A recent investigation by BBC Africa Eye has alleged that the late Nigerian televangelist, TB Joshua, engaged in deceptive practices to fabricate miracles within the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
The report, based on insights from over 25 insiders across various countries, claims that Joshua faked miracles using a series of deceptive tactics.
The investigation details six ways in which TB Joshua allegedly deceived worshippers:
1. The Emergency Department: A specialized section within the church, known as the “emergency department,” reportedly screened individuals seeking healing. Former disciples claim that only selected followers were chosen for prayers and filmed by Joshua. Placards detailing made-up or exaggerated ailments were prepared for them.
“This is where the sick, who came to be healed, would be screened, and where the team would decide who should be filmed and prayed for by Joshua.
“Agomoh Paul, who supervised the department for 10 years – receiving direct instructions from Joshua, told the BBC that the team was “trained by medical doctors”.
“He is a former disciple – one of an elite group of dedicated followers who lived with the pastor inside the Scoan compound.
“Any cancerous situation, they send them away. Then, people who had normal open wounds that can heal, they bring them in, to present as cancer,” he says.
“Only a select group of trusted disciples were allowed to work in the emergency department. They would write placards for each follower to hold, detailing their made-up or exaggerated ailments. When it was time to meet Joshua, they would stand in line in front of the cameras and be “healed”.
“It was a complicated system. Not all disciples knew what was happening. It was a secret,” Mr Paul says.
2. Drugs: Visitors were allegedly told to stop taking their prescribed medications, and Joshua would order pharmacists to procure the same medicine covertly. The medications would then be mixed into drinks, blessed by Joshua, without the visitors’ knowledge.
3. Brainwashing: Former disciples reveal that selected followers were instructed to exaggerate their problems for dramatic effect. The use of wheelchairs was encouraged, and disciples were warned they would not be healed unless they followed specific instructions.
Ms Ford says when she was at Scoan she never had any doubts: “I honestly thought we were seeing miracles. I literally couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I saw someone walk out of a wheelchair.”
“The theatricality seemed to draw everyone in.
“The former disciple told the BBC that after being screened, the chosen followers would be told to “exaggerate their problems so that God can heal you and exaggerate your healing”.
“The people, themselves, are clearly being manipulated,” she says.
“The church had a ready supply of wheelchairs which followers were coaxed to use. They were warned they would not be healed unless they sat in one when they met Joshua.
“We are telling them: ‘If you come out there, and walk with your legs, Papa will not pray for you. You need to shout: “Man of God, help me, I cannot walk,”‘” says Mr Paul.
“Another former disciple, Bisola, who spent 14 years living at Scoan, accompanied Joshua on his National Healing Campaign at the Church of Our Saviour in Singapore in 2006.
“She says she saw people in wheelchairs try to stand up after the pastor told the congregation “he had released faith into the stadium”.
“However, these people had not been screened and she saw them fall down. “I was crying. I was crying for them,” she says.
“The emergency department workers themselves were also being manipulated. They were subjected to horrifying ordeals, including rape, physical violence, and torture, and lived by a strict set of rules – forbidden to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.
“Now they struggle to understand how and why they continued to follow the pastor’s orders.
“TB Joshua told me: ‘Don’t worry, we use this thing to build people’s faith in Christ.’ I wasn’t having in mind that I was actually doing something wrong. I thought I was doing something that would help to build the faith of people in the church,” says Mr Paul.
4. Bribes: Disciples claim they were tasked with finding people in need of money to pretend to be sick. These individuals were allegedly paid to act out scenes of healing during crusades outside Nigeria.
“When they performed healing crusades in countries outside Nigeria, they would go to the poorer areas of a city to search for people living in poverty.
“We would say: ‘We need you to just act out this particular scene and we will pay you,’” another former disciple told the BBC.
“We get them into hotels, we get them cleaned up. They come, they do what they do. We give them their money and the rest is history,” she says.
“Before the service, they would tell Joshua which rows they had planted these people, and what clothes they were wearing, so he would know who to perform his supposed miracles on.
“People would be brought in just to pretend that they were healed,” she says.
5. Fake Medical Certificates: Medical reports, including claims of HIV/AIDS and cancer cures, were allegedly faked and presented to the public. Doctors were reportedly interviewed on camera to confirm these cures.
“All you see on TV is the before and after, you don’t know the time-space,” says Bisola, who was Scoan’s chief video editor for five years and worked on Emmanuel TV. Like other insiders interviewed by the BBC, she opted to only use her first name.
“What people see… is not real. It is a fraud,” she says about the clips and broadcasts she oversaw.
“I am speaking now as someone who was an insider,” she says.
“Anything they did not want viewers to see was “cut away”. It was all “organised”, she says.
6. Video Manipulation: The miracles filmed for broadcasts were edited to create the appearance of instantaneous healing. Before-and-after footage was spliced together, often shot months or even a year apart.
“All you see on TV is the before and after, you don’t know the time-space,” says Bisola, who was Scoan’s chief video editor for five years and worked on Emmanuel TV. Like other insiders interviewed by the BBC, she opted to only use her first name.
“What people see… is not real. It is a fraud,” she says about the clips and broadcasts she oversaw.
“I am speaking now as someone who was an insider,” she says.
“Anything they did not want viewers to see was “cut away”. It was all “organised”, she says.
BBC Africa reached out to SCOAN for comment but received no response. SCOAN had previously denied similar claims against TB Joshua, stating that none of the allegations were substantiated.
TB Joshua, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 57, gained international prominence through his television and social media network, Emmanuel TV.
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