Category Archives: Books, Resources

Books, Resources for learning about religious cults

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

Thought Reform? At WOFF? (1)

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    A term such as “thought reform” is not a common one in our country. Many may wonder what exactly “thought reform” is. Isn’t that something that only occurs in some Communist or third world countries? Certainly, something such as “thought reform” would not occur in the United States of America? Our country is built on the foundation of personal freedom and at least some pretext of freedom of expression and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. How could and would anything such as this happen here in America?

   If I had heard of such a term as thought reform before leaving Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) – I don’t remember. I may have heard of it in college, but do not remember studying it to any degree. In a previous post titled Movies and Thoughts on “Thought Reform”, I introduced the subject from a reference book titled “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]). The previous post is found – https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=3040 .

   Before we get too far into the subject, let me just explain my thoughts on going forward with something that sounds as ominous as thought reform. Could this really have gone on during my time at WOFF under the teachings and preaching of Jane Whaley? As I started learning about the process of thought reform, it became clear that it was a lot more complicated than just attempting to reform or change someone’s thoughts. It is apparent to me in some degree that teaching or preaching the Scriptures has the intent of informing and thus attempting to change the thoughts of the hearers. For it is obvious that if you can teach someone and change their thoughts, that then in turn there should be a change in the actions of that individual. Does that seem plausible? Can we agree on that? When other teachers and preachers in other churches stand up before their members, do you hope to affect their thoughts and in turn their actions? That seems likely, doesn’t it?

    Continue reading Thought Reform? At WOFF? (1) →

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Exclusive Brethren – Similar to WOFF?

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     This week, I was made aware of information about a group called the “Exclusive Brethren”. The information given about their practices sounded eerily familiar. Before I proceed and as a review, I spent 16 years either direct or indirectly under the teachings of Jane Whaley. She leads the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) of Spindale, NC. In comparison, I have much more knowledge about WOFF than the Exclusive Brethren. That is almost too obvious to mention except that if a reader accuses me of an error in my comparison, then my deficiency would be in knowledge about the Exclusive Brethren. My intimate working knowledge is of WOFF. Does that seem plausible? Can that WOFF knowledge be easily disputed?

   In reality, I do not consider Wikipedia® to be the know all, tell all, rock solid source for information. However, the article was sourced and I did follow the links and read the sources for the information in this post. I found the correlations between the two groups amazing to say the least. In this post, I will list main points and encourage you to follow the links toward the end of this post for further reading.

   “The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848, the Exclusive Brethren movement subsequently evolving into two main branches.” This is the opening line from Wikipedia.com found here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren#cite_note-bbc.co.uk-6  Exclusive Brethren have been around for much longer than WOFF. I do not find that comforting knowing they have had many more years to treat people in the manner described in these source articles. The Wikipedia article goes on to explain the characteristics of the two main branches. The one which is described as the “Raven/Taylor/Hales group” have had the most criticism concerning “cult” like practices.

    Continue reading Exclusive Brethren – Similar to WOFF? →

Books, Resources, Uncategorized

Dietrich Bonhoeffer- Voice of Dissent

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    Periodically over the last twenty years or so, I have heard about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But, I have not until recently taken time to learn about his life. Oddly, on the “pre-WOFF” bookshelf, I found two of his works. “Letters & Papers From Prison” published by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc; this edition is the fourth printing in 1975 and was edited by Eberhard Bethage, a very good friend of Dietrich. The second book I found was “The Cost of Discipleship”, written by Bonhoeffer and first published in 1949 as a translation from a work titled “NACHFOLGE” in 1937. This paperback edition was published in 1963 by Macmillan Publishing Company of New York. Honestly, I have not read either book. It was not until I recently viewed a documentary film released in 2003 by Journey Films titled “Bonhoeffer” that I learned more about his life. The documentary contained interviews with relatives of Bonhoeffer as well as some of his students, historians of the time and leaders in the church. It outlined the major events preceding the end of Bonhoeffer’s life in 1945. This film is the resource for this post unless otherwise noted.   

     Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born February 4, 1906 in Breslau, Germany. His father was a university professor and his mother had aristocracy in her family history. He had a twin sister and six other siblings in total. He was the youngest boy in the family. His oldest brother Walter, at 18 years old joined the German army to fight in World War I. He was killed within two weeks of joining. This event seemed to have a profound effect on Dietrich and some would say this helped him decide to join the ministry and later be a pacifist.

    Continue reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer- Voice of Dissent →

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

Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care? Revisited

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     During the month of June, I posted a series under the title Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care?.(the link is here… https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2038 .)  I took as my reference text a book titled “The Five Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen (copyright C&J Investments, ISBN 0-9815596-6-2) with a forward by Glenn Beck. One reader, who saw the recent sign posted in the community advertising this blog, took the time to email me and express her concern that I would choose this book as a reference text. She sent her supporting text, from which I will quote,

“Around this same time, Beck began promoting the work of an arcane Mormon conspiracy-peddler named W. Cleon Skousen, whom he described as his political lodestar. Suddenly, Beck had something more to offer than irritable mental gestures…. Skousen’s paranoid politics were an outgrowth of his participation in extreme anti-communist groups during the 1950s. He boasted of a close friendship with then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and said he provided him with research on communist plots, claims disputed by FBI historians.”

   This was from a lengthy piece titled “Days of Rage — The Noxious Transformation of the Conservative Movement into a Rabid Fringe” By Max Blumenthal, Nation Books, Posted on August 10, 2010, Printed on August 10, 2010, http://www.alternet.org/story/147784/

   So, in all honesty, I failed to fully research Mr. Skousen’s past and did not research his all of his sources. In fact, I will say that my excitement about the book was more emotional than purely intellectual. Here was one source that listed the “rights” I had seen violated and surrendered during my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). For years, I had submitted to the teachings of Jane Whaley and was not aware of the damages it had done. This one book though not purposed or directed to address my question(s), listed “rights” that I had seen thwarted during my time at WOFF.

   Continue reading Why Should Others Not in WOFF Care? Revisited →

Books, Resources, Uncategorized

Link to Interview with Jeff VanVonderen on Spiritual Abuse

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    A few days ago, I had this link forwarded to me from a blog I subscribe to. The blog is http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com . Their tagline- BREAKING FREE from The Word of Faith Movement,,, and telling the World about it! TELL US YOUR STORY.  This is a group blog sharing their perspective on the Word of Faith Movement founded by Kenneth Hagin. This is the ministry that Jane and Sam Whaley came out of as they started Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in Spindale, NC. I have not read everything on this other blog. However, when I saw the link to an interview with Jeff VanVonderen, it caught my eye. In this interview, he gives some keys to detect spiritual abuse. I will give a couple of excerpts and allow you to decide for yourself if you want to click the link (above) to the whole article. The post is dated August 13, 2010 on the above mentioned site. You will have to scroll down to find that post. Below these excerpts is a direct link to the article on another site.  In my opinion, it is a good read, very insightful and worth the time.

STEPS: Talk some more about spiritual abuse in the Bible. What did it look like then?

Jeff: It looked essentially the same then as it does now. Spiritual leaders exploited people for their own gain. Authority was misused in order to get things done in the name of God that weren’t really about God at all.

Later on:

STEPS: You have already talked a bit about the role of authority in spiritually abusive relationships. In your book you list “power posturing” as one of the key features of spiritual abuse. What is that about?

Jeff: Spiritual abuse is always a power issue. In order for abuse to happen, by definition, it has to come from a place of higher power to a place of lesser power. People in low-power positions can’t abuse people in highpower positions….

   As with most every reference book I use, this book “The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse” can be found at Amazon.com. A little research finds the original interview with Mr. VanVonderen here:  http://www.spiritualabuse.com/?page_id=58  I have yet to explore this second website, but it looks like it may hold some valuable tools. Again, links referenced here are selected at your own risk. I have not viewed all material on all sites listed on this blog.  

   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”.

      (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my 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 182.

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

Intervention -The Series

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   The program, “InterventionTM” is described on their website as follows:

 “Intervention™ is a powerful and gripping television series in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption. The Intervention Television series profiles people whose dependencies on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis and estranged them from their friends and loved ones.” 

