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Talking of superstition, a man in Ethiopia has been arrested for convincing a family to let him resurrect a dead family member.

Getayawukal Ayele says that he is a prophet. He told the family of the Biblical story of Lazarus as a way to convince them that it was okay to dig up a family member, Belay Biftu, two days after he was buried after dying from a motorbike accident.

After the family and the prophet had the grave dug up, Getayawukal climbed down into the hole, lay on the body and shouted "Belay tenese" (Belay get up) into the face of the corpse.

When this didn't work, the prophet announced that "there is nothing that can be done", at which point the family and others watching started attacking him. Luckily the police saved the prophet from serious injury or death, and thankfully they also arrested him for his antics. I'm not sure what Ethiopian laws he's broken, but I assume there will be a few that would fit.

I've been to a church service before where I've heard from an American preacher who claimed to have resurrected a baby in Africa. It's always sad to hear these kinds of false claims, none of which are ever backed up by evidence. And, of course, these kinds of miraculous medical events never seem to happen in the West, where we have easy access to tools that can prove or disprove these claims.