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

Got Freedom?

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  At the end of this July 4th of 2011, it is evident many folks are looking for answers. During times of hardship whether over economic, social, political or religious issues, many begin to seek answers to the questions of Why? How? What caused these hard times? When will these hard times end? How can I get through these rough times? Historically, we can look at different periods in the course of this nation and see the pattern. During the early part of the 19th century, as the issue of slavery was coming to a boil with other economic issues, many began to seek answers. There was a general attitude of reform in many areas of the country. Several communal living communities originated during those years and people were seeking answers to many questions. For example, there was New Harmony, Indiana founded by Robert Owen; the Oneida Commune founded by John Noyes (yes, this group began the Oneida line of silverware), the Shakers founded by Mother Ann Lee (famous for quality furniture and selling a line of seeds and well as other inventions and innovations such as waterproofed cloth) and Brook Farm founded by George Ripley. (source link-  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_movement )

   During the 1800’s, you also had several famous preachers and evangelists as the Second Great Awakening sweeping through this nation. Church membership soared from 1820 to 1860.(source link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening ) Charles Finney, Peter Cartwright and D.L. Moody were some of the names during these years that could draw large crowds of seekers. People wanted answers and sought those who could give them.  

  During the 1960’s and 70’s this nation saw the rise of cultic groups as well as other movements. We have mentioned the shepherding movement. There was the Charismatic Renewal movement as well. Who can forget the Jonestown tragedy of 1978? Those were tumultuous years as many people old and young sought answers. For a more recent time of intense questioning, we don’t have to go back further than the weeks and months after 9/11/01. Churches experienced a flood of those who may not have attended church in years past. They were in fear of the future and seeking answers and comfort. Keeping politicians from praying in public was not as big a concern then.  So, the fact that people seek answers when pressures come is not new.

    With that in mind, I want to quote a few lines from a recent editorial found in a South Dakota daily newspaper. Provender has a link to this article on their site.

Continue reading Got Freedom? →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

Families Are Destroyed at WOFF- Update

  Recently, I was asked to put in a few paragraphs how the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and Jane Whaley manipulate or cause family members to take a stand against one another. Let me say this is a brief explanation. The subject is vast and the process is not easily detected at first. Why do I say that? That is because the foundation for causing family members to divide over WOFF practices and beliefs begins when the family first comes into the “church”. As you enter and see other families dividing over “who will serve God (Jane) and who will not?” It is portrayed as normal to shun family members either inside or outside the church that do not “go with God” or “go in God’s ways”. After all, they are “in discipleship”. I witnessed the way the McGee children treated their father who had left the church and NEVER considered I would be in his place one day. I witnessed the reaction of the congregation as the Muse children told of their ‘fight for God’s ways” as they dealt with their mother. I heard the cheers and laughter as the children told how they “stood for God” and their mother went away.

   Each individual situation is different, but, the results are pretty much all the same. Most EVERY time a spouse decides for whatever reason to leave WOFF and the other stays, the family becomes divided. There is strife. There is emotional upheaval and turmoil. There are hurts, questions and tears. And the reason is? Some will leave all family members and follow Jane to the very end- where ever that will be. Who knows but God Himself? “Standing for God” and denying contact with a parent or child who has left WOFF is seen as a badge of honor. It is rewarded with some sort of additional perverted “respect”. Why? It is perverted because the ones who remain have no idea how easily they could be the one being shunned or cut off from their families.

   Continue reading Families Are Destroyed at WOFF- Update →

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

“Are you covering for a spiritually abusive pastor?”-Provender

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   Recently, I came across a blog site that lists many resources for those who may suspect they are in a spiritual abuse situation and need answers. The blog title is – “Provender- A Clearinghouse of Sources on Spiritual Abuse and Cult-Like Practices in Churches”. This blog has very good information and also lists several other sites for sources and help. I have not reviewed the entire list or all the resources mentioned, but have been excited about the ones I have viewed. The post that first caught my attention was titled- “Are you covering for a spiritually abusive pastor?” It shows being written be the author of the blog and posted July 9, 2009. The resource link is found here: http://pureprovender.blogspot.com/2009/07/are-you-covering-for-spiritually.html

   For this post, I will quote several of the warning signs listed and compare them to my experience at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Did I cover for an “spiritually abusive pastor”? If I did that- is it still going on today? Do members of WOFF cover Jane Whaley as she may be described in the following list? I will not be able to list every warning sign mentioned as the author lists 20 things to consider. But, we will take several and comment.

