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Incredible moment: Knifeman falls to floor moments before he 'stabs priest'
As the religious man repeats the same phrase over and over again in the same monotone voice, the mystery assailant takes his hood down before appearing to lose his bearings and falling to the floor as if the grip of a greater force.
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Other worshippers rushed to disarm him and stand over him, recriminating him for his actions and repeating the words of their vicar as the knifeman appears to suffer convulsions on the floor.
The temple where the incident happened - the Pentecostal IPUC Bosa in the Colombian capital Bogota - wasted no time in posting a video of the drama recorded on cameras inside the church on its website.
The footage was uploaded with the caption: “Hooded man attacks a priest but he is overcome by the power of the Holy One’s name."
Church officials claimed the mystery assailant had also 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.”
A witness, who declined to be named, described the event as a “miracle”. But critics dubbed the video a montage and accused the church of putting on a show to gain followers.
The priest at the centre of the debate insisted in a radio interview he was hiding nothing and the video was authentic. He claimed: “It’s 100 per cent authentic. What happened was a display of the power of God protecting us from Evil.
“He told me, ‘I’m here to kill you’ before he attempted to attack me and I told him to calm down, sit down and listen to the rest of my sermon because I didn’t really take him seriously.
“I only realised how serious it was when I saw him come at me with the knife. “I invoked the Lord’s name as an instinctive reaction and he demonstrated his power by removing the fury he felt so the man fell to the floor.
“I know we’ve been accused of faking all this but it’s just not true.” The priest claimed the knifeman told him afterwards he hated vicars and had tried to attack them before and had already done time in prison.
He also claimed police were called and searched the aggressor for weapons but let him go after church officials said they didn’t want to press charges.
The priest said: “I’m confident he won’t try this again. I thought about making a formal complaint but I’ve decided to leave his fate in the hands of God.”