Anneliese Burge:

A Friday night in April this year, and a group of South Africans arrived in the Nigerian city of Lagos. For many, this was a first visit to Africa's most populous nation.

Speaker 2:

We are getting close right now. The place where Jesus performed miracles, wonders...

TB Joshua:

Amongst them Mmabatho businessman Moses Marole.

Moses Marole:

It was too much foreign, you know. Dark places. When I arrived there I just see where are in a lost city.

Anneliese Burge:

The South Africans were religious pilgrims heading for a church in the heart of the city's ghettos. This is the synagogue Church of All Nations, the religious sanctuary of TB Joshua, one of the world's most controversial faith healers. He is called 'The Prophet' and 'The Man of God.' Week after week he is said to heal hundreds and even thousands of desperately sick people. Moses Marole suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and wanted the prophet to pray for him. A Bloemfontein Neurosurgeon was also in the group.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I, my wife went firstly for spiritual upliftment, and to experience all their, the healings that's taking place there.

Moses Marole:

I thought, this is the man I'm looking for because I have sugar diabetes and I've got high blood. These are the things which are incurable.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I have to admit it was a shock to me because I couldn't believe what I saw.

Moses Marole:

Some people come there have rotten flesh, rotten parts of their bodies, rotten rotten rotten. But he heals them!

Dr Johan Wilk:

Some of their diseases were cured within days.

Moses Marole:

You see him pray for the people, then the people get freed, they just tell the whole place 'God we are healed, praise God we're healed.'

Anneliese Burge:

The Sunday after the South Africans have arrived, and thousands of followers and believers pack the synagogue. Among them the sick, the lame, the desperate. Awaiting the healing powers of the prophet.

TB Joshua:

Leg cancer, I can see you're a man of God. I set him free by the power the Spirit in the name of Jesus.

Speaker 3:

In the name of Jesus Christ!

TB Joshua:

Stand up.

Anneliese Burge:

As usual he didn't disappoint. While the healings continued the South Africans broke for lunch.

Moses Marole:

I understand from the people with me I fell. And, that was all I remember.

Dr Johan Wilk:

His eyes were open staring, but not responding. I couldn't see any breathing or spontaneous pulse.

Moses Marole:

[inaudible] it did happen [inaudible] you understand, in a wink of an eye. That happened fast, and I was out, I don't know anything.

Dr Johan Wilk:

In short he was technically dead.

Anneliese Burge:

A church video based testimony to the events of that day. It shows Moses Marole lying in the dining room. The desperate attempts by Dr Wilkinson and bystanders to resuscitate him. His alleged resurrection by prophet TB Joshua a day later, and his first appearance as the man who had risen from the dead.

Moses Marole:

I was perplexed to hear that I was dead.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I believe that this was purely a supernatural spiritual intervention from God.

Anneliese Burge:

South African pilgrims to Lagos are mostly white, Afrikaans, and come from all walks of life.

Br Jimoh Sulaim:

The South Africans, they are special people. They are just like any one of us here. Those that seek and taste and hunger for the truth.

Anneliese Burge:

Very little is known about TB Joshua or where he comes from, except that he is 40 years old, married with children, and claims that he received his power of healing at birth. He started the synagogue 10 years ago with only a hand full of supporters. Today he has a worldwide following.

Br Jimoh Sulaim:

He preach and we see the results! And when you see signs, miracles, wonders, as if it was Jesus Christ himself on high walking about. Brother it retracts Heaven and Earth.

Anneliese Burge:

Few faith healers attracts as much controversy as TB Joshua. Many fellow pastors and faith healers describe him as a false prophet, a magician of the occult and a fraud. Dr James van Zijl is one of South Africa's most famous faith healers, and has been in the ministry for 15 years. He's also a medical doctor.

Dr James VZ:

Come OUT in Jesus' name! He is here. And read my lips say 'Thank you Jesus!'

Jesus said 'They who believe shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.' This man doesn't lay hands on the sick, he doesn't pray for them he mumbles, I see the people fall and have thrown to the ground, now I don't see that in Jesus' ministry at all.

Fred Blomkamp:

It's a show, it's a showmanship. And the people go to Nigeria for a show. People going there in desperation.

Dr James VZ:

I've had the experience of many letters that I've received, of people that have gone there and have never had one that was genuinely healed.

