People Who Claimed to Be Jesus: 9 Real Cases and What Happened Next

Christians believe Jesus will return, yet over the centuries, people who claimed to be Jesus have appeared from Siberia to Brazil to Guyana. Some said they were Jesus reborn, others called themselves the Christ or God’s Son.

A few gathered thousands of followers, and many stories ended in prison or tragedy. Here are nine real cases, with what each person claimed and what happened next.

Every case is based on news reports, court coverage, and trusted reference works, updated in October 2026. You will also see what Jesus said about false Christs, plus warning signs that repeat in these stories.

Wondering if the Second Coming has already happened? The quick answer is no, by the Bible’s own description. Keep reading to see the verses that explain why.

Who Has Claimed to Be Jesus?

Well-known people who claimed to be Jesus or the Christ include Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, Shoko Asahara, José Luis de Jesús Miranda, Vissarion, Inri Cristo, and Alan John Miller.

Apollo Quiboloy calls himself the “Appointed Son of God.” Jesus warned about such claims in Matthew 24:5, and Revelation 1:7 says that when he truly returns, every eye will see him.

9 People Who Claimed to Be Jesus or the Christ

Not everyone on this list said the exact words “I am Jesus.” Some called themselves the Christ, the Lamb of Revelation, or God’s Son. The first four stories ended in tragedy. The last five are more recent, and some of these leaders are still in the news.

Jim Jones: The Preacher Behind Jonestown

The claim: Jones began as a Pentecostal preacher in Indiana in the 1950s and built the Peoples Temple into a church with thousands of members. He was known for preaching racial integration. Over time, he also claimed divine powers.

In a sworn statement from 1978, a former member said Jones told followers he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Lenin, and others.

How it ended: In 1977, Jones moved hundreds of followers to a remote settlement in Guyana called Jonestown. On November 18, 1978, after U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan visited to look into abuse reports, Temple gunmen killed Ryan and four others at a nearby airstrip.

That same day, Jones led the settlement into a mass murder-suicide. In all, 918 people died, including more than 300 children, and Jones died as well.

David Koresh: The Leader at Waco

The claim: Born Vernon Howell, he changed his name to David Koresh in 1990 and led the Branch Davidians, a small group that grew out of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Researchers at INFORM, a group that studies new religions, say Koresh claimed to be the Son of God, the Christ for the last days, and the Lamb of Revelation. His followers lived at Mount Carmel, a compound near Waco, Texas, and waited for the end of the world.

How it ended: In February 1993, federal agents raided the compound over reports of weapons and abuse. Four agents and six Davidians died in the first gunfight, and a 51-day standoff began.

On April 19, a fire destroyed the buildings. Seventy-six Branch Davidians died, including Koresh and many children. How the fire started is still debated.

Read More: How Many Miracles Did Jesus Perform? (Full List, Bible Verses & Meaning)

Marshall Applewhite: The Founder of Heaven’s Gate

The claim: Applewhite, a former music professor, co-founded Heaven’s Gate in the 1970s with a nurse named Bonnie Nettles.

The group blended UFO beliefs with Christian ideas. According to the Encyclopedia of Global Religion, Applewhite saw himself as a second incarnation of Jesus, sent back to finish what Jesus left unfinished.

How it ended: In March 1997, as the Hale-Bopp comet passed near Earth, police found the bodies of 39 members, Applewhite among them, in a rented house in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

The group had come to believe that leaving their bodies would let them board a spacecraft traveling behind the comet.

Shoko Asahara: Japan’s Self-Declared Christ

The claim: Born Chizuo Matsumoto, Asahara founded the Japanese movement Aum Shinrikyo in the 1980s. It mixed Buddhism, Hindu ideas, and end-time prophecy from the Bible.

BBC reports say he declared himself both Christ and the first “enlightened one” since Buddha. By 1989, Britannica notes, he was also calling himself “Tokyo’s Christ.”

How it ended: In March 1995, members of his group released nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains. Thirteen people died and thousands were hurt. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and Japan executed him on July 6, 2018, along with six of his followers.

