| Author | Message | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 194 Registered: 7-2003 |
Okay, I've NEVER seen anything quite like this....really. This is so bizarre as to be nearly unintelligable. I wish I could describe this guy's theology, but I don't really understand it. He uses a lot of EGW quotes in his online book, but he evidently left Adventism becasue it wasn't warped enough for him. He seems to be saying that the second coming is already accomplished in himself, but also in other true-believers, but then also seems to apply Messianic terms specifically to himself, personally and exclusively. He even changed his name to "Michael" and seems to believe that Jesus is Michael and that he (the cult leader) is both Michael and Jesus. Watch the news for this guy. This is Wacco/Koresh all over again. http://www.travesser.com/ Chris | ||
| Debbie Registered user Username: Debbie Post Number: 18 Registered: 7-2000 |
This is a very scary website! And the guy grew up in Riverside, and got his Master's in Religion at LLU, and was an Adventist Pastor in this area before leaving Adventism. It never ceases to amaze me the INTERESTING people that Adventism produces... Does anyone know, if he (and his "family") are still living in this area? | ||
| Loneviking Registered user Username: Loneviking Post Number: 213 Registered: 7-2000 |
Debbie, Go to www.apologeticsindex.com click on 'Strong City' or 'Michael Trevesser'. Apparently this cult has about 70 people in it, and they live in Northeastern New Mexico near Trevesser creek. From the sounds of things, the FBI and local police are keeping a close eye on this group. Back in the 80's, living in Redlands, CA. I was aware of something called 'Lifesupport ministries' and that it had a very conservative SDA slant. I remember having this Bent fellow pointed out to me at a Hope International campmeeting in SoCal. around 1987 or so as the promoter of Lifesupport. He seemed like just another of the nuts that hung around the independent camp meetings. There were even some folks that showed up in prayer shawls and yamulkes---insisting that we should pray facing towards Jerusalem! I wonder whatever happened to some of those folks................. Chris, how in the world did you find this nut? | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 196 Registered: 7-2003 |
Loneviking, It was one of the advertisements at the top of Janet Brown's website "What Adventists Need to Know". I e-mailed Janet about this and she stated that she gets her web hosting free and part of the deal is that they place advertising on the top of her pages. She must have done something about this one though because it seems to be gone today. Chris | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 147 Registered: 7-2003 |
Chris, what is Janet's web address these days? I used to have it bookmarked, then started getting errors when I tried to go to it. I eventually gave up, but she was one of the first sites I contacted when starting my research into this religion. She was really helpful. | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 197 Registered: 7-2003 |
http://members.tripod.com/~Help_for_SDAs/index.html | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 148 Registered: 7-2003 |
Thanks, Chris! | ||
| Leigh Registered user Username: Leigh Post Number: 44 Registered: 2-2003 |
I went to Janet's web site. I hadn't been there in a while. I clicked on "Dr. Nina and the Panther." A very interesting story. It seems that i have heard the first part about the girls and the panther before as a children's story at (sda) church and maybe on "your story hour" and maybe some other adventist publication. However, they seem to leave out the rest of the story! | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 20 Registered: 12-2003 |
My goodness, that travesser sit is blatant! They're not even trying to appear "normal"! As I read some of the comments accompnaying "Michael's" articles, I was quite amazed how many women call him their husband and declare their love for him. I was also struck by the fact that some comments quoted EGW and old Review and Herald articles. There's no doubt this group has roots in Adventism. It's quite pathetic, really. Colleen | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 255 Registered: 1-2003 |
I felt the same way Colleen...his sermons were bad enough but the reaction of his followers really upset me and sickened me...but you can see how SDA are set up to believe in prophets from the cradle...it is no wonder they buy into him hook, line and sinker. | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 198 Registered: 7-2003 |
Pheeki, as I read more, the other thing that struck me as a catalyst for SDAs to be sucked in is "Michael's" teaching on perfectionism. He teaches that you do indeed need to be perfect and without sin in this life. He further teaches that he is perfect and without sin. But here's the appeal to SDAs, if you just believe in him ("Michael") and follow him, then you share in his perfection and are without sin. How appealing that must sound to SDAs who have never heard the real Gospel. It must be a breath of hope to those who have never understood our positional righteous and positional perfection in Christ Jesus. That sad thing is that they are depending on a false prophet, a deranged human for their righteousness. These are lost individuals unless God works a miracle and brings them to see that only the Risen Saviour, who is today at the Father's right hand, can declare them righteouss before the Father. Chris | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 475 Registered: 11-2002 |
SDA'ism lends itself quite well to wierdo's, fanatics and extremeists. One day I mentioned that to a SDA loved one and I was asked, rather rudely if there aren't Lutheran fanatics. I said yes, there are and isn't it wonderful to be fanatical about grace. My loved one huffed and puffed and walked out of the room. | ||
| Rochelleradclif Registered user Username: Rochelleradclif Post Number: 8 Registered: 6-2003 |
I hope this travesser situation doesn't turn into another Waco type incident. I also pray that God would break it up before people are harmed. The thing that bothers me the most about both of these extreme groups is that they take advantage of Adventist people who are already confused and push them into even worse deception. When Adventist people hear about this kind of group, they often conclude that the people went astray because they got away from the Adventist truth. It seems more likely that they went astray because they were too connected to the Adventist "truth" and found normal Adventists too uncommitted for their liking. | ||
| Debbie Registered user Username: Debbie Post Number: 37 Registered: 7-2000 |
With the stuff in Fresno that just went down, and the biography on Koresh that was just on A&E last week, I decided to check out Michael Travesser's website to see if there was anything new and interesting (I'm a curious person). What I found is the website is no longer working. However, I also found an interesting internet discussion at: http://www.everythingimportant.org/viewtopic.php?p=2625 I can't tell whether the person representing the "Fortitude Tresser the fanatical cultist, whose location is in heaven" is Michael himself or one of his members. (????) What do you guys/gals think? And does anyone know or have any ideas on why his website might no longer be working??? | ||
| Debbie Registered user Username: Debbie Post Number: 38 Registered: 7-2000 |
