He was always in the news for all the wrong reasons. Most recently, he was the talk of the town when his page was taken off YouTube after a sermon on 'curing' homosexuality.

Prophet TB Joshua (57) was one of the most controversial televangelists in Africa and his death has sent shockwaves through the Christian community.

He was a crowd puller to his Nigerian church, Synagogue Church of All Nations. His church attracted six out of 10 travellers into Nigeria and two million tourists, annually.

His death was announced over the weekend through his pages. His wife, Evelyn took to social media to share a message of strength with his followers.

Prophet TB Joshua

Some South Africans first learnt of the prophet when the guesthouse on the church premises collapsed in September 2014. There were more than 100 fatalities and 84 of them were South African. It took more than two months for the bodies to be released by Nigerian authorities and repatriated to South Africa.

Tributes have been pouring in since the news broke, with celebrities and political parties such as the EFF sending their condolences.

“Millions across the world, and in Nigeria particularly, will always remember him for the spiritual and pastoral care he ministered to the nation and the world with vigour and selflessness committed to the word of God,” the party said in a statement. www.news24.com

About Evelyn Joshua (Prophet T.B. Joshua’s Wife)

Evelyn Joshua is the wife of the famous Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua, the founder and general overseer of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), a Christian organisation that runs the Emmanuel TV television station from Lagos.

Evelyn was born on the 17th of December, 1968 to the family of Mr and Mrs Nicholas Akabude in Okala Okpuno in Oshimili North Local Government, Delta State Nigeria.

Evelyn attended St Emecheta Primay School in Ezi Town in Delta State but she didn’t complete her primary education. Evelyn would later come to Lagos in 1977 where she completed her primary education at Orile Primary School in Oshodi. She also had her secondary education in the same vicinity.

At the time when she met her husband, she was working at the Nigerian Distilleries in Ota while attending the Assemblies of God Church.

After her marriage to T.B. Joshua, Evelyn attended some management courses in Ghana. Although she is the wife of a pastor, she’s not a pastor but she’s actively involved in her husband’s ministry.

The Proposal

According to Evelyn, TB Joshua proposed to her within forty-five minutes of their first-ever meeting. She was twenty-two years old at that time.

Evelyn visited her sister at Ikotun-Egbe and everyone seems to be talking about a particular prophet. Interestingly, all of them seem to have good things to say about him.

She wanted to meet the prophet as well because at that time of her life, she was looking for a spiritual guide. She went to see him at home with her sister but she didn’t meet him. Many months after, she went to see him again but this time she met him.

She was surprised to see that the prophet was such a young man. When he met her, he looked at her for quite some time then he wrote the word Ejide (twin) on a piece of paper.

TB Joshua told Evelyn many things about herself, some of which she knew and some that she didn’t.

After their conversation which lasted about forty five minutes, he proposed to her. This was really strange to Evelyn but according to her, when he made the proposal, her heart agreed with it.

She would later ask him how he could see a lady the first time and propose to her. It was at this point; that he told her about a vision he had some days ago.

Evelyn married T.B Joshua some months after that meeting and so far, it’s been a happy experience being married to the prophet.

According to Evelyn, that fateful meeting with TB Joshua was a divine arrangement because on the morning of the meeting, she actually had an instruction to go and see him. And looking back at it even though the proposal felt strange and she’s grateful to God that their marriage has worked quite well so far.