A video has emerged of the moment an armed attacker was ‘felled by the power of God’ after he allegedly attempted to kill a priest in a Colombian church.
The footage shows the hooded would-be assassin leaping from his seat at the front of the church and pulling out a large knife as he runs up to the priest, Pedro Pablo Martin.
But seemingly some other worldly force stops the attacker in his tracks as he comes within inches of the priest – who bravely reacts to the potentially lethal assault with the words: ‘There is power in the name of Jesus’.
The religious man repeats the same phrase over and over in the same calm voice and the mystery assailant takes his hood down but appears to lose his bearings and falls to the floor as if in the grip of a ‘greater force’.
The rest of the congregation rush to disarm him and stand over the downed knifeman, condemning his actions and all chanting the words of their vicar. Suddenly, the attacker appears to suffer convulsions on the floor.
The church where the incident happened – the Pentecostal IPUC Bosa in the Colombian capital Bogota – have wasted no time posting the video of the drama online and claiming it proves the power of ‘The Almighty’.
Church officials say the mystery assailant had approached the priest and whispered in his ear he was there to kill him before being ordered to sit down and listen to the service.
A spokesman for the church said:
We have a powerful God and his name is Jesus Christ. There is power in the name of Jesus.
An anonymous witness said the event was a ‘miracle’.
But critics of the video have accused the church of putting on a show to gain followers. The priest himself, however, has insisted he was hiding nothing and the video was authentic.
In a radio interview, he said:
It’s 100 per cent authentic. What happened was a display of the power of God protecting us from Evil.
He also said they called the police and the man was searched for weapons but let him go after church officials said they didn’t want to press charges.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.