Evangelist Linda Paul Rika has made a shocking claim that is getting people talking online. She said she saw Jerry Eze, David Oyedepo, Paul Enenche, Chris Oyakhilome, the late Uma Ukpai and other pastors crying in hellfire during what she described as a spiritual revelation. Her claim has already triggered strong reactions from Nigerians online.
According to reports, Linda Paul Rika said the vision showed several pastors facing judgment. She claimed she saw Paul Enenche and his wife, Becky, as well as Bishop David Oyedepo and other ministers.
She also spoke about Uma Ukpai, saying she could not initially identify one of the men she saw. After the experience, she reportedly searched YouTube and concluded that the man was the late evangelist.
Rika's message was centred on holiness. She claimed the people she saw had allowed fame, money, worldly pleasures and ministerial success to take their attention away from heaven. She also repeatedly stressed that being anointed does not automatically mean someone will make heaven.
That part has raised another question.
If someone says they had a vision of hell, how can anyone else prove that the vision was actually from God? And can such a vision be used to determine whether a living pastor, or even someone who has died, is in hell?
HOREMOW openly presents Linda Paul Rika's own account of experiencing heaven and hell as part of her testimony, so this kind of revelation is already part of the ministry's message.
Still, there is a major difference between reporting what she says she saw and proving that the people she named are actually in hellfire.
For now, that proof does not exist. What exists is Linda Paul Rika's account of a spiritual vision, and the controversy surrounding the names she mentioned.