South African funeral directors have promised to take legal action against a prophet who allegedly staged a miracle where he “resurrected” a “dead” man in the presence of his members.
Pastor Alph Lukau of Alleluia Ministries International, in a viral video, was seen “resurrecting” a man who was in a coffin. “Rise up”, the prophet said to the body in the coffin and the man then jerks upright as worshippers cheer.
After the alleged miracle went viral, the funeral company, from where the funeral hearse was rented, spoke up to distance themselves from the miracle. They said the miracle was staged and they were manipulated into being involved.
Three funeral companies, who say they were manipulated by the pastor to stage his miracle, are now taking legal action for damage to their reputation.
Kingdom Blue, Kings & Queens Funeral Services and Black Phoenix told local media that church representatives tricked them in different ways.
People pretending to be family members of the “deceased” allegedly placed Black Phoenix stickers on their private car to look credible. They then went to Kings & Queens Funeral Services to hire a hearse from them and lied to them that they had had a dispute with a different funeral service provider.
Unaware of their plan, Kings & Queen Funeral Service rented out a hearse to them. They then went to Kingdom Blue to acquire a coffin.
‘Kings and Queens Funerals did not supply the coffin neither did we store the deceased at our mortuary and no paper work was processed by Kings and Queens Funerals.
‘As a funeral services provider we do not offer services without documentation neither do we repatriate bodies without any paper work, Kings and Queens Funerals said.
The video of the fake miracle has sparked a national debate on fake pastors and has led to the hashtag #ResurrectionChallenge on social media.