Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop, convinced he sustained a supernatural otherworldly experience and he is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, deluded, as are the many who seek him, believe him, and follow him.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2 Thessalonians 2:11

Many have come, many now come, and many will come claiming to be the Messiah. To be the One and Only Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. The only One spotless, sinless, blameless, the Only One that was fully truly man and fully truly God. Eternally God. Without beginning without end. The Only One to come to earth of a virgin birth as prophesized for centuries. The Only One to be nailed to a tree and bled out, sacrificing Himself for the sin of every man and woman who come out from the darkness and into the light to not only believe but to be born anew, truly transformed from within to a changed mind, a changed heart by the power of the Spirit of God — to follow, submit and obey. Honoring the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head of the body of true believers, true disciples of His.

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 24:3-14

List of people who claimed to be Jesus

From an online website about people claiming to be Jesus: A 2015 survey conducted by the Church of England found that 22 percent of adults in England did not believe Jesus was a real person.

A Tree and Its Fruit

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

I Never Knew You

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Build Your House on the Rock

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7:15-27

What fruit has the sinful, mere human man, Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop, claiming to be the oracle of God, claiming to be Christ yielded? Upon what foundation did he and his followers build upon? What manner of fruit-bearing trees are Mr. Torop, calling himself Vissarion, “he who gives new life,” and his followers bear?

Mr. Torop mixes a stew of, as cited in the article below: the teachings of Vassarion borrowed from Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, and a fair share of Stoicism. 

Yeah, that sounds like the Jesus of the Bible, right?

And Mr. Totop is convinced he is Jesus. The real Jesus. As do his followers. Many still after the facts, which you’ll learn upon reading the article below.

The Man of Lawlessness

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

The criminal, liar and false prophet leading many astray, Mr. Torop is NOT the man of lawlessness mentioned in the Bible. Hardly. Mr. Torop is just another con man. Another shyster. Another liar, false teacher, and minister of Satan also appears as light just as his master appears as an angel of light deluding, seducing, beguiling, and leading millions, billions astray.

Mr. Torop is just a precursor. Another sign.

But then, you knew that…

Right?

So many searching, seeking, reaching out to all the false teachers, believing mere men, true con artists, and great actors, great deceivers just as the master they serve is Jesus. The One and Only Lord of lords, King of kings, High Priest, Sacrificial Lamb for the sin of the world.

If only those millions, billions of lost, banging around in total darkness, seeking, searching, desiring to know the truth and finally come out of that darkness and into the Light, the Way, and the Truth.

If only folks would pick up, open up, pray asking upon opening for spiritual discernment and wisdom to be given to them beyond our finite, feeble, folly and search the Scriptures. Meditate on the Word of God. Believe the Word of God. Live out the Word of God.

And I direct this to those proclaiming to be Christian!

Just imagine what might happen if the same occurred among the heathen, the pagan!

Read on.

And know this is but one of a growing number of such charlatans, con men, and false prophets taking far too many people down the wrong path leading them to destruction rather than eternal life in heaven with the One True God, the One and Only Way to the Father, the One and Only Lord Jesus Christ.

Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Monday, July 24th, 2023

Meet the Man Who Believes He Is Actually Jesus Christ

July 23, 2023

By Ene Ayegba

Reprinted from History All Day

Since the crucifixion and the end of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, according to Christian belief, several individuals have claimed to be Jesus in a second Advent.

Many of these new Jesus figures would often start a sect, enjoy a large followership, and after a while, fizzle away. However, one such individual has been convincing in the past few decades. Could he be that Christ?

The Siberian Jesus

Around 33 B.C., history has it that Jesus, the son of Joseph, was born into the world to a newly wedded couple in Bethlehem. His birth has been symbolically celebrated, in the past few centuries, as the Christians’ Easter.

However, in the cold frontiers of Siberia, a Russian man has successfully convinced his thousands of followers that he is Jesus. His influence in that circle is so strong that the entire sect started a commune of their own.

Here’s what we learned about the 21st-century Jesus. His given name is Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop, but his disciples have made a habit of calling him Vissarion.

The name ‘Vissarion’ is common in Russia and of Greek origin, meaning “wooded valley.” However, Torop’s official website states that the name Vissarion means ‘he who gives new life.’

Before his sudden epiphany in 1991, which made Torop see new light, he was a 31-year-old traffic officer in the town of Minusinsk, Siberia.

He, however, claimed to have had an otherworldly experience that marked his rebirth as Christ. Though born in January 1961, Torop didn’t have his awakening until August 1990. It was after this period that he became inspired to start a fellowship of like-minds called The Church of the Last Testament.

Son of God or Just Plain Jesus?

During the earthly life of Jesus Christ, there were several charges brought against him before the mob action that led to his death. He was reported to have claimed to be the Son of God and to be one and the same as God.

So, since Vissarion had been acclaimed to be Jesus, journalists have seized every opportunity for an interview to ask him if he really is that same Jesus. Torop, unlike the Biblical Jesus, states that he is the ‘Word of God’ sent by the supreme being, but not God himself.

The Minusinsk Commune

After his spiritual awakening in 1990, Torop felt compelled to preach an impending doom to the world. He then provided his listeners with the appropriate measures to prepare them for the inevitable end.

