OpEd: COVID-19: Pastor Died And Pastor Wants To Die By Leo Igwe | Sahara Reporters I did not want Suleman to suffer the same fate as this Cameroonian pastor. I did not want him to inspire other pastors to go that route. By the time I was... READ MORE:
Recently a pastor died. A Cameroonian faith healer, Prophet Frankline Ndifor died a week after battling with the coronavirus. Ndifor's death is linked to a violation of COVID19 guidelines. He was laying hands on those with confirmed cases of COVID19. A pastor has also died in Port Harcourt in a similar circumstance. There may have been some other unreported cases of faith healing pastors who have died after laying hands on COVID19 patients. This is a sad development.
Some weeks ago, I urged the Nigerian authorities to sanction a pastor, Apostle Suleman, for claiming that he could heal a COVID19 patient. He asked the government to allow him into the isolation centers so that he could heal those with confirmed cases of this disease. I saw this move as potentially damaging to public health.
Apostle Suleman did not take it kindly. He took to his twitter to denounce me for saying that prayers could not heal COVID19 patients. He declared that I was spewing “nonsense”. He added that “God is bigger than covid19”. This statement reminded me of another incident. I quickly recalled that an American pastor who made such a statement died shortly after saying this. It occurred to me that a pastor had died and another pastor wanted to die.
I did not want this virus of evangelical recklessness to spread and complicate efforts to contain the pandemic. In the desperate quest to grow their churches and accumulate wealth clerics make irresponsible healing claims that too often endanger their lives and the health of others. Those who understand how potentially harmful these declarations are should endeavor to call out these men and women of God. They should challenge them to demonstrate the potency, safety, and efficacy of their claims.
We should not keep quiet and allow these charlatans to misinform and mislead the society, and promote habits and sentiments that accelerate the spread of diseases. We should not allow clerical con artists to continue to mine popular desperation and gullibility. Faith healing beliefs and activities of pastors have been linked to COVID19 related deaths and spread. In the case of Prophet Ndifor, a faith healing pastor has died. Another faith healing pastor has died in Nigeria.
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