Heinous beliefs

HEINOUS BELIEFS — SEASON 2, EPISODE 2
The Arm Never Lied: The Rulo Yahweh Cult

Trigger warning: this episode covers child abuse, torture, and graphic violence.

Rulo, Nebraska. A farm town so small you could drive through it and miss it. In the summer of 1985, federal agents showed up looking for stolen equipment and walked away with one of the most disturbing cases of religious torture in American history.

Michael Ryan was a broke, directionless farmhand who found a hate preacher, a warped reading of the Bible, and a party trick called the arm test, and turned it into total control over a farm full of desperate people. By the time it was over, a five year old boy and a twenty five year old man were dead, buried in unmarked graves by the very people who called them family.

This episode is about how economic desperation, isolation, and one unquestionable authority turned an ordinary Nebraska pig farm into a killing ground, and about making sure Luke Stice and James Thimm are remembered as people first.

IN THIS EPISODE:
- The 1980s farm crisis and how it opened the door for extremist recruitment
- James Wickstrom, Posse Comitatus, and Christian Identity theology
- The arm test and how Michael Ryan used it to control every decision on the farm
- What happened to Luke Stice and James Thimm
- The raid, the trial, and what happened to Michael Ryan and Dennis Ryan
- The psychology of thought terminating devices and cult obedience

SOURCES:
State v. Ryan, Nebraska Supreme Court (1989); NBC News; CBS News; The Daily Beast; Oxygen, Deadly Cults; Associated Press trial coverage (1986); Wikipedia entry on Michael W. Ryan, cross referenced against court documents.

RESOURCES:

Mental health and cult support:
- International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) — icsahome.com
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 (US)
- SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 (24/7, mental health and substance use support)

Food insecurity and financial assistance:
- USDA National Hunger Hotline — 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479), or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273) for Spanish, Mon–Fri 8am–8pm ET
- Text FOOD, SNAP, WIC, or SUMMER to 914-342-7744 for automated local resources, anytime
- Feeding America — feedingamerica.org
- Dial 211 for local food, housing, and financial assistance programs

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Heinous Beliefs — Season 2, Episode 1

"Shakahorror" — The Shakahola Massacre

We're back. After a six-month hiatus, Season 2 opens with one of the deadliest cult-related tragedies in modern history — and one still unfolding in a Mombasa courtroom right now.

Episode Summary

In April 2023, Kenyan police acting on a missing-persons report walked into a remote stretch of forest in Kilifi County and found people starving to death in the name of God. By the time the exhumations stopped, the official count stood at 429 bodies — nearly 200 of them children. The man behind it, self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie, had spent over two decades building toward this: from taxi driver to televangelist to the architect of a "fasting schedule" that sent children first, women second, and his own family last.

This episode traces Mackenzie's rise through Good News International Church, the doomsday theology he built on borrowed American evangelist teachings, the whistleblower warning that police ignored five months before the raid, the human toll behind the body count, and the extraordinary legal fight still playing out in 2026 — including a fresh set of deaths at Kwa Binzaro, and Kenya's first-ever domestic prosecution for crimes against humanity.

Content warning: This episode discusses starvation, child death, physical abuse, and psychological coercion in detail. Listener discretion advised.

In This Episode

• The taxi driver who became a televangelist — Mackenzie's early life and the founding of Good News International Church
• How William Branham's apocalyptic "End Time Message" theology got folded into Mackenzie's preaching
• The 2017 arrest, the death of his second wife, and the warning signs authorities let slide
• Why Kenya's regulatory gaps let unregistered churches like this flourish
• The November 2022 whistleblower post — and how police helped Mackenzie identify and pursue her instead of investigating
• The April 2023 raid and the death toll that climbed for months
• The organ-harvesting claims — and the later, disputed walk-back
• Victim and family accounts: the Ngala, Nyanje, Mwiti, Hamisi, and Thoya families
• The parallel case against pastor Ezekiel Odero of New Life Prayer Centre
• Global and domestic media reaction, and the public fury directed at Kenyan institutions
• Inside the ongoing 2026 trial across four Mombasa courts — murder, manslaughter, terrorism, and crimes-against-humanity charges
• Kwa Binzaro: the 52 additional deaths discovered in 2025, and testimony that Mackenzie kept directing followers to fast by phone from prison
• The defense's argument, and what's still legally unresolved
• Delayed burials, the fight over DNA identification, and Kenya's plan for a national memorial
• The 2025 Migori copycat case

Sources

Reporting and court documentation drawn from BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Daily Nation, the Standard, K24TV, allAfrica, and official Kenyan court and Senate inquiry records. No fictionalized or unverified details — where facts remain contested (organ-harvesting claims, some secondhand survivor testimony), that ambiguity is flagged explicitly in the episode rather than resolved for you.

Resources & Support

If anything in this episode hit close to home, you're not alone. Please reach out.

• Kenya: Befrienders Kenya — free, confidential support by phone, SMS, and WhatsApp: +254 722 178 177. Kenya Red Cross crisis line: 1199. LVCT mental health support line: 1190 (free, 24/7 on Safaricom).
• International: Find a crisis center near you at findahelpline.com. In the US, call or text 988 anytime.
• Cult/high-control group recovery: International Cultic Studies Association — icsahome.com

Support the Show

If this episode moved you, please share it — send it to a friend, drop it in your group chat, leave a review. That's how this show grows. Season 2 continues next week.

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Heinous Beliefs is an independent podcast. All information is sourced from police reports, court documents, and credible journalism.

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This case is more than just murder it’s a wake-up call on how twisted theology, blind faith, and unchecked power can become a lethal cocktail.

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This isn’t just a story about religion gone wrong. It’s about power, control, and the dangers of unchecked belief.

Thanks for listening. And remember—always question who’s leading you, and why.

In this episode of Heinous Beliefs, we take you into the terrifying true story of Ernie Cheyenne Johnson, a man whose extreme religious beliefs about spiritual ownership and purity led him to violently stab a trusted family friend.

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Whether it’s religion, politics, or personal conspiracies — when belief goes unchecked and untreated mental illness is ignored, the results can be catastrophic.

This episode pulls no punches and honors Kristy’s life by telling the truth.

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Burned Alive – The Witch Murders of South Africa

This episode is one of the heaviest we’ve done not only because of the horror of the crimes, but because of the silence that follows. No news coverage. No justice. No memorials. Just ashes.

🎧 Episode Title: Faith Healing Gone Wrong – The Schaible Case

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