IF you ever played the game tag as a child, you will be familiar with the phrase filled with nonsense-sounding syllables. It was usually used in the children’s game to select a person who leaves the game or does something stupid. In the tag game, however, the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is ‘counted out.’ After the result of the just-concluded U.S election permeated through America to other nations of the world, I have been asking myself this question: was the self acclaimed infallible seer/ prophet playing tag?
The holy writ admonished expressly “touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.” I may not be the quintessential follower of the creator, but I work really hard to decipher good from evil and adhere to the commandments. Consequently, I have never sailed on the waters of disrespecting a prophet or made port at the shore of a prophet’s ridicule. The reason for this is contrived and here is my postulate: doing either of those would mean condemning my soul to an early immortality that would be attributed to walking off the plank like on the Flying Dutchman.
However, my mind has been reeling in an almost permanent state of entropy since the 45th President of the United State of America emerged. What did T.B Joshua really see?
Nigeria’s Synagogue Church of Nations (SCOAN) leader, Prophet T.B Joshua, sans any hesitations, in some smug manner, announced to his mega church in Lagos, during a Sunday service that the next president of the greatest nation on the face of the earth will be a woman.

The prophesy was posted on his official Facebook page- TB Joshua Ministries, and was later published on YouTube, on November 6, 2016, two days to the American election. In a video clip taken from his Emmanuel TV channel, T.B Joshua claimed that “he saw a woman” winning the presidency. The prophet prophesied that “10 days ago, I saw the new president of America with a narrow win, by the way, what I frankly saw is a woman.”

Naturally, his prophecy was followed with wild cheers from a congregation going agog with insight into such classified international intelligence. Sure, they revered their prophet more greatly for he would probably be earning a place in the White House. Alas, his prophecy, that claimed that the candidate of the Democratic party, Hilary Clinton, a WOMAN, would NARROWLY win the 2016 U.S. presidential election, ahead of Republican candidate, Donald Trump, went south.

Donald Trump, a man, did not only win the November 8, 2016, U.S presidential election but did so with a wide margin, becoming the United States 45th president. My capitalised emphasis on the words ‘woman’ and ‘narrowly’ was not mere aesthetics. It was to underscore certain salient facts; the most riveting aspects of T.B Joshua’s prophesy were interred in those words. Those two words were, for me, the lifeline of his prophesy, if it had any. They were the defining fragments that were supposed to stun not just Nigeria, but the world as a whole, but as reality unveiled and Trump hilariously won the election, the circumstances surrounding his win showed huge disparity from what the prophet claimed would happen. Trump, a man, won the U.S. presidential election flawlessly with the electoral votes. So, what exactly did the prophet see? In the book of Psalms, we hear the prophet explicitly say, ‘once has the Lord spoken, twice have I heard him,’ this not only points but attests to the fact that God’s messages to HIS prophets are never nebulous or ambiguous. The holy writ speaks of Him as ‘not a man that he should lie’ and people of the faith, understand with evidences that his constancy is immutable.

With him, there are no forked prophesies because that was the forte of the perilous three hags who paltered with Macbeth in double sense, heralding his doom. So, what did the prophet hear? The scripture in the new testaments tells the purpose of prophesies to be for the edification, encouragement, and comfort of men, never for their confusion!

It is sad to begin to witness instances and hear of tales in which prophets, not only goof, but obliterate the evidences of their prophesies going south immediately the truth is unraveled. For, interestingly, as the news of Trump’s victory filtered through the world’s atmospheric on Wednesday, November 9, T.B Joshua ministries pulled down the Facebook post that had at that time become controversial, false and inaccurate.

Why do prophets, self acclaimed men of God in general, dabble into the politics of the world? Is their place not in keeping the flock? What exactly are they coveting? Are they expecting to rule the nations of the world by dishing out prophesies or by, like in this case, playing tag? If Hilary had emerged President, T.B Joshua would have become world famous by being the prophet who predicted her win. I would want to assume he was closely following the American media who unprofessionally endorsed Clinton and made her popular. I would bet that his vision was influenced by the sweet tidings coming from media and now, the media’s defeat has become his ridicule.

Perhaps, he should have taken a cue from the Indian psychic fish, Chanakya III, who swam towards the floating stick bearing Donald Trump’s photo all the time, picking him as the President of the United States, for that prophesy came true!

Or maybe T.B Joshua should have towed the path of the mystic Chinese monkey described as the “king of prophets” who tipped Trump for the US presidency. The monkey was reportedly given a chance to pick between life-sized cut-outs of Trump and Clinton.

“After deliberate thought”, the five-year-old monkey chose Trump and behold, it was Trump!

Or maybe, he should have just stuck with preaching the gospel as the scripture mandates to his mega congregation, staying clear of any form of politics, most especially one as unique as the just-concluded U.S election. If I were in his trustees, I would have given him those three options and assuredly picking one would have, maybe, saved him from that ridiculous Facebook page sanitation exercise.

Found this in a newspaper...