On Sunday, 14th June 2009, Joshua gave a prophecy concerning a local airline in the nation of Nigeria. “This has to do with Nigeria. Let us pray for our local airline here,” he said. “I’m seeing one of the flights there that is a bit faulty, that should not be used for now. God should show them, after our prayer, that, “Ah! This flight needs service! It should not fly for now!” Pray that God should open their eyes of understanding to see that this flight needs service.” He proceeded to thank God that their prayer was answered, anticipating a miracle.

Subsequently on Sunday 2nd August 2009, Joshua spoke further about the revelation. Calling for prayer, he confidently stated, “Our prayer is going to change this situation.” He expanded, “I’m seeing something that carries a lot of people - but the Lord said, ‘This thing will not move. Something will happen that will delay the thing’. It was approximately 11:30am.

A mere two and a half hours after the second prophetic message, news trickled in that a plane from a local Nigerian airline was delayed before take-off and an imminent crash was miraculously averted. 28 passengers of an Embraer 120 aircraft owned by Capital Airlines (an airline operating solely within Nigeria) escaped death as the aircraft engine caught fire at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu while preparing to take off, the flight slightly delayed.

Smoke billowed from one engine from where it spread rapidly to other parts of the aircraft, enveloping the cabin and causing panic among passengers and crew with a subsequent stampede towards the exit. As airport fire service officials rallied round to put out the fire, some passengers broke the emergency exit door and jumped out, eight injured in the process. The averted disaster was adequately described as an act of providence by onlookers and officials alike. “Thank God that it was still on the ground and everybody was evacuated safely,” the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren said.

In a similar episode, TB Joshua made clarion calls to prayer for the state of Florida on 26th July 2009, alluding to another flight related incident. “Pray for the state, Florida,” he said. “I see people inside. They are about to move, but suddenly, the whole thing landed. Nothing happened to anyone. I was saying, is it on the sea or on the air? But this is on the air. It landed and they said, “Wow!” People began to take alternative entrances. But nothing happened. Everybody was saved.”

Just over a week later on Monday 3rd July, at least 26 people were injured when a Continental Airlines jet hit “extreme turbulence" and made an emergency landing in Miami, Florida. The Boeing 767 had been travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Houston when it encountered intense trouble north of the Dominican Republic. Passengers reported a sudden drop that threw some people against the roof, collective panic and pandemonium ensuing. The pilot declared an emergency and was forced to divert to Miami, where the plane safely landed. To get those injured off the plane as quickly as possible, airline catering lorries with hydraulic lifts were used by rescue crews, clarifying the prophet’s description of ‘alternative entrances’. There were no fatalities.

Air tragedies

TB Joshua has made several accurate predictions concerning local air tragedies within Nigeria including the ADC Plane Crash in Abuja on October 29th 2006 that led to the death of the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammad Maccido, the religious leader of Nigerian Muslims, the crash in Kano State on May 4th 2002 which killed the Nigerian Minister of Sports, Ishaya Mark Aku and the military plane crash in Benue State on September 17th 2006, killing 10 Nigerian Army Generals. Further afield, he has correctly prophesied concerning the plane crash in Garuda, Indonesia on 7th March 2007, the safe crash landing of the British Airways Flight at Heathrow on 17th January 2008 and the recent air disaster in New York on February 13th 2009.

All the prophetic messages are delivered during his Sunday services broadcast live on Emmanuel TV. With such a remarkable reputation of accuracy, people are increasingly recognizing the gravity of the prophet’s words, tuning in to his services weekly to hear a Word from God. In his own words, “God is still saying something...”