Cult

Doomsday preacher convicted of mass murder of 190 children, starvation deaths in Kenya cult case

The former taxi driver founded the Good News International Church in 2003, preaching increasingly apocalyptic sermons and urging his followers to starve themselves and their children to death.

|ByREUTERS
Paul Mackenzie, a Kenyan cult leader accused of ordering his followers, who were members of the Good News International Church, to starve themselves to death in Shakahola forest, appears in court for his judgement at the Mombasa High Court, Kenya, October 19, 2026.
Stone turtle figurine found at the Gedikkaya Hill archaeological site in Turkey, September 4, 2026.

Over 20 Stone Age turtle figurines used in ancient rituals found within Turkish cave - report

The figurines are “roughly shaped,” according to Anadolu Agency, lending weight to the researchers’ theory of them being used during ritualistic practices.

|ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAM
The name of Villa Baviera, formerly Colonia Dignidad, is engraved on a stone at the settlement created by German immigrants that served as a secret prison during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990), on the outskirts of Parral, Chile, July 20, 2025.

Germany plans talks with Chile over site tied to cult led by abusive German preacher

The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schaefer, an evangelical preacher who was later jailed for sexually abusing children.

|ByREUTERS
Elazar Rumpler, a senior leader within haredi cult Lev Tahor, appearing in the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing in 2020; illustrative.

Jerusalem court sends senior Lev Tahor cult leader Elazar Rumpler to prison in child abuse case

Elazar Rumpler, a Lev Tahor haredi cult leader, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay a total of NIS 22,000 in fines and compensation for assaulting a 10-year-old child.

|ByJAMES GENN

Back to roost: Singer-songwriter Zohar Ginzburg to light up the Hamagber Festival

Ginzburg’s slot is on February 5 (10:30 p.m.), with singer-songwriter Rona Kenan joining her and her quintet on stage.

FEBRUARY 2, 2025ByBARRY DAVIS
ZOHAR (ZOZO) GINZBURG – an intriguing fusion of powerhouse rock seasoned with rich lyrical seams.

Guatemalan authorities rescue 160 children from Jewish Lev Tahor cult

Guatemalan authorities determined that the Lev Tahor cult engaged in human trafficking against minors.

DECEMBER 21, 2024ByREUTERS
Members of the Lev Tahor Jewish community stand outside the facilities of the Guatemala Attorney General's Office after Guatemalan authorities rescued several children and adolescents from the Jewish community following allegations of child abuse, in Guatemala December 20, 2024.

Suspected cult members kill eight in Uganda village

Police said two of the suspected attackers had been killed by security forces as they responded to the assault.

OCTOBER 30, 2024ByREUTERS
Ugandan police officers gather near a scene with an explosive device outside a Pentecostal church, Lubaga Miracle Centre, in the Lubaga suburb of south Kampala, Uganda September 3, 2023.

Last three defendants in Lev Tahor cult abduction case sentenced to over ten years in in prison

Lev Tahor is a secretive group and little is known about its inner workings, and adheres to extreme interpretation of Jewish law that shields members from the outside world.

JULY 11, 2024ByLUKE TRESS/JTA
A young woman and member of the Lev Tahor community in the Canadian city of Chatham, Ontario, Nov. 29, 2013.

The IDF can wipe out terrorists but what of Hamas terrorist ideology? - opinion

The belief systems of cults are robust, even when contradicted by reality. 

MARCH 11, 2024ByMICHAEL J. SALAMON, LOUIS LIBIN
PALESTINIANS FLEE Khan Yunis and move toward Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in January. Hamas delights in collateral damage even to its own people. Yet the intensity of its convictions is what attracts followers, say the writers.

Kenya cult leader charged with terrorism-related crimes in starvation deaths

The head of the Good News International Church, ordered his followers in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven before the world ended.

JANUARY 18, 2024ByREUTERS
Relatives of followers of a Christian cult named as Good News International Church, who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death in Shakahola, stand outside the steel gate of the Malindi sub district hospital mortuary in Malindi, Kilifi county, Kenya April 27, 2023.

Kenya doomsday cult leader jailed for unlicensed film production

Authorities accuse Paul Mackenzie, head of the Good News International Church, of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death.

DECEMBER 1, 2023ByREUTERS
Kenya police officers stand guard as Forensic experts and homicide detectives exhume bodies of suspected members of a Christian cult named as Good News International Church, who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death, in Shakahola forest of Kilifi county, Kenya

The Jews of Jonestown: Jewish members of Jim Jones's Peoples Temple cult

How did a group of Jews end up thousands of miles from their homes, only to die in one of the most infamous events of the 20th century?

NOVEMBER 18, 2023ByALEX WINSTON
US ARMED Forces collect bodies from Jonestown.

US arrests six 'Soldiers of Christ' after Korean woman's body found in car

The unnamed victim underwent starvation and beatings before her death.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Location of the body of South Korean murder victim.

Kenyan authorities should have prevented cult deaths, president says

Authorities accuse Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death.

MAY 15, 2023ByREUTERS
Workers receive the exhumed bodies of followers of a Christian cult named "Good News International Church", who believed they would go to heaven, if they starved themselves to death in Shakahola, at the Malindi sub district hospital mortuary in Malindi, Kilifi county, Kenya April 27, 2023.