This is the second post in a series which will highlight the insights found in the book by Len Oakes while comparing his observations and conclusions to my personal experience inside Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). This work by Len Oakes titled, “Prophetic Charisma” – The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities (copyright ©1997 by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, ISBN 0-8156-2700-9) has captured my attention. While I hope to find answers to certain questions which have been generated over the last three or more years, I also am excited about the additional inspiration which I anticipate from studying this material.
The first post served as an introduction to Dr. Len Oakes, to the concept of “Prophetic Charisma”, the idea of a “prophet” as well as the notion that despite the many differences of those who live as a “prophet”, there are many similarities. Dr. Oakes believes that these similarities can be observed and conclusions drawn to help us not only understand the person as a “prophet”, but the followers and even society as a whole. I must admit that the prospect of learning from this book and the subsequent studies it will lead to, seem very intriguing.
Dr. Oakes shares that his study involved three phases. “The first began in 1972 when I attended an encounter group run by a charismatic psychotherapist.” (page 3) Oakes “was twenty-four years old” at the time and he was so impressed he moved into the leaders home with a small group of other “followers”. “The relationship ended in 1975 when I moved on…Three years later this leader founded a rural commune. In 1980 I visited this community… At the time, I was enrolled to study psychology at the local university. During my visit, the leader invited me to join his group and to document its history, adding, “This will be the greatest social laboratory in the world. There is enough research to be done here to keep you busy the rest of your life”. (page 3-4) So began a ten year stay inside that group for Oakes. He married there and his children were born inside that group. He counted himself as “an inside outsider in the community.” “There were times when I defended the group passionately to outside critics, and other occasions when I flatly opposed the leader’s directives.” (page 4)
Oakes’ work “led to a book and several studies.” From the back cover of this book; I see the title of this book may be “Inside Centerpoint: The Story of a New Zealand Community”. If my research is correct, this link tells more about the project and how it fared- that is not well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrepoint_(commune) . Back to our resource text, Oakes admits that, “The goal of this work was to attempt to understand, as far as one is able, the mind of a charismatic prophet. Of course, it was also an effort to understand my own motives for my original involvement with him.” (page 4) I can understand the goal and the need to get the answers. For me, the quest is to not only understand the past, but to be able to steer clear of similar entanglements in the future. For Oakes, he admits after sixteen years of knowing the group leader “as closely as anyone ever gets to know a charismatic leader – (the leader) remained as inexplicable to me as ever.” This I found as an ominous, but, at the same time, a very revealing admission. Would that be also a heart breaking admission to not have some definitive insight into the group leader after sixteen years? We shall see as we read on.
Dr. Oakes writes that “the main task emerging from the first phase of the inquiry and which were pursed in the second stage, were (a) to discover how much of what I knew about the group was unique to it and how much could be generalized to similar groups, and (b) to develop a theory about the natures of charismatic religious leaders and their movements.” (page 5) In regards to the first task, how much is unique and how much is similar to other groups; more and more survivors from other groups write me to share how similar their experiences have been to mine at Word of Faith Fellowship. At the beginning of this blog, we also began outlining the similarities in other groups as compared to WOFF. Just change the names, the places and some other minor things and you have the same religious cult tragedies in those groups. What are those “tragedies”? Broken relationships, beaten down and fearful survivors seeking help, as well as many left of them in doubt and/or anger toward those leaders in authority and certainly against God. Can we forget the friends and relatives that lose their loved ones to religious cults? The list goes on.
For Dr. Oakes, “The second phase of the research began in 1988 when I started work for my doctorate on the psychology of charisma. This involved several field trips within New Zealand to study charismatic groups and their leaders, and it results in my doctoral dissertation.” (page 5) From here, Oakes begins to share how the study was carried out. He lists the tools used for obtaining the data. All of this I found interesting, but must admit only a surface understanding, at this time. He used “structured interviews and a psychometric test, the Adjective Checklist (ACL), to investigate the personalities of eighteen leaders of communes and new religious movements in New Zealand.” (page 5)
From another resource site:
Assess psychological traits with a full sphere of descriptive adjectives
Harrison G. Gough & Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr.
