This week, I was made aware of information about a group called the “Exclusive Brethren”. The information given about their practices sounded eerily familiar. Before I proceed and as a review, I spent 16 years either direct or indirectly under the teachings of Jane Whaley. She leads the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) of Spindale, NC. In comparison, I have much more knowledge about WOFF than the Exclusive Brethren. That is almost too obvious to mention except that if a reader accuses me of an error in my comparison, then my deficiency would be in knowledge about the Exclusive Brethren. My intimate working knowledge is of WOFF. Does that seem plausible? Can that WOFF knowledge be easily disputed?

   In reality, I do not consider Wikipedia® to be the know all, tell all, rock solid source for information. However, the article was sourced and I did follow the links and read the sources for the information in this post. I found the correlations between the two groups amazing to say the least. In this post, I will list main points and encourage you to follow the links toward the end of this post for further reading.

   “The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848, the Exclusive Brethren movement subsequently evolving into two main branches.” This is the opening line from Wikipedia.com found here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren#cite_note-bbc.co.uk-6  Exclusive Brethren have been around for much longer than WOFF. I do not find that comforting knowing they have had many more years to treat people in the manner described in these source articles. The Wikipedia article goes on to explain the characteristics of the two main branches. The one which is described as the “Raven/Taylor/Hales group” have had the most criticism concerning “cult” like practices.

   

    From here, I will list a few of the points made about the Raven/Taylor/Hales group and relate it to what I know about WOFF.

–      This sub-group (Raven/Taylor/Hales) has been accused of emotional manipulation and brain washing as a means of maintaining power and control.     Yes, WOFF has been accused of that also.

–      Members who leave or who are expelled from the group have often been treated with what outsiders may regard as great cruelty.       Okay, this is where my interest began to grow. There is evidence of this at WOFF.

 –     Leavers (from Rave/Taylor/Hales) are shunned by members of the group because leavers are seen as having chosen the world and the devil against God, and because they could bring members into contact with the sinful world.[7]. The Brethren have been accused of using their considerable wealth and power to ‘punish’ members who have decided to leave the church and to have allegedly actively used their influence to split families up in order to protect the organization’s interests ^[8].        Well, what do other former members have to say about this? Have any former members of WOFF been shunned? It would be a silly question if it weren’t such a common cruel happening.

 –     For the most part, members who have left the Raven/Taylor/Hales group are completely ostracized. Members are not permitted to live with those who have left and this causes families to break up; in fact, remaining members do not even speak, eat or otherwise socialize with those who have left the group’s membership. To leave the group, either voluntarily or to be excommunicated, means to be asked to leave one’s home, and the subsequent breaking of all normal family relationships with those who remain within the group.[7]         As I read this, I began to gasp and think back on the last 26 months. Do other former WOFF members see any similarities here? This group is a lot like FLDS in this regard, also. See the link here for a previous post on this blog— https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=498

 –      Since virtually all of the Raven/Taylor/Hales members work in other members’ companies, to leave the group means also that they have to give up their jobs, in addition to their family and their home.[7]       I have personal experience with this inside of WOFF. Are there others? Okay, I know there are. How many are there that have had this happen to them? I worked for a church-member owned company- twice; same company with the same results. I hope to find out more about the Exclusive Brethren and what kind of companies they owned where church members worked. Would anyone be surprised if at least one was a construction company?

 –      Accusations by former teachers in Raven/Taylor/Hales group schools that the group ‘brainwashes’ children[4] in order to control everything that children do in life; a former teacher was quoted as saying “the children are told what jobs they will do and who they will marry. They were not being equipped to live in the outside world”.[4]  WOFF has their school. It is closed to those students not in the church, unless you are a relative of Jane. Academically, the students do well. Socially, I have my doubts.  What would other former members have to say? I know WOFF students are “guided” in their studies and “guided” in their relationships.

 –       That the Raven/Taylor/Hales group has engaged in a ruthless campaign of silencing critics and has vigorously used private detectives, lawyers and the threat of law suits in order to silence those that oppose it. A notable case is the group’s efforts and subsequent lawsuit in the USA aimed at closing down the web site peebs.net [1].[9      This sounds horrible. Would WOFF or more specifically – Jane Whaley do any of this? Certainly, the “religious freedom” afforded groups like WOFF would not allow them to silence critics who exercise their own freedom of speech? Could that happen in America?

      All of the above quotes are taken from Wikipedia. My observations are from my time inside and then outside WOFF. Do any of these accusations against the branch of the Exclusive Brethren sound familiar to ex-WOFF members or members of the community around WOFF? Do WOFF members who read this think there could be a reason for the seemingly similar characteristics of both groups? Would that reason have anything to do with leaders and leadership of each group wanting to control the lives of members? Do you think so?

   As if these were not enough,  I continued reading some of the sources. Other things came to light that seemed VERY familiar. Here are a couple of examples. Concerning Exclusive Brethren:  

   “Families do not have televisions, radios, or go to the cinema or theatre. Members marry other members. Divorce is rare. Children are often educated within the Brethren community, although many Brethren children do attend mainstream schools.

   Members who do something against the Exclusive code are required to confess their sin and demonstrate their repentance. If they don’t, they are withdrawn from: no member of the group will speak, work or eat with them.”

Found here.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/exclusivebrethren_1.shtml

   Does that sound like WOFF all over or what? Would WOFF members be able to fellowship with members of this group? Not every practice is the same in each group. From a brief reading, the Exclusive Brethren seem more “exclusive”. But, that is in comparison to WOFF. That should not lend WOFF any degree of normalcy, for sure; WOFF is definitely a non-normal group, also. Each group has rules that delve deep into the personal, daily lives of members.

   From the same source, leaders for the Exclusive Brethren seem strangely like Jane Whaley in some regards…

  “The leader is regarded as a person of inherent moral power…. The leader of the church has great influence over members of the sect. He gives guidance, resolves disputes, and can advise on action to be taken for breaches of discipline. The leader has the authority to convey new light from God appropriate to modern times.”

   Well, could all this be said of Jane – and more? What am I missing? Okay, Jane is the first leader of WOFF and so far, the only leader. She has such concentrated and absolute power over members. Will that ever change?

    Finally, it should come as no surprise that the Exclusive Brethren have had former members with serious custody battles for children still in the group. That is one common trait between the two groups that is so sad and tragic. Read the article here. This father has had a tremendous battle. http://www.theage.com.au/national/exbrethren-father-loses-battle-for-children-20090627-d0lc.html 

    So, what have we learned? Groups like WOFF are more common than most folks know. Here is a quote from a leader in another country about the Exclusive Brethren … “Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, said in 2007: “I believe this is an extremist cult and sect,” and “They split families and I am deeply concerned about their impact on communities across Australia.” [10]. Could WOFF be accused of splitting families, also? So, how are you doing? Shall we pray?

   Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog.  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.

    Look on the right side of any post for the option to subscribe by email for notifications or RSS feeds notifying of new postings. It is a great feature. Also, find more posts by selecting “Categories”.

      (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 190.