Thousands of slaves give life & wealth to cult gurus
Jim Jones
THOUSANDS of people lose their freedom, their fortune and even their lives to mind-controlling cults.
Peoples Temple was founded in Indianapolis by Reverend Jim Jones. He moved the cult to a remote camp called Jonestown in Guyana, South America.
In 1978 over 900 people died of cyanide poisoning after a mass suicide pact.
An FBI siege in Waco, Texas, ended in 76 deaths in 1993 after 10 had died in an earlier shootout with the Branch Davidians sect run by David Koresh, 33.
Children of God was led by preacher David Berg in California in the 1960s. He said God was love, love was sex, so there should be no limits. He died aged 75.
MURDERED
The Manson Family cult was led by Charles Manson in California in the 1960s and early 1970s. Members took hallucinogenic drugs and believed Manson, who died in 2017 aged 83, was the manifestation of Jesus.
The cult made headlines after pregnant actress Sharon Tate was among five murdered in 1969.
In India, “rich man’s guru” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh founded the Rajneesh Movement, advocating free sex.
He had 90 Rolls-royces and members – dressed in orange – gave their wealth to him. Rajneesh, 58, once ran a commune in Oregon, US, and died in 1990.
Providence was founded by Jung Myung Seok in 1980 in South Korea and spread to a string of Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
His church teaches sin was caused by Eve sleeping with Satan. This sin could be undone, the church claimed, by having sex with Jung as a purification rite. Women were presented to him as sex gifts. Jung, 75, served 10 years for sex crimes.