Anchor Woman: Cult members had
cameras rolling the day
a 16 year old girl was taken
from the Strong City
compound by the state.
Jeff Beck: What the
state did today was
to kidnap a young person
who knew exactly what was
right for her life.
 NARRATOR: THESE ARE THE WORDS
 OF STRONG CITY CULT,
 A GROUP LED BY
 MICHAEL TRAVESSER,
 WHO CLAIMS TO BE THE MESSIAH.
Jeff Beck: This act of
force, it only means war.
 NARRATOR: IN APRIL OF 2007,
 HE AND HIS FOLLOWERS GRANTED
 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL
 ACCESS INSIDE THEIR WORLD.
Michael: I am the
embodiment of God.
I am divinity and
humanity combined.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL HAS OPENED
 THE GATES OF STRONG CITY
 TO LET THE WORLD
 SHARE THE WORD OF GOD.
 HE HAS TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS
 THAT THE WORLD WILL SOON END
 AND THAT HE IS THEIR
 ONLY ROUTE TO HEAVEN.
 BUT WHO JOINS A CULT LIKE THIS
 AND HOW DO THE MEMBERS LIVE?
Michael: For God to
bring a plague.
 NARRATOR: OTHER MESSIANIC
 CULT LEADERS HAVE
 PREDICTED THE END AND
 GUARANTEED SALVATION.
 BUT COULD THE PURSUIT OF
 HEAVEN GO AS HORRIBLY WRONG
 AS IT HAS FOR SOME OTHER
 CULTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY?
 AND IS STRONG CITY JUST
 A PRETEXT FOR MORE
 EARTHLY DESIRES?
Danielle: I took off my clothes
and I lay naked on his bed
and he held me and a whole new
picture opened up to me of God.
Group: Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
 NARRATOR: IN UNION COUNTY,
 NEW MEXICO, THE 56 MEMBERS
 OF 'STRONG CITY' EAGERLY
 AWAIT THE END OF THE WORLD
 AND THEIR PHYSICAL
 ASCENT TO HEAVEN.
Danielle: I think I really
feel a lot relief that
it's the end, yeah.
 NARRATOR: IT'S APRIL 2007
 AND STRONG CITY MEMBERS
ESTHER AND DANIELLE ARE EXCITED
 THAT THE NEXT FEW MONTHS
 MAY BE THEIR LAST ON EARTH.
Danielle: It's like that's
what Father's saying now,
'Just a little bit longer,
you are gonna come home
where you were meant to be.'
It's like we weren't made
to live on this earth
away from Father.
It's just gonna be awesome
to leave this world behind.
 NARRATOR: A CULT CAN BE
 BROADLY DEFINED AS A GROUP
 OF INDIVIDUALS DEVOTED
 TO A PERSON OR IDEA
 THAT SOCIETY REGARDS
 AS UNORTHODOX.
 IT'S BELIEVED THAT THERE
 ARE MORE THAN 3000 CULTS IN
 AMERICA TODAY.
 FROM POLITICAL AND NEW AGE
 GROUPS TO RELIGIOUS SECTS,
 THEY RANGE FROM THE
 HARMLESS TO THOSE
 THAT HAVE A DISASTEROUS
 IMPACT ON THEIR FOLLOWERS.
 STRONG CITY IS A RELIGIOUS
 CULT THAT ADHERES
 TO AN END-TIME PROPHECY.
Danielle: It is sworn in
the bible that it will
occur, it will end,
and we have our hearts set
on that on the promise
that we were given,
that this will happen.
Producer: So you are
looking forward to that time?
Danielle: Yes, with
all my heart.
Michael: Precious friend and
Father, that everything you
designed for us is
ordained by heaven.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL
 TRAVESSER IS THE 66 YEAR
 OLD MAN THEY WORSHIP.
 AFTER LEADING HIS ACOLYTES
 TO NEW MEXICO SEVEN YEARS AGO,
 HE DECLARED HIMSELF
 THE MESSIAH.
 HE TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS GOD
 HAD REVEALED A PROPHECY
 THAT SIGNALLED THE APOCALYPSE.
 AND HE HAS TOLD THEM THEY
 MUST RID THEMSELVES OF ALL
 THEIR EARTHLY EMOTIONS OR
 BE LOST WHEN HIS PROPHECY
 IS FULFILLED ON
 OCTOBER 31ST, 2007.
 THE MEMBERS SPEND THEIR
 DAYS IN INTROSPECTION,
 PREPARING THEMSELVES FOR
 THE END OF THE PROPHECY.
 JEFF BENT IS A FORMER SAN
 FRANCISCO POLICE OFFICER.
 HE IS MICHAEL'S TRUSTED
 LIEUTENANT AND HIS SON.
Jeff: Well, it's a great
honor to be closely associated
that closely associated
with Messiah
and to be somebody that he
would count as one of
his most intimate associates.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL HAS
 REINTERPRETED THE 490
 YEAR PROPHECY
 FROM THE BIBLE TO DETERMINE
 A DATE FOR JUDGEMENT DAY.
