Tag Archives: Robert J. Lifton

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Join Us- The Movie

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   Recently, I became aware of the documentary entitled – “Join Us”. The film is presented by Interloper Films along with Lusitan and was produced by Ondi Timoner and Vasco Lucas Nunes. (copyright© Third Floor Productions, LLC 2007) The movie is the only film I know of which shows actual cult members as they come to the knowledge of their predicament, grapple with their options, take steps to change and then face the leaders of the group. This is the introductory post in a series that will take dialog and scenes from this movie and compare them to my experience both inside and outside of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). The film has a dedicated website with supporting information. The site is www.joinusthemovie.com . We will reference the information on the website as we continue. We have added the website to our Links page found on the right side of the home page.    

    Steven Hassan, an often quoted source on this blog, is quoted on his website www.freedomofmind.com as saying, ““One of the most ambitious documentaries ever done that shows the suffering caused by authoritarian cult groups.” He appears several times in the film along with Rick Ross, a well know Cult Expert and Intervention Specialist. Rick’s website is www.rickross.com Other experts appear in the film along with Dr. Paul Martin from Wellspring. Robert Lifton is shown in several clips explaining his work on thought reform and its application to the understanding of cults. The supporting cast of cult experts is a great resource for those wanting to learn more on the subject. Also, on the website for the movie under the “Take the Cult Test” tab, there is an outline of Robert Lifton’s eight criteria for determining if a group is using thought reform.

    From the back cover of the DVD case:

“Join Us follows four families as they leave a controlling and abusive church in South Carolina and come to realize that they have been members of a cult. The film documents them intimately as they enter Wellspring, the only accredited live-in cult treatment facility in the world. At Wellspring, they learn how they were brainwashed to give up control of their lives to the Pastor and his wife, allowing their children to undergo severe abuse in order to make heaven.

Continue reading Join Us- The Movie →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Unintended Consequences?

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    Last night, I watched a report on FOX News® with John Stossel. He recounted laws, programs and moves made by our elected officials during this past year. The ones he highlighted had “unintended consequences”. Some of the people interviewed agreed and others were very unwilling to admit that the effects of these moves had been negative or even worth addressing. It was a very informative report.

   After watching this report, I wondered if this could be how some folks view Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and Jane Whaley. Could some folks be unwilling to acknowledge the negative fallout for members who are in and/or have been inside that group? Would there be some folks who see the broken relationships, emotional torment and social adjustment issues for those that leave WOFF as “unintended consequences” and therefore give Jane a free pass? Could it be possible that like some politicians that deny the harmful consequences of their policies and programs, Jane and her leadership are in denial that their doctrines, methods and practices are harmful to their members?

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Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (9) “The Dispensing of Existence”

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   We are continuing on the subject of thought reform. This post is the ninth in a series which will tell what thought reform is and what behavior is evidence of a thought reform environment. Our reference book is “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). This work has been from Chapter 22 titled “Ideological Totalism”. The eighth post explained the “Doctrine Over Person” and how that affected members within WOFF. Next, we will review another characteristic of thought reform- “The Dispensing of Existence”. Did I see this characteristic of thought reform during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)? WOFF is run by Jane Whaley. As a review, I spent 16 years being involved in WOFF. My experience within the group is a “normal” one as far as I can tell.

   In this post, we will examine the last characteristic of the totalist environment as explained by the author- Robert Jay Lifton. Before we go on, let it be known that by writing this series, I am not claiming to have the depth of understanding that the author possesses on this subject. Also, in no way will I pretend to have written a complete argument of the thesis that I experienced these same thought reform techniques while at WOFF. I found that each time I sat down to write, more remembrances from the past came forth in relation to previously mentioned thought reform techniques. So, in short, the aim of explaining the author’s observations in comparison to my experience is in reality – a work in progress. At this time, I cannot give a methodical explanation how Jane Whaley and her leadership took on these devices that were/are also found in Chinese thought reform. The author’s ideas on the origins of thought reform should be restated here: “…the coming together of immoderate ideology with equally immoderate individual character traits—an extremist meeting ground between people and ideas. (page 419) The first post in this series is worth a reread… http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=3225

    Continue reading Thought Reform? At WOFF? (9) “The Dispensing of Existence” →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (8) “Doctrine Over Person”

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     We again continue on the subject of thought reform. This post is the eighth in a series which will tell what thought reform is and what behavior is evidence of a thought reform environment. Our reference book is “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). This work has been from Chapter 22 titled “Ideological Totalism”. The seventh post explained the “Loading the Language” and how that affected members within WOFF. Next, we will review another characteristic of thought reform- “Doctrine Over Person”. Did I see this characteristic of thought reform during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)? WOFF is run by Jane Whaley. As a review, I spent 16 years being involved in WOFF. My experience within the group is a “normal” one as far as I can tell.

    The author of our reference text did not start out studying cults or their patterns of behaviors. The research for this resource book was from interviews from the 1950s. Lifton interviewed several who had survived Chinese thought reform techniques. After he had published this work, those who had been affected by cults, religious or otherwise, began to seek his counsel. The main focus was the material in Chapter 22 of his book. Those who had come out of a cult or who had relatives in a cult began to identify with the information in discovered Lifton’s research. This series of events is so vital in understanding why I feel this information is so basic to understanding WOFF and groups like them.