The Adjective Checklist (ACL) consists of 300 adjectives and adjectival phrases commonly used to describe a person’s attributes. It may be administered to an individual to elicit a self-evaluation or a characterization of someone else; or it may be used by observers in a clinic, counseling center, research laboratory, or in marketing research as a convenient, standardized method for recording and generating meaning of personal attributes of clients, research subjects, products, or even cultures. Here is the source link for the above quote to better describe the test used – http://www.mindgarden.com/products/acl.htm
In the summary of this part of the study, Oakes gives several conclusive statements. He writes about the leaders tested, “They did tend toward a creative and independent turn of mind, but they were not, despite their adventurousness, given to wildly erratic behaviors. Yet this was a group of people who had inspired others to follow them, often at great personal cost, in pursuit of impossible dreams.” Yes, I can fully understand the “…often at great personal cost, in pursuit of impossible dreams.” Why? Because at WOFF, the dream or goal was always in a state of flux. The “dream” may have been stated in vague elusive terms, but, in actuality it was whatever Jane Whaley needed it to be at the moment. Whatever Jane needed done was the key for you the faithful follower to “fulfill your call” or “be in your place”. Odd isn’t it? Submission to God was equated with agreement and submission to Jane. Well, I suppose that is how new religious movements or cults work.
Oakes then tells of the examination of the “qualitative data”. That included the interviews of the prophets, their followers and the defectors. Included were also, “The leader’s beliefs about themselves, their world views and their relationships with their followers… Analysis of this material led to a tentative theory of two types of prophets – messianic and charismatic – and the six life stages through which they pass.” (page7) Later, Oakes admits, “..the six life stages were eventually reduced to five.”(page 7) At my first reading of the chapter, I suspected Jane to be a “charismatic prophetess”. We shall see as we review Oakes’ work. Later, we will list the life stages and compare them to my experiences and understanding from Jane’s teachings and admissions about herself, during my time in WOFF.
Dr. Oakes shares that his third phase of research “developed slowly from my reading of literally hundreds of books and articles on prophets, gurus, messiahs, saviors and the like…The goal of this phase was to apply the theory developed in the second phase to several widely known leaders of cults and communes. Overall, the theory accurately described both the leaders firsthand and the better-known figures studied through biographical sources.” (page 7) A regular reader of this blog recently commented that it was shocking in some ways that most cult leaders are so similar and in many ways predictable. This seems to be what Oakes is proving through his research. Before considering cults or cult leaders, I had noted especially in business, that as individuals we may not be predictable, but, as groups people are very predictable. Before reading this book, I had not stopped to group cult leaders in a large enough groups to have any degree of predictability. Oakes has done that and much more.
Oakes gives clearer idea of what “charisma” means by referring to another author. “In addition to a description of the essence of charisma, what Max Weber called “pure” charisma – an ecstatic experience when eyes meet, hearts stop, and minds merge, which lies at the heart of the leader- follower relationship – was developed.” (page 7) While in WOFF, I have seen others have this experience with Jane and then for months or years after be extremely loyal to her. They would defend her and her extremes, rants and rages as “God’s gift” in her. It will be interesting to note how Oakes describes this “charisma” and it effects on followers. I have seen it first hand and for the most part, had little to no understanding of what I was witnessing. Euphemistic names would be attached to it, but there was no denying the effect of this “charisma” on people who then became followers of Jane.
Oakes then gives representative vignettes portraying the subjects of his study. He tells that anonymity was the key factor in convincing group leaders to participate in the study. I can fully understand. He then gives a list of the groups studied. Not all the groups compared exactly to WOFF or Jane Whaley, but the characteristics of the leaders compare well, as we will review in the next post. As it pertains to our purpose for this series of posts, we will mention the groups and individuals in future posts. Next, we will review the traits and behaviors learned by Oakes and compare them to my understanding, experience and knowledge of Jane Whaley. Admittedly, I have not used the exact same techniques as Oakes to learn of Jane, but, once recognized, that should not take away for the comparison. Comments are welcome.
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I have no idea how you are able to do this research, I really like your findings and see that you are being set free. There is absolutely nothing “spiritual” or any annointing surrounding Jane and WOFF. Stalin had the same in the name of communism! The question that must be asked and that I am asking is where is God in all of this? If we were in delusion here where does it end? Are we still in denial?
Arthur,
When considering groups such as WOFF, in my opinion, we see the efforts of a woman to be like God or even replace God. Others attempt to copy her and the strangeness only increases. We should not blame to efforts of “man” to usurp God – on God. Other beings, as well as other men, have been attempting that from the beginning of time. It is meant to discourage and cause many to lose hope and faith. We must keep our hope in God- not those who attempt to pose as God. Your thoughts?
John
Very interesting post John. I know of this Centerpoint community and understand why it is a fine example of this sort of power. Power of Prophetic Charisma has now also been proved by neuroscience. The study they did used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate, and found sometimes parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices of people under the spell of a charismatic leader will simply shut down. These parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices that tend to shut down, are what humans will usually use for their skeptical thinking and vigilance. These test suggests people under the spell of charismatic leaders have simply learned to depend heavily on preconceived notions of the authority and trustworthiness of these leaders. As such they cease with all skeptical thinking and vigilance. Thus why these parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices will no longer have any need to be used.
