Lord Our Righteousness Church

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The Lord Our Righteousness Church, sometimes called the Strong City Cult, is a Christian community near Travesser Park, Union County, New Mexico. Its origins are in a group of about eighty adherents who migrated to the area from Sandpoint, Idaho in 2000.^[1] In 2008, the community consists of approximately fifty people. The men have beards and the women wear long denim skirts, and reportedly mix well with the local people.^[1]

Its leader, Wayne Bent, born May 18, 1941,^[1] is known as Michael Travesser within the church.^[2] Bent, once a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, left his denomination with a group of followers in 1987 and has since referred to that church as one of the "daughters of great harlot" condemned in the book of Revelation.^[3] Bent claims that during an experience in his living room in March 2000, God told him, "You are Messiah." Bent has since asserted, "I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined."^[4]

The group's website contains frequently updated writings and videos, including a nearly two-hour long documentary entitled Experiencing the Finished Work.^[5]

1 Documentary
2 Investigation
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Documentary

A documentary entitled Inside a Cult is scheduled for four broadcasts between May 7 and May 14, 2008 on the National Geographic Channel in the United States. It covers Bent's announcement that the day of Judgment began on October 31, 2007. Bent chose that date after calculating a Bible prophecy number (490) and adding it to the year 1517, when the Protestant Reformation began, yielding 2007 as a result. The specific date October 31 comes from the day that Martin Luther produced his 95 Theses.

[edit] Investigation

This undated photo of Wayne Bent was released by The Lord Our Righteousness Church May, 2008.

A former church member has alleged that Bent told his congregation that "God told him that he was supposed to sleep with seven virgins," including the member's own daughters, then only 14 and 15 years old. The man, John Sayer, refused. Though he left the compound and took his wife and daughters after being a church member for sixteen years, one daughter returned and, according to Sayer, was one of three minors taken into state custody for their own protection in April, 2008.^[1] Bent has said he has had sex with his followers, including his former daughter-in-law, but asserts that though he lay "naked with virgins" and the virgins asked him for sex, he refused.^[6]

A New Mexico state Children, Youth and Families Department spokeswoman said that three minor teens were taken from the compound in the days after an April 22, 2008 investigation.

The state judge hearing the case has issued a gag order and state officials have provided no further details of the investigation.^[1]

Two weeks after the children were removed and after the gag order was in place, Bent was arrested by the New Mexico State Police. The charges were three counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The ages and genders of the children in state custody were made public: a 16-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl.^[7] He was held on $500,000 bond with an arraignment scheduled for May 8, 2008. Following his arraignment the judge reduced the bail to $50,000, though as of May 9th he remains incarcerated.^[6] He was later released on bond. On May 20, the charges were dropped in Magistrate court, and a different version of charges were applied to the District court. Mr. Bent's bond money was returned in full while he awaits (as a free man) for the continuation of this event to unfold.

The initial charges refer to Bent having inappropriately touched three minor girls in 2006 and 2007. According to the state Department of Public Safety, one of the girls no longer lives in the community.^[6]

Bent also freely admits having sexual relations with his son's former wife. He, and his son, state that "God forced Michael" to commit this act of obedience to his faith.^[8]