<![CDATA[Jezebel: Michael Travesser]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: Michael Travesser]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/michael travesser http://jezebel.com/tag/michael travesser <![CDATA[ Michael Travesser, the fire and brimstone ... ]]> michaelt51208.jpgMichael Travesser, the fire and brimstone cult leader formerly known as Wayne Bent, has been released from jail. Michael was imprisoned on charges of child molestation for lying naked with some not-quite-18-year-old members of his sect. The $55,000 bond was paid for by his son, Jeff Bent. If you'll recall, Michael had sex with Jeff's wife, who is now "spiritually married" to the cult leader. The three minors who were living on the cult's rural New Mexico compound, known as "Strong City," have been removed. [AP via CBS News]

]]>
Mon, 12 May 2008 10:45:00 EDT Jessica http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=389464&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ This Week We Loved Our Moms, Our Undies, Ourselves ]]> sadbear111607.jpg

  • We got to know virgin-hoarding cult leader Michael Travesser and his band of wack jobs.
  • We got some LOLs out of douchefessionals John Fitzgerald Page and Paul Janka.
  • We said goodbye to our own Jennifer, who is departing for greener Polo pastures. She will be missed!
  • This weekend, pour one out for all the white wine drinking, on-the-toilet phone talking, track suit wearing mommas out there. Happy Mothers Day, moms; we love you!
]]>
Fri, 09 May 2008 18:20:00 EDT Jessica http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=389101&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Cult Leader's Son Tells Larry King About Dad's Affair With Ex-Wife ]]> Michael Travesser, formerly known as Wayne Bent, the cult leader accused of sexual molestation, sent his son, Jeff Bent to Larry King last night to do some damage control. King asked Jeff about the National Geographic documentary, Inside A Cult, during which Michael talks about boning Jeff's wife. Jeff claims that the couple were divorced by the time Michael and his wife consummated their "spiritual marriage," and besides, what they did wasn't sex as mere mortals know it. "They've been ordained by God...it was a spiritual experience illustrated by a physical act," Jeff tells King. Clip above.

Earlier: Teen Cult Member: "Michael Has Washed My Brain Of All My Own Corrupt Thoughts"
New Mexico Cult Leader Jailed For Child Molestation

]]>
Fri, 09 May 2008 14:30:00 EDT Jessica http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=388991&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Teen Cult Member: "Michael Has Washed My Brain Of All My Own Corrupt Thoughts" ]]> Remember yesterday's post about Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser, the prophet of a cult called the Lord Our Righteousness Church who was arrested on charges of child molestation? Well last night, the National Geographic Channel aired a documentary about Travesser and the LORs, and lordy lordy, it was bonkers. This first clip shows Michael with "Healed," one of the minors he is accused of molesting. (Michael, who in cult lore is the son of God, said that God told him to lie naked with seven virgins.) Healed's parents no longer live on the cult's compound, and although her parents have begged her to leave, Healed insists on living with "God's son." Her crazed chuckle is enough to chill anyone with a pulse. After the jump, a second clip showing two other barely-legal LORs explaining the elation they felt at lying naked with Michael, doing "God's will".


Earlier: New Mexico Cult Leader Jailed For Child Molestation Related: Inside A Cult [National Geographic Channel]

]]>
Thu, 08 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT Jessica http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=388468&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ New Mexico Cult Leader Jailed For Child Molestation ]]> emmamichael5708.jpgMeet Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser aka the Messiah. The Charles Manson-looking yahoo is the prophet and leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church, and he was arrested on Tuesday on three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor at the church's compound in rural New Mexico. The three allegedly molested children were also taken from the ranch. (At left is Bent with his wife, Emma. He is 66. She looks about 20, tops.) The compound is a former ranch near the Arizona border, which Bent and his followers have dubbed Strong City. According to the Associated Press, "Wayne Bent has acknowledged having sex with followers - including his daughter-in-law - and lying naked with virgins. He said the virgins asked for sex, but he refused."

Bent is a former Seventh Day Adventist who founded the church in 1987, though most of the current members of the cult do not have roots in Adventism, reports CNN. Bent moved the whole operation to a remote corner of New Mexico in 2000, which was also the year, he says, that God informed him he was the Messiah. It gets better: Bent says on his church's website that the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal was the first harbinger of the apocalypse and also told his followers, around the same time, that the world was ending on October 31, 2007 (he also claims to have predicted 9/11).

clouds5708.jpgUm, but then it didn't! (Apparently, according to Bent, the apocalypse is a "process"!) Anyway, a former cult member, John Sayer, says he broke away from the church in late 2005, but only after Bent said he wanted to sleep with 7 virgins, two of whom were Sayer's 14 and 15-year-old daughters. "I just told him no. ... I'm not in agreement. I don't see it's right," Sayer tells the AP. (Sayer still allowed his daughters to "lay naked" with the prophet, though he insists that nothing sexual occurred.)

Interestingly, the National Geographic Channel is airing a documentary tonight about Bent and his Lord of Righteousness followers called Inside A Cult. NYT reviewer Neil Genzlinger says, watching the documentary "you might find yourself thinking, 'These people obviously didn't understand the power of the medium or how insane they would sound on film.' But think again: the cult is thoroughly media-savvy, maintaining an extensive Web site (strongcity.info) full of video and blogs." Reading the church's blog just shows how utterly brainwashed the followers of Bent are — so much so that the impact of the outside world just doesn't register. Sayer's younger daughter, posting on the cult's website under the name "Healed" is clearly one of the true believers. She wrote on the site late last year, "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." Jesus Christ.

Church Leader Arrested On Sex Charges In Northeast N.M. [AP]
Sect's 'Messiah' Arrested On Sex Charges [CNN]
Strong City [Lord Our Righteousness Official Website]
Ex-follower: 'Messiah' Wanted To Bed 7 Virgins [AP via CNN]
New Mexico Compound's Enraptured Believers [NYT]

]]>
Wed, 07 May 2008 09:30:00 EDT Jessica http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=387971&view=rss&microfeed=true