Fire is fire-it is always dangerous to some extent. Likewise, public messages such as church messages, are also dangerous by nature. Can the message be made useful, like a fireplace? If not, how much is the fire out of control? Can the fire be extinguished by water or do we need special chemicals or other materials? Does the fire destroy entire communities or cities?

The Karcher Sermon Danger Scale

To understand this scale, you can replace the word “fire” with “problem”. In my mind, the most revealing characteristic of a Bible message is how the messenger deals with problems. Those preachers who deal with problems well inspire us to be better people. Those preachers who mishandle problems pose varying levels danger to our souls.

Dealing with the problems of humanity is of course a noble endeavor. Many have tried. Those who succeed in addressing problems correctly become helpful guides on our spiritual journeys. Like a fire used for cooking or for warmth, calling out problems and presenting possible solutions are useful, helpful and healthy. The nature of this, like fire, is that the preacher can burn people and if the fire burns unchecked, entire communities can be destroyed.

I have come up with six characteristics that define each level of danger.

1. Definition: How clearly are the problems defined?
2. Purpose: Why are the problems being called out?
3. Scope: How widespread is the problem?
4. Research: What do other people have to say about the problem?
5. Strategy: What solutions are presented to resolve the problem?
6. Results: How can we know if the presented solution is working?

Low – The Fireplace Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: several details are clearly explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is explained and involves learning together
3. Scope: the problem is found in all of us, leaders included
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are examined
5. Strategy: viable solutions are presented that go beyond status quo
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is clearly painted

High – The Trashcan Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: some details are explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is explained briefly and requires individual repentance
3. Scope: the problem is found in some of us.
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are examined
5. Strategy: viable solutions are presented that go beyond status quo
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is clearly painted

Very High – The Grease Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: almost no details are explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is not explained and requires individual repentance
3. Scope: the problem is found in some of us
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are not examined
5. Strategy: workable but unknown solutions are presented
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is clearly painted

Severe – The Electrical Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: almost no details are explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is not explained and requires individual repentance
3. Scope: the problem is found in some of us
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are dismissed and disparaged
5. Strategy: vague solutions are presented and not explained
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is vaguely painted

Extreme – The Tanker Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: almost no details are explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is not explained and requires individual repentance
3. Scope: the problem is found in some of us
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are dismissed and disparaged
5. Strategy: harmful solutions are presented 
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is vaguely painted

Code Red – The Nuclear Fire

Characteristics:
1. Definition: almost no details are explained about the problem
2. Purpose: the purpose is not explained and requires individual repentance
3. Scope: the problem is found in some of us
4. Research: the viewpoints of other people are dismissed and disparaged
5. Strategy: harmful solutions are presented 
6. Results: the picture of how we will be better is not discussed or dismissed

Celibacy is a false teaching (per UBF)

Feel called to the gift of celibacy? Want to live a full life? Well those are false teachings apparently!

“As for the special lecture, at the first night Sh. Stephan Ahn gave the lecture based on Colossians 2:21-23). In the lecture, certain false teachers of Colossi church had insisted a philosophy of religion that consists of human traditions and centers on the basic principles of this world such as asceticism and celibacy and its false fullness of lives.”

Deep deep bible study

Ever study the bible soooo much that you get a boil on your butt? Well you are a slacker then!

“There was an appropriate example of a deep Bible study from our staff shepherd. He was shepherd Seungwon Kim ( Wonchun UBF). He testified that he could feel of fullness of life in his heart as he had concentrated on deep Bible study of the introduction of Deuteronomy until he became sick with a boil that came out on his butt.”

Han Syndrome

Seriously these comments are coming more from a psychological problem than the bible or Christian faith.

Han is unique to Korea and is “a feeling of unresolved resentment against injustices suffered, a sense of helplessness because of the overwhelming odds against one, a feeling of acute pain in one’s guts and bowels, making the whole body writhe and squirm, and an obstinate urge to take revenge and to right the wrong—all these combined.”

In some occasions, anthropologists have recognized han as a culture-specific medical condition whose symptoms include dyspnea, heart palpitation, and dizziness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_(cultural)

God blessed us!

If you do a search on ubf.org for the word “weather”, you can read many cases of how ubf people look for signs from the weather. Here are a few examples:

“God blessed us with cool weather during the conference, even though it has been really hot…”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/asia/japan-united-summer-bible-conference-2014

“God gave us a beautiful and nice weather.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/europe/switzerland-fall-bible-conference-2013

” thank God for giving us wonderful 3 weeks with perfect weather”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/europe/german-second-gens-sent-report-thanksgiving

“We also thank God, for he has given us beautiful weather during the conference providing us with a wonderful and safe environment to enjoy all the outdoor programs.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/korea/korea-ubf-national-student-conference-2014

It is one thing to thank God for good weather. But reading all those reports by ubf people left me feeling they’ve gone too far, and are bordering on some sort of sign-seeking nonsense.

If God blesses, does God also curse?

Let’s just assume all those mentions about the weather are normal. They just want to thank God for good weather. Well what about bad weather? If good weather is God’s blessing, wouldn’t bad weather be God’s curse? The ubf mind is flabergasted when God doesn’t appear to bless one of their ceremonies. Take a look at this latest Samuel Lee worship report:

“On October 4, we held late Dr. Samuel Lee’s memorial service at a chapel in the cemetery. 130 leaders in the Chicago area, including 15 outside guests attended. On the day before our memorial service, we learned that the weather would be cold and that it would rain. But our God is always good. The cemetery manager allowed us to hold our service indoors. We praise God for this.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/north-america/late-dr-samuel-lee%E2%80%99s-memorial-service

Note the comments I highlighted. The weather was bad. Yet the ubf mind cannot accept that this means God is cursing them. So they just say “But our God is always good”. The weather is clearly bad, and this reporter feels the shame.

On another note, notice how they moved indoors this time, instead of holding a tent worship next to Samuel Lee’s actual grave like last year.

Bigger Questions

Will ubf one day stop this Samuel Lee worship stuff? The man died in 2002 in a fire in Chicago. It was a strange event. He was reportedly trapped in a room, but someone told me the door wasn’t locked. Why didn’t he just leave the burning building?

Anyway maybe ubf people really should follow Lee’s teaching and “go back to the bible”. Maybe they should read Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount again. The sunny days and rainy days are NOT signs of God’s blessing or curse. It is just sun and rain. There is nothing specially good about a sunny day at your conferences. There is nothing specially bad about cold rainy weather at your Lee worship service. The more important question to ponder is about what Jesus says here: How will you learn to love those of us who are now your “enemies”, we who have left your ministry with matters of conscience that you have ignored for decades?

“43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 ESV

Mark 7:5-16 ESV also comes to mind.

Apologetics Resource Center

Often in cult ministry we focus on groups that deny central aspects of the Christian faith such as the Trinity, deity of Christ, salvation by grace etc. Many Christians believe that if they simply look at a doctrinal statement, they will be able to spot potentially harmful organizations. Such may not be the case. There are many groups, such as University Bible Fellowship and International Church of Christ which look very good on paper but are involved in practices that can prove spiritually damaging. Our Kansas City office has recently become involved with one such group. It is important that believers are able to move beyond the doctrinal statements to recognize other telltale signs of danger.

…

Commitment to God = Commitment to Group. In abusive groups a subtle switch is made that causes commitment to the activities and beliefs of the group to equal commitment to God. This may be extremely difficult to spot at first because most of us express our commitment to God through faithfulness and ministry in our local church. The difference is one of degree. Imagine a student in college. Abusive groups may ask the student to lead small-group studies on multiple nights of the week. Other nights may be consumed with gatherings of the entire group and leadership training. On weekends the group has evangelistic outreach activities and of course there are regular special emphasis weeks. The student may find that their class work or family life is suffering under the burden. However, if he questions the amount the group is requiring he will be told he needs to stop loving the world and go wholeheartedly after God. Never is the thought allowed that God may actually want him to study or spend time with his family.

http://www.arcapologetics.org/articles/article12.htm

Newsletter of the Apologetics Resource Center

The University Bible Fellowship is another fairly large Bible-based cult on some college campuses. After the controversy at Wheaton College last year (Wheaton allowed them to rent their facility for a conference), the National Association of Evangelicals removed UBF from membership, as the facts were presented about their abusive methodology. Yet they are still active. Beware.

http://www.arcapologetics.org/worldviews/worldviews-2005-04.htm

It’s because our leaders are stupid. They never asked God for counsel, and so nothing worked right. The people are scattered all over.

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherd-leaders of Israel. Yes, prophesy! Tell those shepherds, ‘God, the Master, says: Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths! Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep? You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep. You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd—scattered and easy pickings for wolves and coyotes. Scattered—my sheep!—exposed and vulnerable across mountains and hills. My sheep scattered all over the world, and no one out looking for them!

Doom to the shepherd-leaders who butcher and scatter my sheep!” God’s Decree. “So here is what I, God, Israel’s God, say to the shepherd-leaders who misled my people: ‘You’ve scattered my sheep. You’ve driven them off. You haven’t kept your eye on them. Well, let me tell you, I’m keeping my eye on you, keeping track of your criminal behavior. I’ll take over and gather what’s left of my sheep, gather them in from all the lands where I’ve driven them. I’ll bring them back where they belong, and they’ll recover and flourish. I’ll set shepherd-leaders over them who will take good care of them. They won’t live in fear or panic anymore. All the lost sheep rounded up!’ God’s Decree.

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out!

I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening.

And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer.

Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.

Well, think again, you idiots, fools—how long before you get smart? Do you think Ear-Maker doesn’t hear, Eye-Shaper doesn’t see? Do you think the trainer of nations doesn’t correct, the teacher of Adam doesn’t know? God knows, all right— knows your stupidity, sees your shallowness.

Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function. And all the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they’ll pay for it in the end.

Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air; common sense tells you it’s a stupid way to live.

I’m after love that lasts, not more religion. I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.

And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either.

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.

Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.

You can’t squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah’s son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I’m telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God’s news! How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me. And now you’re so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I’m out of here soon. The next time you see me you’ll say, ‘Oh, God has blessed him! He’s come, bringing God’s rule!’

Ok I feel better now.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2010:21&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2034:2%20&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?earch=Jeremiah%2023:1%20&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%201:13-14&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+94:8&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:38-40&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+11:29&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea+6:4&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%205:33-37&version=MSG

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023&version=MSG

They want a memorial forever?

“On November 25, the opening ceremony of UBF history museum was held at Kwangju UBF center. All Korean staff shepherds attended. The opening ceremony began with the prayers of Dr. James Suh, Dr. Paul Hong and S. Joshua Lee (Daejun UBF). Dr. John Jun delivered a main message with the title, “A memorial forever” on Joshua 3:14-4:24.”

They are acting out the Old Testament

“It was a miracle that Israel people crossed the Jordan River as on dry land. God wanted his people to remember God’s history.”

Who is compromising with Gentile culture?

“However, when Israel people entered the promised land flowing with milk and honey, they forgot God and compromised with the Gentile culture. Therefore, God built up 12 stones as a memorial forever so that they may remember God’s history and teach it to his descendants.”

