Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 62
sexual abuse, and having ―control‖ over their parents in the sense that they are
encouraged, ordered even, to report the parents for any infractions of cult rules. Getting
the child out of such an atmosphere is a difficult matter, however, as cult leaders will invoke
both ―freedom of religion‖ and ―separation of church and state‖ to justify any actions within
the group. The courts in some states have gained control over the lack of medical care
problem on the grounds that the children had not chosen the religion and the state has a
responsibility to intervene in terms of the welfare of its children.
Millennial Predictions and Preoccupations
Focus on Predictions
Whether we consider Jim Jones of the People‘s Temple, David Koresh of the Branch
Davidians at Waco, Marshall Applewhite of Heaven‘s Gate, or any of a number of other self-
styled leaders of doomsday-type cults, we find that each predicted the imminent end of the
world and was able to convince his psychologically dependent followers that he was not only
going to be able to save them from the calamity to be faced by non-believers, but would
help them find a better way to reach the better world. How neatly the members of
Heaven‘s Gate arranged themselves prior to death! They were packed and ready, literally,
even with a five-dollar bill in their ―flight bags,‖ to ascend to the ―Next Level‖ when the
Hale-Bopp comet – supposedly with a spaceship in its tail to transport them – came closest
to Earth in March 1997. Similarly, members of the Solar Temple in Canada and France
followed a precise pattern. (Schwartz &Kaslow, 2001) Apparently these self-described
omniscient leaders based much of their forecast on Matthew Ch. 24 in which Jesus is
credited with discussing the fall of Jerusalem and the coming of Armageddon (Fennell,
1997) or on the Book of Revelation (Lifton, 1999).
In 1984, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ―began to predict the death of two-thirds of humanity
through the disease AIDS by the year 2000‖ (Palmer, 1994, p. 47). Happily, that has not
happened, although the deaths of tens of thousands of people from AIDS have been tragic.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, former head of the Church Universal and Triumphant and self-
described as a victim of Alzheimer‘s disease, had predicted that the Apocalypse would occur
in 1989, while other cult leaders predicted ―the coming‖ in 1992 or 2007 (Weber, 1999).
The Unification Church is similarly concerned with salvation and the millennium, as noted
just a moment ago. The saffron-robed Hare Krishna devotees practiced a regime almost of
self-purification in anticipation of being saved when the world ends, living in ―temple
communes where gambling, intoxicants, meat, and illegitimate sexual activities were
banned pending the world‘s imminent collapse and the new era‘s advent‖ (Weber, 1999, p.
210). At least one group claimed that Biblical sources predicted the Y2K problems ...a bit
of a stretch of interpretation. Evangelical Christians anticipated the end of the world on
January 1st of 2000, with the Y2K bug being a major instrument in that collapse (Rosin,
1999). Their predictions did not come true.
Asahara, founder of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that tried to kill thousands in the
Tokyo subway in 1995, focused on the millennium and the need for humanity either to
follow his teachings or be wiped out in the Armageddon predicted earlier by Nostradamus
(Lifton, 1999). In the Aum Shinrikyo cult, the concept called poa was derived from Tibetan
Buddhist theology, and distorted so that instead of helping the dying to elevate their
spiritual state, poa became a euphemism for murder. ―They claimed that people of higher
consciousness, in killing designated enemies or ordinary people, were actually helping them
on their journey toward Buddhahood‖ (Lifton, 1997, p. 25). The people of higher
consciousness were, of course, followers of Asahara, and only they would survive the
imminent Armageddon. [A side note: in January 2000, it was announced that Aum
Shinrikyo had changed its name to ―Aleph,‖ which as the writer of the article pointed out, ―is
the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and signifies renewal for many Japanese‖ (Sims,
sexual abuse, and having ―control‖ over their parents in the sense that they are
encouraged, ordered even, to report the parents for any infractions of cult rules. Getting
the child out of such an atmosphere is a difficult matter, however, as cult leaders will invoke
both ―freedom of religion‖ and ―separation of church and state‖ to justify any actions within
the group. The courts in some states have gained control over the lack of medical care
problem on the grounds that the children had not chosen the religion and the state has a
responsibility to intervene in terms of the welfare of its children.
Millennial Predictions and Preoccupations
Focus on Predictions
Whether we consider Jim Jones of the People‘s Temple, David Koresh of the Branch
Davidians at Waco, Marshall Applewhite of Heaven‘s Gate, or any of a number of other self-
styled leaders of doomsday-type cults, we find that each predicted the imminent end of the
world and was able to convince his psychologically dependent followers that he was not only
going to be able to save them from the calamity to be faced by non-believers, but would
help them find a better way to reach the better world. How neatly the members of
Heaven‘s Gate arranged themselves prior to death! They were packed and ready, literally,
even with a five-dollar bill in their ―flight bags,‖ to ascend to the ―Next Level‖ when the
Hale-Bopp comet – supposedly with a spaceship in its tail to transport them – came closest
to Earth in March 1997. Similarly, members of the Solar Temple in Canada and France
followed a precise pattern. (Schwartz &Kaslow, 2001) Apparently these self-described
omniscient leaders based much of their forecast on Matthew Ch. 24 in which Jesus is
credited with discussing the fall of Jerusalem and the coming of Armageddon (Fennell,
1997) or on the Book of Revelation (Lifton, 1999).
In 1984, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ―began to predict the death of two-thirds of humanity
through the disease AIDS by the year 2000‖ (Palmer, 1994, p. 47). Happily, that has not
happened, although the deaths of tens of thousands of people from AIDS have been tragic.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, former head of the Church Universal and Triumphant and self-
described as a victim of Alzheimer‘s disease, had predicted that the Apocalypse would occur
in 1989, while other cult leaders predicted ―the coming‖ in 1992 or 2007 (Weber, 1999).
The Unification Church is similarly concerned with salvation and the millennium, as noted
just a moment ago. The saffron-robed Hare Krishna devotees practiced a regime almost of
self-purification in anticipation of being saved when the world ends, living in ―temple
communes where gambling, intoxicants, meat, and illegitimate sexual activities were
banned pending the world‘s imminent collapse and the new era‘s advent‖ (Weber, 1999, p.
210). At least one group claimed that Biblical sources predicted the Y2K problems ...a bit
of a stretch of interpretation. Evangelical Christians anticipated the end of the world on
January 1st of 2000, with the Y2K bug being a major instrument in that collapse (Rosin,
1999). Their predictions did not come true.
Asahara, founder of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that tried to kill thousands in the
Tokyo subway in 1995, focused on the millennium and the need for humanity either to
follow his teachings or be wiped out in the Armageddon predicted earlier by Nostradamus
(Lifton, 1999). In the Aum Shinrikyo cult, the concept called poa was derived from Tibetan
Buddhist theology, and distorted so that instead of helping the dying to elevate their
spiritual state, poa became a euphemism for murder. ―They claimed that people of higher
consciousness, in killing designated enemies or ordinary people, were actually helping them
on their journey toward Buddhahood‖ (Lifton, 1997, p. 25). The people of higher
consciousness were, of course, followers of Asahara, and only they would survive the
imminent Armageddon. [A side note: in January 2000, it was announced that Aum
Shinrikyo had changed its name to ―Aleph,‖ which as the writer of the article pointed out, ―is
the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and signifies renewal for many Japanese‖ (Sims,
