Aum Shinrikyo, today known as Aleph, was a Japanese cult founded in 1984 by Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo started as a yoga and meditation class in which Asahara began to teach aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, and writings of Nostradamus. Asahara also claimed that he was Christ and that the United States was the beast written about in the Book of Revelation. Asahara claimed the world would end in a nuclear armageddon with the exception of his followers. Initiation rituals using LSD and other halucigenic drugs became common practice for the group as well.