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Vice Blog

NEW YORK - JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

Michael Travesser used to be a normal, schlubby guy named Wayne Bent until he was inexplicably infused with the spirit of the archangel Michael, aka the true Son of God. This spiritual integration (or as we like to call it "God rape") just kind of happened one day, and disappointingly, was nothing like the Zuul scene from Ghostbusters. He just woke up the next morning feeling noticeably more God-y. It bears mention though that, according to Travesser, the last time this kind of thing occurred was when it happened to a little beardy guy you may have heard of named Jesus H. Christ.

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In 1987 Mike formed the Lord Our Righteousness church and established "Strong City" in New Mexico. He and his followers have been holed up there for the past two decades to wait out the seven plagues which precede the end of the world—the last of which he says we're about to experience. His doomsday theories have been on the web for years, but a couple days after our interview he announced that the Apocalypse was actually happening and shut down his site. Hope we didn't kick-start the final destruction by sniding the Son of God.

Vice: So, when is the world ending?
Michael Travesser: Right now we're in the midst of the sixth plague. The seventh plague is poured into the air, which is indicative of some kind of bombing. It's the one that takes down society and destroys the economy. It seems to be associated with Iran more than any other place.

Is there a way we can turn things around or are we totally fucked?
In scripture there is always room for repentance, but in the plagues it says people will not do that this time.

How did you first know you were the Son of God?
The first coming of Christ was when the Son of God appeared in Jesus. The second coming is when he appears in all those who are his followers. A person can see the relationship that Jesus had with God through the scriptures and know that it's the same relationship his people will have with God now.

Wait so everybody's Jesus now? Are you a better Jesus than everyone else?
I don't see myself as better or higher than anyone. You can say that the head is more important than the bowel. But without the bowel, the head wouldn't be living.

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Right. Have you ever experimented with drugs?
When I was in my 20s, the Holy Spirit came to me and I thought I'd celebrate so I bought a six-pack of beer because I was really feeling wonderful. Then the Holy Spirit left immediately, and I realized, "Oh, this doesn't give you God."

What miracles have you performed?
Once some children were playing and they were throwing sticks at butterflies. One of the sticks went right into this child's eye. He went to the hospital. The doctors said the eye had been destroyed—it was quite a large stick. I had him come to the church and we prayed for him to be healed. He went back to the hospital and the previously damaged eye could see better than his other eye.

What do you say to people who think Jesus isn't real and the Bible is a collection of stories made up to control people?
People who don't have the spirit speaking into their life, they're going to always see spiritual things as odd or strange or weird. My real world is the invisible world. That's the world that's real to me. The visible world—the touch-world of plastic and metal—that's really the unreal world to me. You know, the real world.

PS: Just for clarification, the above photo features Michael and his followers "preparing to pour out the plagues."

ROCCO CASTORO