List of people claimed to be Jesus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a partial list of notable people who have been claimed, either by themselves or by their followers, to in some way be the reincarnation or incarnation of Jesus Christ, or theSecond Coming of Christ.

18th century[edit]

  • Ann Lee (1736-1784), the founder and leader of the Shakers. Lee's followers referred to her as "Mother," believing that she was the female incarnation of Christ on Earth. [1]

19th century[edit]

  • John Nichols Thom (1799–1838), a Cornish tax rebel who claimed to be the "saviour of the world" and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and his body temple of the Holy Ghost[citation needed] in 1834. He was killed by British soldiers at the Battle of Bossenden Wood, on May 31, 1838 inKent, England.[2]
  • Arnold Potter (1804–1872), Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; he claimed the spirit of Jesus Christ entered into his body and he became "Potter Christ" Son of the living God. He died in an attempt to "ascend into heaven" by jumping off a cliff. His body was later retrieved and buried by his followers.[3]
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), born Shiite, adopted Bábism later in 1844,[4] he claimed to be the prophesied fulfillment and Promised One of all the major religions. He founded the Bahá'í Faith in 1863.[5] Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus, as well as the prophecies of the 5th Buddha Maitreya and many other religious prophecies, were begun by the Báb in 1844 and then by Bahá'u'lláh. They commonly compare the fulfillment of Christian prophecies to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements.[6]
  • William W. Davies (1833–1906), leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven located in Walla Walla, Washington from 1867 to 1881. He taught his followers that he was the archangel Michael, who had previously lived as the biblical Adam,Abraham, and David. When his son Arthur was born on February 11, 1868, Davies declared that the infant was the reincarnated Jesus Christ.[7][8] When Davies's second son, David, was born in 1869, he was declared to be God the Father.[7]
  • Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (1835–1908), claimed to be the awaited Mahdi as well as (Second Coming) and likeness of Jesus the promised Messiah at the end of time, being the only person in Islamic history who claimed to be both.[citation needed] He claimed to be Jesus in the metaphorical sense; in character. He founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in 1889, envisioning it to be the rejuvenation of Islam, and claimed to be commissioned by God for the reformation of mankind.
  • Lou de Palingboer (1898-1968), the founder and figurehead of a new religious movement in the Netherlands, who claimed to be "the resurrected body of Jesus Christ".

20th century[edit]

  • William M. Branham (April 8, 1908 – December 24, 1965) though never directly claiming to be Jesus himself, Branham promoted himself as the final prophet "Elijah[12] and claimed that Elijah of this day was the Lord Jesus Christ.[13]
  • Krishna Venta (1911—1958), born Francis Herman Pencovic in San Francisco, founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi ValleyCalifornia in the late 1940s. In 1948 he stated that he was Christ, the new messiah and claimed to have led a convoy of rocket ships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates. He died on December 10, 1958 after being suicide bombed by two disgruntled former followers who accused Venta of mishandling cult funds and having been intimate with their wives.
  • Ahn Sahng-Hong (1918–1985), a South Korean who founded the New Covenant Passover Church of God in 1964 and who is considered by theWorld Mission Society Church of God as the Second Coming of Jesus. The World Mission Society Church of God believes that a woman by the name Zahng Gil-Jah is "God the Mother," who they believe is referred to in the Bible as the New Jerusalem Mother (Galatians 4:26, and that Ahn Sahng-Hong is God the Father[14]

21st century[edit]

  • David Shayler (1965–) was a former MI5 agent and whistleblower who, in the summer of 2007, proclaimed himself to be the Messiah. He has released a series of videos onYouTube claiming to be Jesus, although he has not built up any noticeable following since his claims.[41][42][43]
  • Alan John Miller (1962–), more commonly known as A.J. Miller, a former Jehovah's Witness elder and current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth movement.[46] Miller claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated with others in the 20th century to spread messages that he calls the "Divine Truth". He delivers these messages in seminars and various forms of media along with his current partner Mary Suzanne Luck, who identifies herself as the returned Mary Magdalene.[47]
  • Apollo Quiboloy (1950–) is the founder and leader of a Philippines-based Restorationist church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, Inc. He has made claims that he is the "Appointed Son of God".

