2023-05-03 19:55:50
“Take care that no one deceives you. For many will come under my name, saying: I am the Christ. And, they will seduce many people. (…)” (Matthew 24:3-8). More than 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth did not believe he predicted so well by warning against false prophets who would disguise themselves as servants of God or even as envoys of Christ, when the reality would be quite different: they would be nothing. other than sellers of illusions, imposters! In all likelihood, Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is among these chaff; he who pushed his hundred followers to fast until death while waiting for the coming of Christ. The macabre discovery took place in Shakabola Forest on the Kenyan coast, where members of his sect gathered. Chilling! The irreparable product, this former taxi driver turned pastor, will have to appear before the Justice of Men, pending the sentence of immanent Justice. On May 2, in fact, the head of the International Church of Good News was in the dock of the court of the city of Malindi, alongside eight co-defendants. He would notably have as an accomplice, the pastor Ezekiel Odero who should be fixed on his fate tomorrow, after having been targeted by investigations for murder, “assisted suicide”, “kidnapping”, “radicalization”, “crimes against humanity” , “child cruelty”, “fraud and money laundering”. Faced with the horror (the bodies found were mostly those of children), one can understand the bloodshed of the Kenyan President, Wiliam Ruto, who did not refrain from calling Pastor Mackenzie a “terrorist”. Before promising action against all those who “use religion to advance a shady and unacceptable ideology”.
The simple question would have been why Pastor Mackenzie didn’t go the same way to “meet Jesus”
How else to describe this religious leader whose good mental health we can doubt, when he makes his sect a weapon of mass destruction of poor innocents? In any case, it is urgent that all light be shed on this affair. Especially since it could hide many other gray areas, in particular the track issued according to which the pastor’s victims could not all be members of his church. It is rumored, in fact, that assassinations were perpetrated within the walls of the Church of New Life, led by the rich and famous televangelist Ezekiel Odero, before being transferred to the forest of Shakabola. We will probably know a little more in the days to come. In the meantime, this scandal brings up to date the problem of the supervision of cults in Kenya, and well beyond. In any event, freedom of worship cannot disregard the absolute necessity of regulation in this area. Otherwise, the excesses quickly arrived, as evidenced, moreover, by this tragedy which has shaken Kenya for weeks. And this is also why we must welcome the announcement by the Kenyan authorities of the establishment of a presidential working group in the aftermath of the tragedy. However, it is to be regretted that the government’s reaction came somewhat late; anything that borders on lack of anticipation. Because, several times arrested for his radical sermons, Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie had always got away with it. A repeat offender, therefore, who had ended up believing himself to be allowed everything. Now, as long as this trial serves as a lesson! As for the followers who allow themselves too easily to be seduced by sermons with content as nauseating as they are absurd, they should show discernment. For the Kenyan case, the simple question would have been to know why Pastor Mackenzie did not follow the same path to “meet Jesus”. But how blame those desperate people who, faced with poverty and other hardships of life, care little more about the small inner voice that might have called them to caution? For many of these desperadoes, death represents the ultimate deliverance from a life that no longer holds any interest in their eyes. So, as long as you do, why not shorten your painful earthly stay by hoping for better things in the other world?
CBS
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