They are no longer able to distinguish between God and ubf

It was followed by a special song by S. Kim Woojin, “The Lord’s prayer.” Then Mother Barry delivered a blessed message with the title, “Bible Korea, World Mission, Enlarge the Place of your Tent!” on Isaiah 54:2. In summary, Mother Barry explained that we can carry out Bible Korea and World mission through deep Bible study and prayer. It was followed by P. Abraham Kim’s welcoming address.”

They only have one mission: pass on their legacy to their Korean children

“Announcements and prayer topics were given by S. David Kim, Korean UBF director. First of all, we praised God who opened the UBF History Museum by remodeling the original building located at 176-1 Daein-dong, Kwangju, Korea. S. David emphasized the importance of history education. He asked us to pray that God may use this history museum to teach God’s history in UBF and pass on UBF ministry to our descendants. After our ceremony, we visited the UBF History Museum to pray together.”

What did Jesus say?

John 8:54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.”

So they are stuck with two identities. This recent report explains what I’m talking about:

Our church will be known by two names here: Austin UBF and Dwell church. We liked the name dwell because it captures that which captivated us about church planting — that we together get the high privilege of being God’s dwelling place (Eph 2:22). (source)

How long can they maintain this dualism? When will they surrender fully to the grace of God? How can they hold onto the failed ubf heritage? How much longer will they keep face, sustain the tension of multiple identities pulling in near opposite directions and ignore this serious hindrance to encountering God in a deep, joyful and effervescent way?

When will their conscience allow them to find their one true identity in our Lord Jesus and express their own life narrative?

When will they realize that our Lord is One, and that they are no worse off if they don’t submit to the ubf heritage? Will their eyes open and realize that enabling the spiritual order demanded by ubf is like putting a stumbling block in the path of anyone who may believe the gospel through them? Is not this dual identity like attempting to offer food to both idols and to God?

8 Now concerning[a] food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.[b]

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating[c] in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged,[d] if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers[e] and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

I reported the annual display of religious power last year. The ancestor worship continues and some seek the baton of Samuel Lee who died in 2002 in a fire in Chicago.

Here is a photo and excerpts from the gravesite hagiography which was based on Ezra 7:10.

“We praise God who blessed 1^st memorial service, remembering late Dr. Samuel Lee’s last legacy, “Back to the Bible.” On October 5, 1^st memorial service was held at the cemetery with the theme, “Back to the Bible.” 100 chairs were set up, but 132 co-workers including 23 outside guests attended.”

“The main lecture was delivered by M. Daniel Rhee from South Africa, with the theme, “Ezra’s devotion to Bible study” based on Ezra 7:10.  In short, Ezra’s devotion to Bible study was a source of a national revival. M. Daniel Rhee’s lecture could be summarized in 4 ways. First, the conventional ways of UBF Bible study was introduced such as “The author’s perspective,” “Inductive Bible study method.” Second, in adversities, Dr. Lee did not fight a human battle, but fought a spiritual battle through intensive Bible study until God turned it into fruitful victory. Through 20 years’ Bible study, Dr. Lee found God’s hope for North America. It was a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Third, Dr. Lee struggled with the Sunday passage throughout the week until one word of God came to him like the morning star arising in his heart. As a result, he could plant one word in the hearts of Sunday attendants through his announcements.  Fourth, succeeding of UBF ministry does not come from changing people one day from Korean missionaries to native leaders. True succeeding comes from imitating the UBF bible messages. For this M. Daniel proposed producing the standard message of UBF based on reviewing Dr. Lee’s Bible messages.

After the main lecture, a beautiful poem was delivered by M. Hannah Ryu from Mainz UBF, translated by Grace Koh , entitled “Go back to the Bible.” It was really heart moving.

Dr. Sam A. Lee from U of I delivered a joyful personal testimony regarding what his father prayed for him. Dr. Sam’s major was chemistry. So his father prayed for him, “You may study the Bible diligently until you grasp the basic chemistry of the Bible.” Because of his father’s prayer, Dr. Sam learned how to delight in the word of God and mediate on it day and night. We prayed for him to be one of blessed men (Ps 1:2,3), imitating his father’s example.

Two prayer topics were given by a presider, Shepherd Rich Ryzewski. First, pray for Ezra’s devotion to Bible study as the clear direction of our ministry. Second, as Dr. Lee gave a prayer topic, may America raise up 10,000 Bible teachers and send them out so that America may be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Our service ended with Mother Barry’s closing prayer.”

Facts from 2008 to 2012

Over the past 4 years:

• 27% decline in cash donations (offering)
• 59% increase in administrative costs
• 105% drop in net assets
• $42K deficit in 2012
• 17% drop in ISBC attendants *
• 50% exodus of longtime leaders in Toledo UBF

Abandoning the Heritage

UBF loves numbers. Will anyone pay attention to these numbers? UBF is indeed at a crossroads. Everyone knows why. The 12 point heritage system in UBF is being abandoned more and more. Students don’t buy into their teachings. No one these days wants to be controlled by a personal, lifelong shepherd who approves every life decision and who monitors their morality on a weekly basis. Many are no longer satisfied with shallow theology that just tells you “Feed sheep” and distorts the gospel of Jesus. Leaders are no longer tolerating excuses, half-truths and lies. People long for real friendship. They crave the grace of God. They are no longer allowing the Korean culture to suffocate their own culture. People are realizing the Confucian teachings in UBF that have kept them from connecting with the vast, rich Christian history.

Financial Decline

UBF is required to report actual numbers to the ECFA, since joining in 2007. I’ve been tracking these numbers in my own spreadsheet. [Note: The ECFA website presents the numbers in reverse years, showing the most recent year on the left. I find it more natural to show the most recent year on the right.] In any case, below is a spreadsheet capturing the 2008 to 2013 numbers. The 2014 numbers should be reported to the ECFA by June 2015.

UBF-FinancialNumbers2013

Some more thoughts:

UBF Statistics 11/2014
UBF Numbers Update 11/2012
UBF Numbers Game 7/2012
UBF 12 Million Dollars 9/2011

When will the leaders acknowledge this and address the obvious issues that are causing the decline?

Sources:
ECFA reported numbers for UBF
2008 Purdue UBF ISBC Report
2013 Pennsylvania UBF ISBC Report

* Multiple numbers were reported for the 2008 ISBC and the 2013 ISBC, so no one seems to know the exact numbers. However, all reported numbers show a decline between 15% and 20% in people who attended the UBF ISBC conferences.

* Links fixed and updated 2/8/2015

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

Empty. Vague. Hopeless. Christ-less. That’s how this message left me feeling. It’s just not worth it to review such material. I’m going to stop wasting my time. Colossians 2 is a foundational passage of Scripture that transformed my life recently. So perhaps my expectations were too high for a ubf messenger to grasp this passage.

The message can be downloaded here: Continue to Live in Him

TITLE AND SCRIPTURE:

“Continue to Live in Him”
Colossians 2:6-23

MESSAGE CONTENT:

Question: What do a TV advertisement, Sequoia trees, the new World Trade center building, Matthew Henry, Socrates, Winston Churchill, losing our spiritual possession to the bad world, a telescope, insects performing their duties, Florida A&M’s loss to Ohio state, poison oak from a cat, Francis Schaffer, and selected verses from Colossians 2 have in common?

Answer: This Toledo UBF Sunday message.

This line pretty much sums up the theology you’ll learn from this message: “Now when we sin, our fellowship in Christ may be broken, and we must confess and repent, but our relationship to Christ is never broken.”

CONCLUSION:

Let’s read our key verse. And let’s read this passage and talk about it.

RATING:

Zero stars.

Good-bye ubf. I leave you to your own vomit. I can’t bear to review any more of these messages. Until ubf people get some actual Christian seminary training, they might as well watch TV on Sunday. Oh wait, TV is evil and secretly subverting our children, along with that darned internet.

The first thought that came to mind after reading this message was… I can’t remember. The thoughts presented here are so vague that I fail to grasp any meaningful teaching. The messenger seems to be performing as a cheerleader, trying really hard to rally the troops and generate some sort of „amen“. This is doubly discouraging because the bible text has some rather extraordinary teaching.

The message can be downloaded here: Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

TITLE AND SCRIPTURE:

“Christ in You, the Hope of Glory”
Colossians 1:24-2:5

MESSAGE CONTENT:

Dictation of ideas. One of my pet-peeves with ubf messages is that they just throw out thoughts without thinking or allowing the audience to think for themselves. The shallow introduction of this message gives us a classic example of this. The first sentence of this message declares: “The main theme of Colossians is the supremacy of Christ.” Ok Christ is supreme. But what does that mean? How do we know that the “main theme” of Colossians is about supremacy? We are only on chapter 1. Where is the reasoning ability that we all possess?

Gnosticism? Right away this message takes a swing at the terrible Gnostics. If we want a one paragraph definition of Gnosticism, I would suggest quoting someone like N.T. Wright perhaps, instead of sharing your own basically correct ideas about Gnosticism.

“Paul wrote to the church there around 60 AD because of gnostic influences. The Gnostics taught that the God of the Old Testament was different from that of the New. They taught the duality of spirit and material; spirit was good but material bad. This led to the disintegration of the integrity of a Christian´s life. Followers tended to become legalists or hedonists. Gnostics pretended to have the real truth of Christ.”

So if someone was to speak a lot about order and discipline in a legalistic way, they might be a gnostic? If someone was to share a message that emphasized getting rid of material possessions in order to know Christ better, to imply that watching TV was bad and present a message that spoke of future hope in glory for our souls, that might be a gnostic-influenced message? Perhaps we should keep reading this message and see if anything gnostic-sounding shows up. (Hint: it does but I won’t go into detail about it in this review).

Thought stopping. The shallow introduction continues:

 “Why were Christians tempted to follow Gnostic ways? Perhaps it was because the church was a little weak being founded by Epaphras rather than Paul. Perhaps it was their depressed economy? Maybe the answer is revealed in Paul’s emphasis on Christ? Paul urges them to focus on faith in Christ. Like the Colossians we often feel week, tired, and even bored with our Christian lives. We think we need a new teaching. Christ wants us to live dynamic Christian lives full of power, excitement, expectation as well as influence. Christ shows us it is possible even in a Roman prison. Through this passage, let’s learn how to live a joyful, and meaningful life in Christ.”

This paragraph is a classic red flag, called “thought stopping”. The messenger asks questions that confuse the listeners. I would ask, “Why are we asking these questions?” We don’t really know but our thoughts are stopped as the messenger gives his own answers.

After asking some vague questions, the messenger then ties our minds to some supposed problem: “Like the Colossians we often feel week, tired, and even bored with our Christian lives.” Really? The Colossians felt weak, tired and bored? I don’t feel that way, but my mind is stopped from recalling my own reality and this problematic reality is inserted in place. In this way, ubf messages often spin a web of fantasy, and ubf members often live in a state disconnected from reality.

