In a revelation that seemed to some almost as unusual as his announcement of the suicide of his wife, Mica Miller, Pastor John-Paul Miller of Solid Rock at Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said he tried to raise her from the dead, but it didn’t work. The grieving pastor made the revelation as he eulogized his late wife during a memorial service at the church.

Miller said in a 35-minute recording of the service posted by the church on YouTube, “As Christians, of course, we know she’s not here. She’s in heaven, worshipping and enjoying, and probably hasn’t had time to look down here yet. But I’ve been down to the body about four times this week, and each time, it still didn’t hit me that she was gone. I thought she was gonna wake up. I even tried to raise her from the dead one time this week.” Then, Miller explained that he genuinely thought he had raised his wife from the dead at one point, but the person he thought was Mica was her sister.

He said, “I went to the mall. She [Mica] had bought me this dog tag. The chain broke, so I went to the mall to get it fixed. And I saw a female about 20-30 feet in front of me. And she was wearing one of Mica’s dresses, and she had the same tattoo Mica had on her arm and the exact same hair. Out of instinct, I screamed, Mica! The girl turned around; it was one of her sisters. And I thought I raised her from the dead. She’s alive, you know. But I can’t wait to see her one day.”

Pastor Miller’s mentor and spiritual advisor, the Rev. Charles Randall, recently announced to congregants at Solid Rock at Market Common that Miller had been relieved of all ministerial duties “for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument.” Randall told The Christian Post that he has no plans to permanently remove Miller from the pulpit because God has not told him to do so. Despite allegations against Miller painting him as an abusive, manipulative church leader whose lifestyle disqualifies him as a pastor, Randall insists that Miller will remain pastor of the church until he hears from God that he should be removed, and God hasn’t told him to remove him yet.

And this would not be Pastor Miller’s first time weathering a scandal. In a 2017 affidavit highlighted by the Daily Mail, Miller’s first wife, Alison, who’s the mother of his five children, accused him of engaging in sex acts with minors younger than 16 and having an addiction to prostitutes. She also alleged that Miller was caught in an affair with Mica in 2015 while she was working as their babysitter and married to his then-best friend, Jeremy Deas.