The link is here to learn more… http://www.aetv.com/intervention/index.jsp

   Since leaving Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), a group led by Jane Whaley; I have had an interest in people in crisis; what gets them there, how do they get out of crisis and how are others in their life affected? This show depicts people in crisis and how their friends and relatives struggle to help them accept help. Jeff VanVonderen is listed on the website for this show as one of the Interventionists. The link with his bio is here… http://www.aetv.com/intervention/interventionists/ . One evening, I turned to this program and he was helping a family with a member who had an addiction of some type. It surprised me because I had read his book “The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse” years ago.  I do not remember what happened to that book. I read it somewhere around 1991. It is now on my purchase list as well as the newer version which was printed in 2005. When I first found the show, I watched Mr. VanVonderen skillfully and forcefully deal with an individual who had an addiction. This person decided to get help and left for a treatment center immediately. There was an update about the individual, but I can’t remember if they stayed with the program.  

   On occasion, I have watched other episodes as families are torn apart by a member in some sort of chemical addiction. It is not always young folks or always single individuals. Some people affected by addictions are ones with responsibilities for children that go unmet. It is truly sad to see how others can and are affected by these addictions.

   Recently, I tuned in to an episode that was almost over. The scene showed a family reading their letters to the person in their family who had the addiction. These letters told how the addiction had affected them personally. The brother of the person addicted was reading his letter. This is not a quote, but it is close to what was said, — your addiction has kept you from being with me and my family as we share our special family moments. We cannot have you around because of your behavior when you are drinking. (it may have been drugs…) We have missed so many special times when you were to have been a part. Please, accept help so we can begin having the family times as we were meant to have.

   Continue reading Intervention -The Series →

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

How Are You Doing?

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      “Tsunami” The Aftermath, an HBO Films® 2 DVD set was produced in 2007. This is a dramatization taken from accounts of survivors and observers from the aftermath, rescues and clean-up process from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. The sheer power and resulting destruction of that tsunami is hard to comprehend even after reading the statistics. “The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake was under the Indian Ocean near the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes worldwide… Within hours killer waves radiating from the earthquake zone slammed into the coastline of 11 Indian Ocean countries, snatching people out to sea, drowning others in their homes or on beaches, and demolishing property from Africa to Thailand… Witnesses said the approaching tsunami sounded like three freight trains or the roar of a jet. In some places the tsunami advanced as a torrent of foaming water.” (source link http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041226_tsunami.html )  The resulting death toll was nothing short of phenomenal. Over 230,000 people died in several countries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami )

     This movie tells the story of different families affected by the tragedy. The accounts are drawn from the testimonies of survivors and are an attempt to depict the intense physical and emotional struggles after the historic event. In my opinion, the film is well made however the language is not family friendly and the recreated scenes are very graphic. The movie is rated “MA”.

    Two of the main characters are Ian and Susie Carter. Susie goes out diving the day of the tsunami and Ian is left with their little girl- Martha. The father and daughter are unaware of the warning signs of a tsunami as were many other visitors to Thailand. The father and daughter were then separated in the raging waves. Ian and Susie reunite after some time and one subplot is their personal and united struggle to deal with their losses. Ian is asked by a couple of different folks in the movie, either with an inquisitive look or verbal expression, “How are you doing?” Most every time he immediately begins to tell of his struggle in the waves and overwhelming need to find his daughter. The emotions shown by Ian and Susie, as well as the other actors portraying survivors were intense and compelling to say the least. Others in the film were not able to offer much solace. In fact, one reporter who arrives after the tsunami is very direct and heartless in his words to Ian, at first.

    While watching this movie, I could not help but be drawn into the emotion and traumatic feelings of the characters. Could I comprehend the full scope of the unfolding tragedy of those who had been actual survivors? Probably not. Was it an honest effort by the writer and producer to convey these emotions? Yes, I think so. Were there events in my life that were “disasters” which could give me some place of empathy? Yes.

  Continue reading How Are You Doing? →