Man Back From Dead

�Due to complications from an automobile accident, Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu physically died in the late evening of Friday November 30, 2001. Medical records prove that he was dead for at least 42 hours. There is evidence that he was raised from the dead between 3:50pm and 5:15pm on Sunday December 2, 2001 in the basement of the Grace of God Mission, located in Onitsha, Nigeria, where the German international evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, had been preaching only a few minutes before the dead body was brought in�. The above were the words of David Servant, an American who set out to investigate the truth in the claims. After more than one year of investigations, his findings have been published on the internet. He sets off by stating: �My report has been compiled from several sources, including Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu himself by means of the personal discussions I had with him from September 12-14, 2002 while I was in Lagos, Nigeria; from his personal written testimony contained in his own self-published booklet which he gave me, titled Miracle of the 21st Century, and from a documentary video which includes the testimonies of the doctor who pronounced him dead, Daniel�s wife, Daniel�s father, the mortician who embalmed Daniel, and several pastors who were present at his resurrection.� On Thursday November 29, 2001, Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu and his wife, Nneka, had a misunderstanding that degenerated into an argument that ended in her slapping him. He was very offended by this incident to the point of not even acknowledging her attempt to reconcile the next morning. Pastor Daniel admitted that throughout the day of November 30, he angrily thought about how he would put his wife in her place when he returned home. He would not, however, make it home again. In the evening of that Thursday, Pastor Ekechukwu was driving home when the brakes on his 20-year-old Mercedes 230E failed, as he was heading down a steep hill, and his car crashed into a concrete pillar that had been built to prevent cars from going over a steep embankment. He was not wearing a seat belt and his chest hit very forcibly against the steering wheel and its knob, apparently doing damage to his internal organs, as he was soon vomiting blood and having difficulty breathing (not to mention that he soon lost all signs of life). Daniel was not able to remove himself from his car, but frantic on-lookers pulled him out. One bystander volunteered her car while another offered to drive him to the St. Charles Borromeo Hospital, not far away on the outskirts of Onitsha. Within minutes of their arrival at the hospital, a doctor began administering emergency treatment, but Daniel knew his body was not responding to it. He began praying the prayer of a man who knows he was going to die, asking God to forgive him of all his sins so that he would be ready to stand before the Lord. He also sent for his wife, Nneka. Upon seeing Daniel in critical condition when she arrived at the St. Charles Borromeo Hospital, the wife burst into tears, begging her husband not to die and leave her. The doctor admitted that there was nothing he could do to save Daniel�s life, and so Daniel requested that he be transferred by ambulance to Umezuruike Hospital at Owerri, where his personal doctor practised. The Umezuruike Hospital was 80 kilometers away. Daniel�s wife arranged for the ambulance against the advice of doctors at the St. Charles Hospital. As she was speaking, Daniel saw two large angels (they were so large that he later wondered how they fitted inside the ambulance�one was as big as the ambulance) who were completely white (even the pupils of their eyes). Daniel tried to speak to the angels, but one held his finger to his lips, motioning for his silence. The angels lifted him on either side, and Daniel realized that there were now two of himself. The angels were holding him under each arm of his spirit man (which was perfectly whole), while his broken body was lying below. Once they left the ambulance, Daniel became oblivious to the natural world. When the ambulance arrived at the Umezuruike Hospital with Daniel�s body, it was now late at night (Friday, November 30), and his doctor was not there. A member of the medical staff, however, examined his body and sadly told Nneka that her husband was dead and there was nothing that could be done. Nneka refused to believe the bad report. So they drove to the Federal Medical Center in Owerri, but found no doctor there either. Finally they drove to the Eunice Clinic, and there Daniel was confirmed dead by Doctor Jossy Anuebunwa. There was no breathing, no heartbeat or pulse, and Daniel�s pupils were dilated and fixed. The doctor said that there was nothing he could do. A death certificate was issued at 