When Jesus Christ started his movement, many would call him a cult. However, today, the Christian faith has proven to be otherwise, and indeed, all movements start small and take time to grow. Some religions, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses, are big enough not to be called a cult by statistical definition. Still, others would call them such by Biblical definition.
Some, like the Church of Scientology, would be called a cult on the grounds of how it’s controlling people and/or ripping them off. One thing is sure: certain cults have seen the rise of confident leaders who let their hunger for power get the best of them, making them a danger. Here are seven of the most hazardous cult leaders that have appeared over the past 100 years.
Charlie Manson
If any name belongs on the list, it’s Manson. Manson had little or no childhood at all. His mother was a person with alcoholism and a prostitute during the 1930s depression, and eventually threw the young Manson under the bus. Instead of going to a boys’ school, from which he ran away, he struggled to survive on the streets. Manson would encounter his first prison cell in the 1950s and would be in and out of prison constantly. In 1967, Manson settled in San Francisco before the peak of the hippie movement, i.e., the Summer of Love. Manson became one of the top, if not the top, gurus for local hippies in the city. Eventually, 100 people became devoted to Manson and became his surrogate brothers and sisters.
Much of those so-called Revelations were self-imposed by the Manson Family, including the murder of Sharon Tate and her unborn child. After all the blood spilled by Manson and his family, he would be locked up for good in 1971, dodging a death sentence along the way. Yet Manson left an Enigmatic Legacy for better or worse.
Jim Jones
It was reported that his mother, Lynetta Putnam, believed she gave birth to a messiah. That so-called messiah was born James Warren Jones, also known as Jim Jones. As a child, he studied the greatest icons of socialism, including Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, the disowned Adolf Hitler, and the more respected Mahatma Gandhi. He attended Communist Party U.S.A. meetings, and his communist beliefs became fused with the beliefs of Christianity. He shared his pulpits with William M. Branham and Oral Roberts. Jones eventually started his Church congregation, called the Peoples Temple Christian Church Full Gospel, in Indiana.
While Jones promoted racial equality, his teachings were highly controversial. In 1963, he warned his congregation that the world would face war in July 1967. Eventually, he rejected Christianity, calling it a flyaway religion and dismissing sound Biblical teachings. Later, the church relocated to San Francisco and then to Guyana, where it established a socialist community on Jones’s doctrine.
The breaking point came when California Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown to investigate the People’s Temple cult. JoRyan ‘s death, and the congressman died on the transport plane. Afterward, Jones called for a mass suicide using poisoned grape-flavored “Flavor-Aid.” He himself died from a self-inflicted gunshot. Tragically, it became the most significant loss of American civilian life until September 11, 2001. Although the brand was Flavor-Aid, the phrase ‘drinking the Kool-Aid” became widely used.
David Koresh
The Branch Davidians were an offshoot of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, which in turn was part of the central Seventh-day Adventist Church. They organized in 1955. However, their future leader was born four years later. He entered the world as Vernon Wayne Howell to an unwed teenage mother in Houston, Texas. Raised by his grandparents, he dropped out of high school to work in carpentry and escape bullying. Additionally, Howell struggled with dyslexia, and his study skills were poor. He tried his hand at rock stardom and the pastor’s daughter at a local church. Eventually, this led to him being
Eventually, Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh and became the leader of the Branch Davidians. He claimed to be “the spiritual descendant of King David, a messianic figure carrying out a divinely commissioned errand.” However, the ATF investigated allegations of illegal firearms and child abuse. On February 28, 1993, the ATF raided the Waco compound. A four-hour gunfight broke out, leading to a 51-day standoff. According to Koresh, the fifth seal was open, and it was time for God to punish God’s faithful. Then, the FBI got involved. The standoff ended on April 19, 1993. David Koresh was dead. Officially, it was called a mass suicide. However, some believed the government committed mass murder to flex its power. Regardless, Koresh was a disturbed man. Indeed, he preached heretical doctrines and struggled to form meaningful relationships with women.
Bonnie Nettles
The first of the two is Heaven’s Gate Cult, which many in the media and elsewhere have dubbed the UFO Cult. We will cover Marshall Applewhite after discussing Nettles, as she passed away before Applewhite and some time after. Nettles was born in 1927 and grew up in the Baptist church. Apparently, she knew the Bible but would be among the” many that departed” from the faith and found herself “drawn to a spiritual guide” named Brother Frances, a monk from the 18th Century. This guide taught Nettles how to make astrological charts and contact with the dead. Nettles also had a real job, being a nurse.
She attended nursing school in the 1940s and graduated in 1948. By 1972, Nettles and Applewhite would meet and embark on cross-country travels in their faith. The 1970s were ripe for spiritual and metaphysical beliefs, with baby boomers leaving traditional faith and embracing these so-called new beliefs, thanks in part to their promotion in the counterculture. Sadly, for Nettles, she was suffering from Cancer. She would lose an eye, and in 198Cancern the cancer reached her liver, she would pass away. Now, according to the UFO cult, she ascended to the next level.
