Man who survives SCOAN collapse opens church

A man who survived the collapse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Nigeria nearly two years ago and emerged after the collapse with a resounding testimony, Khathutshelo Ramovha, has finally responded to the calling of becoming a pastor.

People were invited from all corners of the country and beyond the borders of South Africa to convene at a three-day-long launch service of the new church at The Elias Resort on 3, 4 and 5 June.

The new congregation is named Greater Calvary Church and it boasts hundreds of members already.

The author of a Christian book, He Is More Than Just a God, Ramovha told Limpopo Mirror about his calling and stated that it was the right time to start the church.

“It started as a vision that appeared to me on 11 May 2011,” he said. “I started holding church services in Johannesburg as I was working as an accountant in a legal firm. I had persistent visions in which I was instructed to resign from my work of an accountant in a labour law firm. I did resign and I came back to Venda for full-time stay.”

He explained that he had started holding revival crusades, 15 in total. “There were many people who attended and we managed to win over 3000 souls,” he said. “In 2014, I went to Nigeria to seek prophesy and revelations from a man of God, TB Joshua. The building fell on me on 12 September of that year, and that experience alone was more of a confirmation of my calling.”

During the collapse of the SCOAN, Ramovha had spent 13 haunting hours trapped in the rubble before rescuers could find him and lead him out through a tunnel they had dug.

However, before going to Nigeria, Ramovha had his fair share of trials and tribulations which, according to him, all served as confirmation of his calling.

“There were so many things that happened to me as a child, as my parents told me,” he said. “I was hit by a car at age two and was thought to be dead, but when my parents reached the hospital they were told that the dead child was now wide awake – that was a miracle.”

Again, there was a time when he picked up a one-litre bottle of paraffin and consumed it all, thinking it was water. “I was rushed to hospital,” he said. “They checked me and said that they couldn't see traces on the toxic liquids in my body. Listening to all those stories from my parents, I could see that the hand of God had protected me, so that I could do his work today.”

Pastor Ramovha said that the church was busy preparing a tent that could accommodate at least 10 000 people. “I continue to see visions of God using me to heal the sick of different sicknesses,” he said. “They will be healed. The main focus of this church is on preaching the second coming of Jesus Christ, and to mediate all pastor or preachers of the word to be one in Christ since our vision is one – we preach one Jesus.”

He added that the future of South Africa was in the hands of the youth. "Youths must be given the knowledge of God from a young age, so that they may grow up and be society's assets," he said.

The Greater Calvary Church services are on Sundays (first 08:30-10:30, Rising Star service). The second service is at 11:30-15:00 (Gospel of Jesus Christ at Large).

Date:09 June 2016

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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