To give substance to his ministry, Torop started a church in 1991 and made Krasnoyarsk the headquarters. In the over 30 years of its existence, the ‘Community of Unified Faith’ or ‘Church of the Last Testament’ has enjoyed a followership of over 4,000 in Siberia alone.

What they Teach

The sect’s other name: Community of Unified Faith, hammers at its doctrinal mission. The church was initially conceived as an effort to unify people from different religious backgrounds.

In fact, the teachings of Vassarion borrow from Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, and a fair share of Stoicism. Ever since Vassarion’s church gained traction, there has been a compilation of his talks and sermons. It has been published in a volume called The Last Testament.

Members of the Church of the Last Testament venerate Vissarion as the very oracle of God. While he has brushed off the perception that he is God, he strongly declares that he knows God’s mind.

So, when the Siberian Jesus laid down certain rules of conduct for his followers, they obediently followed. For example, members of the sect are not permitted to dorn expensive wear, they are to steer clear of alcohol and debauchery, and they maintain a strictly vegetarian diet.

The Church of the Last Testament was able to attain the status of a self-sustaining commune, under Vissarion’s leadership, at their Siberian headquarters. The implication of this separation is that they started creating rules that were peculiar to their community.

For example, Vissarion scrapped Christmas and replaced it with the anniversary of his first sermon (August 18). The sect also created a new calendar that started on Vissarion’s birth anniversary in 1961.

This portion may not go down well with the average feminists, and we strongly doubt if Vissarion has any in his sect. As it turned out, the Siberian Jesus made it part of his calling to groom young ladies to be obedient wives.

In a 2017 interview granted by Vissarion, he called this band of young girls under his tutelage ‘noble maidens.’ In effect, women of the sect are expected to act shamefacedly and depend on the men.

This Jesus Got Married

The biblical Jesus was recorded to have died at the age of 33 without a wife or children. However, Vissarion not only carried himself like Jesus but proceeded to break his records.

A while after Vissarion’s spiritual epiphany, he put away his first wife. As a follow-up, he married a 19-year-old girl, who happened to have been a noble maiden in his sect since age 7.

How the Tides Changed for Vissarion

The commune of Vissarion’s followers in Siberia was dwelling together in serenity and peace until a string of events began to unravel in late 2020. It was almost as if the wave of COVID-19 ushered in trouble for the sect.

It turned out that allegations had been earlier filed against Torop, and the Vissarion was arrested in September 2020. Elite members of the Russian armed forces dropped into the remote town of Minusinsk and arrested Sergei Torop in an air raid.

The allegations against Sergei Torop, the Siberian Jesus, were not immediately made public. However, it was rumored after the arrest was made because Torop was accused of running an illegal organization.

However, the charges laid against him involved manipulation of his followers emotionally and financially, and two individuals claimed to have experienced personal loss due to their affiliation with Vissarion’s sect.

It is true that several allegations have been laid against Sergei Torop; however, no one knows for sure which one(s) he is being remanded for. However, it was confirmed that two top administrative members of Vissarion’s church were equally arrested.

Since his arrest in September 2020, Vissarion has been unable to access any form of bail privileges. Consequently, he has been behind bars for the past three years. One would think the sect would break into fragments after their leader’s imprisonment, but no.

Disciples Rationalizing Commonalities

After Vissarion’s arrest, many of his followers stood their ground and kept their faith in him. Instead of identifying the implication of the charges laid against Torop, they instead began to cook up theories to explain away his predicament.

According to Vissarion’s followers, their leader is only experiencing similar persecution as the first Jesus did.

Adherent members of the Church of the Last Testament have made it a point to call attention to some of Vissarion’s sermons before the arrest. He had stated in some of his teachings that the end of the world was near.

So, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Vissarion’s arrest and imprisonment, his followers believe that those events serve as signs of the apocalypse. Contrary to predictions that the sect would disperse after Vissarion’s arrest, a sizable population still remains, with their convictions strong as ever.

The sect founded by Vissarion has always maintained an official website: vissarion.world. Before Vissarion’s arrest, the website was used majorly to educate non-sect members about the values of the religious organization.

However, the website has taken on a new purpose since its leader’s absence. The remaining members of the church keep attracting traffic to the website by hosting Vissarion’s messages there.

Vissarion has not been accorded rights of visitation since his arrest. So, his followers have not had direct access to their leaders. All they can avail themselves of are his recorded and documented teachings.

However, in addition to those, followers of the sect interviewed by journalists have claimed that they have a daily meditative ritual. During the daily ceremony, they try to connect with Vissarion and hear from him.

Members of Vissarion’s church are in full acknowledgment of what happened to their leader. Interestingly, there is a message to that effect on the church’s website.

It is essentially a message offering solace and encouragement to members of the Church of the Last Testament around the world. They are obviously in earnest anticipation of Vissarion’s release and hope his name will be cleared soon.

While no one knows for sure what the final fate of Vissarion would be, his remaining followers have been dogged in their resolve to stand by their leader’s teachings.

Journalists, tourists, and visitors have been paying more visits to the sect’s commune in the remote region of Minusinsk, Siberia. They have found them in abiding resolve to wait for Vissarion’s return.