Jeff: Michael heard a
voice I think is how he
would probably describe
it, urging him to look at
the 490 year prophecy again.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL'S
 REWORKED PROPHECY TAKES
 AS ITS STARTING POINT THE
 BEGINNING OF THE
 PROTESTANT REFORMATION
 IN 1517 AND COMES TO AN END
 ON OCTOBER 31st 2007.
 BUT JEFF'S ESTRANGED
 MOTHER IS DEEPLY CONCERNED
 BY HER EX-HUSBAND'S
 VARIOUS PROCLAIMATIONS.
Jeff: When she heard that
my Dad said he was God
she thought that we would
be committing suicide
and when she's heard that we
are talking about leaving
the earth she thinks that
that is suicide
and I've tried to explain
to her that that's just
a completely false, I
don't believe in that,
none of us here do.
Woman: Michael is
my best friend.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL HAS
 PRODUCED AN EXTENSIVE
 COLLECTION OF HOME MOVIES
 TO SHARE HIS MESSAGE.
 ONE FILM IS 4 HOURS LONG
 DETAILING EVERY ASPECT OF
 MICHAEL'S LIFE.
 WHAT THIS FILM REVEALS IS
 THAT LIKE MANY CULT
 LEADERS BEFORE HIM,
 MICHAEL'S FORMER LIFE
 WAS A TROUBLED ONE.
Michael: Why was I born?
 NARRATOR: FROM
 TRAGIC CHILDHOOD.
Michael: Why was my
mother killed?
 NARRATOR: THROUGH ADOLESCENCE.
Michael: At 14, I was
kidnapped and assaulted
by a homosexual man.
 NARRATOR: DURING HIS
 DAYS AS WAYNE BENT,
 HE WAS A SEVENTH DAY
 ADVENTIST MINISTER WITH
 TWO FAILED MARRIAGES.
Michael: I began to hate
life and see most human beings
as demented and
disgusting in their lusts
and in their behavior.
 NARRATOR: IN 1987, BENT
 LEFT THE ADVENTIST CHURCH
 TAKING SOME OF HIS
 CONGREGATION WITH HIM.
 FOR THE FOLLOWING 13
 YEARS, THEY LIVED TOGETHER
 STUDYING BENT'S TEACHINGS.
 THEN, IN 2000, WAYNE BENT
 UNDERWENT A REMARKABLE
 TRANSFORMATION.
Michael: One day by myself I
was in my trailer and I sat
down in my chair, just relaxing
and there was nothing
on my mind in particular
and then God said to
me you are Messiah.
Certainly by no instruction
from me, two witnesses,
these two, left their
homes, left their families
and it wasn't at my instruction
or behest, it just occurred.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL CLAIMS
 THE TWO WITNESSSES WHO
 HE RENAMED AMI AND ANAIAH,
 WERE ANNOINTED BY GOD
 TO WITNESS THE ARRIVAL OF
 THE MESSIAH IN WAYNE BENT.
 HE CLAIMS GOD COMMANDED
 HIM TO HAVE SEX
 OR 'CONSUMMATE' WITH THEM.
 SO HE DID DESPITE BOTH BEING
 MARRIED TO MEN IN THE CULT.
 MICHAEL CONVINCED THEIR
 HUSBANDS IT WAS GOD'S
 INSTRUCTIONS
 AND THEY SHOULD DIRECT
 THEIR MISERY HEAVENWARD.
Salem: It was a battle
between me and God.
And it's like Michael
was on my side.
But it didn't always
look like that.
He said if you are angry
at God, go tell him.
It was like the whole
battle was with me.
Michael was my way through it.
NARRATOR: WITH THE EXCEPTION OF
THEIR LEADER AND HIS WITNESSES,
 THERE ARE NO SEXUAL
 RELATIONSHIPS AT STRONG CITY.
 IT'S CONSIDERED
 SELFISH AND EARTHLY.
 ALL MARRIAGES AND FAMILIES
 HAVE BEEN DISSOLVED.
 MICHAEL HAS TOLD HIS
 FOLLOWERS ALL EMOTIONAL TIES
 WITH ANYONE BUT HIM
 MUST BE BROKEN.
 THIS IS A COMMON PHENOMENON,
 ACCORDING TO CULT EXPERTS.
Rachel Bernstein: A cult
leader wants absolute control.
And one of the main sources
of threat to the leader is a
members family.
The member's family
represent the connections
the love connection, the
devotional connection
to something to, to
someone outside the group.
To someone, to some people
other than the leader.
 NARRATOR: FOLLOWING
 MICHAEL'S EXAMPLE,
 STRONG CITY'S MEMBERS HAVE
 CHANGED THEIR IDENTITIES
 BY ASSUMING BIBLICAL NAMES.
Rachel Bernstein: When
your name gets changed,
especially a name that is
similar to other people
in the group or from a
similar source, then you feel
connected as though
you are now part of
the same family and now
separate from any other
family on the outside.
