Social media was abuzz over the weekend when a video snippet and pictures emerged showing Apostle Fabian Nna of the Fire of Liberation Interdenominational Ministries allegedly resurrecting a dead person.

There have been many reactions to the footage since it started making the rounds across social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, during the weekend. Some people considered the video to be ridiculous and offensive to Christianity.

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In the video, a young bearded man clad in a white overall is laid in a narrow casket and placed in front of the congregation. Two men and one woman stand like undertakers around the casket while the pastor speaks to the church members.

On the right side of the stage, a young woman acting like a daughter of the supposedly dead man speaks to a mic inconsolably.

“Who is going to buy me shawarma and chicken and chips?” the lady asks while being held firmly by a female church member.

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The plot of the performance appeared very unfathomable to many netizens who have expressed different thoughts against the show.

William Cook, a Facebook user, commented, “This false apostle needs to go to the mortuary where real people are to raise from the dead, not these paid actors.”

Similarly, @Row_Hastrup posted on X, “This has got to be a movie.”

CLAIM: Pastor resurrects a dead man.

VERIFICATION: To ascertain the veracity of the claim, FIJ looked closely at the plot and settings of the video. We also checked the Facebook profile of the church for accurate information.

FIJ found that the church had a 3-day ministration tagged Ebenezer 2023 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, from September 30 to October 2. The first day of the programme featured some events, including a drama.

On Saturday, the church, via its Facebook page, posted some pictures of the drama session, where an unnamed young man acted as a dead person and was brought into the church in a casket by some members of the church’s drama department.

Posted along with the pictures was “EBENEZER 2023 || DAY 1 || 30th September, 2023. Transforming Drama Presentation by The Drama Department”.

On Sunday, in a Facebook post following reactions to the video snippet, the church posted a 7:39 minutes video with a caption, “Watch the ministration that has got people talking!”

On a closer look at the screen of the footage, we could see an annotation that read, “Drama Ministration.” This, coupled with a caption that earlier mentioned the church’s drama department, reveals that the alleged resurrection of the man was a stage performance by the church.

From our findings, there are strong indications that, among other things, the performance was acted to entertain the congregation.

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CONCLUSION: The video did not claim that the pastor resurrected a dead man in real life. The whole show was a stage play.

VERDICT: The claim that the pastor resurrected a dead man is false.