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South Africa is a country rich in culture, diversity, and breathtaking natural beauty. Its people are as colorful as its unique vistas, but this is often overshadowed by the rampant crime that has, unfortunately, become one of its defining characteristics. Widespread poverty and unemployment have produced some of the highest violent crime and murder rates in the world.
Bloodshed is so commonplace that many of the horrors committed there are often forgotten within days. Some don't even make the papers. That said, in 2016, a story broke that was so hellish. It dominated the front page of every newspaper across the nation. It wasn't one of desperate people committing desperate crimes. Instead,
It detailed the senseless killing spree of a cult that slaughtered at least 11 innocents over four years to satisfy the vengeful whims of their egotistical leader. Their rampage began in Kruger's Dorp, a remote former mining town nestled within the mountainous West Rand in the western region of Johannesburg, South Africa. After the gold rush died out, so did its economy.
leaving behind a dualistic society similar to that of the country it calls home. The residents of Kruger's Dorp are divided by a socio-economic chasm that distinguishes the haves from the have-nots. The wealthy occupy the mansions and gated estates peppering the hilltops, enjoying spectacular views and distancing themselves from the relative squalor of their less privileged neighbors below.
The only thing that connects them is a deep devotion to their Christian faith. Krugersdorp is an ultra-conservative community of evangelicals, like most small towns largely populated by Afrikaners, which is a South African ethnic group descended from Dutch settlers. In 2012, a select group of believers found their purpose in one woman.
a woman who used religious fanaticism and fear-mongering to manipulate them into taking lives in the name of God. This is the story of witchcraft, police corruption, a cult that exploited the South African satanic panic, and a depraved puppeteer who played with people instead of things. Part 1: South Africa's Satanic Panic
In the 1990s, South Africa was a predominantly Christian country undergoing a revolution of sorts. The racist apartheid government's reign was coming to an end and democracy was imminent. However, the ruling Afrikaner Nationalist Party had trouble letting go. They felt that the uprising had communist undertones. This was a terrifying notion, not just because of the lingering Cold War, but the idea that God had no place in a communist system.
It's an inherently atheist ideology, after all. For many Christians at the time, atheism was seen as a mechanism of Satan. It undermined God and the consequences of committing cardinal sins. The apartheid government feared that Satan was corrupting their evangelical values, so they decided to do something about it. Theology experts were given high-ranking positions in law enforcement and, in 1992,
the Occult-Related Crime Unit was established. The unit was formed to investigate crimes that were supposedly linked to the occult or, more specifically, to Satanism. Six years after apartheid was brought to an end, the unit was finally dissolved and authorities' concerns about satanic crimes gradually dissipated.
However, after recognizing Satanism in an official capacity, fears of the occult became deeply entrenched in insular small town communities such as Kruger's Dorp. Its temptations were the subject of many sermons and residents truly felt as though they were under attack. In the early 2000s, education became Christianity's first line of defense. Schools in these towns gave talks on the dangers of the occult.
rather than those of drugs, and a handful of believers took it upon themselves to teach the wider public about the threat of Satanism. One of those believers was Dion Hildenise, an evangelical minister from Pretoria, South Africa.
In 2006, he released a CD titled "Spiritual House Cleaning" in which he warned people of mundane items that, according to him, "give demonic spirits the legal right to attack them and their children." "Know your enemy!" he proclaimed. Tion then urged his audience to burn these sinful possessions, some of which included children's books like the Harry Potter series. The CD threw the Christians of Kruger's Dorf into a panic.
They began burning paintings, books, and even cutlery. Anything related to fantasy or magic, like Santa Claus and Spider-Man, was deemed satanic and reduced to ashes, although controversial, to say the least. Theon's fear-mongering sermon had a profound effect on one woman in particular, Rhea Grunewald. The devout middle-aged Christian was a pillar in her community and dedicated her life to helping those in need whilst spreading the word of God.
She believed that the occult was gradually taking hold of Kruger's Dorb and felt that the Lord had called upon her to recruit an army to fight the devil's influence. So, later that same year, Rhea founded Overcomers Through Christ, a ministry devoted to confronting the issue of Satanism, helping victims escape the occult, and guiding ex-Satanists back to God.
