Questions That Lead to Freedom

     We will entertain the question: How likely is it that Jane Whaley of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) is the only pastor of a “Protestant, non-denominational church as defined by classical Christianity” to hear the voice of God so as to direct the lives of her members in “holy, righteous living”?

1. How many people are on the earth?

    Answer:   6,697,254,041 – 2008 Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (approx.)

2. How many folks claim to be Christian in the world?

   Answer:  2.1 billion (source- http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html )  This number includes those who adhere to part or all, or add to the “normal” Christian doctrines or beliefs.

3. How many people claim to be “Protestant” in their beliefs?

  Answer: According to World Christian Encyclopedia, there are “over 33,000 denominations in 238 countries,” having increased in number from 8,196 in 1970. Every year there is a net increase of around 270 to 300 denominations.[14] There are about 800 million Protestants worldwide,[15] among approximately 2.2 billion Christians.[16][17] These include 170 million in North America, 160 million in Africa, 120 million in Europe, 70 million in Latin America, 60 million in Asia, and 10 million in Oceania.

(source here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism )

4. Out of the “170 million” Protestants in North America, listed above, how many claim to be “non-denominational”?

  Answer: 36% according to a poll sited here…   http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/beliefnet_poll_010718.html – good information- That equates to about 61,200,000 people.

  5. What is the average size of a “Christian congregation”?

   Answer:  …rather than the average (186 attenders reported by the USCLS survey http://www.uscongregations.org/charact-cong.htm ),  source here… http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html#numcong

6. Approximately, how many pastors of “Protestant, non-denominational” churches would there be in America?…

    Answer: 329,032 – given all the information listed above and realizing an exact count is not likely.  

    How likely is it that out of 2.1 billion folks that call themselves Christian, that Jane Whaley is the only person to “hear the voice of God”?  

    How likely is it that out of the 170 million people in North America that call themselves “Protestant”, that Jane Whaley is the only one that knows “God’s will for your life”?

    How likely is it that out of the 61,200,000 people that identify with the label- “non-denominational”, that Jane Whaley is the only one who knows “how to walk with God”?

    How likely is it that out of the approximate 329,000 non-denominational ministers in North America today, that Jane Whaley is the one that has been ordained of God to act as the Holy Spirit in the hearts of her members and thus speak for God and teach them about “holy, righteous living”?

    Is it absurd that these questions would need to be posed? Maybe. But, I lived and walked among the members of Word of Faith Fellowship for many years. I never stopped to ask these questions.  When statements were made such as “We know there are others who know truth, but we just have not found them yet.” along with other references to Jane Whaley’s supreme ability in hearing God… I rarely doubted or questioned – enough to act. Many times, I would witness statements made and acts done that attested to the member’s deep profound belief in Jane’s unique ability to “hear God’s voice” for them;  acts of loyalty and commitment that signaled a deep confidence in Jane Whaley. For years, I believed the teachings of Jane Whaley, why else would I have stayed in such a restrictive environment. During my years at WOFF, I never considered how “blessed” I was to have met and come under the “guidance” of such a person whose gift is unmatched in the Body of Christ. Because of what some would call “blind faith”, I along with many others lived under the cloak of delusion surrounding the person of Jane Whaley. For those WOFF members still under this “gift” keep asking questions. Be bold enough to ask and keep on asking, until the answers come that lead to freedom.

“To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.” Benjamin Franklin

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
Thomas Jefferson

   Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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      (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. ) Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 137.

2 thoughts on “Questions That Lead to Freedom”

  1. This is unreal, isn’t it? But Jane does claim all these things. Do you remember the service (It may have been during a seminar) where Jane said she was talking to God and “they” realized that, she, Jane could not die because there wouldn’t be anyone to “lead the people”. Not retire mind you, but she couldn’t die. Isn’t that kind of major statement to be making. But many of the main leadership and almost everyone in the congregation was nodding and voicing their agreement, several started crying. I wondered why God would say something like that to her, but when Oral Roberts stated that God had told him if he didn’t scholarship his med students at ORU then HE(GOD) would take him (Oral) on home, that people said GOD would NEVER say such things? Makes me wonder. Hugs and prayers

  2. VS,
    Thank you for the reminder. It seems that that service does make it out of memory and come to the top. If other previous WOFF members remember that service- please, join in. KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS! Thank you for taking time to read and comment.

    John

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