New Mexico takes 3 children from church compound

[TigressPen]

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- 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 younger than 18 -- were taken from the northeastern New Mexico compound after an April 22 investigation, said Romaine Serna, a spokeswoman for the state Children, Youth and Families Department, on Wednesday.

Full article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/30/children.seized.ap/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

[Roamer]

Maybe authorities will start checking these offshoot compounds more carefully, since they're making a lot of headlines lately.

[awakening2lite]

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- 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 younger than 18 -- were taken from the northeastern New Mexico compound after an April 22 investigation, said Romaine Serna, a spokeswoman for the state Children, Youth and Families Department, on Wednesday.

Full article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/30/children.seized.ap/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

Wow! This cult was featured on the National Geo channel (NGC)a few days ago. It will probably be rebroadcast, if anyone is interested. It is scheduled to be aired again on May 7th, 10pm (check your local listing for time)

link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-a-cult-3401/Overview

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/34xx/340x/3401_inside_a_cult-1_04700300.jpg
Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser, aka Michael the Archangel).

[spike404]

I find it rather humorous that a lot of these sects denounce modern life, yet some dress and speak like a character out of a movie; a Cecil B. DeMille Biblical epic.

[LiveLaughLuv]

from the article
"There was never any child molestation, or adult molestation by anyone, including myself," Bent wrote in a posting Wednesday on the church's Web site. "There has never been 'sex with minors' or anything remotely approaching that."

Bent, in an April 27 posting on the 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 September 11, 2007, Bent said that his work is finished and that he doesn't 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 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.

Jeff Bent also wrote to Richardson, "Now that you have moved against us because of our faith, the cup of God's anger is full to the brim, and now He is free to move against you."

His intelligent rambling shows he is insane. We all know there is a fine line between intelligence and insanity!

Hiding behind religion to enforce what amounts to sexual/child abuse has no place in America. I am so glad authorities are getting to the crux of the problems. Glad they acted so fast...

I just don't get how people fall for this crap. Are they that naive?

[TigressPen]

I caught the ending of a news report on this a few minutes ago and a young girl was on the phone. She said her mother is still at the compound and wants to stay with Bent. The mother, age 52, has cancer and isn't seeking medical help.

[awakening2lite]

I find it rather humorous that a lot of these sects denounce modern life, yet some dress and speak like a character out of a movie; a Cecil B. DeMille Biblical epic.

You make an interesting comparison, spike.

[awakening2lite]

Wow! This cult was featured on the National Geo channel (NGC)a few days ago. It will probably be rebroadcast, if anyone is interested. It is scheduled to be aired again on May 7th, 10pm (check your local listing for time)

link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-a-cult-3401/Overview

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/34xx/340x/3401_inside_a_cult-1_04700300.jpg
Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser, aka Michael the Archangel).


:bump: To remind everyone the story of this cult is a feature tomorrow, Wednesday night, on National Geo Channel's "Inside a Cult", @ 10pm eastern time.

[Texas53]

from the article


His intelligent rambling shows he is insane. We all know there is a fine line between intelligence and insanity!

Hiding behind religion to enforce what amounts to sexual/child abuse has no place in America. I am so glad authorities are getting to the crux of the problems. Glad they acted so fast...

I just don't get how people fall for this crap. Are they that naive?

The dude probably is not insane. Remember Charles Manson rambles, too. But CM is not crazy. I think both are crazy like a fox. JMHO

One other thing interesting about some of these sects. They denounce modern life in America and all our laws. Yet they willing accept welfare/state aid. (i.e. the FLDS sect)

[awakening2lite]

It is scheduled to be aired again on May 7th, 10pm (check your local listing for time)

link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-a-cult-3401/Overview

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/34xx/340x/3401_inside_a_cult-1_04700300.jpg
Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser, aka Michael the Archangel).

:bump: National Geo will feature this, tonight, on Inside a Cult. 10:00 pm est.

[awakening2lite]

updated 10:37 a.m. EDT, Mon May 5, 2008

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/CRIME/05/05/nm.sect.ap/art.sayer.ap.jpg
John Sayer talks about his experience as a member of an apocalyptic church he left in 2005.