Her work was supported by Reginald Ben Dixon, a local pastor who doubled as her mentor and friend. With his guidance, she spent her free time preaching at schools and churches about salvation, redemption, and the perils of occultism. Ria inevitably came face to face with the trauma and rebellion that is characteristic of youths raised in a small town where opportunity is scarce and alcoholism is rife.
She couldn't rationalize their experiences and, instead, saw their plight as a symptom of dark forces at work. Ria signed up for a unique type of trauma counseling training in a bid to save their souls. The program was headed by F. H. Havinga, a psychologist who specializes in treating victims of harmful religious practices.
In these courses, community volunteers were taught basic intervention and support tactics for survivors of satanic ritual abuse. Many now understand that Satanism is a humanistic belief system followed by certain atheists. True Satanists believe in themselves, rational inquiry, compassion, justice, bodily autonomy, symbolic rituals, and science.
However, the devout tend to view it through their own sensationalized lens. Those who commit sadistically cruel crimes are monstrous and likely mentally unstable but, to the evangelical, they're devil worshipers. Satanism is simply the scapegoat. Eventually, Rhea built a reputation throughout Kruger's Dorb as an authority on delivering the corrupted from the clutches of the occult.
Overcomers Through Christ expanded exponentially, and her dream of leading an army of fellow Christians in the war against Satanism was realized. Little did she know, the worst was yet to come. Part Two: The Bride of Satan. Two years after the birth of Overcomers Through Christ, the quiet mining town of Kruger's Dorp was rocked by an act of violence so shocking it made international headlines.
On August 18th, 2008, 18-year-old Mornay Harmsa donned a grotesque paper mache slipknot mask, walked into his high school and slaughtered a fellow student with a samurai sword. He slit the throat of 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius, severing his aorta and leaving him to bleed out on the floor before wounding another pupil and two groundskeepers who bravely tried to stop him.
It later came out that Mornay, like America's school shooters, was an outcast who'd been subjected to years of bullying. Nevertheless, the media and his own parents placed the blame squarely on the occult. The Slipknot fan was inevitably labeled a Satanist after the discovery of a Ouija board and supposed book of spells in his room. Mornay himself even played into the accusations. The gruesome tragedy was exactly that, a tragedy.
However, many Kruger's Dorp residents insisted that it was the devil's work. Rhea in particular was convinced that Mornay's actions signaled Satan was already amongst them. What worried her more though, was that her community was entirely unprepared to fight back. They preferred to bury their heads in the sand and were too scared to ask questions or delve into the darkness they feared. Though Rhea had an army, they were swinging blindly.
She herself was none the wiser to Satan's insidious plans. They never taught that in Bible studies. Miraculously, God sent her a sign when she needed it most. It came in the form of a 42nd generational witch of the highest order in the country. The witch claimed to be the unwilling bride of Satan and begged Rhea to help her escape the satanic church and the revolting abuse she was being subjected to.
Her name was Cecilia Stain. Rhea was petrified but ecstatic. Cecilia's story confirmed what she'd known all along. This was her chance to not only save another soul from the Antichrist, but to prove that he existed in the first place. Shortly after meeting Cecilia, Rhea stopped participating in the trauma counseling training. She felt that, with the witch's inside knowledge, she was more equipped than ever to handle her crusade by herself.
F.H. Havinga grew concerned. He called Rhea to check up on her and noticed a significant shift in her demeanor. She declared that God had sent her a survivor that would help her liberate them all from Satan's influences. When Havinga pressed Rhea for more details, she became increasingly paranoid and whispered that they were listening in through sound waves. She explained Cecilia's predicament, telling him that the Church of Satan wanted the witch dead.
Avinga pleaded with Rhea to let him speak with the survivor, but she refused. Apparently, if Cecilia ventured further than a few kilometers from her home, death curses would be triggered. Avinga was dumbfounded. As a Christian himself, he believed that counseling should address the biological, psychological, and spiritual needs of survivors, which included the effect that demonic forces might have on them.
