Human history is filled with numerous cults. While not all cults are inherently harmful, the absolute devotion of their followers—sometimes extending to the “after-life”—to their leaders can have devastating effects on both the members and broader society. Individuals may surrender their free will, happiness, freedom of movement, and even their lives to manipulative cult leaders who exploit their innocent followers for personal gain.
We’ve seen instances where the government intervenes to eliminate dangerous cults. Others collapse following the death of their leaders, while some simply fade away. It’s a victory when a dangerous and disturbing cult disappears into obscurity. However, it’s far more alarming when a dangerous cult is forgotten by society yet continues its nefarious activities in some obscure corner of the world. Here are ten disturbing cults that remain active, yet are largely forgotten.
Rajneesh Movement
The Rajneesh Movement is a cult inspired by the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as “Osho.” Born in 1931 and died in 1990, Rajneesh, a controversial philosophy scholar and professor, founded the movement between the late 1960s and early 1970s.
University of Jabalpur officials forced him to resign from lecturing in 1966 due to his controversial views about various aspects of life, particularly marriage, which he described as social bondage. The movement’s controversial nature stemmed from its practice of relocating families from cities to isolated areas, where children were denied access to education.
When the cult encountered issues with Indian authorities, they moved to Oregon in the United States. There, the group faced its downfall due to a list of criminal activities, including the largest wiretapping operations in U.S. history and the largest immigration fraud ever recorded. The movement is also responsible for the largest bioterrorist attack on American soil.
In 1984, the movement poisoned salad products with salmonella at local restaurants and shops. Rajneesh was prosecuted, convicted, and deported. Since his death, the movement has declined, but it still exists in small units in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. [1]
Order of the Solar Temple
The Order of the Solar Temple is a controversial, modern religious cult established in Geneva, Switzerland. It’s also known as the “Solar Temple,” the “International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition,” or “Hermetica Fraternitas Templi Universali.” Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro founded it in Geneva in 1984.
The group used manipulation to make members believe what it preached. Cult activities also borrowed from New Ageism and several Freemason rituals. It’s connected to a series of murders and mass suicides that took dozens of lives in France, Switzerland, and Canada in 1994 and 1995.
The Order had a presiding council and multiple “lodges” worldwide where they performed initiation rites and ceremonies. The central focus of this cult’s ideology was the belief that an apocalyptic event would occur in the mid-1990s. When the 90s passed without any apocalyptic event, the group was discredited.
The Order has declined as members realized it was founded on an illusion. The group is believed to still have between 140 and 500 members today. [2]
AUM Supreme Truth
Aleph is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987 as “AUM Shinrikyo” (AUM Supreme Truth). AUM emerged out of Asahara’s dissatisfaction with traditional Japanese Buddhism. Asahara found Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist teachings more appealing than the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism. He created a form of Buddhism that emphasized non-Japanese themes. He espoused a spiritual path with the goal of attaining enlightenment and using psychic-development exercises to assist his followers’ growth toward enlightenment.
The organization gained attention when authorities learned that its leaders perpetrated the Tokyo subway attack in 1995. Thirteen people died, and thousands were injured after nerve gas was released into the city’s subway system. The group’s leader, Shoko Asahara, insisted on his innocence in a radio broadcast from Russia.
In 2000, the new leaders of the group verified Asahara’s role in several crimes, including the gas attacks. At that time, they renamed the group Aleph.
On July 6, 2018, after exhausting all appeals, Shoko Asahara and six other members were executed for their role in the deadly attack. In 2019, an AUM sympathizer, Kazuhiro Kusakabe, admitted to Japanese authorities that he intentionally rammed into pedestrians crowded into narrow Takeshita Street in the Harajuku district as a terrorist attack in retaliation for the 2018 execution of some Aleph cult members.
Although the organization has declined since the death of Shoko Asahara, the cult is still active in Japan. [3]
Twelve Tribes
Twelve Tribes is a controversial religious group alleged to be a cult that faced allegations of abuse, kidnapping, and murder during its peak. Gene Spriggs, a former carnival barker and high school guidance counselor, founded the group in Chattanooga in 1972. Twelve Tribes presents itself as seeking the restoration of what its members believe to be the truest form of Christianity.
The organization had grown to over 3,000 followers before Spriggs passed away in 2021, leaving the movement without a formal leader and facing an uncertain future. Spriggs died at 86. When he founded the movement, he steered the group to popularity with his youthful energy. Still, as Spriggs advanced in age and without handing over to a deputy, the group declined. Twelve Tribes is no longer in the news, but the organization is still very much active. [4]
The Family International
The Family International is a Christian New Religious Movement founded in Huntington Beach, California, in 1968 by David Berg. Originally named “Teens for Christ,” the group has used different names but gained notoriety as “The Children of God” (COG). This group is known for changing its name consistently. In 1978, it was renamed “The Family of Love,” which was eventually shortened to “The Family.” The group has been accused of child sexual abuse, physical abuse, exploitation, and targeting vulnerable people.