CLAYTON, New Mexico (AP) -- For 16 years, he followed a man who calls himself Michael, finally settling along with other families on a former ranch in a remote corner of New Mexico.

There were red flags along the way, but John Sayer didn't break away from the apocalyptic church until late 2005.

Michael "said God told him that he was supposed to sleep with seven virgins," recalled Sayer, 36. Two were to be Sayer's daughters, then 14 and 15.

"I just told him no. ... I'm not in agreement. I don't see it's right," Sayer said.

Sayer, his wife and daughters left the compound, although his daughters returned. His youngest was still living there when she was removed by the state Children, Youth and Families Department last week, Sayer said.

Two girls and one boy, all under 18, were taken from the compound amid allegations of inappropriate contact between minors and the sect's 66-year-old leader. State officials are investigating. Sayer said he's spoken with his daughter by phone, but has been advised not to discuss the state custody case.

State District Judge John Paternoster has issued a gag order. Romaine Serna, a spokeswoman for the Children, Youth and Families Department, said she could not discuss the custody status of the three children.

Sayer said Michael Travesser -- whose real name is Wayne Bent -- did sleep with seven virgins, but all were over 18 and did not include his daughters.
Don't Miss

However, Sayer said his daughters "lay naked" with Michael, although they said no sex was involved. He said he doubts his daughters were molested, but "anything's possible."

Bent, who said God anointed him Messiah in July 2000, wrote in a posting Wednesday on the church's Web site: "There was never any child molestation, or adult molestation by anyone, including myself. There has never been `sex with minors' or anything remotely approaching that."

District Attorney Donald Gallegos said Thursday the investigation stemmed from a tip.

"I believe it was one of the parents -- who no longer are at the compound -- had a concern that led to the investigation by the department, which later involved the removal of the children," he said.

Sayer's younger daughter, using the name "Healed," wrote in a December 2007 posting on the church's Web site: "Michael DID NOT molest me, and my laying with him was not sexual in any way, either. Michael sacrificed himself and was willing to look like a pedophile so that I might be bonded inseparably to the Father in Heaven."

Bent's Lord Our Righteousness Church settled in 2000 in northeastern New Mexico near the Colorado line, where flatter ranch land gives way to tree-studded rock outcroppings. Families in the compound live in recreational vehicles, tents and modular buildings scattered across the property.

On Thursday, handwritten "No Trespassing" signs hung on gates to the property, and there were few signs of life. An occasional vehicle kicked up dust on the compound's roads. A man walking across the property waved at reporters trying to get his attention.

Bent has declined interview requests.

Clayton residents say the sect's bearded men and women in long denim skirts had a mellow relationship with the town. They came to pick up food -- mostly fruits and vegetables -- from the Ranch Market, the closest big grocery store.

"They've been very nice. ... Overall, they've been very easy neighbors," said Brian Moore, who owns the market and has dealt with members of the church since they arrived in the area.

Janet Brawley, the market's assistant manager, said some compound residents worked outside jobs, with the men doing remodeling or construction and the women doing housework.

"One lady told me they're not allowed to put what they believe on other people," Brawley said. "I've never heard of them trying to convert anyone."

Sayer, who worked as a carpenter, said life at the compound called Strong City was hard, although he recalls some happy times.

"There was a lot of going out and walking and being alone," he said. There were no TVs, but there were computers. Jewelry and makeup were banned, as was meat.

Raised a Seventh-day Adventist and drawn to Bent's offshoot church when his parents became involved, Sayer said at first The Lord Our Righteousness Church was "normal in my eyes."

But he said Bent, whom he described as quiet, nice and smart, got weirder around 1999. "He was claiming to be God," Sayer said.

Sayer, whose mother and sister live at the compound, believes the three children seized by the state were the only minors there. He said Bent told families with small children to leave in 2005 because some youngsters were disobedient -- playing with toys, for example, which was not allowed.

He said the community, which numbered around 80 people when it moved to New Mexico from Sand Point, Idaho, is down to about 50.

"They're in their own heaven on earth," Sayer said. "They say they're on the sea of glass. Their lives are transparent. ... They do what the Father wants them to do."

He said Bent has told him God talks to everybody at the ranch. "I can't judge it," Sayer said. "Every person's got their own relationship with God."

source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/05/nm.sect.ap/