Broken Faith: Inside One of America's Most Dangerous Cults

by Mitch Weiss, Holbrook Mohr

*An NPR Best Book of the Year*

A PopSugar Best True Crime Book of 2020

“I can’t imagine a more important book.”—Jeff Guinn, New York Time s bestselling author

An explosive investigation into Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical cult whose charismatic female leader is a master of manipulation

In 1979, a fiery preacher named Jane Whaley attracted a small group of followers with a promise that she could turn their lives around.

In the years since, Whaley’s following has expanded to include thousands of congregants across three continents. In their eyes she’s a prophet. And to disobey her means eternal damnation.

The control Whaley exerts is she decides what her followers study, where they work, whom they can marry—even when they can have sex.

Based on hundreds of interviews, secretly recorded conversations, and thousands of pages of documents, Pulitzer Prize winner Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr’s Broken Faith is a terrifying portrait of life inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, and the harrowing account of one family who escaped after two decades.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cults

432 pages, Paperback

Published April 6, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Ally Tuzzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, unfortunate and compelling expose, shows how valuable investigative journalists are in exposing institutional injustice

[Grace G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It was so fascinating and thoroughly researched. There were a few things I found confusing and I would have liked more info about why people kept staying, perhaps more direct quotes from cult members. My only gripe was how the authors referred to married people by the same last name and I couldn’t always tell which person (wife or husband) they were talking about. This has SO many characters in it and the glossary was helpful but for me and my brain space at the moment I had trouble keeping them straight. I’d love to reread this in a year or so because of this!

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gut wrenching tale of the things people will allow for themselves and their children for the sake of belief. Goes to show that the religious leaders of mega churches are often playing out a fantasy in which they are God and can exert full control over their congregants for pleasure. Who can marry who, what you can and cannot wear, when you can have sex and with whom, how your children are disciplined. How strange is it to have to worship one human being who enjoys inflicting so much pain on others.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, apparently this church is still in full swing regardless of everything that has gone on. This is another cautionary tale of the slippery slope between being a highly committed church member and a cult member. Separation of church and state is a good thing in general, but not so in the case of Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, NC.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read on the cult headed by Jane Whaley in Spindale, NC. It’s a shame how one person can change God’s commands and spin them into something evil. This woman claims to be a prophet and says that there is evil within and demons, so they do lots of beatings and scramming in the faces of people and children/babies who have evil within. It’s crazy and it still exists.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was a fast read, very well written too. At times it was riveting and I could not put it down. The storyline was very factual and I would not hesitate to read other books written by this author.

[HTP Books]

Categories
Sociology, Hoaxes & Deceptions, Social Issues, Cults

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cult is so small compared to, say, Scientology. It's chilling how easy it seems to start something like this.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely unreal. I cannot believe these people are still living their lives outside of jail! How has this been allowed to continue? How many more people will be abused by their hands?