Lord’s Chosen Ministries: Beyond These Dramatic Testimonies
By Anuoluwapo Lebi
It has become a cliche in Nigeria households, that “anyone who has data in Nigeria and uses social media can never be diagnosed with high blood pressure”. While this statement is not entirely true, there is a modicum of truth in it.
It is ironic that despite economic hardship, suffering, insecurity and other severe societal turmoil in Nigeria, In the latest release from the world happiness report, Nigeria is recognized as the happiest country in Africa and 102nd in the world.
One phenomenon that many countries should understudy from Nigerians is how the people afford to be happy amidst trouble, hardship, economic famine and general uncertainty.
Undoubtedly, social media and Internet connection cannot be isolated from the source of happiness to Nigerians. Nigerians are terrific in formulating trends, even from the most awful and trivial situations.
Nigerians’ areas of formulating trends spans across politics, marriage, movies, reality shows, sport, celebrities, religion and other areas.
Nigerians’ new catch are members of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, whose unbelievable testimonies have marveled netizens, and have also drawn reaction of social media influencers, like Very Dark Man who berated some members of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries whose testimonies appeared unrealistic and imaginary. VDM accused the extravagant testifiers of being zealous and desperate for attention, while he promised to petition the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over the issue.
In a viral clip, a member of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries while sharing his testimony, claimed to have been rescued by a lion, he said “Something entered my back, lifted me up. It carried me like aeroplane to express.
“When it reached there, it dropped me. When it dropped me, I turned to look at what carried me and as I looked it was lion.
“So when the lion dropped me, the place was very narrow and tight, it now raised one hand up and asked me to go like this (pointing to the left). When I go, the lion said bye bye.”
In another video, a female member said she fought robbers and took their AK-47 rifles.
She said: “Miraculously, I gained control of their guns and ensured the arrest of three of the robbers.”
Another male member claimed he survived kidnapping, machete attacks, and gunshot wounds “without injury”.
While many people have slammed the leadership of the church for allowing unfounded and unverified testimonies in the church, some people have drummed support for the church, maintaining that Bible contained account of similar events, referencing the three Hebrews who were thrown Into a furnace of fire, but were not harmed; Moses’ parting of the red sea and other miracles in the Bible.
However, in response to the videos and the comments that accompanied them, the Lord’s Chosen Church declared that the footage were doctored.
The Head, Public Relations and Media, of the church, Pastor Chidi Louis, described the videos as “a bid to discredit what God is doing.
“Nigerians should visit the Church’s platform and listen to the complete testimonies for better understanding. The woman defeated the armed men in a dream.
“Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. They just cut one part and made it look real. The woman was explaining her dream.
“The viral video is a fake one. It was doctored.
“Most of these bloggers are very wicked and devilish, they edited this testimony in a bid to ridicule the work of God.”
The Church called out the recordings as fake on its platform and advised people to ignore it.