However, instead of using the tactics he taught her to deprogram Cecilia, Rhea seemed to become brainwashed herself. Concerned for the safety of the abused survivor, Havinga asked who was supervising the highly sensitive counseling sessions. "God," Rhea replied. He realized that he'd inadvertently created a monster and there was no stopping her now. Rhea severed all ties with Havinga and began working closely with Cecilia.
hoping to help undo the damage that the Satanic Church had done. The witch explained that her birth had been prophesied for 42 generations. Her mother, who came from both a werewolf and vampire bloodline, and her father, a high Satanic priest, conceived her on an altar in front of the church during an occult ritual. The prophecy demanded that her father be possessed by Satan during conception. Cecilia was not just the vampire-werewolf-witch hybrid bride of Satan,
She was also his child. Part 3: Know Your Enemy Cecilia confided in Rhea about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the devil worshippers, her own father, and even Satan himself. Once she turned 13, the age of becoming, she was forced to partake in a satanic ceremony to become the bride of Satan.
The devil himself appeared in his demonic form and, after reciting their vows, he raped her on an altar while the church watched as witnesses. To ensure that she inherited her prophesied powers and developed an undying loyalty to the Antichrist, Cecilia was made to study occult practices, participate in blood sacrifices, and fight other witches to the death to absorb their abilities.
Her father was responsible for nurturing her obedience to Satan and her progress as the prophesied witch. He tortured and sexually abused her for the majority of her life in a room built specifically to cause her tremendous pain, as was customary. After years of being slashed, strangled, electrocuted, whipped, and worse, Cecilia eventually became the strongest witch in the world.
she developed a seemingly never-ending list of powers, which included astral projection, levitation, teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy, invisibility, and walking on water. She began training other members of the church and prepared to fulfill her destiny of opening the gates of hell. On Halloween, of course. Fortunately for us, Cecilia chose to renounce the occult and flee from the Church of Satan.
If you think her story is unbelievable, that's because it is. Her tales were more akin to some warped version of Munchausen syndrome. Instead of feigning sickness to become the center of attention and coax people into caring for her, she feigned supernatural, satanic abuse. Astonishingly, Rhea believed every word of it. While it's easy to criticize her for being so gullible, remember that context is key.
In her religion, believing in God meant believing in the existence of Satan too. Cecilia exploited Rhea's beliefs and bolstered her claims with photos of extensive scarring from the torture she endured, though any identifying features were conveniently obscured. Still, it's surprising that Rhea took this stranger's word for it and didn't ask her to provide proof of her powers by, for instance, walking on water.
Rhea ignored all reason and became obsessed with saving Cecilia from the occult and getting her back into God's good graces. More so, she was determined to learn from the witch. Cecilia had intimate knowledge of how Satanists worked against Christianity and became Rhea's secret weapon in the war against evil.
In 2008, the unlikely pair worked together to create their own training course called "Know Your Enemy" with the help of Rhea's close friend, Candice Riavec. It included a manual made by Cecilia herself that went into great detail about demonology, Satanism, and occultism. It taught readers how to identify Satanists and their practices, how to protect themselves during spiritual warfare, and how to rescue victims from the occult.
Cecilia attended each session as living proof that satanic witches existed and could be rehabilitated. The course quickly garnered an extensive following of overcomers through Christ members, all of whom marveled at Cecilia's apparent powers and honestly believed she could help them rid Kruger's Dorp of evil. They didn't need to seek it out though. The witches' presence in their ministry meant that their enemy would come to them.
The Church of Satan didn't take Cecilia's betrayal lightly. She knew too much. The witch told Rhea and her followers that she was constantly in danger of demonic attacks. However, even hiding in her flat at the Kosana apartment building wasn't enough. Occult members would viciously assault her through incantations and astral projection. Satan himself would possess men and send them to her home to rape and violate her.
All of this happened when she was conveniently alone. In one instance, Rhea rushed to Cecilia's rescue, only to be confronted with a grisly scene. The flat had a metallic stench to it, its floors wet with large pools of blood, and Cecilia was hysterical. Satanic symbols had been carved into her skin, which was peppered with deep stab wounds.
