Draft:Ronald Lloyd Spencer

Ronald Lloyd Spencer (born July 19, 1951) is an American cult leader based in Kelseyville, California. He claims to be the physical incarnation of the Maitreya Buddha, second coming of Jesus Christ, and the reincarnation of Milarepa, Je Tsongkhapa, Padmasambhava, and many other figures in eastern religions. He has been referred to by many different titles by his followers over the years including Archangel Michael, Buddha Maitreya the Christ, Sanat Kumara, and many other names.

Biography
Ronald Lloyd Spencer was born in 1951 in Oregon, USA. He claims that when he was 9 years old he was visited by three Tibetan rinphoches and recognized as Maitreya Buddha. Additionally, he asserts that the motion picture, Little Buddha (1993), is based on these events.

In 1975, he started to set up different centers across the United States and in the United Kingdom where he offers what he calls Soul Therapy where he sells what he refers to as Shambhala healing tools. He is known to have operated centers in Mount Shasta, Glastonbury, and Omaha. . He has a number of followers who call themselves monks, nuns and lamas who run his different locations.

Claims of abuse
Spencer asserts that he supports different monasteries mainly in Tibet and Nepal. He has been accused of appropriating aspects of Buddhism for his own personal gain. He once sponsored a group of Tibetan monks and had them deported when they did not recognize him. There are other claims of fraud against him and his organization where he has abused his role in the organization to his own benefit.

In 2023, Spencer stirred controversy in Glastonbury for displaying homophobic posters and messages in his UK center where he issued an apology. Despite this apology he has gone on to create homophobic and misogynistic content in the form of online video teachings.