Strong City

[tonyh29]

He would cliam to be the messiah and would free women by sleeping with them

In that case ...

I'm the Messiah

PS

Fit birds only need apply , ugly birds can be freed remotely via the web , even the messiah has joined the 21st century

[TerryCzap]

I saw this film the other day, but I observed it from a slightly different angle. If I were the producer, I would have named the film "The Art Of Deception". There are a number of reasons that I would have done this. Primarily, because it demonstrated that the media intends to give the viewers a skewed perception of the events, so that they believe things that were not true.

By the way it was presented, many viewers had already prejudged the people that belonged to this little group, even before they had been given much more than a primer about them in the TV Guides and such.

I will give a couple examples of what I am referring to. The first twisted projection was that neither the subject of the film, Michael Travesser, nor any of his "followers" had predicted that the world would end on Oct. 31 or Dec. 15. Did any of you notice this statement only came from the narrator Ben Anthony? It was preprogrammed into the psyche of the viewer by the various adds as well as the promo video clips that these guys are nut jobs, because the world did not end in October as they supposedly had said.

Also, within the first two minutes of the film, viewers were given the impression that Michael is some kind of creepy pedophile by showing old clips of him hugging children, then having a young woman say she took her clothes off in front of him. This was all done for effect and to sway the perception of the viewer.

Granted, the events that took place on the Strong City land were strange enough, but the film's maker seemed to have delved into excess by cranking things up a bit to get more viewers and build more controversy. I could list a multitude of events from the film which portray the "slight of hand work" that was done by the broadcasters.

The end result of this film has accomplished its task however. When the Christ came 2000 years ago he was made to look like a mad man, like he had a devil. In like manner, this film brought about the same result to the one who claims to be the Christ in our age.

[Gringo]

Interesting subject to choose for your first post Terry. Welcome, I think.

[villab0y]

I saw this film the other day, but I observed it from a slightly different angle. ....The end result of this film has accomplished its task however. When the Christ came 2000 years ago he was made to look like a mad man, like he had a devil. In like manner, this film brought about the same result to the one who claims to be the Christ in our age.

He admitted to sleeping with his Daughter in law to help her become close to god.

He very nearly admitted sleeping with minors, but said he stopped at the last minute.

Whichever way you look at it the guy is a nut job, and Im sure he did predict the end of the world cause it was mentioned about him changing bodyform.

Oh yeah, Welcome.

[dundeevilla]

Cmon Terry. You make it sound like these guys were somehow wrongly portrayed in this film. The leader was a lunatic and his followers were tragic individuals. He should be in jail. He certainly did predict the end of the world on that date and he was guilty of 'lying naked' with underage girls.

The ludicrous religious belief that a Messiah will visit Earth before an "end of days" allows dangerous cranks like this to somehow get away with sleeping with minors and brainwashing weak people.

[OutByEaster?]

To be fair to the director, when you find some crackpot group like this, you wring every last drop of entertainment out of them you can, that's his job.

Terry, isn't he more accurately described as the the one (amongst a couple of hundred others, all from the same lunatic area of the US) who claims to be the Christ in our age?

[ED]

I watched this, such a ridiculous thing. If you predict the apocalypse you set yourself up to be laughed at. If it happens no-one is going to be able to say what a genius he is, but every time he's wrong he's just going to look like an idiot.

When the world was going to end in 2001 I had a tenner bet with a mate that it wouldn't. He never realised that he would never have gotten his money had he been right.

[TerryCzap]

Cmon Terry. You make it sound like these guys were somehow wrongly portrayed in this film. The leader was a lunatic and his followers were tragic individuals.

Yes, that is part of my point. Most of the film was made to encourage people to talk and think the very way you are carrying on. After seeing the reaction of the people, it made me wonder: who is the lunatic here, the Travessers, or the gullible ones who were led by their noses by the films maker?

He should be in jail.

Why should a man be thrown in jail if no laws were broken and no crimes committed? If the Child Protective Service, the Sheriff, the State Police and the FBI can't find something wrong, despite having investigated on multiple occasions and interviewing the children - maybe the something wrong is in the minds of the observers and not the "cult".

He certainly did predict the end of the world on that date

I am one of the individuals living in NM at what some call "Strong City". During the 100 hours of filming that the interviewer had taken of the group, he had asked close to twenty times "what is going to happen on Oct. 31", he was always told that no one knew the answer to that question. He was given examples of what could happen (like a body change), but no one ever suggested the end of the earth. In one un-aired interview, Ben himself realizes and says that Oct. 31 represents a "beginning" for the group as much as the end of a time period (490 year prophecy) - this was conveniently left out of his film. What I have just explained is documented (recorded) by the group members themselves as well as by Ben.

From OutByEaster?

"To be fair to the director, when you find some crackpot group like this, you wring every last drop of entertainment out of them you can, that's his job."

Let's be fair about it then. Have you thought about who in their right mind would give "unprecedented access" to the BBC, simply so they can make you look like a criminal? At this time the net is full of death threats against Michael, as well as hundreds of people crying out for him to be thrown in jail. Nobody in their right mind would have allowed this to be done on purpose.

We have only let the media film us one other time. It was a local news agency and they claimed they wanted to dispel the fears of society about our "suicide pack" that everyone thought was supposed to happen several years ago. When the news piece aired, they did the opposite of what they claimed they were going to do. They made it look like they were watching us to prevent a calamity. We realized this was not going to happen again.

