Relatives
of the woman who invited her Christ Embassy Church members during the
funeral wake of her 15-year-old son in an attempt to “resurrect” the boy
have said they have no problems with the church after its leadership
apologised over the incident.
In
an interview, a relative of the boy Tatenda man-hood said a
three-member delegation, led by a Pastor Glorious, visited the family to
apologise following an all-night vigil in which some members of the
church attempted to “resurrect” the boy. The “resurrection” prayers were
reportedly conducted with the blessing of Tatenda’s mother, Ms Germa
Machingauta.
“The
church leader, Pastor Glorious, came with his team and apologised to
us. They told us what they believed in and the reasons why their members
conducted the resurrection prayers. They indicated to us that there
were no satanist motives and that their prayers were genuine, as they
attempted to bring back the boy to life. We have understood them and
accepted their apology,” said a relative, who chose not to be named.
The
relative said they respected freedom of worship and beliefs and allowed
the Christ Embassy team to conduct their “resurrection” prayers.
“When
sister Germa (Ms Machingauta) told us that she had received a phone
call from her church members to the effect that the boy would resurrect,
we were all puzzled, but we could not stop her and her church members
from conducting their prayers, as it was to her best interest,” said the
relative.
Efforts
to get a comment from Pastor Glorious were fruitless yesterday. When
this reporter visited the church offices along Main Street in Harare
yesterday morning, some of the church members said Pastor Glorious was
busy preparing for a church service.
When
this reporter visited the church offices later in the day, he was also
denied access to Pastor Glorious, who was said to be busy giving
counselling sessions to other church members.
“Today
is a busy day for Brother Glorious you can leave your contact details.
He will get in touch with you, but not today,” said a lady who was at
the front office.
Ms Machingauta refused to comment when contacted.
“I will not comment any more over this. I have no comment,” she said
Meanwhile,
a senior member of the Christ Embassy Church who spoke to our news crew
described the move by three church members who tried to pray for the
resurrection of Tatenda as being overzealous.
“These
guys were just overzealous. It was a matter of miscalculated faith. One
of them was supposed to receive an instruction from God before they
could go and conduct their prayers. They were just clueless of whatever
they were doing. It was a trial and error,” said the church member.
Mourners
were left speechless on Monday last week when three pastors from Christ
Embassy Church went into a room where Tatenda’s body lay in state
before they started conducting “resurrection” prayers.
The
prayers, which extended to Tuesday morning, could, however, not yield
any results, as the boy was buried later in the afternoon. Only close
relatives attended the burial as the majority of the mourners had
dispersed because they could not buy the “resurrection” story.
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