Death of Gen. Tumenta:

Does T. B. Joshua heal or kill?

“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out demons and performed many miracles! Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’” (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

By Douglas A. Achingale

It is with surpassing lugubriousness that Cameroonians learned and will always remember the demise on 30 November 2015 of Brigadier General Martin ChomuTumenta, commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA. Intrepid, sedulous and unquestionably serviceable, the 61-year-old native of Babungo in Ngoketunjia division of the North West region was one of only four Anglophones who have ever risen to the rank of General in the Cameroonian army.

                Dependable sources say he took ill and was admitted in a US hospital before being taken to the Lagos-based Synagogue, Church of All Nations, SCOAN, to receive the benedictions of its overseer, TemitopeBalogun Joshua, known for short as T. B. Joshua.

                That the self-styled prophet failed to restore Gen. Tumenta’s health raises a number of questions about his ministry which remains largely popular amongst Cameroonians though. For many observers, the General’s death in the hands of Joshua is a kind of wind that has blown to reveal the anus of a fowl!

Deception

                Many of Joshua’s fans are tenacious of the belief that he cannot be daunted by any difficulty, no matter how gigantic it may be. Tell them Joshua can walk upon the sea as Jesus Christ did, and they will not doubt you. They see him more as God in human flesh. That is why attendees of the SCOAN who claim to give testimonies of how the so-called prophet has done “miracles” in their lives, refer to the Almighty as “the God of T. B. Joshua.”

                And that is not surprising because it is the impression Joshua gives the world. He never says there is a problem he cannot handle. At a time when there is not yet a cure for HIV/AIDS, he claims to cure it miraculously. If a person tells you they can cure this disease, in the way Joshua claims to do, they are undoubtedly insinuating that there is no other ailment or difficulty they cannot put an end to.

                Nevertheless, right-thinking observers – this writer inclusive – argue that most of T. B. Joshua’s claims, utterances and actions are fraught with deception. That is what such observers call the cold truth. For there are many patients who have been told at the SCOAN that they have once more become hale and hearty, but who sooner or later relapse into worse conditions and even give up the ghost.

                Unfortunately for viewers of T. B. Joshua’s propaganda channel, Emmanuel TV, there is no forum where such persons or their relatives can go make their complaints and worries known to the public. Unless you identify someone whose illness has aggravated or who has died, you would remain oblivious of this fact. This writer is saying so with authority because he can cite names of friends and acquaintances in Cameroon who thought they had regained their health shortly after leaving the SCOAN but who later hopped the twig.

Back to Tumenta

                Gen. Tumenta was just one in a multitude of Cameroonians who have lost their lives in the SCOAN. But his case cannot be hidden because he was a person of high standing. There is no question that his death has alarmed many a Cameroonian who had been ignorant of the fact that some people go to the SCOAN to die. It is not yet known to the general public under what condition he arrived in Lagos from the US hospital. It is not known if he had been told by the “prophet” before he died that he was convalescing. What is certain, however, is that he died at T. B. Joshua’s church where he went for healing. And that is the tragic part of the tale.

                The SCOAN is a place which many equate more or less to Heaven. It is a place where all demons are supposedly chased away; where all ailments are believed to be cured; where all miracles are purportedly performed. Why then did Gen. Martin Tumenta die there? What was so special about his illness that the “senior prophet” could not cure? And why have others been dying there as well?

Postscript

                Cameroonians should learn not to be easily deceived. It is inconceivable that a man – especially one with a doubtful religious background – can dish out miracles and prophecies in such industrial scale as Joshua claims to do. Not even our Saviour Jesus Christ himself did it in such outlandish fashion. Jesus did not necessarily do his miracles in the public place. Readers of the bible know that he once healed a man and asked him to keep it secret and go confess only to the priests.

                Eyewitness accounts say the atmosphere that characterizes the SCOAN is usually so ungodly that one does not need a soothsayer to confirm that the inspiration of the “senior prophet” comes from elsewhere. Perhaps that is why people go there and die, who knows?