 NARRATOR: MEMBERS NO
 LONGER WORK OUTSIDE THE CULT.
 THEY HAVE SOLD THEIR
 POSSESSIONS AND GIVEN
 MICHAEL ALL THEIR MONEY.
 ANY SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS
 AND FUTURE INHERITANCE WILL
 ALSO GO TO HIM.
 IN EXCHANGE, MICHAEL PROVIDES
 THEM WITH THEIR BASIC NEEDS.
 ONLY THE MOST DEVOTED REMAIN
 INCLUDING A FEW CHILDREN
 WHO'VE GROWN UP HERE.
 THIS IS 15-YEAR OLD MATTHEW.
 WHEN HIS PARENTS LEFT
 STRONG CITY 3 YEARS AGO,
 HE AND HIS SISTER TIARA
 STAYED BEHIND WITH THEIR
 GRANDPARENTS.
 BUT WHY WOULD A CHILD
 REJECT THEIR PARENTS
 IN FAVOR OF MICHAEL TRAVESSER?
Matthew: Well he is
the Messiah he is,
to me he is Christ returned in
the spirit into Wayne Bent.
I don't know how I would say.
I don't know how I would
explain that, yeah.
 NARRATOR: LAST YEAR,
 MICHAEL HELD A CEREMONY
 WITH SEVEN GIRLS, ALL VIRGINS,
 TO MARK THE WORLD'S
 IMPENDING DESTRUCTION.
 ONE OF THE VOLUNTEERS WAS A 14
 YEAR-OLD GIRL NAMED HEALED.
 HER PARENTS WERE PART OF
 THE CULT FOR 15 YEARS
 BEFORE THEY BEGAN TO
 DOUBT WHETHER MICHAEL
 REALLY WAS THE SON OF GOD.
 THEY LEFT 6 MONTHS AGO,
 LEAVING THEIR DAUGHTER
 IN STRONG CITY
 WITH RELATIVES.
 NOW FIVE MONTHS BEFORE
 MICHAEL'S END OF THE
 WORLD PROPHECY,
 JEFF ANNOUNCES HER
 PARENTS ARE ON THEIR WAY.
Jeff: Well, I just learned
a little while ago
that Healed's parents
are coming to get her
and possibly will be bringing
the sheriff with them.
Healed is a minor so she
is legally under their authority
but they have allowed her
until now to live here with us
and she has wanted
to live here with us.
Producer: What's
changed do you think?
Jeff: I only know second
hand so I can't say from
their mouth and I don't
really want to conjecture
but I was told that some
of the rumors concerning us
originated with them.
But I don't know
that for a fact,
that is something you'd
have to ask them.
Producer: You can't be more
specific what the rumors are?
Jeff: I think before I,
I'd want to talk to Michael.
 NARRATOR: HEALED'S
 PARENTS ARRIVE.
 WHILE THEY GO IN
 TO TALK TO HER,
 JEFF TRIES TO PERSUADE THE
 SHERIFF SHE SHOULD BE
 ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE CULT.
Jeff: They are going to
take her and prevent her
from having any contact
with her friends here
even though she does not
want to go with them.
She wants to be here.
This is where her friends are,
this is where her life is.
They are going to
take her by force.
 NARRATOR: JEFF CALLS
 MICHAEL TO KEEP HIM INFORMED.
Jeff: Hello Father, they
are taking Healed to get
her things now.
The sheriff threatened
us with arrest
if we have any contact
with Healed at all.
 NARRATOR: BUT INSTEAD
 OF BEING UPSET,
 THE MEMBERS OF STRONG CITY ARE
 CONFIDENT HEALED WILL RETURN.
Jeff: I don't think this
is the end of it.
 NARRATOR: AND SOON, THE
 REASON FOR HEALED'S DEPARTURE
 WILL START TO BECOME CLEAR.
 NARRATOR: STRONG CITY, A
 RELIGIOUS CULT IN NORTH
 EAST NEW MEXICO,
 HAS JUST SEEN TWO PARENTS
 COME AND TAKE THEIR DAUGHTER
 AWAY FROM MICHAEL,
 THE GROUP'S LEADER.
 BUT WHY WOULD ANYONE GET
 INVOLVED WITH A CULT
 IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Rachel Bernstein: There
are certain personality
traits that can make
someone more vulnerable
but also there is
something that can make
each of us vulnerable,
after there is a tragedy
in their family, after
they have broken up with
their boyfriend or
girlfriend after they have
left home for the first
time to go to college
they are suddenly vulnerable.
 NARRATOR: BUT ITS NOT JUST
 THE VULNERABLE WHO JOIN CULTS.
Rachel Bernstein: The
people who I see by and
large are searching, open
to the notion that
there could be something better.
 NARRATOR: IT WAS A SEARCH
 FOR SALVATION THAT FIRST LED
 MATTHEW'S GRANDMOTHER RUTH TO
 WAYNE BENT 20 YEARS AGO.
