Pastor Alph Lukau breaks his silence while Cyril Ramaphosa wades in on 'resurrection'

Pastor Alph Lukau has broken his silence following criticism of the supposed resurrection of a dead man which happened at his Sandton church, Alleluia Ministries, at the weekend.

During an interview on PowerFM on Wednesday afternoon, Lukau said the only time he had restored life was to an unborn child whose mother had alleged that she had been told the child had died in the womb.

"The heartbeat could not be detected before but after the prayer, they [were] told the child is fine," said Lukau.

The pastor who found himself in the middle of mass criticism from the public and other men of the cloth, added that he had no power to resurrect a person from the dead "except if God used him as an instrument".

He reiterated what his church officials said, that Sunday's incident, where a dead man known by the name of Elliot arose from a coffin after being declared dead, was not his doing.

Lukau said he had been informed that a person in a coffin had been brought to the church and before they had entered the premises, the coffin had begun to shake, suggesting that the person was alive.

He said all he had done was pray for the man and join in rejoicing in the miracle that they had just witnessed.

"Hearing that the person was alive, it was an amazing thing. We have never heard of such a thing as Alleluia Ministries … We always read of those in the Bible but have never had it," said Lukau.

He said people, including the media, had made assumptions on what had happened without having properly watched the live stream of the incident.

Lukau emphasised that prior to this miracle, he had never seen Elliot or his family.

Following the service, he claimed to have had no further contact with them either.

While he hoped they would return to church on Sunday, he feared the criticism may result in them staying away.

Questioned on allegations that the church had hired the hearse from a funeral parlour, Lukau poured cold water on those claims.

"Perhaps they wanted to say that they had a dealing with the family, [not the church]," Lukau said.

Meanwhile, while the weekend resurrection continued to trend, President Cyril Ramaphosa has weighed in on the matter.

Speaking at the launch of the ANC's Western Cape election drive in Cape Town, Ramaphosa suggested that a solution was needed.

"How can we work together to ensure that we rid our country of bogus religious leaders who are taking our people for a ride? [People] who are doing things that are just completely shocking of trying to hoodwink the whole nation and saying that somebody has been raised from the dead? [People] who are actually [taking]the name of the Lord, of God and of churches into disrepute?" he asked.