Tuesday 12th June 2018 marks the 55th birthday of prominent Nigerian cleric and founder of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), T. B. Joshua, who was born in 1963 to a “humble home” in Arigidi, Ondo State, Nigeria.
To honour the occasion, Joshua released exclusive, unseen footage of his early life and ministry, revealing the intensity of his impoverished upbringing.
“Who are we celebrating? Don’t forget – he is not a superstar but a man of the people,”
Joshua told congregants on Sunday 10th June 2018, adding that people should see his birthday as a convenience to help “those who need them”.
Explaining his mysterious birth, Joshua claimed he spent fifteen months in his mother’s womb before she eventually delivered him at Egbe Hospital in Kogi State, Nigeria.
Equally strange circumstances surrounded his naming ceremony where the seven-day-old baby was virtually wrecked by a rock which fell through the roof of his house from an adjacent construction location.
“Miraculously, the baby was not touched but found saved on the other side of the net where he was lying,”
Joshua explained, showing congregants the exact rock which had been remarkably conserved.
Guests who witnessed the miraculous occurrence gave a string of names to the baby, including ‘Temitope’ which the family eventually adopted.
“I found myself in a simple and humble family background. I mean, lacking basic means of life,”
the cleric described of his upbringing, displaying pictures of the insignificant, dishevelled house he was brought up in.
“I was a baby before the death of my father. Consequently, I knew nothing about my late father and the entire family burden rested squarely on my mother’s shoulders,” he continued, the congregation listening with rapt attention.
He paid a special tribute to his late mother, “who always advised me to look into my love walk”.
The cleric added further details about the “epileptic fits” he encountered in his education.
“I attended six different colleges in less than one year,” he recounted, mentioning the academic institutions by name.
“This record is not a way of saying I have arrived but to encourage the weak – those without fast legs or human help – that there is hope, and Jesus is the hope,”
Joshua stressed, adding that they would release further records of his early life on subsequent birthday celebrations.
“Concentrate on your future. What you are going through is a preparation for your future, a bridge to your future,”
he counselled the flock, using his own life experience to underscore the point.
Watch the full video here:
Resource: Zimetro
