The building where Good News Church International used to congregate. The letters on the
building spell out “Times TV Hall”; that refers to a TV station which Mackenzie also owned
and sold shortly before closing down the church.
A cultic massacre in Malindi, Kenya
by Eric Bosire • 6 July 2023
In Kenya we have seen the rising of self-proclaimed prophets in every corner, but what has shocked the world is the recent incident that broke out recently of a pastor known as Paul Nthenge Mackenzie of a particular pentecostal church called Good News Church International in the coastal region of Kenya; that church was very sectarian and endtimes-focused. He made people believe that they will meet Jesus after starving themselves to death.
The Bible says in Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets shall arise and shall lead many astray.” This scripture has truly come to pass because as it is right now, we are living in the times that Jesus was referring to.
Mackenzie told his members to fast and pray in a forest called Shakahola in Malindi with a false promise of meeting Jesus. He then buried the dead in the same forest, it is alleged that he owns the 800-acre1 piece of the forest land where the bodies were recovered.
The Kenyan police continue to exhume corpses in shallow graves thought to be followers of Mackenzie. The death toll has risen and is expected to rise even more because the exhumation is ongoing. Mysteriously, some of the dead bodies unearthed have missing organs, which brings another twist to the whole saga.
All of this begs the question, how did Mackenzie manage to convince such a big number of people that they will see Jesus if they starve themselves to death? And why? How was he able to escape the attention of the police?
To answer the above questions, I needed firsthand information from Malindi. I was able to get it from a colleague of mine in Malindi who ran for me a couple of interviews.
My colleague met Mdoe Elvis* who is married to one wife, and together they have 5 children. He was born and raised in Malindi.
He joined Good News International Church in April 2012. “I had a mental illness, and after all options of getting well had failed, which included visiting traditional medicine men, I was advised by a friend to join Good News International Church and that Pastor Mackenzie would help with the issues I had,” said Mdoe. True to his friends’ advice, Mdoe got better after six months. This made him like the church, and he became a member. He later introduced his wife as well.
The healing made Mdoe believe in the teachings of Pastor Mackenzie. “The first teaching I got on family matters was that family planning is not the plan of God, and so therefore together with my wife, we decided to add more children. When we joined the ministry, we had one child, now we have 5 children,” said Mdoe.
Although Mackenzie used to advise people that working is not the plan of God, he hired Mdoe and gave him some responsibilities. Mdoe said, “I quit my job at a certain company in Malindi and took up the responsibilities bestowed to me by Pastor Mackenzie.”
Mdoe continued with the ministry, diligently following and adhering to the teachings of Pastor Mackenzie. However, in 2016 things started taking a wrong turn when one doctor, a member of the church, died. “The doctor, a lady who was rooted in Pastor Mackenzie's teachings to a point she stopped treating people in hospital because it was contrary to the teachings she used to receive. She got ill and hoped she would get better or die. Either way she was okay because it was the plan of God according to the teachings of Mackenzie,” said Mdoe. The doctor's family was not happy with Mackenzie and did not want him involved in the funeral arrangements.
“Mackenzie used to tell us that other denominations are satanic, that a church like the Catholic use alcohol during the table of Christ to represent the blood of Jesus. He told us that salvation is from Jesus Christ only and the only church is Good News International Church,” said Mdoe.
According to Mdoe, Mackenzie encouraged early marriages. “16 and 17-year-old girls were being married off to older people. I used to disagree with the youth and the church at large because of this issue of marriage. I was against it. It used to give me sorrow because I have children and wouldn't want to see them getting married at an early age,” said Mdoe.
Pastor Mackenzie was against hospitals and schools, he insisted that it was not the plan of God and that the world was coming to an end and therefore there was no need for health care and education. “If you would take your children to school or hospital, then you would be the topic in the next sermon, and you would be shunned by the congregation,” said Mdoe.
“As time went by, the teachings started deviating from the gospel of Jesus,” said Mdoe, and at this juncture he started developing doubts about this ministry. He started planning to exit, which he intended to do gradually for fear of victimization. His wife on the other hand was okay with the way things were moving.
