We will take a short break in our comparison of Peoples Temple and Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) to bring you a video of a new reality television show. This show is about young people wanting to leave the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) which is a group in the news a lot in the past few years. Warren Jeffs is their prophet and he is in jail serving time for charges related to their practices of underage marriage to older men in the group. I had not watched the show or seen any videos until a blog reader made me aware of them in the last few minutes. The videos are short and I have included two of them.

This post will take quotes from the audio and make comparisons to the life I lived inside of WOFF. The main comparison is the extreme control and also the blind dedication to this imprisoned leader. There are some quotes after the video…

Prayers for the Prophet-

(update 11/26/13- this series is shown on TLC- Sunday evenings 10:00PM EST)

0:45  – “Uncle Warren has a special gift from God. And He is the one who decides how we dress, how we eat… how we do our hair…” – WOFF members and survivors- does this sound familiar?

1:17 – “The Prophet decides who we marry and who we are blessed to have babies with…” – Okay, who inside of WOFF has that power and authority? Right- Jane Whaley.

2:50- “The Prophet said that my grandfather was a wicked man..that was a real shocker to me… My father made us take it (the picture of him) down.. we don’t have any pictures of him hanging up..”

Inside of WOFF, once you leave, you are thought of in the same way and IF there were any pictures of you hanging or on their website, they are soon removed and destroyed.. They are shredded as it were. WOFF Survivors- do we know this to be true? Why does it have to be so…?

3:24- “Obedience to God through His Prophets is first and most important…”- Warren Jeffs. If I heard one sermon on obedience to spiritual authority while inside of WOFF- I must have heard a hundred or more.. Who was/is the spiritual authority inside of WOFF? Right… The video ends with the young lady saying- “This is the only world we know..”

Inside Breaking the Faith

0:25 – “There is always people watching you…”

0:42 –  Scenes of Warren Jeffs in prison talking to some of his folks and encouraging them to “smile.”

1:06 –  “The Prophet is the one man on earth who speaks to God and gets all revelations from God concerning the world and especially His group of people.” Well, apparently, Warren Jeffs has never met Jane Whaley.

1:17- “They need to follow the rules of the church in order to get to heaven. No camping, no fishing, no playing, no holidays, just a lot of work. The Prophet through revelation said for us to not go swimming, that the devil controls the water. Warren Jeffs had a revelation that we are not allowed to have white flour, sugar, corn, potatoes…” Sounds like a major “don’t list” going here. WOFF has their “don’t list” as well. Sad. I followed it while I was there- as much as anyone could.

2:01- “I was taught all my life I would go to hell if I left the church and I really do believe it…” Yes, Jane teaches that to her folks. She makes leaving her group a “sin.”

2:30- “We are not allowed to have any pictures of our family members who have left..They are pretty much dead to us…” For our readers, this is the same practice at WOFF.

3:20- “All of these people must do every word He says, that is the only thing that people there know..” By now, I suppose you get the picture. Jane and her group do not practice polygamy. But, why should that even have to be noted? Jane dictates the same controlling practices that Warren Jeffs does. Do you agree? Why do so many ignore the obvious red flags with this group and others like them?

And with that, let us remember:

“It is never too late to wake up and leave and reclaim your life!” Steve Hassan

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. Jane told me. 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, 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 449.