11:30pm, November 30, 2001. The body was taken to the Ikeduru General Hospital Mortuary (now known as Inyishi Community Hospital mortuary) around 1:00am on Saturday morning where it was received by the resident mortician, Mr. Darlington Manu. The Nigerian mortuary where Daniel�s body was taken had no cold storage facilities, and so the mortician injected embalming chemicals into Daniel�s fingers and into his feet. He then prepared to fully embalm Daniel�s body by cutting his inner thigh in order to insert a tube by which he could inject more embalming fluid. As he did this, he experienced a shock that pushed him away from the corpse. This did not surprise him, as he had experienced similar forces before and attributed them to occult powers. After a second attempt and a second shock that somewhat paralyzed his right arm, he concluded that Daniel must have been a member of a powerful secret society. Around 2:00 am, Saturday morning, the mortician, who lived very close to the mortuary, was disturbed by songs of worship coming from inside his mortuary, which stopped as soon as he approached the mortuary doorway. This occurred twice. Upon searching for the music�s source in his mortuary, he noticed some kind of light emanating from the face of Daniel�s corpse. On Saturday night, while she was sleeping, Daniel�s wife had a dream in which she saw the face of her husband, and he was asking her why they had left him in the mortuary. He stated that he was not dead and that she should take him to Onitsha where German Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was preaching. She was determined to do so, even though her family thought she was out of her mind. Daniel had been dead for more than 28 hours. The family finally yielded, but purchased a casket and brought funeral clothing for the mortician to dress Daniel. Rigor mortis had fully set in by this time. An ambulance was hired on Sunday morning, December 2, and the casket that contained Daniel�s body was taken to Grace of God Mission (a large church) in Onitsha, about one and half hours away, where evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was preaching at an afternoon church dedication service. They arrived at the church around 1:00 P.M. Daniel�s body was laid there on two tables pushed together in a room used for �Sunday School� classes. Some believers gathered around Daniel�s body and prayed while Reinhard Bonnke was in the main church auditorium preaching. Eventually, it was noticed that Daniel�s corpse twitched, and then irregular breathing started. The attendant believers began praying fervently, and because his body was stiff and cold, they began massaging his neck, arms and legs. When those in the sanctuary got word that a dead man below was coming back to life, the basement room was soon jammed with people. Suddenly Daniel sneezed and arose with a jump. It was somewhere between 3:50pm and 5:15pm on Sunday afternoon. Daniel had died Friday night around 10pm. He slowly became fully coherent over the next few hours. On coming back to life, Pastor Daniel has narrated his experiences in death. He said an angel took him round to show him both Paradise and hell. Finally, he was led to the top of a mountain, at which there was a large hole full of darkness. There the escorting angel handed Daniel to a man standing there whom he did not recognize at first, but soon realized that it was German Evangelist REINHARD BONNKE. The angel told Daniel that that man (that is, Bonnke) would help him spread the gospel of salvation. Both Daniel and Rev. Bonnke fell into the hole, and that was when Pastor Daniel jumped up from the table where he lay at the Grace of God Mission. Though this incident has been derided as a hoax, the American who did a thorough investigation, including interviews with all concerned (including all the doctors and nurses as well as the mortuary attendant) insisted that he had written his account based on the narration of first-hand witnesses. Besides, he concludes, �this is no unsupported claim of bringing someone to life privately, as in a house. Here was a public event, an open demonstration of revival from death. The incurable faith of his wife, Nneka, alone prevented Daniel�s burial, simply to bring him where she was convinced God could bring him back to life. Another significant development in this whole saga was that out of curiosity (for example, the shock he received when he attempted to inject the thigh with embalming liquids and the worship songs he had heard from the mortuary), the mortuary-man, Mr. Manu, accompanied the ambulance with Daniel�s wife, son and father to the Grace of God Mission Church in Onitsha. He was in the room when Daniel came back to life, an eyewitness! Mr. Manu was not a Christian, but the saga of a life come back from the dead was too much for his cynicism. He soon repented and is now a Christian, serving the Lord.