Category Archives: Books, Resources

Books, Resources for learning about religious cults

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

The Impact of Cults on Health

In one of my recent searches for information on cults, I came across a document that caught my attention. The document was a syllabus for a class taught to those in the medical profession- specifically nurses. The title was “The Impact of Cults on Health” – written by Anne Tapper, RN, MA, MSN. She is a therapist/case manager at the Opioid Treatment Program, Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA. The material was interesting and several quotes worth noting here. The source document is here The Impact of Cults on Health

The purpose/goal of the continuing education class is stated as familiarizing nurses with healthcare issues related to cults. The material covered would help folks to:

–          “Identify six characteristics of a dangerous cult and three ways they affect health

–          Name nine symptoms of membership in a cult

–          Describe six types of help that may be needed by those recovering from cultic involvement”

Do you realize what this says of the medical profession as a whole? There is obviously enough evidence in the medical community to openly admit and address the needs of ex-cult members from a medical perspective. There is enough concern and foresight to offer nurses and others in the medical profession baseline knowledge of cults and the effects they have on the health of members! From the course outline, “A conservative estimate is that between two million and five million Americans have experienced cult participation1. With this level of involvement, even a low incidence of abuse is likely to mean that thousands of people are affected.”

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

What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (4)

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Framing Defenses:

   This is the last post in the series on “framing” (as far as I know). Our source text, which is authored by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. is found here.. http://www.workingpsychology.com/index.html . In the previous post, we mentioned the definition of “framing” written by the author: “A frame is a psychological device that offers a perspective and manipulates salience in order to influence subsequent judgment.” We have covered several aspects of how this influence tool is used at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). As stated in previous posts, my opinion is that this framing tool is compounded with fear to actual form a “fear-frame” that explodes on its hearers with such power to freeze the listener and hinder rational decisions. Jane Whaley has constructed a total control environment for the WOFF faithful. This control is exercised many times with the use of such “fear-frames” as we have explained in the previous posts.

  Previously, we discussed studies that make it clear –“that a human’s first priority is not to lose–gains are secondary to the “no loss” rule.” Add the tendency to “not lose” with the “fear-frames” used by Jane Whaley at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and it becomes clear that life at WOFF is not what a first impression might reveal. Jane uses “fear-frames” to build into her faithful fears of losing something near and dear such as family, jobs, houses, salvation, and prospect of missing heaven, friends and so on. In order to gain “fear-relief”, her faithful members go to Jane for “the word of the Lord”. Actually, that is a super-charged religious euphemism which actually means they are seeking relief from the fears of losing that “something” where Jane holds sway over them. As I agreed with another former member earlier this week, this whole scenario is hard to understand unless you have been inside WOFF or a group like WOFF where fear is the modus operandi of the leader. I am trying to break it down as best I know how. This forum does not allow me to cover all the material Rhoads covers on the subject. I suggest you take the time and read the series on his website.  

    Continue reading What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (4) →

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

What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (3)

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   This is the next post in the series on “framing”. Our source text, which is authored by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. is found here.. http://www.workingpsychology.com/index.html . In the previous post, we covered the definition of “framing” written by the author: “A frame is a psychological device that offers a perspective and manipulates salience in order to influence subsequent judgment.” We covered several aspects of how this influence tool is used at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). My opinion is that this framing tool is compounded with fear to actual form a “fear-frame” that explodes on its hearers with such power to freeze the listener and hinder rational decisions. Jane Whaley has constructed a total control environment for the WOFF faithful. This control is exercised many times with the use of such “fear-frames” as we have explained in the previous post.

    This post will review the hideous evil behind that use of such “fear-frames”. Rhoads continues to explain the use of frames in the source text. He begins be citing work from another study. “Kahneman & Tversky (1979) were interested in understanding the conditions under which people made conservative or risky judgments. They observed evidence supporting what they called “prospect theory:” that the prospect of a loss has a greater impact on decision making than does the prospect of an equivalent gain.” (Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometirca 4, 362-377; Econometrica 47, 263-291. emphasis added)  He covers the findings of this study as they measure a person’s gains against their losses. The study found that “The pleasure of winning money is less intense than the pain of losing the same sum!” It is not practical to repeat word for word the information Rhoads gives to support this study. I recommend you use the link provided and read it for yourself.

    Here is a synopsis of what I took away from the reading. “Again, we humans hate to lose. We’d rather not win, than lose!” (Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1982). The psychology of preferences. Scientific American, 246, 160-173. Emphasis added) And Rhoads writes in summary.. “We know that a human’s first priority is not to lose–gains are secondary to the “no loss” rule. Thus, framing a decision in terms of possible loss should motivate a person more than framing the same decision in terms of possible gain. And, given various obligatory caveats and constraints which we explore later, subsequent research largely supports the contention that humans are acutely loss-averse and thus extraordinarily sensitive to loss frames.” (emphasis added)

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Books, Resources, Uncategorized

What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (2)

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   This is the second post in a series on the subject of “framing” – what it is and how it is used at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). We mentioned in the last post that the source material for this subject was found on a website here… http://www.workingpsychology.com/index.html which is authored by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. He explains several aspects of his studies dealing with the subject of influence. In the previous post, we reviewed some information about “framing” types and effects.

     At the end of the previous post we finished with these words: next, “we will look at the parts of a “frame”. I will also share my observations on the continual use of fear to frame every decision and rule during my time at WOFF. We will discuss a new term – “fear-frame” as well as how this affected life at WOFF. Please, check back soon for the next post. I believe this “fear-frame” concept is vital to understanding life for members of WOFF.”

