List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

This is a list of notable people have made statements claiming to be Jesus of Nazareth or the Second Coming of Christ in some form.

Religious leaders

• Jim Jones - Claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Akhenaten, Buddha, Lenin, and Father Divine. ^[1] Organized a mass murder suicide at Jonestown, Guyana.
• David Koresh - Born Vernon Wayne Howell, was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect, proclaimed that he was "the Son of God, the Lamb.
• Marshall Applewhite - Applewhite posted a famous Usenet message declaring, "I, Jesus—Son of God—acknowledge on this date of September 25/26, 1995: ...".^[2] 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.
• Inri Cristo - A Brazilian man who claims to be the second Jesus.
• Hong Xiuquan – Self-proclaimed "little brother" of Jesus Christ. He formed an army that fought in the Taiping Rebellion, which ultimately caused the deaths of over 25 million people.
• Ahn Sang-hong – South Korean man worshiped by World Mission Society Church of God
• José Luis de Jesús Miranda – Organizer of Growing in Grace who claims that the resurrected Christ "integrated himself within me".
• Sun Myung Moon – Founder of the Unification Church, who considers himself the second coming of Christ, but not Jesus himself.
• Jung Myung Seok – Founder of Providence Church, who also considers himself the second coming of Christ, but not Jesus himself.
• Ariffin Mohamed – Also known as "Ayah Pin", the founder of the banned Sky Kingdom in Malaysia. He claims to be the incarnation of Jesus, as well as Muhammad, Shiva, and Buddha.^[1]
• Ayya Vaikundar – According to Akilattirattu Ammanai, the scripture of Ayyavazhi, Narayana, who was one among the trinity in Vaikundar was the one who incarnated as Jesus.
• Matayoshi Jesus – In 1997 he established the World Economic Community Party based on his conviction that he is the God and Christ.^[3]
• Apollo C. Quiboloy – A Filipino pastor who claims to be the Christ. He has also marked Bro. Eli Soriano as being condemned to hell.
• Arnold Potter - Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; called himself "Potter Christ".
• Charles Manson – Founder of "The Family".
• Sergei Torop – a Russian who claims to be "reborn" as Vissarion, the returned Jesus Christ. He founded the Church of the Last Testament and the spiritual community Ecopolis Tiberkul in Southern Siberia.^[4]
• Georges-Ernest Roux – Founder of the Universal Christian Church, now named Universal Alliance, clamed to be Jesus, then God, called the "Christ of Montfavet" or "Georges-Christ".
• Suma Ching Hai - A meditation teacher who claims to be an incarnation of Avalokitesvara and a living reincarnation of the Buddha and Jesus Christ.
• John Nichols Thom - Cornishman who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and his body temple of the Holy Ghost. He was killed by British soldiers at the Battle of Bossenden Wood, on May 31, 1838 in Kent, England.

Others

• GG Allin – punk rocker who possessed a large cult following, proclaiming himself to be the messiah and in the vein of Jesus Christ.
• David Icke – Allegedly claimed he was the Son of God on UK chatshow Wogan in 1991. He later denied his claim, saying that the media had misinterpreted his remarks.
• Laszlo Toth – Hungarian-born Australian who vandalised Michelangelo's Pietà in 1972.
• David Shayler – former MI5 (British Security Service) officer who gained notoriety after being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for his passing secret documents to the press. In July 2007 Shayler claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
• Billy Meier – Alleged sole contactee of the "Plejaren" race of human ETs; it is claimed in literature disseminated by Meier that he is the reincarnation of a prophet called Jmmanuel who lived around the same time and location that Jesus Christ was alleged to have lived. He also claims that Jesus Christ is an invented figure who never existed and that his (Meier's) spirit also previously incarnated as the prophets Muhammad, Isaiah (Jesaia), Elijah (Elia), Jeremiah, Enoch (Henoch) and others.

Notes

1. ^  From My Best Fiend. the documentary detailing his life.
2. ^ Galanter, Marc (1999). Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion. Oxford University Press; 2nd edition. ISBN 0-19-512370-0. (meta-citation)
3. ^  "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
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ Link to a BBC article on his statements and claims.
6. ^ For the past three weeks the face of "the master", as her followers call her, has smiled out from laminated posters tied to traffic lights and road signs advertising the event and bearing the message: "See the living god". Mullins, Andrew (June 20, 1999). "Cult warning on travelling 'god'". The Independent (London). http://web.lexis-nexis.com. 
7. ^ Followers of Suma Ching Hai claim she is the living reincarnation of Buddha and Jesus Christ, and go so far as to drink her bathwater and buy up her used personal items, marketed as "Celestial Clothing." One disciple bought her sweat socks for $ 1,100 because "when the Master leaves the physical world, at least I will have her socks." Phillips, Andrew (January 13, 1997). "Cash and the campaign". Maclean Hunter Limited. http://www.rsicopyright.com/ics/prc_main/prs_request.html/. 
8. ^  In an article from The Guardian he states: "It's all very complicated," he starts quietly. "But to keep things simple, yes, I am Jesus Christ. That which was promised must come to pass. And it was promised in Israel 2,000 years ago that I would return, that I would come back to finish what was started. I am not God (My emphasis). And it is a mistake to see Jesus as God. But I am the living word of God the Father. Everything that God wants to say, he says through me".

See also

• List of Buddha claimants
• List of charismatic leaders
• List of messiah claimants
• List of avatar claimants
• List of people who have been considered deities
• Messianic complex
• People claiming to be the Mahdi

References