Authorities in Georgia have busted a 40-year-old cult leader known by his followers as ‘Natureboy,’ ‘The Messiah Demigod,’ ‘Master Chief,’ on rape and false imprisonment charges. The suspected cult leader, who supporters on Thursday even called “God,” is now listed in DeKalb County jail as Eligio Bishop.
The DeKalb County Police Department officers apprehended Bishop on Wednesday evening at the home he rents on Arbor Chase
“I came outside, police were circulating with the helicopter I’d seen first, then I come to the front window and see they are outside with guns pointed at the doors, pointed at the windows,” one supporter who was with Bishop at the time of the apprehension recounted to FOX 5.
Bishop’s followers believe he shouldn’t have been arrested.
Eligio Bishop is a U.S citizen who has ties to both Atlanta and New York.
“3God is a very caring being, a very loving being, he’s very caring, he’s very holy,” one of his followers told reporters on Thursday.
According to multiple local outlets, Bishop used the nickname “Natureboy” because of the 1948 Nat King Cole by the same title. His other nicknames were self-proclaimed.
Bishop is popularly known on social media for making online music, videos, and motivational tapes as well as soliciting for donations.
Depending on who is describing his organization, Bishop is the leader of Carbon Nation, which is either a cult or a Black counterculture.
“The first time I heard that, I thought it was kind of cool,” Bishop told the Associated Press in 2020. “Me? A black man, a cult leader? I’m from the hood.”
During the same interview with AP, Bishop explained how his organization has been misunderstood everywhere they have gone, including Costa Rica, where they were thrown out in 2017.
“We’re a group of African Americans that are protesting our conditions by leaving them,” he said. “They just make us look crazy on the internet.”
The group was also forced to leave Nicaragua and Panama, according to reports.
Back in June 2020, Bishop and multiple members of the group were busted for violating Hawaii’s lockdown policy. As a result, the group was eventually sent back to California.
According to the group’s critics, members are asked to surrender their money and possessions and live as one family. In addition, critics have said no member is allowed to leave after joining the group, something current members are denying.
“This is a revolving door, you can come in and out as you please, no one is being…no one is going to hold you against your will here,” one supporter told FOX 5 on Thursday.
Bishop is facing charges of rape, false imprisonment, and sending sexual explicit messages after a member of the Carbon Nation, who recently left the group, reported him to the police. The woman reported the mistreatment of women.
“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 Chef 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 told FOX 5.
Members said every sexual activity that happened or took place among adults was consensual. They said several women come and go from the organization because they don’t necessarily like what they learn about themselves.
Supporters of Bishop believed this is just another organized attack against their leader.
The investigation into the allegations and what really happened inside the Georgia home is ongoing.
