With skillful mental manipulation and hypocritical empathetic psychological use, cult leaders control their followers through the power of faith. The narrow worldview instilled in cults makes it difficult for believers to perceive their behavior as perverse, even in mass suicides, kidnappings, and horrific violence. If the culture of brainwashing isn't creepy enough, let's delve into five active cult leaders of the 20th century who ended up causing massive destruction and bloodshed by depriving others of their autonomy.
Akiaki Asahara: Trutho Okuda
Founded in 1987 by AkiakiRa Asahara (formerly known as Tomoo Matsumoto), Aum Shinrikyo was founded as a yoga school that blended Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism. Originally aimed at seeking and encouraging spiritual enlightenment, the group has attracted thousands of followers across Japan.
The group then began to spread doomsday prophecies and mysticism, and soon Asahara claimed to be the reincarnation of the Buddha. Asahara's charisma and empathy, combined with Asahara's constant promise that believers can "acquire god's power through proper training," have led thousands of believers to worship.
By the 1990s, Asahara had recruited about 10,000 adherents. These believers were convinced that Asahara was the savior and the future emperor. Subsequently, the believers gathered near Mt. Fuji and began to manufacture synthetic biological weapons there.
Akira Asahara, the leader of Aum Shinrikyo
In 1990, the cult participated in Japan's parliamentary elections but failed to get enough votes, which stoked Asahara's anger. In June 1994, Asahara launched a sarin gas attack in Matsumoto City, injuring more than 500 people and killing eight others. However, this cult organization successfully escaped detection.
On March 20, 1995, during rush hour, five Aum Shinrikyo followers entered the Tokyo subway system and released deadly sarin gas from World War II.
The believers all wore masks, and they hid chemical gas plastic bags in cardboard boxes covered by newspapers. Five men and the driver assisting the escape fled the scene after piercing the plastic bag with sharp umbrellas.
Japanese police clean up gas-contaminated subway cars
In the end, 688 people were taken to the hospital for rescue, and more than 5,000 people sought medical treatment on their own. The heinous case resulted in the deaths of 13 people and the arrest of dozens of followers, including Hideo Murai, a high-ranking figure in the cult, but was unable to bring Asahara to justice at the time.
Shortly after the incident, police found a hidden basement on the hill and arrested a large number of cult followers on the spot, including Masami Tsuchiya, a chemist who confessed to making sarin gas. Despite this, Asahara remained at large, and eventually Aum Shinrikyo created four more poison gas attacks on the subway.
Shoko Asahara and his family and followers
On May 16, 1995, the police found Asahara in another secret room at the Mt. Fuji base and arrested him. After a lengthy trial, Mahara was put on death row in 2006.
In July 2018, Akira Asahara was hanged.
David Koresh – The Waco Massacre and Davidianism
David Koresh, the head of the tribe of David
David Koresh, the leader of the Tribe of David, was born in Vernon Howell. In 1987, he took over control after the death of the church's predecessor. Coresh read the Bible, claimed to be able to talk to God, and prophesied that Jesus would come again and that the end of the world would come.
After Koresh persuaded more than 100 people to settle in his remote compound near waco, Texas, "Mount Carmel," Cowlesh used his position in the church to have sex with several women, including 10-year-old girls.
At the same time, Koresh declared to his followers that the end was coming and that the Davidians must form an "LRA." In February 1993, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) attempted to arrest him and issued an arrest warrant for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
David Koresh preached to believers
A famous four-hour firefight ensued, with four ATF agents and six believers killed on the spot. The standoff lasted 51 days and was widely reported in the media.
Some Davidians managed to escape between confrontations, but more than 80 remained. Negotiators at the ATF and the FBI had tried to reach a compromise, but the incident spiraled out of control.
The scene of the Waco massacre
Finally, law enforcement officers released tear gas into the Carmel Hill compound, and the followers of Koresh shot back. The compound eventually caught fire, killing 76 people.
The houses in the compound collapsed and killed some of the believers, while others were shot. Koresh was found shot in the head, and whether he committed suicide is still unknown.
