Before the advent of the current economic crisis that is ravaging the world like a ruthless and rampaging conflagration, Prophet TB Joshua had, many years ago, given hints of what was to come.
Twelve years ago, precisely on 28 December, 2008, the man of God had warned of an impending economic crisis that would shake the world. In that prophecy, he had advocated for prudence in the financial affairs of men: “There will be economic crisis. You are to cut your coat according to your size. Those of you that have surplus – whatever you can do now to live moderate…The only way you can be saved – if your treasure is in the hands of God. There will be economic crisis – it’s coming and it’s everywhere. You will be forced to be humble.
There will be economic war because there is not enough money to fight war. There will be crisis in the economy. Countries that rely on mineral resources like oil, they should quickly look beyond oil…”.
To further demonstrate the urgent imminence of this prophecy, the man of God raised another alarm concerning what God had shown him about the economic backlash that was to hit the world. This time, it was on 16 October, 2011: “I said to you there would be economic crisis. The war the whole world will face is economic war. You will see every nation, every country will come out, going on the street, protesting. You have not seen anything – write it down. Everyone will be humbled. Those who rely on oil, mineral resources – they should look beyond because there will not even be enough money to buy oil. There is something God wants to achieve concerning this. God wants to achieve humility to the core. He wants everybody to be on their knees, every nation to be on their knees. After that, the solution will come. That is what God wants to achieve. Whatever you have now, cut your coat according to your size. If you have surplus now, please, that surplus – whatever you can do now before that surplus will go away. Because if you have too much, people will be out there to attack you. They will attack you physically…”.
On Sunday, December 29, 2013, Prophet TB Joshua, once again, called the attention of the world to the coming economic crisis that he repeatedly hinted about: “Cash flow – forget it. People will be broke; countries will be broke. A single person can be richer than a country. Your oil – you will drink them. whatever your country has discovered in terms of mineral resources and it has been a source of income – causing corruption, causing fights, people living flamboyantly – those things – nobody will buy them. The price will drop drastically… we have to return to the farm – fishing cattle rearing. This is where we are coming from. We are to return there”.
Even before the outbreak of the COVID -19 pandemic, the economic outlook of the world had been very gloomy beginning with the famous economic meltdown that gripped the world in 2008/2009 when Prophet TB Joshua gave the first prophetic insight about a looming economic crisis.
The global economic meltdown gave rise to the collapse of many multinational corporations, job losses, death of the stock market in many countries and the indebtedness of many countries who had no other choice than to request for loans from financial corporations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other interventionist agencies around the world.
With the price of oil dwindling and making a caricature of many national budgets that had benchmarked their financial projections and expectations on oil export, it has not been business as usual for oil the producing countries of the world, especially in the wake of breakthroughs in technology which have created alternatives to oil. What this means is that many countries have not and will not be able to sell their oil just as Prophet TB Joshua had prophesied. The world has already discovered other forms of renewable energy, making crude oil a redundant commodity. Presently, Nigeria, one of the world’s major producers of crude oil, has over 50 of its vessels on the high sea, loitering aimlessly with no buyer in sight. The country’s overdependence on its oil wealth has backfired economically.
States of the Nigerian federation have struggled to pay workers’ wages even as the rot in infrastructure has continued unabated. The youth feel oppressed and short-changed by a generation of leaders whom they had looked up to for the actualisation of their dreams. This loss of hope and confidence among the youths has led to the emergence of violent criminal gangs such as the One Million Boys, the No Salary Boys and the Awawa Boys, all of who have unleashed terror on innocent citizens because to them, government has failed and so, they have to resort to criminality, targeting the innocent masses, as a form of transferred aggression for survival.
The COVID -19 pandemic has only worsened the already precarious economic situation around the world. Humanity has been brought to its knees. Even countries that once thought they were invincible to economic challenges are now crying out for help. The coronavirus has made a minced meat of all claims to sophistication by nations who before now had been flaunting their scientific and technological achievements. Many have had to depend on palliatives from individuals, governments, non-governmental organisations and religious bodies for succour in an era when a virus has held everyone hostage with its rampant dispensation of death by instalment.
Prophet TB Joshua, however, has a solution to the economic crisis that is rocking the world. The man of God calls on people to return to agriculture, stressing that it was the original mainstay of world economy but was only jettisoned because oil boom offered an easier route to wealth, selfish enrichment, corruption and fights for resource control. For mankind to come out of this economic crisis as victors, they should embrace agricultural practices like fish-farming, cattle-rearing and other forms of agro-allied ventures. With the present realities unfolding by the day, there is no gainsaying the fact that the prophecies of Prophet TB Joshua have found fulfilment years after they were made in consonance with the scripture which says, “My word will never return to me void without achieving that which it was sent to achieve”. (Isaiah 55:11)
Already, most countries of the world are turning to agriculture, knowing that over dependence on mineral resources such as oil has only led to more problems rather than solutions. Prophet TB Joshua’s prophecy is therefore a timely warning to the leaders of the world to make hay while the sun shines and prepare for the rainy days just like the ones we are experiencing right now.