This is a list of modern people who have convinced themselves and others that through divine revelation they have been chosen to be the messiah, saviour, teacher or leader for all humanity. In no particular order…
Ram Bahadur Bomjon – also known as Palden Dorje (his official Buddhist name), is from Ratanapuri village, Bara district, Nepal and drew thousands of visitors and media attention for spending months in meditation. Nicknamed the Buddha Boy, he began his meditation on May 16, 2005, disappeared from his hometown on March 11, 2006, and reappeared elsewhere in Nepal on December 26, 2006 only to leave again on March 8, 2007. On March 26, 2007, inspectors from the Area Police Post Nijgadh in Ratanpuri found Bomjon meditating inside a bunker-like square ditch of seven feet.
L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of the Church of Scientology. Declared himself to be “Metteya” (Maitreya) the forthcoming world spiritual teacher and leader, in the 1955 poem Hymn of Asia. In the book’s preface, his editors indicated that Hubbard possessed specific physical characteristics said to be outlined in unnamed Sanskrit sources as properties of Maitreya.
George Baker, also known as Father Divine, was an African American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death. His full self-given name was Reverend Major Jealous Divine, and he was also known as “the Messenger” and George Baker early in his life. He founded the International Peace Mission movement, Father Divine claimed to be God. Some contemporary critics also claimed he was a charlatan, and some suppose him to be one of the first modern cult leaders. However, Father Divine made numerous contributions toward his followers’ economic independence and racial equality.
Claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Akhenaten, Buddha, Lenin, and Father Divine. He performed supposed miracle healings to attract new converts. Members of Jones’ church called him “Father” and believed their movement was the solution to the problems of society; many did not distinguish Jones from the movement. He was the American founder of the Peoples Temple, which became synonymous with group suicide after the November 18, 1978 death of over 900 people from cyanide poisoning in their isolated agricultural intentional community called Jonestown, along with the death of 9 other people at a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown.
David Koresh was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect, believing himself to be the final prophet. A 1993 raid by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and subsequent siege by the FBI ended with the burning of the Branch Davidian ranch. Koresh, 53 adults and 21 children died in the fire.
Baha’u'llah was born Shiite, adopting Babism later in life. He claimed to be the promised one of all religions, and founded the Baha’Ì Faith. Baha’u'llah declared that he was the “Promised One” of all religions, fulfilling the messianic prophecies found in world religions. He stated that his claims to being several messiahs converging one person were the symbolic, rather than literal, fulfilment of the messianic and eschatological prophecies found in the literature of the major religions.
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda was a Puerto Rican preacher who has claimed to be “the Man Jesus Christ”, who is indwelled with the same spirit that dwelled in Jesus. He is the founder and leader of Creciendo en Gracia (Growing In Grace International Ministry, Inc.), a movement that teaches the “doctrine of Grace” and is based in Miami, Florida. He claims to be both Jesus Christ returned and the Antichrist, and exhibits a “666″ tattoo on his forearm. He has referred to himself as “The Man Christ Jesus”. Creciendo en Gracia has been described as a cult by cult expert Rick Ross, and Freedom of Mind’s Steven Hassan.
Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification Church (“Moonies”). Claims he is the Second Coming of Christ, the “Savior”, “returning Lord”, and “True Parent”. He teaches that all people should become perfected like Jesus and like himself, and that as such he “appears in the world as the substantial body of God Himself”. He is well-known for holding Blessing ceremonies, which are often called “mass weddings”.
Applewhite posted a famous Usenet message declaiming, “I, Jesus Son of God acknowledge on this date of September 25/26, 1995…”. This was two years before he and his Heaven’s Gate cult committed suicide to rendezvous with a spaceship hiding behind the comet Hale-Bopp.