Jim Jones – People's Temple
Jim Jones, the head of the People's Temple
On November 18, 1978, more than 900 cult members of the People's Temple committed suicide in Guyana in what became known as the Jonestown Massacre. The cult's leader and pastor, Jim Jones, carried out the genocide through control and intimidation.
Jim Jones was born on May 31, 1931, in a rural Indiana country. He founded the People's Temple in the 1950s, which operated in Mendocino County in the 1960s and in San Francisco in the 1970s.
Jones' sermon soon became paranoid. He claimed that the impending end of the world was the result of a nuclear catastrophe caused by poor government management.
The People's Temple is located in Guyana's so-called agricultural project base
The self-proclaimed ethnically integrated church focuses on providing free food, drug rehabilitation and legal services to the social vagrants who are lagging behind in reality and idealistic youth who do not want to rise and fall with the political tides of the times.
But as Jones's goals became increasingly radical, the media-savvy leader began teaming up with local politicians to build favorable connections. He even forced faithful believers to give up their possessions and asked their relatives to send money to the church.
In 1977, the cult moved to Guyana, South America, where about 20,000 People's Templars were gathered.
The scene of the suicide of the People's Templar group
They called the Guyana settlement a utopian community, independent of the American political structure. Jones claimed that there was no corruption there and that the People's Temple believers were free to achieve oneness with God and nature.
However, after arriving in Guyana, Jones confiscated everyone's passports and set up various rules and regulations that everyone had to follow every day. Jones forced his followers to face the harsh reality that in addition to toiling day and night, they had to watch documentaries from time to time to understand the dangers, profligacy, and evil deeds of the outside world.
But rations were limited, and even Jones's own health began to deteriorate, which led him to start taking excessive amounts of amphetamine and pentobarbital as treatment drugs. His speech begins with a preface and an afterword, which makes people feel obscure.
U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, left, meets with Jim Jones while traveling to Guyana to investigate
On November 18, 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Jonestown to investigate allegations of abuse received by the community, and the chaos that followed led to the politician and four companions being killed on the spot on the runway in Guyana.
Jones, presumably aware that the People's Temple was exhausted, told the faithful that the U.S. authorities would attack them at any time. Jones went on to order groups of believers to commit suicide under the name of "Revolutionary Action."
The first to die were the children, whose parents injected them with cyanide and drank cyanide-containing juice. Jones was found dead in a chair and shot in the head. Jonestown's total death toll is 909.
David Berg – Son of God
Daughter of "Son of God" cult leader David Berg with believers
The "Sons of God" cult, founded by David Berg, advocates incest with minors. The sect was founded in 1968 and claims that revolution and happiness are its main goals.
In the late 1960s, the "Manson Family" cult killings, drug abuse, and rising crime rates accelerated the decline of the "Summer of Love" hippie movement.
However, this also makes new cults appear and tempt people to join.
"Sons of God" believers go into group hysteria during meetings
Before founding the "Sons of God" cult in Huntington Beach, California, Berg was a pastor who preached the Christian ideals of the "Old World." That is to say, there are many "sexual" elements in his philosophy.
Berg believes that the "Son of God" believes that God likes sex because sex itself is a kind of love, while Satan hates sex because sex is beautiful. Berg also advocates sex with underage children in order to make children "believe in sex."
Not only that, but Berger thinks incest is acceptable because it's a good way to "learn from your family."
"Sons of God" believers attract new believers in the streets
In addition to "King David" and "Moses", Berg also had the nickname "Grandpa". By 1972, the Son of God had become very international, with 130 colonies around the world.
Many "Sons of God" believers live together in such communes, with a strict communist ideology and rely on street performances to beg for a living. Naturally, almost all the money fell into Berg's pocket. Berg has long advocated that his "Son of God" will save the world from the Antichrist.
David Berg
However, since 1978, allegations of sexual assault and misconduct have increased, and the name "Son of God" has disappeared.
However, the cult survived and was renamed "Family" in the 1980s. Berg died in 1994 and was succeeded by his widow, Karen Zerby.
Currently, the "family" relies on a new provision called the Statute of Love to govern its followers in order to maintain the so-called love of Jesus. However, people should not easily forget the terrible history of the "Son of God".