   From the post link above:

 1. You’ve noticed a pattern of people leaving the fellowship, but you hesitate to ask your pastor about it and don’t like to delve into the reasons behind the exits. – While at WOFF, we were instructed not to talk among ourselves about the ones that had left. Why? We might learn something. If you had a question or comment, you were required to go to Jane and ask her personally about the ones who had left. That requirement kept people from talking among themselves about the ones who left. Jane had that base covered- literally.

3. You excuse your pastor’s wrong behavior: He’s young (or he’s old), he doesn’t understand the people who are unhappy, he has a little trouble relating to people, he’ll grow out of it, I’m probably not seeing the whole picture, God will show him his weaknesses and he’ll handle things better soon, no pastor is perfect in every way, he’s such a good preacher that we can overlook the other parts of his calling. During my time at WOFF, if I had not “excused” the rude, unmannerly, angry, combative and otherwise haughty behaviors of Jane Whaley, I could not have stayed. So, yes, I am guilty of that one. I told LB, the same one from the post about the “Great Wall”; that I only stayed because of the teaching. By that point, many things were bothering me about WOFF life.

Continue reading “Are you covering for a spiritually abusive pastor?”-Provender →

Cult Leader News, Uncategorized

Cult Leader Ordered Released From Prison

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   A New Mexico State Appeals court has ordered Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser, to be released from prison. In short, the court ruled that the term of the grand jury that indicted Mr. Bent had been extended and that was outside of State statute. Therefore the indictment was void and there were no grounds to prosecute and sentence Mr. Bent.     “Judge Rod Kennedy wrote the opinion for a unanimous three-judge panel, saying the grand jury’s term had expired but then was arbitrarily extended by the district court. “Legally speaking, there was no grand jury convened in this case. Therefore, there was no indictment under the law…” Kennedy wrote. He said the state was free to retry Bent if it chooses. From a news release found here: http://www.daily-times.com/ci_18378400 . We certainly hope the State of New Mexico decides to retry the case.

   For a little background, Wayne Bent is now 70 years old and has been the leader of a small religious cult in New Mexico called “Strong City”. We have referred to his group in previous posts and have shared about one survivor of that group named Prudence Welch. Though there have been no recent updates, her blog is found here: http://www.travesser.info/ . From the National Geographic® site: “Doomsday cult leader Michael Travesser prophesied that the world would end October 31, 2007 — but what happened?” National Geographic® has also done a video series and has a page on their website about this group.  Here is the link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-a-cult-3401/Overview#tab-Overview

The video is below. Within the first 20 seconds, Wayne Bent is shown saying, “I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined.” As mentioned before, it is the deed and not the creed. He can believe that all he wants. But, when Wayne Bent encourages young girls who were/are minors to lay naked in his bed and then hold them; I have a problem with that.

Continue reading Cult Leader Ordered Released From Prison →

Books, Resources, Uncategorized

The Weekend in North Myrtle Beach, SC

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   This past weekend I visited my mother in North Myrtle Beach, SC. It was a weekend full of celebrations, meeting new friends and enjoying life. My Mom, Darlene Eichler has published a new book, “Satan’s Best Friend” (copyright ©2011 Darlene Eichler, Published by Bookstand Publishing, ISBN 978-1-589209-914-2). She held a book signing this past Saturday at her church, St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in North Myrtle Beach, SC. The book signing was in conjunction with a fund raiser for North Strand Helping Hand, a group that provides food to the needy of the surrounding area. In addition to selling books, the event raised around $500 for North Strand Helping Hand. This was great considering the time of year and competing events in town. I met several new people and spent time with friends made during previous visits. It was good to be among those interested in helping others.

