True Crime: The Deadliest Cult Leaders

What is a cult? By definition, a cult is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. Cult leaders can persuade those around them and control them merely by the power of their beliefs. They are masterminds of false empathy and mental manipulation by brainwashing their followers to have them behold the same views. Many cult leaders in the 20th century could strip a person of any autonomy that they had, which resulted in mass destruction and bloodshed. 

Jim Jones - The Jones Town Massacre 

Born James Warren Jones, he was the cause of what is known today as the Jones Town Massacre. Jones was a religious figure and an American preacher that turned cult leader. Jones created the group known as the Peoples Temple in Indiana during the 1950s. Ordained by the Independent Assemblies of God, he moved his congregation to California and started gaining his following in San Fransico during the 70s. In this time, Jones picked up his congregation and decided to move his members to Guyana's jungles. Jones led his followers to this jungle commune, where he conspired with those in his inner circle and directed a mass-murder suicide. The commune had media reports surface that human rights abuses, which led U.S. Representative Leo Ryan to travel to the commune to conduct an investigation. When there, Ryan was shot and killed when boarding his flight back to the U.S. It is believed that this was when Jones conducted the murder-suicide. 

David Koresh - The Waco Disaster 

David Koresh was thought to be a charismatic person who took over the Branch of Davidians after the group's predecessor left. With an extensive knowledge of the bible, Koresh believed that he could speak to God and gave prophecies of the second coming along with the End of the World. Koresh was able to convince 100 people to live in his commune and used his position to take multiple wives and having sex with girls as young as ten years old. 

In February of 1993, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms tried to serve Koresh with a warrant for the possession of illegal firearms, which ensued a four-hour gunfight and lead to the death of four ATF agents and six of the congregation's followers. The standoff was covered for 51 days and widely covered by media outlets. Many members were able to escape during the gunfight. However, 80 members remained. Both the ATF and FBI tried to come to a compromise, but things escalated out of control. Koresh was found shot in the head. 

David Berg

This is a cult that is still around to this day, founded by David Berg, who had firm beliefs of the Antichrist, he established the cult in 1968. He claimed happiness and revolution were his goals. Burg promoted sex with minors and incestual relationships. Berg, who had been a pastor before the establishment of his cult, believed profoundly in an "old world" belief of Christianity. However, a belief that was surrounded by sex was confusingly enough his group The Children of God believed that God loved sex because it equated to love and that Satan hated sex because it was beautiful. He thought that incest was acceptable because it was "best to learn from your family."