Ruth: I was searching,
I was really searching
on how to be saved but still
it didn't seem like anyone
could tell me how to be saved.
Janja Lalich: There
are so many groups with
so many kinds of belief
systems and so many draws
and so many appeals that I
think that just about anybody
at the right time
could become engaged
in one of these groups.
 NARRATOR: IT WAS HIS
 PROMISE OF A LIFE WITHOUT SIN
 THAT APPEALED TO FOLLOWERS
 OF PASTOR WAYNE BENT.
 WHEN HE LEFT THE SEVENTH
 DAY ADVENTISTS CHURCH IN 1987,
 SOME OF HIS
 CONGREGATION FOLLOWED.
 THEY SOON ESTABLISHED THEIR
 OWN COMMUNITY IN RURAL IDAHO.
 THERE, THEY SPENT 13 YEARS
 IN SELF-EXAMINATION,
 STRIVING TO LIVE WITHOUT SIN.
 AS ADVENTISTS, THEY
 BELIEVE IN CHRIST'S RETURN
 AND A DAY OF JUDGEMENT.
 SEVEN YEARS AGO, WAYNE
 UPROOTED HIS FOLLOWERS,
 BROUGHT THEM TO THIS
 ISOLATED SPOT IN NEW MEXICO
 AND DECLARED
 HIMSELF THE SON OF GOD.
 AND LIKE MANY CULTS BEFORE
 IT, STRONG CITY'S FOLLOWERS
 ARE UNSWERVING IN THEIR
 LOYALTY TO THEIR MESSIAH.
Michael: My heart
loves you much.
 NARRATOR: BUT 31 PEOPLE
 HAVE LEFT SINCE MICHAEL
 CLAIMED TO BE THE SON OF GOD.
 AND SOME EX-MEMBERS HAVE
 ALLEGED THAT, IN 2006,
 MICHAEL LAY NAKED ON
 HIS BED WITH A NUMBER
 OF THE CULT'S GIRLS.
 AMONG THE GIRLS MENTIONED
 WERE ESTHER AND DANIELLE.
Esther: I dunno, it was
probably in the beginning
part of July, Michael
wrote a post about how
the only way to kind of like
come to resolution in your life
is to be naked before God.
It just puzzled me, you know?
But something was in me
and what was in me was
this means really, this means
literally physically naked
and it was in me that
it meant with Michael.
So I said Michael, I said,
'I have been having this thought
that I just needed
to come up here
and take off all my
clothes, really'.
And he looks at me and
he kind of smiles.
So I said, 'Well, shall I?'
and he thought for just a
minute, he was quiet,
you know I know he was listening
for Father's instructions
and he said, 'you may'.
So I did.
And then he said he would
hold me and I hadn't even
thought of that, that
hadn't even crossed my mind.
Danielle: You just knew you
had to get naked with him.
Esther: Yeah, I just knew
this needed to be literally,
physically naked.
And so he took me, we went
into the bedroom and lay down
and he held me and somehow all
of heaven was open to me.
Somehow I started to see
God, well somehow.
It was the son of
God holding me!
So I'm laying there and
for the first time
it was like 'God loves me!
He loves me!'
and Michael was saying things
to me like 'you're accepted',
you know, 'you're healed'
and I felt so secure,
it was like I don't ever
want to leave this place.
It was like this was God
holding me and the next day
Father sent you.
 NARRATOR: AS AN EX-MEMBER,
 PRUDENCE WELCH KNOWS
 THE EFFECT OF MICHAEL'S WORDS.
 HER INTERNET SITE
 PUBLISHES MESSAGES MICHAEL
 HAS SENT TO HIS FOLLOWERS.
 SHE SAYS HE USES THE POWER
 OF SUGGESTION TO PLANT
 THOUGHTS IN THEIR MINDS,
 THOUGHTS THEY THEN
 BELIEVE ARE THEIR OWN.
 FOR PRUDENCE, IT'S NOTHING
 MORE THAN SIMPLE MANIPULATION.
Prudence: And so he started
writing about being naked
'You have to be with me
naked and unashamed.'
So then pretty soon they
are getting the picture
and they are all begging
to lay naked with him.
And then it's like, 'well I'm
not the one that asked for that,
they are the ones
begging me for it,
they are the ones that
want to consummate with me.
I didn't do anything
to want that'.
So it's like that is how
he has controlled them.
Rachel Bernstein: What is
very important for the leader
is for the leader
to feel like, he's merely
a conduit and he's
actually in some ways
sacrificing himself
for this purpose.
By posing it in that way,
the followers can assume then
that by letting
something happen that
would normally be against
everything in their being,
certainly their moral
code, that somehow because
this is for a greater
purpose they do not want
to take the risk of
standing in the way.
 NARRATOR: AFTER ESTHER
 AND DANIELLE LAY NAKED
 WITH MICHAEL,
 HE SAID GOD NEEDED 7
 VIRGINS FOR A CEREMONY
 TO MARK THE FORTHCOMING
 DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH.
 OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, 5
 MORE VIRGINS CAME TO MICHAEL.
 TWO WERE UNDERAGE.
 MICHAEL LAY NAKED IN HIS BED
 HOLDING ONE OF THEM, HEALED.
 THIS IS THE REASON HER
 PARENTS CAME TO TAKE HER AWAY.
 BUT MICHAEL INSISTS GOD
 TOLD THE GIRLS TO COME TO HIM.
Michael: Well it was God.
God came down on them and
told them to do it.
Nakedness is another symbol of
our relationship with God.
We are naked and unashamed.
I treated them with the same
respect and deference
as if I had been a physician,
an MD, who is doing surgery,
you know, MDs are
with naked people.
MD's even put their fingers
in women's sexual parts,
and they call it Pap smears
or whatever else they do.
Producer: You don't think
there's a distinction between
a doctor and yourself?
Michael: I would say no.
I would say I have more
authority to touch the
soul than an MD would.
MDs aren't prepared for
what I've had to do.
An MD is far more likely
to think of sex when he is
doing something to a woman in
her private parts that I am.
Producer: Do you know what
the state law is about
being in close physical contact,
naked in your bed, with a minor?
Michael: Well, Jeff knows
what the state law is.
Jeff: I don't have
anything to say right now.
I don't think this is
the appropriate time.
Producer: You are aware of
the state law on this?
Jeff: Yeah, I am, I'm
not going to get into a legal
discussion on camera with you.
 NARRATOR: DESPERATE TO GET
 EVEN CLOSER TO GOD,
 THE VIRGINS PLEADED WITH
 MICHAEL FOR A FULL
 SEXUAL EXPERIENCE.
 HEALED'S LONGING WAS SO
 STRONG, SHE WROTE THAT IF
 THINGS DIDN'T CHANGE,
 SHE WOULD KILL HERSELF.
 THEN, JUST WHEN IT LOOKED
 LIKE MICHAEL WOULD DO
 AS THE VIRGINS DESIRED, HE
 SAYS GOD TOLD HIM IT WAS
 ALL JUST A TEST OF FAITH.
Michael: I'm very sensitive
to what God says to me
and I must obey my
father's instructions and
having sex with minors was
not his instructions.
I am the embodiment of God, I am
divinity and humanity combined
and I'll
say more than that,
I swear it by the one who lives
for ever and ever that it's so.
 NARRATOR: BUT MICHAEL
 TRAVESSER IS NOT UNIQUE.
 HE IS BUT ONE IN A LONG
 LINE OF CULT LEADERS,
 PROCLAIMING HIMSELF
 THE MESSIAH.
KORESH: Thou art my son.
This day have I begotten thee,
hmm, someone is the son of God.
 NARRATOR: LIKE MICHAEL
 TRAVESSER, DAVID KORESH
 HAD BEEN A SEVENTH DAY
 ADVENTIST BEFORE LEAVING
 TO JOIN THE BRANCH
 DAVIDIAN SECT IN WACO, TEXAS.
 HE TOO BEGAN CALLING
 HIMSELF THE SON OF GOD.
Koresh: Where you gonna be
the day I rise up to the.
Rachel Bernstein: He chose
himself as the leader of
this group, wouldn't allow
anyone to question him,
wouldn't allow anyone
to disobey him,
if they did there was quite
a bit of punishment.
 NARRATOR: MARSHALL APPLEWHITE,
 WITH BONNIE NETTLES,
 FOUNDED THE
 HEAVENS GATE CULT IN 1975.
 HE CLAIMED, AS MICHAEL
 TRAVESSER DOES,
 THAT HE WAS THE SPIRIT
 THAT HAD POSSESSED JESUS.
 APPLEWHITE TOLD HIS
 FOLLOWERS HE WOULD LEAD THEM
 TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF
 EVOLUTION AWAY FROM THE EARTH.
APPLEWHITE: Give up
everything that you have
in this world, get rid of
it, give it to the poor,
come and follow me.
Rachel Bernstein: Marshall
Applewhite is a great
example of somebody
who believes his own myth and
because he had charisma
he was able to engage people
in his story that there
was another world that was
better that was one after
this life and through
their connection with him
would they be able to find it.
Janja Lalich: If you have
someone claiming to be the
messiah or claiming to be
Jesus come again to the earth
or claiming to
literally be god or even
claiming to have that
direct line to God,
it's very difficult then
to question that person,
to challenge that person because
how can you question God?
Michael: And did not
believe what the emblems said.
 NARRATOR: BUT INSIDE
 STRONG CITY,
THERE ARE NO DISSENTING VOICES.
 THOSE WHO HAVE SHOWN ANY
 DOUBT IN MICHAEL'S DIVINITY
 OR QUESTIONED HIS LEADERSHIP
 HAVE LEFT THE GROUP.
 THOSE WHO HAVE STAYED,
 LIKE 15 YEAR OLD MATTHEW,
 SERVE MICHAEL WITH
 UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY
 AND ARE CONVINCED THE END
 OF THE WORLD IS NEAR.