Oh also check out the following discussion threads, which are VERY recent: 1) on the subject of adultery: http://www.everythingimportant.org/viewtopic.php?t=551&start=42 2) Discussion with "Solomon the Babble Buster" and some other apparently discerning believers (note that I didn't read the entire discussions closely--only scanned them for subject matter) who are attempting to show these poor "fanatical cultists" (this is what they call themselves) the truth using the bible: http://www.everythingimportant.org/viewtopic.php?t=551&start=56 Regarding my previous post, do you thing the FBI is on to them? I hope they are stopped before something bad happens. We need to pray! | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 303 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hmmm......when I went to the Travesser website it had a brilliant sunset of blazing light coming across rippling water with a message that says, "This site is now closed". Rather odd.....makes you wonder if something is going on..... Speaking of really really weird websites. Has anyone looked at the Branch Davidian website lately? http://www.branchdavidian.com/ takes you to http://www.sevenseals.com/ Really freaky doomsday stuff dealing with repeating timelines and lives and other non-sensical ideas. Apparently their new annointed prophet/messiah seems to place himself/herself (?) on the same level with Jesus. Really scary. Chris | ||
| Debbie Registered user Username: Debbie Post Number: 39 Registered: 7-2000 |
Chris, I checked out the website you mentioned. It's pretty bazarre and scary alright, especially the pictures of the people with the seals on their forehead as their reading the books, and the part about the need for a current day prophet because the dead prophets including Jesus are no longer valid so to speak. Also, the step by step comparison b/t John the Baptist and David Koresh? Unbelievable! My former father-n-law is a Rapture date-setter (he is no longer an Adventist, but still is influenced by it psychologically), and March/April has always been a hot button period for him every single year. I've always known it was related to the Jewish holy days. But now it really makes me wonder, especially now that I have considered that the Koresh incident happened in April, the Fresno incident happened in March, and this Branch Davidian website is emphasizing March 2012 AD. I was speaking to friend today, and she mentioned something about this date being the end of everything on the Mayan calendar or something like that?? Anyway, I went on the other the discussion threads, and read more. And searched again under Travesser aka known as Jeffery Wayne Bent. As a result I found a brief post under factnet.org from a concerned who was aware last month of his websites closed down and of him doing "strange activity:" QUESION: I would like any information about this person and his group of followers. I believe this to be a cult group located in NM. They had 3 web pages but now have shut them down and are doing some strange things. www.strongcity.com www.thewinds.com www.CIUDAFUERTE.com (spanish) ANSWER: To read more http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/s48.html Also, I found an SDA website with interesting information. Apparently he's known within educated SDAs as the "LORS" A WARNING TO THE SDA CHURCH THIS IS LOR! ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS OFFSHOOTS EVER! In a letter that was sent to us in November of 1888, a Sister L tells of her experience in Oregon with Life Supports‚; "Since moving here, we heard about some people near here who we heard were claiming to be sinless. We decided eventually, to go visit them. We met, October 1. They told us they did not claim sinlessness but rather victory in Christ. . We went to meet with these people every Sabbath in the month of October. Apparently, we were in perfect harmony and had very precious fellowship. The last Sab‚bath, (the fifth one on the fifteenth of the month) is when the bomb was dropped, so to speak. "These folks are members of a group called Life Supports. They also call their church 'The Lord Our Righteousness.' . . I came in at the end of the first presentation; They were using a bag, with a sad face drawn on it to illustrate something. . I found out that it represented sinful flesh that they believe must be removed in order for God to dwell in us. This, I know, is what is termed as an element of 'holy flesh' . When one of the evangelists was discussing the transformation of our NATURE, I said, 'That's Holy Flesh.' He answered, 'Thatís right. What's wrong with that?'‚ Sister L- touched on another interesting point in her letter. She goes on to say ‚"During the second presentation, the sec‚ond evangelist was pointing out the fact that we are to be ONE with God, Fine. Now, if we are ONE with God, and we are DEAD, who are we? Absolutely nothing, right? 'Then using human reasoning, WHO ARE WE? Can you guess what conclusions they wanted us to come to? (that we are god.] "At this point they asked for testimonies to see if the people in the room were catching on. Through some convincing and correcting of the testimonies, they started hearing what they were after. The testimonies started sound‚ing like this: 'I am the Lord.' 'I am Christ.' 'I am God.' 'I am the resurrection and the life' "When I was gone, (my husband] told me he pointed out the scripture in Genesis that talks about Satan telling Eve. 'Ye shall be as gods. '-Genesis 3:5. The evangelist said that Satan lied. Satan said 'AS god.' They ALREADY WERE God! They could not get my husband or me to give this sort of testimony . . This is an element of Pantheism. . "When they are talking with someone, it is pressed on them to accept what they tell them NOW and if they don't, they are told, it's too late, their probation is closed, no hope, and so forth. If this is not manipulation and mind control, I do not know what is! They term it 'Finishing the work.' These are not Christ's methods. It is very cruel to use these tactics on people. . "Now we've got holy flesh, pantheism, and pressure tactics. This is not the end of the er‚ror we saw last Sabbath. New Age techniques were also introduced. New Age is also mixed in with the Pantheism. They use the power of positive thinking. As I mentioned earlier, they believe they can create by simply imagining a thing, and it is so . . I believe there may be hypnotism involved." We have reports similar to the ones already described come to us from many parts of the country, One Sister called and told us that a family in California was selling their home to give the money to Life Supports. A report came to us just a few weeks ago that a farmer in Canada was selling his farm to give the money to this group. How can people be so blind! It has to be mesmerism, along with the desire to want to overcome sin that we are all having to deal with. The message sounds so goodó too good. It has an appearance to a "quick fix" answer to the sin problem that we are daily dealing with. While at the same time these men are defrauding many. BACKGROUND OF THE LOR CHURCH We have already learned how the Lor‚ites take Adventists through the door‚way to their brand of fanaticism. Before showing you what happens on the other side of the door (the teachings of LOR, and what happens to its followers and their former families), let us for a few moments learn more about how this ap‚ostate offshoot began. Here is some in‚formation on the origins of the LOR Church. Wayne Bent was an Adventist minis‚ter for 12 years. All or most of his pas‚torates were in the Southeastern California Conference. At some point in his work, he obtained a master's degree in religion from Loma Linda University. While pastoring in Colton, California, he developed a seminar which he called "Life Supports." After his wife left him, Bent