José Luis de Jesús Miranda: “Jesus Christ Man”

The claim: Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Miranda started a Miami ministry called Growing in Grace (Creciendo en Gracia) in the 1980s. He first said he was the apostle Paul reborn.

By the mid-2000s, he was calling himself “Jesus Christ Man,” and he later added that he was the Antichrist too. His followers tattooed the number 666 on their bodies, which he called a number of wisdom. The ministry claimed about two million followers worldwide.

How it ended: Miranda told followers they would become immortal on June 30, 2012. Nothing happened. In August 2013, his ex-wife announced that he had died.

He appeared in public weeks later, then died for real in Orlando that November. The story did not stop there. His widow, Lisbet García, later began calling herself the female incarnation of Christ.

Vissarion: The “Jesus of Siberia”

The claim: Sergei Torop worked as a traffic officer before announcing a spiritual awakening in 1990. He took the name Vissarion and, in 1991, founded the Church of the Last Testament in Siberia.

Several thousand followers settled in remote villages, where they gave up meat, alcohol, smoking, and money. In a 2002 interview with The Guardian, he said, “yes, I am Jesus Christ.”

How it ended: Russian security forces arrested Torop in 2020. On June 30, 2025, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced him to 12 years in a maximum-security prison camp, finding that he had harmed his followers’ health and finances. He denied wrongdoing. A court had already dissolved his community in 2022.

Read Also: Jesus on the Cross: The Complete Story, Timeline, Meaning & Last Words

Inri Cristo: Brazil’s “Jesus Reborn”

The claim: Álvaro Theiss says he realized in 1979, during a fast in Santiago, Chile, that he was Jesus Christ reborn.

He took the name Inri Cristo, from INRI, the Latin inscription placed above Jesus’s cross, and later founded a group called the Supreme Universal Order of the Holy Trinity, known as SOUST.

Where things stand: Inri lives on a farm outside Brasília that he calls New Jerusalem, with a small circle of disciples, most of them women.

National Geographic reported that he reads Revelation 1:7, “coming with the clouds,” as permission to travel by airplane. He also preaches online, including on YouTube and Facebook Live.

Alan John Miller: The Australian Who Says He Remembers the Crucifixion

The claim: Miller, a former software professional from Queensland, made headlines in Australia around 2013. He said he was the reincarnation of Jesus and that he began “remembering” that life after a divorce in 1997.

He also said his partner, Mary Luck, was Mary Magdalene, and he told Sky News he recalled the crucifixion.

What followed: Miller teaches what he calls the Divine Truth, and some followers moved close to the couple in Kingaroy, Queensland.

Australia’s Cult Awareness and Information Centre and church leaders worried that the couple were reaching vulnerable people who were searching for meaning. Reports have not made clear how many followers he has today.

Apollo Quiboloy: The Pastor Who Calls Himself “Appointed Son of God”

The claim: Quiboloy is different from the others on this list because he does not say he is Jesus by name. He calls himself the “Appointed Son of God.” He founded the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church in the Philippines in 1985, and the church says it has millions of followers.

Where it stands now: Quiboloy was arrested in September 2024 after a long standoff with police at his compound in Davao. He is held at Pasig City Jail and faces human trafficking and child abuse cases in the Philippines, plus sex trafficking charges in the United States.

He denies the allegations, and the Philippine trials are still ongoing. In early October 2026, the Philippine Department of Justice said it was almost ready to file a petition to extradite him to the U.S. Until a court decides, these remain allegations.

An Older Story: The Man Who Said He Was Jesus’s Younger Brother

Claims like these are not new, and they have not always stayed small. Hong Xiuquan was a schoolteacher in southern China who failed the civil service exams more than once.

After a fever and a series of visions, he decided he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. By 1850 he was arming his followers against China’s Qing government.

The Taiping Rebellion that followed lasted until 1864, and most estimates say it killed at least 20 million people. Hong died that year as imperial troops closed in on the city of Nanjing.

He never claimed to be Jesus himself, which is why he is not on the main list, but his story shows how far a claim like this can go.