The last sentence in the introduction is a classic ubf thought-stopping technique. The messenger tells us the “one word” that we must learn “how to live a joyful and meaningful life in Christ”. The trick is that you don’t even have to ever answer “how” or explain “how”. When someone asks you “What did you learn from this message?” (and in ubf someone will ask you this question), your mind is trained already to just say “I learned how to live a joyful and meaningful life in Christ!” The other person will normally just say “Amen!”. But neither of you would be able to actually explain and reason through what that joyful and meaningful life entails.

Shallow text analysis. The message continues with some of the most shallow analysis of biblical text I’ve read lately. Why do ubf messages always analyze the text with their own ideas? Maybe that is why their life is so boring…Yet the messenger plows onward with the rah-rah chants of a cheerleader.

Cognitive dissonance. Merriam-Webster defines cognitive dissonance as “psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.” That is really the best way to sum up this message. Instead of clearly articulating the hope that the gospel gives us, this message presents mystery at every turn. Yes this passage does mention a mystery, but a messenger can’t just throw anything he doesn’t understand into the “mystery bucket.”

Completely missing the point. The message claims that Paul avoided arguments with people. And that Paul just “spoke positively for Christ”. Really? Are we talking about the man from Tarsus or about the man from Toledo giving this message? Why are we talking about arguments anyways? I think the messenger is perhaps infatuated with Colossians 2:4 and misunderstands the point.

“Paul did not argue against the Gnostics or the Colossians, but spoke positively for Christ. Paul focused more on Christ and less on himself and his situation. Christian’s understanding of Christ begins with trusting that Jesus died for our sins and that we have eternal life in heaven, but does not end there. God wants us to continually grow deeper in Christ daily as more and more of our lives, our thinking, and all we do become engaged with Jesus.”

The sentence that stands out to me in the quote above is this: “Paul focused more on Christ  and less on himself and his situation”. Really? In this Colossians passage? You mean the one that starts with “I rejoice in my sufferings.” Paul talks a lot about himself and his real situation in this passage. We cannot avoid talking about our present reality. Granted, Paul did not go into gory details about his time in jail, but Paul did not hide his afflictions.

More ubf-only examples. Apparently there is no quality example of faith outside of ubf, because week after week the Toledo messengers only present inside references. This is a red flag of cult control that just won’t go away: “For example, M. Samuel H. and Oki Lee amazed me because at seventy years old they are pioneering Zimbabwe! How mysterious and exciting is that?”

Future glory cheer. I’ll just quote this one:

“Christ in us means that this power, ability, creativity and potential are very real. The implications of Christ in us are endless, profound, and deep. Think about it, what are you becoming in eternity? Paul calls this, “The hope of glory.” We have “The hope of glory!” We have the great hope to be glorious, like Christ! We have this hope for ourselves and for others and it is a glorious hope! When we have hope, we have something great to look forward to! Because Christ is in us we have great mystery, excitement, and anticipation. Also, the riches of the knowledge of Christ are not just for a select few. He freely makes them available to all. God wants to bless us all richly with all the knowledge of Christ!…. With the miracle of Christ in us, we already have all of the riches and mystery that life can offer. We do not need new or strange teachings. The mystery of Christ is endlessly exciting because we have the hope of glory! “

Engage with others…but only new people. Again I just quote this horrible ubf philosophy of ignoring building relationships with “old junk sheep” (or people who left) and seeking new recruits whom we barely know:

“Second, when Paul engaged himself deeply with Christ, he could engage with others. Look at verses 28, and 29, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” The excitement and joy Paul felt in Christ bubbled up and overflowed to others. He wanted to share about Christ with others, even the Colossians whom he barely knew. He boldly invited others to know Christ as he knew him. He in turn encouraged them to also share Christ.”

Switching terms. So here is another red flag of cult mind control, called switching terms. This is sometimes called re-definition of words. Please read the following message quote slowly. Notice the red flags. Notice how horribly damaging this thinking is to a Christian community, a community already hurt deeply.

“Look at verse 28, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” He encouraged them to renew their commitment to knowing and growing in Christ and in helping others to do the same. These are the very things the Colossians needed to do to restore the joy, mystery and vitality to their faith. They did not need a new teaching. They only needed to return to a life of growing in Christ and in reaching out to others. Constant personal or corporate introspection leads to despair, while encouraging others is an excellent way to encourage ourselves! God wanted them to focus on Christ and others instead of themselves.”

The message quotes verse 28 which mentions several actions (proclaim, warn, teach, present). But what does the message say about these words? The message says “renew their commitment…helping others to do the same.”

It is difficult to review any more of this horrid message without using swear words. The rest of this message is more of the same…

Order, discipline and no TV! The whole second part of this message focuses on order and discipline.

II. “Good Order and the Firmness of Your Faith in Christ.” (2:4,5) I believe Paul talks more of his prayer for the Colossians than their reality.  Paul hints about discipline.  Some versions of the Bible use the word “order” while others use “discipline.”  Both “order” and “discipline” are good words.  “Order” and “Discipline” seem like bad words because we associate them with rigidity, confinement, and a lack of creativity and spontaneity.  However, the opposite is true; having order and discipline in our lives frees us to focus on things we need to take care of.  Order and discipline give us freedom. We have time and energy to cultivate our relationship with Christ, our inner lives and relationships with others.  Discipline and order in every area of our lives is a blessing whether it be spiritually, emotionally, in our thought life, academically, professionally, relationally, monetarily and even physically.  They do not confine us but free us to focus on what we really want to do.  Discipline and order is a gift from God.”

“You are all marvelously disciplined people or you would be home sleeping or watching TV.  But no matter how old we are we can continue to grow in disciplining new areas of our lives bringing them under Christ’s control.   That in itself is mysterious and exciting. “

“It begins with faith in Christ, but practically speaking how can we order and discipline our lives so that we can be free to pursue real spiritual growth and have time to reach out to those around us?”

“My first thought is to simplify our lives.”

“Second, find order in one thing.”

“Third, learn from others.  Jesus is the perfect example but we can learn from others. Find someone who is more disciplined in an area you want to do better in and watch what they do.  We are all disciplined in some area.   For example, M. Sarah Hong is awesomely disciplined in daily bread and prayer. Ruth Kille is wonderfully disciplined in keeping track of money and making time to help others.  Russell Kille is a master at organizing just about anything including computer networks, conferences, and even offices..  S. Jim Paul is very disciplined in his responses to others.  I learn a lot from them all.  I believe God wants us to humbly teach and help each other.”

CONCLUSION:

This message only has value in serving as a classic example of cultic mind control and traditional UBF messenger tactics. The message amounts to shallow analysis that presents pseudo-truth with harmful thought-stopping techniques with cheerleader gusto.

RATING:

One star. This message deserves zero stars but my rating system doesn’t have a 0 star rating.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The messenger makes a rather successful attempt to share his own voice and to talk mainly about Christ. I find this refreshing. I also find this message somewhat difficult to review. Why? Because this messenger requested my input before sharing the message. I find it odd to hear many of my words echoed back verbatim. I was hoping for a personalization of the thoughts I had, not a tape-recording playback. Still if the words were shared with a genuine voice, this message has potential.

TITLE AND SCRIPTURE:

“Christ is Supreme, Sufficient and Necessary”
Colossians 1:15-23

MESSAGE CONTENT:

Removal of imperatives. Perhaps one of the best things about this message is that I don’t see the typical “commands to be obeyed” attitude that is prevalent in UBF messengers.

A personal voice. Sharing a current personal experience should have been moving to the audience: “Story about studying this and naming Christian (C. S. Lewis). As I meditated and was writing a reflection on this passage last June in Chicago, Susan called to report good news and bad news. The good news was we were having a son. He was growing okay and active in her wound. The bad news was that his heart was not beating as fast as it should. He could have some electrical—conduction issue.”

Personal conversion experience. The messenger shines when he speaks of Jesus’ grace of salvation to him: “What does it mean that Christ is sufficient? Sufficient for what? The primary sufficiency is seen in salvation. (talk about Jesus’ grace of salvation to me) Church camp before 6th grade, Walk to Emmaus (2001)”. This unscripted section should have given the message an approachable connecting point for the audience.

Confidence in the gospel of Jesus. It might be said that this message lacks an organized point. I’m willing to let that go due to the repeated confidence in the gospel displayed throughout the message: “NOTHING else is needed for salvation! From first to last it is only the grace of God. For some, this is scary, because we think we need some level of moral life or some level of goodness. For others, it is taken for granted, assumed and loses its wonder and fire. Many are in between or perhaps somewhere else entirely. Personally, I am saved. It is nothing but the grace of God through the blood of Jesus that I have such confidence. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will be in Heaven. I have nothing to cling to except the cross of Jesus. I can only plead His grace and mercy. This grace and mercy is amazing and incredible.”

CONCLUSION:

I’m a little conflicted, mainly due to the verbatim quotes from my private critique. But all in all this is a significant change in direction in the messages from Toledo UBF. And it contains some messages we all need to be reminded of on our journey of life.

RATING:

3 stars – Although this message is more of a lecture than a sermon, the clear confidence in the gospel make this a good, solid 3 star message.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The messenger makes a clear attempt to break free from the predictable UBF style “look at verse” message formula. There are even four points instead of three. But no amount of re-arranging or earnestness spares this message from being predictable and robotic in nature.

TITLE AND SCRIPTURE:

The Gospel is Bearing Fruit and Growing
Colossians 1:1-14

MESSAGE CONTENT:

Lack of definitions. The word “gospel” is used 47 times in this message. But not until page 3 do we get a definition, presented almost in passing. “When I say the gospel of Jesus, what I am referring to is what Jesus did to make us right with God, his death, his burial and resurrection.” If we are talking about the gospel (and according to the title we are), this ought to be front and center. The gospel should not be a side comment but presented with utter joy and excitement! Speaking of the title, I’m left wanting to know how the gospel grows and bears fruit. The fruit of the gospel goes way beyond “faith, hope and love”. That answer sounds like a cop-out, as if the messenger couldn’t come up with anything to answer “what is the fruit?” Well, at least he didn’t want to say the fruit of the gospel is UBF heritage. Leaving out the heritage is a good thing to me, but replacing the heritage with “faith, hope and love” falls flat.

Where is Epaphras? I find a highly relevant point in the man named Epaphras. He started the Colosse church correct? Not Paul? Yet Paul accepts Epaphras and has no indication of competition of ministry or of being separated because Epaphras was in a different “denomination.” I think there is a big application here somewhere.

Vague reference to struggles. “Likewise, this is our present reality. There is a spiritual battle amongst us.”   “There is a spiritual battle going on among us. And yet, this same gospel is our weapon against Satan’s lies and deceptions.” Why these vague references? This invokes fear in the audience, especially if they don’t feel such a battle going on. This kind of thinking is bordering on spiritual abuse because fear and uncertainty are planted.

Patronizing UBF people. The one real-life illustration in this message is predictably that of a UBF leader. Are there no other examples of living faith? Why do UBF messengers always look inside the ministry? “…When I listened to Dr. Samuel H Lee’s testimony a few weeks ago (before his return to Africa as a missionary with his wife Anna) and how he sought to grow in the fullness of Christ, I realized that even at the age of 70, he was still bearing amazing fruit as a result of the gospel in him.” This might be very confusing to newer or younger people in the audience. Do they know the difference between Samuel H Lee and Samuel C. Lee? or what about Samuel A. Lee?