Mdoe remembered how people told their testimonies on the pulpit. “An old man and a woman gave testimony of having dreamt that the world was coming to an end and that Jesus was left with one step to come back,” said Mdoe. The church members were really astonished by this message. Therefore, they encouraged people to prepare for the same.
This, according to Mdoe, is what ignited the bad things that would follow later. People stopped what they were doing, some quit their jobs, some children stopped going to school, and others closed businesses because Jesus was coming back. Pastor Mackenzie dwelt on eschatological (the study of end times) messages, drawing his sermons from the book Daniel and Revelation, which instilled fear in his members.
The message that the world was coming to an end, spread like bush fire in Malindi and even to other parts of the country. Those who believed in this ran helter skelter in preparations for the end of the world. This caught the attention of the police who were members in disguise, investigating the ministry due to public outcry from anonymous people. According to Mdoe, the police tried to warn Mackenzie through the church elders and told them that the ministry was headed in the wrong direction.
Mdoe had had enough and finally he fully quit the ministry in 2017. Some members followed him in silence. His wife stood firm and continued with the ministry.
True to the police statement made to the elders in the previous year, the ministry was shut down by a court order in 2018. “Mackenzie then ceased to be a pastor and told his members that ministry work is over, and that his calling was over, what was left was to wait for the end of the world which was near according to him by then. People did not know that it was the authorities that ordered Mackenzie to close down,” said Mdoe.
Mackenzie pondered on what to do next, and that’s when the idea of Shakahola came. He called on his members and together they embarked on a journey to Shakahola. Shakahola is a forest land covering an area of over 800 acres, where people camped and later started fasting until some of them died before the whole saga blew up and authorities took charge. Mackenzie owned most of the Shakahola land.
Surprisingly, Mdoe was not left behind, his main aim, according to him, was to save people from the bondage of Shakahola, including his wife, who was a staunch follower of Mackenzie. Efforts to have her wife change her beliefs hit a snag. However, he did not give up, he continued to convince her, maybe one day she would change.
They acquired a small piece of land from an old man at Kshs 3500. They constructed a small grass thatched house and started their stay and experience in Shakahola. “Mackenzie did not want people to build using iron sheets because of drawing attention from afar,” said Mdoe. This purely shows that Mackenzie knew he was doing the wrong thing.
Women left their husbands and went to Shakahola. They went with their children and were waiting for heaven. People were no longer interested in reading the Bible, and no word was being preached. After people had settled in Shakahola, Mackenzie told them not to share food. If they died because of hunger, the better.
Mdoe said that sooner people started fasting, which was voluntary at the beginning, but Mackenzie later started forcing everyone to fast. Hunger and starvation engulfed the camp, and people started falling sick, especially the children who were the most affected, death was now knocking the doors.
Mdoe's children started showing signs of malnutrition, and to him, it was time to leave the camp because he could not see his children suffer anymore. He lied to his wife that he was taking them to a barber shop and managed to evacuate them. He later told his wife to follow them, or she was on her own. Finally, the wife quit as well, and they all went back home. Leaving the camp was not easy, “Mackenzie had put very strict security people who were vigilant, but through my cunning ways, I was able to escape from Shakahola,” said Mdoe.
The end of the world that Mackenzie was telling people, was not coming forthwith and therefore he resorted to forcing the fulfillment of this 'prophecy' by telling the people to fast until they died in order to meet Jesus. “Remember his children were doing well, eating and receiving medical services while other children were dying of hunger and diseases,” said Mdoe.
Things blew out of proportion, people started dying left, right and centre. Some were buried by their kin while others were buried by Mackenzie people. It continued like that until the authorities intervened. Mdoe was surprised what took them so long.
According to Mdoe, families have been affected by the Shakahola incident. They have lost their loved ones. Mackenzie is now behind bars, but his children are quite fine. “People believed in Mackenzie more than in God. They quit their jobs, sold their properties, and joined Shakahola then went ahead to lose their children,” said Mdoe. He wondered why Mackenzie was not selling his property.