Fred Blomkamp:

How we know he's a false prophet is to go into the scriptures. Mathew 24:24 'A false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect.'

Dr James VZ:

I see this one little African boy with what appears to be a great tumour around the rectum. And he says 'This is cancer!' And he's going to heal it and then they bring this child back and his tumour is gone. That's a prolapse of the rectum. We see that many many times in casualties that bring them in and you reduce this prolapse.

Fred Blomkamp:

He's in the spirit of the Antichrist, or the spirit of Satan.

If TB Joshua playing with the horns and the tail and the fork, nobody would follow him. So he comes as an Angel of Light.

Dr James VZ:

Well the occult you see is so close to the truth. The devil doesn't come with horns and a tail and say that 'I am the devil.' He comes as an Angel of Light, and he deceives.

Kobus van Rensb:

Bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless...

Anneliese Burge:

Others say that Joshua is an anointed man of God.

Kobus van Rensb:

That's it [inaudible]

Anneliese Burge:

And, a miraculous healer, none moreso than this man, Kobus van Rensburg, faith healer from Stilfontein in the Northwest province. He also calls himself a prophet.

Kobus van Rensb:

[foreign language] Bam! Right let's give God some praise in the house!

Anneliese Burge:

He says he's been blessed by Joshua, and ordered to continue his miracles in South African. This is Lofdal, his church complex in Stilfontein, where he preaches and heals.

Kobus van Rensb:

It doesn't seem like God's [inaudible] wants to work. It seems like [inaudible]is keeping the people laughing so we'll go to [inaudible]

I love him and I acknowledge him as the greatest man of God I've ever seen. We've shown the videos of prophet Joshua to the people. We promote his ministry. We stand with him as a man of God, cuz God says 'Don't touch my anointed. Do my prophets no harm.' And our church has been a [inaudible] all the way.

Anneliese Burge:

van Rensburg says it was his visits to the synagogue that had him inspired to perform even greater miracles. This is him with Joshua.

Kobus van Rensb:

We just took hands, and he said 'Let's pray.' And we sat there for four, five hours, never opening our mouths, and after four hours he just started speaking to me. It was just like God just came into that prayer place, and he said, 'My friend, you go back now, and the cripples will walk. The wheelchairs will be emptied, and you will see the power of God. And like, people are coming to Lagos. They will come to your church.'

Br Jimoh Sulaim:

They go back healing the sick, casting out the devil, performing miracles, and that might in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, there are few with the joy of the Lord!

Kobus van Rensb:

Since April 2000 till now August of 2002, 114 cripples have thrown their crutches away. People got out of wheelchairs just in last 7 weeks, 6 people got out of wheel chairs. And I think it's all because of the influence that I got there, and the way I'll sort, you can have boldness when you've got a relationship with Jesus.

I think every miracle is great, but I like the cancers and the wheelchairs.

My trust is in Him, my eyes are fixed and focused on Him. It's not quivers, it's not Joshua, it's the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Dr James VZ:

People are very desperate sick people, they're extremely desperate. They will do anything just to be healed.

Anneliese Burge:

This was the case last year. Springbok rugby player Wium Basson dying from liver cancer went to Lagos to seek healing from Joshua. The young man waited in pain and agony for the prophet to pay for him. When Basson eventually joined the prayer queue, Joshua turned his back on the dying man. He said he hadn't received a message from God to pray for him.

Cloete Geldenhu:

[foreign launguage] I never thought that TB wouldn't pray for my son. He often asked "Why doesn't the man just talk to me?"

Anneliese Burge:

Wium Basson died shortly after his return to his hometown of Paarl in the Western Cape. His mother who was at his side in Lagos all the time is now on a mission to expose Joshua as a false prophet.

Cloete Geldenhu:

[foreign launguage]I called 'My God, my God, where are you?' I have to give answers to my child. What do I tell him?  What he had done was cruel.

Dr James VZ:

It was a blessing in disguise, that Wium didn't lose his salvation by becoming involved in an occultic situation

Cloete Geldenhu:

[foreign language]God exposed the lie by sending me and Wium.

Anneliese Burge:

Basson is not the only South African who died after coming back from Lagos. John Rindel suffering from HIV AIDs went to Lagos last year to seek healing from Joshua. The prophet prayed for him.

