Accused
of staging a ‘resurrection' scene, Pastor Alph Lukau and the leaders of
Alleluia Church affirm that Lukau’s Sunday sermon was interrupted by a coffin
being brought to the church, and the ‘resurrected’ man was already alive inside.
In
the past few days, a viral video has captured attention as it shows a Kings and
Queens Real Funerals hearse transporting a coffin into the church of Alleluia
International Ministries in Kramerville, Sandton. The video then shows Pastor
Alph Lukau and congregants pray before a man rises from the coffin, stunned and
breathing heavily.
Whether
through social media rage, or through the media statement issued by the Incredible Happenings church leader, Paseka
"Mboro" Motsoeneng, and the SA Funeral Practitioners' Association
(Safpa), Pastor Lukau and his church were accused of staging a miraculous resurrection
scheme, “pulling an antic for the sake of quick fame and cameras”, “bringing
Christianity into disrepute” and many more accusations. So, is there more to
the story that meets the eye?
Taking into consideration Alleluia Church’s side of
the story, the church affirms that the ‘dead’ man was actually ‘already alive’
when his ‘body’ got to the premises and that Lukau had only ‘completed a miracle
that God had already started’. Furthermore, in a radio interview, Pastor Lukau asserted
that he was busy with a Sunday sermon when he was interrupted and told that a
person in a coffin had been brought to the church. Inside the coffin, there was
a man who was already alive; information obtained by News24 after speaking to
Gauteng broadcaster PowerFM's Power Drive host Thabiso Tema.
So,
was pastor Lukau a victim of camera angles? Imaginative allegations & being
at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Doing his part in seeking the truth, Pastor Lukau, through his
lawyers, has written to Safpa, claiming that the statements made in the media
release were "damaging statements which are clearly
defamatory". According to News24, the letter states that
Alleluia issued a statement revealing its version and that Motsoeneng
disregarded that when he issued his media statement. Lukau also proposed to
meet with Safpa and work with it to probe the allegations, "exposing those
who have unlawfully sought to implicate our clients in any wrongdoing. We have
no doubt that by working together, the truth will be uncovered”.
“Considering
the fact that this incident placed miracles as a subject of social media
ridicule, and considering the role it contributed to misleading the masses and
interrupting the efforts of those doing God's work, and putting key Christian
values under dispute, the case deserves more caution in handling, holding back
from throwing allegations, accepting collaboration and taking all viewpoints
into account” Pastor Lukau and Alleluia International Ministries expressed.