A South African preacher is in trouble over a spurious claim that he had raised a man from the dead.
Pastor Alph Lukau, according to the BBC, may face lawsuits for faking a resurrection miracle.
Lukau has been widely mocked when a video went viral showing the pastor ‘in action’, ‘raising’ a ‘dead’ man from a coffin.
But after seeing the video, another self-acclaimed preacher, also a South African, went to Pastor Lukau’s church to confront him for “bringing Christianity into disrepute” by staging a bogus resurrection.
The according to the BBC, self-styled prophet Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng, who once claimed to have gone to heaven and taken photographs with his smart phone, stood outside the locked gates of Pastor Alph Lukau’s church and shouted “I’m here to get answers”.
He challenged the ‘resurrection pastor’ to come over to Dr. Nelson Mandela’s grave to prove his power to raise the dead.
A viral video showing the supposed resurrection was widely mocked.
It shows Mr Lukau shouting “rise up” to a man lying in a coffin who then jerks upright to cheers from worshippers.
Funeral companies say they were manipulated into being involved, the BBC further reported.
“If it’s true that you resurrected a man, then let’s go to Mandela’s grave to do the same.”
The report also said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa entered the row on Thursday, saying the government should curb “religious leaders of questionable practices” who took advantage of people.
“We do not want to interfere with people’s religious beliefs, but we should have a conversation about how we deal with these bogus pastors,” he said.
Three funeral companies say they were manipulated by Pastor Lukau’s “scheme” and are taking legal action for damage to their reputations.
Kingdom Blue, Kings & Queens Funeral Services and Black Phoenix told local media that church representatives tricked them in different ways to achieve the “resurrection”.
