Who, in the name of ALL commonsense, would want to be the 'new' Messiah given what they did with the old one.

Interesting but what about Legio Maria? Founded in Kenya in the 1960's and it had a black Jesus in Simeo Ondetto. He was poisoned and died in 1991 and one of the church Cardinals was my ex wife's grandfather. He has also passed and is now a saint. The church continues to grow even today and there are many reported sightings of Ondetto. Many people see him yearly.

Dolts they are.

There is a fun myth, which perhaps has more truth in it than most. That the original model for the classic Christ figure was Cesare Borgia, the bastard son of the pope. Certainly there was no standard model before his life and if the portraits are true he certainly looks like the standard Christ.

If I remember right Jesus is coming, look busy ?

Well, if he's not the messiah, is he at least a very naughty boy?