LADESOPE LADELOKUN 
The authenticity of certain miracles has recently been questioned, particularly after reports emerged of suspected members of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries sharing testimonies online. Despite alleged instances of staged miracles, several clerics maintain that genuine miracles do occur. LADESOPE LADELOKUN writes on the bastardization of miracles and the need to check the trend.
Olusola George was just 20 in 1954, when she reportedly died and got raised from the dead after three days through the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, the late Rev. SBJ Oshoffa. George, who is now 90, said: “My sickness would always come and go away. But I died in 1954, when I was 20. I gave birth my first child two years later after I was totally healed.” Her sister, Christianah Ipadeola, told how she struggled with an unknown ailment that defied cure, despite being in and out of hospital. Olusola George’s doctor, she said, would later give up on her case, admitting the failure of conventional medicine to change her story. Ipadeola narrated how her struggle with the said ailment compelled her doctor to admonish her parents to seek help from native doctors. “Dr Maja, who was then on Aroloya Street, treated the sickness. He later said orthodox medicine could not treat her condition. The doctor told our parents to seek help from native doctors. Our parents agreed. But it still didn’t work. One day, she slept and just didn’t wake up. Native doctors came, she did not wake. She didn’t even move her body.”
Meanwhile, the Celestial Media Team, in a video documentary titled: “Olusola,the documentary”, which detailed the circumstances that led to the intervention of the founder of the Celestial Church, reported that a young member of the church, who was fondly called Halleluyah, reported the death of his neighbour(Olusola George) to Oshoffa, believing his neighbour could still be raised from the dead in view of the many miracles said to have been performed by Jesus Christ through the founder of Celestial Church. “On the third day after she was reported dead, her body was stinking and covered in ants. Her mother had begged to take her home to bury her. Seeing how agitated Olusola’s mother had become, he (Oshoffa) visited the vestry, where she was kept. On his instruction, when she was brought to the church (National Headquarters of the Celestial Church,Makoko,Lagos), asked for her name, and called her three times. She answered and stood!” A miracle, some clerics argue, does not qualify to be called one if it doesn’t defy logic and upend commonsense. Indeed, the Christian Holy Book is replete with examples of miracles that were said to be unexplainable by science and medicine. As recorded in the Acts of Apostles chapter 3 verse four to seven of the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ’s disciple, Peter, healed a man that was lame from birth. Specifically, chapter seven read: “Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened.” But beyond the days of Jesus Christ of the Bible, testimonies of miracles have been shared among today’s tribe of his followers. After all, he was quoted as saying bigger works shall be done by those who believe in him in John 14 : 12 of the holy scriptures. However, the authenticity of some miracles came under scrutiny recently when some members of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries suffused cyberspace with testimonies. While there have been confirmed cases of stage managed miracles, some clerics affirmed that miracles indeed, exist.
‘I am a Chosen’: Harvest of extraordinary miracles
Recently, viral videos of suspected members of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries sparked skepticism and questions about the authenticity of the church members’ testimonies. In one of the videos, a man narrated how a lion allegedly rescued him from kidnappers by lifting him into the air and saved him from his abductors. According to him, something touched his back, lifted him like an aeroplane, and carried him to the expressway. “When I landed, I turned to see what had carried me. It was a Lion! The Lion then raised its paw, pointed me in a direction, and said ‘bye-bye’ as I went,” he added. In another video, a suspected Chosen member had narrated how she miraculously seized the AK-47 rifles of three armed robbers and secured their arrest. Also, another suspected member had explained how an old man in white apparel appeared to her when she was writing one of her promotional examinations, noting that she was assisted by the said man. “We all had written our career questions. It then came to these very 10 questions, which asked, ‘Mention 10 Francophone countries and their capitals.’ “Brethren, nobody knew this question. So, all I did was to raise the question paper and declare to it,‘I am a Chosen! I am a Chosen! I am a Chosen! This question, who are you? Where is the God of my pastor power?’ “Then, suddenly, an old man appeared by my right-hand side in white apparel. He told me, ‘My daughter, begin to write.’ And I began to write,” she revealed. She also explained how a female member of another Christian denomination was a beneficiary of her ‘kindness’ “While I was cross-checking, the sister quietly copied. And immediately she finished, brethren, I stood up and submitted my questions.” Meanwhile, the Lord’s Chosen Church had alleged that some of the viral videos were deliberately manipulated to mislead members of the public as some of the testimonies shared only happened in dreams.