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ "Her followers began to call her "Mother" Ann because they believed her to be the female component of Christ's spirit and that she represented the second appearance of Christ on earth." http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/cities/shakers.html
  2. Jump up^ J. Lowerson, ed. Charlesworth, An Atlas of Rural protests in Britain, 1548-1900 (1983), pp. 139-141: "The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act was designed specifically to cope with the severe problems of rural England and to prevent... a repetition of the 1830s incidents in the epicentres of Kent... There, complex soil patterns, small-scale farming and low investment rates combined with a rapid population surge to produce... dependence on permanent relief of 25% of population... groups of labourers (1835) ...besieged local magistrates in the workhouse... 37 labourers were imprisoned for... up to two years."
  3. Jump up^ James Barnes: Unveiling of the Middleman: The Truth About Prophecy, AuthorHouse, 2011, pp.63-64
  4. Jump up^ Balyuzi 2000, pp. 35–37
  5. Jump up^ Buck 2004, pp. 143–178
  6. Jump up^ Stephen Lambden. "Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium: some aspects of the Bábí-Baha'i exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism". Bahai-library.com. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  7. Jump up to:a b Robert S. Fogarty (2003). All Things New: American Communes and Utopian Movements, 1860–1914 (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books) ISBN 0-7391-0520-5 pp. 50–51.
  8. Jump up^ J. Gordon Melton (1996, 5th ed.). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Detroit, Mich.: Gale) ISBN 0-8103-7714-4 p. 565.
  9. Jump up^ "Rastafari Movement". Religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu. September 7, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.[dead link]
  10. Jump up^ Tumminia, Diana G. When Prophecy Never Fails: Myth and Reality in a Flying-Saucer Group. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, 240 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-517675-9
  11. Jump up^ Bishop, Greg, et. al (2006). Weird California. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4027-3384-0
  12. Jump up^ Branham, God Testifying of His Gifts
  13. Jump up^ Branham, Trying To Do God A Service Without It Being Gods Will
  14. Jump up^ Norris, Jimmy (January 25, 2009). "Feeling the love". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  15. Jump up^ Moon At Twilight: Amid scandal, the Unification Church has a strange new mission,Peter Maass New Yorker Magazine, September 14, 1998. "Moon sees the essence of his own mission as completing the one given to Jesus--establishing a "true family" untouched by Satan while teaching all people to lead a God-centered life under his spiritual leadership."..."Although Moon often predicts in his sermons that a breakthrough is near, Moffitt realizes that Moon may not come to be seen as the messiah in his lifetime."
  16. Jump up^ Unifying or Dividing? Sun Myung Moon and the Origins of the Unification Church, by George D. Chryssides, University of Wolverhampton, U.K. A paper presented at the CESNUR 2003 Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania.
  17. Jump up^ Galanter, Marc (1999). Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion. Oxford University Press; 2nd edition. ISBN 978-0-19-512370-8.(meta-citation)
  18. Jump up^ Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People. Dutton, 1982. ISBN 978-0-525-24136-2. p. 476-524.
  19. Jump up^ I, Jesus—Son of God—acknowledge on this date of September 25/26, 1995: 1. I am about to return to my Father's Kingdom. 1A. This "return" requires that I prepare to lay down my borrowed human body in order to take up, or reenter, my body (biological) belonging to the Kingdom of God (as I did appx. 2000 years ago when I laid down the body that was about 33 years old in order to reenter my body belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven). Marshall Applewhite (1995). UNDERCOVER JESUS SURFACES. alt.consciousness.mysticism. Retrieved August 15, 2005.
  20. Jump up^ "One year later Heaven's Gate suicides leave a faint trail". CNN.
  21. Jump up^ "He identified himself as the 'grand master of the celestial lodge, the architect of the universe'"Crimelibrary
  22. Jump up^ Miami Herald(October 15, 2001). "the old message of self-esteem has been crowded out by one that elevates their leader to Grand Master of All, the God of the Universe, the Grand Potentate, the Everlasting Father and the persecuted Messiah."
  23. Jump up^ Douglas Martin (May 9, 2007). "Yahweh ben Yahweh, Leader of Separatist Sect, Dies at 71". New York Times. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  24. Jump up^ "Notes and Queries: Whatever happened to Laszlo Toth, the man who smashed Michelangelo's Pieta in 1972?". London: The Guardian. Retrieved June 8, 2006.
  25. Jump up^ Evers, Chia (2006). "Laszlo Toth, "Jesus Christ," Attacks the Pieta (May 21, 1972)".Today in Odd History. News of the Odd. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006. Retrieved June 8, 2006.
  26. Jump up^ Inside a Cult documentary info published by the National Geographic Channel.
  27. Jump up^ "Sect Leader Who Allegedly Sought Virgins Found Guilty on Sex Charge"AP(TAOS, N.M: Fox News). December 15, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
  28. Jump up^ "Escape from Islam"Weekend Standard, April 23–24, 2005
  29. Jump up^ "After the Upper House Election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should hand the seat of the Prime Minister to Jesus Matayoshi, the one true God."Cgunson
  30. Jump up^ "After the Upper House Election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should hand the seat of the Prime Minister to Jesus Matayoshi, the one true God."::: cgunson.com ::: MATAYOSHI
  31. Jump up^ "The Man Who Claims To Be Jesus"CBS 4. September 12, 2006. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  32. Jump up^ Summary of INRI CRISTO’s life
  33. Jump up^ "Killer Who Said He Was Jesus Is Executed". CBS News. June 21, 2000. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  34. Jump up^ Killer Who Said He Was Jesus Is ExecutedCBS News (2000-06-21). Retrieved on August 13, 2007..
  35. Jump up to:a b Lifton, Robert Jay, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New York: Macmillan (2000).
  36. Jump up^ The British Waco survivors, by Ed Caesar, The Sunday Times, December 14, 2008.
  37. Jump up^ "Foot-reader fined for fraud", BBC
  38. Jump up^ Anastasia Daugule, "White Brotherhood - 15 years later". "Glavnoe" Kharkiv Net Review, a1404
  39. Jump up^ Murphy, Kim (December 1, 2009). "Suspect in Seattle-area police slayings is shot and killed"The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  40. Jump up^ Perry, Nick; O'Hagan, Maureen; Armstrong, Ken (December 1, 2009). "Four days in May set stage for Sunday's tragedy"The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  41. Jump up^ "The MI5 Messiah: Why David Shayler believes he's the son of God; News". London: The Daily Mail. August 15, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  42. Jump up^ "David Shayler Mystic on C4 News 10 Aug 2007". YouTube. August 10, 2007. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  43. Jump up^ "Meet Delores, the former now living as a woman in a Surrey commune | News". Thisislondon.co.uk. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  44. Jump up^ "White House shooting suspect Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez says he's Jesus". CBS/KBOI/AP. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  45. Jump up^ "Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez Thought He Was Jesus, Obama Was Antichrist". Huffington Post. November 18, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  46. Jump up^ http://www.divinetruth.com/ Divine Truth; God's Way Of Love website. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  47. Jump up^ http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/transcripts/article/-/10309969/australia-s-chilling-cult-transcript/ Sunday Night, 'Inside Australia's chilling new cult'. Sunday Night, Channel Seven. September 18, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2012.