A pastor in Cameroon died from COVID-19 after contracting the virus from laying his hands on infected believers to heal them.
According to the Christian Post, Frankline Ndifor, the founder of Kingship International Ministries, died Saturday. Ndifor was 39.
"This is a pastor that has been laying hands [on the sick] and claiming that he cures COVID-19," said Rigobert Che, one of the pastor’s followers. "If you, the person that claims that you are curing COVID-19, you are dead, what about the fellow people that were affected by the COVID-19? Now that he is dead, I do not know how the people that he was laying hands on will be healed."
Che says Ndifor prayed over dozens of people last Wednesday, but the Cameroon Tribune says Ndifor had been sick for weeks. Media reports say he didn’t seek medical attention until early Saturday morning. He later slipped into a coma and then died that same day.
Dr. Gaelle Nnanga, however, told Voice of America that Ndifor was sick less than a week before he died.
A government official told press that many of the pastor’s followers refused to accept a pronouncement of death and kept medical staff from taking his body from his home in Bonaberi.
The people reportedly told medical officials that their pastor was “away on a spiritual retreat with God.” Followers blocked access to his home and prayed for his resurrection.
Ndifor was buried in front of his house later in the day.
Medical staff are now asking anyone who recently came in contact with the pastor to report for testing.
Before his death, Ndifor also donated buckets of soap and water to the poor and also distributed face masks.
According to Voice of America, some 3,300 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Cameroon and 147 people have died.
Photo courtesy: ©Unsplash/CDC
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
