No second coming: Viral ‘resurrected’ Zimbabwean man dies in South Africa

A Zimbabwean man who rose to viral internet fame for his faked religious resurrection in South Africa in February has died for a ‘second time’ – apparently, this time for real.

Brighton ‘Elliot’ Moyo reportedly died last week following persistent stomach swelling, and was buried on Saturday.

Moyo shot to worldwide fame following a ‘miracle’ performed by South African prophet Alph Lukau at the Alleluia Ministries International church in Johannesburg. The video sparked the #resurrectionchallenge on South African social media as people mocked the bizarre stunt, and the viral challenge has reemerged following reports of Moyo’s ‘2nd’ death.

“We took him to the hospital and they said they could not help him because he did not have papers, so we took him to the doctor and he died there,” Moyo’s landlord claimed on the livestream of the ‘resurrection’ sermon. However, the Zimbabwean ‘Lazarus’ appears to have now really passed away, with many on social media continuing to debate the authenticity of his initial, dubious ‘resurrection’.

For their part, Pastor Lukau and his church denied any foreknowledge of Moyo, though many accusations of foul play were made at the time. Three funeral parlours were reportedly considering suing the pastor and his church for misrepresentation and reputational damage.

Lukau’s megachurch runs a YouTube channel which boasts more than 635,000 subscribers, in addition to the pastor’s more than 22,700 followers on Twitter.

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