Police Seek Parents and Pastors After Church Starves 2-Year-Old To Death In Exorcism Ritual

Police are pursuing those responsible for the death of a 2-year-old boy at a church in Texas where the parents and pastors starved the boy to rid him of his possession by a demon — only to try to resurrect the dead boy later with the use of blessed oils. Police say the pastors at a Balch Springs church starved a 2-year-old boy they said was possessed by a demon, and later held a ceremony to resurrect the boy. The parents are believed to have taken the body to Mexico while Aracely Meza, 49, was arrested Monday and charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. The boy was given only water for 25 days and died on March 22.

Police have reported a very strong case for not just serious bodily injury by omission but homicide. When a church member tried to feed the boy, the pastors scolded her and prevented her from feeding the boy. However, as this column discusses, people who kill children in the name of religion have often been given more lenient treatment. This type of Abraham defense creates a mitigating factor in the names of some judges and prosecutors.

The boy denied at the Iglesia Internacional Jesus es el Rey, where Meza, her husband and several others lived. Meza acted as the church’s vice president and also claimed to be a prophet who could communicate directly with God. You can see the final ceremony in the video here.

It was Meza who on the morning of March 22 held the bizarre resurrection ceremony as Meza held the boy, named Benjamin, and says “In the name of Jesus, I’m utilizing this oil to try to get him back to life.”

After applying oil to his head, she says it’s time for him to wake up, “right now.” He didn’t.

Source: Dallas News