To Whom
It May Concern:
It was
with great interest that I watched the unfolding of ‘Inside
a Cult’ of Strong City, in New Mexico. I experienced mixed
feelings as I recognized people I hadn’t seen in nearly a
decade. I had associated with ‘The Church, The Lord our
Righteousness’ (LOR) for about 10 years - beginning in 1989
- and had been invited to come to the property. I wanted to
go.
However, our Heavenly Father had a different plan for my
life.
In the summer of 1998, I was challenged to put away all my
preconceived ideas and everything I had ever been taught,
and read the Bible from cover to cover, asking God to teach
me. In October, I finally accepted the challenge, and this
experience began a closer walk with Him.
About 14 months later, I was dealing with the invitation to
go to the property the people in the LOR were settling in
the
New Mexican desert. One of
the ministers wrote to me, telling me that I had to be with
them on the property to be part of the body of Christ. This
troubled me. From my time in the Scriptures, I knew that I
had been born of the Spirit of God, and was part of the
invisible world-wide body of Christ. He was teaching me
through His Word, and leading me day by day in the way He
would have me go. Although I shared this with the minister,
he insisted that I had to be with them in the desert to be
part of the physical body of Christ.
At that time, my heart was feeling torn over whether I
might be mistaken in what I believed through the
Scriptures, and if I really needed to be with the LOR to be
part of the body of Christ. I prayed earnestly for
guidance, and my attention was drawn to Matthew 24:23-27.
"Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the
very elect.
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the
desert, go not forth, behold he is in the secret chamber,
believe it not..."
Verse 26 made it very clear.
"If they say unto you, he is in the desert, go not
forth." I
realized that I was not to go to the desert to be part of
the body of Christ. Then I had to ponder on the warning
that the LOR might be of the false Christs and false
prophets our Saviour was warning His disciples about.
As I was taught more by our loving Saviour, I recognized
that certain doctrines I had accepted while in the LOR were
not balanced with the whole picture of Scripture. It was a
precious experience for me, learning to trust His leading
and teaching. There were many areas of confusion and pain
in my life, and He lovingly revealed the truth to me,
healed my heart, and brought my out of my confusion. I
chose the truth over lies, and have been very blessed.
Most of us pick and choose what we will and will not obey
in the Scriptures. This is easy for us to do when we take
others’ word for things, and have not studied the whole
Word of God for ourselves, asking Him to teach us. We need
to learn for ourselves through the Scriptures what our
Heavenly Father wants us to understand.
I have pondered the claim of Wayne Bent (or Michael
Travessor), that a voice told him that he was ‘Messiah.’ He
also claims that God led him to ‘consummate’ with certain
women, and make them his wives.
Let
us look at the Scriptures to learn if the truth Wayne is
telling is held in righteousness. In other words, is he a
true Messiah, a true prophet or spokesman for God, or a
deceived one?
Let us look first at Wayne’s marriage situation. Our
Messiah told us when he was walking on earth that
if a man put away his wife for any other reason than
fornication, and marries another, he commits adultery. He
also causes the one who marries her to commit
adultery (Matthew
19:9).
Let us look at the first principles of marriage as Christ
taught it, and confirmed by Paul.
If you are married to a person in covenant relationship
with God - or a believer - you are bound to honor that vow
unless the other commits fornication. If believers divorce,
they may remain unmarried, or remarry each other - but they
are not to marry another while the believing spouse is
still alive (I
Corinthians 7:10-11).
The
covenant of marriage is binding before God, regardless of
what some might tell you. Fornication on the part of the
spouse is the only grounds for divorce and marrying
another. When the husband and wife are both in church
fellowship, there should be no question if they are in the
position of married believers referred to in the above
Scripture. If for any reason they divorce, besides
fornication of the part of the other, neither is free to
marry another, because marriage vows are not taken lightly
by our Heavenly Father. Repudiating a vow taken before God,
even if it was taken in Babylon many years before, does not
excuse us to marry someone else. When you both were born of
the Spirit, you were joined in one spirit to our Heavenly
Father (I Corinthians 6:17), and each other (Malachi
2:14-16). The only marriages required to be broken up after
the Israelites came out of Babylon, were those made with
idolators who hadn’t entered into covenant relationship
with the LORD (Ezra 8-9).
If Wayne’s ‘two witnesses’ were released from their
marriage vows by husbands who had not committed
fornication, they were not free to marry another man.
According to our true Messiah’s words recorded in Matthew
19:9, Wayne would be committing adultery with them.
It
would be very strange indeed for the true Messiah to come
back in someone’s flesh, and violate His own teaching, as
well as His Father’s 7th
commandment, especially since He said that he had not come
to destroy the law.
I do hope that this was not the situation, but if it was,
Wayne is has been committing adultery for years, claiming
women as wives who have not been Scripturally released from
their marriage vows to other men.
The Greek definition of fornication includes incest,
harlotry and adultery, and figuratively, idolatry. Incest
includes forbidden marriages. John the Baptist rebuked
Herod for his violation of the incest statutes in Leviticus
18 & 20. It was unlawful for Herod to have his
brother’s wife.