Nuclear war will begin next Thursday, June 12 2008, or sooner, according to the latest prediction of self-proclaimed prophet Yisrayl “Buffalo Bill” Hawkins, the founder of a religious sect in Abilene, Texas. “It could be turned loose before then” Hawkins told 20/20 for a report to be broadcast tonight. “You’re going to see this very soon, really soon” he said. Hundreds of truck trailers have been loaded with food and water on the group’s 44-acre compound, in preparation for the coming war.
Contributor: Tamala
Vera Lynn. I hope you made it through the storm OK. I have a feeling this summer is going to be deadly, with heat, droughts, floods etc.. So bad in fact that Global Warming deniers like Jamie will sit up and take notice. We need the real Messiah pretty soon. If a real Messiah did come to Earth, what changes, if any, would he or she make?
I’ll second GG About Baha’u’llah and the Baha’Ì Faith.
I’m not religious myself, but I think that Bahá’ís should not be confused with the scammers depicted here.
They promote sane and moderate social values, don’t ruin their members, and are invested in promoting long term improvement of third world populations life conditions (hence their UN recognition).
I’m sure the spot “Buddha Boy” occupies could have been better filled by someone else.
Who cares if he wants to sit and meditate- when did he call himself messiah?
Maybe you just needed to include more details to explain how he is a self-appointent messiah. It would appear that he is a self-appointed meditator
YogiBarrister do yo see any slimiliarities between some of the people on this list, and Al Gore and his eschatological disciples?
I would have put Jesus, except that there’s no historical evidence of him existing.
Tamala, I do! I do! And what’s up with BuddahBoy?? Do you know some more about him that would make him appropriate for this list? I love the list, btw.
Nice! Thursday is (was) laundry day.
I can’t WAIT for what Yisrayl comes out with on Friday. I wonder if any of his followers will leave him.
romero-
I’m sure he’s just going to come up with a new Doomsday. And his “followers” are all so deluded in the first place, why would they stop now?
rushfan…. I first heard of the buddha boy around 2 years ago, the last i read he was going to an isolated spot to meditate for 6 years before returning, he may just be a very ordinary boy demonstrating extraordinary feats of endevour, accusations have been rife since the story first broke that it was all a money making scam worked by his brothers,
The police went to check him out at his pit on March 26, 2007
they found him to be healthy and he expressed his wish to be left alone which they followed.
On August 2, 2007 he gave a serom to a crowd of 3000 in southern nepal. He began with the following statement…
“Murder, violence, greed, anger and temptation has made the human world a desperate place. A terrible storm has descended upon the human world, and this is carrying the world towards destruction. There is only one way to save the world and that is through ‘dharma” (religious practice.) When one doesn’t walk the righteous path of religious practice, this desperate world will surely be destroyed.”
I havent read anything about his situation since then.
There are many sites, forums, google groups, etc, following his progress
oOOOops fingers not working!!! that should read “On August 2, 2007 he gave a SERMON”
Tamala, I see no similarities between Al Gore and these people at all. Virtually every scientist in the world is in agreement on the subject. In fact, a much more apt comparison would be to compare the rightwing GW deniers with the followers of these religious cults.
There have been announced and well trumpeted “doomsdays” for at least 1000 years, maybe longer, maybe some unknown tribes in places no outsider ever found also had doomsday cults.
So far, they have all be false advertising. As will be this one.
It’s a power gimmick; an ego trip. You get a bunch of people to hand over all their worldly goods ( because “it’s harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle”), and await the end. When the end doesn’t come, the good folks are praised. Their sacrifice and prayers have saved the earth, for now, so that more souls can be gathered for God.
So off they go, penniless but proud, waiting until the next time, while the charlatan goes off to fleece a new flock.
Being religious isn’t the problem. Heck, being a practicing member of the church of your choice isn’t the problem.
Being religious without being spiritual is the problem.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Nor are they inextricably intertwined. Given a choice, I choose being spiritual over being religious any day. If more people were, the world would be in much better shape than it currently is.
