The religion of “John Frum” is one of the strangest active today. It began in the early 1940’s when American soldiers were stationed in what is now Vanuatu. With the coming of these soldiers to an isolated pacific island came technology that they had never seen or imagined.
Supposedly, there was a soldier named John Frum among the 300,000 Americans present who approached the native people and encouraged them to reject all aspects of Western culture, abandon Christianity, and preserve their native ways.
By doing this, Frum prophesized that all white people would leave the area and a new age of native rule would result with technology that rivaled the Westerners. He was eventually venerated as a missionary of sorts and a cult developed around him.
To this day there are a number of worshipers of Frum who enthusiastically support his message. It is believed that he will return on February 15th of an unknown year and fulfill his prophecy. Modern scholars doubt whether John Frum was an actual person and believe his name could have been the native understanding of “John from America,” yet his message has nonetheless had an impressive impact on the native population!