Leaving out belief. Using a commentary is good. Relying on a single quote by Matthew Henry is not so good. “Knowing the will of God is a very personal and intimate moment between ourselves and God. It is assuring and emboldening when God’s will becomes clear to us and we have a sense of clear direction. After all, we must know it in order to do it.” Matthew Henry has a lot of helpful insight. But this one missed the mark in my opinion. What is more important than knowing? I say believing is more important. Why do people buy something or commit to something? It is because they believe in it. Paint a picture that people can believe in, then they will seek to know and do. I think this is at the heart of my rating for this message.

So close and yet so far.  The messenger shares his struggle honestly. That’s good. “In one message I was listening to, the speaker talked about the messiness of life and finding herself in these moments of not knowing, of brokenness, of fear. And with every word, it was clear that different people in the audience could relate to a certain kind of messiness. And so could I. As I thought about this real challenge to knowing the will of God, and myself often battling states of not knowing, I found it hard to resolve this issue with the unknown.” Then he laments in the very next sentence: “So I was at a loss of what to say in this message.”  What? At a loss? The messenger just alluded to a heart-moving story about a woman who was talking about something amazing. It sounds rather amazing, but why doesn’t the messenger share it with us? Why not share what you listened to? If it moved you (and it seems it did) why not share that? A messenger must learn how to pull the heartstrings from time to time. Sharing this tearful example might have added another star to my rating.

CONCLUSION:

The honest, earnest struggle of the messenger comes across loud and clear in this message. In that respect, this message is better than most Toledo UBF messages. But I’m left grasping the air after reading this message. I cannot consider this message that of a preacher. And in spite of a good attempt to modify the UBF-standard for messages, this message leaves me wondering the same question the message started with: Why Colossians?

RATING:

2 stars – This message is an honest attempt, and almost gets a 3 star rating. But in he end this message fails to invoke belief in the gospel of Jesus in any meaningful way. Is the gospel growing and bearing fruit? I can’t tell. This message comes across as a dead plant. In fact, the messenger almost sounds envious of the gospel growing and bearing fruit elsewhere, and wishes he could be part of that. The good news is that he could be!

The standard rating system applies to my stars. But I think this is too boring. So I’m going to spruce things up a little.

My 5 Star Rating System

1 star – monkey (flawed, confusing, disheartening)

This messenger doesn’t know what he or she is doing. They have major flaws in their understanding of the material they are presenting. They don’t speak or write well. Typically this kind of messenger is just putting on a show, trying to perform. These messages are just lectures giving information. This messenger has a lot of learning to do and really shouldn’t be in the pulpit.

2 stars – robot (structured, predictable, uninspiring)

This messenger tries to follow some sort of prescribed formula for deliving a message. They often share a message that stifles the audience. They may state the gospel but don’t know how to reveal or articulate the gospel of Jesus. The message may inspire the messenger to a degree, but the message falls flat for most of the audience. This messenger usually has potential to become a preacher, but falls short of preaching a sermon.

3 stars – speaker (hopeful, heart-moving, lively)

This messenger knows how to speak to people and how to move them. He or she speaks to people’s hearts as well as their minds. Although the gospel of Jesus may be hidden or not well articulated at times by this messenger, he or she knows how to inspire hope. This kind of message is rarely boring and offers a richness that should be the norm for any preacher. This messenger has had some good training. He or she often shares a sermon but may be prone to just deliver a message.

4 stars – preacher (inspiring, Christ-centric)

This messenger understands how to reveal the gospel of Jesus, as opposed to merely stating the gospel. He or she articulates the gospel themes and uses the gospel principles correctly. This messenger delivers a sermon that deeply moves people toward Christ. This messenger is a highly skilled wordsmith who could easily earn a living as a preacher.

5 stars – Spurgeon (vulnerable, humorous, inspiring, Christ-centric)

The 5 star rating is reserved for those rare gems that reveal the gospel like a Mozart symphony. This is a messenger who shares a sermon with the vibrant life of a Handel chorus. The bar for this rating is the 2013 Global Leadership Summit sermons by Andy Stanley and Chris Brown, both of which get 5 stars. This is a sermon that speaks to the soul on a deep level.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The first noticeable characteristic of this message is that it is in the standard ubf-style format called the “Look at verse” format. The message content is chopped up by seven “look at verse” statements. This makes it difficult for listeners of the message to comprehend the message because the mind is not allowed to formulate thoughts or to connect the points. The listeners of a “look at verse” style message generally hear the final thought or cling to something that caught their interest along the way. I find it rather difficult to review a “look at verse” style message because the message seems to fly off the page randomnly. This kind of message always lacks a cohesiveness of thought that feels like a rabbit hopping through tall grass.

TITLE AND SCRIPTURE:

“Treasure in Jars of Clay”
2 Corinthians 4:1-18

MESSAGE CONTENT:

Odd movie reference. The message begins with an odd reference to the movie “National Treasure”. It is mentioned that the character in the movie “had to steal the Declaration to find the map.” The character’s justifcation for this theft is then turned into the main point of this message, teaching us what God does with treasure: “He places it in jars of clay to give to the world.” I find this confusing at best, and highly troubling at worst. Why mention the theft in a movie and tie that to God’s treasure? This doesn’t make any sense and immediately turns me off to this message.

Universal calling. The messenger soon presents us with the standard ubf dilema: Someone out there is tempting us to disobey our mission from God: “…In C.S. Lewis book, “The Screwtape Letters,” we see the various ways in which Satan and his subordinates tempt Christians to not get from point A in their life to point B. We must all watch out for this.” Then the universal calling answer is given as the solution for this dilema: “…So what do we do? We overcome the veil Satan has put over unbelievers minds. God calls us to preach.” Is a calling to preach the only answer? Is the messenger’s dilema real for all of us? What if I don’t preach?

Technically correct. In part II, we find a definition of “God’s treasure”. The definition given by the messenger is that the treasure here is 1) the gospel and 2) the face of Christ and 3) the power of the gospel. I would consider this to be technically correct but articulated in a choppy manner.

Death march. Part III takes us on an unusual turn, probably because of 2 Corinthians 4:8-12. “…in order for this treasure to have impact we have to carry around something else within us. That is the death of Jesus…. To carry in our body the death of Jesus, means to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily and follow him. But this is not as unusual or difficult as we may think. …As we carry the gospel, we carry the death of Jesus, so that his life may be revealed in others. We all are carrying the death of Jesus, ahd the treasure of the gospel according to our unique gifts and abilities. …Remember the old sayings, “no pain, no gain”, and “no suffering, no crown.” In a sense our suffering of this present time are like paying 1,000 dollars on earth for a ten billion dollar mansion in heaven.”

CONCLUSION:

Keep on keeping on even if you are broken. “In conclusion, we look to the invisible God who gives to us a priceless treasure, salvation from sin and death, and the ministry of carrying this priceless treasure to the world in our jars of clay whether we are strong or a cracked pot.”

God values you..almost. “God values us as jars of clay. However, he does this to show that the all surpassing power of the gospel is from him and not from us.”

Be filled with death but keep smiling. “But how can we accomplish this great task? It is by carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will appear in those we are helping. This does not mean we don’t have joy in this world. There are many joys, a wedding, a newborn baby, a new semester for students – I think. There are the joys of spending time with those we love and who love us. But the greatest joy perhaps, is that when as servants we carry the death of Jesus in our body, the life of Jesus will appear in others.”

Be confident and excited! “We will see a new conscience, the veil lifted, and new light of Christ in others. As I worked on this message, I was able see more of the glorious face of Christ. So I am joyful and excited about this. Are you? What a great treasure we carry to the world! Amen.”

RATING:

2 Stars – This message has quite a few technically correct statements, but like a dry, dusty, broken pot, the message fails to reveal Jesus or His gospel or move me in a meaningful way. That is highly unfortunate because there is an amazing story to be told about how God uses broken pottery.

Section II – Behavioral slogans the UBF lifestyle
8. House churches (arranged marriage and pioneering)
9. One to one Bible study (weekly individual meeting to answer Bible questions)
10. Disciple-making ministry (surrendering life events and life decisions)
11. Daily Bread (daily devotional meeting)
12. Testimony writing & sharing (weekly group sharing meeting)

The picture above is my visualization of the UBF heritage ideology as it was presented to me. At first it looked glorious! Then after 24 years, the image had degraded into the dark image below. Note how each of the images is connected to each other (i.e. notice the glorious flags above and how they become black flags below).

The link for downloading an invitation to the ISBC is here:

http://www.solovedconference.org/information.htm#Media

Here is the invitation card text, with my notes in italics…

“The world we live in is full of hatred, conflict and strife.
–Yea..but the world is not so bad. This is meant to depress you a little so you’ll be more amazed when ubf becomes your savior.

What we all need is love, forgiveness and peace.
–really? You know what I need? I need justice and grace and truth.

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
–obligatory bible text insert

John chapters 13-17 are Jesus’ last discourse with his disciples.
–yes but you won’t hear about the critical culmination of this discourse, John 17 because it is being skipped!

He shared with them the foremost desire of his heart: It was love.
–Yea and Jesus also said some words about God getting all glory and authority..oh wait ubf is skipping that part…

Jesus loved his disciples and commanded them to love one another and to create a love community in the world (Jn 13:34). So he sent them into the world with his message of love (Jn 20:21). Since then, Jesus has been transforming the world with God’s love.
–…through ubf right?

Jesus invites you to have a love relationship with God, to be a part of his love community, and to serve the world with God’s love.
–Sure, but this is about ubf inviting you to be part of the ubf community for the rest of your life.

Please join the 2013 International Bible Conference with brothers and sisters from over 90 nations in the worldwide community of love.
–uh..make that just the ubf community because outsiders are not welcome!

Let’s receive God’s love newly and renew Jesus’ vision to transform the world.
–this is code word for “Let’s re-commit to ubf ministry and work harder than lazy wicked Christians!

Let’s learn how to serve the world together with God’s love and vision.
–more code words for “let’s all be ubf missionaries”…but hey guess what? No one needs to attend the conference because you just learned everything that will be taught at the conference. There literally won’t be any new revelation. You just heard the summation of the 4 days.

Teaching loyalty to children and women, how it was done in the past:

Here is the ubf business mission report from France.

Quotes about France UBF

On April 14, Paris UBF had a special worship service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of LIKE (an accessories company), established and headed by M. Rebecca Choi.

Dr. Marc challenged us to come to the cross of Jesus in order to receive healing. He also pointed out that as disciples of Jesus we have so many spiritual riches to gain and also some human riches, like brothers and sisters in Christ; we are definitely not losers!

After making a good profit in the first year, Dr. Marc Choi used all this money to buy the present center in the heart of Paris. Still God continued to bless them. God has used this company also to grant proper jobs for missionaries. Not least of all, being a businesswoman also earns M. Rebecca respect among tough French students. Although the present economic situation doesn’t seem inspiring, Dr. Marc and Rebecca Choi have a vision that God may use LIKE to support 100 missionaries to Africa.