Tamala:
I was really enjoying the idea of his giving a serom (I assumed you meant serum) to 3000 folks.
What a nice, life-saving gesture, I thought!
Now I find out it was just a chat. A very good one, perhaps, with lots of good points, and tips on living a spiritual life, but a chat, nonetheless.
Phooey!
segue “Given a choice, I choose being spiritual over being religious any day.” I totally agree, I worked for a time trying to assist people experiencing drug addiction to recover from the chaotic lifestyle, it was explaind to me one day by a guy who had been a heroin user for over 20 years that …”RELIGION IS FOR PEOPLE WHO DONT WANT TO GO TO HELL, SPIRITUALITY IS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN THERE!!!!!!” I dont think ive ever heard it put better.
YogiBarrister very few people deny GW, whats in doubt are the causes and the solutions which somehow always seem to result in you and i having to spend more money! So as you can tell im somewhat sceptical, but i promise you my friend i could never in a million years be described as right wing!!!!!
This isnt the right list for a debate on global warming, but if you want to compile a list of 10 reasons why you believe it then i can do a list with reasons why im scpetical, and hopefully JFRrater will publish both then we can debate the point, in the meantime i will leave you this link from a US senate report entitled “Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007: Senate Report Debunks Consensus”
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.SenateReport
You have to be careful with reporting accuracy on stuff like this. A ‘messiah’ is a very specific term and terminology that isn’t just applicable to anyone who has followers who happens to be in spiritual power- you really can’t have an ‘anti-god’ or athiestic (or buddhist/agnostic)’ messiah. And even if someone who had those traits claimed to be a messiah, it doesn’t suddenly change the reality of the entymology. Using them as an example is no better than using football rules to referee a basketball game. I’m not saying that to be pedantic- a cult leader is a cult leader, there’s no denying that- but to clarify. People are so cynical and ignorant they want to slap labels on anyone who remotely resembles these things. Read through the examples other people in the comments are giving, for example. Most of them don’t fit.
Another thing is slapping on the ‘doomsday cult’ label on anyone who claims the end of the world. That’s bunk. You hear a leader claim the end of the world is coming, and automatically call them a doomsday cult. It doesn’t work like that.
Calling the end of the world is a psychological control technique- the leader says the world will end on X date- and the news only reports that. What you miss is they tell their followers ‘but if I go and pray to God for the next few days, I can ask him to forgive us and spare us’ So when the world doesn’t end, his happy sheep are even more convinced their great leader can really talk to God.
I’m not religious, but I do believe in fairness of knowledge. For some really interesting stuff on cults, read up on the books written about the legal status of the organizations and what in the legal system is defined to be a cult and what isn’t. Agree with it or not, there are specific reasons why Islam and Christianity and Buddhism are not considered cults, defined by psychologists who study the processes and used as legal benchmarks in court.
You forgot Shoko Asahara of the Aum Shinrikyo (now known as Aleph). A real nutcase!
#136. Mr.Graves – June 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm, who sounds mysteriously like Randall on sedatives, prattled at length about messiahs and cults, finally landing on doomsday cults.
Yisrayl “Buffalo Bill” Hawkins, at #1, calls his own prediction Doomsday, and says, further, ‘Nuclear war will begin next Thursday, June 12 2008, or sooner, according to the latest prediction of self-proclaimed prophet Yisrayl “Buffalo Bill” Hawkins, the founder of a religious sect in Abilene, Texas. “It could be turned loose before then” Hawkins told 20/20 for a report to be broadcast tonight. “You’re going to see this very soon, really soon” he said. Hundreds of truck trailers have been loaded with food and water on the group’s 44-acre compound, in preparation for the coming war.’
44 acres? And he calls himself a Messiah. 44 acres isn’t even a good shooting range!
June 11: Garfields birthday!!! …http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20080609/cx_ga_uc/ga20080609…
44 acres? And he calls himself a Messiah.
