THE LATEST RELIGIOUS IMPOSTOR.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 467, 10 July 1871, Page 2

THE LATEST RELIGIOUS IMPOSTOR.

Fkom the Melbourne Age we extract the following : —Considerable excitement has been raised in Nuuawading, Oakleigh, and that neighbourhood, during the last few days, by revelations made as to the impostures practised by one Fisher, a charcoal burner, in Nunawading, who claims to be the Messiah. One of his dupes, named Andrew Wilson, has charged him with obtaining money by false pretences, and the case was on the list for hearing at the Oakleigh Court of Petty Sessions on Saturday last.

The following is a statement made to our reporter on Saturday evening by Wilson, in presence, of his wife and a number of his acquaintances:— • . -; i

I am a member of the Wesleyan body, and one o£ those who look for the coming of the Messiah again as a man, and not in the clouds. For ten years or so past the claims of Fisher to be the Messiah have been talked of in BTunawading, and about six years ago I was led to communicate with him, with a view Of ascertaining -whether he was really the Messiah. Shortly after I came in contact with him I saw enough to convince me that ho was the Messiah. I now look upon him as a rank impostor, but he was certainly very l uc ky in the prophecies by which he obtained his present ascendancy over the mmdc of many p eo pl e . There are considerably more than a hundred who believe in lnm implicitly-most of'thelu residin* iv Nunawadmg, although there are some in Prahran, Ballarat, and other places. He calls himself the Son of God,. Jesus Christ-- and they all believe that he is. He says he will never die, and that none of those who believe iv Jura wiU ever die, nor their wires and

families, providing they are staunch in their belief. He does not mean only that their souls will never die, but that they will never die on this earth. All who follow him believe this, and that the millennium has commenced, during which the saints are to live until they are translated. .When I came to have faith in him I believed that I would never die, nor my wife nor any of my family. Once a child of mine fell ill. Fisher said, " The child cannot die, Wilson. Only believe." Then he came to my house, poured some wine over the child's face, and prayed. The child did get well, and that made me believe stronger than ever. However, Fisher's mother-in-law died, and this set people inquiring. Fisher said it was a judgment on her sent direct from him, and that he had struck her with the paralytic stroke which killed her. I asked him, why ? and he said, " She is gone the way of Ananias and Sapphira. She told me she had no money but I knew she had, and after she died £100 was found secreted in the house." Fisher said once, that a certain man who had scoffed at kirn would be struck in a mysterious manner within a year or two. Strange to say the man went insane afterwads, and was sent to the Yarra Bend. Once I had two cases in the county court. .Fisher told me I could not possibly loose them, for he would influence the mind of the judge with hia power. Sure enough I won both the cases. Afterwards Fisher came to me and said. " Wilson, I told you how it would be. When you thought Judge Pohlman was speaking it was me. I entered into his spirit, and spoke through him." All these things made me believe most implicitly. Fisher looked upon me as one of the faithfullest among his disciples, and indeed I had not a particle of doubt. He let me more into the secrets of the religion. Milk he said was for babes, and strong meat for men. While men who were yet young in the faith were only allowed one wife, those who were more advanced might have several. Fisher, himself, lives with three women, who are sisters, and their father is one of his devoutest believers. There is a fourth sister who is married. Fisher says he-is bound to hay« !»«•- too, and that her husband will die when ha wills it. When I became a regular member of the church", Fisher hinted that I would have to show my faith by giving him someihing. I gave him > 10 once, and for a considerable time paid hi m£l a month. Altogether he has had about £35 out of me, and it is 'on account of' this that I proceed against him for false pretences. Now I will tell you some of the things which began to shake my faith in him. He met a man one day in St. Kilda, I think it was, and this man said he had come from Denmark, as ,a representative of the great lodge of the Freemasons', to offer Fisher their allegiance as the, true Messiah. He told Fisher that all the Freemasons would soon believe in him, and showed him a piece cf parchment, inscribed with strange characters, as the credentials from tho great lodge in Denmark. Fisher was taken in by this. The man told him that he .would have to prepare garments of one pattern for his apostles, and Fisher did have them prepared. Afterwards he ruetTthe man, and asked when the lime would come. The man burst out laughing in his face, and said, " That- shows what an imposter you are. If you were 'Jesus Christ you would know that I had been gammoning you." All this came out somehow, and I oulvi not help wondering, among others, how it was that Fisher did not know it was a hoax. He was not in the least disturbed by the discovery, and said it was a trick of the devil, who, however, had but a short time. Another thing th.it shook my faith was the death of one of niy children. It was taken ill, but Fisher came and prayed as usual. Early in the evening tho child died. Fisher said he would try . aud bring the spirit back and he wOuld not give the case up any way until 9 o'clock. All his praying and waving his hands"was without avail. Thon he turned round and said that the child was struck for my sins. I said, " Tell me what for." " Well, I will," he replied, "You have been praying to God to know whether I a:n the true Messiah. My Father is dispensed at your want of faith." . I said, " I could not see any hnrm in asking whether you were the Messiah," and he said then : " It was a great wrong to do me, and a sin,. for which you have been justly punished. I am glad now that the child did die." I turned this.over in my mind after, and it did make me doubt a little. Another time he came and said tome: " Wilson, you are sound in your faith, but your wife is not; thp spirit tells me so." I replied that I was sorry for that, aud ho then said : " Strive to make her love mo ; the more you will love me, the better my Father is pleased." I did talk in a kindly manner to my wife, telling her to be faithful to'the belief in the Messiah, but I got to doubt more and more after that myself. One day I said to my wife : " I will tell you what Fisher said to me about you some time ago.. It was that, although I was strong in the faith, you were weak, and that I. ought to persuade you to love him." "Why," said she, "that is just the opposite to what he has said to me. He tells-me that lam strong, you are weak, but that I must love him more and more, aud he will intercede for you continually." Well, that conversation just showed me what the man was. I said to my wife that I believed Fisher was nothing but a rogue ; and she came to the same conclusion. For a long time after that I attended his meetings and pretendud to believe in him stronger than ever ; but it was only that I might expose him. I can tell him all about his villainy, aud I will. There are others, too, who have seen through him. Before cutting myself away from the connection, I openly denounced-him in the chapel at his house, in Nunawadiug. I called him an impostor. He said he was quite willing to Bubmit the question to the Ohurch of the Firstborn, but the matter could not come on until the next quarterly meeting, which would be about three months afterwards. I called out for a decision at once, but they were all against me, and I waited. The- time came round, and I went to the chapel with my two sons. I found fisher there, with six or eight men who were with him in court to-day. He told me that these men would have to decide on the case, because they were the apostles. I said: " No, I want to meet all the members of the church." "Thatoannotbe,"he replied. I went before the six. or eight," nobody being allowed in with me. I put it that I had lost my faith iii him, and gave the reasons. Fisher got up and said " I know what has made him waver. The.spirit tells me that he has joined the Orangemen, and taken the oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria. No man can hold allegiance to -an earthly' prince and to me at the same time." It was a fact that I had joined the Orangemen, but I know how Fisher found it out. It was through a relative of his .that I saw at the lodge, when I went there. The mcc ting at the ohapel came to-nothing, except that Fisher's party all affirmed their unshak en belief. Afterwards I learned that they expelled me from the church, one only of the " apostles" voting in my favor. : °