The witch needed someone with her 24/7 to protect her through prayer, and Rhea was determined to be that someone. She never left the witch's side, even moving in and sleeping on the floor beside her bed. It wasn't easy though. Part 4: Special by Association Cecilia's scars weren't just physical. The trauma she experienced throughout her childhood left her with several illnesses and, apparently,
a strange case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder in popular media. Her personalities, or alters, were structured into four systems called Platinum, Spider, Pyramid, and Diamond. Some were composed of her most dangerous alters, while others encompassed her vampiric ones. Overall, Cecilia claimed that more than 1,000 alters dwelled within her.
One, in particular, was the primary target of the Satanic Church's vendetta against her: Anja, a three-year-old little girl. Anja was the epitome of innocence and purity. She acted as a snapshot of Cecilia as a child and contained all that was good about her. If Anja was destroyed, any chance of Cecilia finding salvation would be lost. The toddler needed a mother's love and a shield from the evils of Satan.
Simply put, Anja had to be protected and nurtured at all costs. While Dissociative Identity Disorder is a real condition, Cecilia made a mockery of it. The disorder is already painfully misunderstood in mainstream media, and her association with it has likely worsened the discrimination sufferers experience. Cecilia used her apparent diagnosis to manipulate Ria into mothering her and taking care of her every need.
The burden eventually became so great that Rhea was forced to enlist the help of other Overcomers through Christ members, starting with Marinda Hugo. Marinda was a high school teacher and devout Christian with a 12-year-old son, Leroux, and a 10-year-old daughter, Marcel. Initially, she only agreed to look after Cecilia so that Rhea could continue the fight against Satan with her ministry.
However, Mirinda quickly developed a disturbing obsession with Cecilia, so much so that she changed her surname back to her maiden name, Stane. The teacher began to hate Rhea and Candace, Cecilia's closest confidants, and did everything in her power to establish herself as the witch's right-hand woman. Mirinda insisted that she sleep at the Cosanna flat and wait on Cecilia hand and foot,
which she couldn't be by the witch's side. She forced her children to take her place and make her presence known. Mirinda wanted them to absorb Cecilia's teaching and develop the same undying loyalty that now gave their mother a reason to live. Over the years, the children became corrupted by the witch's bad habits. LaRue was often left at Cecilia's flat for the school holidays, where she would pressure the boy into getting drunk, with Mirinda's blessing, of course.
At one point, Marcel was forced to move in with Cecilia, her husband, and her two young children. The teen was made to do their laundry, cook their meals, and look after the sickly middle-aged woman. There was one problem though. Marcel was teetering on the edge of puberty. According to Candice, Cecilia claimed that blood not only drew demons in, but opened spiritual doorways they could use to attack her.
Shockingly, Miranda decided to put Marcel on monthly contraceptive injections to stop her period before it even started. Cecilia's safety was her top priority after all. Miranda even turned a blind eye when the witch exposed her teenage daughter to dangerous substances. Marcel began doing drugs to detach from her sad reality at Cecilia's Cosana apartment.
She indulged in cat and tick on a regular basis, two highly addictive South African street drugs reminiscent of crystal meth. The thought that a mother would willingly put her own daughter's life and well-being at risk is appalling. However, Marinda wasn't the only one who became dangerously bewitched by Cecilia's bizarre act. Cecilia painted herself as the victim and the victor.
Overcomers through Christ members pitied her. She was weak, vulnerable, and persecuted by that which they feared most. However, they also idolized her. Cecilia was an overcomer. She had faced the devil himself and lived to tell the tale. After escaping his clutches, Cecilia chose their humble ministry to join her in fighting the Dark Kingdom. She was special. By association, so were they.
The Ministry dedicated itself to keeping Cecilia safe, with many of its members vying for her approval. None were hungrier for affirmation than Rhea's inner circle. This included Marinda Stane and her two children, Michaela Valentine, a pastor in training, and her husband, Zach Valentine, an insurance broker. Candace Ryavik was amongst these chosen ones, but remained secretly skeptical. Rhea recruited them to take turns helping her look after the witch full-time.
Their support was specifically needed on High Nights. Part 5: High on High Nights According to Cecilia, High Nights were sacred satanic dates when the demonic spirits that hunted her were at their most active and powerful. Conveniently, they were also the nights that Andries, her husband, who was a police officer, had his evening shifts.
Cecilia forbade her protectors from ever speaking of the occult in front of Andres. The couple lived separate lives and slept in separate rooms, which made it easier to keep them in the dark.
