A 40-year-old man known as as "Natureboy," "The Messiah Demigod," "Master Chief," and even sometimes, "God," was taken into custody by Georgia's DeKalb County Police Department Special Victims Unit this Wednesday. The man's real name is Eligio Bishop, and his followers think he was wrongfully arrested, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Bishop has a large social media presence, having made online music videos and life coaching tapes as well as soliciting for donations, causing some to wonder if his organization is a cult or just a Black counterculture group. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said, "We’re a group of African Americans that are protesting our conditions by leaving them. They just make us look crazy on the internet."
Critics of the group say followers are asked to live as part of a commune-style "family" and are required to surrender their money and possessions. Critics also say followers are not allowed to leave -- a claim that current members deny.
Bishop is charged with rape, false imprisonment, and sending sexual explicit messages. He is currently behind bars. Members said everything sexual took place among adults and was consensual, and women who've complained about the group's practices have ulterior motives.
"We teach sexual education and we believe in nudity. And so that’s one of the charges that’s trying to be brought against my Chief that’s for revenge porn, but the female that was here, the woman that was here, she gave consent to actually release it for sexual education, it’s not just like porn, it’s for educational purposes," one follower said.
Watch Fox 5's report on the story below:
