Tag Archives: Cult Criteria

Criteria for Cults, Peoples Temple vs WOFF, Uncategorized

WOFF Family Has Mother Jane as the Head

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    One of the first things a new Word of Fellowship (WOFF) member learns is how important it is to cut-off contact and ties with those who “don’t walk in God’s ways” or “do not have the fear of God (god)”. This includes not only co-workers or friends outside the church, but family and relatives that are not in WOFF. These relatives could be neutral on Jane Whaley or be against Jane Whaley, it does not matter. If they are not walking in the Truth that Jane preaches/teaches then they are not worthy of your fellowship or company. This includes family during the holidays or birthdays or any other special family gathering times. Why? Of course, Jane Whaley does not allow her members to celebrate holidays. This is not new information to anyone who is familiar at all with WOFF. 

    As mentioned previously, I went along with the no holiday practices of WOFF. I did not go visit my family for years on any holiday. Now, I see the practice accomplished more than just keeping “WOFFers from sinning”. (Did it really accomplish that?) Keeping WOFF members from contact with family may have been spiritualized as necessary to “protect the gift of God in you” or keep you from the “common ground” that still exists in you and them. See the post about common ground here… https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2356 .  The post “What is Common Ground?” serves as an introduction to this post. I explain the term “spiritual parents” in that post. The concept was a growing one at WOFF. It sounded so spiritual to follow others and set-aside your natural parents that may not be “in the things of God” and “flowing with the revelation” that God had given Jane.  But, really it served to cut you off and substitute Jane Whaley and other WOFF leaders as your family. Many faithful adult members would go further than using the term “spiritual parents” for Jane and Sam. Some would call Jane – Mother Jane and Sam- Father Sam. Many children had begun calling Jane – Grandma Jane by the time I left.  Is WOFF the first group where this practice is found?  Where else can this phenomenon be found?

    Continue reading WOFF Family Has Mother Jane as the Head →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

Memories from November Seminars

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    During the years spent at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in Spindale, NC; there were some memories around the November seminars that need to be shared. The build-up to each seminar was intense, but for some reason the November seminar was unique on many occasions. These seminars were always held the week of Thanksgiving. My memories of these times may not be in time order and/or I may confuse something from a May seminar with this time of year.  But, here goes…

  Can any previous or present members relate to the feeling you first get when you tell your family outside of WOFF that you will not be seeing them during Thanksgiving week? The question comes- Why? Then the answer- Well, the church is having a seminar and we really need to be there… or the church is having a week long seminar and we all need to be there…. Whatever your answer ended up being, did it feel awkward? Maybe as a new WOFF member it was real easy to tell your family that Jane said I needed to be there… or maybe you told them that you would come see them another time. Were you so sure you would be allowed to go see them another time? As best I can remember, it was awkward for me.  

    But, since I was so excited about learning WOFFness and hearing what would be preached, I went to my first November Seminar in 1992. The meetings were longer back then and there were three meetings a day on most days. If I remember right; the meetings were 9:00AM, 2:00PM and 6:00PM? Does that sound right? The evening meetings could last until after midnight. There was much more blasting, deliverance prayer back then. There would be teaching most meetings, followed by long prayer sessions of folks- well you know- getting devils out. It never occurred to me to wonder why so many folks would get prayer for the same thing over and over again. I never stopped to ask- “Is this stuff really working or is there something else going on here?” Those would have been the logical questions to ask.  

Continue reading Memories from November Seminars →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

What is WOFFness? (2)

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   We ended the first post in this series on the term “WOFFness” with “There is more to discuss about the deception of WOFFness on WOFFers and its attempt to deceive those on the outside. Is everyone on the outside of WOFF in love with WOFFness and all that goes with it?” And there were also these questions—“Are WOFF members aware of the effects of the term? Could they not even be aware that they live in WOFFness? What do others outside of WOFF see and know about WOFFness? Do outsiders appreciate WOFFness in every situation?”  

    As a Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) member for many years, I can say that in my experience; as the life inside WOFF developed into a more distinct sub-culture, I was aware of the changes, but not fully aware of the effects of those changes. The rules were added in a subtle way in many cases and always justified as either “Jane Whaley has said…” or “It is God’s will for this to happen…” or “This activity has opened our young people to sin so we must go in a different direction….” Some seemingly legitimate spiritual reason was given for all of the rules as far as I remember. Yet, rarely if ever did I stop and count or summarize the rules. Very plainly put, Jane Whaley instituted a LOT of rules or “don’ts” as I have shared in previous posts. (see posts in the Category – WOFF Don’ts) But, living in WOFF and under WOFFness meant that the full understanding of how these “don’ts” affected us was not discussed between members or even considered necessarily a bad thing. Living this way was just part of WOFFness. Does this seem plausible? Could someone be under all of the WOFF rules/don’ts and not be affected in some way? Simply keeping up with all the don’ts could cause anxiety, right? After all, the penalty for doing a don’t could be severe and cause great turmoil in your daily life.

    Continue reading What is WOFFness? (2) →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

What is WOFFness? (1)

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    In several posts, we have looked at terms used by Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). One of those posts is found here…. https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=101 .  We have discussed the purpose and the effects of these terms. Jane Whaley is the leader and she took time to define the use and meaning of many different terms. In most cases thsee terms were defined to mean what she wanted. During the development of this blog, I have created several terms to describe what I experienced during my time at WOFF. For this post we will discuss the term “WOFFness”. What does it mean? What does it include? Are WOFF members aware of the effects of the term? Could they not even be aware that they live in WOFFness? What do others outside of WOFF see and know about WOFFness? Do outsiders appreciate WOFFness in every situation?  

