Then there is another kind of charlatan, the American fake
religionist, of which, perhaps, there are just as many as of the
foreigners with the weird doctrines of the orient. This type of faker
is coarse compared with the soft-shod, incense-burning Hindu, but
he "gets the money" without much trouble. He is generally a ranter
as far as preaching goes. His methods are those of the shouter, his
religion includes visitation of spirits, shaking of bodies and other
manifestations of divine power. He boldly asks for contributions, not
for a school to be established for the training of missionaries for
his faith, but for the furtherance of his own work right here in this
country.
"It takes money to fight the devil," is a favorite cry with this type
of sacrilegist. The stronghold of the religious faker is that the
people who follow him believe in him implicitly. One faker recently
proclaimed himself the son of God, come to revisit earth, and, when
assailed by a paper for it, stood up in an audience of his believers
and asked them who they thought him to be and how they regarded him.
The answer was that he was the son of God, and his mission was to
save all mankind from sin. It is obvious that, when a man with such a
hold on a clique asks for money, it is sure to be forthcoming without
question. At times he does not have to ask for it, one man of this
kind having had money showered upon him at a meeting by the hysterical
women of his flock.