly gain, and whether such treatment would have been given to us if we were from one of the affluent first world countries viewed as rich and famous.

Having stated the above, many questions remain unanswered and the following are some of the unanswered questions:-

1. Why would SCOAN give audience to those who bring gossip and lies, making baseless and false accusations and allegations against other fellow Christians but deny audience to those accused of such wrong doing; what is the motive and benefit to the body of Christ in promoting division within the Church. Whether one is in Zimbabwe and another in Nigeria or any other part of the world, are we all not one in Christ since we drink from the same Spirit who never discriminates on the basis of colour or geographical origin or location? Why then would SCOAN evangelists seek to perpetuate falsehood and thus advance the works of the evil one who himself is the accuser of brethren? What is it that the SCOAN members were trying to conceal, surely one who was after truth would have gladly allowed us to explain ourselves to the Prophet. Who was Yetunde working for, light or darkness, if she had not been instructed by the Prophet to treat us the way she did? If she had been instructed by you the prophet, we would again ask, who were you working for, light or darkness, what fellowship is there between light and darkness?
2. Why would the SCOAN team choose to believe lies and gossip and be unprepared to listen to one who is the accused, which would enable them to make an informed judgment, especially in light of Proverbs 16v28 which says “a perverse mind stirs up conflict and gossip separates close friends”? Evil always thrives on lies and gossip, even as satan is the father of all lies. I believe the body of Christ should guard against the manipulations of satan by avoiding to depend on lies. The entertainment of a lie in one’s life is itself the giving of room to satan in one’s life which allows the foolish man (satan) to use man as his instrument to further his cause of hatred, jealous, envy and all the bad things associated with darkness.
3. Unless the SCOAN members are working in cahoots with the accusers, the schemers of evil, why would they block me and my wife from seeing the prophet so that he knows the truth? What benefit are they receiving for such union with those who peddle lies against other Christians – what are they afraid of and what are they trying to hide?
4. If truly Wiseman Christopher was walking by faith not by sight and therefore being under the check and conduct of the Holy Spirit of God, why would Yetunde reverse the decision he (Wiseman Christopher) had made by giving us the “please wait” note to see the Prophet? Is there confusion with God or in the body of Christ, to give with one hand and in the same breath take again with the other? Surely the God we serve is The Living God, in Him there is no confusion and there is no darkness. For that reason His yes is an emphatic YES, because there is no confusion in Him – Number 23 v 19-20………

To download the full letter please click on the link below:

DOWNLOAD: John Chibwe’s Full Letter to Prophet TB Joshua [PDF – 327KB]