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No truly great man, from Jesus Christ
down, ever founded a sect.
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Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Journal
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One might suppose that it would be difficult to found a new
religion. A little study however shows that this is not so.
Throughout history countless thousands of religions have flourished,
and new ones spring up all the time, especially in times of
change and popular dissatisfaction. Below we mention a few religions
and sects, mainly related to Christianity, in which the founders
have established themselves as specially appointed as God or,
just as often, actually being God.
Around the time of Jesus there were numerous frauds pretending
to be divinely inspired. Amongst them were Simon Magus and his
lady friend, Sophia, the Divine Wisdom incarnate, purportedly
a reincarnation of Helen of Troy. Another was Simon's successor
Menander*. Another was
Dositheus. Celsus regarded Christ as one of many such frauds
who had been around at that time. There had been many prophets
wandering about in Palestine claiming to be God, or a son of
God, or a divine spirit*.
Such religious frauds were still around in the second century,
during the lifetime of Celsus. Lucian of Samosata, the satirist,
used them as stock figures of fun. Two notable ones were Peregrinus
(also known as Proteus, see page 597) and Alexander of Abonuteichos,
both of whom had been regarded as gods*.
Alexander was the pupil of Apollonius of Tyana, another divine
philosopher. Apollonius had been born in miraculous circumstances,
became immortal after his disappearance from this world, and
returned to Earth to convince a doubter of the reality of immortality.
In the second century a Christian called Montanus claimed immediate
inspiration of the Holy Ghost and formed a popular sect. It
was especially popular with women, to whom God was known to
appear dressed as a woman. Montanism was on the way to developing
into a new religion when other Christians suppressed it as heretical.
Mani (216-277) was a prophet who
claimed to be the Holy Ghost incarnate. He founded Manichæism,
a Zoroastrian religion that heavily influenced Christianity.
He belonged to an offshoot of a Persian royal house. He was
credited with a Virgin Birth, regarded as Saviour and Lord,
had 12 disciples, and was executed by the state when his Gnostic
ideas became popular. Also in the third century, one Melchisedec
established a following that acclaimed him as the Messiah.
In the seventh century Mohammed founded Islam in western Arabia,
having failed to be accepted by either Jews or Christians. For
the next 1,000 years many other new religions appeared, but
were generally extirpated either by Christians or Muslims. Sects
who predicted the imminent end of the world flourished in Europe
throughout the Middle Ages, mostly without being regarded as
heretical. Various dates around AD 1000 were favoured, but they
were missed one after another. Another wave swept Europe after
1150. Just a few of the main dates confidently given as the
end of the world up to 1400 were 1186, 1229, 1260, 1290, 1300,
1310, 1325, 1335, 1346, 1347, 1348, 1360, 1365, 1375, 1387,
1395, 1396 and 1400 itself. In parallel with this, new groups
were popping up all over. Sometimes they were absorbed into
the Christian Church, but more often they ended up as its enemies.
From the eleventh century to the fifteenth the pattern was
the same. A group would appear, often inspired by a charismatic
leader, who would advocate apostolic views and then — for
various reasons — having failed to get recognition, the
group would be driven into opposition. It would adopt more and
more extreme anti-hierarchical and anti-sacerdotal views and
the Church would turn the full weight of its authority and might
against the group until it had been harried and battered into
submission or extinction or driven out to seek survival as a
persecuted heretical sect*.
We have already seen the fate of many other groups during the
late Middle Ages and the Renaissance who left, or were forced
out of, the Church. They too were generally founded by highly
charismatic leaders. Often, miraculous supernatural powers were
attributed to them. The only difference is that as a general
rule the earlier ones were successfully exterminated, and the
later ones have given rise to modern denominations. Often the
modern denomination has changed significantly from its charismatic
or even messianic early days. George Fox, the founder of the
Quakers, had an assistant called James Naylor who, around 1656,
started to be worshipped as Christ by a group of Ranters. He
was credited with raising the dead and (as we have already seen
— page 341) incurred the wrath of the authorities after
he had entered the city of Bristol on a donkey. In 1662, a Flemish
woman, Antoinette Bourignon, proclaimed herself to be the woman
clothed with the Sun mentioned in chapter 12 of the book of
Revelation. Her followers, known as Bourignonians, flourished
in Scotland in the early eighteenth century. In England Joanna
Southcott, born in 1750, heard voices and attracted a large
following who believed her to be the Messiah. Her followers
continue into the third millennium. Another Englishwoman, Mother
Ann Lee, also claimed to be a female messiah. She went to America
in 1774 and took over the Shakers, a millenarian sect that had
seceded from the Quakers in 1747. By the 1820s there were many
thousands of Shakers living in self-supporting communities from
Kentucky to Maine. The Church of the New Jerusalem, or Swedenborgianism,
was founded in 1783 by the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg,
who had died eleven years earlier. Believers held that their
Church represented a new dispensation from God that superseded
Christianity, just as Christianity had previously superseded
Judaism.
In the early nineteenth century a large number of Adventists
flourished. They were millenarians, many of whom believed William
Miller when he predicted the end of the world in 1843, and then
again in 1844 — after which his credibility must have been
stretched a little too far. Nevertheless there are still Adventist
groups around, the best known of which is probably the Seventh
Day Adventists. Mormonism, an American form of millenarianism,
was founded in 1830 by the visionary Joseph Smith following
some unusual communications from God, through the Angel Moroni.
Smith claimed to have been ordained by John the Baptist, who
had descended from Heaven for the purpose. The Mormon Church,
or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now boasts ov
er 12 million members , even though Smith's claims have
been comprehensively discredited*.
The Christian Scientists were founded by Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910),
who taught that disease and illness were unreal and existed
only in the mind. Medical treatment is prohibited, except dentistry
(since Mrs Eddy was once caught by a newspaper reporter having
dental treatment). Millions of people, mainly in the USA, still
follow Mrs Eddy's teachings. In 1850 the Anglican priest
Henry James Prince attracted many followers who believed him
to be God incarnate. In the following century one George Baker
convinced hundreds of thousands in the USA that he was God.
Calling himself Father Divine, he established "Heavens"
in Harlem, New York. He taught that true believers would not
die. Baker himself died in 1965, but his followers seemed not
to experience any difficulty with this unexpected event, and
carried on believing in him just the same.
In 1870 Charles Taze Russell fixed 1874 as the date for Christ's return to Earth. When Jesus failed to show up Russell became
increasingly isolated from existing Churches. In 1881, he founded
the Jehovah's Witnesses in Pennsylvania. They were millenarians
who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Russell foretold Christ's return to Earth in 1914, but once again Christ missed his appointment.
With some embarrassment Russell's prediction was re-interpreted.
The year 1975 was the next appointment advertised by the church,
once again missed. Nevertheless, there are now more than 6 million
Jehovah's Witnesses , waiting for the end of the world,
all hoping to be chosen as one of God's 144,000 elect when
it comes.
In Southeast Asia a sect called Iglesia ni Cristo was founded
in 1914 by Felix Manalo, who claimed to be God's last messenger.
In the late 1920s Joseph Weissenberg attracted a sizeable following
in a Berlin suburb. He was particularly good at healing young
women by passing his hands over their bodies. Later he discovered
that he could heal by the liberal application of cream cheese,
and many attested to the efficacy of the miracles achieved through
its use. Over 100,000 people believed that he was the Messiah
and that he could heal the sick. When he died in 1941 his followers
tried to preserve his body in cream cheese pending his imminent
resurrection, but without success. It is surprisingly common
for followers to accommodate the death of their divine immortal
leaders without dismay. Members of the Gralsbewegung, founded
in the Tyrol by another son of God, Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, continued
to believe in him after his death in 1941. So did the followers
of another incarnation of God, a Dutch fisherman called Lourens
van Voorthuizen. In 1950 he had declared himself to be God and
therefore unable to sin, become ill or die. He attracted a large
number of believers, many of whom continued to believe in him
after his death in 1968. In Provence, George Roux discovered
himself to be Christ and attracted thousands of followers. Some
are still to be found in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. When
the Rev. William Branham, a faith healer from Jeffersonville,
Indiana, died in 1965, his body remained unburied for four months
because his followers expected him to rise from the dead at
Easter. They were disappointed.
God's messengers also flourish in Africa. Alice Auma,
brought up a Roman Catholic, founded the Holy Spirit Movement
in Uganda in the mid-1980s, adopting the surname Lakwena, which
means messiah in the Acholi language. She started a war against
the Ugandan government in 1986, supported by thousands of unarmed
adherents. They believed that they were protected from bullets
as long as they covered their bodies with sheanut oil, and that
if they threw stones at their enemies they would explode like
grenades. These beliefs turned out to be mistaken, yet new converts
were attracted as fast as existing ones were killed. Beliefs
like these are not uncommon in East and Central Africa. Many
wars have been fought by armies whose leaders have told them
with divinely inspired certainty that enemy bullets would turn
into water by magic. Black Christ figures have long been popular
in Africa too. Some of the best known are Enoch Mgijima around
1920 in South Africa; Edward Lekganyane around 1950 in the Transvaal;
Shembe the messiah of the Zulus; and Simon Kibangu in the Congo
around 1960. The Never Never Die Church was founded
in Liberia in 1970 by Richard Sleboe. Sleboe had made a pact
with God allowing his followers to engage in free sexual relations
and to enjoy eternal life. He died in 1986, but his Church still
exists. The Lord's Resistance Army came to prominence
in 1996 in Uganda. Its members believe its leader Joseph Coney
to be the Messiah and to be in direct communication with God.
