Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser, aka the Messiah is suspected of having inappropriate contact with minors in the 70-person The Lord Our Righteousness compound in northeastern New Mexico. Bent denies the allegations, although he acknowledges having sex with two women in the sect.
Two girls and one boy were taken from the compound after an April 22 investigation, according to a spokesperson for the state Children, Youth and Families Department. No charges have yet been filed.
Bent, 66, an ex-Seventh Day Adventist minister, moved his congregation from Sandpoint, Idaho to New Mexico in spring, 2000. That summer, he told his followers, he had been annointed by God as the Messiah. “… As I sat in my living room chair, I was strongly directed by God, ‘You are Messiah.’ At this moment, the Spirit I had previously felt in the land entered into me,” he wrote on his website. He further said, "God took this beer-drinking, cigar-smoking, cussing, ex-Navy man, and made of him the Son of God." As in many apocalyptic congregations, Bent interprets biblical prophesies to suggest the end of the world is imminent.
He momentarily “considered the personal cost of being Messiah,” saying the “world in general would consider him a cult leader, and professed Christians would call him a false christ, quoting scriptures warning against following those who say they are the Christ." He said he was also quite aware of the testing that would come to his congregation.
With the confrontation with New Mexico authorities, the self-styled Messiah’s prophesy is coming to pass.
Bent has refused interviews, calling the press an arm of the beast. He is, however, communicating his message through his website. “I do not speak to, nor do I negotiate with terrorists, who are holding my children hostage,” he posted. “I will speak with the media when they let my children go, permanently. Until the terrorist state releases my children, I will not speak with you or yours.”
In denying the allegations of child abuse, he wrote, “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, and, I was never the initiator in any of the events.”
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.