When we see science telling us these things, We understand why our families might remain spell bound for so very long. And also start to understand why it might be, it is often very traumatic events which actually do aid members to help them start to see through all the charisma, and begin again to see all the bad bits their mind had simply stopped even noticing.
Paul,
These tests and the results would make good reading. Do you have a source? I have not found one I trusted, without a recommendation. Cautious of reading something less than a quality study of the matter…
Centerpoint: I was unable to find Dr. Len Oakes first book on the commune, do you have a source or direction for that book?
Thank you…
John
John
No sorry I have not read this book you speak of. I only know of this centerpoint group from being a New Zealander myself and from watching the details being reported and seeing the man by the nick-name of Bert Potter being sentenced to jail time. And also through having personally met somebody who was one of the people that at some stage was also one of those who some how became involved in this group. I say its a fine example of this power of prophetic Charisma,because a number people were so easily led to believe and get involved in some of the most terrible things. And I think this helps prove just how powerful charisma can be.
You may find this link below an interesting read.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10647871
I’m not quite sure I’m fully understanding your quest to find this book? you speak of,it isnt a copy of this book you seek is it http://www.sella.co.nz/general/books/non-fiction/new-zealand/7mpp68/
The nick-name Bert coming from Herbert ,over against being Burt as was suggested in that link you provided?.
Please explain more, I will be more than pleased ! to try and help you if I can.
With regard to the study regarding results of the test surrounding neuroscience used ,that with MRI suggested parts of the brain close down. I can understand your reluctance to trust these sort of suggestions. You have learned not to trust everything you hear,and I agree with this. This is called being sensible. This is called being sure of using parts of your own prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices,the way they are supposed to be used. And its a very good thing you do.
As to the study I refer to it is this one here http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/03/12/scan.nsq023
Admittedly they used believers as subjects for the tests in their study ,this was maybe a little unfair ?,yet in my opinion doesn’t do anything to suggest that believers will be the only people ever effected by this power of Prophetic Charisma. Infact if we read carefully we see this study suggests ..”These observations point to an important mechanism of authority that may facilitate charismatic influence, a mechanism which is likely to be present in other interpersonal interactions as well. ”
This seems to me to suggest this person is admitting this is not only a problem of believers. For indeed secular people can be believers too that can become blinded by the power of charisma. How better can we explain why some people may vote into power some of the very most useless types of people, that may have nothing more going for them, than having lots of power of charisma?. How better can we explain why some women and men may seem to become drawn toward the very worst partners they could ever think of choosing to be with,other than think maybe this power of charisma has some real fact behind the science of it,as this modern neuroscience is also suggesting.
John, another thing to remember is this study is been put into the Oxford Journal that seems is Copyright © 2010 Oxford University Press . If this science is untrue, surely somebody wouldn’t be happy about it being in this journal.
The full details of the tests http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/03/12/scan.nsq023.full
John I did previously find some other material somewhere that did also seem to be making much the same suggestions. But am having trouble thinking exactly where I found them.
But think about this side of the situation, scientists which do also include the faithful scientists, are not banned from doing the science and publishing the conclusions of such studies also. And if something is so very wrong about this science,then it will also be a great opening for somebody else to show it very wrong, and as such also get to make some sort of gain from having done so.
“Thank you…”
Hey no problem, John. Hope I can help in some way. What you write here helps me in some ways. And for that I thank you !
Paul
John
Managed finally remember where to track down some more reading with regard to observations of the neuroscience.
This link http://pewresearch.org/pubs/859/what-brain-science-tells-us-about-religious-belief
Seems quite interesting reading. See what it suggests about Liberal and conservative brains. And further down it gets into brain images using MRI and talks about study of Pentecostals speaking in tongues. It says
One of the more recent studies we did, which was very interesting, was a study of Pentecostals speaking in tongues. This was a much more exciting study for me because when you’re looking at people who are meditating or in deep prayer, they’re just sitting there and all the exciting stuff is going on inside, whereas when people are speaking in tongues all the exciting part is on the outside.
And then
The next slide is going to be the same person, now speaking in tongues. If you look in the frontal lobe area, where the arrows are pointing, as I toggle back and forth, you can see there’s a lot less activity in the frontal lobes when the person is speaking in tongues. So when they started to speak in tongues, and we see this in all the people we studied, their frontal lobe activity goes down.
