The Prophet

By now you've probably watched the (British) Channel TV documentary film about Nigeria's millionaire preachers–the fake healings, buckets full of money, police escorts, mall openings and the flash. I watched it last night. Nigerian blogs, not surprisingly, have focused on theological teachings thrown up by the documentary. (One of the preachers, Dr Fireman, when quizzed about his ostentatious show of wealth, responds: "Jesus was rich and had an accountant who followed him around.")  Notably absent from the program were the really rich ones–compiled in a list by a Forbes blogger earlier this Fall– like David Oyedepo (estimated net worth of $150m), Chris Oyakhilome ($30-50m) and TB Joshua ($10-15m). Joshua is probably the most interesting (there's even a TB Joshua Watch online) and politically well connected.

Joshua claims to heal HIV/AIDS, cancer and paralysis at his Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos.

His found a willing audience amongst African elites.

In one celebrated case, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, a top rugby player from South Africa traveled to Lagos with a knee injury and claimed to be healed by TB Joshua. Two other national rugby team players followed and stopped treatment or using their medicine. But after visiting Joshua's church in Nigeria — Ruben Kruger and Wuim Basson — they died of their cancers. Their failure to get well is usually rationalized as either their lack of faith. (In Basson's case, Joshua even claimed to communicate with the dead Basson.) South African television has reported stories of white South Africans traveling in large groups to Joshua's church for healing.

As for the politically connected, they include Ghanaian president John Atta Mills, of whom it is claimed that "Joshua had prophesied his victory in the Ghanaian polls, specifying there would be three elections and the results would be released in January." Atta Mills has described Joshua as a mentor. A Zimbabwean newspaper reported that prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai visited Joshua's church in September. So have other leaders of Tsvangirai's MDC movement as well as Mugabe's ZANU-PF. Some were hoping it would give them an edge in party political contests. The same newspaper mentioned a few other high profile guests: former presidents Frederick Chiluba (Zambia), Pascal Lissouba (Congo-Brazzaville), André Kolimba (Central African Republic), Omar Bongo (Gabon) and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini (who came to testify about his "daughter's healing from epilepsy"). The president of Zimbabwe's football association Cuthbert Dube also claimed to be healed by Joshua.

Not every governing elite is as welcoming. Cameroon has banned Joshua.

But probably the most curious recent guest at Joshua's church has been Winnie Mandela, seen in this recent video, below, with Joshua's Emmanuel TV referring to herself as "the grandmother of Africa," blaming everything on modernity (except Christianity of course) and suggesting Africa needs "democracy of a special type":

Given some of our obsession with South Africans, we keep wondering why do South Africans travel to Nigeria, when they have their own miracle-making farmer at home?