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. |