Editing Lord Our Righteousness Church

{{short description|Religious community in New Mexico, United States}}
The '''Lord Our Righteousness Church''', sometimes called '''Strong City''', is a religious community near [[Clayton, New Mexico|Clayton]], [[Union County, New Mexico]], US. It originated with a group of about eighty adherents who migrated to the area from [[Sandpoint, Idaho]] in 2000.<REF NAME="NYT0504"/>  In 2008, the community consisted of approximately fifty people.

==History==
{{anchor|Wayne Curtis Bent}}{{anchor|Wayne Bent}}
Its leader Wayne Curtis Bent, born May 18, 1941,<REF NAME="NYT0504"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2QP-NVV|title=California Birth Index, 1905-1995: Wayne Curtis Bent|website=[[FamilySearch]] }}</ref> is known as Michael Travesser within the church.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/us/01brfs-3CHILDRENARE_BRF.html New Mexico: 3 Children Are Removed From an Apocalyptic Church], May 1, 2008, [[Associated Press]] report in the [[New York Times]].</ref> Bent, once a [[Seventh-day Adventist]] pastor, left his denomination with others of like mind in 1987 and has since referred to that church as one of the "daughters of the great harlot" condemned in the book of Revelation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://strongcity.org/about/ |title=Strong City: The Lord Our Righteousness Church: A Brief History and Overview |access-date=2011-01-31 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123091352/http://strongcity.org/about/ |archive-date=November 23, 2011 }}</ref> Bent claims that, during an experience in his living room in June 2000, God told him, "You are [[Messiah]]." Bent has since stated, "I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined."<ref name = documentary>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121021143736/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/inside-a-cult2/ ''Inside a Cult''] documentary info published by the [[National Geographic Channel]].</ref>

The group's website has been taken down several times and reinstated. It contains frequently-updated writings and videos, including a nearly two-hour-long documentary entitled ''Experiencing the Finished Work''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://strongcity.org/ |title=Strong City: The Lord Our Righteousness |access-date=2011-01-27 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123091427/http://strongcity.org/ |archive-date=November 23, 2011 }} - Webpage published by The Lord Our Righteousness Church</ref>

==Media coverage==
[[File:Alex Hannaford 2024 Texas Book Festival.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Journalist Alex Hannaford]]
British journalist Alex Hannaford visited Strong City in 2004, investigating claims that the group was contemplating suicide.<ref>Alex Hannaford. [https://pressfolios-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/story/story_pdf/5180/user_upload_5180.pdf "The Cult of the Man They Call Messiah"].</ref><ref>[https://www.apologeticsindex.org/s48a.html Michael's diary], 2002, captured by Apologetics Index</ref> His feature,<ref>[http://nofiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/waynes-world_18.html Bizarre Magazine], feature on Strong City</ref> including interviews with Wayne and Jeff Bent and various sect members, was published in the UK the same year. Hannaford later wrote a follow-up piece for the ''Sunday Times'' magazine in the UK.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Hannaford | first = Alex | title = Wayne Bent: The cult of the man they call messiah | newspaper = The Sunday Times | location = New Mexico | publisher = News International Group, UK | date = 14 June 2009 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6487876.ece | access-date = 2 March 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Three years later, ''The End of the World Cult'', a documentary, aired on [[Channel 4]] in the UK. It covers Bent's announcement that the Day of Judgment began on October 31, 2007. Bent chose that date after calculating a Biblical 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]] posted his [[95 Theses]].{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

A shorter version including interviews with cult experts and entitled ''Inside a Cult'' was broadcast on [[ABC (Australian TV channel)|ABC]] in Australia, and the [[National Geographic Channel]] in the United States.<ref>{{Citation|title=WAYNE BENT| date=8 October 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-KGxGRS7Yc|language=en|access-date=2021-11-20}}</ref> Jeff Bent stated that the National Geographic documentary was highly inaccurate and inflammatory in nature.<ref>{{Cite web| title = This Witness Appeals for Justice  | publisher = The Lord Our Righteousness Church  | url = http://strongcity.org/this-witness-appeals-for-justice/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207192037/http://strongcity.org/this-witness-appeals-for-justice/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 February 2011 | access-date = 5 December 2022}}</ref>

==Legal issues==
===Investigation===
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, although further investigation found this allegation to be untrue. The two minor children, the state's only witnesses to the facts at trial, both testified in the primary trial, in subsequent court proceedings and by [[affidavit]], that Bent never touched them sexually in any way, and asserted that the charges against him were baseless. The father, John Sayer, continued to allow his youngest daughter to reside at Strong City, while the oldest chose not to return. Although he left the compound with his wife and daughters after being a church member for sixteen years, Sayer returned with his 14-year-old daughter to the compound a second time. According to Sayer, she was one of three minors taken into state custody for their own protection in April 2008.<REF NAME="NYT0504"/> A New Mexico state Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)  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.<REF NAME="NYT0504">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/us/04church.html Accusations Against Sect in New Mexico], May 4, 2008. [[Associated Press]] report via the [[New York Times]].  Accessed May 6, 2008.</ref>

Two weeks after the children were removed and 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 sex of the children in state custody were made public: a 16-year-old boy (no charges of abuse were filed in  connection with the boy), a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl.<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4796801&page=1 Sex Charges for Leader of Doomsday Sect] [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]].  Accessed May 6, 2008.</ref> He was held on $500,000 bond with an [[arraignment]] scheduled for May 8, 2008. Following his arraignment, the judge reduced the bail to $55,000; as of May 9, he remained incarcerated.<REF NAME="WP0506"/>