Two ubf networks

Some ubfers may not understand what I’m talking about. To such people I would suggest doing some asking and researching. You should be able to find out that there are two UBFs. 1) a business mission, corporate UBF and 2) a Christian-like bible study UBF.

I explained some before about ubf business mission. France ubf is being held up as so exemplary because they actually succeeded in making a profit. Most ubf attempts at business mission end in failure.

This business mission is rampant in Europe but not so much in America.

1. SALVATION
UBF seems to teach their people that salvation and righteousness is by works and can be lost if the Shepherd is disobeyed. Eternal salvation also seems to depend on leadership approval and some are kept in constant doubt of theirs. There even seems to be the thought that no one outside of UBF is saved. How can anyone who knows the Bible believe any of this? Eph. 2:9 says “Not of works last any man should boast.” In John 10:28 Jesus said “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

2. THE GREAT COMMISSION
UBF seems to believe that this is the highest command of God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love one another. Additionally, the Great Commission also includes water baptism (Matthew 28:19), to which UBF gives little emphasis. How can you obey half of Jesus’s command and thumb your nose at the second part?

3. HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit seems to be given little emphasis and takes second place to UBF leadership commands (human dictates). This leaves no room for the leading of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. For example, Missionary appointments are by the organization and not dependent upon the call of God. How can anyone who knows the Scripture leave out the work of the third person of the Trinity in their life or the lives of their members? You might want to do some Biblical research on just what the role of the Holy Spirit is in our lives.

4. ORDINANCES
Jesus instituted the ordinances of Water Baptism and Communion (The Lord’s Supper). In fact, he commanded them. How can you just ignore Jesus’s commands and neither teach nor practice them except on rare occasion?

5. SHEPHERDING
Shepherding seems to be a fulcrum of UBF teaching. This practice is not taught in Scripture and leads to abuse and excessive leadership control. In fact, the originators of the shepherding movement (not UBF) have renounced it as a mistake and apologized for their part in it? Why would you want to be a part of an organization that is so caught up in this misguided practice?

6. TESTIMONIES
Testimonies are wonderful but what is the reason for asking people to share sins of which “they need to repent?” It is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to convict of sin, not man’s. Repentance is a personal action between ones self and God, not with an added “father confessor.” Why would you want to participant in an activity In which man attempts to usurp the Holy Spirit’s role?

7. DATING
Dating seems to be looked upon as sin and members are highly discouraged from having any romantic relationships. Why would you want to promote this since it’s not Biblical (read Song of Solomon and the book of Ruth)? Additionally, God made young men and women to be attracted to each other. Why would you want to take something beautiful that God made and condemn it?

8.ARRANGED MARRIAGES
Without getting into details, this is utter nonsense. We live in America, not some other country that still practices arranged marriages. Isaac and Rebekah’s arranged marriage was a special circumstance and has nothing to do with God’s direction for today. How could anyone support such a nonsensical practice that is far from Biblical?

9. DICTATORIAL TACTICS/ DOMINATION OF TIME
There’s a lot that could be said about how UBF uses guilt, authoritarianism and compulsion to control the lives of their members and gradually takes more and more of their time until UBF is the only thing that’s important. How can you sanction using these practices on young people that are trying to get an education and prepare for the future? Do you think God is pleased with this?

10. NEGLECT OF FAMILY DUTIES
UBF has a history of pressing their married members to the point where they neglect their children. There are documented cases of local authorities being notified of parental neglect by UBF parents. How could you be a part of an organization that would so dominate their members as to push them to such non-Christian actions? Do you think God is pleased with this?

11. INTERACTION WITH OTHER CHURCHES
The Bible teaches that His family should not isolate themselves from other Christians yet UBF tries to avoid contact and cooperation with other churches or ministries. You might ask yourself “is there something they are afraid of?” Do you really believe that UBFers are the only ones going to heaven?

12. EXIT STRATEGY
Just one question here: How could you feel good about being a part of an organization that uses threats, fear and intimidation to keep members from leaving. This isn’t exactly the approach the Bible teaches.

13. FINANCIALS
There seems to have been no supervision or control over finances in the past so members didn’t know anything about how much money the organization had or how it used it. How could anyone be expected to support an organization that is so secretive and is not accountable to the people that contribute? Again, not what the Bible teaches.

14. THE BLUE BOOK
Do you have a “blue book” from the 50th Anniversary Missionary/Shepherd Seminar in Korea? If so, are you comfortable with what it says and what’s going to be expected of you over the next 50 years?

I gave this presentation at a ubf national staff conference, even though I was added to the interest group (panel) presenters without my knowledge. Surprisingly this presentation started to generate some good discussion. Many people raised their hands with questions. But the moderator cut off the presentation after 5 minutes, quickly moving on, ignoring the many people who wanted to discuss this.

ubfriends PowerPoint presentation at a ubf staff conference in America

You might be in a cult if…

…your leaders decide to kill of two of the most promising and healthy programs in your ministry.

…your leaders continue to ignore the voices of sound Christian men and women in your group.

…your leadership is always engaged in a godfather-like struggle for power.

…your organization resembles a business.

…your leaders make claims indicating tragic events are examples of God’s anger.

…your leaders continually live in denial of real pain and hurt.

…your leaders repeatedly marginalize those who follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

…you aren’t sure who is in charge.

…your group’s missionaries implant their own culture in every country they go to.

…your group’s missionaries lord over their authority in life-long shepherd/sheep bonds.

…numerous former members report trauma triggers and panic attacks.

…your organization’s mission statement doesn’t mention Jesus.

[Note: The ubf 50th anniversary mission statement was re-written and did not mention Jesus. The link was removed from the ubf.org website, but remains on the Korean websites.]

Defining Spiritual Abuse

“abuse” means multiple things, but the definition from Merriam-Webster that fits is this: improper or excessive use or treatment, as in drug abuse. “spiritual” means relating to the spirit and more specifically the bible in this case. So “spiritual abuse” in my mind is: An improper and/or excessive use of the bible as treatment for the problems of a person.

Discover your primary Values

What do we value? Our value system will determine a lot about how much control someone can have in our life. And the value system of the church you are in will determine how much leeway there is for spiritual abuse to happen. In the ubf context, the “spiritual abuse” is expressed through authoritative control. The Hasaan BITE model explains the four areas where the control is exhibited, usually involving bible verses: behavior, information, thoughts and emotions.

The prime values of ubf are typically expressed as loyalty, obedience, submission and mission (which is ambition often). More specifically, I’ve identified the following values of many ubf directors:

• Etiquette – Learn the proper ubf rituals and learn to speak the ubf language.
• Filial piety – Respect and obey your shepherd and be thankful to your new spiritual family for your entire life.
• Benevolence – Be gracious always to all people with no negative words.
• Loyalty – Be loyal to your leadership.
• Nobility – Be the best and elite soldiers of Christianity.

These values are then bound to bible verses and used to conform ubf members to an ideal standard called “shepherd”. Non-conformance to this identity or to those values is dealt with through special training to bring people back inline.

Be cautious of a “New identity”

Our new pastor explained that while the “shepherd” concept in ubf is perhaps one expression of Christian identity, it is not your specific Christian identity. The spiritual abuse in ubf is most easily seen by realizing that the ubf ideology is meant to instill one specific Christian identity on all people, ignoring what God may have uniquely designed for that person.

Respect personal boundaries

From Dr. Henry Cloud, I also learned that one way to identify this invisible abuse is to realize personal boundaries. Our emotions tell us when those personal boundaries have been intruded upon. Anger, for one, tells me that something contradictory to my idea of justice has been violated. Whether I am right or wrong about that would need to be investigated, but at least I can start to identify the contradiction.

What is your definition of “spiritual abuse”?

No Hidden Agendas

3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.

6-8 Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.

9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.

(Source)

Well, due to the power of the internet and digital media, I can now access over 50 newspaper articles about UBF. So far all of them claim that UBF is a cult based on excessive control of young people’s lives.

Having just resigned as Director of Detroit UBF in 2011 out of protest for cult-like behavior, I would say I have to agree with every cult assessment of UBF. Here are three samples.

Sunday Free Press
Winnepeg, Canada
10/6/1985
Pages 1, 17
“Cult fears raised”

A Korean-based group whose activities are being monitored by U.S. cult-watchers has been recruiting in Winnipeg for more than two years, a former member says. The University Bible Fellowship uses high-pressure recruiting tactics, alienates members from their family, and uses forms of thought-control during prayer meetings at a Sherbrook Street house, says [name removed], 20, who was a member of the group for about five months.

“I don’t like their tactics,” he said. “They come on hard, really hard. We were almost wondering if this was a kind of Moonie thing.”

[name removed] said daily scriptural readings and Sunday worship services— where some recruits make large financial donations — are held at the Sherbrook Street house. He said the missionaries are highly motivated.

“They really believe they’re the servants of God. Its just their methods that are very cult-like. They turn you against your parents Families just don’t understand.

“They try to turn you into evangelists. They prey on the weak-minded. “It’s definitely a form of brainwashing.”

The Capital Times
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
6/17/1988
Pages 23, 27
“UW student felt suffocated by Bible group”

University Bible Fellowship found him at a weak moment and tried to take over his life.

He was walking down University Avenue, having just broken up with his longtime girlfriend, and “I was sort of lost. I wanted to feel steady and calm.” Group members urged him to visit their center, which he later did. Though initially skeptical — “I had a lot of gripes about it because they equated service to God with UBF” — he soon found comfort in Bible study sessions and other activities. He extolled the group’s virtues to friends and family…

As his involvement deepened, though, University Bible Fellowship started to feel suffocating. Fellowship leader [name removed] made increasing demands on his time, he says; rather than feeling a sense of belonging, he just felt isolated from the outside world.

Brandon Sunday
Winnipeg, Canada
6/3/1990
Page 5
“Bible fellowship battling cult label”

Is it a cult or is it a cultural misunderstanding? Some educators say the University Bible Fellowship lures impressionable students into a mind-controlling cult and is not welcome on campus. But the fellowship — which has many missionaries of Korean descent — blames its troubles on cultural misunderstandings and conflicting religious beliefs.

Gord Gillespie of the Manitoba Cult Awareness Centre says students are generally approached by two people, who ask if they are missing something in their lives. They are then invited to join a Bible study group.

“They deal with the orthodox Bible but they twist it,” he told the Winnipeg Sun, which ran the stories of some former members of the fellowship earlier this spring. They want control. “They try to rule out TV, reading newspapers. They want them to reject family and friends.”

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

1 John 3:20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Yet ubf directors deem it necessary to SKIP some of the most critical teachings that would be most helpful to their staff. Instead, they continue to emphasize that your ONLY calling is to be a bible teacher. The titles of the two 1 John lectures say it all.

“Our Fellowship” (or UBF IS GREAT)

The staff conference lectures starting tomorrow will proclaim yet again the importance of OUR FELLOWSHIP, how ubf is the BEST WAYS of eternal life coming directly from God and established eons ago as God’s ways. Probably ubf will claim that Adam had 1:1 with Eve :)

“He will Forgive us” (or FORGET THE PAST)

The staff conference lectures will also attempt to re-enforce the forgiveness of God. The focus will actually be on “forgetting” rather than “forgiving”. The idea emphasized yet again will be that God forgave ubf all their sins in the past, so we should not talk about the sins of the past any more, because they are not sins anymore. The line of thought goes like this: Any abuse or criticism against ubf should be fogotten because Jesus “paid it all” on the cross.

