Four cult members die due to extreme fasting to 'meet Jesus quickly'
15 members of a cult in Kenya reportedly participated in fasting after being told by their leader to “get to heaven quickly.” Four of them, however, died not long after.
According to the BBC report, the leader, Pastor Makenzie Nthenge of Good News International Church allegedly told his members to do extreme fasting to get to heaven and meet Jesus quickly.
The report said that the police began the search after receiving a tip regarding the cult that "ignorant citizens" were "starving to death in pretext to meet Jesus after being brainwashed by a suspect.” Shortly after, the police found 15 “seriously ill” members on Thursday, April 13, having only 11 members surviving.
"We found them in a very bad state, others fainted on the way to hospital,” a source told Kenya’s Nation Group. The identities of four dead members are yet to be confirmed.
Their leader, Nthenge was arrested last month after allegedly ordering parents to “starve and suffocate” their two children for the same reason, which led to their death.
However, Nthenge claims he was “unaware” of the incident, saying that “he was the target of hostile propaganda from some of his former colleagues,” the Daily Mail reported. He was later released on bail.
The police statement also shared that they received a tip that there is "a mass shallow grave of victims” related to the incident, with a total of 31 bodies “in an unidentified place at Shakahola Forest.”