   From the source material we read the author’s definition of a frame: “A frame is a psychological device that offers a perspective and manipulates salience in order to influence subsequent judgment.”  Rhoads breaks down the definition to help understand the meaning: “1) A frame “offers a perspective.” It manages the viewer’s alignment in relation to the issue.” The theme used by the author to help his readers understand his definition was the use of actual frames, for instance around a picture. He uses this analogy several times very effectively. The “perspective” at WOFF was narrow to say the least. You agreed with Jane’s perspective or you did not stay around long. The starting position for a faithful member of WOFF was/is Jane was/is always right and all others are listening to devils. The mantra is not that evident at first. New folks are given room to “grow” and “come into their place” of “understanding”. The phrases used to direct a member to Jane’s counsel or one of the approved leaders may be gentle or innocuous at first.. Have you heard God on that? Are you sure? Are you under authority? Have you inquired of God? Have you submitted to authority in that area? Are you out from under authority? After a while, the code becomes clearer. Jane Whaley is the “authority” and all decisions flow through her. If it is evident that a new person is not getting the meaning of the WOFF code, the directives will be more obvious. Have you asked Jane? Have you checked that out with Jane? Does Jane know about that? Did Jane say that was God (God’s will)? It was clear that perspective you needed to stay in WOFF- was Jane’s.

   Continue reading What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (2) →

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

What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (1)

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    A few weeks ago while researching something totally different about the effects of cults; I came across the website mentioned in the previous post. The website found here… http://www.workingpsychology.com/index.html is authored by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. He explains several aspects of his studies dealing with the subject of influence. In the previous post, we reviewed some information about “The Hot Seat Technique”; Rhoads wrote that this method was one of the more common influence tools used by cult leaders. We also reviewed how I experienced that technique at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). It appears that this technique was/is used frequently by Jane Whaley and her leaders.  

    In this post, we will review information from the same website, but on a different technique of influence. While introducing the subject of “framing”, Rhoads pointed out that this is just one of many influence methods and actually it “has only been lightly researched.” My interest has been peaked and for now, we will review the information presented and compare it to my experience during my years at WOFF. While we review this information on “framing”, we will also seek to answer the question “Is framing used at WOFF?” and if so, how and why and what results are seen? In general, is it a good thing when used there or is it a bad thing? These questions will not be answered in one post. There are several planned in order to give us a better idea about “framing” and life inside of WOFF.

     There are two more concepts that we will consider in these posts in addition to “framing”. On this blog, there has been much posted about thought reform and how that worked at WOFF. One part of thought reform is the mystical manipulation as explained by Robert Lifton in his work “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton (original copyright 1961, later published again in 1989, ISBN 0-8078-4253-2 [alk. Paper]). You will find our introduction to this subject here.. https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=3238 .

   Here is an excerpt from that post:

  Continue reading What is “Framing”? How Is It Used at WOFF? (1) →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Uncategorized

Have You Ever Been in a “Truth Circle”?

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   A useful new habit of mine is to review the bibliography and/or the source list for an article, book or website that I am reading and/or studying. That practice led me to a website which discussed one of the influence tactics used by “cults”. The author of the site used information from sources we have used here in previous posts. Since the meanings or definitions vary when people mention the word “cults”, the author takes time to state what a cult is and how to determine the difference between a cult and a benign group that may employ techniques similar to other cult groups. The site is found here:  http://www.workingpsychology.com/cult.html  – the material is written by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D.

    As a normal response, while reading material like this, I take time to compare it with my experience and note similarities or differences. As many readers are aware, I spent 16 years being directly and/or indirectly influenced by the teachings, practices and commands of Jane Whaley- leader of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Several former members and knowledgeable cult experts classify WOFF as a religious cult. After I left and began to ponder my life inside the group, I came to the same conclusion. That conclusion stands not as a tool meant to harm or offend, but as a result of reviewing what I witnessed and experienced inside WOFF and making comparisons to known traits of other groups which are classified as religious cults.

   When answering the question about distinguishing a safe group from one that is not safe; the author of the site quotes from Dr. Margret Singer’s work in 1995- (Singer, M. T. & Lalich, J. (1995). Cults in Our Midst. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.) “There are lots of differences, but the major difference is that of ultimate goal. Established religions and altruistic movements are focused outward–they attempt to better the lives of members and often, nonmembers. They make altruistic contributions. Cults serve their own purposes, which are the purposes of the cult leader; their energies are focused inward rather than outward.”  We have shared about the focus of WOFF in previous posts. There is a nominal effort to better the lives of those outside the group; but in my opinion, the minor efforts were/are tainted with the constant search for new members or relations (friends) that could make a contribution to the group – financially, politically, and/or somehow enhance the WOFF image and Jane’s power/influence in the community.  

   Continue reading Have You Ever Been in a “Truth Circle”? →

Books, Resources

New Feature- Word Search

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We have added a “word search” feature to the column on the right side. Scroll down and you will notice it below the Comment list. The tool searches for terms including numbers and displays the results. Place your cursor over the title to the post and click. The post will be displayed.  We need your feedback. Please, use the search and let us know how it works for you. If you notice something that needs correcting; please, comment or email to author@religiouscultsinfo.com . We hope this feature helps those that desire to learn more about my experiences in Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF).