Category Archives: Uncategorized

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

After WOFF – Times of Reflection

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    As I start this post, I do not fully know the direction it will take or the content it will have when I finish. Many times, I outline a rough draft of a post at least in my mind before I even begin typing. This time is different. It is my usual time to write, after 1:00AM. This place seems intensely quiet as the rolling menagerie of the day seems to fade in and out. The reflections of the past and the present seem to roll over and over in my heart and mind. The future is a hope and a budding dream that unfolds one day, one week, and one month at a time.

    During these last few days, I must admit an aversion to writing for this blog. That must be obvious as the frequency of the posts has dwindled since the end of April. Those that follow close are not surprised as I am passing through another crossroads in my life. Contrary to the claims of some, my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) has a lot of bearing on this crossroads, this time of reflection and place of decision. Let me explain.

    My first encounter with WOFF and Jane Whaley was the May seminar of 1992. WOFF members have taken the week of Memorial Day to have “seminars” since before I was even a part of the group. As far as I know, this will continue as the reasoning has been “our members are already off work”, it is easier to get together and hear God. This week long “seminar” has traditionally served as the last week of classes for the school children. May has been an exciting month for WOFF members in the past. The first seminar I attended held such a wide range of emotions and feelings. It was my first exposure to such a large group participating in “blasting and deliverance”. Later, the term “loud prayer” would be used to lessen the effects of the term “blasting”. It also was my first experience in seeing who ran WOFF- Jane Whaley. That was obvious from the very first meeting(s).

    Continue reading After WOFF – Times of Reflection →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Follow the Money and Consider the End Game…

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     In previous posts, we have reviewed some excerpts from the work by Tim Reiterman- “Raven”. Reiterman co-authored with John Jacobs (copyright ©1982 Tim Reiterman, Introduction copyright 2008 by Tim Reiterman, ISBN 978-1-58542-678-2); the authors tell “The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People”. “Tim Reiterman is a prizewinning journalist who extensively covered Jonestown for the San Francisco Examiner. He was wounded in the jungle airstrip attack that killed a U.S. Congressman, plus three reporters, and a Peoples Temple defector.” (from the back cover)  The link to the most recent post is here… https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=3343 . There are more similarities in the story of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple when comparing them to Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF).

    As I have continued reading “Raven”, I have been amazed at the revelations about life in the Peoples Temple. The mechanisms set-up to secure funds to hoard and in part pay for Temple needs was elaborate. One aspect was the number of folks on public assistance. “Officials found that 17 percent of the Jonestown residents had been on SSI, compared with a 2 percent national average… A November 1979 “Investigation Report on Peoples Temple” prepared by the California Department of Social Services, found that of 992 Temple members checked, 550 — about 55 percent—had a history of receiving public assistance of some sort. According to the report, 109 of the 550 continued to receive assistance in Guyana, and 51 of those cases were “potentially fraudulent.” Fifteen cases involved forgeries on checks and 36 cases involved parents, spouses or grandparents fraudulently signing public assistance checks after the rest of the family had migrated to Guyana.”(page 591) The national average for those receiving public assistance today is around 40%, sadly enough. But, the point is that this ploy was just another in the many used by Peoples Temple to obtain funds. Why? Because Temple members signed over their income checks of any type to the church and were given an allowance. “People signed over pay checks and disability, welfare and social security checks, receiving in return room, board, medical care and other benefits.” (page 256) “The Temple would monitor and maintain control of every dime, paying rent, phone bills, and other allowable expenses. Wage earners signed over their checks; in turn, they were allotted a certain amount of money for their needs and had to submit requisition slips for the rent, even personal articles such as toothpaste, shampoo and sanitary napkins… The very day she (Joyce) handed the church an $800 paycheck, she had to submit a request for $10 for the children’s monthly birthday party outing.” (page 297) This financial arrangement was included in what was called at Peoples Temple – “going communal”.

   Continue reading Follow the Money and Consider the End Game… →

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

“Prophetic Charisma” by Len Oakes (4)

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    This is the fourth post in a series which will highlight several insights found in the book by Dr. Len Oakes while comparing his observations and conclusions to my personal experience inside Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). This work by Len Oakes titled, “Prophetic Charisma” – The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities (copyright ©1997 by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, ISBN 0-8156-2700-9) has captured my attention. We closed the last post in this series by noting that instead of a vision to spread the WOFF gospel “To The Nations” as the lyrics of a WOFF-song of several years ago proclaimed; I suggested that Jane Whaley has become her own vision. From the previous post, “Has her vision turned inward in order to make her comfortable and let her have the good life? Is this a predictable course when “prophets” age and come to the fall or winter of their ministry? When considering all that is WOFF- could there any other strong or noticeable message besides –Jane?” As I reflect on that line of thought, has Jane retired  thereby limiting her vision or outreach and concentrating on her lifestyle here in Rutherford County? She never advocated allowing her members to “retire”, but, we have to assess her actions and not just here words or restrictions on others. Could the many fine clothes and jewelry be what she feels she deserves after all these years of “ministry”? Is that why she passes the offering plates until she gets what she needs?