This actually makes a lot of sense because in contrast to the meditators and nuns, who are focusing on doing something, the way the Pentecostals describe speaking in tongues is they are not focusing on doing it; they let it happen. They just let their own will go away and allow this whole thing to take place. They don’t feel like they’re in control of this process. And the findings on the scan at least support the phenomenological experience they have.
End quote.
John this seems to fit with some of the other study. Like when the mind goes blank through lack of any need of the concentration of thought, in this case because the voice has taken over instead,those parts of the “frontal lobe” thought parts become inactive because “once again” like in the other study, they are not being used.
This http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/122/5/994.full
Suggests
The function of the prefrontal cortex is as fascinating as it is elusive. Whilst damage to more posterior regions produces fairly blatant deficits of function, the effect of frontal brain lesions has proved far more difficult to characterize, although no less devastating to the lives of patients. Early reports told of individuals with no apparent loss of intellectual function, yet whose behaviour changed so drastically that they were never able to resume the lives that they had led before. Part of the problem has undoubtedly been that the cognitive processes underlying abilities which are impaired by prefrontal damage, such as planning, reasoning and problem solving, have not been well understood.
End quote.
Here is another link you may find of some interest. http://www.crystalinks.com/medbrain.html
Says
The different roles of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex can be easily observed under the influence of various drugs. Alcohol depresses the brain generally, but the sophisticated prefrontal cortex is more affected than less complex areas, resulting in lowered inhibitions, decreased attention span, and increased influence of emotions over behaviour. Likewise, the controversial drug ritalin has the opposite effect, because it stimulates activity in the prefrontal cortex.
End quote.
John hope you find some of this atleast worth a read out of interest.
Paul
Paul,
Thank you, for the research. I will look into the articles and it should lead to more understanding for me. I will get back to you after reading this material. Thank you, for the source on the book, I find it very interesting. The work of Dr. Oakes seems to me so captivating. Do you know of anyone else who has attempted such research and then published their work?
John
Paul,
SO many times while praying “WOFF-prayer”, the leader would say to the members- “Take hold of your minds!” That seems to be so true. There is a wandering or spaced out effect when engaged for long periods of time in “WOFF-prayer”…How can this be healthy or productive? Certainly worth more reading and study. THANK YOU!
John
John said “Do you know of anyone else who has attempted such research and then published their work? ”
John,
I found what looks like a review of the book Prophetic Charisma http://www.sustainedaction.org/Explorations/prophetic_charisma_psychological_explanation%20part1.htm
And over the years I’ve been reading quite a bit of material with regard to manipulation of minds. I will point it out,you can pick and chose what interests you and what doesn’t, ok.
You may or may not find “The Essay: The Battle For Your Mind” worth a read http://journalxtra.com/2009/08/the-battle-for-your-mind-persuasion-brainwashing-techniques-being-used-on-the-public/
Seems the person that wrote it, is involved in decribing some parts of his own job and how he makes a living. According to what I’ve read so far, seems what he doesn’t like, is when people use these brainwashing technique without people knowing its happening.
You may find this worth a glance http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:1yLiMhbN8-QJ:www.sol-uk.org/files/Seminar%2520Paper%2520(Richard%2520Churches).pdf+brain+affected+by+charismatic+leader&hl=en&gl=nz&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiMfdXS3Xc4HparSGKBB689-xT5nAhlJaqhUA4EViPZrw0gp2C7l5WvfWTd7N2OV9-bqUu-4mG6PuCzDgeo5rP-9ySgw1xHA27oceNZqFkll09iAFG9fbvpIgcg8BLVRfGxJiMa&sig=AHIEtbRDWMnGxG9qrU6kVnKV8ESyGE3CGw
And http://www.phinnweb.org/neuro/brainwash/
John, hope you find something here a little interesting. The problem of becoming a prisoner of the mind is nothing new. This tactic has been used for generations now. Used properly it can be useful. Used for nastiness and to gain power over people it can be very dangerous. And such a hard problem to remedy.
Many people report finding it was only due to some extremely traumatic situation that arose, which finally shakes them to the core and helps them suddenly start to question matters a little deeper. Failing something like that happening, seems some people can remain almost like zombies forever. Nearly like they were being comatosed by spider bite.
All the best friend.
Paul
Paul,
As always, I am thankful for the resources. The next few days, I will be very busy, but will come back to this and plan on posting a summary or overview in the future. You may not be surprised if I say that a positive purpose for mind control is difficult for me to believe at this point. So, I will be seeking answers. Hoping you are well. Please, comment when ever you can.
Best to you.. (gotta love this Internet thing… we are so many miles apart, yet, we can communicate regularly when needed..!)
John