However, it's hard to believe that Andries was unaware of the strange happenings in their small flat. Cecilia's infant children, Andries Jr. and Luisa, who she largely ignored, were present for much of her performances. Sadly, they were also at the flat during high nights, where they witnessed their mother scream, writhe in agony, and flail about as she was savagely brutalized by unseen forces.
On these nights, the inner circle would gather in Cecilia's bedroom and listen to gospel music, pray, and prepare for the coming onslaught. The atmosphere would take a dark turn as the clock ticked closer to 8 p.m. That's when the attacks usually began. Sometimes, they could last until 3 a.m. the following morning.
According to Cecilia, the occult would perform satanic rituals like blood offerings and human sacrifices that drew her spiritual being to them, rendering her unconscious. While her soul was anchored to the ritual site, her physical body would remain in her flat and begin manifesting the injuries the Satanists inflicted on their sacrificial victims. It was a harrowing sight for Cecilia's protectors.
Video footage shows that she would suddenly gasp, start moaning, and grab her chest. As they rushed to her aid, she would collapse, apparently unresponsive. Cecilia would cough and choke, blood spurting from her lips and pouring down her chin as she convulsed on the floor. The inner circle would huddle around her jerking body and pray frantically, determined to exorcise the demonic forces, wreaking havoc on her organs.
They begged Jesus to end her suffering and bring her spirit back from the ritual site. Cecilia would scream in apparent agony and tear at her own skin as if the demons inside of her were burning. Somehow, her pulse would slow rapidly to the point that her protectors thought she was dying. She would eventually come to and lie still with a vacant stare, seemingly in a state of shock. This in itself is an impressive feat.
Perhaps hysteria had consumed the inner circle, making it difficult to read her pulse correctly. Candice, however, had other ideas. One day, Cecilia bragged about mastering a breathing technique her husband had learned while training for the police force. She even demonstrated how she could slow her pulse from 80 to 40 within seconds. This didn't explain Cecilia's bloody fits, but it certainly nurtured the skepticism brewing within Candice.
no one else shared their suspicions. The inner circle was so convinced by Cecilia's performances that they even injected her with morphine to relieve her supposed suffering. Religious beliefs aside, what would you do if someone collapsed in front of you, choking on blood and screeching in pain? These attacks became so frequent that the inner circle had to take shifts to babysit the witch.
Mirinda and her children even moved into the apartment above. The group became consumed by Cecilia's lies, so much so that they left their lives and loved ones to fully dedicate themselves to the war against Satan. Eventually, they began financially supporting Cecilia too. Even Candice was coerced into paying for her clothing and extensive medical bills. Soon, Cecilia demanded that the inner circle adhere to a strict dress code.
She wanted them to wear all black clothing. Although evangelical Christians tended to associate this look with occultism, the group obeyed without hesitation. Starting to sound familiar? This was the beginning of what would become a casebook cult. Part 6: The Evolution of Electus Per Deus Initially, Cecilia lured the group into her orbit by exploiting the small town's satanic panic that engulfed Kruger's Dorp's religious communities at the time.
She feigned vulnerability, putting her life in their hands, and fabricated a world where they were God's first line of defense against Satan. The group became drunk on imagined power and status. In reality, they were mere pawns who'd been brainwashed by a charismatic con artist. Cecilia eventually stopped playing the victim and became the narcissistic, controlling, manipulative leader typical of any cult.
Obedience was rewarded with her praise and favor, while the slightest hint of insubordination resulted in humiliation. Like many other cult victims, Cecilia's followers became trapped in a cycle of acceptance and rejection. And like many cult leaders, Cecilia was smart. She carefully studied each member over the years and used their fears and weaknesses as tools of control.
However, there was one thing she didn't take into account: Rhea Grunewald's dedication to her savior. Those in the inner circle had changed radically, and Rhea's ministry was concerned. Even Michaela Valentine's mother had noticed a worrying shift in her daughter and son-in-law's personalities.
