The cult leader as "Messiah"
Posted by:
richardmgreen
()
Date: September 20, 2002 05:28AM
I'm using the word Messiah in the broadest sense, not just in the orthodox Jewish sense. Many movements caused problems when they promoted the idea of the religious leader as a
Messiah. Moon, Guru Maharaji, Hickman (a rather small potato), and others, transcend the role of a normal religious leader.
They become answerable to no one (actually, Maharaji's mother demoted him as Lord of the Universe and put his brother in his stead, and Hickman was booted out of his cult's church).
Someone once asked a Hickmanite, "what would you do if Jack Hickman asked you to kill someone?" The person replied, "he'd be dead in a minute". Pays to ask hard questions. Probably pays to get the FBI involved too sometimes.