left the Adventist ministry and be‚gan working full time on his seminars. Eventually, church leaders in Southeas‚tern California Conference asked him to stop holding seminars in their churches. Something about what he was doing bothered them. Later recalling the in‚cident, Bent comments, "The rejection of Bent's message is the rejection of God. Therefore God has rejected the denomination. " Those who know him well, say that Wayne Bent has been strongly in‚fluenced by certain associates to carry his original messages to their present most terrible extremes. The first influen‚tial one was David Mead, and he has worked closely with him for the past sev‚eral years. At first, Bent conducted all of the seminars, and then David Mead joined him and began holding them also. At some point in their work, we now know that Bent and Mead took spe‚cial New Age courses with a focus on EST. Then, John Whitcomb joined them. Even down to the present time, it is rec‚ognized that Wayne Bent is at the top of LOR, with David Mead second in command, and John Whitcomb in third place. Ranking close behind them is Ri‚chard Roos. Roos, with his wife Bonny, were formerly Adventist missionaries in Africa. Among the top leaders only Bent and Roos, to our knowledge, were ever in denominational ministerial work. Bent first met Mead and Whitcomb while at the Colton Church. Later, when refused permission by the Southeastern California Conference to continue to hold life Supports Seminars under their auspices (and therefore in their church buildings), the group started holding separate meetings at High Grove. This was a United Methodist Church that they rented in that area. From the beginning, David Mead had the concept of "Follow me or get out," and gradually this pressure-tactic took control of the entire group. Still later, af‚ter John Whitcomb and Richard Roos joined their teaching staff, they moved their headquarters to Sand point, Idaho, where they are today. One of the first concepts taught was that of "the gift. " ("Would you like to have victory? You can have it right now. Christ offers you total sinlessness for‚ever more through me, beginning at this moment, if you will but accept it and ac‚knowledge me, and my group as your spiritual master. You will never again sin, and never again need Christ, or the Inspired Word for any guidance or help. ") "The gift of instantaneous sin‚lessness" continues to remain the must fundamental of points in their first-night presentation, during which they entrap innocent Adventists. Hand-in-hand with this early concept of Wayne's, is a parallel one that works closely with it. This is the concept of "self-created environments. Books on New Age concepts and EST regu‚larly teach this heathen principle. Bent's theory of it is like this: "We each create our own environment If we want to get rich, we will do it; if we become fearful of something, it will happen; if we be‚come sick it is our own fault and we can easily eliminate it by force of will." And with that goes a second parallel point that LOR obtained from the New Age: "Absolute cause and effect. " As Wayne interprets this one, it goes like this: "Whatever happens to you - was caused by you. If you are driving down the road and a drunk comes over the line and hits you, injuring someone in the car with you, it was your fault. And this negative effect was entirely your fault! Well, you say, how can those people live with themselves if they think such things as that? They do it by continual denial. Wayne Bent has been known to come to the podium of a study session so sick he is feverish and should be in bed, but he denies the fact that he is sick. Later he leaves so he can "studyî, but really to go to bed secretly and get well. Sickness is always sin in their thinking, so they deny its presence in themselves and treat any loved ones who becomes sick as though they were lepers to be shunned, derided, and cursed. Their official teaching that any‚one who becomes sick or diseased is back in their sins. Is that the kind of church of perfect people you would like to be united with? Yet people are initially entrapped while thinking that these people are so very loving, that surely they must be right‚ and to live with such people would be such a wonderful thing. Regarding their idea of "healing and death, " they quote the text, "My God shall supply all your need," therefore there's always enough supply. "So you will always be healthy and never sick, you will always have life and never death. Sick people get sick because they want to, and they are not instantly healed-only because they don't want to be. And good Christians never die." This is what the leaders at Sandpoint teach. With the passing of time, more doc‚trinal concepts emerged. It was not long before they developed their idea of "leavening." The Adventist Church is leavening you; you will lose the gift if you stay with them, for they have sin‚ners in their ranks. The only way you can retain the gift is to stay with us." This concept led to their "Adventist church is Babylon" concept. "The Seventh-day Adventist denomination is Babylon because it has sinners in it, and you must immediately leave it or be lost forever. We are the only truly Christian organization in the entire world. Only by submitting to us, worshiping with us [worshiping us], and obeying us, can you be saved." Those who have met with the group at that time tell us of the peculiar "peace and joy" that the their captured adherents claim to have. Yet, at the same time, they manifest extreme fearfulness, intolerance, and hate toward those who refused to unite with them. They appear to have overcome some of their more minor sins, such as losing their temper, but it was later discovered that, after feeling certain that he had them locked in, Satan would then bring into their lives deeper, more terrible sins, which they may have earlier conquered. These will help to effectively hold them to their new masters. These followers appear to have a strange tranquility and calmness, and a different personality. The best way to describe it is that they seem to be pos‚sessed by another power. But at the same time, they are extremely fearful‚ even terrorized-at the thought of being out of harmony with their leaders, or be rejected by them. Along with this, what‚ever the leaders expressed convictions or concern about, the followers must mirror it. Those that the leaders say are dangerous or bad people, they instantly accepted it and shunned them in fear. They could no longer be themselves. They had come into the most abject ser‚vitude. Repeatedly the present writer, while interviewing former members of the LOR, discovered that when indi‚viduals held to the fact that the words of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy were superior to that of men-any men,ó these people would be deliv‚ered from being taken over by their enchantments. Cases were also noted of wavering individuals who began with that correct attitude, but who ultimately made their decision that it was more im‚portant to them emotionally to submit to the judgment of LOR than to continue to read Scripture and plead with God for help. Of course, what they should have done was to flee from LOR immediately, and not dally with it. Because they did not flee, its leaders wore them down with continual pressure until, exhausted, they gave up the battle and mindlessly sub‚mitted. Here is a lesson for all of us. Read again chapter 37 in Great Controversy. Only in total obedience to and reliance upon the Inspired Word will we find our safety in the delusions that Satan will bring to each of us. Just now I warn you, whoever you may be that is reading this paper: read