Their reasoning? Patel's background and work coincidentally matched a series of prophecies made by an 87-year-old Scottish mystic called Benjamin Creme, the leader of a little-known religious group known as Share International. Because he matched the profile, hundreds of people around the world believed that Patel was the living embodiment of a figure they called Maitreya, the Christ or "the world teacher".
His job? To save the world, and everyone on it.
"It was just really weird," he said. "Clearly a case of mistaken identity and clearly a case of people on the internet getting things wrong."
Patel has issued a denial of holiness on his website, where he compares his situation to the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian. Followers have traveled thousands of miles to see him. Link -via Metafilter
(image credit: Eliot Khuner)