 MATTHEW CHOOSES TO SPEND
 MUCH OF HIS TIME ALONE.
Matthew: I like being alone.
A lot of times I pray and
I think about over there.
I think about you know the
planets, stuff like that.
I just think about and try
to, I dunno I just.
 NARRATOR: NONE OF THE
 STRONG CITY CHILDREN
 ATTEND PUBLIC SCHOOL.
 MICHAEL BELIEVES IT'S
 A BAD INFLUENCE.
 BUT HE LETS THEM
 EDUCATE THEMSELVES BY
 SURFING THE INTERNET.
Matthew: This is Jupiter,
this is Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and this is Earth.
I get on the computer and I look
on the computer for things,
you know that come to mind if
I want to know something,
I look it up on the internet.
But I've thought well what am
I doing learning about them.
It does seem useless.
Michael: This isn't our world,
our world is the next one
and we aren't going to
be here any more.
On October 31st, 2007 at
midnight is your deliverance.
 NARRATOR: AS THE END OF THE
 PROPHECY DRAWS NEARER,
 THE CULT'S YEARNING FOR
 JUDGMENT DAY
 AND THEIR JOURNEY
 HEAVENWARD IS BUILDING.
Michael: Those demonic
forces that have been torturing
you for your lifetime.
 NARRATOR: THE STORIES OF
 MICHAEL AND THE NAKED VIRGINS
 ARE TROUBLING SOME
 FAMILY MEMBERS ON THE OUTSIDE.
 WORRIED ABOUT THE CULT
 COMMITTING SUICIDE
 AND WHAT MICHAEL MIGHT DO
 NEXT, MATTHEW'S MOTHER, PAM,
 TRAVELS 1500 MILES
 FROM WASHINGTON STATE
 TO STRONG CITY.
 PAM, A FORMER BELIEVER, COMES
 TO GET MATTHEW AND HIS SISTER,
 HOPING THEY WILL JOIN
 HER IN HER NEW LIFE
 AWAY FROM THE CULT.
 SHE IS NERVOUS
 ABOUT BEING BACK.
 MICHAEL TELLS THE
 CHILDREN NOT TO RESIST.
 HE CONFIDENTLY PREDICTS
 GOD WILL REUNITE THEM SOON.
 NARRATOR: 13 YEARS AGO,
 PASTOR WAYNE BENT
 MARRIED HIS SON JEFF
 TO CHRISTIANA.
 BUT LIKE OTHERS IN STRONG
 CITY, THEY TOO HAVE HAD
 TO ENDURE THE
 MORES OF THE CULT.
Jeff: God came down on
Michael and forced him to
consummate with Christiana.
It was a terrible,
strange act of God,
I was astonished
and so was Michael.
Michael: I stood up like
this, and suddenly I was
forced down on the floor
and I had to get down,
I was down just about like
this and I was in pain
and all I could do was groan,
all I could was kind of rock
and I started seeing
that the consummation with
Christiana was imminent and I
was going to have to do that.
Christiana: I was just
laying awake and I was
thinking about coming over
here and I said to Father,
I said when I go
over there if Michael
invites me in, I will ask
for the consummation tonight.
Producer: So was it, just
a single occasion, this
physical consummation?
Michael: No it wasn't.
Producer: You consummated
more than once?
Michael: Yes.
Producer: Why is it necessary
to consummate more than once?
Michael: Could you not
answer that question yourself?
When you marry your wife, do
you consummate only once?
Does she stop being married to
you after your wedding day?
Christiana: The world they would
look at it a different way,
they would just see that an
affair happened or something,
but that is not what happened.
 NARRATOR: IT'S NOT UNUSUAL FOR
 A CULT LEADER TO ENGAGE IN
 SEXUAL RELATIONS,
 EVEN THOSE WHO CLAIM DIVINITY.
Janja Lalich: Well sex is
one of the very common
control mechanisms
used in cultic groups.
If you're able to control
someone's sexuality
or their sexual behavior,
that's reaching in to the
deepest part of that person
and that's touching
what for many people
is not only the most
intimate part of themselves
but the place where people
are troubled or questioning
or unsure of themselves.
 NARRATOR: CULT LEADER JIM
 JONES MANIPULATED HIS
 FOLLOWERS NOT ONLY TO
 SATISFY HIS OWN SEXUAL URGES
 BUT TO EXERT CONTROL OVER THE
 MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH,
 THE PEOPLE'S TEMPLE.
Janja Lalich: Well in the
Jones group sex was used
to divide people, to
exploit and abuse people,
I mean Jones picked men
and women to sexually abuse.
Rachel Bernstein: David
Koresh knew that sex gave him
a lot of power over
the women in the group
but every time a girl in the
group or a woman in the group
"let him" have sex with
them, he knew it
was also having an effect
on the men in the group
and he was making sure
that they knew that
he was the only one
who had real control.
He stripped the men of
their power in those moments
at the same time that he
stripped the women of theirs.