The real titles ought to be something like “GOD IS LIGHT” and “LET’S CONFESS OUR SINS”.

Why in the world would you study 1 John 1 and SKIP the best parts? Why would you skip verses 5, 6 and 10!?!

1 John 1 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

That is what the upcoming ubf staff conference will be doing.

My Version of the Program

Here is what I hear from the staff conference program:

1. Since the beginning of time our UBF fellowship, which we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears, has been God’s witness of the work of God. We want everyone to have fellowship with us and participate in God’s best ways for eternal life, which are UBF ways. Oh and by the way, notice how the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in 1 John 1:3, so see, it is proper to have a gnostic/binary view of God. Our fellowship in UBF is only with the Father and the Son. You don’t need to listen to the Holy Spirit. We are the directors of your life.
2. By doing UBF work, you will be filled with the fullness of God.
3. Even though we ignore the suffering and questions of sheep, former members and anyone who is critical of us, God will still forgive us.
4. None of that matters though. Just keep decreeing, obeying and teaching the bible as God’s marine soldiers like Ezra did.

May we never forget…

In memory…

Why do ubf shepherds continually rejoice at the fellowship table while “sheep” feel the pain of excessive manipulation and control of their lives?

Mark 7:28 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Why do ubf shepherds continue to encourage people to leave the ministry when they have problems or voice concerns?

Jeremiah 23:1-2 1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 34:1-10 1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. 7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

The marriage decision is one of the most critical decisions you will make in your youth. Some say it is the single most important decision. In my experience, it is the most impactful and deciding factor for the rest of your life: 50, 60, 70 years ahead. So I would plead with you to pause and pray, and ask many, many questions. Do you really want to go through the “marriage by faith” process in ubf?

Marriage By Faith Secrets

Ok, so you’ve made the decision: you will go through MbF. Probably, like me, you feel this is your only option as a shepherd in ubf. It’s not, but that is how you feel you can best glorify and honor God. So let’s make this process as smooth and pain-free as possible. Here are some facts to understand and my advice based on my own experience. I found that these things made the ho-hum ubf live far more exciting. On one hand you are stuck in UBF, but on the other hand you are stuck in UBF ;)

1. MbF is the “holy grail” of Korean missionaries. As a young man, you really want to get married. But did you realize your shepherd wants you to get married way more than you do? If you successfully pass MbF, your shepherd will gain much honor and prestige. Use that to your advantage. NOTE: Koreans have a loud bark, yes. But they are not really “marines of Christianity”. You can push them. They are more like marshmallows. But be wise in how you push. You will need more cunning, more prayer and more wisdom to pull off a successful MbF than anything you’ve done in your life.

2. Go on holy dates. You already attend so many meetings right? Well use each Friday meeting as a “holy date”. You won’t be able to talk to any woman, that would kill your chances of MbF. But while you are sitting in your chair, imagine you are already married to one of the single women there. Try out different women, dating them virtually in your mind. Pay attention to their testimony and see if they seem like someone you like. Of course, if your chapter doesn’t have mixed Friday meetings (with men and women), you’ll have to be more creative, like going on holy dates during Sunday service. If you already have met a girl in UBF and she likes you, then you’re in luck. You can both go on a holy date together (but be certain never to talk to each other or even look at each other during the meeting).

3. Do 5:30 AM Daily Bread before beginning the conversation. Suck it up and do Daily Bread for three weeks straight. Then ask for a meeting with your shepherd to talk about marriage. At that meeting, don’t talk about yourself, focus the discussion on your shepherd’s marriage. Normally he will want to share how beautiful his MbF process was. Be sure to express how much you want to glorify God like he did.

4. Use reverse psychology. After a few years of holy dating, you probably have a good idea of who you would like to marry. Hopefully you have had a chance to indicate this to the girl, but that is not necessary. In MbF, you get to choose your wife as “the man”. But your marriage will be far better off if you can be friends with the girl and get some indication if she likes you too. So what do you do? BY NO MEANS do you ever, ever ask to marry a specific girl. That is cause for dead-dog training and possibly a two year delay in the MbF process. So you use reverse psychology. Come up with a prayer topic that is general, but would open the way for the girl you like to be your “chosen one”. For example, if you are filled with Russian mission vision, pray something like this: “I will marry any UBF shepherdess who has Russian mission vision.” Share that for three weeks in a row after initiating the MbF conversation with your shepherd. BY NO MEANS do you share this prayer topic before meeting with your shepherd. That is also cause for a 6 month or 1 year delay in your MbF. There is an added bonus by sharing such a prayer topic: you might find a girl who likes you this way. If some sister hears that you want to be a missionary to Russia, she might suddenly start talking about Russia a lot in her testimonies :)

More secrets, tips and tricks to come… feel free to comment here. This is an open mic and I will never reveal your identity.

How can a person who claims to be a Christian pastor routinely mention urine and feces in his Sunday messages and Bible studies?

Here is an excerpt from a January 2013 “message” from a UBF “pastor”. How can a Christian have such a horrible, messed up view of people and life? Please pray for him. He needs help. And he needs to step away from any kind of ministry  or leadership.

“In a sense, this life is like electrical poles.  A dog watches electrical poles everywhere. All he sees is dried tall trees which never blossom and show no beauty or demonstrate little practical value –except he occasionally uses it for his urgent business on the street. In contrast, this dog thinks that at least he does some important work for his boss. So this perplexed dog wanders why people do not get rid of all these useless electrical poles. Of course, this dog does not know anything about the continuous flows of electricity through these poles. How much these poles enrich the lives of people in so many ways.  Here is a lesson for us! Without lifting out eyes up, we cannot see God.  All we see is the senseless and dry reality of this life.  We wonder why God does not remove all the seemingly visible obstacles in this life. But God is there. His power still flows into this world. Amazingly, God still shows enough of his miracles in different ways.  Through miracles we open our eyes and see God beyond dry and mundane life’s reality. “

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Truman Show. It tells the story rather well of how I lived in UBF, and how I escaped. Truman’s reality check with his father is especially meaningful to me.

How did I escape the bonds of UBF shepherding? I pushed the limits. Just as Truman rode his boat to the end of the massive movie set, through the director’s storm, I pushed UBF to its ideology limits. I defended UBF vehemently. I climbed the UBF ladder to its top, jumping through every hoop the ideology presented, becoming a Director myself. At the top of the UBF ideology I found there was nothing left. The UBF heritage had no plan for my continuing life as a disciple of Jesus.

At that point, like Truman, I simply said, “Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!” and walked off the set of “The KOPHN Show”.

UBF directors don’t speak directly. They speak indirectly via Bible lectures. If you speak up or ask a question about a taboo topic, expect to be mentioned in the next Sunday message. Of course the wording is always subtle enough that an outsider wouldn’t think twice about it.

In the 2013 New Year’s lecture from the UBF General Director, he answers my two questions about what I see are the two biggest problems of UBF.

Source: http://www.ubf.org/node/1505

1. Will the UBF General Director admit that the UBF shepherding has created an environment where many kinds of abuse have happened? The answer is no. In UBF, God only keeps smiling down on UBF shepherds, apparently so pleased with their beautiful ministry. Yes, he admits some (many actually) have left UBF, but he only mentions how thankful all people will be to UBF shepherds. And he has the gall to say such people were “sent” by UBF.

>>> NOTE TO STUDENTS: When a UBF shepherd invites you to a one hour Bible study on campus, that shepherd is expecting you to be grateful to him/her not only for the rest of your life, but for all eternity, according to the 2013 new year lecture:

“What is the inmost heart of God? It is to seek and to save the lost. World mission is God’s heart-beat. Think about God’s sorrow when Christians do little to rescue the perishing people. Think about how God is pleased and comforted when he sees us diligently inviting students and teaching them the gospel. Our one-to-one Bible study is a very powerful tool of evangelism. Therefore most of those who studied in UBF become Christians. When Bible students leave, shepherds are sorrowful. But there are cheers of the angels in heaven on behalf of our shepherds. The Lord will say, “Well done, my faithful servants. You added many members to the family of God.” When we enter the kingdom of God, we will be surprised at so many people coming to us to say “Thank you! Thank you!” Who will they be? They are those who met Christ through UBF Bible studies and all of those who were saved through their ministries. When we serve God’s purpose with a big perspective, we can joyfully serve one-to-one ministry. As we do so, God will raise more disciples who will keep the beauty of our ministries and serve God’s purpose for his whole church.”

2. Will the UBF General Director put an end to the lording-over, absolute authority structure setup in UBF? The answer is no. In UBF, God is so pleased with a military-style leadership. Apparently UBF is the best of the best Christians, fighting like marines.

>>> NOTE TO STUDENTS: UBF is indeed a military-like organization, though it may not appear that way at first. Ask too many questions and you’ll end up with a form of dead-dog training, soldier style. Try going to another church and you’ll be lambasted with taunts of acting like Satan. Reject a marriage by faith arrangement…well I wouldn’t want to find that out:

“In the church, each member has its unique role and position within the whole as God assigned. What is our role as an organization in God’s church? We are Jesus’ disciples who are committed to world campus mission. If we compare the whole church to a military, we are the marines that engage in the battle at the frontlines. We diligently go to campuses to invite students, nourish them with the words of God, and send most of them to local churches, though we don’t like the last part. If we see our ministries from an investment-profit concept, we are not doing a good business. But if we see our ministries from God’s point of view, we are doing a beautiful ministry.”

Yes.

Yes.

Proverbs 6:5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

2 Corinthians 7:8-16
The Message (MSG)

8-9 I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

11-13 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.

13-16 And then, when we saw how Titus felt—his exuberance over your response—our joy doubled. It was wonderful to see how revived and refreshed he was by everything you did. If I went out on a limb in telling Titus how great I thought you were, you didn’t cut off that limb. As it turned out, I hadn’t exaggerated one bit. Titus saw for himself that everything I had said about you was true. He can’t quit talking about it, going over again and again the story of your prompt obedience, and the dignity and sensitivity of your hospitality. He was quite overwhelmed by it all! And I couldn’t be more pleased—I’m so confident and proud of you.

Thanks to Chris who pointed this out. Sometimes as a former member of UBF I feel like Gandalf trying to warn Saruman.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/12/06/hobbit-exclusive-clip-gandalf-warns-saruman-of-a-powerful-evil/

Receiving two threats via a Christmas card and a voicemail this December make me feel like this.

…while you discuss this invasion in a committee.

The illusion never turned into something real.

When you leave UBF, remember that your UBF shepherds no longer have dictator-style control over your life. You don’t have to obey anything they say. They are just people you used to know…

I admit my blog has been hard-hitting numerous times this year. Still, the statistics from Google Analytics demonstrate significant interest in my articles.  For example, from 1/1/2012 to 12/22/2012, approximately 2,900 visitors viewed approximately 3 pages each visit, spending about 5 minutes per visit on this blog. About 50% of these were repeat visitors from 2011, which means 50% were new visitors.

