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Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Uncategorized

“Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (3)

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      We pick up here in the third post using the book, “American Exorcism” by Michael Cuneo (copyright 2001, published by DOUBLEDAY, ISBN 0-386-50176-5) as the author is sharing his encounter with Word of Faith Fellowship, (WOFF) led by Jane Whaley. While we go through this chapter, remember we are looking for the reason the author named it- “Carolina Blues”. Cuneo is beginning his efforts to reach RF- “a prominent minister in the Spindale church, a kind of point man for the Whaleys.” He writes, I phoned a dozen times, leaving messages, once having an agreeable chat with RF’s son, JF, but RF himself was always just now away on business, or just now entertaining guests, or just now otherwise occupied. (page 188) The author then decides to take a chance and go to WOFF unannounced. What he encountered was so typical, it made me laugh out loud! His account of the Saturday afternoon encounter so reminded me of WOFF-days and WOFF-ways.

   “It was a late Saturday afternoon, and I turned into the empty parking lot with the thought of making a brief reconnaissance swing around the property.” (page 188)  This was obviously his first mistake. You do not go onto WOFF property, unapproved or unescorted, if you are not a WOFF member. Even when a WOFF member gets a new car, they could be stopped and mistaken for a “visitor”. Remember- WOFF is a closed shop. He continues, “All at once the church’s internal security system sprang into action. A family that had been playing baseball on the front lawn of the house across the road dropped their bats and balls, the woman ran into the house, and the man headed for the parking lot and intercepted me at the entranceway. “Can we help you?” he said.” This scenario is all so typical and WOFF-normal, if there is such a term. I have seen it and been a part of it – so many times!

    Continue reading “Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (3) →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

“Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (2)

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    At the end of the previous post titled “Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (1), the author of the book titled “American Exorcism” by Michael Cuneo (copyright 2001, published by DOUBLEDAY, ISBN 0-386-50176-5) was beginning to share his encounter with Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in Spindale, NC. This encounter is in Chapter 12. In Chapter 11, Cuneo writes about his encounter with Hegewisch Baptist Church. This is important to note, since at the end of Chapter 12, Cuneo makes a comparison of the two churches- Hegewich Baptist and WOFF. We also mention in the first post the question regarding the title- “Carolina Blues”; we are looking for a reason for the title to this chapter.

   The author page found here.. http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=6157 states that Michael W. Cuneo serves as a teacher of sociology and anthropology at Fordham University. He wrote “The Smoke of Satan” and has had his research quoted in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The book listed as a reference for this post; “American Exorcism” is the only work that I have read by Cuneo, so far.

   Cuneo noted that his sources had told him the Whaleys “run a closed shop”. (page 186) So, who would agree with that? How long has that been true? The author continues with his interview of Pete Evans, the detective who went undercover and filmed the deliverance sessions for the Inside Edition story in 1995. Evans said “he personally submitted to deliverance eleven times.” Evans went on, “Anywhere from six to twelve people would form a circle around you and scream the devils out of you at the top of their lungs. ..They wanted you to vomit the devils out in plastic buckets they put in front of you… The screaming was so intense that some people suffered hearing damage or damage to their vocal cords. When you join up, you’re asked to sign a waiver releasing the church from liability for injury.”  (page 187)

    Continue reading “Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (2) →

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

“Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (1)

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    In previous posts, I have mentioned that my use of Google Alerts®. This is a free service that searches the Internet daily for key words and returns them in an email set to your preferences. I use terms such as Word of Faith Fellowship, Jane Whaley, mind control, religious cults and spiritual abuse. This is a great way to keep up on certain specific content without trolling the web yourself. Who has the time?

    Recently, one of my searches brought back a blog post containing a reference to the conference in Washington, DC held in July 2010 by the Christians United For Israel (CUFI). The headline was CUFI Linked with Controversial “Demon-Blasting” Church . I have not read all of the content on the host blog. I do recommend following the link and reading this entire post. The blog title is “Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion”. It is written by Richard Bartholomew. He is quoting an article from “Charisma” magazine, as well as other sources.