 NARRATOR: IT'S OCTOBER
 WITH ONE WEEK LEFT
 UNTIL THE END OF
 MICHAEL'S PROPHECY.
 MATTHEW AND HIS SISTER
 HAVE BEEN LIVING AT HOME
 IN WASHINGTON WITH
 THEIR MOTHER PAM.
 BUT A FEW WEEKS AGO THE
 CHILDREN LEFT AND RETURNED
 TO MICHAEL AND THE
 CULT IN NEW MEXICO.
 IN THE PAST, MICHAEL TOLD THE
 CHILDREN THAT NOT COOPERATING
 WITH THOSE WHO REMOVED
 THEM WOULD GET THEM
 BACK TO STRONG CITY.
 PAM'S DAUGHTER WOULDN'T
 EAT UNTIL SHE WAS
 ALLOWED TO RETURN.
 FINALLY PAM GAVE IN AND
 SIGNED OVER THEIR CUSTODY
 TO THEIR GRANDPARENTS
 STILL LIVING IN THE CULT.
Pam: That was the hardest
thing I have ever had
to do because I didn't,
I didn't want to
give up my children.
The only thing I can do is just
wait for the children to see
how I used to see that
Michael is Wayne Bent
and he's not what he says he is.
 PASS JUDGMENT ON THE EARTH.
 MICHAEL INSISTS HIS GROUP
 WON'T COMMIT SUICIDE.
 BUT CULT LEADERS LIKE
 MARSHALL APPLEWHITE SAID
 THE SAME IN THE PAST, AND
 HIS FOLLOWERS ENDED UP DEAD.
 JEFF UNLOCKS THE GATE.
 HE SEEMS DISTRACTED.
Jeff: It's a defining
moment and it's a time
I believe God's people are
going to be vindicated
and the world is
going to be judged.
Producer: That sounds
kind of final.
Jeff: It's final, you can
take that to the bank.
We're done.
Producer: How is Michael, Jeff?
Jeff: Well he is very solemn.
He's really at his end, I
guess, you can get the sense of
that when you speak with him.
He's all finished,
he's 66, he's come to the end
of his walk on this earth
you know his purpose
for being here.
 NARRATOR: BUT EXACTLY WHAT
 DOES MICHAEL THINK
 WILL HAPPEN AT MIDNIGHT
 ON OCTOBER 31st?
Jeff: It might be best here
to take our shoes off.
Michael: If the bible
verses are exactly
fulfilled according to
what they say and when
they say it, the 31st midnight
would mark the change.
There may be a body
change, that's what Paul
meant by we will be change.
He was speaking of a body
change and that could occur.
Producer: So what would
happen to your body then?
Michael: I would
receive a new one.
Producer: So after midnight
on the 31st of October,
there will be some major
change in you will there?
Michael: There will be
very radically so yes.
 NARRATOR: MICHAEL SEEMS TO
 BE EMPHASISING A PERSONAL
 TRANSFORMATION AT THE
 END OF HIS PROPHECY.
 BUT HE OFFERS LITTLE
 DETAIL ON HOW THINGS
 WILL CHANGE FOR EVERYONE ELSE.
 MICHAEL WON'T ALLOW THE
 CAMERA INSIDE THE CULT
 ON THE 31ST BUT OFFERS
 A FINAL INTERVIEW.
 NOT ONLY HAVE MATTHEW AND
 HIS SISTER RETURNED,
 SO HAS 15 YEAR OLD HEALED,
 AGAINST HER MOTHER'S WISHES.
 MICHAEL IS PLEASED TO
 HAVE THE CHLDREN BACK.
Healed: My mom she told me
one time that she thought
I was brainwashed and I thought,
'yeah, I am brainwashed,
Michael has washed my brain of
all my own corrupt thoughts.'
Michael: Here the
children are taught
'follow your conscience,
do what God tells you.'
Producer: People outside say
'well it's fine if you are an
adult to join a group like this.
Because that's a
choice that you make.
But when children are born
into groups like this,
they say well these
children have not really
made a choice about it and that
this is the world they know,
this is the only
world that they know.
Michael: These children
have found life.
They have found the
'more to life' that your
world does not possess.
Producer: They wouldn't know
that though, would they, because
they have never really
had an opportunity to
experience it properly.
Michael: How do you experience
the world 'properly'?
Producer: When it's not skewed
by your interpretation of it.
Michael: I was educated
in your world.
I know very well how empty
it is and it goes nowhere.
All you got is your DVD
movies, going to the cinema,
waging wars, paying your debts.
That's all you have, when
really the world 'properly',
is to hear God
speak to you, have him
fulfill his purposes in you
and feel the exhilaration
of just talking with angels
where you do real things,
and not just doing
things to keep your lusts
satisfied for a while.
Producer: But doesn't this group
just satisfy your needs Michael?
This Church is really
about your need, isn't it?
Michael: No, it's
about my sacrifice.
I have sacrificed my
life for them.
And it began 7 years ago.
Jeff: I'll see you later.