    First, let’s discuss the feeling and thoughts of being a WOFF member that are directly included in the meaning of the term. As a reminder, I was under the influence of the teachings of Jane Whaley either directly or indirectly for 16 years. Does that qualify me to give meaning to the term WOFFness? In my opinion, yes, the time inside gives me the experience needed to shape and define the term. While inside WOFF, there were many emotions, thoughts and experiences that were noteworthy. The attitude of WOFF members was one that no one else in Christianity had the revelation, the understanding, and the holiness that was conveyed on those living at WOFF. Conveyed? Yes, conveyed by listening to, obeying and living around Jane Whaley. Key to living at WOFF was the belief that Jane Whaley was the key to living for God, knowing God, understanding God and ultimately making it to heaven. If you were out of favor with Jane, you were out of favor with God. If you were in favor with Jane, you were tight with God.

   It sounds absurd when put in those terms, But, I challenge any one inside or outside to dispute those statements. Why is this crucial to WOFFness? Because, if you are to understand WOFFness, you must first understand where WOFFness originates and that is with Jane. Jane originates shapes and moderates the attitudes that are crucial for those inside WOFF. The first attitude and belief is fear of Jane. WOFFness is built on that. Jane promotes fear of her power as the foundation and undisputable requirement for all members in order to remain at WOFF. That fear of a person replaces the fear of God. In many ways, the fear of Jane is disguised as the fear of God. But, who on the outside is really fooled?

   Continue reading What is WOFFness? (1) →

Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

No Outward Symptoms – Sorta

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     Over the last couple of years, I have heard several stories of individuals who have had illnesses and not known their condition. The condition, usually cancer, would progress until they had a very nominal pain and went for an examination. At that point, the doctor would tell them they had more than a backache, more than a stomach ache or headache- they had cancer. One fellow went in because he was bothered by his back. He was diagnosed with stage four cancer and was dead in two weeks. Another lady, I heard about was in her early 30’s. She had never been in to doctor other than for check-ups. Her stomach ache revealed cancer all through her body. She has been taking treatments and is working as much as she can. Still another man I heard about had a headache for several days; he was diagnosed with brain cancer and had never missed a day’s work in his life.  He is trying to work while he takes treatments.

   As the stories kept coming to my attention, I could readily see that as humans, we know very little about our own bodies. In certain cases, we could have a deformity or malady and not know it. We usually have to have someone point it out after they have examined us beyond what can be seen on the outside. In the theme of questions, I began to consider my life at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). The group, led by Jane Whaley, has been hard for some folks to figure out or diagnose. Certainly on the outside, many do not see the symptoms. Many see the fine cars, big house and nice clothes and do not see the symptoms of an illness that go deeper than the surface. It is easy to miss the illness when you look at the outside trappings of an apparently “healthy” looking group of folks such as WOFF. When a person sees the “happy” expressions and the courteous mannerisms of the youth, they become oblivious to the other symptoms that definitely exist.

  Continue reading No Outward Symptoms – Sorta →

Behavior Control, Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Peoples Temple vs WOFF

What Are The Questions? (2)

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    In the last post, we stated questions that have been asked about Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Some questions were about Jane Whaley, the leader. Some were about daily life at WOFF. “Why” was/is a common question and well as “how”? We shared some questions that new members have to face. Those answers would be very interesting as each new member would face them first in the church and then in their private lives. The main point being that their private life morphs/merges into their life at church. For sure, new members learn that there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed – to Jane. When a new member joins WOFF, at whatever degree or stage that is or becomes, he or she will face the realization at some point that privacy is a dwindling commodity. All facets of life merge into the realm of the church’s/Jane’s purview.

     Life at WOFF becomes all consuming- why? Why did/does membership at WOFF require ALL of a member? What other churches which claim to be “Protestant, non-denominational church…( as defined by classical Christianity) with traditional, evangelical doctrines” require so much of their members? I am not saying there are no others; I just want to know who they are… We shared about this type of group in a post from August 1, 2010- “Know the Marks of Cults” Part 6 found here: https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2896 .

    Continue reading What Are The Questions? (2) →

Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, FLDS vs WOFF, Uncategorized

What Are The Questions? (1)

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     Several times on this blog I have mentioned my “search for answers”. However, I have not shared all the questions or gathered them into one place. In this post and possibly one more, I will gather as many of the questions as I can remember and share some of the answers I have at this point. During the 16 years of being under the teachings and influence of Jane Whaley, there have been many questions. Life at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) was not centered on asking questions or getting answers; it was centered on obedience to Jane. All of this was disguised as “obedience to God” or “the call of God”. However, how did you know you were obeying God? Jane would confirm it or voice her doubt and/or disapproval.

    One reason I believe that WOFF is subject to being called a “cult” – the members show more fear of Jane than God. This I realized in May of 2008. It helped me along in my exit. ( see related post here.. https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1396 )   Some would doubt the question and some may doubt the answer. However, if they do, you must ask – are they in WOFF or out? How long were they in (if, so) and what level of faithfulness to Jane did they “enjoy”? Certain members were VERY faithful to Jane and Sam. As with any group, you have different levels of commitment and in WOFF, different degrees of adherence to WOFF-isms.  So, for now, the first question- Why is WOFF subject to being called a “cult”?

   Other questions include- What is life like inside of WOFF? In a previous post, I answer some of that question. (see link here… https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2440 ) However, life for different ages or groups of folks could look different in some ways. Those who work during the week would have a different schedule than those who do not work and are involved in activities at the church every day. There were always places to “be a help” or errands to run or tasks to do for those that did not have a regular job. Life at WOFF was not sedentary. Life in WOFF is highly regulated, to say the least. Refer back to the previous paragraph/question.

    Continue reading What Are The Questions? (1) →