On December 28th 2019, Nigerian Prophet TB Joshua declared the incoming year 2020 would be the “year of humility”, adding that “God will humble us with our challenges such as affliction”
The events engulfing 2020 thus far have indeed attested to the reality of that declaration. Today, Nigeria joined other African nations such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa in banning travel from several of the world ‘superpowers’ – including USA, UK, Germany, China and France – over the coronavirus outbreak.
To wax lyrical, humility means when an antelope is telling a lion not to come to his domain – and the lion obeys the directive of the antelope. Who would have imagined a situation where African nations would ban all visitors from such countries wielding ‘superpower status’? A brief foray into history reveals multiple occasions where nations such as USA would impose travel bans on certain African nations – but today the case is vice versa. The roles have been reversed! None can deny this is indeed a humbling situation.
And what is the cause of such drastic actions? The affliction of coronavirus! The disease has spread worldwide, led to crippling economic repercussions and resulted in entire countries virtually grinding to a halt in a ‘lockdown’. However, as the world grapples to deal with the panic and fear erupting in the wake of the virus, the country where it initially broke out has almost returned to normal! Chinese health officials announced today that in Wuhan, the original epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, only one new case of the disease was confirmed!
It is pertinent to point out that on February 29th 2020, Prophet TB Joshua boldly declared that a shower of rain would fall in Wuhan, China “to wipe away all fears of the unknown” – after which rain fell for that entire week, despite it not being known as the rainy season. Since then, cases of the disease have dramatically fallen to the point where Chinese health experts predicted the entire region would be free from coronavirus by the end of March 2020.
On the contrary, see what is happening in the nations where the coronavirus did not even start. Such events remind me of the Biblical principle revealed in Mark 6:4 – a prophet has no honour in his own continent, his own town. Sadly, such is the case today!
Tawia Acheampong is a writer based in Accra, Ghana
