What triggers memories for you? Do you remember things best from sights or sounds? When you come across a particular aroma, does that aroma trigger memories? Tonight, for me it was a particular sound. The sound was the plethora of often indistinguishable noises that come out of an AM radio at night time. Let me explain the path of memories this “noise” took me on this evening.
Many years ago as a child, I was given a small handheld AM radio. Maybe there was an FM band, but, I doubt it. This would have been in the mid 1960’s. As far as I remember, my grandfather gave me this electronic treasure. It was probably a Christmas present purchased from Sears and Roebuck. The radio was battery powered and one that could be easily held while drifting off to sleep. That is what I remember doing for some years as a young boy. Music, sports and news filled the airwaves then. Talk radio as we know it today was non-existent. I would slowly push the tuner to catch the next strong station from states far away… It was a fascinating hobby for me at that age.
Tonight, as I drove home from work, I continued this habit begun many years ago. I turned the car radio to the AM band and began to surf the stronger stations that my car antenna would receive. To my dismay, I could not find a particular sporting event which I knew would be broadcast from somewhere… it just happened not anywhere I could hear. But, that did not stop me, as I still found it a challenge to listen to a radio show and try to figure out what state the radio station was broadcasting from. Now, for those fellow radio surfers, you know some of the larger AM stations. There is 1510 WLAC out of Nashville, 660 WFAN out of New York, 1120 KMOX out of St. Louis, 720 WGN which transmits out of Chicago and WSB 750 out of Atlanta. When it comes to talk show or interview show, not every time to I agree with the point of view being put forth; but, it is still fun to listen.
The show that caught my attention tonight was on 720 WGN out of Chicago. Just before midnight Eastern Time, the announcer was interviewing four men and the part of the interview I heard was the state of affairs in Iran. The interviewer was Milton J. Rosenberg. (link about Rosenberg- http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/ext720/wgnam-extension-720-milt-rosenberg-information,0,2257333.htmlstory )
The description for this show from the radio website:
Thursday, August 23: “The Anatomy of Revolution” is the great title of a great historical work by Crane Brinton, published way back in 1938. The question persists: what do seperate revolutions have in common? We go at that classic question tonight examining the similarities (and, of course, the differences) between the French, Russian, American and Iranian revolutions). And for this inquiry we are joined by four distinguished scholars from, respectively, the University of Chicago, Lake Forest College, UIC and Northwestern.
The subject was not familiar to me and I stopped to listen for a while. There was a man being interviewed seemed to be very familiar with different movements inside Iran as well as present and past desires and feelings of the citizens of that country. Regretfully, I did not catch his name. When asked a question about the future of Iran and if they are headed toward democracy, his answer included this statement: “There can be no democracy without the free flow of information.” My attention was totally captivated by the observation and immediately I began to recall my time within Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). It seemed odd and perplexing that while inside WOFF, I did not consider how non-democratic the whole environment had become. Since I was not there in the beginning years, I cannot comment on the time before 1992. The years from 1992 until 2008, I feel pretty certain I can comment and make observations. When I left in 2008, there was NO DEMOCRACY inside WOFF.
The reason I am taking the time to write this in the wee hours of the morning stems from the certainty I feel that others outside of WOFF would be have no understanding of the restrictions on information which exist inside that group. Unless you have lived there INSIDE the group as a “faithful” member, you would have no insight into the number and magnitude of the rules, edicts – most everyone being UN-written- that exist inside WOFF. It is one thing for a survivor to recount the restrictions on the accessibility to outside media such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, movies, Internet, books and even public signs. It is another experience to go inside and submit to the informational vacuum. Regular members depend on Jane to give RF permission to share the main news stories and current events with the congregation. If Jane does not “feel” her people need to know about a certain event or happening, then they will not hear it in her church.
In addition to managing the information vacuum from atop the dictatorial, pyramidal structure, Jane has trained her people to help manage the restrictions. For example, if a regular member talks about a news event that they were not told about from approved church sources, then they could be/would be questioned- “How do you know that?” You had no right to go outside the restrictions and experience or seek out news, knowledge or information that was not approved. You were expected to abide by these unwritten rules and to like it or fake it that you liked it. Even reading the headlines of newspapers was taboo. (ask me, I know…)
As I remembered what life was like in the information vacuum, I began to reflect on the information and knowledge that was fed to regular WOFF members. Face it, we all need information. We cannot truly live in an information vacuum. Jane had to provide some stimuli to her folks. That “food” my friend came from two main sources. First, Jane would preach incessantly about her thoughts on Scriptures. She did not pretend to be formally trained and made no bones about it. Her doctrines could and did change over the years. She was self-taught and submitted to no leadership or organized counsel from any outside or inside sources. She administered from the front row, the communions, memorial services, weddings and other ceremonies out of her opinions about how things were to be done. All the time she was telling her folks that God was directing her.
