The Next Great Path to Enlightenment?

Oh that struck a chord in me......livescience.com put out a list today of the 10 biggest or craziest cults. One response was that a cult is just a religion with no political power. Amen!

YEARS ago, during the Waco siege of the Branch Davidians, something struck me as really odd. A story came to mind, that I choose now to relay here, because it gave me the shivers, and still does.
First a disclaimer: I do not care what religion you are, nor will I tell you you are wrong if you live an honest life. All I ask in return is the same right I grant you. Keep it to yourself, and we can all live in peace. Start preaching, or as the fundamentalist types call it, "testifying," to me, and I will become a demon beyond your imagining.

Now, within a year of the Branch Davidian slaughter (no, I don't believe what was being preached there, but bear with me) a story crept into my head.

There was, in a time past, a young man born to a religion. This religion was strict and concise, telling him exactly what and how everything should be. There was a special book his people were supposed to follow, full of rules and regulations meant for their own good. Conducting one's self by these rules was supposed to lead to a sanctified life and afterlife.
As this young man grew, he observed that while the people of his faith spoke mightily of following the path set for them by the"one God," many fudged on the rules, or flat out ignored them to suit the moment. Some even went so far as to change the rules when the rules did not allow them to do or be as they wanted.
As a person who wanted very much to live that sanctified life, the young man found himself dissatisfied. He went out and learned the way he believed life should be lived, and tried to get the people of his faith to come back to the True Path, as he saw it. Needless to say, his attempts were met with stubbornness. No one within his faith wanted to hear they were doing things wrong.
Ironically, many people outside his faith, and a small handful within, listened and heard his wisdom. Without meaning to, he started his own version of his faith, with enough followers to be seen as a threat. The threat was perceived by the local government, not the religion he came from exactly, and when the religious leaders were asked to "get him under control," those leaders threw up their hands and said he is not one of ours.
The local government watched until they saw him to be a real problem, unwilling to live by the state laws in lieu of the ones he felt were set by his faith. When he would not respond to their requests for intervention or dispersion, they took it upon themselves to intervene, and destroy this potential danger.
His people were attacked. He was found and he himself killed.

Sound familiar? It isn't about Joshua ben Joseph, better known as Jesus Christ. It is the exact story of David Koresh.

I have personally wondered if a whole new religion might be born from this person's being martyred by the U.S. Government. Stranger things have happened, my children......