John Rindel:

When he came and stood in the front to me, and he went like this, he jumped out of the way, I think because a demon came out of me.

Anneliese Burge:

Joshua said to Rindel he was healed, but after his return to South Africa he still tested HIV+. He has since died.

This woman, Maxie Clarson who suffered from cancer was also told she was healed, but has also died after returning to South Africa. Four Cape Town friends all suffering from cancer were prayed for by Joshua and told they were healed. Three have died. The fourth is still very sick.

Special Assignment asked one of the Lagos tour leaders Santa du Plessis to provide us the names of people who can medically attest to the healing in Lagos. She provided us with only 2 names. One of a deaf man who says he can hear again, the other of the woman who was in a car accident 5 years ago. Every alleged miracle is filmed and videos are sent all over the world to persuade pilgrims to come to Lagos. They pay about 2500 Rand to stay for a week. It was one of these videos that persuaded Moses Marole to make his pilgrimage.

The 76 year old Moses Marole is a prominent businessman from Mmabatho and Chairperson of the local Chain of Commerce.

Moses Marole:

I heard about the prophet Joshua, and one of my friends gave me a video cassette, I said 'Man, I'm going to see this man so that he can cure my diabetes, this sugar diabetes and high blood diseases.'

Anneliese Burge:

Johan Wilkinson is a neurosurgeon who's been in private practise for 13 years. Wilkinson, Marole, and the rest of the South Africans arrived at the synagogue on the 19th of April this year.

Dr Johan Wilk:

It's easy to believe there because you are covered in the surroundings of faith.

Moses Marole:

I really believe this man TB Joshua is sent by God.

Dr Johan Wilk:

So I can tell people that doubt, only my personal opinion and that is that he's a real man of God.

Moses Marole:

The prophet is a talented man. He does miracles, and before he woke me up, I saw myself miracles which he did, he does to the people there.

Anneliese Burge:

Two days after their arrival, Marole had his heart attack or stroke. He said he might have forgotten to drink his medicine that morning.

Dr Johan Wilk:

The ladies started to cry, and a lot of people started to pray, so we decided to do what we could. We started with cardiac massage and mouth to mouth breathing.

Christo Myburgh:

He was not breathing, he had no pulse, his eyes was wide open, his mouth was wide open, and he was laying there.

Dr Johan Wilk:

Right from the beginning, I told him, this man is dead.

Moses Marole:

The tried everything humanly possible to wake me up. And as I say, the resuscitation went for some time.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I told them it's all over, bad news, Moses is dead.

Moses Marole:

Finally they despaired, and they took me to the prophet.

Anneliese Burge:

This is the church video showing Dr Wilkinson and two bystanders performing resuscitation. One is a soldier in the National Defence Force, Christo Myburgh, and the other a pilot called Donny Debranch. They had no medical equipment to determine Marole's condition. They broke 3 of his ribs in an attempt to get his pulse and breathing to return.

Then Marole was carried away and appeared to be dead. The South Africans didn't see him again. Some time later, prophet TB Joshua walked into the room where Marole was kept. Marole was now dressed in different pants. Listen to Joshua, he referred to Moses as being dead.

TB Joshua:

For whatever we sees, says the dead give an [inaudible] to risen. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise again, rise again. In Jesus name!

Anneliese Burge:

The next morning and the three resuscitators gave testimony to the miracle that had taken place in the church.

Speaker 4:

He was definitely clinically dead as Johannes had testified. And he just come back to life.

Speaker 5:

Praise the Lord!

Christo Myburgh:

[crosstalk] Okay and then I hit his chest like this, like this! Probably four times with all of my strength.

Speaker 5:

Doctor, how do you feel seeing Moses alive?

Dr Johan Wilk:

I'm very relieved, and rejoice in the Lord, because he has a done a great miracle for Moses.

Speaker 6:

We thank God about the man of God TB Joshua! He's a great man of God! We are going to tell people all over in South Africa and tell them there is a man by the name TB Joshua the great man of God. He is a hope of our glory!

Anneliese Burge:

Marole emerged for the first time from his room as the man who had miraculously risen from the dead.

