I'm not the messiah, says food activist – but his many worshippers do not believe him

[BridgeTheGap]

The trouble started when Raj Patel appeared on American TV to plug his latest book, an analysis of the financial crisis called The Value of Nothing.

The London-born author, 37, thought his slot on comedy talkshow The Colbert Report went well enough: the host made a few jokes, Patel talked a little about his work and then, job done, he went back to his home in San Francisco.

Shortly afterwards, however, things took a strange turn. Over the course of a couple of days, cryptic messages started filling his inbox.

"I started getting emails saying 'have you heard of Benjamin Creme?' and 'are you the world teacher?'" he said. "Then all of a sudden it wasn't just random internet folk, but also friends saying, 'Have you seen this?'"

What he had written off as gobbledygook suddenly turned into something altogether more bizarre: he was being lauded by members of an obscure religious group who had decided that Patel – a food activist who grew up in a corner shop in Golders Green in north-west London – was, in fact, the messiah.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/raj-patel-colbert-report-benjamin-creme

[eShirl]

1. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjz16xjeBAA

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Or even better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-isGzfYUZ4#t=1m45s

"I'm not the messiah!"

"I say you are, my Lord, and I should know, I've followed a few!"

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Wait til

Biggus Dickus hears about this.

[ret5hd]

2. Tell them to send money!!!

[eShirl]

3. They missed the real one

"... In 1985 he made another prophecy: that Maitreya would reveal himself to the press in London.

A gaggle of journalists gathered in a Brick Lane curry house for the main event. In the end, the promised saviour failed to materialise. (One candidate, "a man in old robes and a faraway look in his eye", turned out to be a tramp begging for cigarettes, our correspondent wrote at the time)."

[dmallind]

4. Only the real Messiah denies his divinity! NT

[groovedaddy]

5. And, I too, AM NOT THE MESSIAH! - Please send your checks to p.o. box n.t

[Schema Thing]

7. he's just a very naughty boy

[darkstar3]

8. He only has one way out

"Alright, Alright, I AM the messiah!"
"MESSIAH!"
"Now FUCK OFF!!"
...

"How shall we fuck off, oh lord?"
(Top 5 John Cleese line in all of history)

[deutsey]

9. He should really just look on the bright side of life...n/t

[no limit]

10. Props to him for not cashing in on this, he could have made a shit load of money off the naive