Opinions of Friday, 24 May 2013

Columnist: Peter, Joseph

Re: This anointed water nonsense must stop!

The writers of TB Joshua Watch tried to discredit Prophet T.B. Joshua’s Anointing Water by saying there is no Biblical basis for Anointing Water. While The SCOAN has provided plenty of scriptural references on their website that support its use, they ignore the clear evidence and mock the Scriptures.

In their post they said, "But did David start producing anointed catapults? Did Peter start renting out his shadow? Did some enterprising disciple start distributing anointed mud and saliva? No! God spontaneously used mediums to express himself, but there is zero evidence of a particular medium ever becoming a pattern."

I don’t know which Bible they’re reading, but in my Bible there is plenty of evidence supporting mediums that became patterns. We can start with the staff of Moses and Aaron that was used to bring about ten plagues on Egypt, not to mention turning into a snake and splitting the Red Sea (Exodus 5-11). This alone is clear evidence of a particular medium that God used which became a pattern. (We have already proven them wrong at this point, but lets continue just to be clear).

The medium of the voice. The SCOAN Website references the scripture (Acts 3:6) and says God used the voice of His servants, Peter and John to raise a crippled man. So, is there a pattern of God using the medium of His servants' voices to bring about miracles? Of course! Almost all of the miracles that were performed by Jesus, His Apostles, and many other of God's servants were brought about by the Words they spoke. This can be summed up in the scripture.

2 Peter 1:20-21, "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

This is why T.B. Joshua teaches that the Word is not in the written letter, but on the lips of the believer. Again, we can clearly see that this is evidence God uses various mediums to express Himself in which ever way and as many times as He wills.

Let us look at the mediums or Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons.

Acts 19:11-12, “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.”

When we read this verse carefully, we can see by the plural grammar being used that God used the medium of Paul's aprons and handkerchiefs not just on one occasion, but there were many aprons and handkerchiefs that were brought to heal many people.

Even when it comes to the issue of water, there is a clear pattern in the Bible that shows God used this medium to express Himself. In 2 Kings 5:14, God used water to heal Namaan. In John 5, you can clearly read about how God used the water of the pool of Bethesda to heal not just one, but many sick people. How is this any different from Anointing Water?

We can see the owners of T.B. Joshua Watch are either liars or don't have knowledge of some of the most basic Biblical stories.

Furthermore TB Joshua Watch asked the following questions:

1. If TB Joshua is a prophet with the track record of predicting disasters that he claims, why didn’t he predict this one? I can’t answer this question directly since I’m not Prophet T.B. Joshua, but I do know that a prophet does not prophesy at his own will, but at the will of God. Asking such a question is questioning God and trying to put the blame on Him. 1. If the anointed water has miraculous healing powers, why did the SCOAN branch in Ghana not bring it out to heal those injured, or to raise the dead back to life? Again, I am not the SCOAN Ghana branch so I can’t answer this directly, but things of God are not at our own will. Did Jesus or His Apostles raise each and every person that died from the dead?

1. If you believe that Jesus is the healer, not TB Joshua – what is the point in this water?

The point of the water is that it is a medium which Jesus uses to express Himself in the lives of people. TB Joshua says that Jesus is the healer not the water itself, since the anointing is done in His name.