FAILED PROPHECIES ON DONALD TRUMP EMBARRASSED THE CHURCH GLOBALLY – Bishop Tony Marioghae

When he left Nigeria for the Philippines, little did he know how far the Lord will go with him in the ministry. Today, God is using him to touch lives and shape destinies around the world. Arerieva Adede Tony Marioghae is the Presiding Bishop of The Evangelical Ark Mission International (TEAM International), one of the most influential Christian organizations, with a huge membership in different continents of the world. This prolific speaker and best-selling author have travelled to many nations, as a conference speaker, influencing millions of people positively in every spectrum of life. His advocacy for transformational leadership has led to a new paradigm shift among aspiring leaders, while his countless charity programs all over the world have empowered the poor and needy, thus earning him numerous global awards. In this interview, Marioghae posits that …

… It’s unscriptural for the Church to tie spiritual victory to Donald Trump
… Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last adversity humanity will encounter
… Buhari’s government is a change in the wrong direction
… A beautiful Church building cannot take you to heaven, only a relationship with Jesus

It was like the Church in so many parts of the world supported Donald Trump for his re-election. How do you see this? What does his loss mean to the Church?
The purpose of God is bigger than Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Their electoral fortunes or misfortunes cannot derail His divine agenda for the nations. Therefore, it is unscriptural for believers to continue to tie their spiritual victory or success to Donald Trump rather than Jesus. The failed prophecies about this man’s re-election, which embarrassed the church of God globally, should teach every believer the wisdom of hearing properly from God first before making bold predictions. The apostles of Jesus that turned the world upside down, didn’t achieve their objective by political means. They transformed the world through prayer. We should learn from them. This strategy is the one that leads to true spiritual success and reformation.

Suddenly, Covid19 took the world by storm and observers of the Church said in most of the world, the Church that should command the disease to be powerless has no response to it. The disease has ravaged the world such that even the Church closed down. How do you respond to this?
Nothing happens on earth without God revealing it to the church. He does this to prepare believers and assist them to take the necessary safety measures. The fact that the Covid-19 pandemic took the church by surprise is an indictment of the kind of fellowship that we have with the Lord. This should be a wake-up call for all believers. We must be sensitive to the voice of God by not being distracted by earthly concerns.
God still speaks and if we move closer to Him or allow the Holy Spirit to guide us consistently, we will never be taken unaware or be shaken by any global tragedy of such magnitude. Notwithstanding, we have the power to stop the Coronavirus from creating more havoc, if and when we pray diligently in faith, and not succumb to fear.
So far, in the Philippines, there are documented videos of some people who contracted Covid-19, contacted me for prayers and were healed instantly as we prayed for them in the name of Jesus. Through divine inspiration, I gave a prophecy on Facebook Live in December 2019 about the pandemic, and this prophecy was fulfilled in early 2020.
The rest is history. The early information that God gave to me, which I shared with the church, helped TEAM members and many believers in the Philippines to prepare for the impact of the pandemic. A church at the centre of God’s will always overcome crises. The church of God will emerge from this crisis, better, stronger and more sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Is Covid 19 defeatable or this is how we will continue to live with it for life? How did your ministry cope in the Philippines? Is this current Church over the world powerful enough to call Covid 19 to order?
Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last adversity that humanity will encounter. Just as Noah and his family overcame the flood, we shall overcome this present crisis. The grace of God is made manifest when iniquity abounds. Faith sees better in the dark. What can’t destroy us, will surely make us better.

Back home, your country is bedevilled with so many ills: herdsmen attacks, kidnapping by them, armed robberies, etc. How do you compare this Buhari administration to that of Jonathan and Obasanjo?
The problem facing Nigeria is leadership. Progress will continue to elude the country if we do not elect patriotic and visionary leaders, who can reform the broken institutions of the nation. It takes courage and integrity to achieve this. Unfortunately, the Buhari regime has failed to live up to the expectations of millions of Nigerians, who brought him to power, because his campaign promises changed. What we have witnessed so far, is a change in the wrong direction. With prayer, determination and sincerity, the president can reverse this negative trend.