    This post I considered such a good find. There are two topics from that post which I will take up. One is the conference in Washington, DC where Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) displayed their Holocaust Museum. Yes, there are pictures at Flicker® which I will link to in a future post. There are some pictures of Congressman Heath Shuler posing with the WOFF group. Was I surprised? All of that is for another post. You can get a head start and read the post from Bartholomew.

    Today, the subject has to do with the reference toward the end of the article to Jane Whaley being quoted in a book by Michael Cuneo titled “American Exorcism” (copyright 2001, published by DOUBLEDAY, ISBN 0-386-50176-5) This can be purchased at amazon.com. My copy was purchased used for $1.69 plus shipping. What a BARGAIN! The reference in the blog post for a quote from Jane Whaley was for page 235. In my edition, that was incorrect. Chapter 12 of this book if titled “Carolina Blues” and this is the section about WOFF and Jane Whaley.

    Continue reading “Carolina Blues” at WOFF? (1) →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Over 5,000 Days and Counting

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    As mentioned, this past week has confirmed the strong curiosity in the surrounding community about Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and Jane Whaley. One former member asked me a few weeks ago- How do you put out so much stuff? My immediate answer was that I type fast. Well, I type faster than I used to. But, a more complete answer would mention that WOFF has affected my life for over 5,000 days. We were definitely affected by WOFF while in the Greenville church. That was from 1992 until 2002. Add those days to the six years of being inside and then the two years since.  I am gone from there, but my life is still being affected by their ways and beliefs. Some of that is due to what is still affecting me personally. Some is due to certain ongoing personal situations that are not resolved. So far, there are less than 200 posts on this blog. The actual number of days that WOFF has affected my life is closer to 6,000; but who is counting? True, many of those days I was under the impression that the effects were positive. It was not until 2005, during a period of a few months and later starting in late 2007 and early 2008 that I began to see the negative nature of certain effects of WOFF in my life. But, shall I post one for one? I am a long ways behind the count even if I have any hope of catching up…

   Along those lines, it is a good place to restate that the effects of WOFF on its members vary from person to person. Some of this is due to length of time in the group, how many “changes” were made to make the person’s life WOFF-compliant and if other family members went into WOFF along with the person in question. Some folks go in and come out- without having other family members directly involved or becoming a part of the group. That person may have a better chance of escaping some of the emotional stress associated with leaving and having family members stay in the group. Yes, these are all only my observations. I have no hard statistical data to back these statements. But, I do know folks who appeared to have a less traumatic exit. In order to verify this statement, I would have to speak directly to those individuals.

       Continue reading Over 5,000 Days and Counting →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Information control, Thought Reform, Uncategorized

Movies and Thoughts on “Thought Reform”

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     In 1990, I went to a movie theater in West Ashley near Charleston, SC. The movie was “China Cry”, produced by TBN Films. This movie is the story of Nora Lam, her life and escape from China. I attended with two younger folks and remember much of that evening. That would be the last film I would view in a movie theater until 2004 when several Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) members were allowed to attend “The Passion”, directed by Mel Gibson. We viewed it in the theater in Forest City, NC.  That was a night I will not soon forget. Jane Whaley did not attend. Here is link to a previous post where I mention attending “The Passion”.. https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=216

    Recently, I watched “China Cry” again. By mentioning this movie here, I am not endorsing a particular ministry or TV preacher(s). For the time period, the movie was done with quality and I would recommend others to watch it. What struck me this time was the very detailed depiction of the thought reform used by the Communist Party under Chairman Mao Zedong. Both Neng Yee Sung, who later changed her name to Nora Lam, and her husband were forced into detailed confessions of their past, their relationship and other areas of their lives individually and together. It was said that the officials were trying to get confessions about past transgressions and Nora’s Christian education. One scene shows Nora’s husband secretly admitting the temptation to “give them what they want”; he was ready to confess but, he was not sure to what. Later, the officials would use simultaneous lies against both husband and wife in an attempt break their bond and their love for each other. “Reform” would come to resisters through “labor training.”