    Oakes writes that about David “Moses” Berg as an example of other leaders of the type he studied. “Because of his vision, his followers have suffered greatly, yet he retains their loyalty through his inspirational rhetoric” (page 14) He noted that the followers of Berg suffered because of the vision. I suggest that regular WOFF members endure a suffering because of Jane’s vision however that is defined. Their suffering includes lost years, lost relationships with family and friends as well as not knowing a true one on one Christian relationship with God. In the WOFF design for relationships, Jane is between her members and their personal walk with God. In her zeal and dysfunctional control of them, she keeps them from exactly what she claims the Christian walk is- a walk of “holy righteous living in Jesus”.  

  Continue reading “Prophetic Charisma” by Len Oakes (4) →

Uncategorized

Protests in Dallas at Acquire the Fire Conference

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In February of this year, we shared some information about Teen Mania and their practices. The resource was http://www.recoveringalumni.com/ . The blog is sponsored by an alumnus of the Honors Academy program. Earlier this month, a post on that blog contained an account of a protest in Dallas at an Acquire the Fire conference. This is a recruiting “outreach” for participants in the other programs of Teen Mania including Honor Academy.
Here is the post from April 4, 2011: (used with permission)

Protesting the Dallas Acquire the Fire Posted by Recovering Alumni | Labels: protest
Note: If this is your first time here, click the ‘Allegations’ tab at the top or the ‘true stories’ category on the right to read about the abuse. (see the original blog for links)

On Saturday, some local alumni and I held a protest at the Dallas Acquire the Fire. We wanted to raise awareness about the dangers of the Honor Academy so we made signs and printed out flyers that had the blog address on them. Before the protest, I went online to make sure I understood my constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and free speech.    

Honor Academy is UNSAFE

According to the law, I have the right to protest and hand out leaflets on public property, such as a public street or sidewalk. Luckily, the Dallas Acquire the Fire event was held at the Gexa Energy Pavilion in Fair Park.

Fair Park is a 277-acre National Historic Landmark, owned by the City of Dallas and operated under the management of Fair Park Administration a division of the Park and Recreation Department.

Given the fact that Fair Park is publicly owned property, I did not anticipate any trouble from the police. That was naive.

When we first arrived around lunchtime, we stood just outside the entrance/exit of the arena, on what we believed was a public sidewalk. Within one minute, a uniformed police officer came and told us we had to move and that we were actually on private property. If you watch the video, you’ll notice that the officer refused to answer our questions about who owned this supposed “private property” and even more infuriatingly violated the free speech rights of the teens who wanted to speak with us. He ended by telling us that we had to keep moving, we were not allowed to stand still. I asked him if that was the law and he said it was. (I later discovered this was bull.)

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Books, Resources, Uncategorized

And What Made You Realize You Needed to Get Out?

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   This past Saturday evening, I was among friends. We were eating, talking and laughing a lot. One person was new to the group and had some questions for me. The questions took the conversation in a totally different direction as they asked about my involvement in the “religious cult”. The previous post explained my answer which was brief. In another venue, I will explain in more detail how I became involved in Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). My time either directly to indirectly affected by the teachings the leader of WOFF, Jane Whaley, totaled 16 years.  Later in the same conversation, this question came up, “And what made you realize you needed to get out?” I began be telling about certain events that happened April 9, 2008 and the meeting at the church in RF’s office. The pivotal understanding came to me when I saw that the others in the meeting considered what was happening as totally NORMAL. The events of the meeting and the display of Jane coming in a screaming at me and pointing her finger in my face were totally acceptable to the others in the room. They seemed to think the gesture was normal and in this case-needed. That one meeting was a catalyst that allowed me to consider that my time at WOFF was coming to close. It was not the total answer, but it did push me forward into unchartered waters of considering that WOFF was “un-normal”. While you are in WOFF, the thinking when a person considers WOFF as NOT God’s will is explained as they “want to keep their devils”. The exit from WOFF is explained in more detail in this post from April 20, 2010 – What Thoughts Helped Me Leave WOFF?? Part 1 – https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1396  

