Originally published in Times Live
Three members of Overcomers Through Christ have been stabbed to death since July.
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The latest killing was on Thursday when Michaela Valentine, 25, was found stabbed to death in her home in Ruimsig, western Johannesburg. Only her cellphone was missing.
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On August 13, Pastor Reg Bendixen – the group’s “mentor” – was found in the garden of his Honeydew home with his throat slit.
On July 26, group member Natacha Burger, 31, and her neighbour, Joyce Boonzaier, 68, were found slain in Boonzaier’s Centurion home, near Pretoria.
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The group claims parts of Bendixen’s brain were removed, and sent, in a brown cardboard box, to Ria Grunewald, the current leader of the group.
Burger apparently worked with former Satanists and was killed shortly after she received a note in which she was told to go to Boonzaier’s home. Boonzaier was not a member of the association.
Grunewald, who ran Overcomers Through Christ’s teaching ministry said: “All of those killed were dear friends whom we met regularly.
“Michaela attended our training three years ago, Natacha – who presented my courses – joined us through a training session. She was devout, with a passion for helping people. She prayed for hours for the salvation of people in the entertainment world and those in the Satanic church.”
Grunewald refused to divulge any information about their teachings, except to say: “We are a teaching ministry bringing God’s love and light into people’s lives.
“Pastor Reg Bendixen was our mentor. He had infinite knowledge of God, which he shared with us,” she said.
Grunewald said she had halted the training to stop the killings.
“I just cannot carry on. The others who do their training have also stopped. We are very worried. We do not know why this is happening or who would do something like this. This is a major loss. We pray to God that these killers are caught before they go further.”
Burger’s father, Tinie, described his daughter – a compliance analyst at First Rand – as “perfectly normal”.
“She loved life and was in love with God. She devoted her life to the Lord and was committed to helping people,” he said.
He said Burger discovered Jesus – to whom she believed she was married – after attending a religious camp in 2005.
“After that there was no one else for her. She wanted others to experience the same happiness and love of God that she had,” he said.
Burger said his daughter joined Overcomers Through Christ in 2010.
“These people are not a church or a strange movement. They are perfectly good. They spread God’s love through training. They pray for people – all sorts of people who are in trouble,” he said.
He said days before his daughter was killed she had been fighting possession by spirits.
“She was under spiritual attack. Natacha was haunted from the work that she did. She was fighting the devil’s attempts to get hold of her, but all the devil did was drive her further to God,” he said.
“That week there were [attacks] on her. She found a blood trail on her gutter. But those targeting her could not reach her because her house was surrounded by angels.
“I am convinced she was praying when she died. She was not afraid. She was surrounded in God’s love. He was with her then and is with her now.”
Police spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said no arrests have been made.
“The police will be able to link the cases only once arrests have been made. The cases are being coordinated by the provincial police office,” he said.
This calls for a concerted effort by all Christians to resists all satanic attacks Let’s join in prayer to ovbercome in the name of Jesus -Edgar
Without sounding critical, please understand my caution when folk tell me they’re CALLED into a certain ministry, often for which they’re not equipped.
I knew Reg personally and he was our pastor when I was a kid, so knowing him I’m a bit concerned about the following statements:
“Pastor Reg Bendixen was our mentor. He had infinite knowledge of God, which he shared with us,” she said.
Grunewald said she had halted the training to stop the killings.
“I just cannot carry on. The others who do their training have also stopped. We are very worried. We do not know why this is happening or who would do something like this. This is a major loss. We pray to God that these killers are caught before they go further.”
Since when do we HALT doing what God has called us to, even to STOP the killings??? What difference is there in confronting satanists, drug lords, gangsters, the Roman Empire (as in the early church) or Muslims…..
“We do not know why this is happening….” Hello!!! In case you haven’t heard my dear sister, we’re in a WAR!!!
