At the beginning of a November seminar at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF)  in 1994; (could have been 1993) Jane Whaley came  in and started the service with this question- “What would be the worst thing that could happen to you?” She then listed things like illness, divorce, death of a parent or child. After some discussion, she stopped and told the congregation that God had showed her the worst thing. Reading from Matthew 7:22-23. (New International Version)

22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

    Jane went on to say that the worst thing for her would be to come to the end of her life and stand before God and having Him say to her: “I never knew you. Away…”  At that time, it was a very serious thought. Obviously, it has stuck with me all these years. Could this time have been a turning point for Jane? What happened?  How could the thoughts about this passage of scripture be so serious and yet not produce lasting changes in a person’s life? Certain things in life are a mystery.

      As I look back over the total time of being at WOFF and the many events during those years, I can’t help but wonder, did God want to give Jane and others an opportunity to avoid the struggles He knew were ahead? When considering  the messages preached, the public rebukes of members, the seemingly never ending praise and adoration for Jane and Sam and the apparent hunger for that praise, the exclusion of outside ministers who were not under Jane’s control, the many broken relationships of WOFF members from family and friends outside the group over holidays and media access or dress, the struggles with child custody cases, the  charges of assault and the  resulting conviction and appeal and overturn of the conviction, the DSS cases; I ask myself; Could any of these events or struggles been avoided if Jane and/or others in leadership had taken the “humble road” after this scripture was shared? The next year of 1995, was when the person came in from Inside Edition and filmed the prayer meetings.

     In retrospect, this seminar and others to follow, were filled with the building of fears in the members of WOFF.  Jane Whaley and her leaders have become masters of using fear of the future, fear of the outside world, fear of some areas of science, fear of not making it to heaven, fear of not making it through next week, fear of Jane’s next explosion telling a member they are “going to hell”, fear of the media, fear of outsiders, fear of those who look different, fear of being put out of WOFF and losing your “family and friends”, fear of death, fear of missing the “call of God”, fear of serious diseases – the list goes on..  Living inside of WOFF at times was a big “fear-fest”. There should be no wonder folks have a hard time when they leave. It was a struggle for myself and several others,  that left WOFF.

     This scripture seems to fit right here…

1 John 4:17-19 (New International Version)

¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. (emphasis added)

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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. ) This is post number 100.