This is the fifth post in a series about my personal experience and observations of loud prayer, blasting and deliverance. These observations are from the entire 16 year span of meetings in Greenville, SC and at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). The blasting and deliverance were the signature practices of WOFF during my years there. Please, read the previous posts in order to have a background understanding to this material.
At times, people would be grouped for “deliverance” prayer for a certain purpose. Children could be grouped to pray against rebellion, back-talking or unclean thoughts. Adults could be grouped to pray against fear of death, unclean thoughts, perversion. If you participated in Free Masons, Eastern Star, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Amway, witchcraft, karate or martial arts of any type – you could be in a deliverance group for that. In order to set-up these groups, the chairs in the sanctuary may be stacked or moved to the side to make room for the deliverance circles. Most of the time leadership would take to the stage to oversee the groups and who was getting prayer for what. If someone in leadership needed prayer, then that group would include those who were “carrying that person’s life.”
During the set-up for the prayer, there was the need to supply folks with paper products for coughing and nose blowing. Paper towels, facial tissue or toilet paper were the acceptable sources for this need. Some folks would prepare a stack of paper towels to hand out to the person getting prayer or to others in the group as needed. The set-up of the prayer groups could take several minutes.
Some observations during these group prayer times. LOUD. I wore earplugs during the later years and could hear the prayer- just fine. I found tissue paper in the ears a lot less effective that ear plugs rated for at least 30 decibels of protection. I usually carried them with me when I was headed to church and having loud prayer was a possibility.
After seeing the links in the first post showing the activity being described here, you may ask- Why would anyone submit themselves to these activities? First off, there was an “us versus them” mentality that caused one to regard the membership at WOFF as being special and unlike membership in any other group in the body of Christ. This is a common trait of religious mind control groups. It was often said, “It is a privilege to receive prayer (in this manner) and a privilege to help others in prayer.” So, if you believed the testimonies of others that getting prayer would help you; then you would submit and go with what everyone else was doing. Also, if you were desperate, then you would try anything for a change. Learning the prayer was mainly by observing others. It may have felt uncomfortable at first, but so many of us learn new things from those who already know “how to pray”.
If a new member refused prayer then their time at WOFF was short. If a person was not willing to “give up their devils”, then WOFF would be a hard place to live. If you were to stay and flourish at WOFF, then submitting to blasting prayer and deliverance was not an option. Once, while I apparently was showing some resistance to prayer myself; the person in charge of the group took me by shoulders and shook me back and forth while screaming – “Come out of him you stubborn devils…!” This was not an uncommon occurrence for many at WOFF, especially in the early days. A person could physically be pushed back and forth and side to side as we ll as pushed from the back in order to “help get those devils out!” ( I know, I have had it done to me and I have “helped others” in that way…) Much of the behaviors in this area were copied from things you saw others do. Some folks may put their hand on your stomach and push while leaning over to your ear and “encouraging” you in many different ways.
In future posts, I will explain more about what it means to get a breakthrough. I will also share about the waiver that a WOFF member had to sign in order to receive prayer. There is more to come.
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(Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. )