Priest Dies After Attempting To Recreate Jesus Christ's Resurrection

A Zambian pastor died over the weekend after he asked members of his church to tie him up with chains and bury him underground in an attempt to recreate Jesus Christ's resurrection.

The 22-year-old pastor of the Zion church in Chadiza, James Sakara, enlisted the help of the members of his congregation to bury him for three days, London News Time reported. When church workers dug up the place three days later, Sakara was found dead.

Sakara had approached three members of the church to assist him in pulling off the "resurrection" by digging a grave. Before he was buried, Sakara quoted from the Bible and told his disciples it was Jesus who instructed him to do this in remembrance of him instead of simply using wine and bread at Holy Communion, Oddity Central reported.

Sakara's three aides detained him and buried him alive. After they discovered his lifeless body upon digging the grave and realizing the attempt to mimic Christ's resurrection had failed, they reportedly performed a spiritual ritual to bring him back to life.

When the attempt to bring him back to life also proved fruitless, one of the three aides handed himself over to the cops. The other two are still on the run, London News Time reported.

The outlet reported, citing local media, Sakara left behind a young wife who is pregnant. Many internet users found his attempt to be logic-defying. One Twitter user said there was no point in his resurrection as he was alive, while another branded it a "foolish stunt."

In February 2019, a South African pastor faced a lot of criticism for duping people into believing he brought a dead man back to life through resurrection. Pastor Alph Lukau, of the Alleluia Ministries International church, simply put his head on the dead man's body and said "rise up" and the corpse appeared to do so. The video of the prank went viral and it took no time for people to find out the "dead body" was actually a live human being. Lukau was charged with organised crime, fraud and misrepresentation.