    One man I spent time talking with was Curtis. He is 96 and a native from SC. He grew up on a mill village. His life’s work was in furniture manufacturing. Over the years, he has been in his words “blessed” beyond what he could imagine. He is retired and enjoys spending time with his friend, Alice. I have known Alice for some time now. She is always pleasant and cheerful. She is several years younger than Curtis, but they enjoy each other’s company, which counts for a lot. Curtis put together a short autobiography of sorts which I have read and enjoyed tremendously. He came from poverty and worked his way to a much better lifestyle. Here is a picture of the car Curtis drives- at 96!

Mercedes Curtis drives..
Curtis' Mercedes

  

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Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Signs of Abuse in a Church

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  In the previous post, we looked at the work of Dr. Steven Lambert. He gave some insight into the shepherding movement. We compared a few of his insights into what I witnessed at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) from 1992 until 2008. The resource material for that post can be found here: Chapter 2 of “Charismatic Captivation” by Steve Lambert, ThD. (Publisher: Real Truth Publications, ISBN 1-887915-00-1 / 308pp.) Chapter 2 can be found here: http://www.slm.org/pubs/samples/ccbook2.html . Again, by using material form Dr. Lambert’s website, I am not giving a blanket endorsement to all his work. I have not read all his work and caution each reader to judge for themselves what he writes.

   That being said, I did find an article from Dr. Lambert in which he lists signs of abuse within a church. This is the link to the article titled, “33 Signs of Spiritual Abuse”. I will quote several of these signs here and tell whether or not I found them to be in WOFF.  The article begins, “There are at least thirty-three readily identifiable signs of spiritual abuse, or hyper-authoritarianism, practiced by many Charismatic churches. Being able to readily identify the signs and symptoms of authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement that is rampant among church groups today is absolutely essential for every believer in their quest to know and be personally related to the Great Shepherd, who is the Prince of Peace and the true “Guardian of our souls”.  Lambert implies that these abusive practices will hinder a person from knowing “the Great Shepherd”. I most wholeheartedly agree. It is not possible to review the entire text from Lambert here. I recommend each reader to review the article on their own by clicking the title above. We move on.

–  Apotheosis of the leadership — exalting them to God-like status in and over the group.  Well, have we covered that before on this blog? When I left WOFF, one of the thoughts that helped was seeing that the members were more afraid of Jane Whaley than God. So, is she “God-like”?

  Continue reading Signs of Abuse in a Church →

Books, Resources, Uncategorized

Do WOFF Practices Reflect the Shepherding Movement?

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   For many reading this post the term “shepherding movement” will be new or unfamiliar. During May of 2008, while still inside Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), I had the thought to look up the term and find out more. As I did I could see that it appeared that what was going on at WOFF under the leadership of Jane Whaley looked a lot like the reported abuses during the shepherding movement of years ago. I kept the findings to myself for awhile until the first week of June of 2008. Two hours after telling my thoughts to LB, I was advised through her that Jane Whaley said I was “out of the church”. No, Jane did not call and find out what I had learned or why I thought the WOFF practices were like those of the shepherding movement of years gone by. Why did I not get asked? I am not certain.

   In the blog series which tells the events around my exit from WOFF, the scenario is explained in this post: What Thoughts Helped Me Leave WOFF – Part 3 – found here: https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1841 . “Part 3” contains two links which explain in brief about the term – shepherding movement. The movement has also been referred to as the “Discipleship Movement”. Before I proceed, let me just acknowledge that my reading on this subject has not made me an expert. Any “expertise” of mine comes from living through my experiences at WOFF and comparing them in light of what the material shows and reports about the practices within the shepherding movement. When I have lived through it, I believe it gives me some right to comment on what I saw and observed. Also, I will be quoting from sources found on websites which contain more material than I can read right now. My quoting of the sources DOES NOT imply a blanket endorsement for all of the material found in these resources. Further reading from these quoted sources is a choice you must make on your own. I have read enough to feel comfortable quoting from the material.   

   As a very brief recap, there was a group of ministers in Florida called the Fort Lauderdale Five. This group included, Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, Don Basham, Derrick Prince and Ern Baxter. Some sources add John Poole to the group. The founding events are reported differently in different sources. Let it be said that from some event, whether a moral failure or a perceived lack of accountability of the church members, this group set out to form a structure to help those who needed help in various ways.

    Continue reading Do WOFF Practices Reflect the Shepherding Movement? →