Cult leader goes to trial

TAOS, N.M. (KRQE) - The man who said that he only answers to god will soon be answering to a judge and a jury of his peers.

The trial of cult leader Wayne Bent is scheduled to begin Monday, on charges that he sexually abused some of his underage female followers.

Bent insists that the contact he had with the alleged victims at the cult compound were acts of God.

Shortly after he was arrested back in May, Bent said that he would stop eating.

Since then he has been in and out of jail on hunger strikes. On Nov. 21 he was released from jail.

As part of his release, he has to maintain a balanced diet so he will be in good health for the beginning of the trial.

Bent is the leader of the "Lord Our Righteousness Church" near Clayton, N.M.

Two teenage girls and one boy were taken away from the cult compound back in April by the state after allegations of sex crimes surfaced.

Bent's son, Jeff Bent, described his father's actions as acts of healing back in May.

"Everything he has done, he's done because people have come to him and asked him to do it," he said.

Bent faces several counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The trial will be held in Taos.

Bent claims that he is the messiah. He also predicted that the world would end on Oct. 31, and that all of his cult members would follow him into heaven.