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Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Information control, Thought Reform

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (7) “Loading the Language”

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    We are continuing on the subject of thought reform. This post is the seventh in a series which will tell what thought reform is and what behavior is evidence of a thought reform environment. Our reference book is “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). This work has been from Chapter 22 titled “Ideological Totalism”. The sixth post explained the “Sacred Science” and how that affected members within WOFF. Next, we will review another characteristic of thought reform- “Loading the Language”. Did I see this characteristic of thought reform during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)? WOFF is run by Jane Whaley. As a review, I spent 16 years being involved in WOFF. My experience within the group is a “normal” one as far as I can tell.

      Before we get into the source material, we need to make a few distinctions on this subject. First, most every group in any culture will have specific terms related to unique activities or customs within that group. This is true in business, sub-cultures, hobby groups, industrial trades, medical fields and so on. These could be labeled “lingo” or group-activity specific unique terms. I have experienced this in many areas as I feel certain many readers have as well. In business, there are even unique terms in diverse groups within one industry or company. This is a serious part of the learning curve when one moves from one group to another or even one job to another within the same field. For instance, there are differing terms to describe many of the same services or products within the consumer financial services industry. Banks use one set of terms and Credit Unions use another to describe many of the same products or services.

    In and of themselves, these “lingo” terms do not harm but serve to identify and in some cases unify folks around a certain activity or cause. So, where does the harm reside in the totalist environment when terms describing certain activities or beliefs are used? Robert Lifton opens the material with this statement, “The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed.” (page 429) Can former members agree that this was common at WOFF?

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Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (6) “Sacred Science”

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    We are continuing on the subject of thought reform. This post is the sixth in a series which will tell what thought reform is and what behavior is evidence of a thought reform environment. Our reference book is “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). This work has been from Chapter 22 titled “Ideological Totalism”. The fifth post explained the “Cult of Confession” and how that affected members within WOFF. Next, we will review another characteristic of thought reform- The “Sacred Science”. Did I see this characteristic of thought reform during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)? WOFF is run by Jane Whaley. As a review, I spent 16 years being involved in WOFF. My experience within the group is a “normal” one as far as I can tell.

    When I first read this part of the author’s work, it was hard to adjust to the term “science”. While at WOFF, there were conferences dealing with history and science. However, it was clear that at WOFF the main source of “truth” was not science or balanced reasoning with evidence, but, it was the Scriptures as interrupted by Jane Whaley. It would be difficult to understand this enigma and its resulting characteristics unless you have been in WOFF or another religious controlling group. Outsiders are accustomed to several sources of information, opinions and viewpoints. These are ideally used for an individual to review and assess, then form their individual views and opinions. This process is totally foreign to the environment inside of WOFF. Jane Whaley interprets the limited information that is given to the members. She uses her self-proclaimed authority as the basis for these actions. As a WOFF member, if you dare form your own opinion which may run contrary to Jane, you would learn not to express it. Expressing opinions different from Jane was not a common occurrence at WOFF. That of course does not mean that individual opinions do not exist. In order to stay in the group, there has to be a level of denial of your own opinions and views and a level of pretending that Jane is always right and is the only source of “Truth”. As I reread Lifton’s work, this is exactly the scenario he was explaining.

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Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (5) The Cult of Confession

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    We are continuing on the subject of thought reform. This post is the fifth in a series which will tell what thought reform is and what behavior is evidence of a thought reform environment. Our reference book is “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). This work has been from Chapter 22 titled “Ideological Totalism”. The fourth post explained the “demand for purity” and how that affected members within WOFF. Next, we will review another characteristic of thought reform- “The Cult of Confession”. Did I see this characteristic of thought reform during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)? WOFF is run by Jane Whaley. As a review, I spent 16 years being involved in WOFF. My experience within the group is a “normal” one as far as I can tell.

    Lifton begins by explaining his ideas on the subject by telling how close this aspect of confession is to the “demand for purity”. He tells in greater detail the effects of the written and public confession that were required in the Chinese thought reform environment. It has continued to astound me the correlations and similarities between Chinese thought reform and life at WOFF. Lifton writes, “Closely related to the demand for absolute purity is an obsession with personal confession. Confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself…In the totalist (cult leader) hands, confession becomes a means of exploiting, rather than offering solace for, these vulnerabilities.” (page 425)

    He lists three special meanings that confession takes on in the thought reform that he studied. In my opinion, these meanings are the same in WOFF life. “It is first a vehicle for the kind of personal purification which we just discussed, a means of maintaining a perpetual inner emptying or psychological purge of impurity… Second, it is an act of symbolic self surrender, the expression of merging of individual and environment. Third, it is a means of maintaining an ethos of total exposure – a policy of making public (or at least known to the Organization) everything possible about the life experiences, thoughts, and passions of each individual, and especially those elements which might be derogatory.” (page 425-426)   

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