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Godianism (c. 1948)
Godianism, also known as Chiism, is an indigenist religious movement founded in Nigeria between 1948 and 1949. It emerged during the country’s independence movement, when Kalu Onu Kama Onyioha established it as the National Church of Nigeria. Onyioha became the movement’s Supreme Spiritual Teacher under the title Ahanyi. Onyioha sought to challenge Western descriptions of… Continue reading
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God’s Creation Outreach Ministry (c. 1990)
God’s Creation Outreach Ministry was a small Pentecostal storefront church in Kansas City, Kansas, founded and incorporated in April 1992 by Christy Edgar. Operating under the Church of God in Christ denomination, the congregation was pastored by Neil Edgar, while his wife, Christy Edgar, served as co-pastor, evangelist and self-proclaimed “prophet.” The church operated from… Continue reading
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God Squad (c. 1972)
The God Squad, officially known as the Full Gospel Mission and later the St. John Volunteer Corps, was an apocalyptic Christian sect active in New Zealand from the late 1950s until its collapse in the late 1990s. The group was founded and led by Douglas Alexander Metcalf, a self-styled “Bishop” who presented himself as a… Continue reading
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G.O.D. International (1996)
G.O.D. International (Global Outreach Developments International) was founded in 1996 in Southern California by Gregg Garner and a group of college friends. The organization initially operated as a small ministry delivering food to people in need but gradually expanded its activities under Garner’s leadership. Garner claimed an extensive academic background in biblical studies, missiology, and… Continue reading
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Gloriavale Christian Community (1969)
The Gloriavale Christian Community is an insular fundamentalist Christian group located in a remote area of New Zealand’s West Coast. It was founded in 1969 by Australian-born evangelist Neville Cooper, who later took the name Hopeful Christian, with the aim of emulating the early Christian church described in the New Testament. The movement began after… Continue reading
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Global Revolution Church (2008)
Global Revolution Church is an evangelical congregation founded in October 2008 in Orlando, Florida, by pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz. Blake Lorenz had previously spent 16 years as pastor of Pine Castle United Methodist Church; Beverly Lorenz, a third-generation pastor, joined him in launching the new ministry. The church built its identity around end-times theology,… Continue reading
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Gilbert Deya Ministries (1997)
Gilbert Juma Deya was a Kenyan-born evangelist who built an international following in Britain and Africa on claims that he could cure infertility through prayer. He was born in poverty in 1952 in a town outside Nairobi. He left primary school due to financial difficulty and bullying, and as a child engaged in begging and… Continue reading
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GeorDavie Ministries International (c. 2016)
GeorDavie Moses Kasambale, a Tanzanian preacher, built an international church and media presence as a self-styled prophet, operating GeorDavie Ministries International, a network spanning church services, radio, television and music events. Kasambale, who usually goes solely by his first namr, says that he has possessed supernatural abilities, including prophecy and healing, since childhood, and bases… Continue reading
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Gentle Wind Project (c. 1980)
The Gentle Wind Project (GWP) was founded around 1980 in Arlington, Massachusetts, by John “Tubby” Miller and Claudia Panuthos, who later went by Mary “Moe” Miller. In 1983 it was formalized as a Maine nonprofit, and the following year it moved its headquarters to Kittery, Maine, where core members lived together while running what they… Continue reading
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Genesis II Church of Health and Healing (2010)
The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing was an American organization founded in 2010 by Jim Humble and Mark Grenon. Operating as an international distributor and promoter of a chemical solution called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), the group described itself as a “non-religious church.” Its primary focus was promoting MMS as a treatment for… Continue reading
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General Church of the New Jerusalem (1890)
The General Church of the New Jerusalem, commonly known as the General Church or New Church, is an international Christian denomination headquartered in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Its theology is based on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th-century Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. Swedenborg never founded a formal church himself. He left behind 20 volumes… Continue reading
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General Assembly Church of the First Born (c. 1870)
The General Assembly and Church of the First Born — commonly called the Church of the First Born or Followers of Christ — is a fundamentalist Christian sect defined by its commitment to divine faith healing and rejection of conventional medical care. It traces its roots to the 19th-century American frontier, developing from a network… Continue reading
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Geelong Revival Centre (c. 1960)
