Religion is weird. Sometimes it starts with a genuine desire for holiness and ends up in a federal courtroom. That is basically the trajectory of the Lord Our Righteousness Church, a group that most people know by a much more ominous name: "Strong City." If you spent any time watching news cycles in the late 2000s, you probably saw the images of a rural compound in New Mexico and a man named Wayne Bent who claimed to be the Messiah.
It wasn't always like that.
Before the police raids and the 2008 convictions, the group was just a small gathering of former Seventh-day Adventists. They wanted a stricter, more "pure" life. They found it in the mountains. But purity is a slippery concept. In the hands of a charismatic leader, it often becomes a weapon.
The Rise of Wayne Bent and the Strong City Foundation
Wayne Bent wasn't some random guy off the street. He was a credentialed minister. He had a background. In the 1980s, he began pulling away from the mainstream Seventh-day Adventist Church, arguing that the denomination had become spiritually bankrupt. He wasn't alone in that feeling. A lot of people feel like their churches have gone "soft."
He started the Lord Our Righteousness Church as a call to return to what he saw as biblical foundations. By the year 2000, he moved his followers to a patch of land near Union County, New Mexico. They called it Strong City. Honestly, if you drove past it back then, you might have just thought it was a quirky organic farm or a hippie commune. They were self-sufficient. They were quiet.
Then the theology shifted.
Bent began claiming he was the embodiment of God. Not just a teacher. Not just a preacher. He said he was the "One" mentioned in scripture. When a leader starts saying "I am God," things usually go downhill fast. He took the name "Michael" and convinced his followers that the end of the world was coming. Specifically, he predicted the world would end on September 20, 2007.
It didn't.
The Theology of "Spiritual Marriage"
You’ve likely heard of "spiritual wives" in various cult contexts. The Lord Our Righteousness Church had its own version. Bent taught that he needed to be "spiritually united" with his followers. This is where the legal system finally stepped in. It wasn't just about weird beliefs anymore; it was about what was happening to the children inside that compound.
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The group believed they were the "144,000" mentioned in the Book of Revelation. They felt they were the only ones who would survive the coming apocalypse. This kind of "siege mentality" makes people do things they would never consider in normal life. It isolates them. It makes the leader the only source of truth.
When the 2007 apocalypse date passed without a bang, Bent didn't apologize. He did what most cult leaders do: he moved the goalposts. He claimed the "spiritual" end had happened. But by then, the outside world was already looking through the windows.
The 2008 Conviction and the Fall of the Messiah
The legal trouble for the Lord Our Righteousness Church peaked in 2008. Wayne Bent was arrested and charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The details that came out during the trial were harrowing. It wasn't just a difference of religious opinion; it was a clear case of exploitation masked as divinity.
Witnesses described rituals that were supposedly meant to "purify" them but were clearly designed to satisfy Bent. The court didn't buy the "religious freedom" defense. Bent was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Interestingly, the church didn't just vanish when he went to jail.
That’s the thing about true believers. They can rationalize almost anything. Some members stayed on the land. They believed Bent was a martyr. They thought the government was the "Beast" of Revelation, trying to silence the truth. You’d think a prison sentence would be the end of it, but for a small core of followers, it just "proved" they were right to stay separate from the world.
Life Inside the Strong City Compound
What was it actually like to live there? It wasn't all dark rituals and gloom. For many, it was a life of hard labor and shared purpose. They grew their own food. They built their own houses. There was a sense of community that many people feel is missing from modern, secular life.
- They strictly followed dietary laws, similar to those found in Leviticus.
- The community was organized around daily worship and labor.
- Information from the "outside" was heavily filtered through Bent’s interpretations.
- Children were homeschooled and kept largely isolated from neighboring towns.
This isolation is a double-edged sword. It creates a tight bond, but it also creates a vacuum where the leader's voice becomes the only one that matters. When that voice tells you that the laws of the land don't apply to "God's people," the path to the courtroom is basically paved.
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Why the Lord Our Righteousness Church Still Matters Today
You might wonder why we’re still talking about a tiny group from New Mexico. It’s because the Lord Our Righteousness Church is a textbook example of how high-control groups function. It shows how easy it is to slide from "traditional values" into "totalitarian control."
