I’ll resurect after 3 days
•Dead pastor boasted
•Devotees keep body in church for 5 days
•Awaiting in prayer
Where is Sathya Sai Baba, a controversial South Indian guru described as a godman and a miracle worker by his followers? In 1953, Sai Baba was said to have raised Mr. Radhakrishna, who had been dead for three days.
While there was weeping and wailing in the house, Sai Baba went to the room and closed the door after him. Few minutes later, he opened the door, called the people back in, and they saw Radhakrishna sitting calm on bed, and smiling.
Turning to the wife, Baba said, "I have given your husband back to you. Now, give him a hot drink."
But if the Indian guru cannot be reached, let Pastor Aity Dennis-Inyang, the Akwa Ibom- born gospel musician come to the rescue!
Having claimed to have raised a month-old baby from death through her music, the gospel artiste is needed urgently for another miracle in Lagos. May be, she would wake the general overseer of The World Revival Ministries, a.k.a Power and Prophetic Church, thereby restoring the hope of his followers.
Since Tuesday, March 10, members of the church, located at 30, Alubarika Street, Ijeshatedo, Lagos, were thrown into confusion over the death of their leader, Prophet Chibundu Ezenwani. But while the news filtered around the streets that he was dead, his devotees debunked such rumour, believing he was only sleeping.
Instead, they kept him in the church, and embarked on marathon prayers, expecting another resurrection. But one week after, nothing happened. Eventually when it dawned on them that he could not get up, they allegedly took him to a mortuary on Tuesday.
Saturday Champion gathered that the man had boasted few days earlier, during a Sunday service, that he would rise again after three days. In fact, that Sunday was said to be his last appearance in the church as he fell ill after that.
Source said that he was later rushed to a private hospital in Lagos. But when the situation worsened, he was referred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where he later gave up the ghost, that Tuesday.
It was further gathered that when the news was broken, the devotees stormed the teaching hospital that evening, and almost turned the place to a church, as they prayed, expecting him to wake.
Still not convinced that he was dead, they brought him back to the church on Friday, March 13 and continued the prayer, instead of putting him in a mortuary.
When Saturday Champion visited the church premises last Saturday, some of the church members were seen in groups, talking in hush tones, while others were busy praying inside the church. The church entrance was always locked and whoever among them that intended to go inside had to knock first. There was always someone who would open the gate, but only for members.
Some hours later, an ambulance vehicle arrived and about three men came out of it. After waiting for over an hour, those men started complaining that their time was being wasted by the church. After a while, they entered the vehicle and left angrily, as the church was not ready at that time to take the corpse to mortuary. So they continued praying.
Eager to confirm the incident, after inquiring from the people on the street, our Correspondent decided to participate in last Sunday’s worship at the church, as a newcomer.
A relatively small church with a congregation of about 100 people, it was clear that the church is just a growing one, and in dire need of modern architectural design, even though it is the headquarters. But the nature of worship is typical of today’s Pentecostal churches.
The topic of the day’s sermon was "The Challenge of Receiving a Spectacular Miracle." And so the charismatic preacher of the day kept citing the Bible quotations as the congregation flipped through the pages of the Holy Book.
Reading Acts 12:5, he explained: "The church was praying, Satan cannot stop the church of God. Peter was not holier than you. Whatever is keeping the servant of God, the chains are falling off. It is not the size of your faith; it is your persistence in prayer. He must come back. If the outside world hears it, they will say we are mad. Our miracle will soon happen…" The congregation answered with a thunderous AMEN!
Again, citing another story of the widow of Nain in Luke 7:11, whose only son was raised from death by Jesus Christ, the preacher told the congregation not to lose hope, but believe that their general overseer would come back to life.
But in spite of the preaching, the general mood among the congregation was that of despair.
It was time for praises and so the church came alive. The building quaked as the congregation went frenzy with praises and worship. The preacher continued to remind them of the experience of the wall of Jericho that collapsed through praises, saying their daddy would get up.
Later, all the members of the congregation were called to the front of the altar for prayer. Members were asked to raise their right hands to heaven and invoke the spirit of Prophet Chibundu back into his body. The prayer went thus: "Daddy, come back. You can’t leave your children like this. Please come back, we still need you to revive the world."
At a time, everybody was asked to kneel and continue crying to God for the general overseer to come back. The experience would remind one of the Biblical incident of Mount Carmel, when Prophet Elijah and prophets of Baal had a contest.
The remains of the general overseer, was not seen in the church during the worship, but our correspondent gathered that he was kept in the church office. Some members jealously guarded the entrance to the office, which was closed throughout the time of worship.
Though our Correspondent could not stay till the end of the very lengthy service, a source said the congregation later came out rejoicing after the service, probably convinced that their dead GO would rise again.
Early morning on Monday, it was rumoured that the man had shown signs of coming back to life. News again filtered to the streets. When Saturday Champion rushed to the place, some church members were seen in groups, probably discussing the fate of their leader. The gate was locked while prayers were being said inside the church.
But eventually, it was learnt that Ezenwani’s church members finally succumbed and took his corpse to an undisclosed mortuary, Tuesday night, after all hope of rising again was lost.
Surprisingly, the church gate, which was usually closed, was wide open when Saturday Champion visited the place on Wednesday. Some residents however confirmed the removal of the corpse that night, but could not tell where it was taken to.
As at the time of going to press, there were still lots of controversies around the man who left behind his wife and four children.
While some were saying that he probably must have caused his death, others, mainly his devotees, were yet to believe that he is actually dead.
The questions that had stuck to every lip around that vicinity are: what must have caused the death of the man who was said to be in his late thirties and who was full of life some days ago? What was actually the mission of some white men said to have paid a visit to the church earlier before the incident? How did the man know he was going to die and why did he tell his devotees that he would rise again after three days?
Too many questions waiting to be answered, perhaps by events of the coming days.