Marshall Applewhite
Now we get to the other Heaven’s Gate faith. That being Marshall Applewhite. Applewhite grew up with a normal life, pursuing everyday things. In 1952, he graduated from Austin College (a Presbyterian college on top of that) in Sherman, Texas. He would spend two years in the Army Signal Corps. Applewhite was a public speaker with a classical singing voice. He was a strong baritone and the diction to back it up. Applewhite could not find work in New York City, however. He would turn to teaching in college and was an assistant professor at the University of Alabama, and later headed the music department at the University of St.
Thomas in Houston, TX. After Nettles died in 1985, he was able to convince the Members of Heaven’s Gate (which was yet to be named) that she had been taken in a UFO and that soon they would be able to do the same. In October 1996, Applewhite and company soon learned of the passing of Comet Hale–Bopp. They were convinced that Nettles was on a spaceship that was traveling with the comet, ready to take the followers of the Applewhite-Nettles faith away into outer space; they just had to kill themselves first. The cult members made their farewells, and in March 1997, the suicides took place. Applewhite may not have killed anyone or encouraged anyone to murder, but he still could control people, and that is just as dangerous.
Adolfo Constanzo
He was born into a Catholic family and served as an altar boy. However, his family also dabbled in voodoo. Indeed, a Haitian priest blessed him a”nd observed “palomayombe,” while his mother traveled to Haiti to study Voodoo practices. Palo beliefs rest on two pillars: the veneration of spirits and faith in natural or Earth powers. The Palo Mayombe required animal sacrifices.
Strangely, Constanzo believed his version of Palo Mayombe made global cartels successful. He tried to form a partnership with Calzadas. They refused. Soon after, seven family members vanished and were later found with missing body parts. Meanwhile, the Hernandez brothers offered him a partnership. Also, he met Sara Aldrete, who became Constanzo’s killer and drug-dealing cartel cult.
Initially, the killings targeted rival drug cartels, with body parts used as sacrifices in an iron cauldron called a nganga. Eventually, Constanzo planned his most immense sacrifice yet. He wanted an American citizen and a painful death. On March 14, 1989, college student Mark Kilroy from the University of Texas at Austin became a victim in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Kilroy tried to escape, but it was futile. They killed him, placed his brain into the nganga, chopped off his legs, stabbed a wire into his backbone, and buried his body six feet underground.
Afterward, Constanzo and Los Narcosatánicos gained notoriety, but trouble followed. Elected officials in Texas pressured Mexican law enforcement. They cracked down, arresting four followers, including two Hernandez brothers. Meanwhile, Constanzo fled to Mexico City and hid in an apartment complex. However, the walls closed in. Police arrived for an unrelated case. Panicked, Constanzo ordered cult member Alvaro de Leon to kill him and Martin Quintana. Thus, Constanzo and his deadly cult of money, drugs, and Palo Mayombe came to an end.
Jeffrey Lundgren
Ever heard of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Today, it is known as the Community of Christ, and it continues to recognize the Book of Mormon as valid doctrine. Jeffrey Lundgren was born on May 3, 1950, in Independence, Missouri. He grew up in the RLDS church. However, his parents abused him and did not press charges against him. During middle and high school, he felt like an outsider. Yet, his father taught him to hunt and fire a gun. Later, Lundgren attended Central Missouri State University and stayed in a house for RLDS youth. There, he met Alice Keeler, who had also suffered abuse. Eventually, they married. Lundgren enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served with honors.
Over time, family struggles led Lundgren to embrace a darker side. He abused his wife, Alice. Still, they had four children. Although he remained faithful to the RLDS, he began teaching doctrines they could not accept. For instance, he believed moving to Ohio was significant because the word “OHIO” is chiastic.
Lundgren demanded absolute obedience. His cult never exceeded 20 members. He taught that the second coming would occur on May 3 at the Kirkland Temple. One family, the Averys, became scapegoats, especially Dennis, who Lundgren deemed weak. On April 10, 1989, cult members dug Lundgren’s barn. A week later, they murdered the Avery family one by one. The next day, after encountering local police, Lundgren and his cult fled to West Virginia. However, nine months later, a tip led police to discover the bodies. Lundgren was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. His execution took place on October 24, 2006. Over a year later, the barn where the murders occurred was razed. Finally, the Avery family could rest in peace.
These cult leaders illustrate how power and control can transform belief into a danger. Clearly, charisma alone can manipulate followers and justify violence. Moreover, unquestioning loyalty and fear often lead to tragedy. Ultimately, their stories serve as a warning to question authority and protect oneself from harmful influence.