Since then, many agencies have wanted to do a story on us (Guardian, National Geographic) but we always turned them down, as we are not interested in attention for its own sake. Then Ben Anthony came along. He portrayed himself as one who lets the subjects of the film tell their own story by letting them talk. He gave his word that this would happen, but He simply lied in the end, and it was due to his own offended self righteousness. If you knew the story behind many of the events portrayed, the film would have had a completely different perception.

Instead of giving our story in our own words about the return of Christ, his voice suggests to the audience everything that he is wanting the audience to believe, such as, Michael predicted the end of the world.

I would like to give one more example of the suggestive behavioralism that Ben excels in: it was in saying the members were preparing for death. I've been with these people for almost twenty years and you will never hear them say they are preparing for death. They may say they are preparing to leave the earth (like Jesus did), but not preparing for death.

Our purpose has been to leave the earth just like Jesus did. Is that such a strange thing? I thought everyone who believed the bible wanted the world to end some day, and that they were preparing for Jesus to return and go away with him.

Here is another thought for the bible believer - Yes, some of the things that happened here look very strange, but do you think it looked a bit sadistic for Abraham to go up on a mountain and attempt to kill his son? A person takes by faith that God told Abraham to do this. In like manner, I have accepted by faith that Michael did all that he did because God told him to do it. Is that so hard to accept?

Jesus was killed for crimes he did not commit and the modern Christ is being put on trial for the world to judge at this time. Humanity gets a second chance.

[dundeevilla]

I am one of the individuals living in NM at what some call "Strong City".

:shock:

[ahamaad]

:shock:

So are you a member of this group then Terry?

[LincsVilla]

So what happened at Midnight?

[TerryCzap]

Yes ahamaad, I am.

[billy_loes]

Terryczap - are you a fully fledged member living in Idaho?

[drat01]

Terry - good to have you on VT and interesting to hear your views.

I'm not saying I agree with them :-) but I think you will find that a few people on here are genuinely interested in what you have to say and will let you know when they don't agree and why

[BOF]

Has to be said, everything Terry is saying regarding the methods employed by documentary makers makes perfect sense, is well known and we've seen it over and over again by people including the likes of Michael Moore. It is very possible to take something slightly out of the ordinary (and therefore something people are automatically uncomfortable with) and twist it, all the while giving the viewer exactly what they expected all along. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that things were completely made up or exacerbated to the point of completely being out of context. As Terry says, if they were breaking laws and doing all of these things don't you think they'd have been locked up a long time ago? Makes sense to me when you think about it.

No disrespect Terry, that kind of thing is not my cup of tea (take a look at our 'creationist' thread) but I can see how it would be very frustrating for you to have not a single media outlet willing to give your side, without taking it and turning it into something they said they wouldn't.

[TerryCzap]

What happened at midnight? I think everyone saw what happened at midnight (Oct. 31). We did exactly what we told Ben we were going to do. We blew a trumpet (recording), a copy of which had already been given to Ben a couple days before hand. We marched around our camp shouting "liberty" just as the bible told us to do. Ben was told of our exact intentions beforehand, though he acted surprised in the narration.

This activity was a symbol of the beginning of a Jubilee year, in which all of mankind was forgiven of his sins and allowed to return to his Maker, no longer being enslaved to demonic forces. The children of Israel marched around Jericho 7 times, and no one thinks that to be strange. We did what God told us to do.

Affiliate? I live in NM where our little community is located. We have been here for a little over 7 years, and were previously located in Idaho.

[limpid]

The children of Israel marched around Jericho 7 times, and no one thinks that to be strange. We did what God told us to do.

I think it's mighty strange that they did that and that it made the walls fall down.

Or I would if I didn't believe it to be a myth.

[blandy]

...I've been with these people for almost twenty years and ...They may say they are preparing to leave the earth (like Jesus did), but not preparing for death.

Our purpose has been to leave the earth just like Jesus did. Is that such a strange thing?

Bluntly, yes.

...

I thought everyone who believed the bible wanted the world to end some day, and that they were preparing for Jesus to return and go away with him.

I don't think so. I think actually that the opposite is true. People don't want the world to end. They kind of think " that would be bad". Bad for them, bad for their loved ones, just all round really not at all good.

...Yes, some of the things that happened here look very strange, but do you think it looked a bit sadistic for Abraham to go up on a mountain and attempt to kill his son? A person takes by faith that God told Abraham to do this. In like manner, I have accepted by faith that Michael did all that he did because God told him to do it. Is that so hard to accept?

It's not hard to accept, even if it is hard ( if not impossible) to understand why or how people fall for it.

Still, it's a free World. If you want to believe that a bloke called Michael gets talked to by God, and you want to follow his instructions, go ahead.

At some point, you're going to feel rather disappointed, and let down I fear.

[TerryCzap]

Hi BOF,

Nice to hear of someone who can reason a bit. WMD in Iraq is the best example of media manipulation, but people love to be lied to. To be honest, we were not even interested in getting our story out, since it was not over yet. But because Ben promised he would let us tell our story, we agreed. After seeing the presentation, I found it to have been just the way it needed to be, as it did its work. Everyone who saw it in the UK gets to judge a man they know little about and have never met. They will do this by appying the attributes in their own heart to another - and not by the character of the man himself. Soon silly Americans will get to do the same thing, and the war will ramp up to the next level.

Terry

[dundeevilla]

Sorry Terry, but you're being lied to in a big way by your 'Messiah' Michael.

Get out of there asap would be my heartfelt advice.