A South African preacher has tried to confront another pastor for “bringing Christianity into disrepute” by staging a bogus resurrection. Self-styled prophet Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng stood outside the locked gates of Pastor Alph Lukau’s church and shouted, “I’m here to get answers.”
He said if the pastor really had the power to resurrect, they should head over to Nelson Mandela’s grave. 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.
“I’m not here to fight anyone, I’m here to get answers from my fellow brother in the Lord,” Mr Motsoeneng, of the Church of Incredible Happenings, shouts outside Mr Lukau’s church near Johannesburg.
“If it’s true that you resurrected a man, then let’s go to Mandela’s grave to do the same.”
Mr Motsoeneng, however, has also been mocked online after saying he had gone to heaven and taken photographs using his smartphone.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa entered the row on Wednesday evening, 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”.
Boss Reveals dead man as a con artist
This has been revealed by another man who claims to be the suspect’s employer.
The employer, Vincent has identified the man who was in the coffin by the names Elliot and Brighton.
Speaking during the Tuesday interview on local radio 702, Vincent confirmed that he had been told by his other employees that Brighton had been arrested and that they had no further details at this stage.
“I got word from one of the guys that works for me that knows Brighton, I believe they arrested him today,” said Vincent.
“Can you imagine what a life he’s had? He’s worked for me, he died, he was resurrected and now he’s been arrested,” joked Vincent.
He went on to confirm that Brighton was indeed an employee at his wood-working factory in Pretoria where he had worked until recently and looked completely healthy the last time he’d reported for duty.
According to Vincent, this was not the first stunt Brighton had been a part of as he’d previously allegedly pretended to be wheelchair-bound so that the pastor could “heal” him in front of the masses.
His employer went on to describe him as a very smart man who was unfortunately fond of lying.
