Tag Archives: W. Cleon Skousen

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care? Revisited

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     During the month of June, I posted a series under the title Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care?.(the link is here… http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2038 .)  I took as my reference text a book titled “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2) with a forward by Glenn Beck. One reader, who saw the recent sign posted in the community advertising this blog, took the time to email me and express her concern that I would choose this book as a reference text. She sent her supporting text, from which I will quote,

“Around this same time, Beck began promoting the work of an arcane Mormon conspiracy-peddler named W. Cleon Skousen, whom he described as his political lodestar. Suddenly, Beck had something more to offer than irritable mental gestures…. Skousen’s paranoid politics were an outgrowth of his participation in extreme anti-communist groups during the 1950s. He boasted of a close friendship with then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and said he provided him with research on communist plots, claims disputed by FBI historians.”

   This was from a lengthy piece titled “Days of Rage — The Noxious Transformation of the Conservative Movement into a Rabid Fringe” By Max Blumenthal, Nation Books, Posted on August 10, 2010, Printed on August 10, 2010, http://www.alternet.org/story/147784/

   So, in all honesty, I failed to fully research Mr. Skousen’s past and did not research his all of his sources. In fact, I will say that my excitement about the book was more emotional than purely intellectual. Here was one source that listed the “rights” I had seen violated and surrendered during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). For years, I had submitted to the teachings of Jane Whaley and was not aware of the damages it had done. This one book though not purposed or directed to address my question(s), listed “rights” that I had seen thwarted during my time at WOFF.

   Continue reading Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care? Revisited →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 5

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    We are wrapping up our series as an answer to the question from our title- “Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Our direction is still with the list of unalienable rights which members of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) must surrender in order to continue with the group.  Our source for the list of unalienable rights is listed in the book, “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2). There are 22 rights listed, we are only reviewing a few of them that are obvious ones which WOFF members surrender. A more complete discussion of each right and how controlling groups violate these rights would be a topic taken up in a different forum.  I recommend that readers obtain a copy of the book in order to read and study the entire work of the author.

    Skousen’s list on page 95 continues:

    “The right to free association”    This right is null and void with a membership at WOFF. The timing of just how this right disintegrates in the lives of individual members varies. There is a push for new members to break off old relationships and only associate with WOFF members. “You need to be around the people of God”. “Can your relatives who are not in WOFF and your old friends- draw you “closer to Jesus”?” It may start with not being allowed to visit relatives on holidays or your friends on a weekend visit back to your hometown. If you are allowed to go, many times another WOFF member is sent home with you to “guard” and make sure you don’t “come under attack”. The companion WOFF member would stay in contact with leadership or Jane Whaley  about the trip and how the WOFF members were being received, what situations there were to walk through and if the new WOFF member was acclimating well to their “new place in God”.

     WOFF standards which would cause situations when visiting relatives or former friends would be clothing of other folks in the group (especially in the summer..), dealing with TV or radios/stereos being played in the presence of WOFF members, newspapers and magazines laying out that might catch the attention of the new WOFF member. It also would be a concern who would be with the new WOFF member alone- if anyone.  Another situation could come up over where to eat-out, which place serves alcohol? WOFF member shun places that serve alcohol. (sorta…)  

Continue reading Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 5 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 4

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     Again, we are continuing our series as an answer to the question from our title- “Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Our direction is still with the list of unalienable rights which members of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) must surrender in order to continue with the group.  Our source for the list of unalienable rights is listed in the book, “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2). There are 22 rights listed, we are only reviewing a few of them that are obvious ones which WOFF members surrender. A more complete discussion of each right and how controlling groups violate these rights would be a topic taken up in a different forum.  I recommend that readers obtain a copy of the book in order to read and study the entire work of the author.

    Skousen’s list on page 95 continues:

     “The right to privacy” This was considered an unalienable right by our Founding Fathers. From what I can tell, there are two ditches, so to speak in this discussion. One ditch or extreme view would be to de-regulate the activities of citizens, to allow that an act done in the privacy of the home that crosses good moral bounds should be excused, in the name of privacy. The other extreme would be to over-regulate the personal lives of citizens as to deny even the simple and obvious rights to privacy that would be confirmed by common sense and reason.

    It is odd that for a religious group such as WOFF, that demands privacy during their services by not allowing video, pictures or recording of any kind (unless determined by Jane Whaley to be appropriate for the specific occasion); they trample and destroy the right to privacy of their members in many areas. Members who live in WOFF households give up and surrender their privacy as a general rule. Some rights are given up, some are “taken” by those exercising leadership or “authority”.

     As a member, you must first understand that any “sin” found in your room, personal space, on your computer, on your phone, in your thoughts or discovered in your daily lifestyle is subject to public exposure and correction during a service- for the “learning” of all other members. Every member is responsible to expose sin in every other member. If you don’t then you are just as guilty of that sin. If you don’t realize this going in, you will soon learn by watching some other member as an example or becoming an example – yourself.

    Continue reading Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 4 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 3

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       We are continuing our series as an answer to the question from our title- “Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Our direction is still with the list of unalienable rights which members of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) must surrender in order to continue with the group.  Our source for the list of unalienable rights is listed in the book, “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2). There are 22 rights listed, we are only reviewing a few of them that are obvious ones which WOFF members surrender. I recommend that readers obtain a copy of the book in order to read and study the entire work of the author.

