Kenyan authorities are looking into the starvation deaths of four churchgoers who were told by their pastor to stop eating so they might “meet Jesus.” Police also found 11 more individuals who were still alive but very malnourished, in addition to the four fatalities.
Following a local tip that pastor Paul Makenzie Nthenge was engaged in cult-like behaviour and urging his followers to fast to the point of famine and death, police raided the Good News International Church in the Kilifi County of Kenya. Nthenge reportedly told the 15 victims that starving themselves would enable them to get to heaven faster.
According to reports, the concerned neighbours who called the police described the victims as having been “brainwashed.” The victims, according to police, had been “radicalised.”
According to reports, six of the group of 11 survivors, which comprises seven men and four women between the ages of 17 and 49, are now in critical condition. When authorities discovered the victims, the majority were unable to walk or speak.
Nthenge first went into hiding before being apprehended and prosecuted on Friday.
He was charged last month in relation to the starvation deaths of two toddlers. Parents of the children attended Good News International Church. After being accused of those two deaths, Nthenge was released on bond.
Police are also looking into claims that Nthenge has a mass burial on his land in a significant tract of forest. Police have stated that they believe there may be further victims, but that their searches have been ineffective due to “the vast land (area) and hostile residents in the forest.”
Unfortunately, Christian-adjacent cults are not entirely uncommon in Kenya, which has a deeply religious culture.
Source: churchleaders.com
