How do you spell the plural of apocalypse?

The Lord Our Righteousness Church in New Mexico fully expected the world to end on October 31st and that the rapture would take them all away. Or, at least take their leader Wayne Bent away from his current criminal proceedings involving his illegal sexual conduct with underage girls.

State District Judge Gerald E. Baca, who had specifically asked Bent to appear at the hearing in person, ordered that Bent be arrested when only his defense attorney showed up. Bent recently promised to stop cooperating with court proceedings.

Under Baca’s order, Bent was to be taken first to a Union County medical center for a physical and psychological evaluation.

Bent told the Journal in a recent interview that he has not eaten since Oct. 16 and was planning to go completely without water, beginning today. All of Bent’s followers at the compound — 45 adults — are following his example and some stopped drinking water last weekend, he said.

Jeff Bent said by telephone Thursday that his father’s “thinking is there will be no trial.”

Wayne Bent’s followers believe that midnight tonight ends their “Year of Jubilee,” with a deliverance by God from their “earthly life,” Jeff Bent said.

“We are glorified, given new bodies and ascend to heaven,” he said.

The Year of Jubilee is “the year of judgment when the last trumpet is heard from God and God’s people are set free from their earthly bondage,” he added.

The window for God’s deliverance ends at midnight and he fully expects to be delivered by God and has no plans beyond that, Jeff Bent said.

The church members believe “that if (the deliverance) doesn’t happen, they don’t want to go on living.”

He said does not mean they will commit suicide, just that “they want to stop sustaining life.”

The church’s original site is down now but there’s a mirror site available.

Doesn’t the phrase “stop sustaining life” wind up sounding the same as suicide? It might not be an aggressive end to their lives but willfully ceasing to eat or drink anything for a prolonged period will yield the same result.

This from December 2007 in The Scotsman (via religionnewsblog.com):

I do believe that Bent – who renamed himself Michael Trevesser – actually did believe he was the second coming, or at least that he’d managed to successfully delude himself in order to justify his behaviour. With his wooly beard and gentle manner he certainly looked the part. Unfortunately, it was the part of The Muppets’ creator Jim Henson. Bent lived on a commune named Strong City in a remote corner of New Mexico with around 60 followers. He believed that the world would end on 31 October 2007, something he and his brethren anticipated with rapturous delight.

In order to prepare for this momentous event, God told Bent to gather seven virgins, one of whom was just 15. Director Ben Anthony – who gained unprecedented access to Strong City – filmed two girls happily recounting the moment when God told them to “stand naked” in front of Bent. How did this thought get into their heads? Perhaps it had something to do with the post Bent wrote which encouraged women to stand naked before Him. Bent claimed that it wasn’t sexual. He did, however, admit to having sex with his son’s wife. “God came down on Michael and forced him to consummate with Christiana,” said the grandson of God calmly. “It was a terrible, strange act of God.” It was a bit, yeah.

In the last post on the Strong City mirror site, the writer refers to the Beast several times. From the sounds of things, they really do believe Satan has his claws in the legal system with regards to Bent/Travesser and the events that led up to his arrest. It also sounds like they’ve given up:

We have left off battling with these beastly entities, and now the battle is God’s alone. We have been brought to our extremity by the attacks of the state and former brethren who are riding on the back of the beast. We believe this is all arranged of God, to bring us to the place where we can receive His deliverance, and know without question it came from Him, and not our own efforts. There is no earthly help now, and we have no strength of our own. Father has given us these instructions:

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. II Chron. 20:17

I can understand the appeal of cults in some ways but mostly I find it sad that people get taken over by the delusions of a charismatic kook.

Which reminds me. I wonder if the black spacemen that were supposed to come down to support Barack Obama have contacted Prophet Yahweh yet.