The defaming statement was made by a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Niyi Osinubi.
TB Joshua
Late Prophet TB Joshua has been accused of being a magician.
The statement was made by a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Niyi Osinubi.
According to Sahara Reporters, the pastor is the province head of the RCCG Soul Winners Cathedral at Amuwo Odofin, Lagos State.
He disclosed this during a sermon on Sunday.
The cleric said late Joshua was once a magician who was trained to perform magic in India before he suddenly became a gospel preacher.
Osinubi stated that this could have been pardonable if T.B. Joshua had a spiritual father or precise salvation experience, citing the example of Pastor Kayode Abiola Peller, whose father, Professor Moshood Abiola Peller was a popular magician.
He noted that Peller's salvation could not be questioned because there was evidence of an encounter with God through Peller's spiritual father, however, he noted that this cannot be said of Prophet T.B. Joshua.
During his sermon, Osinubi, however, used Joshua as a reference for giving, encouraging his congregation to cultivate the habit of helping the poor and the needy in their environs and in the church.
In a video on the church's Facebook page, Osinubi said, ”We should be good to all men, especially those of the household of faith, so the money you give to beggars is a waste, do you know her, do you know him? The one you know here, that is the one we need, so I am encouraging more people to join me. When you do that and you do that in your neighbourhood, you help the needy, we turn the body of Christ into a powerful and relevant one, it makes us relevant.
"Sharing, it is the only tool... that occultic man called TB Joshua, he is highly occultic. I am not saying this because he is dead; no, it is something we have preached before. He was a magician, he was trained in India to do magic and he was performing magic at Iba road, LASU junction so he was well known.
”Then, he transformed into a man of God and there is nothing wrong with that. The son of Professor Peller is also a preacher today, his father was a magician, nobody denies Peller because he had a father in the Lord but who knows or who can tell me who was the father in the lord of T.B. Joshua? Nobody, that's it.
"I gave my life to Christ under a pastor and I was groomed in that church until I joined Redeemed and that's the same for everyone here but to be born again inside your mother's womb, you are T.B. Joshua.
"The source of power of this man is his benevolence, T.B. Joshua used material things to capture the world. He was a giver to even his enemies, he blessed everybody and turned them into slaves. I'm not asking you to do the same but I am saying if we must be a glorious church, we must first and foremost be worshippers, we must be witnesses unto Christ...”