Category Archives: Uncategorized

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

WOFF Contradictions – Part 1

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     Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) is full of contradictions which lead to many ironic scenarios. During my time there, I did not see these contradictions or even look for them. People who “believe” in a philosophy or religion or set of ideas, may rarely take time to consider the whole picture or a possible alternative point of view. The desire to just believe is so strong. Why else are Christians called “Believers”? Seeking the full picture may jeopardize those beliefs and thus a believers “peace”. Or could reviewing the alternate views on a subject make your beliefs stronger?

     Even as I write this, I am willing to concede that I will not see every contradiction or every compromising anomaly that exists at WOFF. I did not live close to Jane Whaley to observe her everyday life. The picture I was allowed to see was what she allowed other “regular members” to see and observe. All that being said; I will write about the contradictions that I am aware of from my 16 year involvement with WOFF. Former members of WOFF are welcome to comment and add to the list as they remember contradictions they observed.

     Jane Whaley said from the podium a few years back – “I am not anyone’s savior.” At the time, I thought that was very admirable. I thought, at that time, she may have been feeling the “burden” of her load of “responsibility”.  However, let’s look at the way she functions inside the group. Since, she requires all decisions of any consequence to come through her; then she functions as the supreme authority and all knowing source of “truth”. In that light, she is the “savior” to those faithful WOFF members who trust in her every word. She functions as THE Voice of God to many at WOFF. She may say one thing, but from my view point and in my opinion, she acted as the “savior” to the faithful WOFF members. This sad contradiction is one on which the whole charade of WOFF revolves. Without this pivotal dynamic, the whole group would collapse and morph into some other form or disintegrate all together.

  Continue reading WOFF Contradictions – Part 1 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

WOFF Redefines Ritual

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     In Janis Hutchinson’s book, “Out of the Cults and Into the Church” (copyright 1994 Kregel Resources), she mentions several things that persons who leave cults consider as “losses”. We have discussed a few of these losses in previous posts. The author spent over 30 years in Mormonism. After leaving that group, she has gone on to help many others in their transition out of a cult into the Christian church. After my time ended at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in July 2008, I have found this book to be very helpful.

     In chapter 7, Ms. Hutchinson reviews the ex-cultist’s loss of ritual. She mentions that several cult groups have certain sacred ceremonies or rituals, sacred symbols; sacred space and even some have certain sacred architecture. Her experience of helping others has verified many common traits of cult groups. She writes “The physical motions (of the rituals) have two powerful purposes. First, to tie the sacred place, sacred space, sacred symbols and sacred architecture all into one neat bundle. Second, to confirm the authentic doctrines, beliefs, myths, pledges, or whatever goes to make up the cult’s beliefs.” (page 143) She writes that rituals are not just tools for cults. Rituals can be seen in many other parts of culture.  

    How does this information apply to my experience at WOFF? From the WOFF website under the tab labeled “Beliefs”, listed as #5, one can read that WOFF believes and practices certain Christian ordinances or rituals. They list Baptism and Communion which are widely practiced. They also list “Laying on of Hands”, “Repentance” and “The Government of God”. The question of why a group would list these last three is a subject of another post. For now, I will accept the first two as common in the Protestant Christian church.

    Continue reading WOFF Redefines Ritual →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

The Church at Rock Hill

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    **** Announcement: Between the time this post was written in the early morning hours of 6/4/10 and 12:29PM on 6/4/10- “http://religiouscults of the south.blogspot.com was taken down. This was NOT at the direction of the author. We will update as soon as it is known why the blog was removed by the host.

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    On a daily basis, I use a service called Google Alerts®. This is a free service which searches for certain terms on the web. News articles or blogs posts are returned according to the time table set-up by the user. One term I search for is “religious cults”. That should be no surprise. Recently, through that search I was made aware of a blog titled- “Religious Cults in the South” found at this link – http://religiouscultsinthesouth.blogspot.com  The author is identified as “The Watcher”.

    There are many “cult survivor” blogs on the web and some make for very good reading. This one caught my eye as it mentioned The Church at Rock Hill. In times past, I have had reason to go to Rock Hill, SC and am familiar with the city. So, I emailed the author to learn more. What was revealed was shocking in many ways.