‘She was certified dead after her broken skull but she rose again’ – Idahosa
Although, the founder of Church of God Mission International, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa, who was popularly referred to as the father of pentecostalism died 26 years ago in 1998, he resurrected recently in a viral video in the heat of the controversies that trailed the testimonies shared by some suspected members of the Lord’s Chosen church. In the viral video, the late Bishop had narrated how the children of two of his female members got another chance to live after they were pronounced dead. Idahosa had mentioned how he almost tricked one Flora, the mother of one of the children said to be dead, out of the hospital, so she could be taken to the mortuary. “Her daughter fell 17ft from a storey building and broke her skull.The report is still in Central Hospital, neurosurgeon department in UI (University of Ibadan), that the skull was broken and the child died. She(Flora) came to my office and said,’Devil na lie you dey talk … child wey God give me,you no go fit take am’. We went to Central Hospital. I met a Reverend Father, who prayed the final prayer… ‘May her soul rest in peace.’ She just said, ‘ Na your soul go rest in peace. Na lie. No be my pikin die. Na you die.’The Reverend Father quietly went out. They took me in, lifted the cloth from where they covered her, oxygen was not working, nothing worked. They said she was dead. Doctors said we know you believe in miracles, not this one. When I saw the head like a basket of tomatoes,I called her ,and told her that there’s a medicine you were asked to buy. She said I no go comot for here,unless you raise am,I no go leave you. I was looking for a way to go. I said if she left, I would go the people taking her to the mortuary. This woman took my hand and laid on the child. Before I knew where I was, I said ‘live in the name of Jesus’. ” Providing an answer to the question asked by Idahosa about her child’s whereabouts, Flora said she was living in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
How God suspended winter, snow in America because of me – Adeboye
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, had years ago, on the pulpit, shared a testimony that attracted mixed reactions from netizens. According to Adeboye, God suspended winter when he visited Colorado in the United States of America because he does not like cold weather, and he told God to do so. “Years ago, I was invited to Colorado in America in January. I don’t like cold weather at all. I said to my father, I’m going to Colorado. While I’m there, suspend winter. Throughout the days I was there, people were wearing t-shirts in January. He pushed away winter, brought in summer. I boarded a plane at 5:00 pm to travel back to Nigeria. Two hours after I left, all the snow that had been hanging in the air began to fall.”
Being pastor now one of most lucrative jobs, miracles bastardized – CAN
In a chat with Sunday Telegraph,Bishop Stephen Adegbite, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos State chapter, and the Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), reasoned that while testimonies and miracles help strengthen people’s faith, they have been bastardized by fortune-seeking pastors, who have gullible Nigerians at their beck and call. He said: “Nigerians are gullible. One of the most lucrative jobs in town is now to be a pastor and to start your own church. Before you know it, you have a lot of women coming to your church because they carry all the load in their husband’s house, in their own family. That’s why people see them as soft targets to perpetrate evil.” He added: “It depends on individuals and churches that engage in funny miracles and satanic testimonies. You don’t need to lie about testimonies and miracles. Testimony is a way to strengthen people’s faith. Miracle is also a way to ensure that people have strong faith in the Lord. But when it is bastardized like what is happening in our society today, it is appalling. “And before people give testimonies, we were taught in school that you must have listened to such testimony. If it is good for public consumption, you allow it to be given. If it’s not, you stop it. It should not go beyond your office. I believe that will help in a way to reduce miracles that are stage managed and testimonies that are not real that people are giving to deceive others. It’s appalling.”
I was paid N7,000 to stage fake miracles –Woman
Following the death of her mother, Bose Olasunkanmi started working as a food vendor. She was, however, disengaged after an accident that left her with injuries. According to her, one Fatila Musa, who was her neighbour at her sister’s shop, where she relocated, introduced her to pastors allegedly faking miracles after she demanded N1,000 from her. In an interview with The PUNCH, Olasunkanmi said: “I followed her to Port Harcourt (Rivers State). She took me to two churches. One of the pastors did his own (fake miracle) at a market. She also took me to a church in Abakaliki (Ebonyi State). In October 2019, she took me to the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministry at Ojodu-Berger, which is the last church I went to. The name of the Pastor is Chris Okafor.” Speaking on what she got paid to fake miracles, she revealed: “The pastor in one of the two churches Fatila took me to in Port Harcourt is called Pastor Godswill Abbey. I got N11, 000 in his church. I can’t remember the name of the second pastor. Fatila gave me N7, 000 after ‘the miracle’ at the market. I got N9, 000 at Abakaliki.”
