South African pastor Alph Lukau lays his hands on a body lying inside an open casket, before the man suddenly, and quite dramatically, jumps to his feet.
Within hours the hashtag #ResurrectionChallenge was trending on Twitter as people shared their own ‘revival’ attempts alongside screenshots of Lukau’s ‘miracle’.
In a hotly anticipated statement released on Wednesday, the church claims to be the victim of an “unwarranted and sustained attack” that is fuelled by bias, speculation and “a blatant” refusal to accept “certain irrefutable facts”.
“At no stage did the pastor [Lukau] claim that he resurrected the person shown in the video, who was identified by his family as Elliot,” said the church.
The church earlier admitted that when the coffin carrying the man arrived at the service, he had already “come back to life”.
“Prior to even praying for Elliot, pastor Alph states that Elliot is in fact breathing,” said the church.