The Word of Faith Fellowship Church (WOFF) is being accused of imprisoning, and physically and emotionally abusing 22-year old Michael Lowry for four months because he is gay. The Spindale, North Carolina nondenominational Christian church, run by Sam and Jane Whaley (image, right), is no stranger to controversy, having been featured on “Inside Edition” for a ritual practice called “blasting,” described by some as “a form of hands-on, high-pitched screaming prayer.”
“In a statement given to a sheriff’s department investigator last week, Lowry said he was kept in a church building from Aug. 1 to Nov. 19, 2011. He said he was knocked unconscious during his first day of confinement,” according to a report in the Charlotte Observer:
Lowry’s former pastor, Jane Whaley, said Sunday that all of his allegations are “lies.”
Whaley said Lowry was not held or beaten. She said the church only learned that he was gay when his family did – after watching a news report by an Asheville television station Thursday.
Lowry said he first told his family and church leaders of his sexual orientation when he was 15 or 16. That set off years of harassment and abuse, he said, as church members tried to expel the demon that they believed caused his homosexuality.
It should come as no surprise that some have called the Word of Faith Fellowship Church a “cult.”
The Observer adds:
Word of Faith has also been accused of enforcing extensive control over its congregation.
Former members interviewed by the Observer in 2000 say they were told where to live, where to work, what to read, how to dress or even when it was OK to have sex with their spouses.
Lowry says many of those controls continue today.
Word of Faith also practices “blasting,” a form of hands-on, high-pitched, screaming prayer, a ritual that has landed it on “Inside Edition” and YouTube. The church, according to its website, also doesn’t celebrate “pagan holidays” ranging from birthdays to Christmas.
Word of Faith was investigated twice in the late 1990s for its treatment of children, and later sued the local Department of Social Services in connection with what is now referred to on its website as “the persecution.”
Whaley said the church has been exonerated of all allegations.
Lowry was born into Word of Faith, and his parents and two brothers remain members.
He said he hoped to be trained by the church to become a minister. But there was a problem: Lowry said he has known since puberty that he was gay.
He had always been active in the church, but said he became increasingly uncomfortable living under constant scrutiny and watching how children were disciplined.
About six years ago, when he said he told his family and Jane Whaley he was gay, Lowry said he became a target of those same methods.
His dissatisfaction with the church had deepened by summer 2011. On Aug. 1, 2011, he said he was taken by church members to the Word of Faith complex and placed in a building with other men and boys having trouble at home.
“The doors were locked, it was jail,” he said. “You weren’t allowed to speak to your family. Many of the men had wives and children but they weren’t able to communicate with them.” Blastings were common, he said.
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{ 7 comments }
Too many unanswered questions such as why he did not speak up until now, is he still with the church, and does he have proof?
This isn't a church, it's a sick cult and those two "leaders" belong in prison.
"Why did he not speak up until now" is a good question. Also consider, if he was so mistreated, "why did he not leave before he did? He claims that the mistreatment started six years ago. If he is now 22, the "abuse" began when he was 16. By age 18 he was a legal adult and could have left by choice. Why would an adult young man be willing to suffer such treatment? Something does not add up!
Sometimes people who have been traumatized do not speak out for a long time. This happens much more than you would think. For example rape victims and women of domestic violence, sometimes it is because they fear that they have done something wrong and believe they deserved it. Also in the flds church women were abused raped for years but most stayed with their husbands for fear of rejection from the world or from the god they believed in. I hope there is a good investigation done and they find all the answers.
My brother and sister in law, were members of this church, and it is 100% a cult. They physically and emotionally abused my 6 year old niece, to ensure that their views were the only views allowed. They cut their members off from society. no internet, no tv, no phones, nothing but the church. Most members of the church work for the church, to ensure that they are sealed off from the rest of the society. My sister in law spoke up at a baby shower for a new born baby, were she experienced their form of blasting a new born baby, to ensure that they get the evil out. When she spoke up, they cornered her and physically and verbally screamed and hit her, and I am talking a group of like 30 people, to where she could not free herself from the abuse. It continued for an hour, until my brother came into the room and got her out. They keep families seperated, when you go to church they keep you seperated to ensure you do not get any ideas about going against the church. This is the reason why it took this man so long to get out and get his message heard.
My brother and his family were stalked to a point that they had to move to get away from phone calls, the late night knocks on the door. they were followed everyday, and harassed every day! This church is no joke, and people should be warned. They recruit families that dont have an extended family and are in need, with a free private school for their children. They make the school irrestible for those who have nothing, they help you with room and board, and jobs within the church, and to anyone who needs a little help this is perfect opportunity, until the church wants to collect their fee, which in reality is your feedom
THIS CHURCH SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN. MY NIECE IS IN THERAPY FOR THE ABUSE THAT SHE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF THESE PEOPLE. BE WARNED, IT IS A CULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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