There are certain Nigerian pastors who have 'lied' using God's name in the past. These are some of those pastors.
In recent time and in the past, several Nigerian pastors have uttered prophecies using the name of God. But to the consternation of all, such prophecies never came to pass.
What went wrong? Can God be lying? No! The bible said in Hebrew 6:18 “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie…”
If God cannot lie, who lied? It means the prophets lied for their prophecies not coming to pass. Deuteronomy 18:22 said: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”
Below are some Nigerian pastors whose prophecies failed overtime.
1. Rev. Chris Okotie
The Senior Pastor of the Household of God Church, Ikeja, Lagos, took the nation by storm when in the build up to 2003 Presidential election, told the world that God told him to vie for the presidency and that he would win. He contested then for the president under the Justice Party and was humiliated as the election was won by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Undeterred, Okotie used God’s name again in 2007. He emerged the flagbearer of the Fresh Democratic Party. He was defeated by the late President, Umaru Yar’Adua. In 2014, Okotie was at it again when he told the world that God asked him to contest the third time in 2015.
“I will run in 2015, God willing. God spoke to me about my participation in the political process, which was why I took the step in the first place. He has not said anything contrary. I don’t want to talk about our strategy for now, we have learnt from our past experience, we don’t want to talk about it for now,” he said. The 2015 election was won by President Muhammadu Buhari.
2. Prophet T.B. Joshua
The General Overseer of The Synagogue Church Of All Nations, SCOAN, told the world in November 2016 that a woman would win the United State’s presidential election. He was referring to Hillary Clinton. But to everyone’s chagrin, President Donald Trump won the election. In a bid to salvage his pride, Joshua said it was the prayers of Americans that saved the day.
3. Pastor Tunde Bakare
Many could not forget in a hurry when Bakare, Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly took the nation by storm when he prophesied that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo would not be sworn in as president in 1999. The pastor said he saw the crown hovered around the President’s head a couple of times, moved closely as if to settle down, and just as Nigerians clapped and cheered, the crown flew off. He said the second crown came along and that this time, it was the crown of death and declared to the consternation of the nation that the crown seemed to settle on the President’s head squarely, meaning, Obasanjo would die. Obasanjo did not only become president, he ruled for eight years and he is still alive this moment.
4. Apostle Johnson Suleman
Apostle Johnson Suleman of the Omega Fire Ministry had declared that Governor Nasir El-Rufai would die if he did not revoke the controversial preaching bill he came up with. During a service, The state government has not revoked the bill although the noise over it has died down, but El-Rufai is still living despite the non-revocation of the bill. Also, Suleiman predicted that except Americans prayed, President Barack Obama would seek third term with a likelihood of the presidential elections not holding. This never happened.
Again, during the build up to the 2015 presidential election, Suleman prophesied that Buhari would win the eastern states. According to him, “I saw most eastern states won by the APC at the national level.” Buhari lost all eastern states to the PDP by wide margin.
5. Pastor Samuel Akinbodunse
In the build up to the 2019 presidential election, Pastor Samuel Akinbodunse, a Nigeria pastor based in South Africa prophesied that Buhari would not emerge winner of the election and that he would die. According to him, “Please Nigerians, warn Buhari that he is going beyond his boundary. That the Lord said his tenure is once and not twice. If not, he will not see the election o. If you know him and how to email the Presidency of Nigeria, please write him a text. If he made a mistake to campaign for elections, before they vote, he will die.”
“And I am saying the truth, I am saying the truth. Tell him the same voice that spoke when people said Jonathan would be the President of Nigeria, the same voice is speaking to him that he must not make that mistake. Let him eat whatever he wants to eat inside sugar that he is now and leave the sugar ‘jejely’. If not, he will die. That is just the message.”
Buhari went on to win the election and he is still alive.
6. Rev. Simeon Ononogbu
The popular Ebonyi-based Pastor, predicted in an interview that the Falcons would reach the semi-finals of the last Women’s World Cup in France, while the hosts, France would place fifth.
He later blamed “deceitful” spirit for the failed prediction that the Super Falcons would reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Women World Cup in France. “It is a pity that the prediction on the Falcons failed which means that it was not a revelation from God. We have so many spirits that can deceive people and if we are not careful, we will make mistakes such as this,” he said.
He said that several spirits abound which behaved like God’s spirit to talk and deceive men of God. The Bible says that some spirits at times, transform into angels of light to talk to us. We have “fallen’’ spirits that deceive the children of God because we are humans and weaker than the other spirits.”
Ononogbu, however, revealed that the prophecy on the Falcons could also have failed because he failed to interpret the revelation properly. “At times when we don’t interpret properly, we will have problems out of it and this can also be seen as a wrong interpretation,” he said. He, however, insisted that in spite of the failed prophecy, the revelation of France placing fifth in the tournament still stood because it was from God.
7. Bishop Wale Olagunju
The Presiding Bishop, Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministries, Ibadan, Oyo State, Wale Olagunju prophesied that Buhari would lose the 2019 election to Atiku Abubakar, but it never happened. “Let me congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for winning the ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress, and let me also make it clear to him that he will lose to Atiku Abubakar. Let me also congratulate Atiku in advance because he will win the next presidential election come 2019,” he said.
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