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)

     In my opinion, life at WOFF does not portray that “All Men are Created Equal”. There is Jane Whaley and her “leadership” which exhibit and enjoy many of the “God-given liberties” that other “regular members” have surrendered or been hoodooed into giving up. This inequality does not reflect the natural course of things in any given free-born society. “Regular members” of WOFF are told that in order for them to “walk with God” and “fulfill their call”, they must submit to the rules/restraints handed down by Jane Whaley. (Jane Whaley claims the rules and restraints are from God.) To not submit and do otherwise would be “defiance against God”. When in reality a caste system has been established based on false religious pretenses that allow Jane Whaley to control her members into complete submission to her “hearing the voice of God.” As with other religious cults, there is a group in power and a group that is not. In my opinion, this does not reflect the intentions of the Founding Fathers when they wrote that “All Men are Created Equal”.

    Moving on to principle 8: “Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”  (page 93)  Concerning these God-given unalienable rights, Skousen writes: “.. we may do something ourselves to forfeit the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, but no one can take those rights from us without being subject to God’s justice. This is what makes certain rights unalienable. They are inherent rights given to us by the Creator.”  (page 94) He goes on in the same line of thought to distinguish between these rights and vested rights which can be regulated by the ruling authority. Examples of vested rights would be the “right” to driving and hunting. Those can be regulated or taken away; but, not so with unalienable rights. It seems that in my opinion, for whatever reason, unalienable rights and vested rights are confused at WOFF. In order to continue with the group, you must allow certain unalienable rights to be regulated, treated as vested rights and/ or be taken away from you by the “government of God” which operates at WOFF. (Jane Whaley)

     The Declaration of Independence states that God has endowed all mankind “with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (page 94) The author goes on to list certain other rights that the Founders knew existed but did not numerate. From these, I will draw a few that are affected by membership at WOFF. These are in no certain order. The complete list is on page 95 of this most informative book.

     “The right to make personal choices” Once you are allowed to join WOFF, your days of personal choices are numbered. The longer you are in the further from this unalienable right you become. You are “learning to walk with God” by giving up your personal choices.

     “The right of free conscience” Once you become a part of WOFF, you days of free conscience and critical thinking are numbered. If you want to “grow in God” and “fulfill His call” and “walk with Him”; you will give up those” thoughts of your own”. Do we see a pattern here?

     “The right to choose a profession” “You will be what God wants you to be.”  And Jane will tell you “what God has to say” about the matter. Ironically, no one in my memory has ever been “cleared” to join the military except if they went AWOL from WOFF.

     “The right to choose a mate” Much has been said about this in previous posts. To date or marry someone outside the church is taboo. No one continues at WOFF and makes that choice. Even friendships outside the church are not encouraged.  Recently, I heard of a lady leaving for just this very reason. This unalienable right goes out the window when you join WOFF. You just may not know until it is time to be told what or who your “choices” are in this area.

    That will do for now. We will continue the list of unalienable rights that WOFF members surrender and/or have monitored or altered, in order to continue with the group. If a present or former WOFF member has thoughts that confirm or deny what is being written; please take time to comment and add to the discussion. I don’t claim to know all the rights that are altered, monitored or surrendered while being a member of WOFF.

     Before we close this post, let me begin to focus briefly on the specific answer drawn from these posts for the question- “Why Should Others Outside of WOFF Care?” The structures of WOFF with all decision power resident in Jane Whaley along with the way those who leave are treated; and the requirement to surrender certain unalienable rights in order to continue with the group, beg certain conclusions to be drawn. Is this group, by whatever name you want to call it, a reflection of a healthy, emotionally nurturing environment for the citizens of a free nation? Though there may respect for civil authorities taught, do the internal workings reflect the intent of our Founding Fathers on how the citizens of this free nation would carry out their daily lives? Who, but being unduly influenced, would surrender certain unalienable rights in order to “please” the God who gave them and for which men and women have fought and died to preserve? Does it follow that possibly Jane Whaley has confused “unalienable rights” and “vested rights” and has taken upon herself to restrict/regulate the first as if it were the latter? If life at WOFF necessitates the surrender of “unalienable rights”, then does it enhance or detract from the fabric and vitality of the community, the state and of this nation?

    From one who has traveled that road of surrendering certain unalienable rights – for a time, and has witnessed the outcome of such “surrender”; I strongly suggest to you that those in the community surrounding WOFF and in the state of North Carolina and nation at large; should be concerned about this group called Word of Faith Fellowship and its leader- Jane Whaley. We will continue the list of surrendered unalienable rights in the next post. 

     Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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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. ) Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 139.