After Rama Behera came to the U.S. from India to attend college in the 1970s, his life changed forever when he claimed Jesus Christ contacted him. He dropped out to become a missionary, and settled on a compound in Wisconsin.

Alistah Laishkochav was a New Zealand man who thought he was a messiah. To the world, the former police officer maintained a big happy family with his nine wives.

Judy Z built a business empire by channeling Ramtha and his Atlantean wisdom. She converted her home into a headquarters and held gatherings for thousands of followers from all over the world. By the 2000s, she began using her influence and cash flow to step into politics — gaining favor until 2016, when she started catering to QAnon believers.

Judy Z spent her early life in poverty before making a living as a cable salesperson in the early 1980s.

In the mid-2000s, Toni Ellsberry claimed to hear the voice of God, and ruled over her followers in a small Baltimore apartment. But when a toddler there died of starvation, One Mind Ministries began to crumble from within.

Fleeing to Austin, Texas in the early ‘90s was supposed to be a clean break for “The Teacher” and his followers. For a while, it was.

Jaime Gomez came to the U.S. from Venezuela in the 1960s looking for stardom, but when careers in dance and film didn’t materialize, he shifted focus.

After Gourasana passed away, his wife Kalindi took over Miracle of Love and propelled the group to new heights. She held increasingly demanding seminars that broke down attendees until they joined the fold. As time wore on, Kalindi’s enthusiasm and exploits brought many of her followers to the brink, and she showed no signs of slowing down.

By 1987, David Swanson and his wife Carol Seidman had been on a decades-long journey to find enlightenment.

The Church of Wells cemented its place in the small Texas town by being uncompromising and radical.

When Baylor University students Sean Morris and Ryan Ringnald met in the mid 2000s, they both felt the world around them was spiritually empty.

By the 1980s, The Work was a real estate empire worth millions. But Julius didn’t concern himself much with the business. Instead, he focused on preaching armageddon and engaging in “special work” with his young female followers.

While stationed in the South Pacific with the Navy during World War II, Julius Schacknow had a divine vision. Armed with the knowledge of his supposed destiny, he established a devoted following in New England in the 1970s.

As the Adventist movement spread across the United States, and as the date of Miller’s predicted apocalypse approached, his followers prepared to leave the world behind.

The origins of the 19th-century preacher who founded Millerism, revived belief in Jesus’ imminent return, and landed himself at the center of a historic religious crisis in America.

By the late 1990s, the Providence movement had expanded its reach internationally. But when word got out about Jeong Myeong-seok abusing his “spiritual brides,” he fled.

After cutting his teeth in the rapidly growing unification movement in South Korea in the 1970s, Jung Myung-seok began having grander ambitions — as the new messiah of a religious movement.

In the 1960s, Faizrakhman Sattarov experienced a holy vision when sparks shot down from a trolley car in Russia.

By the late ‘80s, Stanton had fully embraced military metaphors in the Bible, mobilizing his Jesus Army to wage war against sin and save British souls.

During WWII, while serving in the British Royal Navy, Noel Stanton had an encounter with an evangelist that changed his life.

After amassing wealth and influence as a spiritual advisor in the 1980s, Adolfo Constanzo set his sights on the lucrative drug trade in Matamoros.

Schooled in the darkest corners of his family’s Afro-Carribean religion, Adolfo Constanzo decided to make his fortune using magic granted through animal sacrifices.

For over a decade, a self-described rabbi ran a seminary in an orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Increased government scrutiny in the early 2000s didn’t stop Hermes Far Eastern Shining from growing into a small business empire.

A fast-growing cult in Australia absorbed hundreds of people into its fold in the late 1990s.