Brainwashing By A Cult

After reading the last post about the kidnapping, I began to think of a documentary I had seen once about a cult. What really caught my attention in the last post was the part about the person who was kidnapped starting to trust the kidnapper. The situation of the Lord Our Righteousness Church(cult) in New Mexico isn't quite kidnapping, but I can definitely see many similarities between the two. The cult was started by a man named Michael Travesser, formerly Wayne Bent. He started the cult after leaving his regular church and began declaring himself a messiah. Some people from his former church followed him to Strong City where they began to worship him. He told his followers that they must get rid of all of their emotions in order to go to Heaven on Judgment Day. He also broke apart all families and marriages. He told his followers that the only sexual relations that were allowed were those that took place with him. Because of these rules Travesser had intimate relationships with many of the women in the cult, including young girls. The women believed that by having relationships with their leader that they were showing their love and devotion toward him. The former husbands of these women had difficulties dealing with this idea, but they were told to discuss their angry feelings with God. The main focus of this cult is the end of time. They are very eager for the end of the world to come and believe that it is coming very soon. As a matter of fact, the cult members believed that the end of the world was to occur on October 31, 2007 at midnight. Needless to say this did not happen. It is obvious to see through the video from YouTube that these people have been brainwashed by Travesser. Toward the end of the video when the two women are sitting on the floor looking at Travesser, it is clear that they are emotionless and only doing what their leader tells them. There are also interviews on YouTube with former cult members that share some of their experiences from Strong City. These people say that it was definitely brainwashing and that they fear for those who are still cult members. Recently, Michael Travesser has been arrested for sexual misconduct with teenage girls. Hopefully this can be the end of the cult and these people can receive the appropriate mental treatment that they need.

I have included a video that shows some of the cult members of Lord Our Righteousness and their leader Michael Travesser. The video is also a brief overview of what the cult is about.