the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy - every day-as though your life depended on it- or you shall be over‚come by Satan in the end! Another intriguing concept is Wayne's idea of "dominion. " As soon as mankind sinned, the dominion was lost; so as soon as Wayne gives a per‚son "the gift" of eternal sinlessness, he is sealed and again has the dominion. In proof of this, Wayne has been seen to proudly walk around the edge of his garden with a stick marking a line on the ground; Once the magic circuit is com‚pleted, he announces in an authoritar‚ian tone to the gophers (I don't know about other languages, but at least go‚phers must know English), "I command you to get out of my garden, and never again enter it'" And that settles it; Wayne has the dominion over the go‚phers and he says none will ever again enter his garden. Don't laugh; it is very possible that they never again do! The only happiness of these leaders of LOR is the obvious hypnotic power that Satan has given them over those who desire to brush aside the clear statements of Scripture, and pluck the strange fruit they offer them. One young man returned home from a meeting, and told his mother: "You can feel the power there!" And, as his mother told this writer personally, "Yes, there is a feeling of power at those meet‚ings; a sense of euphoria, confidence, and exhiliration. And it brings with it an arrogance. I know; I've seen it over and over. " An urgent need for a strengthened teaching on "unity" soon became an‚other major concern of Bent, Mead, and their associates. By this they meant un‚ity in submission to the Sandpoint lead‚ers, their strange beliefs, as well as their slightest commands. In contrast, the true doctrine of church unity down through the ages has been unity on the basis of closeness to Christ and obe‚dience to the words of Scripture. Only in unity on those two points can there be genuine unity in any church organ‚ization. Soon another concept began to be urged by the Lorite leaders. It was be‚coming obvious that one segment of Ad‚ventism was especially able to protect Adventists and bring them back to his‚toric Adventism. This group is what Wayne termed "the conservatives." This included such groups as Amazing Facts, Hartland Institute, Weimar, Wild‚wood, Hope, Pilgrims Rest, etc. LOR fol‚lowers were warned that all Adventist conservatives "were of the devil." Such groups were recognized as dangerous, for they perceived Scripture, rather than men, to be the basis of the church and its only validity. Indeed, prayer and Scripture are powerful, and only in the strength of God could the proselytes of LOR be wrenched from the mind con‚trol their leaders exercised over them. Interestingly enough, the specific rea‚son why the Sandpoint leaders feared the conservatives was clearly stated; in fact, it was used as a means of identi‚fying the "conservatives:" They were the ones who relied on Scriptural quo‚tations as the guide to belief and con‚duct! Such people were declared by the Lorite leaders to be dangerous. "Watch out for the Adventists who quote Bible and Spirit of Prophecy," they told their followers. "People who quote the Spirit of Prophecy are the conservatives. Once you have sinlessness, you don't need those quotations anymore. We don't need them, God doesn't need them,-and we are godl" Now all this may appear as somewhat farfetched, but the information in this paper has come from personal inter‚views with a wide range of individuals who, presently or within the past two years, have been connected willingly or unwillingly with LOR for a time and had attended many of the meetings which follow the initial one. Another concept concerns the nature of "the tares." Jesus said that the wheat and tares would grow together in the church until the harvest. Christ's Ob‚ject Lessons clearly explains the details of this-and describes when the harv‚est takes place. But, in contrast, LOR teaches that the true church has no tares in it now, and that all must flee from the Adventists because they have tares among them. "Tares" they define as those who are not sinless. Rapid movements toward deeper fa‚naticism have occurred within the past two years (January 1987 to January 1989). As a result of many interviews, the present writer notes that a majority of their newly-arrived at extreme views have been an outgrowth of a frenzied concern by the LOR leaders to devise improved ways (1) to capture people at that first meeting, and (2) to securely lock them in afterward so that they will not and cannot later leave. Individuals have, on occasion, caught certain LOR leaders in untruths. This generally occurs when they have let slip one of their advanced heathen concepts (such as "I am god") to an outsider, and then later deny that they said it. Yet such conduct should settle the matter of their "sinlessness" in many minds. You might wonder why anyone would place any confidence in such men at any time, especially in view of their de‚termination to destroy happy homes. But please understand that, at the be‚ginning, most Adventists do not know all that you are now reading, and, meeting these men, they find that they speak with soft, slow, low monotones, and give the impression of being very wise and godly. (For a moment, imagine a per‚son speaking to you in a honeyed, slow, ongoing monotone, and you will know what I mean. It tends to have a hypno‚tic effect on the listener. One woman, attending their meeting, heard their slow, soft-toned, monotoned voices, and thought to herself: "They are trying to bend my mind!" Indeed, they were. Be‚cause she managed to get out of that first meeting without accepting what they had to offer, they condemned her to hellfire before she left the building that evening.) In that meeting they offer you "the gift." It all sounds so good. But to ac‚cept that gift means a denial of basic truths of Scripture. The result is a trans‚action. You have traded away your God-‚given Scriptural heritage for a present from Satan. But in the emotional confu‚sion of trying to figure out whether these apparently godly people are really rightówhen their words are so at vari‚ance with Scripture,óprecious souls become enmeshed, and many never later disentangle themselves. And remember that we have discovered in these interviews that ONLY THOSE ESCAPE who return to their former loyalty to Scripture as the first and fi‚nal authority above that of man. They return to their earnest reading of God's Word, pleading with Him for help, and obedience to what He tells them in those precious pages of In‚spiration. The others remain in a black darkness. One of the later teachings of LOR was that all wives must be in total submis‚sion to the mind and will-and conscience-of their husbands. The reason for this requirement is obvious: It is easier to control one mind in a fam‚ily rather than two. And the husband, becoming satanically proud of his un‚natural and absolute mastery over his wife's mind and body, will be easier for LOR to control. (Keep in mind that it is always relatively easy for Satan to take over minds that are proud. Remember that the next time you are tempted to be proud) LOR instructs both husband and wife that she is not to think for herself. She is not to decide doctrine for herself. She is not to decide matters of con‚science or morality for herself. All this is to be done by the husband. She is not even to speak to others, but is to con‚fer with her husband who may then de‚cide to speak on her behalf. -Here we have a species of Muslem purdah in ac‚tion! It is a very real battle, this matter of wrenching souls away from Christ. And Bent, Mead, Whitcomb, and the others work earnestly at it. They have now