Miracles’re real for those who believe in Jesus Christ- Somoye
For Pastor Michael Ayotunde Somoye of the Miracle Treasures of Heaven Bible Church,Ayobo, Lagos , miracles are real but the demands of society could compel servants of God to do something untoward, especially when they drifted away from the will of God. “Miracles are real for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Miracle is real but who is offering the miracle? You will pray for some people, they will ask you to tell them the vision you have seen for them. And if God has been using you and you go into sin, the spirit of God will leave you, and you will start looking for occultic power when the power is no longer there to continue.” On why some Christians share phoney testimonies and stage-manage miracles, he said: “They do it because they want more people in their church. They have lost their power from God. God is no longer answering their prayers. They are pretenders. God does not know them. They will suffer at last. They cannot go unpunished. No sinner will go unpunished. Everyone will be rewarded.”
What some believers call miracles are normal; pastors can change the narrative- Ajose
Commenting, National Secretary, Renewed Ministers of Christ (RMC), and President, Organisation of Christians for Democracy (OCD), Bishop Dr Theophilus Ajose, said some believers misconstrue the concept of miracles. “The things some believers call miracles these days are normal, even in the lives of unbelievers. A believer suddenly comes into a huge financial blessing and he calls it a miracle, when some unbelievers have surplus of it without even praying! “Everyone is waiting and looking for miracles instead of working or being productive! This is what has raised some un-useful, jobless and faithless Christians in this generation. “True miracles are really acts of God that are beyond human comprehension and actions, throughout the scriptures.” Speaking on what servants of God should do to change the miracle narrative, he explained:”I think pastors will change the miracle narratives by sitting down to study the miracles of the Holy Bible again and understand how and why they happened; they should change the conversation by pointing believers to the person of Jesus Christ.” According to the presiding Bishop of Bishop Ajose Ministries International (BAM), John the Baptist did not perform any miracle but Lord Jesus said John was the greatest prophet born of a woman. “What did John the Baptist do to earn this certification from the Lord? All he did was to point the people to Jesus: Behold the Lamb of God! Finish!” he added. Sharing what he considers his most memorable miracle, he stated : “The most memorable testimony/miracle I have personally experienced (and which I believe other true believers have personally experienced) is when I was born again in Christ Jesus, and gave my life to Jesus Christ, 46 years ago! The greatest miracle anyone can experience is the rebirth of your soul (new birth) and your spirit man is activated by the Holy Spirit. Then, you become a new creature in Christ Jesus. It’s an experience that will forever be cherished by every true believer.” Baring his mind on how fake miracles and questionable testimonies can be tamed, Ajose said there was a need for church members and believers to keep their eyes, mind and spirits focused on the person and Lordship of Jesus Christ.
“…Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10
Hence, the Holy Spirit gives deliverance, testimonies, blessings and miracles to people in order to testify to the Lordship and Deity of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus Christ Himself told us that: “And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” (John 15:26)” He continued: “Pastors and church leaders should restrict their preachings to the Holy Scriptures and the Person of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:16; Acts 3:11-16) and to let them know that whatever they see as manifestation of miracles, testimonies, blessings and deliverances are due to the faithfulness and mercy of God and not to be attributed to the man of God, no matter the level of his anointing and manifestation.”
Miracle is madness of religion, humans created God – Don
For History lecturer at the Osun State University and traditionalist, Dr Temitope Fagunwa, miracles don’t exist. They are mere products of human creativity. “The concept of miracle does not exist for us because when you say you are performing miracles, it is nothing but a product of human creativity. They don’t exist. We don’t have miracles in African spirituality because African spirituality deals with science. You speak truth to life. African spirituality is about understanding nature, dealing with nature. There is nothing miraculous about that.” He added: “You are expected to live with nature. And that is why everything about African spirituality can be proven. African spirituality deals with facts and figures. Ifa is the scientific codification of Yoruba’s understanding of nature. So, miracles don’t exist for us within the tenets of African spirituality. Religion emanated from the creativity of human. Human beings invented religion. Miracle is madness of religion. “
