The Nazareth Syndrome

Some tourists or pilgrims have strange reactions when visiting the Holy Land -- they develop a Messiah Complex.

Picture this: You've just gotten off the plane for a tour in Israel. Maybe you're thinking of your trip as a vacation, a learning experience or a religious trek. Whatever the case, you're expecting this visit to be a special time. After all, you've been reading about this place in the Bible for years.

You're in the Holy Land, to be sure, but one thing you aren't expecting is to meet Jesus here in the flesh. But sure enough, when you enter the lobby of the hotel you've booked, a bearded man dressed in a robe made from bed sheets approaches you and tells you intensely in perfect English that he's the Messiah and that you must repent because redemption is at hand.

You think that's an unlikely scenario? Actually, it's not, especially not in Jerusalem -- filled as it is with sacred history sites, and having ancient streets where King David, the prophet Isaiah, Mary and Joseph, Jesus himself, the apostle Paul and a host of other biblical personages once walked. There is something about all...