    The Watcher mentioned that the pastor of The Church at Rock Hill was Johnny Miller. Mr. Miller was introduced to “The Body of Christ” through the Rev. Lacey (Lacy) Hawkins. Rev. Hawkins’ spiritual roots are said to be from William Sowders. All of these names were new to me and I needed to do some research. “The Body of Christ” appears to be a loose knit spiritual grouping of churches in the US and several countries. Here is the link to The Church of Rock Hill’s website.. http://www.thechurchatrockhill.com/AboutUs.htm

     Continue reading The Church at Rock Hill →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

New Identity- Dependent Relationships at WOFF- Part 7

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     Further consideration of the Word of Faith Fellowship ( WOFF) identity that members take on, in order to become and stay a member, reveals certain “dependent” traits. There are three main groups that all play their roles. At the top of the organizational pyramid is Jane Whaley. She is the supreme authority in charge of all. Next, coming down the structure is the “leadership” class. They get their ability to carry out Jane’s orders – from Jane. She keeps in touch with many folks through this leadership level of the structure. “If you are not willing to lay down your life and take hold of someone else, you will never fulfill your call- or be leadership in this church.” The last level of folks is what I call – “regular members”. They are the ones doing the field work. They hear from Jane or leadership what to do and then go do it. The regular members will tell you they are “learning to hear God’s voice” and “ministers in training”. If you ask how do you know? They will honestly have to say it was confirmed through Jane Whaley.

    A first glimpse into the WOFF identity, role and function may show that the regular members depend on Jane for all decisions. Certainly in religious cult mind control groups such as WOFF, the primary dependency consists of regular members’ being dependent on the supreme leader. This should not be a shock. But, also it must be noted that in the pyramid structure, those who are toward the top need those who are toward to bottom to support them! Without folks to lead, leadership and Jane Whaley would be without “subjects” to control. Also, without dependent subjects to tithe and give offerings, Jane Whaley would not be able to pay the church bills and get her “$600 a month” checks. She needs folks who continue to believe in her supremacy in order to keep paying the $20,000 a week needed to meet the church bills. (Sam first mentioned that figure in 2007 or early 2008) So, in reality, members need Jane and Jane needs willing members. It is co-dependency in a way. If folks just stopped believing in Jane as the great “Ya-Ya”**, then her importance in her own world would be in danger. 

** This was a pet name from one little girl for Grandma Jane. There was actually a wooden sign on Jane’s desk which said – “Ya-Ya”.

   Continue reading New Identity- Dependent Relationships at WOFF- Part 7 →

Behavior Control, Uncategorized

New Identity- Chameleon Faith at WOFF- Part 6

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     In Part 5 of the post on “identity”, I expressed some things I had learned about myself. For sure, I had taken on the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) identity that fit my situation. There was for the most part, compliance in my life for the outside requirements for WOFF members in dress and lifestyle. During my time at WOFF, I would help others learn the behaviors I had learned that were needed to live the WOFF life. On the inside of me, not everything done at WOFF was a “for sure thing”. I did harbor doubts and confusion on some issues. Here is a paragraph from the last post that will lead into the subject for this post…  

“Why would someone like me stuff or ignore doubts about the group and Jane Whaley? That answer has many parts. First, let’s look at a quote from Janis Hutchison’s book,  “Out of the Cults and Into the Church”(copyright 1994 Kregel Resources) in Chapter 4 – No “Quick Fix”: “When you were in the cult, you so sincerely, believed it was the truth, that it triggered a deeper level of spirituality than you ever experienced before. It touched the inner core of your soul with an exciting devotion which was new to you.” (page 87)  Ms. Hutchinson recognizes in this passage that cult members can experience deep levels of belief and emotions, even if those beliefs and emotions are directed toward cult ordained beliefs and practices. This statement helped explain to me how I could have felt so spiritual and yet been involved in something so far from the true purpose for Christians and the local church. In retrospect, the oddness or “counter-normal” nature of the beliefs and practices did not repel me. I believed for the most part, that being so different lent credibility to the “fact” that “Jane Whaley heard God”. How perverted and confused was that?” 

