In a recent post titled, “The Short Creek Effect”, we cited resource material from “Escape” written by Carolyn Jessop. (“Escape”- authors Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer, Copyright©2007 by Visionary Classics, LLC, published by Broadway Books, ISBN 978-0-7679-2756-7). We are continuing on with references found in the chapter titled “Child’s Play”. Jessop recounts the games and adventures of her childhood. She grew up a part of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) which practices polygamy.
The game she explains in detail was “apocalypse”. “It was magic, our version of hide-and-seek… We grew up knowing a lot about the end of the world. It had been drilled into us in Sunday school that we were God’s chosen people. When the end times would come, we would be saved.” (page 24) As I read this I remembered how many other religious cults taught that they “were God’s chosen people”. Do I need to list them? My perspective also comes from my time in Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Teachings about the end times were sporadic and at times murky in WOFF. But, no doubt we were God’s chosen people. Well, if you pressed on to know the Lord, stayed at WOFF and kept submitting to the authority of God- which was embodied in Jane Whaley. Your place in the will of God was always tied to your continued attendance at WOFF. After all, why would God tell you to leave “the will of God”? So, even if the exact words were not used consistently, it was clearly understood and said that “there may be other folks walking in the Truth, but, we had not found them yet.” Being at WOFF made you special. We move on.
Jessop continues, “When the end times would come, we would be saved, the wicked killed, and the world destroyed. I was too young to question these ideas; they were my spiritual ABCs. Contrary to what most would think, we were not taught the end of the world was a bad thing. Not at all. It was a good thing because it would usher in a thousand years of peace… There was one caveat; before God slaughtered the wicked, he would allow them to try to kill his chosen people. (It should have made us wonder, but we didn’t.) We were taught the government (which was wicked) would move into our community and try to kill every man, woman, and child. But since we had been faithful to God and kept his word, he’d hear our prayers and protect us.” (page 24) Again, as we read this, remember that these ideas were taught over and over to the young children. It became accepted and so common place that at least from Jessop’s account there was very little doubt expressed or even the least bit of critical thinking in reference to these FLDS “truths”. Why should that shock us? Why should it shock me? As a result of the mind control methods used in this group, critical thinking was for the most part non-existent.
Jessop goes on to describe the game of hiding and when you were spotted someone would shout, “I can see you! You’re going to be killed!” …”The other kids would shout were shouting that planes were coming to attack us with bombs. There was more screaming and hiding. Some of the youngest children began to cry.” (page 25) Let me say right here, Jane Whaley outlawed the game hide and seek at WOFF! Why, that might lead folks to “hiding sin!” There were no games where folks were encouraged to “hide”, at least not while I was there. Things could have changed.
The author goes on to list several scenarios in the game of apocalypse. She writes, “It was at this moment that the resurrected Indians came to save us… The resurrected Indians were a uniquely FLDS concept” (page 25) I would say so! There were several folks that had Indian heritage at WOFF. But, Jane made it clear that the Indian religion and customs had no place at WOFF. That didn’t seem to stop the WOFF members with Indian backgrounds from accepting money from the U.S. government for support. You deny your heritage to walk in Jane’s religion and cash in on your heritage to get free money from the government. Was that allowed because you were to tithe and give offerings to Jane on that money? Tell me how that works.
We go back to the resource text, “… the resurrected Indians were required to take on the job of protecting God’s chosen people…” (page 25) Jessop goes on to explain the game including pilots of bombers being killed by Indians with tomahawks and it looked like a heart attack. “In the game of apocalypse, the resurrected Indians protected us from the government. But that wasn’t enough. We were being invaded by the Russians in the east and the Chinese in the west. Once again, it was the people of God who turned the invaders back by participating in prayer circles.” (Page 26, emphasis added) It was not clear in the passage if the Indians participated in the prayer circles. At WOFF they did. We had prayer circles to bring deliverance to God’s chosen people from the devil either in them or attacking them or whatever. So, here is something sort of similar in both groups- prayer circles for deliverance.
