Police take kids from apocalyptic church

Leader of dozens in New Mexico claims to be Messiah; no charges filed

The Associated Press
April. 30, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - State police have removed three children from an apocalyptic church whose leader claims to be the Messiah and acknowledges having sex with some of his followers.

The two girls and one boy — all under the age of 18 — were taken from the northeastern New Mexico compound following an April 22 investigation, Romaine Serna, spokeswoman for the state Children, Youth and Families Department, said Wednesday.

She said a fourth child, a girl, agreed to be interviewed by the department. Serna said that girl had been at the compound but now lives elsewhere with her parents.

The three children were taken into state custody because of allegations of inappropriate contact between minors and the adult leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, Serna said.

"I understand that it was very calm and they (state police) did not meet with any resistance," she said. Serna said she wasn't aware of any other youths at the compound.

Serna declined to elaborate because of the ongoing investigation by state police and the district attorney's office. No charges had been filed, she said.

Wayne Bent, who is in his 60s and is known in the church as Michael Travesser, established the church at a rural site called Strong City, north of Clayton in northeastern New Mexico. It has at least 70 members, Serna said.

'My children are kidnapped'
Bent, on an April 27 posting on the church's Web site, accused the state of kidnapping the children. "My children are kidnapped because some demon wrote a letter to people in authority accusing me of some crimes," he wrote.

"When the state came against our children (seed), the state came against God, and this will NOT ever be forgiven them," he wrote.

In a lengthy discussion dated Sept. 11, 2007, Bent said his work is finished and he does not expect to be "in the earthly sphere" much longer.

He acknowledged having sex with three women — the wives of two of his followers and his daughter in law. He said it was at the direction of God and the instigation of the women.

Jeff Bent, who Serna said is Wayne Bent's son, denied in an April 29 letter to Gov. Bill Richardson and posted on the Web site that any child had been abused or neglected at Strong City.

The group educates its children "to avoid the slavery you seek to impose on them, and to experience the freedom they have in God," Jeff Bent wrote.


'We have taught them higher values'
"We have given everything to prepare them for an eternity with God. We haven't oppressed them with your atheistic globalist curriculum, socialist indoctrination, and 'alternative lifestyles' dogma that comprise modern public education. We have taught them higher values than the values of your slave-state, and have sought to shield them from the abuse that is institutionalized in your system," he wrote.

Serna said two of the children were placed in foster homes, and the other accepted voluntary placement, which usually means with a friend or relative.

Serna said her agency received information on April 21 that warranted the removal of the children. She declined to reveal the information or its source.

The New Mexico removal came three weeks after Texas officials raided a polygamist-sect ranch and took custody of 463 children, saying that group's practice of underage and polygamous spiritual marriages endangered the children.

I notice that the report quoted did not mention the strong Seventh-day Adventist backgrounds of both Wayne Bent and his followers.

My Escape From Adventist Hell

By Amana | Tuesday, April 29, 2008

This is my personal experience with sexual perversion in higher places and with child protective services.

Almost twenty years ago, my husband and I left the Seventh-day Adventist church. Just before we left, we were the janitors of the church that we attended. One night we happened to show up at the church to do something and there was a private baptism going on. The man being baptized was an ordained minister of the Seventh-day Adventist church. While he was in office he had molested his daughter, whom he and his wife had adopted while doing missionary work in a poor country. We knew the story at the time. Wanting a better life for her, the mother of the little girl had given her daughter to this minister and his wife to raise.

http://strongcity.info/LOR/sc/post/my_escape_from_adventist_hell/#more-1419

Wow this guy is WEIRD!

I know some of these people. I have wondered for years how long it would take for the state to step in. Wayne Bent left the church years ago (if I remember correctly), and his beliefs have gotten stranger and stranger.

No kidding they are strange! Wow! How people follow someone like Wayne is amazing to me!

People are desperate for spiritual leadership and are willing to follow those who will lead.

I tend to think that there are some who are called to leadership, but refuse to follow [for whatever reasons, ie unable to decipher the signs that God is calling them, desirious of remaining humble, etc. ] and the masses, desperate for spiritual leadership, will follow someone who is obviously a "kook" [notice, I did NOT say "KooT"!]

ROFL! Glad you defined that Neil that it is a kook not a Koot. :)

Here is a inside look at this cult from a Firefly, a British documentary team and following is a 2 hour video response which is even more bizarre. You might want to skip farther in to hear the women talk about why they needed to "consummate" their relationship with Wayne Bent.

For further information, the BBC documentary can be viewed here:

End of the World Cult Documentary

Strongcity's documentary can be viewed here:

Strong City's response video

To me this is a partial look into the process of how our church came into being based on a disappointment, a young prophetess, and what I believe is a similar type of need to believe in something even though all the evidence points otherwise.

As I have studied this cult there is evidence that the way Adventists have been taught to believe in Ellen White and the Bible sets them up for these types of off shoots that portray themselves as the non-fallen Adventist church that follows Ellen White more closely and has the so called modern gift of prophecy.

Obviously this group has gone far beyond Ellen White, but the methods of control that appeal to the ego, such as we are the chosen ones, we have a greater knowledge, and therefore a greater responsibility, are much the same.

I can see why a 19 year old Ellen White might become caught up into believing that she had special knowledge and gifts in an atmosphere of disappointment and shame after watching the interviews with the young women of this particular cult.