March 29th was a bright sunny morning in Rutherfordton. The monthly gathering at the courthouse of those seeking justice or relief proceeded as usual. Between 8:30 and 9:30, as the gallery filled with anxious citizens, attorneys called out the name of their client. Obviously, many were meeting for the first time. Strategies were shared and deals struck as attorneys and the Assistant District Attorney, Lacy Beam, processed the pending docket.
Stephen’s attorney, Paul Ditz, arrived and immediately took his position near ADA Beam. After a brief exchange, he walked back to Stephen to give him the news. The ADA requested mediation with the goal of a resolution and dismissal of the charges. The mediator was in attendance. Soon, Stephen walked back to the conference room with the mediator, his brother, Brent, and Brent’s wife, Mariana.
A few minutes later, as I walked downstairs, I saw Brent leaving the meeting room. Stephen told me later, he asked his brother to leave the mediation because he did not want any ill feelings between them.
After some time, Stephen came in the courtroom and motioned to me. The mediation had been successful. An agreement was reached and his brother gave him his computer. A picture album was still a pending item, but the charges of breaking and entering were dropped.
Stephen explained the mediation session as pretty straight forward. He was allowed to tell his side consisting of a review of the WOFF cult dynamics of control and authority adding his many attempts to contact his family.
Mariana’s answer was short and to her point. She told the mediator that the reason they decided not to talk to Stephen had nothing to do with the church. It was because of all the “dangerous” things he does on Facebook. She did not want her toddler daughter to be a part of that. She did not offer any examples.
Stephen pointed out that they were “breaking the rules” even knowing what was on Facebook.
The mediator guided the two folks to agree to the following points: (paraphrased)
- Mariana would agree to drop the charges.
- Stephen agreed to never going to (Marian’s) house without permission of the owner.
- Mariana brought Stephen’s belongings (computer) to court and will give it to him. She will look for the photo album and return it if found.
They both signed the Resolution Agreement and received a copy. Stephen accepted his computer and had a civil exchange with his brother. He left feeling it was as good of an outcome as he could reasonably hope for given the circumstances.
So, what did we learn? Not much. Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) selectively applies their social media policy of “no Facebook” to meet their needs. Mariana’s comment about Facebook does not necessarily mean she surfs FB. Stephen’s content could be relayed to Mariana from the appointed FB troll of the week.
Again, we witnessed WOFF members deflecting the source of their behaviors away from WOFF lifestyle requirements. This is sad. I know this strategy because I used it when I was among them.
One day, in 2008, the strategy or “lie” did not work for me anymore. I admitted there were several euphemistic word plays which were the foundation of WOFF-life. We were encouraged to first lie to ourselves, then to others. That is a no-win situation, a foundation for fraud.
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(Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 657.