Their once independent minds were riddled with Cecilia's ideas and opinions. Their lives revolved around her. Overcomers through Christ members began complaining to Rhea that her Know Your Enemy course had corrupted their ministry. It was teaching them the ways of the occult rather than how to combat it. Pastor Reginald Ben Dixon, Rhea's mentor, echoed their unease and insisted that the course was too focused on Satan.
He helped Rhea put the focus back on God alone and worked with her to create a new training course called "Know Your Savior". This was a devastating blow for Cecilia. The new course made her presence of overcomers through Christ redundant. Worse, she was slapped with the realization that, with God at the center of Rhea's ministry once again, she was no longer the center of Rhea's universe. Cecilia tried desperately to bring Rhea's attention back to her.
She made up bizarre stories and increased the frequency and severity of demonic attacks, which she blamed on Rhea's absence. It was no use. Rhea refused to deviate from her mission again and withdrew from what was now Cecilia's inner circle. This inspired Candice, who was already trying to distance herself from the group, to do the same. The financial strain of looking after Cecilia had resulted in her losing her business, more so.
Candace had begun to see through her lies, though she was too fearful to expose her at this stage. That was the last straw for Cecilia. She was determined to prevent her remaining followers from leaving. She needed them to help her exact revenge on Rhea for betraying her. Cecilia, like many cult leaders, convinced her inner circle that she was God's chosen disciple. She saw him, heard him, and spoke for him.
She told them that Rhea had strained from the path that God had chosen for her and the church of Satan would spill more blood because of it. Conveniently, Cecilia knew the true path to salvation. She told her inner circle that they needed to destroy Rhea's blasphemous ministry before it caused more deaths. According to her, it was what God wanted. This was an exceptionally cunning move. If her followers tried to defy her, they would be going against God himself.
She had them in the palm of her hand. In 2012, 30-year-old Cecilia Stain formed her own ministry to fulfill the Lord's wishes, and Electus Perdeus was born. Its name was Latin for "chosen by God," but it had nothing to do with religion. Electus Perdeus was a cult, a posse of people who othered themselves from society using a group identity, considered themselves to be elite, and were devoted to a divine leader.
To prove their commitment to Cecilia and her cause, Mirinda, Marcel, Leroux, Michaela, and Zach branded themselves with "Electus per Deus" tattoos. It was clear to Cecilia that they would do anything for her, so she began milking them for all their worth. Cecilia started preaching the true word of God to her followers, but required something in return. She wanted tithes.
which are usually a tenth of one's annual salary that gets donated to their church. However, Cecilia managed to persuade them into relinquishing most of their earnings, another classic trait of cult leaders. She told her followers about an orphanage that took care of the abandoned children of members of the Church of Satan. It had been built in secret in a forest somewhere in America to protect their identities.
Miraculously, Cecilia not only knew where the orphanage was, but had the caretakers' banking details too. She explained that they desperately needed money to continue shielding the orphans from the occult. Of course, donations had to be sent directly to Cecilia's bank account to prevent the Church of Satan from discovering the orphanage's location. Cecilia assured her followers that she would make the payments on their behalf.
Astonishingly, it worked. Zach and Michaela began sending her their 100,000 rand salary every month, which was more than the average South African annual salary that year. Rand is the official currency of the South African area. Marinda, who made far less money as a teacher, also surrendered a significant portion of her salary. Still, Cecilia, who began living a noticeably lavish lifestyle around this time, wanted more.
She told her followers that she needed a whopping 5,000 rand every week to pay for her therapist. Next, she needed 23,000 rand to help a woman who'd escaped the occult. Apparently, the woman had stolen the money from the Church of Satan and called Cecilia, begging her to pay it back and save her life. Regardless of the witch's dubious excuses and lack of proof, Eleptus Brideus obeyed.
Eventually, turning Rhea's inner circle against her and living off their earnings wasn't enough for Cecilia. She wanted to test her followers' loyalty and force Rhea into being her primary caretaker once again. Part 7: Killing for the Greater Good Blissfully unaware that Alectus Brudeus was plotting against her, Rhea continued facilitating her Know Your Savior training course for the remaining Overcomers through Christ members.
She held their meetings at her flat, which was located on the same street as Cecilia's Cosanna apartment. She moved there months earlier to be closer to the witch during high nights. One evening, her preaching was interrupted by a piercing scream. Rhea and her ministry rushed outside to see what the commotion was about, only to find Cecilia cowering in the middle of the street and covered in blood. Apparently, she'd just been stabbed by an unknown assailant.
