Thousands of evangelical Christians from around the world on Sunday flocked to Israel for a two-day crusade by Pastor TB Joshua.
Among them was a woman from Botswana seeking divine intervention to stop her husband from divorcing her according to a report by haaretz.com
Other came from as far as Haiti, Tanzania and the Czech Republic to Mount Precipice, just outside Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.
Believers from Joshua’s home country Nigeria were also not left out.
His wife, Evelyn Joshua, and celebrity media owner, Dele Momodu, added to the crowd from the birthplace of the flamboyant preacher’s church.
Some worshippers sang in various languages while others collapsed and even vomited during Sunday’s event, Reuters reported.
“Jesus’s father, Joseph, and his mother, Mary, came from here. What a blessing. No other place would have been better for Jesus to come from. It was God’s design,” Joshua told the crowd gathered in a sun-baked stadium on Mount Precipice.
When the self-described prophet descended from the stage to bless attendees, placing his hand on their heads, several declared themselves healed from sickness or infirmity. Attendants stood ready to catch those who fainted in excitement.
Kebela Ele of Botswana said her husband had left her for another woman and wants a divorce, which she does not wish to consent to. She brought the divorce papers to Israel to pray for divine intervention.
A German woman recounted seeing Joshua in England earlier this month but came to Israel to see him again. She loves him, she said. Asked what she was praying for, she said she would like to marry someone wonderful.
Ruth Gershonkopf of Ashkelon said she came “to get a new spirit from God.” She has a 10-year-old daughter who was in an accident at the age of 6, she explained with tears in her eyes, and she herself has cancer. She is hoping Joshua can help her daughter and keep her cancer from recurring.
Minerva Resendiz, from Mexico, said she had come to see Joshua as part of the two-day gathering “to ask for healing, for a breakthrough … to resolve conflicts in the family”.
An Italian painter named Lady Gioconda showed off a huge oil painting of Joshua that she had made as a gift for him. She had never before attended one of his events, nor had she ever been in Nazareth before. But she believes Joshua will bring her the fame she seeks.
“He’s a super, super, super prophet,” she said, adding that she needs him in her work.
“I would like that (all people) could see a miracle through Jesus Christ,” Resendiz, 40, said. Other pilgrims came from China, Russia and African and South American countries.
Some churches in Israel had kicked against the religious festival, saying it as “an affront to the principles of Christianity, and our national identity, and deals a blow to the social fabric of a city like Nazareth.”
