Shukran At work, Karisa Mangi was a drunkard who regularly showed up while excavating the shallow graves of people believed to be members of a doomsday cult. The morning he discovered the body of a close friend, whose neck had been so badly twisted that his head and torso faced the opposite ways, the wine was unable to dull his shock.
Mangi, who had already discovered the bodies of infants, was disturbed by this brutal demise. In this hamlet off the coast of Kenya, radical evangelical leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of telling his followers to starve to death in order to have a chance to meet Jesus. The body count in this community has been steadily increasing.
Mangi recently revealed that although he occasionally sees the remains of people when he attempts to fall asleep, the constant picture of his friend’s disfigured body haunts him when he’s awake.
Mangi, one of numerous gravediggers whose work was interrupted earlier in the year as bodies piled up in the morgue, said of Mangi, “He died in a very cruel manner.” “I still think about how he died most of the time.”
At least 436 remains have been found following police raids on Good News International Church, which is located in a forest about 70 kilometers (40 miles) inland from the seaside town of Malindi. This is one of the bloodiest cult-related atrocities in history. Despite several warnings about the church’s leader, many people in the region are still shocked by what transpired seventeen months later.
In response to accusations of many counts of manslaughter, the murder of 191 children, and other offenses, Mackenzie entered a not guilty plea. He would be imprisoned for the remainder of his life if found guilty.
According to those in Malindi who talked with The Associated Press, Mackenzie’s self-assurance during his detention demonstrated the broad influence that certain preachers wield despite the fact that their beliefs violate the law, subvert governmental authority, or hurt devotees who are hoping for healing and other miracles.
According to Thomas Kakala, a self-described bishop with Jesus Cares Ministry International in Malindi, it’s not just Mackenzie; he mentioned dubious pastors he knew in Nairobi, the nation’s capital.
“You observe them. He added, “You wouldn’t go to their church if you were sober and wanted to hear the word of God.” However, the place is packed.”
A man like Mackenzie, who refused to join the fellowship of pastors in Malindi and rarely quoted Scripture, could thrive in a country like Kenya, said Kakala. Six detectives have been suspended for ignoring multiple warnings about Mackenzie’s illegal activities.
Kenya’s evangelical pastor, Mackenzie, has been accused of killing thousands of people in a single place. The evangelist, who was once a charismatic preacher, was accused of opposing formal schooling and vaccination, leading to his detention in 2019. He later moved to Shakahola, where he leased 800 acres of forest inhabited by elephants and big cats. Church members paid small sums to own plots in Shakahola, and were required to build houses and live in villages with biblical names like Nazareth.
Mackenzie’s followers were forced to fast to death, and he had bodyguards and informers. He had a sweet tongue and never treated his extended family with kindness. A former church member who escaped Shakahola lost faith in him when she saw how his men handled people on the verge of dying from starvation. She also reported being sexually assaulted by four men while pregnant with her fourth child.
Autopsies on over 100 bodies showed deaths from starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and injuries sustained from blunt objects. At least 600 people are reported missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross. Some church members who escaped Shakahola spread word of suffering, causing a fight inside the forest when outsiders riding motorcycles attempted a rescue mission.
The COVID-19 pandemic strengthened Mackenzie’s vision of the end times, and some church members who escaped Shakahola spread word of suffering.
(AP)
