There are few weeks that go by in which I do not talk to or communicate in some way with a survivor of a cult. These contacts are not always survivors of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Early on in my journey of seeking answers and writing this blog, I came in contact with survivors of other groups and after speaking for a short time, we would most always agree on some common points for methods of recruitment or control of members in our respective groups. On occasion, I have been in conversations where would tell the most extreme characteristic of our group and wait for the other person to try and top it! Laughter would often ensue which we preferred over crying. Common threads would emerge and we often would express our surprise that other groups employed similar measures and had similar results.
Two areas that often receive a lot of attention are how a person went in to the group and how they came out. The coming out usually had more emotional drama than the going in. Who would imagine that? I will never forget the question of a person I worked with when I first explained why my life was changing in 2008. “How could an intelligent person like you get involved in something like that?” My first response was “One lie at a time…” Now, at the time, I was thinking about my believing one lie at a time and ignoring the uncomfortable feeling inside that was trying to get my attention. I can’t say I always could tell a lie from the truth. But, many times, I at least had a faint awareness that something was not right. The part I did not see at the time was the guided planned effort of WOFF and other groups to base their recruitment on those lies and thus count on deception to obtain new members.
All of this has been in the fore front of my thinking these last few days as the week’s events have unfolded. Just this evening, I commented to another survivor, “The longer you are out, the more lies you learn about that were used against you while inside.” And just because you leave, does not mean you are able to instantly tell what was a manufactured lie told you inside and what the actual truth was about a situation. It is odd that once you leave you are instantly called a liar when you try to tell what truthfully happened while inside WOFF. I suppose a person inside needs to label outsiders liars to protect themselves from having to recognize the truth inside their group and cause them even more mental anguish over their own choices.
Continue reading The Questions Keep Coming- Why Do People Join Cults? (1)