Haven't been able to stop thinking about a series of articles I've been reading since first tipped off to the phenomenon on Jennifer Emick's site.  The subject:  Jesucristo Hombre, a man who claims to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

Why is he on my mind? 

Well, because I believe him, and I'm moving to Miami to live near my new Master.

Nahhhhhh, just kidding.  The real Jesus wouldn't be caught dead with such a goofy photo portrait on His website.   It's Wayne Newton meets the Amazing Kreskin, and that's way more Vegas than any faith can bear.

No, what makes JcH interesting is his open embrace of entrepreneurial self-enrichment--as Ms. Emick aptly puts it, "Jesus is back with bling."   Flashy jewelry, expensive watches . . . what struck me upon reading the description of his ministry & a lengthy interview was how much JcH reminds me of Father Divine, an earlier professed re-incarnation of Christ who emerged out of a mainstreaming entrepreneurial minority group--for Father Divine, African Americans; for JcH, the Latino community.  (I heard a lot about FD from one of my mentors, C. Eric Lincoln, and actually lived for a time near Mother Divine's place in Philadelphia.)   

One could make similar connections to the emergence of messianic figures among upwardly mobile communities in the early & late nineteenth century.  It's as if the emergence of an upwardly mobile personal savior is endemic to the disintegration of class and race barriers in the U.S.