    Skousen’s list on page 95 continues:

    “The right to beget one’s kind” At WOFF, it would be considered being “locked under authority” to ask Jane Whaley if God was saying that it was the right choice to make to bear a child and if the timing was right. She may or may not give her approval.  Does this give new meaning to family planning? The faithful WOFF member would be sure to ask before attempting to have a child, I know.

    “The right to free speech” Well, at WOFF, you can say “whatever God tells you to say” as long as it is not foolish and “sanctifies God before the people”. Translated: everyone at WOFF is responsible to watch out for everyone else. If you speak “not by the Spirit of God” about ANYTHING, your fellow WOFF member will be required to get the word to Jane, relaying what you said. Then you will be given the correction to “help you find a place of repentance” and “bring you back into your place in Jesus.” If you buck the correction or are a repeat offender, you could end up in discipleship or out of the church altogether. That is the “free” part.  

    (A side note: Deborah Layton in “Seductive Poison” (copyright 1998, First Anchor Books Trade Paperback Edition, December 1999, ISBN 0-385-48984-6) writes the following, which was told to her when she first arrived at Jonestown. (Shanda was describing the work crews at Jonestown) ”It works like this… Everyone is told they are responsible for reporting their crewmates. So, if someone writes up an incident and no one else on the crew reports it, all of you will go on the Learning Crew. It’s a guarantee that everyone writes everything up at the end of the day,” (page 158) The same arrangement worked at WOFF, if “sin” was uncovered and you knew it or saw it and did not report it when someone else did, you would be corrected and possibly spend time in discipleship or be put out of the church. Why? Because if you see it and don’t report it, you are in agreement and the “sin” is in you! Amazing how WOFF and Jonestown had/have that in common. ) Back to our list..

Continue reading Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 3 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 2

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     In the previous post, we began a series revealing why those outside of the immediate drama circle of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) should care what goes on and why. Why should those who do not have friends or relatives involved at WOFF care what happens in the group?  Isn’t the group innocuous? After all, they are always so nice and friendly. They don’t “bother” anyone…oh, really? For sure, WOFF does not advertise their record of destruction to individuals or families.  We will speak to that later in this post or the next.

      The resourceful book, “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2) will be the main source for this series. This book explains in great detail the foundations and structure of our government. Our Founding Fathers put together a balanced government structure in order to not repeat the mistakes seen in governments previous to the United States. The second part of the book explains the 28 principles used as a basis for our U.S. Constitution. We reviewed the first four principles and will continue the review for the principles which I believe compose an indictment of the practices of WOFF. We will not list all 28 but, encourage our readers to obtain a copy of the book for a more complete study.

    Skousen reveals principle number 6 – “All Men are Created Equal”. Since no two human beings are exactly alike, “Then how can they be equal? The answer is, they can’t, except in three ways. They can only be treated as equals in the sight of God, in the sight of the Law and in the protection of their rights.” (page 79) Skousen goes on to quote Constitutional writer Clarence Carson as he explains two areas that people should have their equality guaranteed. “First, there is equality before the law… A corollary of this is that no classes are created or recognized by the law. Second, the Declaration refers to an equality of rights… Each man is entitled to his life with every other man; each man has an equal title to God-given liberties along with every other.” (Clarence Carson, The American tradition, Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington on Hudson, New York, 1970, pp.112-113) (page 79-80, emphasis added)

     Continue reading Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 2 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care? Part 1

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      Honestly, I have started writing this post many times over the last few weeks. After all, to me the reason for caring is obvious. But to many others without friends or relatives involved at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), there may be some times when it becomes difficult to pay attention to the goings and doings of Jane Whaley, Sam Whaley and the members of their church. I have written a post titled, “Why Many Locals Do Not See the Mind Control at WOFF…” found here.. http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1394  That post did not fully cover the answer to the question mentioned today.

    Previously, I would start a post on why others should care and as I wrote it all sounded whiny and selfish. “You should care because I and many others have been affected by Jane and WOFF.”  I would write about the many families who have been torn apart and “it just was not right!” But, I never published those drafts and I was just resolved to keep mulling the subject. Then I found a book at the library that helped put things in focus.

    “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright 1981, 2009 C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2) with a forward by Glenn Beck; has helped focus perspective on the answer to the question in the title of this post. The book gathers the..  “28 great ideas that helped change our world, and the funny thing is, the American Founding Fathers hardly invented a single one of them. But they did find them, and brought them all together in a single document that has blessed this great nation and the entire world.”  This book was published after I graduated high school and was not in the curriculum of any of my college classes. However, it is a must read for anyone, either inside or outside of a religious controlling group, who has a heart and passion to see this nation regain its footing and take the strong path to leadership once again in this world. The resources alone contained in the last third of the book are enough to lead one into an in depth study of American government.

   W. Cleon Skousen (1913-2006) was a world renowned teacher, lecturer and scholar for more than 16 years. He attended San Bernardino Junior College and later law school at George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he earned his Juris Doctorate and was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia. Dr. Skousen served the FBI for 16 years as well as authored many books and pamphlets. In 1972, he organized what would later be called “The National Center for Constitutional Studies”.  (page 253-254)

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