As people continued to die believing they will meet Jesus, there are those amidst who started regretting, “they could not raise any queries for fear of being deemed enemies of the faith,” said Mdoe. Therefore, they could not go back to their normal lives because they had already lost their family and all they had. The only option left was to continue the course and die.
In all this, according to Mdoe, even as the police and the government people exhume bodies, some people are still holding on to the faith. They are running and hiding deep into the forest and continuing with their fasting.
“Mackenzie misled the people, and he managed to convince them that he would follow them after they die, even Jesus went ahead of us to prepare the way,” said Mdoe.
Mdoe tried to convince some of his friends to quit, some heeded to his call while others didn't. As it is right now, he is not sure whether they are dead or alive. “Mackenzie did wrong and deserves to be disciplined both on earth and by God. He spoiled the lives of many people and wasted their time,” lamented Mdoe.
My colleague found an ardent follower of Mackenzie who was reluctant to talk, but after a little convincing he started talking; let’s call him Kambi Edmond*.
Kambi’s first statement was that the world is coming to an end this year. He was not sure about the date and day but was pretty sure that it is this year 2023. “Just look at the things, they are bad. But very few people will see and know the signs of the coming end of the world,” said Kambi.
He said he knows the Bible very well, and he insisted that “people are led by their flesh and therefore they are they know the Bible in flesh and not by the Spirit.”
Kambi went to school up to class 8. He said he quit school because it is not important. His siblings are not in school as well. “People should not go to school because it is not the will and plan of God,” said Kambi. He continued and said that he doesn’t have any ambition because those are earthly things and are not part of the plan of God.
He no longer goes to church because, as their leader told them, the ministry is over and the church is closed. He is waiting to go to Jesus. He said that all he does is meditating upon God and praying. According to him, Mackenzie will be vindicated and set free. “Whether people like it or not, Mackenzie will be set free,”
On further pursuit, my colleague found Jumwa Isaac*, a Shakahola resident who said that a church leader will find it hard reaching out to new believers because people are discouraged by the Mackenzie incident. People are even afraid of joining any other church on grounds that “all churches are the same”.
Jumwa said that the whole community has been misled on facts about fasting and most of the people, especially those that are spiritually weak, are no longer interested in what the servants of God are saying. He still has faith in God and the church as a whole despite what happened. “I am not affected by the Mackenzie issue because it is written in the Bible that in the end days, false prophets will arise. However, I sympathize with the families that lost their loved ones.”
According to Jumwa, Mackenzie has tarnished the name of Shakakola and Malindi at large, “whenever you talk to people outside of Malindi, they assume that you are one of Mackenzie’s followers, this is really heartbreaking given that not everyone in Malindi is a Mackenzie disciple.”
It is Jumwa’s wish that people return to God and pray that they are not deceived again and whichever church a person wishes to join, it is important to know the pastor’s background, and find out about the authority figures above him or her.
Most of the affected people did not wish to speak because of the trauma and sorrow the Shakahola incident has brought to them. According to them, it was not in any way bringing their loves back.
Perspective of church leaders on the Shakahola crisis
The recent spat of events in Shakahola has elicited a debate on whether the church should be regulated by the state. According to K24 Digital1, the Catholic Church released a statement on 25 April 2023 through the chairman of The Kenya Conference of Bishops, Rev. Martin Kivuva of their displeasure on how the Pentacostal churches are running their affairs, therefore calling for their regulation.
On the other hand, as stated in People’s Daily2, a rejoinder from the Second Lady, Dorcas Rigathi, made on 28 April 2023, called for individualistic liability on cultic tendencies, she warned on blanket prosecution of the church and discouraged the state on regulating the Church saying matters church cannot be regulated since they are spiritual in nature and based on God’s calling. She commented on this matter because she is the Patron of Association of Pentacotal and Evangelical Clergy (APECK), and also a Pastor of a church called House of Grace in Nairobi.
