Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-27
FALSE cHRIsrs NUMEROUS.
rhsy Have Appeared In All Ages aud In
Many Countries.

The queer beliefs Of the Indians ot
the Northwest concerning their Messiah
have aroused renewed interest In the
subject of false Cnrsts. which Jesus
himself said would come after him.
especially just 1T the 'brginning of The
end" According To some the appear
nnce Of these pseudo Christs is one of
the signs that the coming of the real
Messiah is near at hand; Others. backed
by the evidence of history. give the
advent of these impostorS but little
weight. preferring TO treat them as
deluded fanatics, worthy only Of n
place Ia some insane asylum. That
there is no ''sign" OF ANYTHING in these
appearances. unless il is sign of soft
spot in the head Of the impersonator,
may be inferred from the fact that not
less than twenty-fuur different persons
presented themselves tn the Jews
alone. claiming TO be Christ returned.
between the time of the cruciixi0n
aud the year 1862. Many of these
"MessiahS" were defended by the Jews
ut an enormous cost of both life and
money. Especially is this true in the
case of Coziba of Barchochcba, one of
the most popular of the false Christs.
who arose rs the Messiah of the Jews
in the second century afterthe .ruciiix-
ion of Jesus (the Jews. of course. put
Jesus down among the false Chrisls).
aud in whose defense lost over GOO. 600
men when the Romans made war upon
them in an attempt to put down the
popular delusiOn.
Ia. In cixlh IL,
impostor appeared at Alexandria. in
Egypt. claiming to be Jesus of Nazareth
returned To earth. lie showed scars
on his hand aud feet where he said he
had been nailed to the cross six cent
uries before. and called upon the Egyp-
tians to follow him in Il revengeful war
against the Jews. The chief ruler of
Egypt became one of the impostor's fol-
lowers aud contributed an immense
army for making an invasion of Pales-
tine. Everything was In readiness
when the false Christ took down with
fever and soon died. just us COM
mon Egyptian would have done.
The tenth century was one prolific of
false Christs. not less than eight or
ten sO-called "Messiahs" making their
appearance aud being ministered to
By greater or less multitude 0f de-
luded followers during that century.
From the beginning Of the eleventh
to the opening OF the seventeenth GEN.
fury but few false Christs are recorded.
The masses were becoming more gem
orally educated. and. therefore. less
likely TO become followers of snch
blasphemers. The extraordinary wies
OF Mordecai. German-Jew, who lived
in 1852, gained him quite reputation
as Christ. but, sharper that he was.
he was at last compelled TO flee for his
life and end his days as an outcast.
Moses ChariOrn LuZzatto, an Italian,
born in 1907. Is said to have actually
believed himself the predicted Messiah.
lie wrote Il Newer Testament" and
organized church. hut did not make
any considerable Roadway. He died in
1740 while making efforts to prove his
divine origin.
According to the Frendenblan of
Berlin false Christ made his bow in
Germany in August. 1872. He called
himself "Jekutnieln CHRONICLES vi.
49,. King of Israel, and announced
that he had come To assume the throne
of his Empire AS the true Messiah. His
manifesto. entitled, 10 Whom 1t May
Concern" bore seal which had the
crown of David on one side and
Scriptural quotation on the other. He
evidently found but few disciples. rs but
very little concerning him ever APP
peared in the German papers.
In 1880. or Whereabouts. the noun
taiueers of West Virginia attempted to
create an excitement by pretending to
believe in the divinity of one Of their
number. Eighteen hundred and eighty
eight gave Georgia trio of false
ChriSts. woman,a negro by the name
of Edward James. aud white man
named Dupont Bell. The woman
success in the miracle line gained her
a great reputation for awhile. james
and Bell were both finally committed
10 the insane asylum. With Schwein-
furth rs Christ of the Rockford Ull.)
''heaven." and the Indian Messiah in
the Rocky Mountains, we end this
Curious Note" on false Christs.-Sk
Louis Republic.
n.ssr ~