We see these patterns everywhere now. Not just in religion, but in political movements and online echo chambers. The "us vs. them" mentality that fueled Strong City is a fundamental part of the human psyche. When people feel lost or scared by the state of the world, they look for a Strong Man. Sometimes that man wears a robe and calls himself Michael.
The group still has a presence. Even after Bent was released from prison in 2016, the remnants of the ideology persisted. He didn't come out and start a mega-church. He returned to a much smaller, quieter version of his previous life. But the damage to the families involved? That’s generational.
Misconceptions About the Group
People often think cult members are "stupid" or "crazy." That’s a mistake. Many of the people who joined the Lord Our Righteousness Church were educated, middle-class individuals. They were looking for meaning. They were looking for a way to live a life that felt significant in a world that often feels disposable.
Another misconception is that the group was a branch of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. While they shared some roots, the SDA church officially disavowed Bent and his teachings decades ago. They were a splinter of a splinter.
The Legal Legacy
The case of Wayne Bent is often cited in discussions about religious freedom vs. child protection. Where does the government’s right to intervene stop? In this case, the line was drawn at the physical harm of minors. It’s a landmark case because it showed that "sincere religious belief" isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card for predatory behavior.
Moving Forward: Recognizing the Red Flags
If you or someone you know is getting deep into a group that feels a little too "separate," it’s worth looking at the hallmarks of the Lord Our Righteousness Church. Knowledge is the best defense against this kind of manipulation.
Watch for these specific indicators:
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- The "Only Us" Narrative: Any group claiming they are the only ones with the "truth" and everyone else is "evil" or "lost" is a massive red flag.
- Absolute Authority: If you can't question the leader without being accused of a lack of faith, you’re in a high-control environment.
- Isolation: If the group encourages you to cut ties with "non-believing" family and friends, they are trying to remove your support system.
- Special Revelations: When a leader claims to have private messages from God that contradict established ethics or laws, things are about to get messy.
The story of Strong City isn't just a weird footnote in New Mexico history. It’s a cautionary tale about the cost of certainty. People want answers, and someone like Wayne Bent is always willing to provide them—for a price.
Practical Steps for Researching Religious Groups
If you're looking into a religious organization or a "spiritual community," do your homework. Don't just read their website. Their website will always look amazing.
Look for "survivor" testimonies. People who left the group usually have a much more honest take on the daily reality than the people still inside. Check for any history of litigation or property disputes. Most importantly, trust your gut. If something feels "kinda" off, it probably is. The members of the Lord Our Righteousness Church often ignored their own intuition because they were told their "heart was deceitful."
Don't ignore your intuition. It's there for a reason.
Identifying High-Control Dynamics
To understand groups like this, you have to look at the BITE model developed by Steven Hassan. It stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control.
Bent controlled the behavior of his followers by dictating their living arrangements and daily schedules. He controlled information by acting as the sole interpreter of scripture. He controlled thoughts by teaching that doubt was a sin. And he controlled emotions by using the fear of the apocalypse and the "outside world."
When you see all four of those things happening at once, you aren't looking at a church anymore. You're looking at a prison without bars.
The history of the Lord Our Righteousness Church is ultimately a story about the search for home. People moved to that compound because they wanted to feel safe and chosen. Instead, they found themselves under the thumb of a man who confused his own ego with the voice of God. It’s a tragic story, but one that offers vital lessons for anyone navigating the complex world of modern spirituality.
Stay skeptical. Stay connected to the real world. And remember that true righteousness doesn't require you to hand over your common sense to another human being.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Understanding:
- Audit Your Information Sources: Ensure you are consuming media from a variety of perspectives to avoid the "echo chamber" effect that fuels groups like Strong City.
- Support Religious Transparency: Advocate for organizations that provide resources for people exiting high-control groups, such as the Cult Education Institute.
- Read Primary Sources: If you want to understand the legal nuances, look up the court transcripts from the State of New Mexico vs. Wayne Bent (2008) to see how the justice system balances faith and law.