The founder of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations, Mr Temitope Balogun Joshua, has been under fire from Nigerian social media users for predicting wrongly that Hillary Clinton would win the US presidential poll.
Unfairly so. During his prediction on Sunday, he didn’t say he heard from God — he didn’t say he was prophesying. It was his own permutation. And some eyewitnesses or those who watched him on TV have said he didn’t mention that he saw a woman as the victor.
The attacks have been coming because many beleieve whatever the “man of God” says is a prophecy. Wrong. Even in the Bible, many men of God said and did wrong things. Only Jesus is perfect, because he’s the son of God who didn’t have the original sin on account of his virgin birth.
At least two Nigerians, Mr Ray Ugba Morphy and Mr Aniebo Nwamu (CEO of this magazine), did predict a Donald Trump victory in their Facebook posts long before the polls. Again, the “e-rats” came after them for daring to go against the train of public opinion (in Nigeria) until they were proved right. Why have the social media critics not praised them for predicting correctly?
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was also reported to have sworn he would tear up his American passport if Trump won. He also has a right to his views — he was merely supporting Clinton.
Mr Joshua, 53, is therefore not infallible. We have no reason to believe or doubt his credentials as a prophet of God. However, on the matter of US elections, he spoke as any other human being, not as a prophet of God.
Enough of these attacks.
— Eyeway editorial