The Geelong Revival Centre (GRC) is a Pentecostal church headquartered in Norlane, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Founded around 1960, the GRC expanded under pastor Noel Hollins into a network of more than 20 affiliated assemblies across Australia and internationally. Hollins led the church for about 65 years until his death in April 2024… Continue reading
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Gatekeepers (c. 1990)
The Gatekeepers was a small apocalyptic group established in the early 1990s in Snohomish County, Washington, by Christopher Turgeon. The group began as a Bible study organization called Ahabah Asah Prophetic Ministries, with meetings held across Edmonds, Lynnwood, Everett, and Lake Stevens. The group’s direction changed after Turgeon announced that he had received a direct… Continue reading
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Garden Ashram (c. 1977)
The Garden Ashram was a Hare Krishna-affiliated intentional community near Mullumbimby in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Tweed River near Wollumbin (Mount Warning), a mountain significant to the Indigenous Bundjalung people. The region’s volcanic soil and heavy rainfall had long attracted people drawn to alternative lifestyles and Eastern… Continue reading
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Gangaji (c. 1990)
Gangaji is an American spiritual teacher and author associated with the Neo-Advaita non-dual movement. She was born Merle Antoinette Roberson in Texas in 1942 and raised in Mississippi. Some sources render her name as Antoinette Varner or refer to her informally as Toni. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Roberson married her first husband,… Continue reading
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Ganas (1979)
Ganas is an intentional community located in Tompkinsville, on the North Shore of Staten Island, New York. Established in 1979, the group has been described over the course of its history as an urban kibbutz, an experiment in cooperative living, and a commune. It has also faced persistent allegations from critics and former members that… Continue reading
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Christina Gallagher (1985)
Christina Gallagher, an Irish woman from County Mayo, gained public attention in the mid-1980s after reporting a series of supernatural experiences that later became the foundation of an international religious movement. Her claimed experiences began in 1985 at Cairn’s Grotto in County Sligo, where she said she witnessed a vision of the suffering head of… Continue reading
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Galdrux (2020)
Galdrux is an online phenomenon based around a website that began publishing in 2020. (While galdrux.com was registered much earlier, it seems to have come into the hands of the current administrators around this time.) Galdrux presents itself as a “multiversal cult” centered on a spider-eyed chaos deity of the same name. Originating as a… Continue reading
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Gaianism/Gaian Way (2019)
Gaianism is an earth-centered philosophical, holistic, and spiritual worldview that emphasizes a transpersonal devotion to the Earth, which is understood as a complex, self-regulating superorganism. Adherents, known as Gaians or Gaianists, follow an ethical framework centered on reducing humanity’s environmental impact and cultivating a direct personal relationship with the natural world. While it shares similarities… Continue reading
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Gabriel of Urantia (1985)
Gabriel of Urantia, born Anthony J. Delevin on July 5, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an American spiritual leader who founded and led a religious community in southern Arizona. Delevin, whose original family surname was Dell’Erba, grew up in a working-class household. As a young adult, he pursued music, attended a seminary, and married. Following… Continue reading
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Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (c. 1935)
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) is a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist organization that originated in the early 20th century following a schism with the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The separation stemmed from the LDS Church’s formal renunciation of plural marriage in the 1890 Manifesto issued by… Continue reading
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Full Circle (2014)
Andrew Keegan is a former child actor known for his roles on series including “Party of Five” and “7th Heaven” and in the 1999 film “10 Things I Hate About You.” In adulthood, he developed an interest in New Age spirituality and in 2014, he co-founded Full Circle with a group of friends. The organization… Continue reading
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Friends of the Eucharist (1998)
Friends of the Eucharist was a traditionalist religious organization founded in 1999 by Ronald J. O’Brien in Keene, New Hampshire. Before establishing the group, O’Brien was known as Ronald J. Woodruff. In 1991, he was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service for his role in a $300,000 credit-card fraud scheme and later served 13 months… Continue reading
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Friends Landing (1985)
Friends Landing was a spiritual and personal development organization founded by Susan Kilborne Musumeci, who used several names during her career, including WhiteWind Swan Fisher, WhiteWind Weaver, and Anahata Graceland. She operated the group with her husband, Ben Fisher. Formally known as Friends Landing International Centers for Conscious Living, the organization maintained an office in… Continue reading