John de Ruiter

John de Ruiter (born November 11, 1959) is a Canadian spiritual leader and author who conducts meetings in Edmonton, Alberta and abroad.

John de Ruiter was born on November 11, 1959, to Dutch immigrant parents in the town of Stettler in Alberta, Canada.

His father was a shoemaker from Het Bildt in the Netherlands.

At age 17, de Ruiter recounts a spiritual experience involving "innermost contentment" that changed his overall consciousness.

The resulting state lasted a year before disappearing as abruptly as it had begun.

In the years which followed he sought to rediscover it, studying various spiritual teachings and philosophies to no avail.

Raised in Stettler, Alberta, de Ruiter worked as an orthopedic shoemaker in Edmonton's European Shoe Comfort.

Born in Stettler, Alberta to a Dutch shoemaker, de Ruiter attended Bible college and interned with a Lutheran pastor before forming his own spiritual practice in the late 1980s.

His charismatic presentation and teachings, characterized by one observer as "New Age gospel," attracted thousands of followers over the next few decades, with several academic scholars interpreting his movement as the possible beginning of a new religion.

De Ruiter has built followings in a number of countries, primarily Canada and the United States but also the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, India and Israel among others.

Many of de Ruiter's devotees relocate to Edmonton to attend his seminars and to perform volunteer work for the College of Integrated Philosophy.

De Ruiter has been implicated in a number of public controversies, including accusations of being a cult leader by multiple independent news outlets, and a civil lawsuit in which he was sued by two sisters, who alleged he was in a three-way common law marriage with both women simultaneously.

De Ruiter has been accused by former followers of using faith-based claims to coerce them into sexual acts.

De Ruiter was arrested on January 21, 2023 for sexual assault of four members of his community.

In the late 1980s, De Ruiter left Bethlehem Lutheran, with five couples following him to his new ministry, where he offered an unconventional Christian message every Friday from one couple's home.

In 1983, he moved to Toronto to attend a Baptist seminary.

After a year of study, feeling that the leadership was too rigid, he returned to Alberta and studied at the Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, remaining there for a year and deciding to intern with a pastor at Edmonton's Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Occasionally, the pastor allowed de Ruiter to preach at the church, at times presaging the taciturn demeanor which would come to characterize his independent ministry.

After some time there, he underwent a ritual in which he described his spiritual history to the elders of the church.

Speaking for nine hours straight, he discussed what he called his "awakening" and his search for the truth, alienating some in the congregation but attracting others who were to become his early followers.

By the late 1990s, de Ruiter was teaching at Edmonton's Royal Acupressure Clinic, where his followers met several times every weekend.

The assembly eventually moved to a $7 million facility called the Oasis Centre.

Operated by de Ruiter's College of Integrated Philosophy, it includes a café as well as an expansive auditorium with a capacity of over 350 people, marble columns and a proscenium stage, and is sometimes rented for wedding receptions.

Devotees attend meetings at the Centre and do volunteer work for the College of Integrated Philosophy.

The venue was later moved to his own home in Edmonton's east end, where it remained until at least 1996.

Tithes from his followers allowed de Ruiter to devote himself full-time to his teaching.

De Ruiter's reputation rapidly spread when he began to hold meetings in a small bookstore off Whyte Avenue on Edmonton's south side.

Within months, his following had grown too large for the bookstore.

In 1998, de Ruiter began to travel the world, visiting the United States, England, Germany, the Netherlands, India and Israel, attracting large crowds and building followings in those countries, with some of his devotees accompanying him on his travels.

His newfound admirers, most having heard about him through word of mouth, began to emigrate to Canada and relocate to Edmonton to be near de Ruiter.

He operates a centre called the College of Integrated Philosophy and conducted his seminars and lectures from the Oasis Centre in west Edmonton from 2007 to 2021, when it was sold to the Aga Khan Foundation for $6,650,000.

By the mid-2010s, de Ruiter had gained thousands of followers.

De Ruiter began his religious career interning with a Lutheran pastor, but soon discovered that he appealed more to New Age believers than to Christians.

Over time his teachings came to avoid overt references to Christianity, emphasizing instead the devotion to truth, saying, "All there is to do is surrender to what you know is true."

National Post's Jeannie Marshall characterized de Ruiter's approach as "New Age gospel".

De Ruiter's teachings emphasize the willingness to let go of ego and desires as well as ideas and beliefs.

He draws a distinction between the self and the soul, telling one questioner who said that she felt small, "You feel that because your self is too small for you."

Similarly, he distinguishes mind from being, responding to another with, "When you no longer consult with your mind, when you consult only with what you are, in everything you are doing, then you've found the source of life within, which frees us from always having to get something from this life."

De Ruiter rarely addresses the whole group in public meetings but answers questions on a one-on-one basis with individuals from the audience.

He often responds after lengthy pauses, sometimes of half an hour or more.