New members have their noses, ears and lips cut off, in compliance
with some unspecified Old Testament passage. Amongst the requirements
of the sect are that all white animals should be killed, and
that the Sabbath should be properly enforced (for example by
crushing the legs of Sunday cyclists). Among the many thousands
of African Churches a large number boast leaders whose status
varies from the merely charismatic to the fully divine. Amongst
them are the African Castor-oil Dead Church,
the Catholic Church of South Africa King George Win the
War, and the Christ Apostolic Holy Spout Church.
They are not untypical either in their names or their doctrines.
The World Christian Handbook mentions some 6,000 separate Christian
movements in Africa alone, many of them messianic.
The Reverend Jim Jones was another incarnation of Jesus. He
proved it by performing numerous miracle cures and attracted
20,000 followers. In 1978, he and over 900 of his followers
killed themselves in Jonestown, Guyana, planning to meet again
in Heaven. Almost 300 of the 900 were children, poisoned by
cyanide in fruit drinks given to them by their devout parents.
In 1993 another messiah, the 33-year-old illegitimate son of
a carpenter, David Koresh, died along with his Branch Dravidian
followers. These Dravidians had ceded from a Seventh Day Adventist
sect, and settled at Waco, Texas. Koresh who regarded himself
as a "sinful Christ" had taken over leadership in
1986 and fortified the sect's headquarters. A total of
81 followers died with him in a fire there following a 50-day
siege by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The following
year, 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple died
in a mass suicide in Switzerland.
There seems to be no limit to human credulity around the world.
In the USA a man called Jimmy Swaggart claimed a worldwide following
of 200 million. He ministered to the Assemblies of God, the
largest Pentecostalist organisation in the US, until a sex scandal
set back his ministry. Jim Bakker, another television evangelist,
experienced similar problems. In 1987 Oral Roberts, a Pentecostal
and Methodist minister, claimed that God had told him that he
would "call him home" unless he raised $8 million.
We shall never know if God would have fulfilled his promise,
for enough people believed Mr Roberts to contribute the required
money.
Canada has had its share of divinely inspired prophets too.
The visionary Guy Ballard moved his The Great I Am
sect from Chicago to Alberta in 1937, where God continued to
reveal truths about vegetarianism and reincarnation. A prophetic
political party, the Social Credit Party, founded by
William Aberhart, claimed to be a panacea for the economic ills
of the 1930s. Both Aberhart and his protégé, E.
C. Manning, later became premiers of Alberta. Everywhere sects
are created to serve local needs for messiahs. By the end of
the nineteenth century there were over 20 messianic movements
among the indigenous peoples of North America. Such cults are
not peculiar to North America and Europe. In 1992 some 20,000
South Koreans were disappointed to find that the world did not
end on 28 th October 1992, as promised by Lee Jang Lim. Many
had given up their jobs, abandoned their families, and given
their possessions to Lee's Dami Church in Seoul. Lee himself
was arrested for fraud and found to have invested large amounts
in bonds that were not due to mature for another three years.
Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, was more
successful. Despite his conviction for tax fraud in 1982, many
of his 2,500,000 Moonie followers believe him to be Christ returned
to Earth. Cults have also appeared in eastern Europe since the
collapse of communism. For example in the Ukraine Maria Devi
Khristos (born Maria Tsvigun) has attracted thousands of followers
who believe her to be God, although she was mistaken about the
end of the world, having predicted it for 24 th November 1993.
Our brief review has demonstrated three significant points.
First, there seems to be no limit to human credulity. Large
numbers of people are prepared to believe what most others would
regard as arrant nonsense. This is best illustrated by the number
of sects that have continued after the death of their "immortal"
leader or after the scheduled end of the world. It almost seems
that the more improbable a proposition is, the more likely people
are to believe it. Hitler, who unquestionably knew a thing or
two about manipulating the masses, observed that: "The
broad mass of a nation ... will more easily fall victim to a
big lie than to a small one"*.
The appalling truth is that he seems to have been right.
Second, throughout history people have fallen over themselves
to attribute immortality and godhead to ordinary mortals, and
this has made it easy for well-meaning eccentrics, as well as
unscrupulous, megalomaniac and deranged people to establish
new religions.
Third, the facts provide an answer to those who have found
it surprising that the Christian religion ever took root. Some
have found it inexplicable that the religion should have taken
root without divine assistance. But messiah figures were popular
before the time of Jesus, some of them with large followings.
The small sample of new religions that we have reviewed in this
section shows that starting up a new religion has never been
difficult. The significance is that surprise about the success
of Christianity, or any other religion, becomes difficult to
sustain. Surprise evaporates in the light of messiah figures
successfully founding their own religions year after year, century
after century, for well over 2,000 years.
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