A self-proclaimed pastor has confessed to Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) that he used witchcraft to grow his church in Imo State.
The confession took place during a deliverance programme recorded on video and posted on YouTube by Joshua’s Emmanuel TV on Thursday.
In the bizarre footage, Victory Chiaka is seen crouching on all fours and shaking wildly as Joshua cries out for the evil spirit to leave his body.
The man from Divine Miracle Assembly in Imo State said he was desperate to save his church and resorted to seeking help from demonic sources.
He even sacrificed a chicken and a goat to give himself a supernatural edge.
Chiaka told Emmanuel TV – one of Africa’s largest Christian television networks – that he had asked the witch doctor to do a charm for his protection and to make his church and its congregation grow.
“When my ministry was growing, some people started to threaten me,” he said.
“As they were threatening me, the church started to fold. I went to my pastor friend who took me to a witch doctor.
“I asked the witch doctor to do a charm for my protection and for my church to grow and have a large crowd.”
“The witch doctor told me that he would prepare a charm for me and that I will swallow.
“He said that with these charms, no one would be able to kill me. And also that I would have the power to do miracles.
“Man of God, please deliver me.”
According to him, his ministry grew with each charm given to him by the witch doctors he consulted, only for it to later fall into hard times again and again.
Numerous men and woman can also be seen writhing on the floor as they undergo the same dramatic spiritual intervention or waiting in line to give their testimonies.
“Come out! Come out!” Joshua yelled repeatedly and at an increasing volume in a manner that is eerily familiar to most exorcism ritual in Nigeria’s Pentecostal churches.
Chiaka said afterwards – when he had allegedly been cleansed of the demonic spirit: “I felt like I saw an angel who flashed light at me and the next thing was I found myself by the altar.”
This is not the first time Chiaka, who claims he was born into the Christ Apostolic Church, would be making a public show of his alleged encounter with the occult.
He made a less dramatic appearance at The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement led by Pastor Lazarus Muoka in 2013.
