KINANGOP (Kenya), July 15: The escalating Middle East conflict has strengthened the convictions of a doomsday cult in central Kenya that believes the world will come to an end in September.

Members of the ‘House of Yahweh’ sect here have begun selling off their belongings and preparing for Armageddon, attracting the attention of authorities concerned the group’s leaders may be taking advantage of believers.

“The goings-on now in Israel are a clear indication of what will happen,” says Ruth Wanjiku, a member of the Kenyan branch of the House of Yahweh that is based in the US state of Texas.

“This is the beginning of the end of the world as prophesied by the ‘Book of Yahweh’,” she says, referring to the group’s version of the Bible that holds Armageddon will begin on Sept 12.

According to the prophesy, the end of the world will begin that day when the United States moves to protect Israel, sparking a war that sucks in nuclear powers China, North Korea, Iran, India and Pakistan, as well as non-nuclear state Sudan.

Recent developments in the Middle East have only bolstered the group’s assertions.—AFP