My purpose here is varied. But my purpose in writing articles here have never been to get anyone to agree with me. Nor is my purpose to convince anyone to leave or stay in UBF ministry. My purpose is to spark conversation about topics that have traditionally been taboo in UBF circles and to be a resource for any former member or outside party who has questions about UBF. Primarily however, my purpose is for myself– to document my story of recovery from UBF without losing my faith.

Here is a list of cities having at least 10 unique visitors this year, along with how many pages on average and how many minutes on average the people spent here.

Thank you to everyone who has read or commented here in 2012. Here’s to a new year in 2013!

*** Note, this table represents only the search engine traffic. For example someone searching for “ubf” and then finding my website. The total numbers are much higher. I am not a Google Analytics expert by any means. But it is safe to say that many people are interested in reading the content here. Even if we divide all the numbers in half, there is a significant interest.

December 19th, 2012

Abraham Kim, General Director & All UBF Directors and members
University Bible Fellowship
Worldwide

Dear UBF Directors,

We are now in the 2012 Advent season, just before Christmas. As I ponder the amazing life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I am moved to share this public letter. Why do I write publicly? The reason is clear: over the past 50 years, many members of UBF and former members of UBF have raised questions, issues, concerns and allegations about the ministry you now oversee. Many attempts have been made to follow Jesus’ direction on handling matters of concern in private. The result has been overwhelming silence, minor changes now and then and an increase in the effort of those who remain in UBF leadership to deny and dismiss the concerns.

So today I write openly, after resigning my position of Director of Detroit UBF in the summer of 2011. I write today in hopes of realizing what my friend James Kim wrote in his open letter in 1994: “I wanted to build a better UBF.”

I’d like to begin by drawing your attention to the meaning of Advent, some prior open letters sent to UBF leadership, and to share with you some numbers.

Advent Season

In the spirit of Advent, I write to you today. There are two heart postures of Advent: holy dissatisfaction and hopeful anticipation. These heart attitudes also have two corresponding practices: repentance and meditation. I write to you today both with holy discontent and hopeful anticipation, and after my own repentance and meditation.

Advent’s Holy Discontent – Repentance of:
Apathy
Indifference
Distance
Sin

Advent’s Hopeful Anticipation – Meditation on:
Jesus’ Second Coming
Jesus’ birth
Jesus in our lives

Prior Open Letters

There have been many open letters to UBF directors. Here are a few.

In 1976, some senior Korean leaders in UBF wrote their open letter:
http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/1976-open-letter/

In 2007, a former Korean leader in UBF wrote an open letter:
http://rsqubf.livejournal.com/123416.html?thread=625432

In 2011, a current American UBF leader in UBF wrote an open letter:
http://www.ubfriends.org/2011/02/02/questions-for-the-next-general-director/

Numbers

First of all I would like to point out 3 positive events that have occurred in the past 2 years since I left UBF. “The Well” ministry has made significant improvements to the traditional UBF ministry. I fully support this initiative. “Westloop Church” has become what I call “redeemed UBF”. I have worshiped with them and visited three times recently. “The Ethics Committee” work with John Armstrong has been an extraordinary step in the right direction. Listening to Mr. Armstrong and connecting with the larger body of Christ is essential for any ministry to be healthy.

Even though UBF ministry has taken those three steps forward, I want to point out the huge load of burden that UBF carries. In total, there are at least 11,153 reasons for concern. I would like for you to notice the following:

159 – There are 159 testimonies of pain, sorrow, agony and abuse written by former UBF members and published on this blog: http://exubf.blogspot.com/ These testimonies have been published already for many years. They form the primary public record of UBF.

13 – Since I left UBF, there have been 13 UBF leaders (fellowship leaders or director level) who have reached out to me to share their concerns and issues with UBF ministry.

103 – I counted up all the people who had left Toledo UBF (my prior UBF chapter where I spent 16 years as a member and fellowship leader). If you count men, women and children, 103 people left Toledo UBF with a problematic departure over the course of 21 years, from 1990 to 2011. I know all of them. Many are still friends with me. None of them left on good terms, though some have since reconciled at least partially. Some won’t discuss UBF any longer. Others have written UBF ministry out of their life story because of the pain.

5,269 – According to Google Analytics, there have been 5,269 “unique visitors” on my priestlynation.com blog over the past 1 and half years. This means 5,269 unique computing devices viewed at least one page on my blog. It is safe to say that several thousand people from around the world are interested in reading my criticism of UBF minsitry. The top 10 countries of people reading my blog are from the countries with the largest UBF chapters, such as the USA, Germany, Canada and South Korea.

220 – So far, I have published over 200 articles on this blog, priestlynation.com. I have shared my personal journey as I left UBF, my thoughts on what could be changed, and various thoughts that came to mind as I struggled to make sense of my 24 years in UBF ministry.

503 – Not only are a lot of people interested in reading my articles, the content generated over 500 comments. Several people are very interested in discussing the issues and topics I raise here.

206 – My blog is not the only public discussion website. The ubfriends.org website published over 200 articles as well. That website is far more friendly to UBF and presents more robust articles than mine.

4,680 – The 206 articles on ubfriends.org invoked over 4,000 comments. Many of those commenting are current UBF members and leaders. This is evidence that the topics covered on that website are highly important to UBF members, many of whom are willing to openly discuss the topics.

Two Demands

In light of my own struggle with leaving UBF ministry and the mountain of evidence above, I submit the two demands below to you for UBF ministry. I have given much thought and prayer to this. I have read all of the evidence above for myself. For many years now, I have been discussing UBF matters with dozens of former and current UBF members from places such as the USA, Germany, Russia, China and Ukraine. I have had well over 3,000 email conversations regarding problems, abuses, issues and changes. I have had in-person meetings and discussions with John Armstrong. I have read several heartbreaking emails from former UBF members who continue to reach out to me– people who are struggling with things like depression, anxiety and the burden of guilt left over from their time in UBF. Several former members are seeking psychological counselling or have considered such counselling. And most importantly, I have discussed these things with my wife.

I have attempted to express my feelings through several songs:
http://www.priestlynation.com/category/lyrics/

If you listen to these songs, or at least read the lyrics from my point of view, you may begin to understand the range of emotions behind this open letter.

I have become convinced the following two issues are at the core of the present “crisis” facing UBF– the crisis of members leaving. I use the word “crisis” because that is what your 50th Anniversary Book describes in the last lecture.

In order to build a better UBF, I submit the following two demands for your consideration as a starting point for the new year.

Demand #1 – Admit abuse.

Publicly and internally end the denial and admit the reality, facing the fact that UBF shepherding has created an environment that has led to many instances of abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, spiritual abuse and emotional abuse.

Demand #2 – Release the bonds.

Publicly and internally announce that all UBF shepherd/sheep relationships are now dissolved– any remaining study relationships are now voluntary, not required of every member, no longer binding for life, secondary to the Holy Spirit’s work, and at the discretion and choice of the “sheep”.

Questions

Can you be healthy spiritually, emotionally and psychologically by ignoring these two demands?
Is the work of God primarily about denial and authority?
Can UBF ministry continue without facing the facts?
Will UBF ministry be effective by continuing to enforce permanent shepherd/sheep relationships?
Might the work of God be done through friendship?

If you are willing to consider these thoughts, I would be happy to meet in public or in private or virtually to discuss my further thoughts on how UBF might find a way to become a healthy Christian ministry. I would welcome your public or private response to this letter.

Sincerely with hope,

Brian Karcher
Former Director of Detroit UBF
UBF member from 1987 to 2011
12/19/2012
http://www.priestlynation.com
http://www.ubfriends.org
http://www.lambheartedlion.org
http://www.justbeingthere.org

Here is mine, which I entitled my “personal gospel mandate”.

Personal gospel mandate. Brian Karcher. November 2012. Scripture sourced from The Message.

1. Embrace humanity. (gospel of peace-Ephesians 6:15)

John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” By embracing my humanity, as weeping Jesus did, peace can be ushered into our lives.

2. Meet Jesus in a profound way by going outside the gate of Christendom. (gospel of salvation-Ephesians 1:13)

Hebrews 13: 13-15 “So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.” By leaving the religious world and befriending sinners, I will be following Jesus’ way of salvation.

3. Proclaim the gospel Jesus proclaimed–freedom, forgiveness and fulfillment. (gospel of grace-Acts 20:24)

Galatians 2:15-16 “We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over “non-Jewish sinners.” We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.” By proclaiming freedom, forgiveness and fulfillment with my words, thoughts, prayers and actions, the grace of God will be able to permeate my life and flow to those around me.

4. Live as a citizen of God’s kingdom showing love toward all people. (gospel of the kingdom-Matthew 24:14)

1 Corinthians 6:5-11 “I say this as bluntly as I can to wake you up to the stupidity of what you’re doing. Is it possible that there isn’t one levelheaded person among you who can make fair decisions when disagreements and disputes come up? I don’t believe it. And here you are taking each other to court before people who don’t even believe in God! How can they render justice if they don’t believe in the God of justice? These court cases are an ugly blot on your community. Wouldn’t it be far better to just take it, to let yourselves be wronged and forget it? All you’re doing is providing fuel for more wrong, more injustice, bringing more hurt to the people of your own spiritual family. Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I’m talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you’ve been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit.” By welcoming sinners with love and purity instead of condemning them about right and wrong actions, the people in my life may be able to find a fresh start in Jesus.

5. Seek the all-surpassing, robust righteousness of God by knowing Jesus. (gospel of Christ’s glory-2 Corinthians 4:4)

(My life keyverse) Philippians 3:7-11 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.” By knowing Jesus Christ, my righteousness will surpass that of the Pharisees, giving me a sure hope to be clothed in Christ’s glory one day.

The first step to any recovery or healing or moving forward is to face the facts of our reality.

17-18 We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”

19-25 Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That’s why it is said, “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” But it’s not just Abraham; it’s also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

Romans 4:17-25, The Message

The Bible teachers demanded “Give glory to God.” The man replied by telling his story of encountering Jesus.

John 9:1-41, The Message

9 ^1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

^3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

^6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

⁸ Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”

⁹ Others said, “It’s him all right!”

But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”

He said, “It’s me, the very one.”

¹⁰ They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”

¹¹ “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”

¹² “So where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

^13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”

Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.

¹⁷ They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

^18-19 The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”

^20-23 His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”)

²⁴ They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”

²⁵ He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”

²⁶ They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”

^28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”

^30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

³⁴ They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”

³⁸ “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”

December 13th, 2012

Abraham Kim, General Director
University Bible Fellowship
Chicago, IL USA

Dear Abraham,

We are now in the 2012 Advent season, just before Christmas. As I ponder the amazing life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I am moved to share this public letter. Why do I write publicly? The reason is clear: over the past 50 years, many members of UBF and former members of UBF have raised questions, issues, concerns and allegations about the ministry you now oversee. Many attempts have been made to follow Jesus’ direction on handling matters of concern in private. The result has been overwhelming silence, minor changes now and then and an increase in the effort of those who remain in UBF leadership to deny and dismiss the concerns.

