At least six people have died in Britain after being told that they had been healed of HIV, and could stop taking their medication.
There is evidence that evangelical churches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow are claiming to cure HIV through God.
Sky News sent three undercover reporters into the notorious Nigerian church, which is based in Southwark, South London. All of them told the pastors that they were HIV positive. All were told that they could be healed.
Once a month the church has a prayer line, where people from across Europe come to be cured of all kinds of illness. At registration they have to hand over a doctor’s letter as evidence of their condition. They are filmed before and after testimonies, which are put website.
The healing process involves the pastor shouting, over the person being healed, for the devil to come out of their body, and spraying water in their face.
One of the pastors, Rachel Holmes,said Shatila, who is a genuine HIV sufferer, they had a 100% success rate.
“We have many people that contract HIV. All are healed.”
She said if symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhoea persist, it is actually a sign of the virus leaving the body.
“We’ve had people come back before saying ‘Oh I’m not healed. The diarrhoea I had when I had HIV, I’ve got it again.’ I have to stop them and say ‘no, please, you are free.’”
SCOAN said they would be able to discard their medication after their healing and that they would be free to start a family.
Former health secretary Lord Fowler, who led the HIV/Aids awareness drive in the 1980s, says this message is dangerous. “It is foolish advice and it is tragic advice because the consequences of this kind of advice can only be that people pass on HIV and can only be seriously bad for the individual concerned – including death.”
source: Vanguard Nigeria