Crimanon – if I ran into Tom Cruise I’d happily give him a couple of ache(ers)
it is funny how everyone thinks the above guys are wackos (and they’re right) but are willing to believe jesus existed and actually was the Son of god. Strange.
Kiwi: Forget the land, I’d give him some water balloons just to defend himself. It’s been awhile since I saw a good extremist water fight!
Oh and correction, Garfields B-day is the 12. I seem fixated on the number eleven today.
Davo: We can’t prove that Jesus wasn’t, but we can prove that these guys Aren’t. Oenologistically speaking.
“The knife in the back scraped a few ribs but it missed the lung.” I type in the dark and keyboarding is not my forte. Please excuse any and all typos (past, present, and future)fellow denizons of Listverse. I thank you in advance for your understanding. I enjoy the camaraderie, the debates, and the very engaging, interesting info. But comments that are designed to demean or hurt aren’t appreciated. Especially when they carry a “just kidding” at the end. Shows people what a black heart the writer has. You fool no one.
overreact much?
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#100. rushfan – June 8th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
what’s a major prophet?
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Drat! Two of my responses didn’t go through. And this answer was funny, too.
But the real answer would depend on your religious background. If you’re Christian, then John the Baptist would qualify. I don’t know your religion. So I can’t tell you who would be a major prophet for you.
AxisBoldAsLove If i were lesser, I would point out your error. However I get what you mean. I am not like others. Simple errors are human. We all do them. Am I sensitive? Perhaps, but you do not know my history. Be well.
I thought the Maitreya was supposed to be female? Not an egotistical douche.
I’m not sure who Randall or Segue are, or what they have to do with me. My commentary came only because I have always been fascinated with cults and I read an amazing book written by a woman who ended up working for the U.S government (I apologize for not remembering her name, this was years ago) travelling the country and *****yzing group structures to determine whether laws applicable to cult status could be applied to current crimes commited by groups and what defined the cult.
What Segue says after has no connection to what I said, honestly, and I don’t understand it. Confusing but no worries, the world is a big place.
One of the key things I remember about the book, as it was based in a lot of legal status and defining structures of hierarchy, is how it could define the difference between a cult, and say, the U.S. Marine corp authority structure, or the structure of major world religions. I have no idea why Segue connected my previous comment to theirs. No worries though!
@ DiscHuker: That was Drago, I looked it up on the IMDB. Of course I could be mistaken for Dolph Lundgren,,, by a senile, half blind, schizoid, LSD user.
I have an exam on the 12th of June… to continue studying or not…
Momotsuki: while I would prefer you stay on the site reading lists and comments, I feel obliged to tell you that you should study! You will feel much happier reading the lists once you have all your obligations behind you
All men! After being God himself at the family, men always want to have more n more power.. :d
Mr. Graves: I apologize if I confused you with Randall (long, boring story…you don’t want to know), but what I said after does, indeed, connect to what you said.
Did you read through all of the articles and all of the posts before commenting? You sound quite intelligent, but your commentary seems to have some holes in it if you’ve read every word of the articles and posts (a not uncommon thing, if one come into a particular List late and so scans, rather than reads…MPW can tell you I am capable of THAT sin myself!).
The book you mention would be of enormous interest to me, having lived my adolescence during the 60′s in Hollywood, CA. Did the book mention the Tony & Susan Alano Foundation? They were the very definition of a cult, and attempted to recruit me more than once, as did Manson, as did the Hari Khrishna’s and the Scientologists (they took me years to get rid of and then when I finally did, the story I related in a post above happened).
I also lived next door ( during the late 80′s – 91) to a Santeria high priest.
So, Mr. Graves, you see, though I have no formal education in “cults” I do have some personal experience, and research is one of my passions.