ar‚rived at the point where they quickly separate spouses as soon as the first meeting is over. They did do this two years ago, but would patiently keep working for the other one, óand in the process would sometimes lose the one they had captured! Now, as soon as one is enchanted, they urge that person to leave with them as soon as possible. They care not about happy Christian families, which God has joined together. They work to capture and take fathers, mothers, children far away-as quickly as possible. Another "doctrinal development" is the concept that the captured and sep‚arated ones must write a "disconnect letter" to their loved ones. This is a de‚vice common to the brainwash cults. They are instructed to totally repudiate all connections with their loved ones. From that time onward, they are not to visit, write, or phone them,óand if con‚tacted, they are to tell their loved ones never to do it again. But working against this is another oddity. Bent and his associate leaders want money, lots of it. If spouses still have possessions (land and homes), letters may suddenly be sent by all the captured ones to their spouses, voicing sweet sentiments of love, and urging them to come to Sandpoint and join them. If any favorably respond to this, they are told to sell the property and bring the money with them. If there is joint ownership of homes, the present pattern is to quickly separ‚ate the captured one from their spouse, then telephone or write and tell them to sell the property and give half of it to them. The cash return on their half is then turned over to Bent and the group. Do not think that the captured one left because it was an unhappy home! This point has been analyzed by those left behind as they later compared notes. In the majority of cases it had been a very happy, solid family of many years. The disaffected one leaves only because he or she is ordered to do so by LOR, and for no other reason. But within a few days in absentia his or her mind is to‚tally twisted. (One came back several days later and parroted the words he had been told to say: "Do you want to be my wife? Do you want to be married to me? "What do you mean?" she rep‚lied in astonishment. "You are not my wife; you are not married to me," he rep‚lied, "-For you are working against my [LOR) church. I have Christ and you are to give up your convictions and obey me, or I will leave you forever." And he did.) Keep in mind that the captured ones no longer have control of their own minds! They do whatever they are told to do. And they are frequently "tested, " by being asked to remove their clothes "and testify of their exper‚ience," etc. More on this later when we discuss their advanced seminars. But these tests only intensify the mind con‚trol, for the men and women, again vi‚olating their consciences, are brought more deeply under the control of their leaders. Please understand: It is not wrong to have religious leaders. This is God's ideal plan for His people. A man is a true leader when he points the people to the study of God's Inspired Scriptures, teaches them to go directly to God, en‚courages them to obey the will of God as revealed in Scripture, and warns them against the wolves who come to raid the flock with their errors. Poor lead‚ers do not adhere to these four points. Dangerous leaders are those that de‚mand the people to regard them to be the final authority, rather than the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. We need to pray earnestly for ourselves, our loved ones, and our leaders. We value our leaders, but no leader should ever ask a worker or church member to take his wordóor that of a committeeóabove that of Scripture. Carefully read chapter 37 in Great Controversy. The principles in that chapter are important and are for these last days. It is only as we adhere to them that our church can weather the storms that are ahead. Gradually, with the passing of time, Wayne Bent's life Supports Seminars gained more and more adherents. And as this happened, the money came in with which to go more rapidly across North America. More workers were added, as he trained them in his concepts and how to captivatingly present them. At this time, some of the top leaders in the LOR are David Mead, John Whitcomb. Richard Roos, Don Waterhouse, and Wayne Brandt. But do not expect that one of these will be the name of the LOR speaker that visits you or a loved one. The top men are busy coordinat‚ing the entire operation, holding ad‚vanced training sessions for new workers, studying the latest materials released by the New Age, investigating the methods of the Moonies, and giving direct commands in difficult situations in which properties may be lost to the cause because of stubborn spouses of newly-captured members. Bent's original book, written for his Life Supports Seminars before he left the church, was entitled "Life and How It Supports You. " We have a copy of this 239-page 81/2 x 11 typeset book. Many of his present errors were not held at the time that that book was written. However, an individual who took one of those earlier seminars told the present writer that one of the oddities at that time was the emphasis on "vis‚ualization, " which is another New Age emphasis. At one point in the seminar, those in attendance were told to lie down on the floor and try to visualize Je‚sus standing over them, washing away their sins. This concept of "visualiza‚tion" (visualizing within the mind new situations and mastery), along with that of "mind power" (whatever the mind decides to do, it can do) appears to be included in the new "Breathe Free" anti-‚tobacco seminars in our church, a pro‚gram which is now taking the place of our former "5-day Plan to Stop Smok‚ing" sessions.) We are told that the original "Life Supports Seminar," as given by Bent, was about 15 hours in length and di‚vided into several sessions. He led out in all of the sessions for about three years, and then David Mead, and then others, began conducting them also. At the present time, a surprising number of subsidiary speakers are out in field, funded by Bent's ldaho-based organi‚zation, holding meetings to bring in more converts. One individual who wrote us claims that Bent's original sessions were not too far off, until Mead and others joined him in the work. Then began the claims to sinlessness, godhood, intense pres‚surizing, and assigning to hellfire those that resisted. Bent eventually wrote a 186-page book, "His Only Gift: A Testimony," a copy of which we have here. In addition, he issues a monthly publication, usu‚ally with four 8 ‡ x 11 pages, entitled "Letter to the Church, which he sends to all of his church members. At the end of his current seminars, he and his associates baptize all those newly captured. A primary organizational meeting that helped get his church started was held at the Pine Springs Ranch in the South‚eastern California Conference about the year 1986. In the summer of 1988 they had a major camp-meeting at Hat Creek in the Lassen National Forest in North‚ern California. Over 250 members and workers attended that gathering. In Oc‚tober of the same year, they had one of their first major Advanced Training Seminars. Because of the intense hyp‚notic one-to-one sessions at those advanced seminars, attendance is limited to 50. More on the Hat Creek Camp-‚meeting and these Advanced Seminars later in this study. Wayne Bent previously owned some land near Sandpoint, Idaho, so when he left Southern California a couple years ago he moved his headquarters up there. It is now located about 20 miles north-northeast of Sandpoint, Idaho on Rapid Lightning Road. (An interesting name for the road, since they use light‚ning