In a place as weird, lawless, and unpopulated as New Mexico, it makes sense that cults could thrive here. A number of infamous cults have settled in remote parts of New Mexico. Most of these cults are now disbanded or resettled elsewhere, but a few troublesome ones remain.
The Lord Our Righteousness Church
The Lord Our Righteousness Church is an active doomsday cult based in Clayton. They started in 2000 in Idaho. They eventually migrated to New Mexico. Their leader, Wayne Curtis Bent, known also as Michael Travesser, left the Seventh Day Adventist Church after God came to him in his living room and told him he is the Messiah. He says that the Seventh Day Adventist Church is “one of the daughters of the great harlot” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. He also says that he is the embodiment of God. If that doesn’t give you narcissist vibes! Bent believes he must sleep with seven virgins, and those virgins include the underage daughters of cult members.
In 2008, CYFD removed several children from the compound. Three weeks later, Bent was charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for diddling a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old girl, and a 16-year-old boy. He was imprisoned for this, and went on a long hunger strike in custody. He was released in 2011 after his convictions were overturned due to the fact his jury has not been properly assembled. But the Supreme Court overruled this and he served another four years. He got out on parole in 2016.
Currently Bent is still at the Clayton compound with about 50 followers. He has cancer in his ear. The cult’s website regularly churns out weird books and videos.
3HO
3HO stands for “Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization.” It is a religious sect that embodies Sikh teachings. Founded in 1969, Harbhajan Singh Khalsa calls himself the “Yogi Bhajan” and he calls his followers the Sikh Dharma Brotherhood. Khalsa claims he is the official Sikh leader of the Western world. But the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee denies this. Many call 3HO a cult and it is definitely cult-like. The leader’s sex abuse allegations and nefarious behavior toward members reeks of “cult.”
3HO controls everything its members do. Members are supposed to meditate, do tantric yoga while focusing on a picture of Khalsa, and adhere to a strict lacto-vegetarian diet. They are also taught bizarre sexual practices and women are expected to have sex with Khalsa. Other Sikh sects say these sexual practices are forbidden in the true religion. Many elements of Khalsa’s teachings deviate vastly from Sikhism.
In 2019, an expose revealed rape and sexual abuse within the organization. Then, in 2020, several members sued 3HO for sexual abuse. The Olive Branch organization investigated and said there is a strong likelihood that Khalsa has committed sexual abuse.
Despite the Sikh belief that capitalism promotes greed and the illusion that the world is real, 3HO has lots of very profitable business dealings, including the Yogi tea brand. Khalsa Family Farms is near Espanola and is registered as a religious non-profit. They hire all kinds of people, even those who are not part of 3HO, and they donate free lunches to schools and homeless shelters, which is pretty cool. But then, that’s the least Khalsa can do for the community, since he is reaping at least $1 billion in federal security contracts with his company Akal Security, which provides security for courthouses and ICE facilities. As an immigrant himself, it is amazing that Khalsa supports ICE. He also makes about $59 million a year from the Yogi Tea Company, and also he generates a good profit from his Summer Solstice retreats.
3HO hosts a 9-day Summer Solstice retreat near Taos every year. The website calls it a “rare opportunity to cleanse the mind, go beyond ego, and feel your spirit soar.” You camp in a tent and turn off your phone and do “White Tantric Yoga” [which is trademarked] while eating vegetarian food and participating in kirtan devotional concerts. All for a low, low price of $895!
It sounds nice enough if you’re into that kind of thing, but it takes on a significantly more sinister connotation when you learn about the stuff going on behind the scenes. Khalsa is just another narcissist, manipulating damaged souls to make him money and have sex with him.
Church of Scientology Vault
Near Las Vegas, NM, there is a mysterious posted property with a large building constructed into the mountain. From the air, you can see an ornate pattern etched into the land:
The purpose of this mysterious place is to store the documents and scripture of the Church of Scientology. Per an email that KOAT got from the Church of Scientology, the property houses “more than 135 tons of archival books, stainless steel plates and nickel-plated records, which in turn, are stored in 2,300 titanium capsules housed in calamity-proof vaults.” The scripture is literally etched into huge metal discs that are then stored here. They sure want their brainwashing to withstand the tests of time!
Scientology has been exposed as a cult. Its members pay lots of money to become part of an elitist, brainwashed group that encourages excommunicating questioning members and cutting off family. The religion draws from a mixture of science and psychology to explain the human mind and the way trauma keeps us from being the best we can be. Scientology believes that all people are immortal spirts, but you have to work through different levels and conquer your trauma to become the greatest you can be. To move through those levels, you have to pay for lots of seminars and spiritual guidance.
Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps
The government watched the Aggressive Christianity Missions Trainings Corps from afar for a while but they had no grounds to raid the cult. The reclusive cult had settled in Fence Lake in a compound surrounded by thick concrete walls. The families within were very secretive. They were headed by Deborah and James Green, who called themselves “generals.” People within leadership in the cult were “God’s Army.” The cult followed a military structure to maintain control over their members and preach an archaic fundamentalist form of Christianity.
But in 2017, Bill Miller came forward with concerns about his son, Enoch. Miller had left the cult and become excommunicated, something that often happens when you challenge a cult’s dogma. He left his son behind in the compound and was worried about him. Enoch was just 12.
Authorities raided the compound and found that Enoch had died long before and was buried in a grave located on the compound. His cause of death was not clear, but authorities believe he died of the flu. The militant religious doctrine followed by the cult members forbade them from seeking medical care for things as simple as the flu, instead encouraging parents to pray to God for their children’s health. So they essentially murdered Enoch because of their backward beliefs.
