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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Sunday, October 26, 2008
'Messiah' and His Followers Fast As His Trial Approaches
By Vic Vela
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
DES MOINES, N.M. — Wayne Bent said it was 10 in the morning on a July day eight years ago when he was anointed by God as he sat in the same soft purple chair on which he relaxed during a recent interview.
"I was sitting there just looking out the window, not thinking of anything, not praying," he said. "And suddenly Father came to me and called me Messiah."
At the time, he was merely the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, which he brought to northern New Mexico in 2000 with 77 followers.
So, he said, he was at first hesitant to take on this new role.
"I felt nervous," said Bent, clad in pants, a long-sleeve flannel shirt and suspenders while meeting a Journal crew at his Strong City compound in Union County, northwest of Clayton. "False Christs and all these images of messiahs came up in me, and all those cult leaders."
Bent said he ultimately took on the messiah mantle and for the last eight years has led the followers who live on his serene, 280-acre property in peace.
But the tranquility members once enjoyed has given way to turmoil in recent months.
Bent not only faces the prospect of prison time, but also — by his own choice — death by starvation.
He was arrested in May on charges that he had sexual contact with underage girls who once lived at his compound. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 17 in Clayton.
While Bent has flatly denied any wrongdoing — he claims the physical contact was a healing exercise — the pending prosecution could be the least of his problems.
Bent says he has not eaten anything since he had a bowl of cereal and fruit on Oct. 16, and he promises to fast barring a "deliverance" from God or unless the state drops the charges against him.
He had been drinking juice since the 16th, but, on Friday, he said he began drinking water only and that he will not consume anything beginning next Friday.
He said all of his followers are fasting as well. Some stopped drinking water as of Saturday, according to Bent.
"It is time for us to go, and for this we now pray," he wrote on a Web site posting Friday. "If we cannot freely worship our God, it is a certainty that we will not worship the image of the beast. We are free, or we are gone."
Bent also declared that he will no longer participate in court proceedings, though a hearing is scheduled for Thursday that will determine a possible change of venue for his trial. He calls his refusal to go forward with legal proceedings a "holy rebellion."
He said public misconception of him and his belief that the judge in the case is in cahoots with the district attorney against him means he cannot be exonerated through the state's judicial system.
"I think any jury with a lot of psychiatrists and a lot of hocus-pocus and all this cult leader sex stuff, these are just magic buttons for people in this country," Bent said. "And I just don't think a fair trial can be had in New Mexico."
Meanwhile, Bent's followers are standing behind their leader.
A 59-year-old woman, who called herself Faith, said Bent is not guilty of his charges for one simple reason: "He's innocent because I believe he is the Son of God."
But Faith said she is prepared for whatever may happen in the coming weeks if Bent is not "vindicated."
"I was looking forward for this particular day to come, and it's finally here," she said. "That the world is gonna come to its end, and I'm leaving."
District Attorney Donald Gallegos of Taos said recently that he doesn't know of any precedent for handling a defendant who may be starving himself.
On Friday, his office sought permission from a judge to allow sheriff's deputies to check on the welfare of Bent and his followers during the fast. The judge was not available Friday, however, according to Bent's attorney, Sarah Montoya of Raton. Deputies did perform a welfare check at the compound on Friday and were assured by Bent's son Jeff that everyone was OK.
'My desires changed'
Bent said he grew up in Compton, Calif., and joined the Navy Reserves when he was 18. After a two-year stay with the military, he got married and had three children.
One of them is Jeff Bent, who now lives on the Union County property with his father and is extremely loyal.
Wayne Bent said he smoked for nine years, drank the occasional beer and was a fan of Southern California professional sports teams, such as the Dodgers and the then-Los Angeles Rams. He also liked to hunt.
But, in 1967, he had a religious conversion and all that changed.
"All I know is my desires changed, and I didn't want to do those things anymore," he said.
He earned a master's degree in religion at Loma Linda University and became a minister. As it became clear that he was devoting his life to God, he said, his wife left him in 1981 after 19 years of marriage.
"She was never happy to be with a converted husband," Bent said. "But she did the best she could for 19 years."
He moved to Idaho in 1982, where he was a pastor for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He left the church in 1987 after having a falling out with a fellow pastor there.
Bent continued to preach and lead seminars teaching the Adventist faith until 2000, when he says God told him to move to New Mexico. His role here changed, he said, that July morning when God spoke to him.
Bent said God gave him three Bible verses during that moment that forever changed him.
"I wasn't just Pastor Bent," he said. "Now I was Messiah; and the people knew it."
Bent spoke matter-of-factly about his transformation, pausing to acknowledge most people doubt his claims.
"I know how unbelievable it sounds, but that is how it happened," he said. "I know how crazy it is."
