This is the fourth post in a series about my experiences with “loud prayer”, “blasting” and “deliverance” while in Greenville, SC and later Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) at Spindale, NC. My entire time in this group spanned from 1992 to 2008. The amounts of loud prayer or deliverance varied as time went on. During my last few years at WOFF, there were fewer extended prayer meetings than in the early years. The length of most meetings was shortened and we were told to “get the children home quickly to get them in bed”. Seminar meetings were put on a more regular schedule as well as the number of meetings reduced. In the early seminars, there would be three meetings a day. In recent years, there were only two meetings a day during week long seminars. Most every seminar series of meetings ended with a “fellowship dinner”. This was not the case in the beginning.
Jane Whaley and the members at WOFF may claim these posts are “persecution”. However, telling my personal experiences is not meant to hurt or wound. I just desire to tell it like it was during my days in arguably one of the most controversial religious groups in western North Carolina. Since much of the time in my years at WOFF, there was limited access to the media, including newspapers; I did not realize the full scope of the controversy until I left and began to learn about things not shared with regular members. Not all members of WOFF know the full details of the many court cases originating from child custody disputes or other issues.
As far as I remember being told, Jane Whaley began to practice deliverance in prayer groups before 1979(?) when she and her husband, Sam returned to Rutherford county from Tulsa, OK. If not in 1979 (?), I think it was soon there after that Jane and Sam departed from their relationship with Kenneth Hagin Ministries. The pivotal issue was deliverance and the question- “Can Christians have devils?” Jane Whaley, Sam and their followers believed that deliverance was essential and Christians could have demons in them. Sam Whaley had been a teacher at Rhema Bible School for Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Tulsa, OK. He had traveled to many countries sharing the teachings of Rhema. This of course ended when WOFF was started.
The scriptures are full of references to “deliverance”. There are accounts of folks being delivered at the hands of Jesus and the Apostles. Those references in scripture are obvious. However, when it comes to applying what is seen in scriptures to our everyday life, that is where differences arise. Is WOFF the only church to ever have practiced some form of deliverance? No. Churches in the past have had prayer groups for deliverance and “casting out devils”. Do all use the same methods? No, some are less demonstrative. Some groups may be more methodical. The methods and results of these methods for WOFF or other churches will not be discussed fully here.
We have described the set-up of an individual deliverance group in previous posts. At times, this group may have been called a “truth circle” at WOFF. Generally, the leader would ask the person getting prayer what had God showed them? If nothing was mentioned then the group leader would most times, tell the others in the group to begin praying and “hitting the heavens”. The person getting prayer would most of the time just begin to “cry out to God” or give to the “groanings” while others “blasted” the heavens. If I seem vague, it is because there were no written instructions or exact Jane Whaley approved methods. Much was learned from watching others and some informal instruction one may hear from leadership in the church.
The leader of the group may keep praying for a while and the person getting prayer keep “seeking God”. Many times, the leader would ask the person getting prayer about certain things and that may lead the group to pray a different way. The loud prayer, blasting and deliverance could go on for a couple of hours or more. There was prayer until the person got a “breakthrough”. A breakthrough could be almost any sign of improvement in the person getting prayer. Not always, but sometimes after they had coughed up “stuff”. Jane Whaley or leadership folks may go from group to group to check to see if there was progress. Occasionally, Jane or others may join in and help pray for individuals.
The dynamics of these groups changed over the years and it is difficult to share absolutes. I can offer observations that I had over the many years, as I participated in many prayer groups. Did people change or “get free”? Many times, a person would be seen getting prayer for the same thing over and over. Was this type of prayer the total answer to walking righteous with Jesus? No. Did folks become confused wondering why they had not been able to conquer whatever sin or behavior which they kept getting prayer for? Yes. Those who had doubts, whether expressed or not, had a hard time being changed by whatever method was being used; whether it was prayer, reading scriptures or listening to tapes. It took years to realize that having others pray “deliverance” over you was not the panacea that one was led to believe. You had to have personal relationship with Jesus regardless of the “activities” going on around you. That is true regardless of what movement or church in which you happen to belong. Prayer for deliverance is not now as common as it was in years past at WOFF. However, that statement is not meant to cause one to believe it is not practiced at WOFF. As far as I know, this type of prayer still occurs at WOFF.
In future posts, I will share more about group prayer sessions and what I observed there. I will also share other observations about the dynamics of this type of prayer and how it was used.
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