Broken Faith - Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America's Most Dangerous Cults - Mitch Weiss Page 0,7

chill creep down her spine. There is evil in this room, she thought.

When the service ended, Jane Whaley’s followers fawned over her, but Whaley often didn’t return their kindness. She was cruel, lashing out at some of them, scolding others. Wanda had seen enough.

That night she sat down with Suzanne.

“Do y’all know God or do you just know this woman?” Wanda asked. “I mean, what is going on in this church?”

“What do you mean, Mom?” Suzanne asked.

“Well, y’all treat Jane like she is some kind of star. Some kind of prophet. I mean, what is all that stuff about God telling people to buy a pair of shoes? It’s crazy.”

“Oh, Mom, Jane wants us to have nice things—maybe we’d never be able to afford a pair of shoes like that, or we’d never buy them for ourselves. This way, we can have nice things, and support the ministry, too. Try to understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Help me to understand.”

“If you stayed here longer, you would get it. It just hasn’t been put on your heart yet what the church is trying to do. The church is saving people’s lives. We have a prison ministry. We visit nursing homes. We help drug addicts and alcoholics.”

“That’s fine, Suzanne, but I get a bad feeling about Jane. It’s like she wants to control everybody.”

“Well, look how great the kids are doing,” Suzanne said. “They’re getting a great education. And most important, they are learning to be godly people.”

Wanda pressed on. “Maybe, Suzanne, but there’s just something about this place that isn’t right. What do you really know about this woman? What do you really know about this place?”

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” she said. She stood up abruptly and went to her room.

Wanda had a hard time sleeping that night. She blamed Rick for getting her daughter and grandchildren into this mess. Back in 1982, Wanda had spent a month in Honolulu after Suzanne gave birth to Jeffrey, her first child. She remembered being jolted awake in the mornings by the sound of Rick casting the devil out of the house. Her new son-in-law had bought into a doctrine of devils and deliverance long before he joined Word of Faith Fellowship.

“I command you, Satan!” he’d shouted. “Get out of this house, in the name of Jesus!”

Religious drama was nothing new in Wanda’s part of America, and it had never done her much harm. She believed in God, but she’d never been one to pound on a Bible.

When Wanda had her own family, she let her girls go to church when they wanted. At one point a church bus came and picked them up every week, but as they got older, they lost interest. It never bothered Wanda.

She had her own relationship with the Lord. She saw God all around her, in the kindness of strangers and the beauty of nature. She could look up to the sky and think, That’s God’s ceiling right there. Thank You, Lord. The created world was God’s church. Staring at the ocean, she could feel God in her bones. A relationship with the Almighty was a gentle, personal thing, Wanda thought, and faith was not something that should be rammed down anyone’s throat.

But Rick was another kind of believer. To him, God’s love was not something to be cherished in the solitude of his own heart. It was his duty to evangelize others, whether they liked it or not.

She recalled a night in Honolulu. Rick and Suzanne had packed a basket of sandwiches and headed out to evangelize in the red-light district. Wanda swallowed her doubts and tagged along. They headed to Hotel Street, a seedy strip lined with bars and tattoo parlors.

For Christians like Rick, the street was target-rich, full of sinners in need of redemption. Wanda was afraid. Homeless men slumped against the walls of vacant buildings. Sex workers waved down passing cars.

Rick strode confidently through the dark streets, handing out sandwiches, shaking hands.

“Don’t y’all think this might be a little dangerous?” Wanda asked.

“Oh, no,” Rick said. “The Lord always watches over us, long as we’re doing His work. Nothing bad is going to happen. God is good.”

A shabby man came around the corner and nodded in their direction. Rick’s attention was piqued.

“Did you see the devil in that man’s face?” Rick whispered. “Poor man. I’ve got to get the devil out of that guy.”

Rick ran after the man. “I want to talk to you!” he shouted. “I want to help you! I