Messiah

I have been re-reading John Freely's The Lost Messiah: In Search of the Mystical Rabbi Sabbatai Sevi. It is the true story of a seventeenth-century Jewish rabbi from Smyrna who declared that he was the Messiah and convinced huge numbers of Jews (and some Christians) across Europe and the Middle East of his claims. He was eventually arrested by the Ottoman Empire and, faced with a choice between converting to Islam or dying, chose to convert. Even this did not convince all of his followers that he was a fraud, and there are apparently people today who still believe in him and follow a mixed Jewish-Muslim way of life. For more information, click here.

It is a fascinating study in religious psychology. From the descriptions, Sabbatai Sevi may have been bipolar. At any rate, his adulthood seems to be one long manic phase after a severe depressive phase after a manic phase and so on. What is truly amazing, though, is that he was able to convince so many rabbis and other Jewish leaders of his authenticity.

The Christians who "believed" in him were not convinced he was a messiah who would replace Jesus so much. Rather, like many people today, they were so anxious for the Second Coming that they latched onto him as a sign of the end times because he said he would restore the nation of Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Even without the internet, stories and rumors about him spread like wildfire and were taken at face value within some European governments. It does sound a bit like email and internet smear campaigns built on rumors and flat out lies, although in Sabbatai's case the stories were building him up, not tearing him down.

Amazing stuff. Apparently human nature has been around for quite a while.