I decided to pursue this matter further by getting the perspective of some church leaders and missionaries. I visited Migori Bible College and found Dr. Ezekiel Mosati Mwita who is currently the academic Dean of Migori Bible College. He holds a bachelor's degree in Bible Theology, He was awarded a doctorate by The American University. He teaches at the college and he is a local missionary at the same time. He carries out mission work outside and inside Kenya in different ways like it is proposed. I featured him in our previous article “Local Missionaries in Kenya”.
Dr. Mwita started by saying that whatever that is happening in Shakahola is cultic. “A cult is anything that diverts from the truth but looks like the truth,” Said Dr. Mwita. According to him, the church is losing the aspect of discernment because everybody is getting excited with every powerful preacher, through that it is easy to get many people swayed away from the truth. The best way the church should approach the current situation in Kenya is to discern what is right. "You know, they say in English when you wash a baby in the basin, you don't throw the basin with the baby, let us now be able to discern what is the child and what is the basin, let us throw away the basin and leave the child,” said Dr. Mwita.
We feel a time has come for people to get knowledge “we have spent a lot of knowledge in our bible colleges but unfortunately it's like those that we train don't go and train their members, and that's why their members can easily be swayed away from the truth,” said Dr. Mwita.
Dr. Mwita continued and said that It's good to have big congregations, it's good to be a charismatic preacher, it's good to have miracles but again we must be very careful with doctrine. The Bible says in Hosea 6:10 that my people are perishing because of lack of knowledge. In this whole situation Dr. Mwita noted that we should be honest with one another. “One thing we are not honest to one another is that you feel if I correct you, I am jealous of what your ministry looks like.”
By not being keen to what is being said and confusing it with jealousy, various church leaders are lead astray. Pastors with big ministries tend to feel that pastors with a small number of members cannot tell them anything but again it's not about numbers, the truth should be spoken. “For Jesus, it was not about the numbers, it was about the disciples.” Said Dr. Mwita. From this we learn that we need to have the right people and not the multitude.
As a local missionary from his perspective, Dr. Mwita said that what Mackenzie did was wrong, he only has a big question: where were the other churches? Especially the churches around Kilifi County. “That shows without a doubt that the body of Christ that stays around Malindi is not an awake body of Christ, and that the pastors there have not read the book of John 10 that says every flock knows the voice of their shepherd,” said Dr. Mwita. That means pastors should come up with ways to approach the doctrine of the Bible correctly.
Dr. Mwita pointed out some Bible verses to look at, Leviticus 20:2-3, Deuteronomy 12:31 and Psalms 106:38-39. He went ahead and read from Psalms 106:38-39, “They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.”
Even now some members of the group are still in the forest fasting even after their leader has been put behind bars. “That means that this guy did a lot of reindoctrination which means now missionaries should go Shakahola to bring the truth because it's only the truth that will set those people in the Bush free. Let's take the truth to them,” said Dr. Mwita. Many great men of God are mushrooming, but it's time every church introspects itself, is it on the right path? A church might think it is in the right path and maybe it is operating in the wrong path.
According to Dr. Mwita, missionaries should be sent to Shakahola so that there can be crusades and meetings to spread the true word of God. A better church than that of Mackenzie should be established at Shakahola. The Bible says in Romans 10:17 that how will they hear if we don't go for them, there is a need to send people to Shakahola. The government should continue what it’s doing, the investigations and all that, but allow the church also to go to Sahkahola and establish the truth because it's the truth that sets people free.
Men and women of God should be rooted in the word of God and put more emphasis on the scriptures because the truth is hidden in the scripture. People should not be misled by unscrupulous men of God with suspicious doctrines.
The Shakahola issue has affected the church, especially the pentecostal churches, to a point that some political leaders are saying that the best church to go to is the Catholic Church and the Seventh Day Adventist Church. On this issue Dr. Mwita was categorical and said, “times of persecution are not easy, when the truth is being persecuted, it doesn't mean the truth disappears. Somebody insisting that the best church to go to is the Catholic or SDA is quite unfortunate. We also have our comments about these other churches but we reserve our comments, after all is said and done the right church to go to is the church of Jesus Christ."
