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Good News International Ministries
Region	Shakahola forest, Kilifi County, Malindi, Kenya
Founder	Paul Nthenge Mackenzie
Origin	2003
Defunct	2019 (alleged by Mackenzie)

The Good News International Ministries (GNIM), commonly known toponymically as the Malindi cult (and previously as Servant PN Mackenzie Ministries), is a Christian evangelical group based in and around Malindi, Kenya, joint-founded by Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his wife in 2003. The group attracted international attention in April 2023, when it was revealed that Mackenzie had instructed members to starve themselves en masse to "meet Jesus."

Before founding the group, Mackenzie worked as a Taxi driver from 1997 to 2003, where he was arrested and charged for four times relating to his sermons, but was ultimately acquitted in each instance. After founding the GNIM in 2003, Mackenzie accumulated a large following, largely due to successfully convincing his followers that he could speak directly to God.

The group is adamantly anti-Western, with amenities such as healthcare, education, and sports being dismissed as "evils of western life," and with Mackenzie condemning the United States, United Nations, and Catholic Church as "tools of Satan." The group also devotes much of its teachings to the end times.

Beginning in the late 2010s, Mackenzie's church began to receive a renewed wave of scrutiny regarding the internal practices of the organization. In 2017, Mackenzie and his wife faced several charges relating to the church. He was chastised for inciting students to abandon their education after denouncing it as "ungodly," as well as radicalizing and denying medical care to said children afterwards; several children died as a result and in 2017, 93 children were rescued by government authorities from the church. After another arrest in 2019, he departed Malindi and headed to the Shakahola forest. In 2023 after another arrest the month prior in relation to the deaths of several children, he was again arrested for allegedly inciting his followers to starve themselves to "meet Jesus," resulting in the deaths of at least 67 people.

History

The Good News International Ministries was founded in Kenya in 2003, by Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his wife, Joyce Mwikamba, as a small evangelical center. Before the founding, Mackenzie worked as a taxi driver from 1997 to 2003, during which, he was charged four times for his sermons, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. When the church began to prosper, the duo moved to Migingo Village in Malindi. Mackenzie was able to amass a large cult following, largely via convincing his congregation that he could personally communicate to God.

In 2016, according to unconfirmed reports, a member of the group sold their property on the island of Lamu to Mackenzie for 20 million KSh. The preacher allegedly used this money to purchase property in the cities of Mombasa and Malindi, two vehicles, and to fund a television station to broadcast his message. The move by his follower convinced several other members to follow suit, selling their properties and giving money to the church.

In 2017, Mackenzie and Mwikamba were charged with promoting radicalization, as well as denying children access to health and education and running a school and the television station unauthorized; the latter precipitated the closure of the television station the following year by the Kenyan Film Classification Board. In 2018, he was criticised by community leaders including the then Malindi MP, Aisha Jumwa and other activists for inciting children to drop out of school often without parental consent. They were released after investigating officers found them innocent. Mackenzie is accused of radicalizing children by encouraging them to drop out of school and refuse medical treatment. Several children died as a result, and in 2017, government authorities rescued 93 children from Mackenzie's church.

In 2019, Mackenzie was arrested for inciting the public against registration for Huduma Namba by likening it to the Number of the Beast. He was released. He was also accused of brainwashing and abducting children to join his cult. It was after this incident that he closed his church in Migingo and moved to a remote commune in Shakahola.

Teachings

According to the group's website, and news media reports, they purport to be followers of the End Time Message of William Branham. Investigators uncovered booklets of Branham's teachings at the commune which were pictured in a news broadcast. Mackenzie's YouTube channel contains videos promoting Serpent Seed teachings.

Paul Mackenzie's teachings have been described to have placed a huge emphasis on the end times and to be anti-western. Mackenzie rails against the "evils of western life"," which includes, medical services, education, food, sports, music, and "the uselessness of life." In a song titled "The Antichrist," he denounced the Catholic Church, the United States, and United Nations as tools of Satan.

Mass starvation incident

2023 Malindi mass starvation incident

Date	Early April - March 14, 2023 (2023-03-14)
Location	Malindi, Kenya
Cause	Followers were instructed to go without food to meet Jesus
Perpetrator	Paul Makenzi
Organized by	Good News International Ministries
Deaths	67
Burial	Shakahola forest
Displaced	15

In early April 2023, 15 members of the group were rescued by police. The members informed them that they had been ordered to starve themselves to death. The 15 followers were in poor condition; four ultimately died prior to reaching the hospital.

The bodies were mostly children. One of the graves is believed to contain the bodies of five members of the same family - three children and their parents. Authorities also discovered a number of other emaciated individuals, including one who had been buried alive for three days, and was later taken to a hospital for treatment. Leaders instructed the members to starve themselves to death so that they could "meet Jesus."

67 people have been reported dead as of April 24, 2023.