For a young man like you to have come to a far, strange land like the Philippines and attain this height in world evangelism, tell us how did the journey start? Your family, education, how God called you, what you were called to do and how you arrived in the Philippines…
My journey to my present destination is purely by the grace of God and the combination of predestination, prophecies, faith and the Lord’s unending faithfulness and mercy. I was raised in a family of kings and priests. My dad, Hon. Daniel Marioghae was a lawyer, politician, elder statesman and a former local government chairman, while my mother, Pastor Regina Marioghae is a gospel artiste, community organiser, politician and a successful businesswoman who was the owner of an elitist hair salon. On the other hand, my uncle of blessed memory, Archbishop Michael Marioghae, the founding father of the Holy Spirit Mission was an educator and a former commissioner of lands in Nigeria. He worked closely with Archbishop Benson Idahosa, the firebrand apostle and prophet who prophesied about my ministry when I was still a boy. These generals of God were the catalysts and pioneer members of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). My parents, godly uncles and aunties, plus other mentors prepared me as a young man, for my global ministry, through one-on-one interaction. They taught me the rudiments of faith and how to live a purpose-driven life unapologetically.

The principles of integrity, prayer, wisdom, love, hard work and diligence which I learned from these generals, prepared me for the ministry. My itinerant ministry started at the University of Jos, where I graduated with honours, with a diploma in mass communication and a bachelor’s degree in political science. I later moved to Abuja, after my graduation where TEAM became national. Then God sent me to Asia and the ministry exploded and became a global force. Today, we have TEAM churches in almost every continent of the world, with a large number of pastors, hundreds of thousands of members and millions of supporters worldwide.  I have travelled to different parts of the world to minister the gospel. Only a good and faithful God can make all these possible. I give Him the glory. I can say with all conviction, that I am nothing without Him and something through Him.

When pastors say the Church is not the building but the men fellowshipping in it, then, what is the place of palatial buildings like yours in soul-winning? In what ways do magnificent buildings boost soul winning?
 There is nothing wrong with erecting a good church building if your priorities are godly, with the right spiritual understanding of what truly constitutes a church. A beautiful church, with good facilities, can attract more people and subsequently expose them to Jesus but this must not be the basis for defining the church. The church is a spiritual entity, consisting of the redeemed people of God. Therefore, we are the church. God does not dwell in buildings because He is a spirit and He lives in us. Believers are His temple. With this knowledge, we should spend more time and resources saving souls, empowering leaders and transforming societies, rather than spending excessively on the construction of megachurches, to the detriment of true spiritual reformation. A beautiful building cannot take you to heaven, only a solid relationship with Jesus can.

One of the criticisms observers make against the Church in Nigeria is that they are spending so much on buildings and not on building men. You often hear pastors say I have 50,000 seater church, 100, 000 seater church. Some people regard this as vainglorious. How do you react to this?
The church of God was ordained to lead and dominate in every spectrum of life. Leadership means influence. To achieve this successfully, the church must strive to save lives and take them out of both moral, spiritual and physical poverty, through the message of transformation. Ministers can organize programs designed to empower the jobless and unemployed. This can be done through funding cooperatives, empowerment seminars, business conferences, purchasing big lands for modernised farming, and other innovative ventures designed to create job opportunities for many believers, boost the nation’s economy and reduce poverty drastically.

In Nigeria, you often hear people say the church should establish industries, schools, estates, etc, where people can work. Bishop, how do you react to such charges? Are these the functions of the Church or government? Churches that build schools and universities, farms, etc, are they not overstepping or overreaching themselves, going beyond the mandate of Matthew 28?
The primary divine responsibility of the church is to evangelise the world and disciple people from every race. There are times when poverty becomes an obstacle to this commission, but with strategic vision and innovative planning, the church can meet both the spiritual needs of the people and also take care of their mental and physical welfare as Jesus did in His earthly ministry, when He ministered the word to thousands of people and also fed the same crowd, by multiplying a few loaves and fishes to feed the hungry.

Tell me about the new building. What are the facilities in it to help evangelism in the end times?
The newly constructed multi-million dollar TEAM Headquarters building in Las Pinas City, Metro Manila, Republic of the Philippines, was designed to provide the spiritual, psychological, educational and physical needs of both our church members and the entire community. It is a huge 5-storey complex with many offices, a children’s church, two big auditoriums that can accommodate thousands of people, and a huge theatre that is 3-storey high, from the stage to the ceiling. The elegant building, designed by some of the best brains in the nation, is fitted with state-of-the-art facilities, to meet the technological demands of the 21st century. This is one of the biggest and finest churches in the Philippines, with membership ranging from professionals, top government officials, elected public figures, celebrities, businessmen, middle-class and ordinary people who diligently work as one body, committed to the great commission and the transformation nations through love. We train and support missionaries in different continents of the world yearly – spending thousands of dollars.