But that wasn’t the only terrible thing going on within the walls of this creepy cult. Sex abuse and slave labor were also commonplace. After the 2018 raid, Deborah Green was arrested for neglect and child abuse, as well as child sexual penetration. Peter Green, the son of the founding couple, was indicted on over 100 charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Several members were also arrested for not registering the births of their children.
Children on the compound were not allowed to go to school or the doctor and instead spent their days doing slave labor for the cult. Some of the children had been illegally smuggled into the compound from other countries. It is so tragic that they were forced to suffer due to their parents’ whacko beliefs. They probably also have had to deal with undoing the brainwashing they received growing up.
The cult also believed in severe corporal punishment, including for children. They taught anti-Semitism and bigotry. While they closely followed most of the teachings in the Bible, they did not believe in grace. They had a very elitist mentality and considered themselves superior to others, including other Christians. Southern Poverty Law Center categorized them as a hate group from 2011 to 2017.
In 1989, Maura Shmierer sued the cult for what they put her through. To escape prosecution, the group kept changing names and moving locations. Schmierer was eventually awarded a $1 million settlement.
After the raid, Deborah Green got 72 years in prison, but then her charges were dismissed and she was released in 2022. James Green was released inn 2023. Peter Green is still in prison thankfully. They appear to be lying low. I imagine they are still propagating their hateful weirdness, but as they are in their 70s, they hopefully don’t have the capacity to assemble another child abuse cult.
James Green grew up in Kentucky and hitchhiked to California in the 60s to become a hippie. That is when he met Deborah. They went through some kind of epiphany that supposedly made them true Christians and then they dedicated the next few decades to missionary work in Central America and volunteering for the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army inspired the military-style structure and the name for their cult. They formed the cult in 1981 in Sacramento, and finally settled in the Fence Lake location.
As of today, the cult does not appear to be active. The compound was court-ordered to be sold. It eventually sold for 2.8 million to three companies that have divided it between themselves.
The Amalia Compound
Near Taos, a lot of people live off-grid and some have built unique Earthship homes out of recycled materials. The homes are cool hallmarks of a lifestyle that aims to escape consumerism and return to Nature. When an extended Muslim Haitian family came to the area and started constructing a wall of tires around their buried trailer, people assumed they were doing the same thing. But something much more sinister was happening.
On August 10, 2018, authorities raided the compound to find a missing toddler boy. They instead found the remains of the boy buried there, as well several adults and 11 starving children living in absolute squalor. There were massive stockpiles of guns and ammunition. The members of the small cult were engaging in tactical training to attack the government, believing that they needed to carry out jihad in order to die as martyrs. They believed the dead toddler would be resurrected as a messiah and lead them to military glory.
The children were removed from the home and placed with foster families. One of the children disclosed to his foster parent how he had been trained to carry out school shootings. Meanwhile, the adults faced various charges, including terrorism, child abuse, kidnapping, and illegal possession of weapons. Several of them face deportation due to having expired visas from Haiti.
The filthy compound has since been torn down. The jury trial just began in September of 2023 for the terrorism charges. The defense claims that the claims of terrorism are only because the defendants are Muslim. However, their threats against the government and their attempts to carry out school shootings indicate they did have terroristic agendas. Furthermore, the grandfather of the missing toddler, Siraj Wahhaj, is the leader of a radical New York City mosque. One of the mosque’s members took part in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
Heaven’s Gate
You have likely heard of this crazy suicide cult. Between 1995 and 1996, a sect of Heaven’s Gate led by Roger Logan dwelled in the Manzano Mountains. They had constructed a massive fortress over 40 acres. The fortress was surrounded by a 20-foot-high wall of dirt-filled tires held together by concrete. Within the walls, they had two huge tents, a metal building, and cabins. They planned to eventually build an infirmary, bakery, offices, and other things. The structures were based on Earth Ship: How to Build Your Own. The place was abandoned when the cult moved to the Southern California mansion where they committed mass suicide in 1997, and the land was sold to Jim Thorsen.
Their leader, Marshall Applewhite, felt intense guilt for his homosexual urges, so instead of embracing his sexuality, he completely renounced it and castrated himself. A smooth talker, he convinced many others that they would transcend all human suffering if they simply followed his lead. The cult members wore robes and short-cropped hair. Many of them castrated themselves and they all denied themselves basic human desires, like sex and friendship. Cutting off their pasts, they obscured their identities and drifted from location to location, leaving no trail behind. They didn’t even decorate the homes they briefly inhabited all over the United States. They believed they would eventually be rewarded for their ascetism and get lifted into an UFO to go to their true home.
They would go to nearby Manzano for groceries and supplies, where people thought they were alarmingly bizarre. They spoke openly about waiting for the spaceship and tried to recruit locals, who were horrified. Supposedly, they chose the spot in the Manzanos after someone saw a UFO land there.
Once the members committed mass suicide, the FBI tried to identify the cult members to notify their families, but they encountered many dead-ends. The members who lived in New Mexico used fake names that were often tied to addresses for churches or non-existent businesses. Two of the victims, Margaret Bull and Suzanne Cook, had actually gotten hired for jobs in Albuquerque, but neither ever showed up for their first day. Marshall Applewhite actually owned the Sunshine Company Deli and a bar in Taos for a while but no one really knew who he was, just that he was a smooth-talking con artist.
Additional Reading:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jury-selection-set-open-terrorism-040854919.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Cult-Left-Unfinished-Fortress-In-New-Mexico-But-2847168.php
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Our_Righteousness_Church