Justin Kenyon was a cult leader and member of The Blacklist.
Background[]
Kenyon was the leader of the Church of the Shield, a religious cult and separatist militia. In 1982, he published a book titled “The Silver Bear Prophecies”, in which he claimed to have been spoken to by the spirit of an ancient druid and that he was the modern day incarnation of a divine entity called the Ken'yon, which on Judgment Day would ascend to heaven with its followers for 6 days and then descend to bring about Armageddon on the United States. Founded some time later, the Church was based in a fortified compound in the middle of a 15,000 acre wildlife reserve in the Smoky Mountains. Kenyon went on to declare the piece of land its own nation-state.
Citing the story of Lot and his daughters from Genesis 19, he preached polygamy and required that male members of the cult marry 3 women, regardless of their age. Because the gender ratio of the movement became problematic, several boys born into the cult, including Kenyon's own son, David, would draw lots on the first new moon of January at the age of 8 - 10. The chosen one would be celebrated and then abandoned in the wilderness to die. While many died of sickness or exposure, the survivors, led by David, eventually banded together to form the Watchers, preaching their own version of Kenyon's teachings.
As time went on, Kenyon became popular within fringe circles of the far right. While the authorities were somewhat aware of the group's crimes of polygamy and forced elder-minor relations, he had 4 prominent civil rights lawyers on retainer that blocked any attempts to enter the compound and investigate. To make money, Kenyon started storing illegal contraband, such as weaponry, drugs, and stolen goods, for other criminals in underground storage facilities on the cult's compound.
Season 2[]
“The Kenyon Family”[]
The episode opens as Kenyon reads Genesis 19 to other members of the church, telling them it's a message from God. Afterwards, he begins his wedding ceremony to his third wife, a pre-pubescent girl, as the congregation sings “Down to the River to Pray”. By the time they get to the altar, the Watchers take out church members by the storage facilities while another group throws smoke grenades into the church and seals off the room while they kill the adults and abduct the children. Justin Kenyon is taken alive and later killed by his son David, who kills him and drives bundles of sticks into his eye sockets and mouth.
Gallery[]