HYSTERIA gripped the crowd as they clamoured to be healed by the self-styled prophet with “God-given” powers.
The entranced men and women packed the church in Tooting, South London, to have demons driven from their souls in a battle with the devil.
Overwhelmed, many collapsed at the merest touch of the preacher rapping fire and brimstone into a microphone.
This was the weird world of “His Excellency Dr Kevin O Smith” laid bare in a 2018 YouTube video.
But those British worshippers will be questioning their faith today after he was arrested at what appeared to be a terrifying Human Sacrifice ritual, where two people died and three were left with life-threatening injuries, while others were stabbed.
The tubby preacher and 41 followers were held after two worshippers had their throats cut at the start of an alleged blood-letting ceremony in Jamaica on Sunday.
Another was shot dead after opening fire on police, who halted the horror as more potential victims — including naked men and animals — were lined up for slaughter with ceremonial daggers. Among the turmoil were 14 bewildered children.
Police swooped fearing Smith believed he was God and was about to launch a massacre.
He had summoned his congregation to his church in the Paradise Heights suburb of Montego Bay.
All were ordered to wear white and leave their phones at home — wrapped in foil — before embarking on his “Noah’s Ark” journey to salvation.
Jamaican-born Smith, 39, wrote on Facebook: “It is a Roman Catholic sacrifice — it will have no survivors.”
'THE ARK IS LOADING NOW'
Police are convinced a major bloodbath was only averted because a woman who was wounded for disobeying orders at the church raised the alarm.
The ceremony is understood to have centred on rabid anti-Covid vaccine campaigner Smith’s bid to stop “bloodline pollution caused by witchcraft” which he claimed caused wicked sex dreams.
He sent Facebook messages as the bloodletting began on Sunday imploring: “The Ark is loading now! Leave immediately dressed in white.”
One post sent at around 8pm raved: “I am His Excellency Dr Kevin O Smith D.Min, Crown Bishop and End Time Nabi . . . Conqueror Lion of the Tribe of the Judah King of Kings and Lord of Lord Yesus Christos, the One True and living God.”
He went on to prophesise an apocalypse in which “999 planes bearing the number 6 will fall from my heavens across Jamaica and the Whole World on December 2, 2021”.
Police were last night still questioning Smith amid claims that high-profile figures including police officers, government officials, plus tax collectors and teachers, had joined his extravagantly named St James’ Pathway International Kingdom Restoration Ministries Church.
A source close to the investigation told The Sun: “A 39-year-old office worker called Tanecka Gardner was the first to be sacrificed by having her throat cut.
“Then a man was ordered to strip naked and died in the same way to get the ‘impure’ blood out of his body.
“The ritual was said to have been overseen by Smith and an off-duty policewoman, who was a follower.
“There is huge concern that influential people — including other local police officials — were involved and that this may have happened before and gone unreported.
“The entire congregation had been called to the church and around 50 had arrived wearing white when the killing started. Scores could have died.
“They had done two days of fasting on Friday and Saturday and the ritual began on Sunday, with people lining up to board ‘the Ark’ after Smith warned a great flood was coming. Two were sacrificed before police moved in and another was shot by police after opening fire on them.
“Three more people are in hospital, one in a life-threatening condition, and more were stabbed.”
A witness told how she fled the horror on her way to join her son and daughter inside the church after Smith ordered all of his 144 congregants to attend.
She said: “It was very intense. When I saw blood and the young lady fell, I said, ‘This is it for me’, and I walked away. I started to put one and one together.
“I saw two lady church members jump the fence, so I said, ‘No, this can’t be right’, as those two were normally close to the pastor.”
Police said they found the blood-stained building littered with valuables, along with livestock and food in a cellar designed to resemble an ark.
Smith, who has a degree in psychology, is said to have been fleecing his impoverished flock of £7,000 a week in donations and bought a hillside mansion, a new BMW X6 and designer clothes and jewellery.
His £500,000 pastel-yellow retreat with swimming pool is in the exclusive Ironshore enclave of St James, just five miles from the grim shanty town in the centre of Montego Bay where his followers gathered.
He also boasted political influence, posting a picture on Facebook showing him being kissed on the cheek by former Jamaican PM Portia Simpson-Miller.
His posts were recently fired up with furious calls to shun Covid vaccines, warning: “Forced vaccination is rape!”
Smith’s proclamations were heeded by his desperately poor flock, who funded his lifestyle as he swanned among them in flashy clothes, beckoning minions to his side with bejewelled fingers.
Questions were also being asked last night over his conduct towards young boys constantly seen at his side after claims of abuse surfaced.
One was ordered to accompany him everywhere, shielding him from sun and showers with an umbrella — even while in his pool.
Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson said at the crime scene: “We were very concerned some form of ritualised killing was going to take place.”
BLOOD-STAINED CHURCH
The children at the scene were taken into care as Smith, ten men and 31 women were quizzed by police. Within hours of his arrest, diehard followers set up a GoFundMe page to raise £22,000 for his defence.
And as police combed the blood-stained church, followers were still posting messages of support on social media, with one gushing: “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Another brainwashed fan raved in a garbled message on a YouTube comment page: “No matter what people say, he is excellency, he speak the truest prophecy.
“The witches and government who have hijacked the church are against the truth. They were paid millions to deceive the people but His Excellency speaks the truth.”
The online voices backing Smith were swamped by a tidal wave of fury as police sources predicted murder charges were imminent against eight of the suspects held.
Jamaica’s Assistant Police Commissioner Clifford Chambers said on Thursday that Smith would be charged once all available evidence was collected and assessed.
He said: “I am sure that he will be charged when sufficient evidence with regards to certain crimes are put together.”
Police armed with a warrant yesterday searched the pastor’s lavish villa.
Chambers also confirmed officers were probing the alleged abuse of boys in Smith’s entourage. He said: “There is information about molestation. It is a part of the investigation.”
One viewer of his Tooting ceremony on YouTube yesterday raged: “This is a demon in disguise.”
Another added: “He is no Holy Ghost and is bringing shame to the church. His day in hell is coming.”
Deadly toll of cults
THE bizarre cult of “His Excellency Dr Kevin O. Smith” is not the first to end in bloodshed.
In 1997, Marshall Applewhite – the leader of US cult Heaven’s Gate – convinced 38 followers to kill themselves in California. He and the group took a drug washed down with vodka, then put plastic bags over their heads, all dying over three days.
The 1978 Jonestown massacre was, before 9/11, the largest single incident of intentional civilian death in American history.
American Jim Jones led the People’s Temple of the Disciples of Christ, which he founded in 1955. The group fled to Guyana after negative US media attention and created a settlement called Jonestown.
Jones later instructed his 900 followers to kill themselves by drinking a cyanide-laced punch.
In 1987, the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, took his followers to a compound in Waco, Texas. Concerned about the cult’s activities, the Texas National Guard raided the site in 1993.
It led to a shootout that left four agents dead and a 51-day standoff with the FBI. Eventually, tear gas was launched to try to force people out. But soon after, the compound burst into flames, killing 82 people including Koresh.
And in 2015, cult leader Daniel Perez was convicted of 28 crimes including first-degree murder, rape and sexual exploitation of a child.
The mastermind behind the Angels Landing cult – who claimed to be a 1,000-year-old angel – hoped to collect millions in life insurance policies from members who died.
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