Venel Piervil claims he's Jesus.


But his mom said he held his family hostage with knives. The Mount Dora family was stunned by the violent outburst and wild religious claims made by their son.

Even in cuffs he claims he's Christ. The 24 year old says he’s the reincarnation of Jesus. He even has it posted on his MySpace page.

From jail Thursday Piervil was telling the same story.

“Actually I know in my heart I am,” he said. “As spirit wise.” Still, his mom, Alta Grace Piervil, claims her son held her and his two sisters against their will in the living room Thursday night.

“I said son, you are not Jesus,” she said. “He said yes I am Jesus. If you don't believe I am Jesus, I am the devil. I'm going to kill you.”

Mrs. Piervil said her son held knives to his sisters' throats, and he forced his mom to recite the Lord's Prayer. She says he also threatened them with a machete.

“After I prayed, and I told my two daughters to pray,” she said. “I believe God can help us. God isn't going to let us die.

Mrs. Piervil said when her son left the living room to lock the garage door, she ran down the street to call police, and he chased after her with a machete but couldn’t find her.

Friday afternoon, deputies busted Piervil at his home after a night on the run. His father said his son was charging the dead battery in dad's pickup so he could take it.

Piervil is charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of false imprisonment, but now he does not want to talk about what happened in his mom's home.

We're not going to look about the past,” he said. “We're going to look toward the future. If they're going to prosecute me on that, we're going to let the judge deal with that.”

Piervil is being held on $250,000 dollars bond in the Lake County Jail.