Christians starve to death while ‘waiting to see Jesus’ after being brainwashed by preacher

Four devout Christians have died in Kenya after starving themselves to death when a preacher brainwashed them into thinking they were going to meet their maker, police said.

Some 15 ‘radicalised’ Kenyan Christians were rescued by police on Friday, but four congregation members died during the rescue mission.

All 15 were members of the Good News International Church in the coastal county of Kilifi and were brainwashed by a preacher named as Makenzie Nthenge.

Police said the 11 survivors were rescued from a forest near the town of Malindi on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast and rushed to hospital. There are fears there could be more victims.

Kenyan police later announced that they have launched a manhunt for the local cult leader following the deaths of the four followers he reportedly told to starve themselves in order to ‘meet Jesus’.

Four people died after starving themselves to death when a preacher brainwashed them into thinking they were going to meet their maker, police said (file image)

Police reportedly were made aware of the brainwashing after they received a tipoff of radicalised Christians starving to death under the pretext that they were on their way to meet Jesus.

‘In the process of rescuing the victims, four of them died,’ police said in an incident report.

Police were investigating reports of more victims, the report said.

‘They starved after being radicalised by a certain member of a church told them that their work in this world was done… and they were waiting to die and see their creator,’ Charles Kamau, the criminal investigations officer said on Kenya’s Citizen Television.

The four dead worshippers have yet to be identified, while those taken to hospital included seven men and four women aged between 17 and 49, according to the police report. Three remain in critical condition.

Investigators were continuing to search in the Shakahola forest after reports of a mass grave where other cult followers may have been buried.

‘The team were unable to identify the mass grave by virtue of vast land (area) and hostile residents in the forest,’ the police report said.

‘It is further suspected that there are many victims in the forest land believed to belong to the suspect.’

Police reportedly received the tipoff that radicalised Christians were starving to death under the pretext that they were on their way to meet Jesus (file image)

Media reports said Nthenge had been arrested and charged last month after two children were allegedly starved to death by their parents but was later freed on a bond of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (about £600).

In a March 23 affidavit, police said the parents had starved and suffocated the two boys on Nthenge’s advice.

Police asked the judge to detain Nthenge because he could be in danger himself for ‘having caused many people to lose their lives with (the) pretense that they were going to heaven (if) they die through starvation,’ the affidavit said.

During a court appearance in that case, Nthenge said he was unaware of the events that led to the deaths of the two boys, adding he was the target of hostile propaganda from some of his former colleagues, The Standard newspaper reported.

The judge released him on bail.