to help reinforce some of their meetings. More on this.) In addition, since David Mead owned property in Northern California near Grass Valley, that has become something of a California-based colony for some of their members. In order to hold on to the cap‚tured ones, they urge them to move to one of these centers,-but especially the northern one in Sandpoint. One legal battle involving LOR ap‚peared for several days in a Redding, California, newspaper. Before LOR goes down, many more column inches of news reports may appear in the American press. More on this later in this study. One man located a captured LOR girl in Ohio State. Working carefully with her, he was able to "deprogram" her. He afterward told former LOR followers, and spouses left behind by LOR con‚verts, that she had been deeply hypno‚tized. Certain key words would instantly put her into a deep trance. Another individual went from Virginia to Sacramento, California, in an effort to locate and save a young girt that was about to be captured. He was con‚fronted by several LOR leaders who, standing in front of him, said, "We will kill you if you do not stop what you are doing!" Startled, he turned around and immediately behind him he saw one of the top leaders in LOR. "Did you hear what they just said to me'" he said to him in shocked amazement. The reply came back in that soft, even, mono‚tone, "I spoke those words to you." Such talk is but a faint reflection of what regularly goes on up at Sandpoint. The people are spoken to in such a manner as to think that they are but automatons speaking the words that the top leaders feed by remote control into their brains. And perhaps that is the way Satan does it. Who knows? One ex-Lorite decided to start travel‚ing across the country warning Advent‚ists about this new organization that is determined to destroy Adventist families and remove their fathers, mothers, or children. This was a blessing, for few Adventists have, to date, really tried to stop this gargantua. But after a few weeks of that, he received a telephone call from Sandpoint. It was another of those deep, smooth, monotone voices: "If you don't stop what you are doing, we will behead you'" He relates that that shook him enough that he stopped. By the way, for your information and theirs, before we got onto the case, cer‚tain parties had already notified the FBI of this closet-full of zombies, known as the LOR headquarters. An investigation has been underway, so when LOR de‚cides to move up to more vigorous ac‚tion against those opposing their operations, there should be some law‚ enforcement authorities waiting in the wings. Another individual told us that the sheriff's office in Sandpoint has been quietly doing some research into what LOR is doing in and around that small northwest Idaho town. The Adventists may not know what is going on, but there are others that do. We are told that it was not Adventists that got him started on the case. They have already sent a number of missionaries to foreign fields. As I write this, John Whitcomb is in Ireland, seek‚ing to convert Adventists there to the LOR apostasy. The objective is the same as here in North America: go to the Adventists and capture them. Wher‚ever they go they proclaim themselves the only ones that will be saved at the end of time, for they alone have perfec‚tion of character. Here is a story to send shivers up and down your spine: Some of the ex-Lorites learned of an Adventist lady in Ireland who had, in some way, been contacted by John Whitcomb with the request that he might visit with her and the local Ad‚ventist church there. In some way, former Lorites learned of this and quickly wrote this lady and her local church, and told them to beware of Whitcomb and LOR. Along with the letter they sent papers for them to read, revealing and exposing the doctrinal er‚rors of LOR from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. The woman read them to the entire church and they immediately voted to withdraw their offer for Whit‚comb to come and speak to them. She went home and penned the letter, then arose to mail it. As she did so, there was a knock on the front dooró and there was Whitcomb! At this point, what should she have done? She should have refused to let him in the house! ! ! Instead, charmed by his pleasing voice and manners, she invited him in. Within two hours he had captured her and baptized her into LOR! He also captured her sister, but fortunately none of that local Irish church would have anything to do with him. Remem‚ber that poor captive woman in Ireland when the LOR come knocking at your door. To hesitate may be to be lost, when you are working with emissaries of Sa‚tan. Invite them not in; listen to them not. Send them on their way. Do not feed them or let them sleep overnight on your property. Why? They may start a conversation with you or with your husband, wife, or children! Please understand: This is no ordinary situation; it is like having a spirit medium come and knock on your door! Your fealty to Christ requires that you send them away im‚mediately. At this very time, a group is being trained at the Sandpoint headquarters to be sent soon to Zaire, Africa, as mis‚sionaries. They will be under the lea‚dership of Richard Roos (a former Adventist missionary to Africa for 8 years). They will initially go to the same area he used to labor in, and it is ex‚pected that they will capture many, many unsuspecting Adventists. Fortu‚nately, in this one instance advance warning has already been sent by the General Conference to the African field regarding this anticipated missionary journey. Interestingly enough, two of the workers that will be going to Africa as LOR "Christian missionaries" are a man and a woman, each of whom left their spouses and children behind. These two are completing totally un‚scriptural divorces against the devoted and faithful Adventists they have left be‚hind. After the divorces are final, they plan, with the blessing of the LOR church, to marry one another before journeying to Africa. "Sinless Christian missionaries," LOR calls them. When your mind is under the control of another man, you must obey his fool‚ish ideas. The individuals who are in training for the Africa project have been told that, in order to be properly qual‚ified for their work down there, they must do several unusual things, one of which is not to have conjugal relations with their spouses there at Sandpoint. Absolute power over minds can result in ridiculous situations. A leader may on impulse order something, and then not be later able to reverse his decision when he sees the foolishness of it, lest he show a lack of wisdom in his earlier decision. You see, the leaders in LOR claim before their followers to be infal‚lible, and infallible people cannot pub‚licly admit mistakes and errors as the rest of us can. TWO SPECIAL MEETINGS Before concluding this section, let us turn our attention to two interest‚ing events. First, the Hat Creek Camp‚-meeting that occurred in August 1988. Second, the first of their Ad‚vance Training Institutes, which they began holding two months later. Hat Creek is located in the Lassen National Forest, and east of Redding in Northern California. Leadership re‚quires a special showmanship, and the devils really know how to add the pyr‚otechnics to a top-notch performance. One evening, Wayne Bent announced to the 250 LOR members and workers in attendance that the next morning (the first Sunday of the 10-day camp-meet‚ing) they were to gather early for "Sinai," and that none were to arrive late. "You MUST be there early; if you are late, you will DIE!" he told them. As you might expect, all arose early the next morning and