So today I write openly, after resigning my position of Director of Detroit UBF in the summer of 2011. I write today in hopes of realizing what my friend James Kim wrote in his open letter in 1994: “I wanted to build a better UBF.”

I’d like to begin by drawing your attention to some prior open letters sent to UBF leadership, and to share with you some numbers.

Prior Open Letters

In 1976, some senior Korean leaders in UBF wrote their open letter:

http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/1976-open-letter/

In 2007, a former Korean leader in UBF wrote an open letter:

http://rsqubf.livejournal.com/123416.html?thread=625432

In 2011, a current American UBF leader in UBF wrote an open letter:

http://www.ubfriends.org/2011/02/02/questions-for-the-next-general-director/

Numbers:  11,153 vs 3

First of all I would like to point out 3 positive events that have occurred in the past 2 years since I left UBF. “The Well” ministry has made significant improvements to the traditional UBF ministry. I fully support this initiative. “Westloop Church” has become what I call “redeemed UBF”. I have worshiped with them and visited three times recently. “The Ethics Committee” work with John Armstrong has been an extraordinary step in the right direction. Listening to Mr. Armstrong and connecting with the larger body of Christ is essential for any ministry to be healthy.

Even though UBF ministry has taken those three steps forward, I want to point out the huge load of burden that UBF carries. In total, there are at least 11,153 reasons for concern. I would like for you to notice the following:

159 – There are 159 testimonies of pain, sorrow, agony and abuse written by former UBF members and published on this blog: http://exubf.blogspot.com/  These testimonies have been published already for many years. They form the primary public record of UBF.

13 – Since I left UBF, there have been 13 UBF leaders (fellowship leaders or director level) who have reached out to me to share their concerns and issues with UBF ministry.

103 – I counted up all the people who had left Toledo UBF (my prior UBF chapter where I spent 16 years as a member and fellowship leader). If you count men, women and children, 103 people left Toledo UBF with a problematic departure over the course of 21 years, from 1990 to 2011. I know all of them. Many are still friends with me. None of them left on good terms, though some have since reconciled at least partially. Some won’t discuss UBF any longer. Others have written UBF ministry out of their life story because of the pain.

5,269 – According to Google Analytics, there have been 5,269 “unique visitors” on my priestlynation.com blog over the past 1 and half years. This means 5,269 unique computing devices viewed at least one page on my blog. It is safe to say that several thousand people from around the world are interested in reading my criticism of UBF minsitry. The top 10 countries of people reading my blog are from the countries with the largest UBF chapters, such as the USA, Germany, Canada and South Korea.

220 – So far, I have published over 200 articles on this blog, priestlynation.com. I have shared my personal journey as I left UBF, my thoughts on what could be changed, and various thoughts that came to mind as I struggled to make sense of my 24 years in UBF ministry.

503 – Not only are a lot of people interested in reading my articles, the content generated over 500 comments. Several people are very interested in discussing the issues and topics I raise here.

206 – My blog is not the only public discussion website. The ubfriends.org website published over 200 articles as well. That website is far more friendly to UBF and presents more robust articles than mine.

4,680 – The 206 articles on ubfriends.org invoked over 4,000 comments. Many of those commenting are current UBF members and leaders. This is evidence that the topics covered on that website are highly important to UBF members, many of whom are willing to openly discuss the topics.

Two Demands

In light of my own struggle with leaving UBF ministry and the mountain of evidence above, I submit the two demands below to you for UBF ministry. I have given much thought and prayer to this. I have read all of the evidence above for myself. For many years now, I have been discussing UBF matters with dozens of former and current UBF members from places such as the USA, Germany, Russia, China and Ukraine. I have had well over 3,000 email conversations regarding problems, abuses, issues and changes. I have had in-person meetings and discussions with John Armstrong. I have read several heartbreaking emails from former UBF members who continue to reach out to me– people who are struggling with things like depression, anxiety and the burden of guilt left over from their time in UBF. Several former members are seeking psychological counselling or have considered such counselling. And most importantly, I have discussed these things with my wife.

I have attempted to express my feelings through several songs. If you listen to these songs, or at least read the lyrics from my point of view, you may begin to understand the range of emotions behind this open letter.

I have become convinced the following two issues are at the core of the present “crisis” facing UBF– the crisis of members leaving. I use the word “crisis” because that is what your 50th Anniversary Book describes in the last lecture.

Demand #1 – Admit abuse.

Publicly and internally end the denial and admit the reality, facing the fact that UBF shepherding has created an environment that has led to many instances of abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, spiritual abuse and emotional abuse.

Demand #2 – Release the bonds.

Publicly and internally announce that all UBF shepherd/sheep relationships are now dissolved– any remaining study relationships are now voluntary, not required of every member, no longer binding for life, secondary to the Holy Spirit’s work, and at the discretion and choice of the “sheep”.

Is the work of God primarily about denial and authority? Can UBF ministry continue without facing the facts? Will UBF ministry be effective by continuing to enforce permanent shepherd/sheep relationships? Might the work of God be done through friendship?

If you are willing to consider these thoughts, I would be happy to meet in public or in private to discuss my further thoughts on how UBF might find a way to become a healthy Christian ministry. I would welcome your public or private response to this letter.

Sincerely with hope,

Brian Karcher
12/13/12
http://www.lambheartedlion.org
http://www.justbeingthere.org

I have watched many helpful movies, way more than the prior 20 years combined. I imagined myself as the main character. It was so liberating to see myself on the screen become untangled as freedom poured into my soul like living water.

Some of the movies were rather dark, but movies like “The 300” and “Iron Clad” helped me deal with the dark side of UBF that I had denied for so long.

Another movie I am re-watching is “The Village”. This movie tells a lot about how I lived in UBF, and says something about how I got free of the shepherd/sheep authority trap.

So we set our faith in who You are
Even though You reign high above us
You tenderly love us
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are

The young man in this video just wants to drive his car (“live by faith”) but he keeps running into the facts of reality (flat tire, no gas, policeman, etc). God calls us to go beyond belief (orthodoxy) and let Him live in us through action (orthopraxy).

Yes Christians are “not of this world” but yes we still live “in this world”. We are not free from reality. The recklessness of the young man in the video reminds me of my reckless decisions in my prior UBF lifestyle.

Catholic Church Apologizes to Galileo

After a 13 year investigation, the Pope finally apologized to Galileo.

Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Incorrect Application of the Bible

The Pope further explains that the Catholic theologians incorrectly applied the Bible.

John Paul said the theologians who condemned Galileo did not recognize the formal distinction between the Bible and its interpretation.

This led them unduly to transpose into the realm of the doctrine of the faith, a question which in fact pertained to scientific investigation.

Might we not wait 359 years for such apologies?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/01/world/vatican-science-panel-told-by-pope-galileo-was-right.html

10 Years Ago

In January 2002, Samuel Chang-Woo Lee (co-founder of UBF) died in a fire in Chicago. After that, I felt the need to be a public witness to UBF ministry, and to take a stand against the “r-group” criticisms.

I soon realized however that I didn’t know what I was doing. My “testimony” here flip-flopped as I had to constantly adjust my words to be “just right”. I knew just enough about certain events that I could not dismiss them entirely. I ended up attempting to reconcile facts with honoring Lee and UBF.

My Repentance – Publicly

In the process, I ended up pouring salt on the wounds of many former UBF members. This website became one of the enablers that helped justify UBF leaders and their extreme, authoritative actions.

For example, I didn’t even realize the 3rd major reform movement had just taken place, in 2001. As I argued against critics and defended UBF, I found that the critics were making more and more sense of the strange experiences I had in UBF. Even as I worked with Sarah Barry and other Chicago UBF people to remove criticism from the UBF entry in Wikipedia, I could not deny my need to repent– repent of my lack of compassion for people who left UBF, repent of my covering up sins of leaders when they should be exposed, and repent of claiming such things were God’s work.

Website Snapshots

Here is a look back at some snapshots, courtesy of the Wayback Time machine.

2002 – My first plans. When I first setup my own website and email address, I was thinking mainly of sharing the Bible and some things I had learned. But I wasn’t quite sure how to present the material. Mainly, I just wanted to tell the world that I support UBF and was a “priestly nation”. I was also trying to work out God’s plan for my family. Would we be missionaries to Russia? Would we go out as a UBF house church?

2003 – Pictures and Weddings.  At first I didn’t have much to publish and wasn’t really sure what to do with a website. And I was so busy with UBF activities, I didn’t have much time. So I started publishing pictures.

2004 – Defending UBF.  After going out as a house church in 2003 to Detroit, I suddenly had a lot more time. The UBF lifestyle when from 30 to 40 hours per week, on top of a full-time job plus family and school, down to 1 hour on Sunday.  In reality, I left UBF at this time. But my mind kept the KOPHN fantasy going. I spent hours and hours, day and night, arguing with “r-group” people online and trying to defend the religious system I had already devoted my life to.

2007 – Defending UBF, again. As time passed, we were left alone in Detroit. Life got hard; really, really hard. We experienced hell in Detroit. My website became an outlet where I could express the beauty I longed for as my faith entered a “dark night of soul”.

2011 – Hoping for better things. In 2009 I read the public letters from James and Rebekah Kim about the “1990 incident”. In 2010 I watched the Passion of Christ movie. I suddenly realized I could no longer defend UBF. I could no longer pretend to live in a KOPHN fantasy. I had to face the facts of reality. In January 2011, I decided to be a “man of integrity” and be “salt and light” for Jesus. These events restored my faith. I began removing all of my UBF defense material from this website. I hoped UBF could change, get better, or at least acknowledge facts about our reality…

The song “Say a Prayer for Me Tonight” is a true story. My band and I were touring the East Coast and we used a sound & lighting company out of Philadelphia for the tour. This was about six months before the “Make It Right” CD was released. After the very first concert on the tour, a young guy named Richard, who was running lighting for the tour, came up to me to talk. It was late, I was hot, sweaty, tired, and really thinking about the next 12 days of concerts. He said that he had never heard music like mine before…cool rock, but with a powerful message. I said thanks. He said, “Can I ask you a favor, Kenny”?. I said yes, of course. He said “Would you say a prayer for me tonight”? And I did. Something simple, like “Lord, You brought Richard and I together on this tour and You, Dear Lord have a reason for it. Bless us all, give us a powerful and significant time together, in Jesus Name, Amen”!!!

During the next 2 weeks I learned that Richard was a talented, yet complicated person. He had a lot of heartache and sadness that was palpable. You could feel it. One afternoon he asked me to climb up into the huge truck he was driving for the tour, (filled with sound & lighting gear). He played a couple of songs that he had written on the cassette player in the truck. Sad, but interesting musically. I gave him some pointers and gentle critique of his music, we laughed, and that was it. About 2 days later the tour ended and we flew back to Nashville. I was home for about 24 hours when my telephone rang. It was a youth pastor outside Philadelphia calling to tell me that Richard took his own life. How sad, it was so devastating. I hurt so deeply for him. “You never know someone’s heart. You never know how they feel”.

(source)