In the 1970s, David Berg introduced a new recruitment strategy called “flirty fishing,” which involved young female members enticing men into the group through sexual seduction. Berg also discouraged members from working and sending their children to school. Members lived in large communes, typically with four or five families under one roof, awaiting an “impending” apocalypse.
Since David Berg’s death, the movement has faded into oblivion. However, it is still active and is known as “The Family International.” The group is governed by “The Love Charter,” a document that entails each member’s rights and responsibilities. [5]
The Nation of Yahweh
In 1978, Hulon Mitchell Jr. left the Nation of Islam because it wasn’t extreme enough. He renamed himself Yahweh Ben Yahweh and founded the “Nation Of Yahweh” in 1979. The movement aimed to move African Americans, who the group believes are the original Israelites, to Israel. The movement accepts Yahweh Ben Yahweh as the “Son of God.”
The Nation of Yahweh had satellite temples around the country and a lucrative business empire of apartment complexes, hotels, stores, and fleets of Greyhound buses and Rolls Royce cars. The movement’s founder was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
The conviction of Yahweh Ben Yahweh in 2001 and his death in 2007 sent the group into oblivion. Nonetheless, the movement is still active, and its members consider Yahweh Ben Yahweh to be the Messiah. [6]
The LaRouche Movement
The LaRouche Movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. The movement started in the late ’60s as an offshoot of the radical left. However, the group adopted the viewpoints and stances of the far-right from the mid-1970s. LaRouche ran for U.S. president eight times unsuccessfully.
LaRouche had control over the lives of the members of his organization, known as the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). It was a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day total immersion, and there was tension in the group. LaRouche was a political chameleon who changed ideology and is regarded as the father of political conspiracy theory. He promoted violence and accused members of his movement of not being tough enough on political opponents.
In April 1973, LaRouche ordered members to attack members of the Communist Party (CPUSA) and others in a plan called “Operation Mop-up.” There were about 40 fights at gatherings of Communists, and many LaRouche members were arrested. LaRouche died in 2019. Today, the LaRouche Movement is largely forgotten, but the movement is alive. Its members participate in American politics. [7]
The Remnant Fellowship
The Remnant Fellowship is a movement with a Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, that preaches weight loss as a spiritual assignment. Gwen Shamblin Lara founded the movement. She taught members to pray when they have cravings for food. Her teachings linked diet culture with holiness, and she taught her church members not to bow to their refrigerators and only bow to God.
Gwen used her influence on her members to exert control over their finances, marriages, custody arrangements, and parenting. She would eventually encourage members to sever ties with the outside world. She compelled her members to dress gorgeously to portray an image of happiness, joy, and perfection when they were suffering internally.
On May 29, 2021, Lara, her husband Joe, and five other leaders within The Remnant Fellowship died in a plane crash outside Smyrna, Tennessee. The Remnant Fellowship went into oblivion upon her death. However, the movement is still active, with some members committed to upholding Gwen Shamblin Lara’s teachings. [8]
Heaven’s Gate
Heaven’s Gate is an American new religious movement founded in 1974 by Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite, known as “Ti’ and “Do.” “Ti” and “Do” met in 1972 and went on a journey of spiritual discovery, identifying themselves as the two witnesses of Revelation. They attracted followers in the mid-1970s. In 1976, the movement stopped recruiting and instituted a monastic lifestyle.
The central belief is that followers could transform into immortal extraterrestrial beings by rejecting their human nature. Then they would ascend into heaven, referred to as the “Next Level” or “The Evolutionary Level Above Human.” The cult’s doctrine led to the largest mass suicide on American soil, involving 39 victims.
No one hears about Heaven’s Gate anymore. However, “two people” still manage the movement’s online presence and teach people about its doctrine. [9]
Branch Davidian
The Branch Davidians are an apocalyptic new religious movement founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They see themselves as a continuation of the General Association of Davidian Seventh–Day Adventists established by Victor Houteff in 1935. In 1983, David Koresh (formerly Vernon Howell) took over the organization. He was a different cult leader—a criminal mastermind.
When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms suspected the Branch Davidians were illegally converting semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic weapons, they sent in undercover agents disguised as college students to investigate. But Koresh knew what was happening.
David Koresh was always one step ahead of the authorities until he met his fate in a fifty-one-day siege that involved heavy shooting with the FBI and ATF agents. Seventy-six Branch Davidians died, and four ATF agents were killed, with 16 wounded. The movement still exists and has a presence in Waco, Texas. [10]
These cults, though largely forgotten by mainstream society, continue to operate, sometimes in the shadows, underscoring the need for vigilance and awareness.
Have you heard of any of these cults before? Share your thoughts and insights in the comments below! #cults #dangerouscults