The second source of information fed to regular WOFF members was her total infatuation with her everyday living and how special she saw her life to be. She would go on for hours about shopping trips filled with great bargains at “God’s prices”. She would tell certain stories of her past to prove to us over and over that she was chosen of God to lead His people and that no one else on earth could hear God with the clarity that she could. If that was not enough, we would hear stories of her pets, her relatives who loved her and how afraid she was to speak in front of a group when God called her to pastor the church while Sam was out traveling the world. How many times did we hear about the many court cases and the Inside Edition “attack”? In 2008, she was just beginning to push her grandson to the front and tell everyone what a special person he was and will be and how he was destined to preach to the world. From all indications, several of these themes have not changed. I suppose some new ones have been added.
So maybe I should reconsider. Living inside WOFF is not in an information vacuum. Regular members are fed plenty of information – directly from Jane or approved Jane sources. She forms, fashions, monitors and screens all the information her people are exposed to. She makes sure the information is always positive about her life, her “gift” her “anointing” her immediate family. What I can say with extreme confidence is that there was never the free flow of information while inside WOFF. We were never allowed to navigate unhindered in the pool of public information sources. Surfing AM radio stations was a definite –NO-NO! We were never allowed to go about our lives as free U.S. Citizens unhindered by the religiously motivated oppression that existed then and as far as I know still exists, within the confines of WOFF. Life inside WOFF was conducted on a “need to know” basis. Do other survivors agree? How about you, RF… do you see the point I am making or do you deny your part in it? Do you see how much of a pawn you are?
In Robert Lifton’s book, “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism”-A Study of Brainwashing in China- (Copyright©1961 Robert Jay Lifton, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2) – he explains the measures and means that need to be a part of a totalist environment. Within such an environment, thought reform occurs to individuals and the results are astounding. Lifton shares one of the primary controls which need to be in place in order to control an individual is “milieu control”.
“The most basic feature of the thought reform environment, the psychological current upon which all else depends, is the control of communication. Through the milieu control the totalist environment seeks to establish domain over not only the individual’s communication with the outside (all that the sees and hears, reads and writes, experiences, and expresses), but also- in its penetration of his inner life- over what he may speak of as his communication with himself.” (page 420)
Jane Whaley has this milieu control in her group. To deny such is to deny the facts observed by those survivors who have been inside and the keen observers who see it from the outside. Lifton goes on to explain further.
“For they (Totalist Administrators) look upon milieu control as a just and necessary policy, one which need not be kept a secret(A): thought reform participants may be in doubt as to who is telling what to whom, but the fact that extensive information about everyone is being conveyed to the authorities is always known(B). At the center of this self-justification is the assumption of omniscience, their conviction that reality is their exclusive possession(C). Having experienced the impact of what they consider to be the ultimate truth (and having the need to dispel any possible inner doubts of their own), they consider it their duty to create an environment containing no more and no less than this “truth”(D). In order to be engineers of the human soul, they must first bring it under full observational control.” (page 421 references added)
Let me explain my concerns about life inside WOFF in light of this passage. (A) In recent months, WOFF members have been more open in telling how controlled their group is in reference to their children. It has been conveyed to me as being told in a very non-apologetic manner, as if there is nothing wrong and only to be accepted, given the other characteristics of the group. I am alarmed about this but, not surprised. For WOFFers to believe that their life is “normal” only shows the level of self-deception that resides there. I am familiar with that deception.
(B) Once you are inside WOFF, you become aware and very controlled by the fear that whatever you do or say can and will eventually make it back to Jane. AND, if Jane does not like it, you will be in trouble.
(C) This is the most elusive and scary part of the WOFF reality. Once a person goes inside, there comes the assumption and presumption of Jane and her leadership that they have total right to control your reality. AND- to the degree they are able to do this is the degree in which you find yourself helpless and totally OUT OF CONTROL of your own reality, your own life. Controlling your reality includes them controlling your family members. The deception is justified by the super-spiritual sounding notion that now Jane is “responsible” for your life before God. She must do her best to teach you God’s ways; thus, the excuse to control your reality so you can learn “truth”.
(D) Jane claims to want and know “truth”. She sees this as her ultimate justification to engineer the lives of her people and her justification to affect those outside the group. She is all the time wanting to give outsiders “truth”- in her mind-“in order that they may be saved by it.” She seeks for her environment and the one she creates for her followers to be “based on Truth” and that clears her from any complicity or wrong doing. After all, she was just trying to establish “truth” when she kept the free flow of information from her members. Those members were not strong enough in “truth” to know what to listen and what to ignore.
All of this is foundational to running a totalistic environment or thought reform group. WOFF is just that: thought reform– in the name of “Jesus”, and when you add that phrase to it, in their minds, it justifies all the control. Sick.
Where do we go from here? I say anywhere but Old Flynn Road.
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”.
Guest posts reflect the opinions of the writers. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of John Huddle or any other persons affiliated with this blog.
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 409.