PHOTOS: Death Toll of Christians “Fasting to meet Jesus” Now 73
Death Toll Of Christians Fasting To Meet Jesus has Increased To 73.
Per police reports, more bodies have been discovered, and the situation is looking dangerous and scary on the ground. More bodies have been discovered in mass shallow graves again. The death toll is now 73 with more bodies likely to be found in shallow graves.
The President of Kanya, President William Ruto has vowed to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements, and a big search is underway near the coastal town of Malindi, where hundreds of bodies were excavated over the weekend.
Paul Mackenzie Ntheng, the owner and pastor of the Good News International Church is under police scrutiny for leading his church members into a self-imposed hunger strike and brainwashing of the church to believe in his activities and ways of meeting Jesus.
What makes the issue very disturbing is that, the authorities do not know how many worshippers followed pastor Paul Mackenzie Ntheng to the prayer meeting and the number of members of the congregation is also not known.
More Facts About the Sad Situation
After receiving a tip from a local charity, the police raided Shakahola earlier this month in search of the followers of a certain individual. It is possible that some of these followers are still hiding in the nearby woods. Following the raid, several people were rescued while numerous bodies were found buried in shallow graves.
By this evening, we will have recovered 73 remains from the forest, and tomorrow we will continue our search,” stated a police official participating in the investigation. ‘It is a very terrible state of affairs that these people died and were buried in shallow graves,’ he said, referring to the fact that they had discovered six remains crammed into a single grave that very day.
Another senior law enforcement official confirmed the number of deaths and added that some of the bodies were left in the forest without being buried. On Monday, Japhet Koome, the police commander, announced that the death toll had increased from the previous count of 58. Authorities are searching a large wooded area of 325 hectares (800 acres) for additional burial sites and potential survivors of the cult. When questioned about pastors like Nthenge, who has been apprehended and is awaiting trial in Kiambu County bordering Nairobi, Ruto responded that they were no different from terrorists.
Terrorists justify their evil deeds by citing religious texts. Mr. Mackenzie and those like him are using religion to advance their agendas. “I have ordered the relevant departments to investigate the motives and actions of those “who want to use religion to advance a weird, unacceptable ideology.”
Now that the full scope of the tragedy known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre” is being investigated, questions have arisen regarding how the cult was able to function unnoticed despite Nthenge’s having attracted police attention six years earlier.
Amason Jeffah Kingi, the Speaker of the Senate, released a statement calling the Shakahola cult deaths a gruesome incident that should serve as a wakeup call to the nation, particularly to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and community policing initiatives.
Kingi questioned how the intelligence agencies failed to detect such a heinous crime that was planned and executed over a period of time.
In 2017, Nthenge was apprehended on charges of “radicalization” after he urged parents not to send their children to school, claiming that formal education was against the Bible.
According to local media reports, Nthenge was imprisoned again last month when two toddlers under his care died of starvation.
