The 400+ death by extreme fasting in Shakahola are used by anti-cultists for an international attack against a peaceful Australian religious movement.
by Massimo Introvigne
In Kenya, Pastor Paul Mackenzie of Shakahola’s Good News International Church is in jail, accused of having promoted an extreme form of fasting that caused the death of more than 400 of his followers. A Kenyan Senate Committee produced a controversial report on the events, which includes both commons sense comments on the incident and unacceptable anti-cult comments and proposals to limit the freedom of all religions.
The report, echoed by local media, also insisted that Mackenzie was supported and perhaps inspired by the Jesus Christians, members of an Australian-based conservative Christian movement founded by Dave McKay, which has had for many years a presence in Kenya. The document called for the expulsion of foreign members of the Jesus Christians from Kenya. Its references to McKay, his wife, and the Jesus Christians seemed to be inspired by Australian anti-cultists who contacted the Kenyan authorities in an endeavor to damage the Jesus Christians internationally.
In fact, the Jesus Christians had nothing to do with the fasting. As “Bitter Winter” explained, what they shared with Mackenzie was a criticism of the Huduma Namba, a biometric ID system adopted in Kenya. Mackenzie saw in the Huduma Namba the “Mark of the Beast” of the Book of Revelation in the Bible, echoing conspiracy theories criticizing other chip-based ID system common among fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. and elsewhere. When Mackenzie was arrested in 2018 for his anti-Huduma-Namba campaign, he was supported by other Kenyan churches and pastors, most of whom did not agree with his theology and theories but saw in his arrest a violation of religious liberty. When Mackenzie was freed from jail, he expressed his gratitude to those who had supported him and invited a member of the Jesus Christians to preach in his church. None of these activities had the slightest reference to Mackenzie’s doctrines on fasting, of which those who supported him in the Huduma Namba case, including the Jesus Christians, were totally unaware.
The Jesus Christians have influential enemies in the Australian and international anti-cult community. They are now trying to use the deaths in Kenya to harass the Jesus Christians internationally.
We reproduce the letter than Dave McKay sent to Kenyan Senate members and media to answer the slander, also signed by his wife Sherry. We know that anti-cultists normally ignore versions of the facts different from their own and not supporting their repressive ideology, but hope friends of freedom of religion or belief will read the letter that follows with interest.
“I have just been made aware of a report from your committee, which makes reference to me and my wife. I was surprised to discover that highly esteemed leaders like yourselves appear to have allowed yourselves to be drawn into quoting an anonymous source who has made false and extremely defamatory statements about us and the community which we founded, without offering any evidence for their claims.
Your committee report makes reference to ‘information availed to the committee.’ Please, can someone identify the source of that information? Neither I, nor my wife, nor any other member of our community was contacted by any member of your committee to verify any of the so-called ‘information’ that you have anonymously received, and which you have used as your basis for asking that we (and any foreigner who supports anything that we teach) be deported and/or barred from entry to Kenya.
Your report repeatedly refers to our Christian community as a cult. On page 111, you define a cult as ‘A system of belief directed towards a particular figure or object, for example, a self-appointed leader, prophet or someone with lofty titles.’ Ironically, one of the basic teachings of our community is that we should not use any titles at all, as taught by Jesus, including titles like Mister, Doctor, or Reverend. You will find no title other than ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’ used by members of our community for me or for anyone else, including yourselves. Furthermore, far from glorifying a human leader, we have a rotating leadership, so that at any one time, the general public does not even KNOW who is our leader. My wife and I are only founders of the community. We retired many years ago as leaders.
The object of our belief and worship is Jesus Christ alone. If worship of Jesus is enough to define a group as a cult, then it is quite likely that every church in Kenya would fit your definition.
The report states that our teachings ‘include forsaking all private ownership.’ This much is correct. Voluntary poverty and a communal lifestyle have been part of many Catholic orders, as well as some Protestant movements over the centuries. And, like with ourselves, such beliefs have been practiced without any hint of criminal activity.
But your report further states that we teach ‘relocating to an isolated communal place where members serve one master.’ Our goal, wherever we have travelled, has been to seek out highly populated places, where we can interact with people in promoting the teachings of Jesus. The one Master whom we seek to serve and promote is God, as revealed through his Son, Jesus. This Jesus Christians teaching is repeated over and over in our videos and literature. The committee will not find a record anywhere that we teach otherwise.
In relation to Paul Mackenzie, the Report says that ‘foreign links were largely established through virtual links and social media.’ (Paragraph 128) Once again, no evidence is given for this. I have never had any contact with Paul Mackenzie, not in person, not through email, nor via phone, zoom, or social media. Once again, the committee has not provided any evidence to support this claim.
The Committee rightly makes reference to a sermon delivered by a friend of mine, in 2019, at a meeting organized by Paul Mackenzie. That sermon can be viewed in its entirety, as it was filmed by followers of Mackenzie and displayed on their website.
I would urge members of the public, representatives of the media, and government officials who have read the Senate Report, to view that sermon, as it is the only piece of evidence available on which to base judgment of any influence Jesus Christians may have had on followers of Paul Mackenzie.
Here is a link to a video which we Jesus Christians have produced in response to the committee report, in which we include excerpts from that sermon:
What you will not find in that sermon is the outrageous claim that the ad hoc Senate committee made in its report, i.e. that my friend ‘urged followers [of Mackenzie] to abandon earthly possessions and follow Paul Mackenzie to the «promised land,» which was later located in Malindi.’ Where did that come from?
What happened in the Shakahola Forest appears to have been the result of greed on the part of Paul Mackenzie, and fear on the part of his followers. Our representative specifically preached against both of those evils at the televised meeting in Nairobi in 2019. You can view that in the video link above as well.
Information available to the committee strongly suggests that members of Paul Mackenzie’s church used violence and coercion to bring about the deaths of hundreds of people in the Shakahola Forest. In direct contrast to that, our Jesus Christians community is pacifist, with strong Quaker connections. It staggers belief that the atrocities in Shakahola can be related in any way to what we believe or to what our representative preached in that sermon.
Reckless use of terms like extremism and radicalization, to imply that genuine and sincere Christians like ourselves, are promoting violence and terrorism hints at religious vilification. The Senate Committee on the Proliferation of Religion in Kenya should do everything in its power to track down the source of these lies about ourselves, and to see that the individual or individuals responsible for spreading them are brought to justice. The video link above actually names the source in Kenya, although we believe that he received his information from someone in Australia.
Any action to locate and prosecute the source of these lies is consistent with articles 27, 32, 33, and 37 of the Kenyan Constitution, which ‘ensure that every person is entitled to equal protection and benefit of the law and that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their religion.’
If you (the committee members) are not prepared to retract what has been said about me, my wife, and other Jesus Christians in the report, and to take action to identify the defamatory source, then I am asking the public and the media to ask the hard questions that need to be asked about the source of these lies.
Sincerely,
Dave & Sherry McKay
for Jesus Christians.”