Bent prophesied that the world would end Oct. 31, 2007.
Son Jeff recently defended his father's doomsday prediction, saying it had been misunderstood.
'We believe in God'
The church compound is lined with trees that provide cover for the small, modular homes where members live.
Women interviewed at Bent's property earlier this month were full of smiles and wore dresses that reached their ankles. They strongly defended their leader and vowed to stay by his side through thick and thin.
"We just see God in Michael," said Wendy, the former wife of Jeff Bent who now calls herself Zion. "If we didn't see truth or integrity in him, we wouldn't be here."
When asked why she is willing to fast, even to the point of death, Wendy told a reporter, "We believe in God. You don't.
"We are following our instructions from God. The consequences are up to him. We're not planning on dying. God's promise to us is we will be changed. We are just going forward with what he says to do and leaving the consequences to him."
Bent lives alone inside a modest, clean trailer with laminated signs inside that are used to tell visitors not to disturb him while he is resting or praying.
A small pillow — a gift from a follower with stitching that reads: "He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" — rests on a futon. The message refers to Bent, who is known to his followers as Michael Travesser. The surname comes from a nearby Union County creek.
On his bookshelf sit several stuffed animals, gifts from children who once lived on the property.
In conversation Bent is usually thoughtful, articulate and reserved, but there are moments of anger.
Twice during the interview, he slammed his hand down, once when talking about the state's charges and again when asked about published reports that he had sexual relations with his son's wife. Bent said the couple were separated, though still legally married.
Bent is just as forceful with the written word.
On his Web site he has posted blistering opinions about state authorities, saying they're doing Satan's work.
Bent has been criticized by the district attorney's office for comments he posted on the Web. He has called prosecutor Tomas Benavidez "evil" and wrote that Benavidez has "exhibited the classic stance of the beast."
A judge last week ordered Bent to "cease and desist" from making such comments.
'She felt she had to'
Bent said the will of God led to his "healing" of the two girls with whom he is charged with having illegal sexual contact; he had no control over what happened.
He said one of the girls was 16 when God came to her in August 2006 and told her to "lay naked on my bed."
"She felt she must, she felt she had to," Bent said. "So I allowed her to do that."
Bent said he touched and kissed her clavicle and then told her to leave his bedroom.
When asked why he allowed a naked teenage girl to enter his bedroom, Bent said, "I've always told the girls to do what God tells you. No way I was going to tell her, 'I don't care what God tells you. Get out of my house.' "
Bent said he had a similar encounter with the girl's sister.
"If (they) had come to me before (the anointment) and said, 'Can I come lay naked on your bed?', I would have said, 'No way,' " he said. "But not after Messiah came into me, because I was now responsible for their soul(s)."
But there was fallout from the girls' parents.
Bent said the parents left the church and became friends with and told another former church member, Prudence Welch, about the incident.
Welch called State Police.
A three-week investigation by State Police, the state Children, Youth and Families Department and the Union County Sheriff's Department led to Bent's arrest May 6.
A police report states that one of the girls said that as she lay naked with Bent, he "kissed her lips like a husband and wife do." She also reported Bent touched and kissed her breasts. The sister also told police that Bent had kissed her and that she and Bent "lay chest to chest" while she was naked.
Bent points to interviews obtained for his defense where the sisters reportedly have said he never molested them.
Bent provided the Journal a transcript of one girl's interview by Montoya, his attorney, where the girl said Bent was never naked in her presence and that she "didn't feel like (Bent) wanted sex. Just probably religious, I guess."
Bent also provided a letter to District Attorney Donald Gallegos dated June 25 from the second girl who stated that Bent "never molested me or touched me sexually in any way, nor did he use authority to coerce me." A recent letter purported to be from the girl is posted online.
Montoya verified the authenticity of her interview and the June 25 letter.
Bent says he doesn't believe he is leading his followers down a suicidal path in spite of their commitment to fasting with him.
"Let me tell you what it is," he said. "They love me. That's it. If they saw me whipped off to jail or in a hospital with tubes down my throat, you would see church members sitting right outside."
He rejects any suggestion that he has manipulative control over his followers.
"I have never implied to anybody that they should copy me," he said. "Let me enlighten you: God's here and he talks to the people's hearts. It's not Wayne Bent."
Bent blasted the public perception of who he is.
"Oh, he's having sex with kids and everybody else, too," he said. "It wasn't like that. Nothing here was like that. But the problem is people don't believe me when I say God speaks to me — 'There's this fruitcake out there ... claiming that God talks to him' — and I can't answer for that. But they didn't believe Jesus either.
"I expect to get the same treatment that Jesus got. The media wasn't fair with him, either. They accused him of false charges and they killed him. I know how it looks. I am charged with a crime that did not occur, and even you can understand that."