The following is a brief narration of events leading to the exit of Ben McGee from Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in Spindale, NC. Though my family had not moved to Spindale before these events took place, we knew Ben, his wife and children. Since we were living in Greenville, the details in this story were not conveyed to us, as far as I remember. As I learned, this exit drama was not unusual for WOFF families. If there are other former members who would like to share their story, please contact me by email- author@religiosucultsinco.com

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My WOFF Exit Drama- Ben McGee

Introduction

In or around the early 90’s my wife and I moved from Jacksonville Fl. to Rutherfordton NC. for a number of reasons. Close friends from a bible study group we attended had been to a seminar in Florida WOFF had hosted and told us how wonderful it was and they were going to move to go to bible school in North Carolina. I trusted these friends; I could see and feel their zeal to do God’s work unselfishly. My wife was recovering from destructive crack and alcohol addictions which if we stayed without the help of close friends, I feared would return. I had my own demons but not the violent addictive behavior openly displayed by my ex-wife. Many will sit in judgment of my actions and decisions but the fact is the majority of people have problems they aren’t aware of or refuse to acknowledge and deal with or simply don’t know how. Please, bear in mind this is a blog and not a book so all the dynamics of my life and choices are not discussed or explained. In faith, we packed all our belongings in a truck and my wife drove the car with our 4 children. Contrary to WOFF’s made up perceptions we were not on the verge of divorce. Why on earth would we go through all we did if it weren’t the hope in our hearts of a better life? We did not ask to come; we did not know anything about Word of Faith Spindale or Rutherford County. We came in faith.

My first impressions of this cult were wow! Jane had a powerful and charismatic presence. While there were things going on I had no knowledge until later, my focus was on settling in, finding work and a place to live. While I found these practices strange I accepted these new things like a deer in car headlights, we were not going back. There were and are so many wonderful and gifted people at WOFF who are truly kind and have a heart to serve the Lord. I was a relatively new Christian and prior to the crisis in my marriage had never had a close relationship with our Lord Jesus. I confess to being confused as to how God would work in my life and well, who God is. I had been to Benny Hinn’s Church and witnessed being slain in the spirit as well as other unknowns. I was raised as Lutheran and had no prior experiences with other practices or cared to know prior to the current crisis in my life. I’d hoped to not only resolve the problems in my marriage but also learn more about what it is to be a believer in Christ our Savior. I would soon learn more than I ever expected both of God’s grace and mercy and man’s destructive and selfish perversion of the Gospel.

Since exiting WOFF and learning the truth about Jane’s true evil and cruel nature, the twisted ways she claims God operates using deceit and outright lying to claim the blessings upon the works of her hands. Being subjected to numerous abuses not just to myself but my relationship with my children, unwarranted stress on my family and other former members outside of WOFF who just wanted to move on with life. I had to live in two worlds and be tolerant and patient for my children’s sake and the community, yet proceed boldly and confront this evil enterprise and expose the true motives of this Cult. After separating I not only lost faith in myself but, in God as well. I must confess that bitterness and resentment took hold of my life. How could this evil go unpunished and continue to survive all these years I reasoned. It has taken many years to heal and go beyond the hurts. It is in humility I tell my story, not in hopes of destroying but in saving.

Moving Forward

In April of 2000 I had had enough of looking the other way and it was time for my family to leave. The reasons were many and personal. The motivation was this church was not a church that helped and served the community but a self serving and greed motivated machine with a power hungry self appointed leader with no formal theological back ground. The most compelling was the fact that my wife and I were no longer the head of our household; the cult was the head and decision maker. This resulted in each individual family member was separated; parent to parent, children to parents and siblings and of course anyone not a part of the WOFF.

The cult and my ex-wife (allegedly) conspired to hide my children from me because I no longer desired to be a part of this cult and put myself on cult discipline at home refusing to attend to buy time to myself. My ex-wife may have been encouraged do this and probably took great pleasure in doing so. I did not know how to communicate my thoughts and feeling to my ex-wife as all intimacy was destroyed.

To our true Lord God I owe all the glory for he was leading and guiding me. I took a stand and loaded a tape recorder in my pocket and went to where my children were just down the street. My ex-wife was at work and not in control of our children, nor would she tell me where they were staying or why. At this location, I demanded this lady return my children to my care while standing in the street. She entered the house as I waited in the street. Soon many cars from the cult were driving by me slowly; after all I lived on the same dead end street. I stepped onto the driveway of the house next door and asked permission to be there, I knew this person as a co-worker, they were not WOFF members. I was concerned the cult would call the police and label me a lunatic in the road, to get rid of me. Soon, a former deputy sheriff turned private investigator and member of cult security team showed up to talk me into leaving that property and failing that to go back to my home to discuss the issues with Karel Reynolds, I could smell the setup. At that time, my ex had appeared while I waited. I went with him walking back to my home back toward the compound.

Of interest at this time was the vehicle with dark tint that pulled up and parked at a cult-owned home across the street. During this drama no one got out. Arriving at my home, I went into the master bedroom where my ex-wife and Karel were waiting. Essentially they wanted me to leave and offered a one way bus ticket. I told them I did not know where to go. I didn’t really know anyone there. I called my mother to tell her what was happening. She was traveling the country by fifth wheel and at that time was in Arizona. The cult leaders wanted me to just leave everything behind. The day before, I spoke to my mother and told her what I planned to leave and what I was going to do to get my children and gave her the Spindale police number. My tape recorder was running the whole time. I told my mother who was there in the room what they wanted. My ex-wife snatched the phone cord from the wall. While we continued talking in the bedroom more about me leaving, two Spindale police officers arrived and one came into the master bedroom finding everything “OK”. While we were not physically fighting and yelling, the tension was thick. I announced I was leaving to find my children and walked to the front door only to find five uninvited male members standing in a line across my living room. I proceeded out the front door and was greeted by another police officer and the cult security stooge. They all filed out after me and the cult security stooge was assuring the police everything was “OK”. He acted as if this was perfectly normal and simply domestic dispute over drama of the custody of children inside WOFF. The drama was more true than many knew, only it was not just about myself and my ex-wife. I hopped in my van to leave and the security stooge stepped in the door and wanted to go with me. I leaned out the door and looked at the police and told him it would be better if we split up loud enough for the police to hear me. He looked at the police, considered the consequences and backed off. He had parked down the street so he couldn’t immediately follow me. From there, I went to stay with some former WOFF members.

This had been the easy part. I later reviewed the tape and heard strange tones at the point before I drove away. A friend familiar with electronics said they were broadcasting a signal from a television antenna on the roof of the cult building across the street. This signal was used to scramble or block microphones and recording devices. It’s interesting that a cult who does not allow members to watch television has a mini-dish and an analog TV antenna. I never heard the sound while there yet, the microphone of my tape recorder picked it up. You could tell someone was rotating the antenna as the signal would fade in then out. Also, I later found through public records that all of the uninvited male WOFF members at my home were licensed to carry concealed weapons. This was not common knowledge to members at WOFF.

While this is a public blog the story belongs to myself and may not be used in whole or part without my written approval. Yes, I am copywriting this. I will be updating as I continue to unravel events of the past experiences of this cult.

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Thank you, Ben, for sharing such a personal story. Others will be helped; others will remember their story and hopefully come forward. This blog is a forum for survivors to tell their story in hopes of processing the drama and emotion involved in cult life. I will accept stories from WOFF survivors as well as survivors from other groups.

Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog. 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, for posts written by John Huddle, any information about WOFF is from his 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 382.