Recently, a very good friend sent me a copy of the movie “The Wave”. This movie was made in 1981 and is a dramatic presentation of a sequence of events which took place in Palo Alto, CA in 1967. In a high school class in April of that year, a history teacher led his class in an experiment after their lesson on Hitler’s Germany, the Holocaust, and the tragedy surrounding those years. The class experiment was prompted after a student asked the teacher – How could the German people sit back while the Nazis slaughtered people all around them and claim to not know anything about it? How could they do that, how could they say that? (paraphrased)

As I watched the beginning of this obviously dated film, I was instantly drawn in by the questions and thus followed closely for the answer. Why? This line of questioning is only slightly different from the questions I receive from people asking- How could anyone get caught up in a cult? How could intelligent people be swept up in a religious cult or any other cult, for that matter? John, how did you get into Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Why does this matter and how does this movie answer these questions? We shall see if it does. Also, in the last few weeks, I have met several new folks that have no knowledge of WOFF, Jane Whaley or that religious cults even exist in America. Eventually, questions come as to my back ground and how I ended up where I am today. I continually search for more accurate and helpful ways to explain the cult phenomena in America as I have experienced it.

In an attempt to not retell every detail of this movie, I will present an overview and hopefully a descriptive bridge showing how these insights apply to the situation at WOFF. The history teacher in the movie began his experiment without announcing the plan, outline or goal. He moved into a set of classroom disciplinary rules that required an abrupt change in the behavior of the students. Rather than reject the rules, many of the students welcomed them. He presented three slogans, the first of which was “Strength through discipline.” This was welcomed as the rules became more and more numerous.

In WOFF, there were rules and they required a certain discipline to follow or fake them. In the experiment, the students acquired a sense of superiority when they could exercise the discipline and obey the rules. They began to feel special. In my experience at WOFF, being able to follow the many ever changing rules or fine tune your ability to fake obedience, also allowed members to take on an attitude of superiority. We have discussed this issue before on the blog. The deception comes after following the WOFF rules that doing right equates to being right. Last I checked true Christianity included more than just “works”.

The second slogan in the exercise caught my attention quickly. “Strength through Community” The particular slogans are not the critical issues used to validate or explain the answer to the question. Not each religious cult uses the same slogans to accomplish the same ends. But, for the ones used in this movie, I will draw parallels to life at WOFF. In the film, “community” was explained in this manner: Community is that bond between those people who work together and struggle together. It is that feeling you have when you realize you are a part of something more important than yourself. Community is a movement, a team, a cause and like discipline, you must experience it and participate in it to fully understand it. (close paraphrase)

Immediately, when I heard this I could see that sense of community during a member’s stay at WOFF is that glue, that force which binds and bonds and in many ways- drives members to forego all other relationships, all other opportunity for friendships outside the group. Jane is a master at developing the strong sense of a holy, righteous community of God’s children pressing on to know the Lord. It is for the defense of that WOFF-community that many members deny familial relations outside the group and only marry inside the group and only seek employment inside companies owned by church members. It is the melding of that WOFFness into the individuals that then allows them to go to whatever means necessary to prevent a break in the community bonds. I mean WHATEVER means to prevent someone from leaving or even expressing a desire to be a part of another “community”. After all, to a faithful WOFF member, there is NO other place to be but in the “safety” of the closed WOFF community. My question: what is the cost of membership in this community?

The third slogan for the high school group was “Strength through action.” This is where the teacher encouraged active recruitment of others outside the immediate class. “Discipline gives the right to action and if you support one another, obey the rules; you will assure success of the Wave.” The Wave was the title of the group. Does obeying the WOFF rules assure members of success? If so, is that success elusive or a defined goal? My experience included times when the goals were elusive and the path ever changing on how to reach the elusive goal. We were taught not to desire only to make heaven, but, to “fulfill the call of God on your life.” That “call” could change according to what Jane heard in the spirit about you.

At this point, I will mention one sub-plot included a young girl and her boy-friend who struggled to make sense of the experiment and tried to get others to think for themselves. During the course of the film, there were several quotes about “the Wave” and how far it had gone to take over the lives of the students that are worth mentioning. One person said, “Yes, there are a few people getting hurt along the way, but, it is for the good of the whole.” Another student complained that his classmates were spying on each other! Do WOFF members spy on each other? I think so. The history teacher was confronted and asked if his goals had changed along the way and had he gotten caught up in the feeling of power? Is it possible this has happened to Jane and her leadership?

Toward the end of the film, the teacher sets the stage for a new national youth leader to be revealed to the students. He allows them to get excited only to reveal to them that they were being set-up for Hitler to be their leader. The abrupt realization seemed to shock the students. They had all been caught up in the frenzy to promote their group and their goals and recruit others. The teacher points out several keys to the students to help them understand the answer to the original question- How could the German people sit-by and watch millions of others being killed and say nothing and act
like they knew nothing about it?

“You traded your freedom for the luxury of feeling superior.” While at WOFF, we did trade our freedoms for the supposed security of being God’s chosen, in the move of God, the only ones with “truth”. Surrendering of individual freedoms was required to stay in the group.

“You accepted the group’s will over your own conviction, no matter who you hurt.” While at WOFF, the will of the individual was subjected to Jane’s perception of God’s will. It mattered not who was “hurt”, only the will of God. In WOFF-terms,  if you were hurt by the will of God- you had a devil in you.

The teacher goes on, “Where were you headed? How far would you have gone? You would have all made good Nazis, put on the uniform, turned your head and allowed your friends and neighbors to be persecuted and destroyed.”  I listened to this monologue and reflected on “How far would you have gone?”How many members of WOFF have been led into doing things they never thought they would do, leaving relationships they never thought they would have to give-up- all for the will of God as determined by Jane Whaley? Do WOFF members put on the WOFF-uniform and allow their friends to be destroyed- all for the WOFF-community? All for Jane?

The subject of cult involvement is more complicated than a 46 minute film can explain. The German people were certainly a part of a destructive political cult. Many others join cults everyday and don’t fully know what they have done. When a group fills the needs of an individual, the accurate discernment of a person can become skewed and/or wither. When the sense of community is enhanced by a blind zeal for the purposes of the group, dangerous things can and do occur.

Below I have included the video in two parts. Comments welcome.

For further reading, I suggest “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” –Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust– by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (Copyright©1996, 1997 Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, First Vintage Books Edition-1997) ISBN0-679-44695-8

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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 405.