Read More: Jesus Died on the Cross: Why It Happened, What It Means & the Evidence Behind It

5 Warning Signs These Stories Share

The nine leaders above lived in different countries and different decades. Still, the same patterns show up again and again.

• One voice controls everything. At Jonestown, Peoples Temple leaders directed every part of daily life, and many members handed over their income and property.
• Isolation from the outside world. Jonestown sat deep in the Guyana jungle. Vissarion’s followers lived in remote Siberian villages. National Geographic described Inri Cristo’s compound near Brasília as ringed with barbed wire.
• Money and free labor flow upward. A Russian court found that Vissarion harmed his followers’ health and finances, and he denied it.
• A date for the end of the world. Miranda promised immortality on June 30, 2012. Heaven’s Gate tied its final act to a comet. Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36).
• A new gospel that replaces the old one. Miranda taught that Jesus of Nazareth should no longer be worshipped as the Christ. Heaven’s Gate taught members to cut ties with family outside the group.

No single sign proves a claim is false. But when several of them appear together, it is time to step back and ask hard questions.

What Does the Bible Say About People Who Claim to Be Jesus?

Jesus saw this coming. In Matthew 24, his disciples asked about the end of the age, and the first thing he said was a warning: “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5, KJV).

A few verses later, he gave three more clues:

• Do not follow secret claims. He said that if anyone says “Lo, here is Christ, or there,” believers should not believe it (Matthew 24:23). He also warned against claims that he is “in the desert” or “in the secret chambers” (Matthew 24:26).
• Expect a public return. His coming would be like lightning that shines from east to west (Matthew 24:27). Revelation 1:7 agrees: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.”
• Expect the same Jesus. In Acts 1:11, two angels told the disciples that “this same Jesus” would return “in like manner” as he left.

Jesus also said that no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels (Matthew 24:36). That is why a leader who names a date, like Miranda’s June 2012 promise, raises a red flag for many Christians.

Most Christian churches read these verses to mean that the real Second Coming will be public and unmistakable, not a private claim made by one person in a compound, a village, or a TV studio. This is the traditional Christian reading, and other faiths see the idea of Christ’s return differently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has the Second Coming of Jesus already happened?

Most Christian churches teach that it has not. Revelation 1:7 says every eye will see him, and no event like that has taken place.

Who is the most famous person who claimed to be Jesus?

Jim Jones and David Koresh are probably the best known in the West because of Jonestown and Waco. Vissarion, the “Jesus of Siberia,” is the best known in Russia.

Is anyone claiming to be Jesus today?

Yes. Inri Cristo in Brazil has made the claim since 1979, and Alan John Miller in Australia made headlines for it in 2013.

What does the Bible say about false Christs?

Jesus warned that “many shall come in my name” and that false Christs would arise and deceive many (Matthew 24:5, 24).

How many people have claimed to be Jesus?

Nobody knows the exact number. Reference lists name dozens of notable cases, and some writers say hundreds have made the claim over the centuries.

Why do people follow someone who claims to be Jesus?

Often they are searching for meaning, belonging, or hope. Australia’s Cult Awareness and Information Centre has warned that such leaders can attract vulnerable people.

How can you tell a false Christ from the real Jesus?

Check the claim against Scripture. The real return will be visible to everyone (Revelation 1:7), and no human knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36).

What happened to the followers of these leaders?

It varies. Jonestown, Waco, and Heaven’s Gate ended in mass death. A Russian court dissolved Vissarion’s community in 2022, and Miranda’s movement fractured after his death in 2013.

Final Thoughts

The people in this article could hardly be more different. One was a Pentecostal preacher in Indiana, another a former traffic officer in Russia, another a pharmacy owner in Japan. Yet their claims followed a familiar script, and followers often paid the highest price.

For Christians, Jesus gave a simple test long ago. Do not believe anyone who says “here is Christ,” and remember that his real return will be seen by every eye. Whatever you believe, it is wise to ask hard questions before following anyone who says they are more than human.