Steven Lambert | Religious Cults Info ~ Resources, Answers and Hope

In the previous post, we looked at the work of Dr. Steven Lambert. He gave some insight into the shepherding movement. We compared a few of his insights into what I witnessed at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) from 1992 until 2008. The resource material for that post can be found here: Chapter 2 of “Charismatic Captivation” by Steve Lambert, ThD. (Publisher: Real Truth Publications, ISBN 1-887915-00-1 / 308pp.) Chapter 2 can be found here: http://www.slm.org/pubs/samples/ccbook2.html . Again, by using material form Dr. Lambert’s website, I am not giving a blanket endorsement to all his work. I have not read all his work and caution each reader to judge for themselves what he writes.

That being said, I did find an article from Dr. Lambert in which he lists signs of abuse within a church. This is the link to the article titled, “33 Signs of Spiritual Abuse”. I will quote several of these signs here and tell whether or not I found them to be in WOFF. The article begins, “There are at least thirty-three readily identifiable signs of spiritual abuse, or hyper-authoritarianism, practiced by many Charismatic churches. Being able to readily identify the signs and symptoms of authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement that is rampant among church groups today is absolutely essential for every believer in their quest to know and be personally related to the Great Shepherd, who is the Prince of Peace and the true “Guardian of our souls”. Lambert implies that these abusive practices will hinder a person from knowing “the Great Shepherd”. I most wholeheartedly agree. It is not possible to review the entire text from Lambert here. I recommend each reader to review the article on their own by clicking the title above. We move on.

– Apotheosis of the leadership — exalting them to God-like status in and over the group. Well, have we covered that before on this blog? When I left WOFF, one of the thoughts that helped was seeing that the members were more afraid of Jane Whaley than God. So, is she “God-like”?

Continue reading Signs of Abuse in a Church →

For many reading this post the term “shepherding movement” will be new or unfamiliar. During May of 2008, while still inside Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), I had the thought to look up the term and find out more. As I did I could see that it appeared that what was going on at WOFF under the leadership of Jane Whaley looked a lot like the reported abuses during the shepherding movement of years ago. I kept the findings to myself for awhile until the first week of June of 2008. Two hours after telling my thoughts to LB, I was advised through her that Jane Whaley said I was “out of the church”. No, Jane did not call and find out what I had learned or why I thought the WOFF practices were like those of the shepherding movement of years gone by. Why did I not get asked? I am not certain.

In the blog series which tells the events around my exit from WOFF, the scenario is explained in this post: What Thoughts Helped Me Leave WOFF – Part 3 – found here: http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1841 . “Part 3” contains two links which explain in brief about the term – shepherding movement. The movement has also been referred to as the “Discipleship Movement”. Before I proceed, let me just acknowledge that my reading on this subject has not made me an expert. Any “expertise” of mine comes from living through my experiences at WOFF and comparing them in light of what the material shows and reports about the practices within the shepherding movement. When I have lived through it, I believe it gives me some right to comment on what I saw and observed. Also, I will be quoting from sources found on websites which contain more material than I can read right now. My quoting of the sources DOES NOT imply a blanket endorsement for all of the material found in these resources. Further reading from these quoted sources is a choice you must make on your own. I have read enough to feel comfortable quoting from the material.

As a very brief recap, there was a group of ministers in Florida called the Fort Lauderdale Five. This group included, Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, Don Basham, Derrick Prince and Ern Baxter. Some sources add John Poole to the group. The founding events are reported differently in different sources. Let it be said that from some event, whether a moral failure or a perceived lack of accountability of the church members, this group set out to form a structure to help those who needed help in various ways.

Continue reading Do WOFF Practices Reflect the Shepherding Movement? →