The protest in Wisconsin has many across America thinking about the future. And for sure, we should all be considering what steps need to be taken now to avoid certain financial disaster. If spending budgets do not change, there are hard times looming in the not too distant future of the individual states as well as the nation as a whole. The National Debt is growing… see this site for a graphic display— http://www.usdebtclock.org/ .  We have several spending “habits” that are unsustainable at many levels of government. It appears the governor of Wisconsin has decided to make the steps he believes will help the entire state. Others should listen and take notes.  

    Yesterday, as I was driving near Charlotte, NC, I tuned into the radio broadcast of Dave Ramsey. He was finishing a discussion about family budget questions and made the statement that it was okay to tell your children you could not afford something they wanted. (I will paraphrase the comments here). He then made the comment that many states will need to do the same thing and tell their citizens that we cannot afford everything we want or have had in the past. Cuts will have to be made or governments will fail financially. We don’t need that. He referenced the situation in Wisconsin and then closed his program.  

    The phrase that caught my attention was “we cannot afford that right now.” Why? Because while I was in Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), we were taught to NOT say that phrase to our children. It would hurt them, it could hurt their faith.  It really was a precarious position and strained family budgets at times. If an item was approved and others were buying it (whatever “it” was), then there was great pressure to come up with the funds and buy “it”. Sometimes we were even told to go to church leadership and ask for help to get “it”.

      What did this do for the children? In my opinion, it gave them an UNREAL idea of family finances and how provisions were made. “If my Dad can’t buy it, maybe someone else in the church will…” We are talking about wants here, not needs. I did not see anyone at WOFF go lacking for real needs. But, the shoes, the clothes, the toys or other wants— that was a different matter. From what I saw, the “prosperity message” began at an early age in the children. Extend your faith, believe God, and keep believing…. All of this was put in the children- without balance.

    What was the problem? We were told/taught – “After all God is not limited to your paycheck.”  Well God may not be, but, when bills are due, “extras” need to wait. For Jane, she can just send the offering plates around “ONE MORE TIME- until we get it”… It really was not a true picture of how things are in a family budget. When the paycheck came up short, I could not go back to my employer and “pass the plate”. Try that! Let me know how that works.

    By not saying “we cannot afford that right now”, I believe we exposed our children to the same goofy mess that many of the adults lived in. This surreal false religious mess got adults in trouble and certainly did not help the children know how to handle the difference between needs and wants.  Oh, shall we forget the added unspoken guilt on some parents for not celebrating birthdays and Christmas! There was the spoken idea that we should be able to buy things for our children all year round because we are NOT limited to birthdays and Christmas! It was all part of the many dilemmas of living in a cult and being under the pressure to conform or be put out. You learned Jane’s way or the highway. But, why should we expect reality in the way Jane handled finances? She reported/reports to no one and made all the money decisions herself. She was accountable to no one in the area of church finances, certainly not the members who gave into the plates that were passed so often. Why should members expect prudent, responsible, open financial accounting from Jane? She had/has no idea what that phrase means. I don’t care what Mr. F from Charlotte said. He was the church accountant and was said to approve of how WOFF finances were handled. How much was he paid to say that? As a WOFF member, we were never told. Jane couldn’t afford to tell us.

   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.

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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 261.