Tag Archives: Jane Whaley

Books, Resources, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

The Wave – 1981 (Video)

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Recently, a very good friend sent me a copy of the movie “The Wave”. This movie was made in 1981 and is a dramatic presentation of a sequence of events which took place in Palo Alto, CA in 1967. In a high school class in April of that year, a history teacher led his class in an experiment after their lesson on Hitler’s Germany, the Holocaust, and the tragedy surrounding those years. The class experiment was prompted after a student asked the teacher – How could the German people sit back while the Nazis slaughtered people all around them and claim to not know anything about it? How could they do that, how could they say that? (paraphrased)

As I watched the beginning of this obviously dated film, I was instantly drawn in by the questions and thus followed closely for the answer. Why? This line of questioning is only slightly different from the questions I receive from people asking- How could anyone get caught up in a cult? How could intelligent people be swept up in a religious cult or any other cult, for that matter? John, how did you get into Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Why does this matter and how does this movie answer these questions? We shall see if it does. Also, in the last few weeks, I have met several new folks that have no knowledge of WOFF, Jane Whaley or that religious cults even exist in America. Eventually, questions come as to my back ground and how I ended up where I am today. I continually search for more accurate and helpful ways to explain the cult phenomena in America as I have experienced it.

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If You Could Ask Her One Question?

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As mentioned on this blog in previous posts, I realize that my writing has been in phases of sorts. When I first got out, after overcoming or at least managing the shock, I began to write my memories. That was in October of 2008 and I still have those writings. Those initial writings were sent to close friends and relatives to help explain the changes in my life. After a while, I felt the need to refine and explain further. After a few short posts in June of 2009, I shut down the effort until other things were put in place. Then in January 2010, a close relative bought a book for me titled, Church of Lies, by Flora Jessop. (Book review from January 9, 2010- https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=40 ) That one book opened my eyes to the efforts of Ms. Jessop to help those wanting the escape the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS). As I read, the comparisons between what those survivors experienced and what I was going through were simply overwhelming. I began again writing posts about my life inside and my understanding of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF).

Soon after, I received a call from GS. It was a shock as he had not called since I left in July 2008. Why the sudden interest? He was not happy with my mention of him in a post. Keep reading. Not long after that there was “A Knock at The Door”. (Post from February 23, 2010- https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=572 )  Two female WOFF members came to tell me that all I wrote were “lies, lies, lies…” My reply, keep reading, and I think they have.

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Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

“Your Signs are Stupid!” (Pictures)

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   Spring Missions Project 2012 continued this past Sunday along Oakland Road. The weather was perfect and the immediate results were shall we say “encouraging”. We arrived just before noon and literally within a minute JC drove by in full security team mode. (Remember, he was the car chaser last time, see the previous post on this event for a picture…) He drove by with walkie-talkie in hand and acting very WOFF-ish (Word of Faith Fellowship-like). However, we were not surprised and waited for the fun to continue. Soon, possibly by 12:10PM, the cars started trickling out down Old Flynn Road. Immediately, we noted a switch. WOFF members were purposely looking at the signs rather than doing the heard jerk –which always did look painful. RS and LS were the first members I noted to obviously stare at the signs. He was actually gawking.

Well, soon the floodgates opened and slowly but surely, the cars kept coming and coming and coming- just as we had hoped. Oh, there were the obvious Security Team passes and activities. People set-up with cameras and who knows what other electronic listening equipment, taking their pictures and being real obvious. Still we noted WOFF members freely staring at our signs and at first it seemed strange. Later we would find out why this had switched.

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Soul Rape at WOFF?

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In a recent post, we closed with comments from a survivor of a cult other than Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). The survivor shared her lament for the “rape” of her soul and all she had lost.

“…rather than having to face the hurt of what was taken….. to pick your passion back up…….seems to me to be one of the most painful parts of being out…….for it is in doing this that you have to face ‘the rape’ of your soul.”

I closed with several questions including – “How do I go forward and restore the passion, the purpose I once had, knowing there are those (others) set to violate and steal/abuse my heart, my years, my very life? Who can you trust? If I deny my passions, I am denying the purpose for the rest of my life.”

As I continue considering the concept, the damage, the dynamics of “soul rape”; I had to ask if that happened to me. If so, how? If so, when? If so, did I see it and religiously excuse it, or see it and just deny it? The term seems harsh, but, after leaving WOFF and seeing the damage done to myself and others, while inside and now outside, I sincerely believe the severity of the term is warranted. Let me explain.

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Do We Attack That Which We Don’t Understand…

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This is one post which may sound confusing to some and lame to others. I will attempt to explain what I have been thinking about and observing over these last few weeks and months. Truthfully, I was attempting to sleep and this subject caused me to get up and begin to write.

In a previous post, I explained my thoughts as a member of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) when a former member organized a protest along the road leading by the church access road. The post was titled: The Day the Protestors Were Beside the Road… https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=1947 . In this post, I express my questions and put forth the idea that effective protestors may be ones that don’t scream and yell. In other words, show outward aggression. Maybe my idea on this has been filtered through my personality and experiences. Nonetheless, it is what I believe.  While inside WOFF, I definitely saw the aggressive attitudes of the protestors. It seemed like they were purposing to attack the WOFF members, though during my time there, we were never touched- as far as I know.

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Spring Missions Project 2012- Pictures

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The months pass so quickly as each of us in turn becomes overwhelmed with the minutia of daily living, daily drama and the struggle to make sense of it all. Some say that happens quicker as you age. As I have said on this blog before, losing track of the months and years happens even more so when you are a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). There is a constant flow of life which passes by or around WOFF members as they navigate the intense struggle to survive within the group—emotionally, and for some- physically. This all plays out as swirls of emotions, unanswered questions come and go. It does not help that they are required to forget about and certainly not talk about those, who have left the group. Why does this happen? Jane requires it to be so. I heard it several times from Jane: If you want to know about someone who has not been seen in a few services, or is not here anymore, then come directly to me and ask. Many found it easier just to ride out the day and not ask about the missing member, no matter how involved they had been with them.

For this reason and others, I felt it necessary to have a theme to the Spring Missions Project of 2012. The theme has evolved as “Remember Michael Lowry!” We have told part of his story on this blog including his exit drama as well as him filing a report with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department. Here are the links to those posts-

Another Exit Drama Unfolds…- https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=4782

Former WOFF Member Files Report of Assault – https://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=5001

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Books, Resources, Uncategorized

“I didn’t want her screaming at me….”

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In the previous post, we used as a resource 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). Today, we will return to this resource for the material in Chapter 2. The title of the chapter is “A Little Carrot And A Lot of Stick- A Case Example” by Janja Lalich. The author outlines the formation, operations and eventual implosion of a political cult in which she was a part of that lasted from 1974 until 1985. I have been amazed at the similarities between many of the inner workings and dynamics between this group and Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). For now, I have not done the research to find out the name of group or its leader, which the author covers with pseudonyms. Let’s go directly to the comparisons which caught my attention.

When describing the ages of the founding members of the WDU, Lalich writes, “ Baxter was 39 years old, while most of the others were in there mid 20s, which meant that they (with one exception) were 7 to 20 years younger than Baxter.” (page 54) It was similar with WOFF at the beginning- if you just look at Jane’s age compared to her main leadership. I suspect Jane is mid 70s (WOFF stopped celebrating birthdays – so who is counting?) and the rest of her main leadership early to mid 50s. There is another layer of leadership around Robin’s age that is even younger than the main leadership. What does this matter? Well, certainly Jane could/would use the reasoning that she had been walking with God longer than anyone- who is to doubt her? Right.

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