Jessop goes on to recount a cousin of hers, Lee junior. “I was captivated by the stories he told us of our religion.” This cousin would tell of “white Indians (not to be confused with the resurrected Indians)… When God gave the order, the army of several hundred thousand would march out of the jungle. They would decide who would live and who would die by tearing off an individual’s clothes. If he or she was wearing blessed garments underneath their outer garb, they’d be spared. But those without the sacred underwear would be murdered… It was sobering – especially to a six-year old—to think that you could make it through all the different destructions but still end up dead if you didn’t wear the right clothes.” (page 27) Until I read this, I am not quite sure I realized that FLDS put as much emphasis on clothing as WOFF. There were several rules about clothing at WOFF. Jane would often make them up as needed. Jane could and would change the rules as she saw fit. We have discussed that before. Clothes were a BIG DEAL at WOFF and certainly indicated “your submission to God’s authority (Jane) in your life”.
Carolyn Jessop goes on to tell about hidden gold under mountains and why it was hidden until the end times. She was taught about “Gadianton robbers” and cities being buried under mountains as well as other things. “… I am not sure how this all squared with all the destruction that was supposed to rain down on our heads. Couldn’t the good men just tell the evil ones to scram? But a six-year old doesn’t put such thoughts together. I took it all in as the grand myth and folklore that it was. (page 29, emphasis added)
As I read that statement it struck me as odd. Then I caught the perspective of the author. She was writing this in reflection looking back. Sure she could recognize these preposterous tales as “the grand myth and folklore that it was”—now. But, while she was living under the spell of the group, it was necessary to believe or at least act like you believed the folklore. Certainly, while inside FLDS, if a member began to dispute the foundational myths and folklore of the group, staying would be difficult. In order for the sham to continue, there had to be “believers”, right?
I began to reflect back on the “the grand myth and folklore” that was a part of the WOFF experience. My first thought was that since WOFF did not incorporate a lot of end time prophecy or end time beliefs as their main calling card, then the myths would not have been so surreal. That first thought was a result of being in the group. Why of course a WOFF member would not believe in resurrected Indians as defenders of the group, or Gadianton robbers or other such things—right? Then I had to admit that even after being out of WOFF since July of 2008, I can’t say for certain that I would be able to detect all of the foundational myths and folklore that were a part of WOFF. It has been and will continue to be a process of testing and trying the beliefs and experiences of the group in order to know the truth. The difficulty lies in the fact that much of the myth of WOFF was supported by Scripture or shall we say the twisting of Scripture. I have said this before to others outside the group, WOFF believed and practiced the basics of evangelical Christianity. In that, many including myself were deceived into believing in the validity of the group- at least on the surface. After all, look at the ton or two tons of Scripture references on the WOFF website! They must be okay, right?
Then I could see it. As much as the extra-Biblical myths and folklore of FLDS played an role in suspending or canceling the critical thinking skills of its members, so too does the private interpretation of Scriptures by Jane Whaley suspend or cancel the critical thinking skills of faithful WOFF members! Jane uses as her tool the twisting of Scriptures to spin a web to catch her prey. Once caught in the WOFF web, members are hard pressed to leave even though many of the signature practices constitute textbook mind control techniques. Using Scripture to justify the exercising of mind control was even more deceptive to me than concocting magnanimous tales as were used in FLDS. After all, a lie containing some bit of truth is harder to resist than a fable that is totally unattached to present reality.
As one former member put it to me, Jane came off as the sister of Jesus. Not that she would ever pretend to call herself that outside of some well manicured Scriptural argument. In my opinion, Jane functions in place of the Savior of the world for her members. Why? In the WOFF universe, she functions as the go between. She puts herself between God and her members as she only can hear God in such a high level. Only she can “know God’s will for their life”. If you doubt this then you have not lived in WOFFness for any length of time. For this was all part of the grand myth and folklore that was necessary to live in WOFF; believing that Jane had the powers and the position she claimed was as much out of touch with reality as believing resurrected Indians would be sent to save God’s chosen people in the end times.
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Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, for posts written by John Huddle, any information about WOFF is from his 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 360.