MOURNERS
at a funeral wake of a 15-year-old-boy in Gweru were left speechless
when a team of pastors stormed the house and started praying over the
body in a bid to resurrect him.
The
incident occurred in Southview suburb on Monday at the funeral wake of
Tatenda Dick, an Ordinary Level pupil at Chaplin High School, who had
died the previous day from a terminal illness.
Witnesses
said Tatenda’s body was brought home for the wake before burial the
following morning. They said three pastors from the local Christ Embassy
Church came and conducted prayers meant to bring Tatenda back to life
as had happened to the Biblical Lazarus.
A
close relative of Tatenda said the three pastors came into the lounge
where the coffin was and started sprinkling water on mourners in the
room while speaking in tongues.
“One
of the pastors opened the top half of the coffin and placed a cellphone
that was playing a sermon by the church founder, Pastor Chris,” said
the relative.
The
pastors removed the body from the coffin in front of the stunned
mourners. They said the “resurrection” prayers were conducted with the
blessings of the boy’s mother, a member of the same church. The witness
said the pastors intensified their prayers, commanding Dick to rise and
walk.
After praying for about three hours without any sign that the boy would come back to life, the witness said, the leader of the team ordered all the mourners, except Christ Embassy members, out of the room.
After praying for about three hours without any sign that the boy would come back to life, the witness said, the leader of the team ordered all the mourners, except Christ Embassy members, out of the room.
Eventually,
only the three men were left with the boy’s mother and a few close
relatives. The Christ Embassy Church members claimed Dick would
resurrect in a couple of hours if they were left on their own.
“Curious
mourners who were failing to come to terms with the goings on, however,
refused to disperse as they wanted to witness every part of the
unfolding drama. The ‘men of God’ went into ‘ecstasy’ while one of them
held the corpse upright. What surprised the mourners most was that even
the now deceased boy’s mother, Ms Germa Machingauta, pleaded with the
mourners to disperse as she also believed that her son would resurrect,”
said one witness.
Some
mourners said they now suspected the whole incident to have been an act
of Satanism. Due to numerous bizarre incidents happening in Zimbabwe,
people are quick to link any inexplicable happening to Satanism or juju
(use of magic powers). The witnesses said as the drama unfolded, some
curious mourners peeped through the windows of the room where the
prayers were taking place.
One
man who appeared to be the leader of the group is said to have blamed
the delay of the boy’s “resurrection” on “demons” which he alleged were
possessed by some mourners. The church crew later ordered the close
relatives to also leave the room and leave the mother behind.
“They
then closed all the windows and the curtains of the room before they
ordered Ms Machingauta to touch on the chest of her son’s body before
they continued to pray on top of their voices,” said the witness.
He said some disgruntled mourners, including the elderly, later dispersed dismissing the prayer sessions as a farce.
“The
church members, including Ms Machingauta, prayed for the resurrection
of the boy until Tuesday morning. By then only a few close relatives
were still camped outside the house while the majority of the mourners
who could not understand what was happening left the residence. The boy,
however, did not resurrect and there were some clashes among the
relatives themselves on Tuesday as they accused Ms Machingauta and her
church members of making fun out of a funeral. The boy was later buried
on Tuesday afternoon but by then, there were only few relatives as the
majority of mourners and other distant relatives had left.”
Ms
Machingauta, a nurse by profession, confirmed the incident when
contacted yesterday. She said she had no problem with her church
members’ attempts to raise her son from the dead.“I
have no problems with what happened. This is what we believe in our
church. Actually, the Christ Embassy Church members had come on my
invitation. I was satisfied with what happened. The resurrection failed
because God had already spoken to my child and decided to take him into
his care,” she said.
When
she was asked why they decided to conduct the resurrection prayers
after the boy’s body had first been taken to the mortuary, Ms
Machingauta said: “That doesn’t matter. Lazarus was resurrected when his
body was about to rot and this could have happened to my child but God
had spoken to him,” she said.
Culled from talkofnaija.
Are you kidding me! WTF
ReplyDeleteIt's serious...No Joke...
DeleteWho do they tink they are? How dare they? Why are they tempting the almighty?
ReplyDelete