Please, if you can remember ANY part of the book title, or the author’s name, let me know. I’ll get a copy and can then have an intelligent conversation with you about the subject.
segue
crazy what a bit of charisma can get you. that and just 2 days till nuclear distruction
Well, I can try to help. The book was in paperback by the mid to late 90′s, it was written by a woman (which is useful because the majority of books on the subject are male dominated) and the back of the book distinctly outlines entering the legal ramifications of cult status- one of the things I remember specifically is that it mentions how the author was a key witness for several federal prosecution cases over many years in defining whether cult involvement was applicable to the case being tried. It was definately written in the U.S. and had some very high profile cases from the late 80′s to mid-90′s that she had testified in.
About the comment of the ‘end of the world’ prediction from the last guy, maybe how it was really believed because they were stickpiling and such, if you look into the case- the same guy has predicted the end of the world twice already in the past, with the same stockpiling and all that junk. It’s nothing new or even newsworthy. Just more media-hype.
Reading over 154 again, I would say almost I’m 90% sure the book mentions the Alano foundation, more than once. But it’s been a while, and I’m really really horrible with names rather than concepts and definitions.
We need to all go to my list about Post-Modern religions, look at Last Thursdayism, and say, “Yeah, they WERE right”.
Very nice list.
I think there must be something fundamentally wrong with the hard-wiring of the brain of anybody who wants that kinds of power and leadership.
And that’s just when it comes to your average politian.
tomorrow??! hahaha
With my luck, a truck will backfire on thursday, and I’ll jump out of my skin. (haha)
Just what did the guy mean by “thursday”? When, or what time? In New Zealand, Thursday starts 14 or 15 hours before it starts in my time zone. I thought of that back in the Y2K days.
It’s already 12 June in Korea, and I can report that nuclear war hasn’t broken out here (so far). I’m about 50 km from North Korea, too, though the biggest contention here at the moment is about imports of beef from the USA.
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astraya – It’s already 12 June in Korea, and I can report that nuclear war hasn’t broken out here (so far).
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Well, am I ever relieved! My Neurologist has warned me to avoid radiation, even x-ray’s and sunlight (as much as possible), so nuclear war would be VERY bad for me.
10:00 here in the UK and all is quiet, what do you have for breakfast on the last day of civilisation???? hmmmmmm
Sathya Sai Baba
Nutty Indian guru/messiah who claims to have 6 million followers.
Mid-evening in Korea and still no war here. How’s everyone else doing?
BTW the unification church still exists, but is much less active than it was in its heyday. Moon is now well into his 80s.
9 am eastern standard time in the US. Good thing I decided to come in to work today despite the threat of nuclear war!
9:58 a.m. pst in on the west coast of the US and nary a nuclear bomb.
OMG ITS JUNE 12. 2008! Wait… Wheres the nuclear war?… Crazy dumbass…
Friday the 13th in Korea!
According to my clock, our doomday-sayer has about and hour and a half left for their to be a nuclear war, though I guess in Texas, he has two and a half hours.
OMG, The horror, the horror! Oh, The humanity! There’s, there’s smoke, tons of smoke, and, and an eerie glow coming from the city! … Oh, Wait… Never mind…. my mistake…. It’s just Pittsburgh.
*My apologies to the city of Pittsburgh PA. for this lousy joke that is at least 50 years out-of-date anyhow.*
a nuclear war??? OMG!!!! hahahaha… the only ‘nuclear war’ happened dat day was between me n the toilet dude!
GASP! JUNE 12th! That was yesterday! I don’t have much time!
Hey, where’s the nuclear war?
Mark, if someone held the war, no one came.
is everybody okay.
it was hard to sleep last night with all those bomb blasts and those thick russian accents outside my door
i spent the night in my fall out shelter
i slept on my couch:)
I hope Mr.Hawkins kept the receipts for the trucks and supplies!
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#177. rushfan
i spent the night in my fall out shelter
#178. MPW
i slept on my couch:)
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I slept as I always do, attached to my BiPAP and oxygen concentrator. At least, if Buffalo Bill had been right, I’d have had a good nights sleep.