Apostle Johnson Suleman, founder of Omega Fire Ministries, has criticised clerics who claim to have visited heaven and returned to earth, questioning the authenticity of such experiences.
In a statement that has stirred religious debate, Suleman mocked pastors who repeatedly claim to have travelled to heaven, describing their accounts as questionable.
“In this generation, you will hear somebody say, ‘I have gone to heaven five times.’ Which heaven did you go to? I heard somebody saying, ‘This year, when I went to heaven…’ So, he goes to heaven every year,” he said.
The cleric went on to ridicule accounts in which pastors claim to have seen biblical figures, including Apostle Paul and Abraham, as well as the 24 elders mentioned in the Bible.
“I went to heaven. I saw Paul. I saw Abraham. All those Paul, Abraham, na song o. It’s only a song, not reality,” Suleman said.
He also questioned how people who claim to have visited heaven could return to earth and continue moving around normally without any extraordinary reaction from those around them.
According to him, if he were to walk among people after such an experience, his presence would be noticeably different because of what he described as the unction upon his life.
“I will be the only one passing that street. Everybody should relocate to another street. I’m not joking because of the unction exuding from me,” he said.
Suleman further recounted an experience during his first 40-day fast, claiming that members of his family and other people who came close to him reacted physically to what he described as a powerful spiritual presence.
He alleged that when his sister attempted to hug him, she fell, while a man who opened a gate for him also went down.
The pastor added that a driver who was with him became unable to move after he entered the vehicle and began screaming.
He also recalled visiting a place where fellow Christians were praying, claiming that people began falling inside the room as he approached.
Suleman’s remarks come amid ongoing discussions and controversy surrounding claims by Christian clerics about supernatural encounters and visits to heaven. His comments have added to the debate over the credibility of such testimonies and the standards by which religious experiences should be evaluated.
However, the specific clerics he criticised were not identified in the quoted remarks.