When we consider incest as fornication, our Saviour
said,
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law (torah) or the
prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled."
In the list of incestuous marriages of Leviticus 18 &
20, we find:
"Thou
shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law; she
is thy son’s wife. Thou shalt not uncover her nakedness."
(Leviticus 18:15)
"And if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them
shall be put to death: they have wrought confusion, their
blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:12)
Perhaps all of these husbands - Travis, Jon, and Jeff, were
guilty of fornication. Perhaps all of them were dealt with
according to I Corinthians 5:11-13, and put out of church
fellowship. Perhaps their wives were then free to consider
marrying another. Perhaps all these men repented and were
brought back into fellowship.
Even with that possibility in Wendy’s case, John the
Baptist interpreted the Scriptures to mean that it was not
lawful for Herod to have his brother’s wife even after she
was divorced from his brother, while he was still alive.
The same principle would apply to the situation with Wendy
and Wayne.
"They have wrought confusion."
As
believers within local congregations in the body of Christ,
when we recognize our brother or sister is in sin, we need
to talk to them and restore them with meekness (Galatians
6:1). If they do not hear us, we need to stop eating with
them and take them through the process of trying to bring
them to repentance, then putting them out of the
congregation if they won’t repent (I Corinthians 5:11-13
and Matthew 18:15-20).
We are commanded to come out from among them and be
separate and touch not the unclean. When we honor this
condition, He will be a Father to us, and we will be His
sons and daughters. (II Corinthians 6:17-18)
"I
am the LORD, I change not." (Malachi 3:6) Before the
promise of Elijah’s return, He tells us, "Remember ye the
law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for
all Israel, with the statutes and judgments."(Malachi
4:4)
"Ye
shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgements, which
if a man shall do, he shall live in them. I am the LORD."
(Leviticus 18:6)
Included in the statutes in the next few verses are:
"Ye shall not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law:
she is thy son’s wife, thou shalt not uncover her
nakedness." (vs.15).
And
"Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her
daughter... for they are near kinswomen: it is
wickedness." (vs.
17)
"For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even
the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among
their people." (Vs. 29)
"If
a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they
shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be
no wickedness among you." (Leviticus 20:14)
The situation with Debbie and her daughter Bethany fits
also into the incest aspect of fornication.
When Wayne allows young women to visit him alone at night,
and be naked with him, without their father’s knowledge and
consent, he is encouraging them to dishonor God, as well as
their father and mother. They are disobeying the command to
abstain from all appearance of evil, among other things.
The minors who were naked with Wayne, yet had not
consummated, are being defrauded of the marriage bed. The
young women’s desire and emotions have been encouraged, and
they are referred to as wives, without the right of
marriage.
Exodus 21 shows that if a man takes a maidservant, and then
takes another wife...he is forbidden to diminish her right
of marriage. (Exodus 21:7-11) We are not to defraud one
another of the marriage bed. If we abstain, it is to be by
agreement for a short time- for prayer and fasting (I
Corinthians 7:1-5).
The whole picture - the violations of the vows made in
marriage, the violations of the statues, and the respect
given to man and his imaginings, rather than the LORD and
His commands, show that this situation is a fulfilment of
prophecy:
"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs
(Messiahs) and false prophets, and shall show great signs
and wonders; insomuch as if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect." (Matthew
24:24)
"To
the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according
to these things, it is because there is no light in them."
(Isaiah 8:20)
Ezekiel 14:9-11 tells us,
"And if a prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing,
I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch
out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst
of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of
their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even
as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the
house of Israel shall no more go astray from me, neither be
polluted any more with all their transgressions, but that
they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the
Lord GOD."
It may be that God has deceived Wayne in telling him to
consummate with women who are not appropriate for him to
marry, for our benefit. When God tempted Abraham to kill
Isaac, he made a way out for him (Genesis 22). If Wayne had
fortified his mind with the Scriptures earlier, as our true
Messiah had before the wilderness temptations, he would
have known that certain marriages are forbidden to all
believers, and would have told Satan to get behind him -
quoting the appropriate Scriptures. As it is, the prophet
who violates God’s marriage statutes and teaches people to
commit fornication by precept and example, is rebuked by
our true Messiah (Revelation 2:14-16). He has told us that
we can know false prophets by their fruit (Matthew
7:15-23). Wayne’s Messianic claim, while living in
fornication, show a deceived prophet or false Christ (
Matthew 24:23-27).
My heart has gone out to those still in the LOR, in
prayerful concern that their eyes will be opened, and they
will repent, and obey the LORD in all things. I pray that
if they read this, they will recognize the steps they need
to take to repent of their sin of committing fornication,
or continuing in fellowship with those who are committing
fornication, in opposition to the Scriptural command of
1st
Corinthians
5:11-13, among others.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Kessler
Thank
you Elizabeth.... This is a very clear picture!