Good News International Church (Paul Nthenge Mackenzie)
A Kenyan cult, which convinced hundreds of followers to commit suicide
(2003 - 2023)
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (leader)
In 2003, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie formed a shadowy cult in the remote reaches of Shakahola, Kilifi County, Kenya. 20 years later, this obscure group shook the world with one of the largest mass suicides in history.
Mackenzie’s ministry began when he worked as a taxi driver in 1997. His radical sermons repeatedly caught the attention of the authorities, but he was acquitted each time due to lack of evidence. As he gathered more followers, he officially started his church and became a full time preacher, convincing his followers that he had a direct line of communication with God. His cult continued to grow, with members giving him everything they had so that they could devote their entire lives to him. Soon, he was able to take his message to the airwaves, allowing him to rake in even more followers.
As his influence continued to grow, Mackenzie found himself in legal trouble again in 2017, facing charges of promoting radicalization and depriving children of their basic rights to health care and education. After children in the cult were found dead the following year, 93 children were rescued by authorities. However, Mackenzie was allowed to continue leading his followers. Over the following years, Mackenzie faced increased opposition from community leaders and was charged with further crimes, but maintained the loyalty of his devoted followers. Eventually, he declared that he had shut down his cult, but in reality, had simply moved his followers to a remote location, away from the public eye.
The full extent of Mackenzie’s madness went unnoticed until April 2023, when a man reported that his wife and daughter went to the commune and never returned. When police investigated, they found 15 severely malnourished members, four of which died on the way to the hospital. All these members had been trying to starve themselves to death, believing that it would allow them to meet Jesus.
The more police investigated, the more they realized just how morbid the cult was. Over the next three weeks, they found more members who were severely malnourished and a seemingly endless number of shallow graves filled with the bodies of several members, mostly children, who died of starvation. A few of the bodies also showed signs of strangulation, suffocation and blunt trauma. Digging up body after body, they had to halt their search as the death toll was reaching ninety, because the morgues were full. Yet this was just the beginning. As of the time of this writing, over 400 deaths have been confirmed, with over 600 people reported missing. MacKenzie and other leaders are currently in police custody, awaiting trial.
Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Branhamism
Founder: Paul Nthenge Mackenzie
Founded: 2003
Ended: 2023
Location: Shakahola, Kenya
Size: 3,000
Also called: Good News International Ministries; Servant P. N. Mackenzie Ministries; Shakahola cult; Malindi Cult
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie pushed children not to enroll in school (source)
in 2017, Mackenzie was charged with running an unauthorized school (source)
Mackenzie told a reporter "education is evil" and has encouraged children to drop out of school, often without parental consent (source)
Mackenzie ordered his followers to burn their academic certificates (source)
See also the "Child Abuse Lawsuits" section below
In 2017, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his wife were charged with denying children access to health and education (see "anti-education" and "anti-medicine" sections above) (source)
93 children were removed from the church by authorities in 2017 (source)
Authorities are investigating possible sexual offenses against children in the cult (source)
After the first 90 bodies were discovered from the mass suicide, an investigator reported that the majority of them belonged to children (source)
See also the "Murder" section below
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has promoted the serpent seed doctrine, which is widely adopted by racial hate groups (source, 10:31)
Mackenzie has accused the Catholic church of being a tool of Satan (source, source)
Mackenzie was arrested in 2019 for possessing films intended to incite Christians against Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims (source)
Mackenzie claimed to have prophetic powers (source)
The investigation into the cult started when two boys were found dead after being starved and suffocated by their parents (source)
Preliminary findings by Kenya’s public prosecutions office determined that leaders had been “counselling and aiding persons to kill themselves” (see "suicide" section below) (source)
Mackenzie hired criminals to kill anyone who changed their minds about committing suicide or were taking too long to die (source)
Authorities are investigating the possibility of "extrajudicial killings" before the mass suicide (source)
Members were commanded not to mingle with anyone from the "outside" world (source)
The death toll following the mass suicide has risen to over 400, with over 600 people reported as missing (source)
The cult reportedly encouraged members to starve themselves to death in order to receive salvation (source)
Shortly after authorities began their investigation, they had to stop digging for bodies because they were running out of places to put them (source)
After being arrested for their involvement in the mass suicide, one leader died and two others were in critical condition as a result of a hunger strike (source)
Other info:
Utilizing mobile money was considered evil (source)
The cult has been connected to the leaders of the Jesus Christians (source, source)
MacKenzie did not join his followers in the mass suicide (source)