Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who runs the Good News International Church in Shakahola, Malindi, Kenya, made the news after a massacre took place in the Shakahola forest.
Every day new revelations continue to play after the wake of Shakahola massacre.
Every day is full of regrets for Evarline Okello who lives in a shack in the sprawling slums of Kibera, Nairobi. In an interview with BBC, the mother of four disclosed that her woes may have started way back, but they were compounded by her quest to better her life.
This comes when Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has reaffirmed that the government will not spare anyone found guilty of manipulating Kenyans with religion in the crackdown to weed out rogue preachers.
People were left shocked after Kenyan police found dozens of bodies in the eastern part of the country. Soon after this, Paul Mackenzie was arrested as he allegedly asked people to starve themselves so they could meet Jesus. He reportedly converted people to his beliefs and engaged them in fasting.
According to Evarline, she was struggling to feed her children when she heard that a pastor would pray for her to receive financial breakthrough.But there was a catch; Evarline had to part with KSh 15,000 in what was referred to as a "seed offering."
The bodies of the people were found during an investigation into a Christian cult that made its followers believe that they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.
She discloses that whoever informed her about the clergyman waxed lyrical about how powerful he is, and that she would repay the money in days.Given that there was hope for better things ahead, she borrowed the money from a friend who took a loan on her behalf.
The massacre has rekindled the debate over the regulation of religious worship in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with 4,000 "churches," according to official figures.
It dawned on her that she had been conned when there was no positive financial change in her life, and things even got worse.The loan her friend took on her behalf has since ballooned out of control due to unpaid interest and currently stands at KSh 38,000.
Many pastors preach the so-called prosperity gospel, urging members to donate heavily to church coffers in order to improve their own financial fortunes.Others operate with much darker consequences.
"I have no idea how I'll pay the money back and my friend stopped talking to me. Things have become so difficult I have lost all hope," she lamented.
The government is working closely with security agencies and relevant authorities to inquire into the deaths as well as allegations of torture and inhumane treatment of followers of controversial self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and his Good News International Church based in Kilifi County.
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