I also interviewed Ev. Kevin, a leader of an interdenominational ministry in Kisii, Kenya. This is what he had to say, “Paul Mackenzie's ministry is an occult, occults operate under supernatural powers that you cannot understand unless you are in the spirit,” according to Ev. Kevin, the body of Christ is under attack and this is the best time for the church to embrace unity. Hypocrisy, hatred, jealousness and envy should stop, a body divided cannot stand the test of time. Nevertheless, Jesus is in control that is what I believe,” He is not surprised of what is happening because it is written in the Bible that times like this would come.
We have false prophets and true prophets and therefore where there is original the existence of fake cannot be breaking news. “There are many more fake believers than the fake preachers themselves, fake attracts fake, the deep calleth on to the deep,” said Ev. Kevin. According to him, there is no tribunal on earth that will solve the issue of false prophets.
Christians should be wary of what is happening in Shakahola because this is making the non-believers discredit the church, “the current situation in Kenya is giving the atheists a leverage and discouraging people from going to church and perhaps join them,” Said Ev. Kevin.
Before we notice it, Kenya will be secularized and Christianity will be a thing of the past therefore this is the time true Christians should be praying for the body of Christ and asking God to protect the true church. “If you look around weak Christians are condemning Christianity entirely, I call them weak Christians because they don't understand what the Bible talks about persecution, end times and about ‘do not judge’," said Ev. Kevin.
The Shakahola incident is the work of the devil and a direct attack on the body of Christ. “Mackenzie could be causing physical deaths through his occult but out here some silent pastors are causing spiritual deaths to people. The church is really affected and has deviated from its role of putting the world to check but now it’s the other way round, the world is putting the church to check. We need the intervention of God," said Ev. Kevin.
Even though the church is affected, the Bible says, “upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” this is God saying so that the true church that preaches the gospel of Jesus shall stand the test of times.
I also talked to Reverend Joseph, the senior pastor of Grace Revival Church-Kisii, a pentecostal church founded on prayer and the word. He said that Christians have become impatient. God is a God of order. Time and seasons are well explained in the book of Ecclesiastes. According to him, people want things so quickly. Most of those interviewed on TV went to Shakohola because they wanted to go to heaven. “For sure I believe heaven is real and that time to be there will come, but we have to be patient and wait for its appropriate time,” said Rev. Joseph. He also attributes this all saga to fear, “people are fearing they might not make it to heaven, and therefore to them an ‘hero’ has emerged who is leading them straight to Jesus by the name Mackenzie,” said Rev. Joseph. The followers of Mackenzie have been misled that the fastest way to go to heaven is through fasting and starving to death in the bush.
Rev. Joseph is encouraging people not to fear because God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). God has given us the spirit of sound mind to discern things and make proper decisions.
From what I have learnt from the Shakahola story, it is important that believers ask for spiritual discernment from God, so as to ensure their faith is highly respected and not misled. It will also please God.
Next: Is forgiveness not enough? by Eric Bosire.
Notes:
* Names changed: Mdoe Elvis, Kambi Edmond and Jumwa Isaac really have different names.
1 https://www.k24tv.co.ke/news/catholic-bishops-speak-out-on-shakahola-deaths-101613/ back
2 https://www.pd.co.ke/news/shakahola-massacre-gachaguas-wife-speak-178828/ back
About the author:
This article was written by Eric Bosire, a Kenyan Journalist based in Kisii. The interviews
with Mdoe Elvis*, Kambi Edmond*
and Jumwa Isaac* were conducted by Lydia Kazungu in Malindi.
About the image:
Photograph taken by Lydia Kazungu.
back
Suggested citation:
Eric Bosire: A cultic massacre in Malindi, Kenya. MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270)
https://missionfield.news/2023/8_Massacre
2023-07-06.