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.<REF NAME="WP0506">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050601425.html Church leader arrested on sex charges in northeast N.M.]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} May 6, 2008, [[Associated Press]] report in the [[Washington Post]]. Accessed May 7, 2008.</ref>

Bent also freely admits having sexual intercourse multiple times with his son's wife.  Both he and his son state that "God forced Michael" to commit this act of consummation.<ref name="documentary"/> Bent asserts that though he lay "naked with virgins" and the virgins asked him for sex, he refused.<REF NAME="WP0506"/>

A June 17 update from Bent's website and other news reports state that New Mexico authorities released one of the young women previously taken from the compound from state custody.<ref>[http://a.abcnews.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=5188549 Teen From NM Sect Released From State Custody.] [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] Accessed June 17, 2008.</ref>

Both the prosecution and the defense excused one judge in the case. [[Union County, New Mexico|Union County]] Judge Gerald E. Baca was appointed the case on July 2, 2008.<ref name=NMCourts>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nmcourts.gov/caselookup/app?component=cnLink&page=SearchResults&service=direct&session=T&sp=SD-818-CR-200800025 |title=Case Detail for State vs. Wayne Bent |access-date=2008-10-13 |year=2008 |work=NMCourts.gov }}</ref>  The jury trial started November 17, 2008.<ref name=NMCourts/>

===Conviction===
On December 15, 2008, jurors convicted Wayne Bent of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was acquitted of a second charge of criminal sexual contact with a minor.<ref name = "FOX02">{{Cite news| title = Sect Leader Who Allegedly Sought Virgins Found Guilty on Sex Charge | agency = AP | publisher = Fox News | date = 15 December 2008  | url = https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,467174,00.html | access-date = 2 March 2010}}</ref> Bent was allowed to return to Strong City, the sect's compound near Clayton, pending sentencing.<ref name = "FOX02"/>  On December 30, Judge Gerald Baca imposed the maximum sentence of 18 years but suspended eight years. He will have to serve at least {{Frac|8|1|2}} years before becoming eligible for release.<ref>{{Cite news| title = New Mexico Apocalyptic Sect Leader Gets 10 Years in Sex Case | agency = AP | publisher = Fox News  | date = 31 December 2008  | url = https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,474184,00.html | access-date = 2 March 2010}}</ref>

An Albuquerque news station reported that as of September 11, 2009, Bent has been on hunger strike while in prison, and a judge has ordered that [[force-feeding]] be used should it become necessary.<ref>{{Cite episode | title = Judge puts fasting cult leader in doctor's hands | series = Eyewitness News 4 | credits = Kayla Anderson and Matthew Kappus | network = ABC | station = KOB-TV, LLC | location = Albuquerque, NM | airdate = 9 September 2009 | url= http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1155564.shtml?cat=504}}</ref> According to the church's website, Bent entered a religious fast that takes the form of a Jubilee fast. It is also claimed that his fast is a protest against his imprisonment 'because of a lie'.<ref>
{{Cite web| last = Bent | first = Wayne (AKA: Michael Travesser | title = My Crown Of Thorns | publisher = www.strongcity.org | date = 31 August 2009 | url = http://strongcity.org/my-crown-of-thorns/ | access-date = 2 March 2010}}</ref>

===Conviction overturned and reinstated===
On June 28, 2011, the New Mexico Court of Appeals overturned all convictions against Wayne Bent. The court determined the grand jury was not legally assembled. In the unanimous three judge decision, Judge Roderick T. Kennedy shares the opinion of the court;

{{blockquote|As a result, the indictment issued by the grand jury was void and the district court did not have jurisdiction to proceed with the trial in this case|Judge Roderick T. Kennedy<ref>{{cite news|last1=Massey|first1=Barry|title=Religious Leader's Conviction Tosse|url=http://www.abqjournal.com/39920/news/religious-leaders-conviction-tossed.html|access-date=28 August 2014|publisher=The Associated Press|date=29 June 2011}}</ref>}}

On October 22, 2012, the [[New Mexico Supreme Court]] overturned the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruling and Wayne Bent would continue to serve out the remainder of his sentence in prison for the next four years.<ref>{{cite news|title=Appeals court upholds cult leader's convictions|url=http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/albuquerque/appeals-court-upholds-cult-leaders-convictions/21495754#!bLItyG|access-date=28 August 2014|agency=KOAT Albuquerque|publisher=Hearst Properties Inc|date=16 August 2013}}</ref>

===Release from prison===
Wayne Bent was paroled from prison in February 2016 after being diagnosed with a cancer that threatened the hearing in his left ear.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://krqe.com/2016/02/17/new-mexico-cult-leader-released-from-prison-early/|title=New Mexico cult leader released from prison early|agency=Associated Press|date=2016-02-17|website=KRQE News 13|access-date=2016-07-14}}</ref> He has since published a book about his legal case on his website. The title of the publication, ''The Little Book'', is taken from a reference found in the biblical book of Revelation, chapter ten.<ref>[https://www.waynebent.com/ Wayne Bent's website]</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Law|Religion|Human sexuality}}
* [[Disconfirmed expectancy]]
* [[Doomsday cult]]
* [[List of people who have claimed to be Jesus]]
* [[Millenarianism]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Christian eschatology]]
[[Category:Christian new religious movements]]
[[Category:Organizations based in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in 2000]]
[[Category:2000 establishments in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Child sexual abuse in the United States]]