Michael: Bye bye.
Esther: I know that people
think we are going to
commit suicide, or
whatever, all this stuff
but I can't comprehend it in my
mind because the only view
I feel like I have is the
view that Father has given me.
Matthew: Bye.
Esther: I do know though,
that nothing that happens
will disappoint me.
Tiara: Goodbye.
Janja Lalich: Even though a
group may, as Heaven's Gate did,
insist that year upon year they
would never commit suicide,
in fact a time may come that
they may have to change
that part of their
understanding and belief
system and actually carry out
an act like that and
yet believing that it is
within the truth of their
belief system and it doesn't
contradict what
they believed all along.
 NARRATOR: LIKE MANY OF
 MICHAEL'S FOLLOWERS,
 MEMBERS OF THE HEAVENS
 GATE CULT WAITED MORE
 THAN 20 YEARS FOR THE
 END OF THE WORLD.
 BUT ON MARCH 26TH 1997,
 DRESSED IN IDENTICAL OUTFITS,
 MARSHALL APPLEWHITE AND
 HIS 38 FOLLOWERS
 TOOK POISON TO SPEED UP
 THEIR JOURNEY TO HEAVEN.
Jim Jones: This is not a
self destructive suicide.
Please, for God sakes,
let's get on with it.
We've lived.
We've lived as no other
people have lived.
We've had as much of this world
as anyone is going to get.
Let's be done with
the agony of it.
 NARRATOR: ON NOVEMBER 18TH
 1978, A PARANOID JIM JONES
 PERSUADED HIS FOLLOWERS TO
 DRINK A POISONED FRUIT PUNCH.
 AMONG THE 914 WHO DIED,
 276 CHILDREN, MANY OF WHOM
 HAD POISON INJECTED
 INTO THEIR MOUTHS.
 75 PEOPLE DIED AT WACO
 AFTER A 51 DAY STAND-OFF
 WITH GOVERNMENT AND
 LOCAL AGENTS.
Koresh: You come and
point guns at the direction
of my wives and kids
and I'll meet you at
the door anytime.
???????
 NARRATOR: IT'S MINUTES BEFORE
 MIDNIGHT ON OCTOBER 31st.
 WILL MICHAEL'S LONG
 AWAITED PROPHECY BE FULFILLED?
 FROM OUTSIDE THE GATE,
 ALL IS QUIET IN THE
 FINAL SECONDS BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
 BUT, AT THE STROKE OF 12,
 A STRANGE HORN BLARES
 FROM SPEAKERS CLOSE TO
 MICHAEL'S HOUSE.
 RAISED, ECSTATIC
 VOICES ARE HEARD.
 SUDDENLY MICHAEL APPEARS,
 LEADING HIS FOLLOWERS
 OUT OF THE COMPOUND
 AND UP THE ROAD.
Crowd: Liberty!
Liberty!
 NARRATOR: THOUGH THE CULT
 MEMBERS SEEM JUBILANT,
 IT'S UNCLEAR WHAT
 IS DIFFERENT.
 AS MICHAEL STANDS SURROUNDED
 BY HIS DELIRIOUS FOLLOWERS,
 NO-ONE APPEARS DISAPPOINTED
 OR SURPRISED THAT MICHAEL
 APPEARS UNCHANGED.
Janja Lalich: It's one of
the curious aspects of this
that leaders will
make prophecies
and the prophecies don't
materialize and followers
for the most part stay rather
than give up their belief
to go with reality,
they will somehow shift
their view of reality to
match their belief.
 NARRATOR: AFTER PROCLAIMING
 THEIR FREEDOM ONE LAST TIME.
Crowd: Liberty!
 NARRATOR: THE MEMBERS
 RETURN TO STRONG CITY
 TO WAIT FOR THE DAY THEY
 WILL ASCEND TO HEAVEN.
Rachel Bernstein: There is
something very motivational
about the end of the world
being around the corner.
Cult leaders use it as a
rallying cry, a rallying cry
to the membership to
get more focused.
You will prove yourself to
be worthy of being saved
when everyone else
perishes on this day.
If you just pray hard enough,
meditate hard enough,
believe in a true enough way.
 NARRATOR: THE FOLLOWING DAY,
 PERMISSION TO ASK MICHAEL
 WHETHER HE HAS RECEIVED A
 NEW BODY IS DENIED.
 JEFF SAYS MICHAEL WILL
 NOT BE AVAILABLE.
 MICHAEL TRAVESSER BEGAN
 PREPARING FOR THE WORLD'S END
 MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO.
 BUT WHAT IF IT NEVER HAPPENS?
 WILL THE GROUP, AS MANY
 FEAR, BRING THEIR OWN WORLD
 TO AN END OR WILL
 THEY CONTINUE LIVING
 AS THEY ARE INDEFINITELY?
 ONE THING IS FOR SURE,
 WITH MICHAEL AT THE AGE OF 66,
 STRONG CITY AS IT IS
 CANNOT LAST FOREVER.