Maybe folk should make sure they hear the Lord’s call and not just follow a good idea, or they may find that they’re not ready to lay it all on the line.
Whatever it is we’re going to do, first make sure you hear a clear call from the Lord and that only comes when you’re soaked in prayer.
May God have mercy and save those who have murdered His prophets.
The only people that I know of that are demon possessed are Christians obsessed by the demons of their own imagination. The only war on Christianity is in their imagination, though Christians have a rather long history of making war on other beliefs.
I worry more about psychotic people believing in demon possessions an imaginary wars against them then anybody else. I am sorry folks this is the 21st Century, please join the rest of us sometime. We living in a lot less fearful place then you do and it saddens us to see you so sick.
I’m not sure who you’re referring to Christopher as your comment makes no point and your references to fallen spirits (demons) as only an imagination assumes that we are then not part of a spirit world and hence nothing more than matter in motion. If this is your view, then you need to learn a few basic principles of human life, not just religious but scientific, biological and metaphysical.
Where is it that you wish us to join you? ….. In denial? In ignorance? or just in the rejection of ALL that is Biblical and Godly?
Pray tell, what is the solution you propose for the salvation of mankind?
Alan,
First as to whether the Bible is anything more than a book, written by men, about God that is a matter of opinion. Might I point out that the Jews got along just fine without the concepts of Heaven, Hell, nor a powerful Devil. Those concepts were added later.
As for salvation, from what? From being the imperfect humans that we were designed to be? We are as we were created, with both strengths and weaknesses. What we do with those strengths and weaknesses is a matter of our choice. Had God desired us to be perfect, He would have created us that way. Remember perfect, by definition, is without flaw. Something, that is perfect, cannot become imperfect.
We have gone through a number of these Satanic hysterias in the past, and each time this temporary psychosis has led to Christians killing innocent people. You already have your witch hunts and witch killings, with hundreds of deaths and thousands of beaten and banished victims, being encouraged by some of the Evangelical Christian ministers in South Africa. Some of them are even charging considerable money for curing people of allegedly being witches. It is quite a criminal racket. However none of the accused people are witches. Thus Christian history repeats itself. Any sane man would fight to bring such madness to an end, before it bathes the land in blood.
Wow! A war! Which “War”, Alan, and against whom? Experience tells me that “war” cannot be waged against the supernatural because they are, well… supernatural. Unseen. Not part of our everyday lives. These murders were committed by a LIVING person, not the dead. So exactly whom are you “warring” against? Satanists? Witches? No need to because they are not involved in the “murdering excursion” of whoever committed these murders. Both groups are totally AGAINST violence and harming others, and they DO NOT believe in sacrificing animals or humans or eating babies or killing cats and chickens or any of the sick practices they are accused of by Christians. The deeds were deeds committed by a murderer… as in “killer”? Wake up, pal. Start doing some proper research, and move on. And if you feel you HAVE to involve yourself, then do your investigations properly. Namaste!
Conspiracy theories, be they Satanic or not, remain popular because they make people feel more important, after all you now have a group’s conspiracy targeting you. Conspiracy means you never have to take any responsibility for what goes wrong in your life, instead it can be blamed on the “conspiracy”. But it is also a sign of psychosis, and when any religion indulges in psychosis, it can become dangerous to its own members and dangerous to all people around it.
As I mentioned before we have seen these Satanic panics before and often it has led to bloodshed, even has the Witch Hunts already do in South Africa. For any minister to encourage this in any way is evil in and of itself. For any minister to use it to gain social power, or to earn wealth from is especially evil and a crime against the religion itself.
The biggest danger to any religious people is normally bad members within the religion, not people outside, the insider will be trusted and not seen as a likely enemy of fellow religious members. Thus a bad person within the religion can do a great deal of harm before his fellow members begin to suspect him.
Let us hope that common sense will prevail and the growing psychosis, some are exploiting in this time of grief, will brought to an end before it causes violence and death by frightened believers.