none were late. It had been beautiful weather, and that morning was no different. Bent arose and spoke to the assembled multitude. "You are to be silent and God is going to come down and speak with you." Almost immediately, the fire fell from heaven, as thunder and lightning be‚gan. The "Sinai" experience was slated to continue for that day, all the next, and the third day too. And the thunder and lightning continued on for three days, whenever "Sinai" was in progress un‚til it finally ended. Then everything became quiet, and perfect weather returned. Four days passed, and then at the close of the meetings, on the next Sunday there was a baptism of nearly 250 people. Many of these were being rebaptized, having been baptized at ear‚lier sessions by Bent or his subsidiary leaders. (Why another baptism of peo‚ple into sinlessness, when most of them had already had been earlier baptized in their sinlessness into a sinless church?) Another perfect day, and all went down to the place of baptism. Ar‚riving there, only three small clouds were in the sky. Immediately everything clouded over, and thunder and lightning ruled the skies till the last baptism was concluded. Then as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped and perfect weather returned. The people were deeply im‚pressed with this, another of Bent's spe‚cial abilities. Some of you may recall in an earlier study on Murl Vance's research, we spoke of his experience in the theosoph‚ical library in Southern California, when he suddenly recognized from what he was reading that the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel normally had the ability, through the power of Satan, to bring down fire from heaven. Startled by the realization, he mentioned it to a man sit‚ting across from him reading in another book of "ancient wisdom." Quietly, calmly, the man looked at him and said, "Oh, yes, we can do that now," and turned back to his book. Going deeper into Murl's two‚ decades of studies, we learn that Satan prides himself on calling himself "the god of the lightning bolt," since it is so powerful, and always destructive. More on this in another set of studies we are now preparing. If you are on our reg‚ular mailing list, you will read an an‚nouncement of it shortly. During the camp-meeting, Wayne stood up and said, "Truth is truth, and we don't need all these quotations, do we?" (referring to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy books). Then David, beside him, replied, "That's right; we don't." Then Wayne would say, "And that's right, isn't it?" And the people in the au‚dience would agree. Then they would back-and-forth go through another point: "Have you ever sinned?" David said, "No, I never have." "See, see," said Wayne, "that's right; he knows what's rightî This went on and on, as the two pounded into the thinking of the audi‚ence key points they wanted them to be sure and catch. Notice that David said he had never sinned-ever! There is a dark depth to their thinking that seem‚ingly never ends. The top leaders in LOR have inner beliefs that, from time to time, they only hint to their followers. One of these is their belief that they are fully god and are only reincarnated in this life as human beings, óbut have for eternal ages in the past, as in the future, been god. You see, "the gift" which they offer you comes from their master, the prince of this world. It does not come from the God of heaven, your only Cre‚ator and Redeemer. When you accept their "gift," you accept all that goes with it. On occasion, they have been known to tell their people, "I AM that I AM!" During this camp-meeting, there were also "exercises in eye contact. . . Each one was to pair off with someone else, sit opposite him and then stare into each other's eyes. "You are to look into their eyes and try to read their minds, their hearts," they were told. This went on for hours, until people would begin to weep from the sheer tension of it. All this, of course, makes all of the followers bet‚ter subjects for hypnosis than they had been before. Those that study into EST and New Age will find these same techniques described! Another personality-groveling device was the "self-knowledge" sessions: Singly, the people were told to place their heads in their laps and listen to the words spoken to them by their leader, seated before them. With their heads down low, they were then told to review the distant past in their lives. Farther and farther they were to go, back to their youngest years. "Go back, go back; tell me what you see, what you think of. Whatever comes to mind, tell me of it‚ and take full responsibility for it." All this was keyed to Bent's teaching that every event of a person's life is something he caused and is responsible for. Whether or not it was not good in action or reaction, he is to take respon‚sibility for it and what happened as a re‚sult. This would so condition their mental outlook that they would become hardened to responsibility for anything they might later be told to do by their leaders. Being responsible for every‚thing that happens about usóquickly degenerates into denying real responsibility for anything we might do. It piles such a weight of sin on a person that he gives up on morality and searchlngs af‚ter God.‚ One person describing that week told this writer: "It was wild, like nothing you have ever seen; little children, 5 or 6 years old, going out together into the woods holding staring sessions; then preaching to one another about becoming sinless. But it Is In the Advanced Tralnlng Institutes that we really see the Inner workings of this hideous thing called LOR. In October 1988, there was an Ad‚vanced Training Institute. Every leader and prospective leader In LOR was ordered by Wayne to come to this training session - or be kicked out. Intense one ‚to-one work with those people was done there. You will recall that we earlier said that LOR really does not want their people running around loose. They would pre‚fer that they sell their property, give the proceeds to the cause, and then move to Sandpoint where they can be safely watched. But speakers are still needed to travel about and bring back more hapless souls and their money. But who can the leaders trust to care for this task? It must be those people who have been specially trained - to submit to the deepest levels of control by the leaders. This is why these special control ses‚sions are held. Here are a few Incidents that took place at the October session, given to us by those who were there: The emphasis here was on deep-level EST end hypnotic procedures, Interspersed by occasional "tests," as they call them. They are taught how to speak in that soft, slow, monotone, and control conversations; how to demean and control those they speak to. The words and phrases of the special first session are practiced on one another. They must become subsidiary "masters of the uni‚verse" in wining souls, and it will re‚quire dark arts and hypnotic procedures to carry it through successfully. The em‚phasis is on mind control and what it takes to achieve it, but In order to suc‚cessfully subvert the souls of others, the speaker must successfully have totally subverted his own. And this requires "cleansing unions.