Speaker 7:

I want to say that God got bigger in my eyes because of this miracle, so thank you very much and a long life to you sir! [crosstalk] God is bigger than we thought!

Moses Marole:

I believe I was dead, because from the time I was in the dining room, and from the time I woke up, I realised I was in a different place, I must have been out for some time.

Anneliese Burge:

The church video is now being distributed around the world as evidence and testimony of the great miracle that had taken place in Lagos. Special Assignment took the video to two highly respected South African doctors. The one is specialist physician with international experience, the other is a world authority on resuscitation. They cautioned against Dr Wilkinson's diagnosis that Marole was clinically dead. They say it's difficult to determine death without the proper equipment.

Dr Jacques Krie:

One must be very careful of this type of diagnosis in a highly charged situation such as a religious meeting.

Dr Walter Kloec:

Studies have shown that even amongst professionals there's up to a 50% chance that the pulse check could be inaccurate.

Dr Jacques Krie:

Very often respiratory movement can be so subtle that you can't see, just as the pulse cannot be felt, but yet there is circulation.

Anneliese Burge:

And what is clinical death? For the purposes of finding out what had happened to Moses, doctor's distinguished between clinical death and biological death.

Dr Jacques Krie:

When there is biological death then the person is really dead. Biological death is an irreversible entity. Clinical death is a different matter entirely.

Dr Walter Kloec:

Clinical death just means that he's not breathing, and that his heart has stopped at that point in time. But his brain is still alive. If someone stopped breathing, their heart stopped beating, if you can start CPR within 4 minutes, you can save people's lives with very high success rates.

Anneliese Burge:

If Moses was indeed clinically dead, how good was the resuscitation that the church goers performed on him?

Dr Walter Kloec:

The CPR technique was well done, but people who'd obviously been taught CPR, been trained in CPR and knew what to do. They were breathing into the victim, they were doing chest compressions, they were getting the oxygen to the brain. So the CPR was good.

Anneliese Burge:

The video shows that the resuscitation failed, and that Marole died. However, another story emerged when the resuscitators recounted the events that took place that day.

Dr Johan Wilk:

We continued for about 20 minutes without any response. In short he was clinically dead.

Christo Myburgh:

And then after, junior prophets came, they said now we must stand back, they started to pray over Moses.

Dr Johan Wilk:

So when they started praying for him, I asked God, 'Please God, make me see.'

Christo Myburgh:

And they just prayed over him, and then one of the prophets [inaudible] asked me to start CPR again. [inaudible] I actually got a fright, because as someone was blowing into his mouth it came back to me.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I told everybody, he's responding, he's responding, he's alive.

Anneliese Burge:

The video doesn't show how the junior prophets prayed or how Christo Myburgh continued with mouth to mouth resuscitation. What is now clear, is that Moses Marole started breathing again before he was carried from the room.

Dr Johan Wilk:

At that stage he had a good strong pulse and he was breathing on his own.

Dr Walter Kloec:

Pulse can come back. Breathing can come back. And when pulse and breathing comes back, that means the person's alive again.

Dr Jacques Krie:

The people did exactly the right things, and they were successful, and they should be congratulated on it. The resuscitators should be congratulated.

Dr Johan Wilk:

I was relieved, I was exalted, I immediately started to praise the Lord.

Dr Jacques Krie:

Even though the doctor felt, after the twenty minutes, that his resuscitation had failed, it had in fact been successful. He was a very good resuscitator. So this is the situation of the resuscitation not of resurrection.

Anneliese Burge:

The church video gives the impression that this act of TB Joshua resurrected Moses Marole, but he was already alive when he was brought into this room, probably resuscitated by the neurosurgeon and his helpers. The prophet did not resurrect him. We asked the tour leader Santa du Plessis to explain the events that took place in Lagos. What happened to Moses after he was carried from the room? People say she was with him all the time. She declined an interview.

Moses Marole:

I just think my soul was not far away from me, because I believe in God and I believe God knows everything. And I believe God knew! That is why God knew that the prophet was coming to pray for me and that I would awake. That is why I didn't see the heavenly things.

Anneliese Burge:

There are serious questions about the authenticity of the church tape and the role of TB Joshua in the whole affair. But for believers, the story of Moses Marole will strengthen their faith. They will continue to hail Joshua as a man of God who heals the sick and raises the dead.