     Let me say that I did go through periods of what I considered “heightened personal spirituality” while at WOFF. There were times when I was into the lifestyle “hook, line and sinker”. I would even try to share with outsiders about WOFF and invite them to church. I became practiced in explaining loud prayer and other obvious traits of WOFF that newcomers would inquire about. Honestly, I knew the mantra on loud prayer, but still there was nervousness when bringing a new person into the services. Questions that would race through my head included; “What will be their reactions to “blasting”? What will they ask about “deliverance”? Will Jane “correct” someone, today? Will she be in a bad mood and go off on a tirade?” Was I the only WOFF member who had these questions when they brought a guest?

   Continue reading New Identity- Chameleon Faith at WOFF- Part 6 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

New Identity – Reflections on My WOFF Identity- Part 5

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     Exploring the idea and subsequent understanding of a Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) Identity has developed into a series. Please, take time to read the series from the beginning. Each post continues from the previous one. In Part 4:  I shared my week and the work/church activities that filled it. Much of the time not spent at work was spent in church, church activities and around church folks. During the times when I worked for a company owned by church members, the entire day would included church members. The exception would be when I worked part-time for the credit union. Given the simple definition of identity shared in another post: the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group, it should be obvious that one’s identity is formed in some relation to the environment around them. Are soldiers affected by their surroundings? You would expect so. Are people in any restrictive environment affected to some degree by that environment? That seems plausible, right?

     In this post, I  make some observations about my WOFF identity. First, let me admit that while I was in WOFF, I had no idea that I had taken on an “identity” of any sort. Of course, this was not taught at WOFF. You were changing so you would be “walking in your place in God, fulfilling your call, hearing Jesus”.The goal seems from this view point to become totally pliable to the nuances and ever increasing restrictions of WOFF. Being a “good WOFFer” was critical to staying a member.

    Also, it would be relatively safe to say that present members of WOFF have no idea that they are living anything other than exactly how they are supposed to be living. For them, there is no understanding of a “WOFF identity”. Readers, who have contact with WOFF members, must recognize WOFF members are sincerely involved in their beliefs, practices and lifestyle. (for the most part..) In order to continue in the group, outward compliance was essential.  If there are doubts, those doubts must be stuffed. That was one key behavior I credit for surviving so many years inside the group.

    Continue reading New Identity – Reflections on My WOFF Identity- Part 5 →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

New Identity – My Week – Part 4

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     As we move on with the concept of “identity” for members of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), it would be helpful for me to share a typical week from my time in that group. Since I worked both for companies outside of the church and for a church-member owned company; two or three scenarios will be needed. These accounts will remain general as this forum is not suited for release of some private information. Even with the restraints, as a reader, you will learn the main points. I must also restate the idea that at WOFF none of this identity analysis or information would be accepted. Most every problem or issue had a “spiritual” cause. All matters were dealt with from that perspective.

    Before moving to WOFF from Greenville, I worked at a credit union in Greenville, SC. I traveled back and forth working part-time. During the first few weeks, I kept this job and also began to work “part-time” for the growing property management company owned by a family in the church. That started by being called into Jane’s office. The owner of the company was there and Jane mentioned he wanted to offer me a job with his company. I was told to go pray about it and get back with him. Jane had given her approval for the owner to ask me about the job. A few days later, I took the job. I had no experience renting apartments.

    The first few weeks, I would be helping folks renovate apartments. But, in a few weeks there would be other work for me to do. After a few weeks,  I began renting apartments and collecting rent for the properties owned in Rutherford County. My job included answering four or five incoming lines which had been forwarded to my cell phone. There were between 50 and 60 calls on some days. This lasted for about two (?) months. I remember telling someone in leadership at the church that I just wanted to crawl up in a corner and cry. There was no let up with the calls at virtually any time of day and night, seven days a week. She said- “It is good for you. It will train you for the ministry.” Looking back, this was a totally insane set-up. However, I kept trying to perform the assigned tasks. During this time, the work at the SC credit union stopped and I took a part-time job with a credit union in a neighboring county in NC. That was October 2002. So, between both positions, I was putting in 50++ hours a week. Getting to bed before midnight was a rare blessing.

     At first, there was excitement as the new position working among “God’s people”. There were several adjustments to working around WOFF members. Members were always “on guard to help you” and “point out where you missed it”. Then of course, that would be passed up the church structure to those who needed to know “how you were doing” and “where you were walking”. It all appeared so spiritual for a while. Looking back, it all served to mold folks and weed out any “sinful behaviors”.

     Continue reading New Identity – My Week – Part 4 →