î One of the top leaders takes his seat in front of you. And he stays there for 2-3 hours. During that time he is staring at you. At first he tries to penetrate your mind soundlessly, and then he speaks and begins digging to ascertain your habits, sins, etc. (All this to people who supposedly "received the gift" of sinlessness months before at an initial meeting when they first came into LOR. Now they have to attend more "cleansing sessions" to eradicate still more sins! Wayne does not have to worry about his followers getting rid of sin, for out‚side of Christ (and all of these people have distinctly chosen to live outside of Christ and study, submission, and obedience to God's Written Word) there will continually be a flood of new sins and old entering the life. The objective is deeper hypnotic control over the subsidiary leaders. And to intensify the man-control, "tests" are applied every so often: At the October meeting, all in atten‚dance were told by a top leader to come to the front of the room and take off their clothes. There was one person there who would not do this, and he was immediately removed from the room, and kicked off the property and told never to come back. Both men and women were in that room. When some were down to their underwear, they were told that they could stop. Do not underrate that simple test. There is more to it than appears on the surface. It is not just a test of loyalty vs. common taste and courtesy. We all sense deeply that to do such a thing is very wrong, very bad, very immoral. Any honest-hearted soul would rebel at this, and would be expelled. Who would be left? Only those who were immoral people, or amoral robots. But there is more to this: If someone asks you to publicly remove your clothes and you do it, by doing this very obviously wrong thing, you deepen the evil of your nature. You are taking yourself even farther from Christ; you are moving yourself more un‚der the control of the one who com‚manded you to do it. You are deepening the enslavement. And that is the real pur‚pose of the "test.î These tests are applied randomly in various meetings with the faithful. It has, to our knowledge, been done in Califor‚nia, Idaho, and Ohio. Probably else‚where also. A variation of the above test is to call one individual out of the au‚dience after another. At the sound of their name, they are to come up front and undress before the men and‚ women seated there and watching them. To our knowledge, this test has always stopped short of total nudity. But that is wise, for it could cause trouble with the law if publicly carried too far. Here is another interesting "test" given at this October Advanced Train‚ing Institute: Several contrasting state‚ments were made, and all in the audience were to agree with them. Those in the audience are told something that they should be willing to do. They agree that they would be willing to do it. Then the words: "Now God [in Scripture] told you not to do this, but we told to do it; that's right, isn't it?" They are to speak up in the audience and agree with that statement. One point after another was brought up. Because of the way each item is worded, the people must either agree and admit wrongdoing in following their leaders. or they must protest and object on a moral basis (because of the way the statement is worded),-and be kicked out. So again the lock-in is deep‚ened, end, as always, on the basis of deepening sin - not purifying sinlessness! At that meeting, a dozen young, strong men were asked by one of the top leaders, "Would you kill In order to protect the cause, if we asked you to do so?" All but one said they would; that one was ejected from the property fast! Why were only certain men asked that particular question, and not every‚one? Perhaps too many might have left if it were asked of everyone. Or perhaps they were getting some of their special agents ready for later action. Why ask people to kill, if you do not later expect to use some of them to do it? At this special October training ses‚sion, all were initially instructed that they were to come to each meeting with no note paper, pencils or pens, tape re‚corders, or watches. They were not to discuss anything told them afterward with anyone, including their spouses in attendance (and, of course, they are never to discuss anything with an un‚believer off the property!) No one was to say a single word at any meeting un‚less in answer to a direct question. If anyone wanted to go to the rest room, they must raise their hand silently and obtain permission. Why all these restrictions? The stated reason was that it was to help them con‚centrate (on being hypnotized), but it would also help eliminate memories of what went on afterward. Keep In mind that much of this training program, ‚as with all the meetings - is designed to be a mind-changing experience, not an information / learning process for those in attendance. Remember that when someone tries to tempt you to attend one of their gatherings. At other sessions of this Advanced Training Institute, the people were to tell about their sordid past, and it was writ‚ten on a blackboard for all to see. Hat‚ing children, adultery, masturbation, contemplated murder, etc.; the kind of thing that devils enjoy thinking and talking about. As 1988 was nearing its end, there was an increased concern to see the saints sell their homes and move to Sandpoint. Since LOR began in South‚ern California, a lot of them were still there. So an announcement went out to a number of them that they must leave right away, for if they remained there af‚ter December 31, 1988, they would die. That announcement from LOR brought most of them out of Southern California! One of the LOR concepts Is that they are the "destroying angels" of Ezekiel 9, that will slay the wicked. And they be‚lieve they will also use the elements to help them do it. Wayne Bent has pro‚nounced a curse on Southern Califor‚nia (because they didn't want him to preach down there), and so they have now issued a prediction to their own faithful: A terrible drought was to take place in that locality, and It would be quickly followed by a devastating earth‚quake that would level-level-all of Southern California! This event was first predicted to take place In January 1989. Then the date was moved up to April. Now it is set for June-July 1989. The problem here is that the devils lie to their own agents. Satan enjoys doing this - even to his own. He is the father of lies, and those who choose him have a master that will at first destroy others through them ‚but will later work to destroy them! LOR has already penetrated Switzer‚land, and a top leader has recently returned from a tour of Germany. Missionary units to other foreign nations are in the planning stage. Yet, in all these interviews, we have been unable to learn of any particular effort by our North American Adventist leaders (General Conference, union, or local conference) to warn the church members about this terrible apostasy that is moving like an octopus across the land, each week wrapping its tentacles about more and more faithful Ad‚vent believers. One person, inquiring, was told that when problems such as this arise, if the denomination speaks against it too early, they might embroil themselves in a lawsuit. But in view of the fact that there are literally hundreds of Adventists in the United States alone that would take the witness stand in de‚fense of one sued by the LOR, there does not Seem to be sufficient justifica‚tion for such a fear. But, whether sued or not, it would seem best that the she‚pherds guard the sheep entrusted to them; only hirelings remain quiet when the wolves jump Into the flock. We do hope that we are wrong in our estimate of this matter, but only the sounding of urgent warnings against LOR by our leaders can prove us wrong. It is our prayer-and it should be yours - that our leaders will now publish magazine articles and books unveiling this terrible apostasy that threatens our people. We would also urge local pas‚tors to warn their congregations about this Satanic new cult that preys exclusively on Adventist families. |