   In previous posts, I have used the book, “Recovery From Cults” – Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse– Edited by Michael Langone- (copyright © 1993 American Family Foundation – ISBN 0-393-31321-2) as a resource. The author explains in the Introduction some of the findings about those who leave cults. “Obviously, the control cult leaders achieve is not absolute because ultimately most people leave cultic groups (Barker 1984), although a sizeable number remain for many years. In one of the few studies that investigated why people leave cults, in structured interviews of 90 subjects, Wright (1983a, 1983b) identified four main reasons for defection. The first reason is a break with the cult’s social insulation. Only 4 of 12 persons separated from the group for three or more weeks (for example, on an extended visit to family) returned to the group.” (page 9) This makes sense, right? From 1992 until I left in 2008, I never spent time away from the Greenville church or WOFF – with family or any other reason for more than a long weekend. IF I missed a Sunday service, it was a big deal. In WOFF, they don’t use the term vacation. “Who would take a “vacation” from God, God’s will or God’s people?” The term is “time away” to rest or be with family; family in WOFF or who sympathize with WOFF. If there is a way to make the trip seem more spiritual, then that layer was added to excuse Jane and her crew to take a week away to the beach in the house they owned near Charleston, SC. Breaking from the “cult social insulation” was not acceptable at WOFF- for obvious reasons.

    Continue reading And What Made You Realize You Needed to Get Out? →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Uncategorized

How Did You? Why Did You Join a Cult?

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   Saturday evening, I was among friends for dinner and an evening of talking and laughter. Most of the people there knew at least part of my story and were not shocked when I would answer; No, I have not seen that movie or No, I have not done that or heard  of that — whatever “that” was… There was one person who was new to me and I made mention to them that the reason I had not seen very many movies was because I had spent several years in a religious cult. In that group we did not watch movies or television or do other similar stuff. This person took the answer in stride and we moved on. The cult involvement was the reason I had not done many things that others folks would consider normal or acceptable. A little later, this person asked to go back to my answer and wondered more about the “religious cult” thing.

    The question was sincere and I was a little taken aback. It had been several months or more since I had been asked directly- “How did you or why did you join a cult”? Immediately the last fifteen plus months of writing these posts flashed before me and I mentioned my blog. Then I began saying a person doesn’t join a cult. I mentioned Deborah Layton’s statements that people don’t join cults; they join groups of people they like and enjoy. No one wakes up suddenly with a desire to join a religious controlling cult. This person asked another question, “Did you go to church growing up?” I said yes, the local Methodist church. They really were taken back and said or inferred; did you not know the difference? It was at that point, I got off on a tangent and never really got back to answering the question. Growing up in a denominational church does not teach a person how to keep from being lured into a cult. After the evening was over, I remembered how I had dropped the ball and thus we have this post.

   Continue reading How Did You? Why Did You Join a Cult? →

Uncategorized

WOFF Bling?

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   A few days ago, I was speaking to a man who teaches classes in the North Carolina prison system. These classes are for those inmates who are within a year of being paroled or finishing their sentence. He teaches basic life skills like how to search for a job, interview for a job, and basic personal finance and budgeting skills. He shared his shock with me when his students wanted to include $1,000 a month in their budget for “bling”. He chuckled at the thought. At that time, I thought “bling” was only nice clothes and asked if him if he taught skills in washing clothes? $1000 a month for clothes? It sounded ludicrous.

    I pondered these things and researched the term. “Bling” is considered slang and as I give links for the definition, be warned; it is a street term in many regards, the definition will reflect that fact. But, I felt pushed forward to know more as I had spent many years at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). They taught their members how to wash clothes, iron clothes and fold and store clothes and even which dry cleaner to go to in town. But, looking back and remembering some things Jane Whaley said about her clothes and how she acted; I wondered if there was WOFF bling? Did/does Jane have a “bling budget”? Well, we know she did/does not tell her members what her budget was/is or how she spends the tithes and offerings. So, we can’t know for sure but, we can observe her actions and maybe know.

   Bling – Bling (or bling-bling) is a slang term popularized in hip hop culture, referring to flashy, ostentatious or elaborate jewelry and ornamented accessories that are carried, worn or installed, such as cell phones or tooth caps. The concept is mostly associated with rappers, but recently has expanded to include tacky “white trash” types. (resource link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bling-bling )

    Well, honestly, I could not say that Jane and her crew wore “flashy ostentatious or elaborate jewelry” and I have never seen a flashy cell phone or a tooth cap on Jane. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of jewelry on the leadership women and some others, but, I can’t say it is flashy. But, I searched on.

Continue reading WOFF Bling? →