{"id":92399,"date":"2023-05-15T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says"},"modified":"2023-05-15T18:26:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T18:26:45","slug":"kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says","title":{"rendered":"Kenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Children were targeted as the first to be starved to death in the final days of a Christian doomsday cult in Kenya, according to fresh accounts emerging.<\/p>\n

Police investigating an apparent mass suicide have so far exhumed 201 bodies in a forest in the nation’s southeast.<\/p>\n

A former deputy preacher of the cult told the New York Times that children were killed first, ordered “to fast in the sun so they would die faster.”<\/p>\n

Women and men were next to follow the suicide plan, Titus Katana said.<\/p>\n

Mr Katana – who is helping police with the investigation – also described to the Sunday Times the alleged brutal treatment of the children, saying they were shut in huts for five days without food or water.<\/p>\n

“Then they wrapped them in blankets and buried them, even the ones still breathing,” he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

It is alleged that the cult followers were told they would reach heaven faster if they starved to death.<\/p>\n

Official autopsies of some of the bodies in the expansive Shakahola farm, near the coastal town of Malindi, found signs of starvation, suffocation and beatings.<\/p>\n

More than 600 people who are reported to be members of the doomsday cult allegedly led by Pastor Paul Mackenzie are still missing.<\/p>\n

Pastor Mackenzie, who is currently in police custody, said he closed down his Good News International Church four years ago after nearly two decades of operation.<\/p>\n

But the BBC had uncovered hundreds of his sermons still available online, some of which appeared to have been recorded after this date.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper a few weeks ago, Pastor Mackenzie also denied he had forced his followers to starve themselves.<\/p>\n

But Pastor Mackenzie preached against education, saying that it was satanic, after receiving a “revelation from God”, Mr Katana told the New York Times.<\/p>\n

Explaining his reasoning for leaving the cult, Mr Katana, who is also assisting in a police investigation against the pastor, said his teachings had become too “strange”.<\/p>\n

Pastor Mackenzie also encouraged mothers to avoid seeking medical attention during childbirth and not to vaccinate their children.<\/p>\n

Much of Pastor Mackenzie’s preaching relates to the fulfilment of Biblical prophecies about Judgement Day.<\/p>\n

The church’s online content also features posts about the end of the world, impending doom and the supposed dangers of science.<\/p>\n

And there are frequent warnings of an omnipotent satanic force that has supposedly infiltrated the highest echelons of power around the world.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Children were targeted as the first to be starved to death in the final days of a Christian doomsday cult in Kenya, according to fresh accounts emerging. Police investigating an apparent mass suicide have so far exhumed 201 bodies in a forest in the nation’s southeast. A former deputy preacher of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-92399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Children were targeted as the first to be starved to death in the final days of a Christian doomsday cult in Kenya, acco ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Children were targeted as the first to be starved to death in the final days of a Christian doomsday cult in Kenya, acco ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T17:38:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T18:26:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1684156115.10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-15T17:38:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-15T18:26:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1684156115.10.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-cult-children-targeted-to-die-first-pastor-says\",\"name\":\"Kenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says - 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