    This visual depiction correlates well with the accounts found in Robert Jay Lifton’s work in “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989. ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). The subtitle of the book is “A Study of Brainwashing in China”. Lifton studied the thought reform used on Westerners by the Communist party in the 1950’s. I have not finished the book, but what I have read has been fascinating. I quote from the PREFACE of the recent edition, “I see it (this book) as less a specific record of Maoist China more an exploration of what might be the most dangerous direction of the twentieth-century mind- the quest for absolute or “totalistic” belief systems. … Indeed this quest has produced nothing short of a worldwide epidemic of political and religious fundamentalism- of movements characterized by literalized embrace of sacred texts as containing absolute truth for all persons, and a mandate for militant, often violent measures taken against designated enemies of that truth of mere unbelievers.” (page vii emphasis added) Was the author ahead of his time on this observation! Lifton’s observations can apply to so many groups around the world, today.

   Continue reading Movies and Thoughts on “Thought Reform” →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Welcome New Readers-Posts of General Interest (2) August 2010

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Night version of sign
Sign in Forest City

   The traffic on this blog has increased over the last week. What does that mean? I do not believe that since the traffic has increased one automatically assumes that all readers are in agreement with the material. That is about as silly as thinking that just because one reads the “Communist Manifesto”- then you automatically become a communist. Some have expressed their thankfulness for the posts. Many have kept silent. The only thing that can safely be deduced from the increased traffic is that it confirms the curiosity in the community about Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), Jane Whaley and the operations of that group.

     Several have asked if there has been a reply or comment or anything from WOFF in response to this blog or this week. Recently, there has been no official reply either written or verbal. What does that mean? It means nothing. WOFF may choose to ignore this forum all together. On the other hand, I may get some sort of reply. Whatever the reply, whether written of verbal, I will post it and allow others to learn what has been done or said. WOFF may choose another forum that they consider more neutral. Even if their reply is negative toward my material, I would post it here in the interest of presenting both sides of the WOFF experience. After all, the members of the community deserve as much information as possible in order to have a more complete understanding of the group living, growing and doing business among them.  

Here are three posts about life at WOFF:

“The Church Service No One was to Talk About” link – https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=335 From the post on February 6, 2010- “Some even would kneel before her(Jane). Men and women of all ages made their way to the front. Jane soon allowed the “news” to start being told. The people were coming telling Jane that “God had shown them who their mate was to be..”  

Continue reading Welcome New Readers-Posts of General Interest (2) August 2010 →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Welcome New Readers-Posts of General Interest (1) August 2010

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Night version of sign
Sign in Forest City

     Over the years at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) certain practices have come and gone. One practice that has developed and still continues, as far as I know, is the practice of standing outside of Jane’s door and waiting for a “minister” to come “deal with your sin”. Particularly before the Sunday evening service, folks would line up either by themselves or with someone who was “taking hold of them”. There, they would wait until they were approached or could snag the attention of someone in leadership. If they caught someone, then there would be the “opening of their heart” and “exposing their sin”. They would often get “help” in “seeing their sin the way God sees it”. If they found a “place of repentance” then they could proceed into the service- generally. If the person in leadership felt they needed to remain “set apart” and “in discipleship” (after checking with Jane or someone higher up in leadership…), the person being dealt with would be sent into the discipleship room and after the service they may meet again to “check them out” and hear “what God had shown them”.

    This scenario could go many different directions. The “sin” could be over “big” things like a “bad attitude” or “not submitting to authority” or in many cases, over “smaller” infractions like not picking up your dishes after a meal, or not taking out the trash when you were told or not “pulling your weight in the household” or “checking out” during the morning service or not ironing your clothes at the right time or coming to church looking sloppy or wearing the wrong color shirt or wearing the wrong tie or wearing the wrong dress or reading headlines of newspapers, or rolling your eyes, or making some motion or expressing some notion that you maybe, kind of sorta, want to watch TV or read a magazine. You could be corrected for whistling, or humming or snoring, over-sleeping not wiping the shower out when you were done or being late for ANYTHING, not parking in the right space, not having your car tag up to date, going shopping at the wrong place, or at the wrong time or even being by yourself! Correction came to bring you back “under the protection of God” and in good graces with those around you- especially Jane Whaley. (select “Read …..” to continue……)

    Continue reading Welcome New Readers-Posts of General Interest (1) August 2010 →