List of people claimed to be Jesus

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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, or the Second Coming of Christ.

1st century

18th century

  • 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.[2]

19th century

  • John Nichols Thom (1799–1838), a Cornish tax rebel who claimed to be the "saviour of the world" and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ in 1834. He was killed by British soldiers at the Battle of Bossenden Wood, on May 31, 1838 in Kent, England.[3]
  • 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.[4]
  • Jones Very (1813–1880), American essayist, poet, literary scholar, and Greek tutor at Harvard who befriended several prominent American Transcendentalists and suffered a nervous breakdown in 1837 after which he claimed to have become the Second Coming of Jesus.
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), born Shiite, adopted Bábism later in 1844,[5] he claimed to be the prophesied fulfillment and Promised One of three major religions. He founded the Bahá'í Faith in 1863.[6] 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.[7]
  • 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.[8][9] When Davies's second son, David, was born in 1869, he was declared to be God the Father.[8]
  • 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. 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

  • John Hugh Smyth Pigott (1852–1927). Around 1890 Smyth-Pigott started leading meetings of the Agapenomite community and recruited 50 young female followers to supplement its ageing population. He took Ruth Anne Preece as his second wife and she had three children named Glory, Power and Hallelujah.[10] By 1902 his fame had spread as far as India, from where Mirza Ghulam Ahmad warned him of his false teachings and predicted his miserable end. The house which may have belonged to Smyth-Pigott in St John's Wood was visited by John Betjeman in his film Metro-land. It is built in the neo-gothic style. It is currently the home of the television presenter Vanessa Feltz and was previously the home of Charles Saatchi.[11] Smyth-Pigott died in 1927 and the sect gradually declined until the last member, sister Ruth, died in 1956.[12] Her funeral in 1956 was the only time when outsiders were admitted to the chapel.[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 Valley, California 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 the World Mission Society Church of God as the Second Coming of Jesus. The World Mission Society Church of God believes that Zahng Gil-jah is "God the Mother," who they believe is referred to in the Bible as the New Jerusalem Mother (Galatians 4:260), and that Ahn Sahng-Hong is God the Father[17]

21st century

  • 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."[citation needed]
  • 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.[44] 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.[45]
  • 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 on YouTube claiming to be Jesus, although he has not built up any noticeable following since his claims.[46][47][48]
  • Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez (1990–). In November 2011, he fired nine shots with an Romanian Cugir SA semi-automatic rifle at the White House in Washington D.C., believing himself to be Jesus Christ sent to kill U.S. President Barack Obama, whom he believed to be the antichrist.[49][50]
  • Lightning Deng (2014), a woman whom the Chinese Eastern Lightning cult believe to be the reincarnation of Christ.[citation needed]
  • Brian Leonard Golightly Marshall, a man who claims to have a letter from Pope Benedict XVI that confirms that he is the reincarnation of Christ, and that the Shroud of Turin is his image.[51][52]

See also

References

  1. [1]
  2. "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
  3. 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."
  4. James Barnes: Unveiling of the Middleman: The Truth About Prophecy, AuthorHouse, 2011, pp.63-64
  5. Balyuzi 2000, pp. 35–37
  6. Buck 2004, pp. 143–178
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  8. 8.0 8.1 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.
  9. J. Gordon Melton (1996, 5th ed.). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Detroit, Mich.: Gale) ISBN 0-8103-7714-4 p. 565.
  10. Evans 2006, p. 29.
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  12. Evans 2006, p. 31.
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  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. 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
  16. Bishop, Greg, et. al (2006). Weird California. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4027-3384-0
  17. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. 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."
  19. 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.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.(meta-citation)
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. "He identified himself as the 'grand master of the celestial lodge, the architect of the universe'"Crimelibrary
  25. 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."
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  29. Inside a Cult documentary info published by the National Geographic Channel.
  30. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. "Escape from Islam", Weekend Standard, April 23–24, 2005
  32. "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
  33. "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
  34. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. Summary of INRI CRISTO’s life
  36. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. Killer Who Said He Was Jesus Is Executed. CBS News (2000-06-21). Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
  38. 38.0 38.1 Lifton, Robert Jay, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New York: Macmillan (2000).
  39. The British Waco survivors, by Ed Caesar, The Sunday Times, December 14, 2008.
  40. "Foot-reader fined for fraud", BBC
  41. Anastasia Daugule, "White Brotherhood - 15 years later". "Glavnoe" Kharkiv Net Review, a1404
  42. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  44. http://www.divinetruth.com/ Divine Truth; God's Way Of Love website. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  45. 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.
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  52. http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/594147/Fears-homophobic-Australian-cult-leader-claims-Christ-gains-followers