The Christian Bible states that
Jesus will come again in some fashion; various people have claimed to, in fact, be the Second Coming of Jesus. Others have styled themselves new messiahs under the umbrella of Christianity. The
Synoptic gospels (Matthew 24:4, 6, 24; Mark 13:5, 21-22; and Luke 21:3) all use the term
pseudochristos for messianic pretenders. •
Ann Lee (1736–1784), a central figure to the
Shakers, who thought she "embodied all the perfections of God" in female form and considered herself in 1772 to be Christ's female counterpart. •
John Nichols Thom (1799–1838), who had achieved fame and followers as Sir William Courtenay and adopted the claim of Messiah after a period in a mental institute. •
Abd-ru-shin (Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, 18 April 1875 – 6 December 1941), founder of the
Grail Movement. •
Lou de Palingboer (Louwrens Voorthuijzen) (1898-1968), a
Dutch charismatic leader who claimed to be God as well as the Messiah from 1950 until his death in 1968. •
Ahn Sahng-hong (1918–1985), founder of the
World Mission Society Church of God and worshiped by the members as the Messiah. •
Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012), founder and leader of the
Unification Church established in
Seoul,
South Korea, who considered himself the Second Coming of Christ, but not Jesus himself. It is generally believed by Unification Church members ("Moonies") that he was the
Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ and was anointed to fulfill Jesus's unfinished mission. • (1931–2004), founder of the
Victory Altar New Religious Movement, which refers to him as “the Victor Christ” and “God incarnated”. Died in the midst of a series of legal battles in which he was alternately convicted and acquitted on charges of fraud and instigation of the murders of multiple opponents. •
Lee Man-Hee (born 15 September 1931), founder of
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a new religious movement based in
South Korea. Also known as The One Who Overcomes, he claims to be chosen by Jesus to be the next immortal savior of the world •
Jung Myung-seok (born 1945), a
South Korean who was a member of the
Unification Church in the 1970s, before breaking off to found the dissenting group now known as
Providence Church in 1980. He also considers himself the Second Coming of Christ, but not Jesus himself. He believes he has come to finish the incomplete message and mission of Jesus Christ, asserting that he is the Messiah and has the responsibility to save all mankind. He claims that the Christian doctrine of
resurrection is false but that people can be saved through him. Jung Myung-seok was convicted of rape by the Supreme Court of Korea and spent 10 years in prison (2008-2018). He was again indicted in South Korea on October 28, 2022, for sexually assaulting two female followers between 2018 and 2022. •
Claude Vorilhon, now known as
Raël "messenger of the Elohim" (born 1946), a
French professional test driver and former car journalist who became founder and leader of
UFO religion the
Raël Movement in 1972. Raëlism teaches that
life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of
extraterrestrials, which they call
Elohim. He claimed he met an extraterrestrial humanoid in 1973 and became the Messiah. He then devoted himself to the task he said he was given by his "biological father", an extraterrestrial named
Yahweh. •
José Luis de Jesús Miranda (1946–2013), founder and leader of
Creciendo en Gracia sect (Growing In Grace International Ministry, Inc.), based in
Miami,
Florida. He was a
Puerto Rican preacher who had claimed to be both "the Man Jesus Christ" and the Antichrist at the same time, and exhibited a "
666" tattoo on his forearm, a behavior his followers also adopted. He has referred to himself as
Jesucristo Hombre, which translates to "Jesus Christ made Man". He claimed he was indwelled with the same spirit that dwelled in Jesus. Miranda died on August 14, 2013, due to liver cancer. •
Inri Cristo (born 1948) of
Indaial,
Brazil, a claimant to be the second Jesus. •
Apollo Quiboloy (born 1950), Filipino founder and leader of the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ religious group, who claims that Jesus Christ is the "Almighty Father," that Quiboloy is "His Appointed Son," and that salvation is now completed. He proclaims himself to be the "Appointed Son of God". On November 11, 2021, Quiboloy was indicted by the United States Department of Justice for allegedly coercing girls and young women to have sex with him. These victims were threatened with eternal damnation and physical punishment if they didn’t comply. The indictment also included allegations that Quiboloy ran a sex-trafficking operation. Girls as young as 12 were allegedly trafficked through the fraudulent California charity “Children’s Joy.” Quiboloy was arrested by Philippine police on September 8, 2024. •
Brian David Mitchell (born 1953) was convicted May 25, 2011, for the 2002 kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart. He believed himself the
fore-ordained angel born on earth to be the
Davidic "servant" prepared by God as a type of
Messiah who would restore the divinely led
kingdom of
Israel to the world in preparation for Christ's Second Coming. Mitchell's belief in such an
end-times figure – also known among many
fundamentalist Latter Day Saints as "the
One Mighty and Strong" – appeared to be based in part on a reading of the biblical
Book of Isaiah by the independent
LDS Hebraist,
Avraham Gileadi, with whom Mitchell became familiar as a result of his previous participation in Sterling Allan's American Study Group. •
Ante Pavlović (1957–2020), a Croatian self-proclaimed chiropractor who claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. •
Sergey Torop (born 1961), who started to call himself "Vissarion", founder of the
Church of the Last Testament and the spiritual community
Ecopolis Tiberkul in
Southern Siberia. •
Alan John Miller (born 1962), founder of
Divine Truth, a new religious movement based in
Australia. Also known as A.J. Miller, he claims to be Jesus of Nazareth through reincarnation. Miller was formerly a
Jehovah's Witness. •
Yang Xiangbin (born 1973) is believed to be the identity of a woman referred to as "Lightning Deng" and "the female Christ" in the literature of
Eastern Lightning, a Chinese Christian new religious movement. Zhao Weishan, founder and administrative leader of Eastern Lightning, claimed that Yang revealed herself to be the Second Coming of Christ in 1992. ==Muslim messiah claimants==