Rhea brushed this off as another one of Cecilia's attempts at getting attention, until she began receiving threatening text messages from the occult. The anonymous texters claimed that Rhea's failure to protect Cecilia was the reason for the recent attack and, should she continue focusing on her Bible studies, the Church of Satan would orchestrate more. There was no doubt in Rhea's mind that these messages had been sent by satanic witches.
Although she feared for Cecilia's safety, she became more fearful for her own life and the lives of her ministry and family members. Rhea organized one final meeting for overcomers through Christ and kept it a secret just to be safe. It didn't work.
That evening, their gathering was once again interrupted by a loud noise. This time, however, it was an explosion. Ria and her ministry crept outside to find out what happened and saw that petrol bombs, or Molotov cocktails, had been thrown at their cars in the parking lot. Thankfully, no one was injured. Upon further inspection, they noticed that their tires had been slashed and their hubcaps destroyed.
Rhea and her group were shaken but confident that the worst was over, considering that was their last meeting. They were sorely mistaken. Shortly after the bombing, a church that was pastored by a member of Overcomers Through Christ was torched and almost burned to the ground.
After these terrifying incidents, Rhea became paralyzed with fear and paranoia. She believed that the Satanists who'd been attacking Cecilia were now hunting her too. The devout Christian withdrew from her life and loved ones, thinking it would keep them safe. She was wrong. Unbeknownst to her, Cecilia was planning something far more sinister. After realizing that her scare tactics had pushed Rhea further away, the witch became enraged. She no longer wanted Rhea's attention,
Now, she wanted to cause her pain. Someone close to Ria needed to be sacrificed, and Cecilia knew exactly who her first victim would be. She set her sights on Natasha Berger, a 33-year-old attorney and an active member of Overcomers Through Christ. Natasha was a close friend of Ria's and assisted her in presenting the Know Your Enemy and Know Your Savior courses. Her father remembers her as a passionate person who devoted her life to helping others.
After hearing Cecilia's sob story about the fictitious orphanage, Natasha wanted to make a difference in the children's lives. Tragically, her kindness ended her own. It began with a prayer. Natasha wrote it for the children who'd been abused and abandoned by their Satanist parents. She aptly dubbed it "The Dangerous Prayer." Natasha offered it at one of the Overcomers Through Christ meetings, during which the ministry recited it together.
She only had good intentions. But Cecilia twisted her words and convinced the members of Electus Praedeus that the prayer had caused the deaths of 170 orphans. The witch said that Natasha had been overcome by Satan's influence and insisted she be killed, lest her actions spill more blood.
In truth, Cecilia orchestrated Natasha's death to punish Rhea, but cleverly concealed her childish motive with Bible verses she manipulated to justify murder. She claimed that it was a necessary evil in the fight against Satan. According to her, the apparent voice of God, it was what their Lord wanted. This is a painfully perfect example of the power a cult leader can draw from religion.
Prior to meeting Cecilia, the members of Electus Brudeus held their Christian morals close and had no criminal records or histories of violence. However, after being indoctrinated by her for over four years, it didn't take much to convince them into killing for the greater good. They were at war, after all. Many are convinced that the members of Electus Brudeus were willing participants in the slaughters that followed. No reasonable person would ever find murder justifiable, right?
While I certainly agree that some members were all too eager to kill for Cecilia, as you'll see in part two, I also want to emphasize that reason had no part in what played out. As we've seen time and time again, those who become cult leaders have mastered the art of psychological manipulation, whether they know it or not. Charles Manson, an illiterate career criminal, was able to convince educated young hippies to savagely murder nine innocents.
Jim Jones, a preacher and political activist, managed to persuade 909 people to kill themselves and their children. We're not dealing with reasonable people here. We're talking about brainwashed pawns who lost their reason along with themselves in the name of an imagined cause. That's not to say that they shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes though. The members of Electus Burdeus didn't only murder in the name of the Almighty, they murdered for money too.
Perhaps they got a taste for bloodshed. Maybe they were scared into submission. We'll find out in part two.