Edmonton-based John de Ruiter has been known to sit on stage, gaze out at his flock and say nothing for hours.

The message of many gurus is oddly similar: joy and peace follow enlightenment

The meeting has gone on for just a few minutes when a perceptible shift occurs: the audience is no longer fidgeting.

Some think John de Ruiter's teachings are dangerous

Once a fundamentalist preacher, John de Ruiter now claims to embody truth, and growing numbers of people believe him. His wife, however, is not among them.

Joyce de Ruiter had accepted the fact that her husband saw himself as the Messiah. Then he introduced his two new 'wives'

New-age messiah John deRuiter was begged Friday night at a crowded meeting in the basement of a southwest Calgary community centre to discourage a local woman from joining his growing Edmonton-based "truth" movement.

John de Ruiter used to be a shoemaker in Edmonton. Now people come from all over the world to hear him preach his New Age gospel or just to be near him. Some even call him the Second Coming of Christ. Native groups call him the "lost white brother."