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…)  

       Attending family funerals or weddings outside of WOFF is always a big deal for WOFF members. Sometimes services have been devoted to getting ahold of these situations or walking through what happened when you were there. Did you walk through it- God’s way? Of course, who told you if you did or did not follow the Spirit of God- Jane Whaley.

     “Free association” was not even practiced for WOFF members with each other. You could hook up with someone else’s devils and cause an attack. Some relationships were encouraged, some were not. If the person you wanted to be around had “the same devils” you did, you would be told to stay away from that person.  Since everyone watched everyone else, relationships and conversations were continually reviewed for what “felt right” or what “did not feel right”. WOFF members soon learned that sharing any doubts about WOFF or Jane Whaley was not conducive to getting along with others. Adult fellowship just around normal everyday stuff was hard to come by and in the back of your mind; you always knew that whatever was said was subject to being reviewed.

     The college age young people did/ do not have the right to “free association”. They attend school in only groups and are never to be alone or they may “come under attack”. Translate: they may be asked about their beliefs and be challenged in their faith. The fear is that being asked questions could cause one to doubt or worse, backslide and “attack God and God’s ways”!  Occasionally, older folks going to school may attend classes alone, but they would need to “stay locked in with someone” and let them know what happened in every situation.

     “The right to contract”– During my stay at WOFF, I mentioned to someone in leadership that I wanted to start a business with a website. I was told by that person in leadership to go to Jane Whaley and see what she felt about it. “What was she hearing from God?” During my conversation with Jane she was completely honest and told me she had no understanding of what I was trying to tell her. She was busy doing some other things at the time, but I did appreciate her candor. She turned to two other folks in the room who were in leadership and asked them if they understood what I wanted to do. The one fellow said, “I think so.” She said if you feel good about it, then go ahead. This fellow said to Jane, “As long as he stays locked in, we can go forward..” So, did I have “the right to contract”, or was it subject to approval of Jane and those in leadership? If Jane had said “no”, what would I do then? Would life have been as sweet at WOFF?

     Here is a link to a story relevant to today about our rights.. This seems to be a topic of discussion in other circles in this nation… http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Kagan-dodges-and-weaves-on-natural-rights-97608954.html

    Previous to this discussion about unalienable rights, we mentioned that Skousen listed 28 Basic Principles upon which our Founding Father’s sought to form our government. Two more are worth mentioning before we close this post.

    Principle 22– A free people should be governed by law and not the whims of men. (page 173) Given that there are some similarities in governing a nation and a church or group of churches, it should stand that a church governed by the whims of men (or women) would be as unstable as a nation that practices the same. A large portion of the instability of WOFF lies in the fact that all is subject to Jane’s interpretation of a matter, for that day. Former members: do you agree?

   Principle 26– The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity. (page 199) This is in my opinion the strongest reason that those not directly related to the WOFF drama should care, be concerned and offer daily prayer. Regardless of the “purest intentions”, the net result of WOFF over the years has been a growing list of broken homes and broken lives. That list would include individuals and families. This result from life at WOFF has many causes and many factors which contribute. I will not pretend to see or know them all. However, I will list a few that I see as obstacles that hinder WOFF from being a sanctuary for families.

    1. Children are given authority over their parents in some instances, with Jane as judge. This is totally out of order. John Locke is quoted speaking about a child’s place in the family:

    “As He [God] hath laid on them [the parents] an obligation to nourish, preserve, and bring up their offspring, so He has laid on the children a perpetual obligation of honoring their parents, which, containing an inward esteem and reverence to be shown by all outward expressions, ties up the child from anything that may ever injure or affront, disturb or endanger the happiness of life of those from whom he received his [life], and engages him in all actions of defense, relief, assistance, and comfort of those by whose means he entered into being and has been made capable of any enjoyments of life. From this obligation no state, no freedom, can absolve children. (John Locke, Second Essay Concerning Civil Government, p.39, par. 66 emphases added.) (page 203-204)

   The obligation, which Locke refers to as being so vital, is not required of WOFF children if one or both parents leave the church. Locke clearly states the “no freedom” can absolve the duty of respect for the children towards their parents. Shall we include no religious freedom can relieve children of this duty of respect? WOFF teaches by word and deed that parents who leave WOFF do not deserve the simplest respect. This tears the family unit apart using the excuse of religious freedom. We will address this excuse more in the next post.

2. Family members are encouraged to report each other to those in authority, for “sins” or doings in the home. This occurs on a regular basis and continually undermines the structure of the family and the authority of the fathers. This should not be a surprise in a matriarchal society. Again, well intended help has over grown boundaries which should be held by good sense and reason.

3. Extended families outside of WOFF are continually measured against WOFF doctrine and practices. There is continual scrutiny and/or shunning, if compliance with WOFF is not seen. In many cases, family units are strengthened with cohesion to the extended family. By subverting and/or breaking these ties, WOFF weakens the families that are supposed to be helped.  

     Even the families which appear “healthy” in WOFF have as their foundations mistrust, hidden doubt and religious control. If all family members agree in the direction of WOFF and Jane Whaley – then life is peaches. If one member decides that God is calling them in a different direction, then the foundations of religious control and mistrust will not support family members who decide to consider other paths besides those directed by WOFF and Jane Whaley.  Thus the list of destroyed families because of WOFF grows.

    In my opinion, the practices of WOFF constitute a cancer covered by false religion that slowly eats away the personal freedoms of its members, all the while metastasizing toward friends or relatives with them either joining or being shunned – cut-off. Either way, I believe these results, no matter how well intended, do not reflect the aspirations of our Founding Fathers. This is a concern for all.  

    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 142.