(John Shin. is the former leader of the New York City chapter of UBF. See also http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/1989.html.)
[From Leader’s Forum at ReformUBF… M. John S.’s Testimony…] In 1992, I left New York UBF and moved to Dallas Texas. To make a long story short, I did not agree with Samuel Lee’s leadership because of his political way of handling people in a spiritual world. After reading James Kim’s letter, I agreed with him in my heart on every point. When James Kim was expelled from Toledo UBF in an inhumane and non-spiritual manner, I completely lost trust in Samuel Lee as God’s servant. Any Christian organization directed by such logic instead of by the principles of the kingdom of God does not please or glorify God. When I did not side with Dr Lee, my relationship with him got into trouble. But I could not stand against my conscience before God. At that time, a quote repeatedly echoed in my heart. “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Consequently, I was put under a lot of pressure to display my loyalty to Dr. Lee. He used several missionaries to give directions to me, as he had done with many others who had disobeyed him. Because of his manipulation, my relationship with other missionaries became twisted. I was in deep turmoil wondering whether I should stay or leave.
webmaster
USA – Monday, February 19, 2001 at 14:19:35 (EST)
Reference: http://exubf.blogspot.com/2007/05/john-s-former-new-york-ubf.html
exNYubfer (former New York UBF)
(Originally posted at voy.com/60734/.)
Date Posted: 21:56:12 09/29/03 Mon
Author: exNYubfer
Subject: Re: Mind Control
In reply to: Chris ‘s message, “Mind Control” on 11:49:23 09/19/03 Fri
I agree wholeheartedly with ex-ubfsoul and all of you. I went through very similar tactics in UBF as well. Oh how I want to encourage those who are out…GOD IS LOVEEEE!!!! God wants you to be IN LOVE with Him. God is IN LOVE with you!!! There is FREEDOM in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord for saving us from the chains of UBF.
I pray that the one UBFer who is reading this right now will realize that he/she is committing idolatry before the God of the Bible because the UBF god is NOT the Almighty God! The God of the Bible is full of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness and self-control bc that IS the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The God of the Bible is holy and just and convicts us of our sin and leads us to repentance. He NEVER inflicts us with this gnawing guilt that never goes away. That is the work of the devil. The Devil is the accuser, the liar the one who wants you to always feel that you fall short of the glory of God. But we are REDEEMED through the blood of Christ! There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!
PRAISE GOD! I love you Jesus. I praise Your HOLY Name. I give thanks to You for always answering our prayers and always being slow to anger and abounding in love. I praise you for giving us this inexpressible peace and FREEDOM from sin. Dear God I lift up to You right now all those who are still ensnared in the UBF cult. Lord Jesus TOUCH their hearts. Let them realize that they are not worshipping YOU [Jesus]. They are worshipping an idol. Father I pray that you lead these people out so that they may know who You truly are. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
ex-UBFSoul (former New York UBF)
(Originally posted at voy.com/60734/.)
Date Posted: 21:40:08 09/19/03 Fri
Author: ex-UBFSoul
Subject: UBF Mind Control
In reply to: Chris ‘s message, “Mind Control” on 11:49:23 09/19/03 Fri
Hi Chris,
When I was UBFSoul and in UBF I didn’t realize that I was being subjected to mind control techniques and I don’t think UBF members know that they are employing these techniques. At some point it struck me that the main objective of UBF is not to teach college students the Bible. UBF’s objective is to form more house churches. That’s what they pray for. They pray for 10,000 house churches. They say, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” but they mean a kingdom of house churches.
UBF is not an organization comprised of members; it’s an organization of house churches. Like all organizations, it wants to expand. They can’t ask college students, “Do you want to be a part of a house church?” Students would never accept. Therefore they have to hide their agenda and slowly alter the student’s perspective using subtle mind control techniques.
The UBF agenda starts with Bible study and ends with “marriage by faith.” In between they employ increasingly aggressive mind control techniques. Almost everyone in UBF has experienced this series of techniques:
Deception: (year 1) They will invite you to what appears to be a harmless Bible study. The deception is that the UBF Bible study invitation is really in an invitation to a UBF controlled life and an arranged marriage to another UBF member. They don’t fully disclose their “plans” for your life. UBF uses the Bible as a means of coercing naïve young college students into the Confucian-Christian UBF lifestyle.
Love Bombing: (year 1) They will flatter and feed you. Their lives revolve around recruiting more UBF members so they will do their best to make you feel welcomed and indebted. They will invite you to their homes, feed you, flatter you and treat you like a king. Your apprehensions and suspicions about the group disappear because these people seem like the kindest and most generous people you’ve ever met in your life. What you don’t realize is that they are so happy to see you because they are under a lot pressure to recruit more members and produce numbers.
Public Confession: (year 1-2) They will ask you to write and share testimonies with the group. The first half of the testimony is a summary of the passage and the second half is an “application.” The application is really a confession of how you failed as a Christian. Communist regimes also use the same technique. Those who hear the confession feel guilt because they are guilty of the same crimes.
Not only will you confess and feel guilt, but you will experience ten to twenty times more guilt as you hear many others confessing the same laziness in UBF activities, the same sin of not going “fishing” enough, the same sin of not writing enough testimony, and the same sin of desiring sleep, rest, or free time. You will even see people crying about it, which will really make you feel even more guilt. You will feel tired and sleep deprived during these meetings as you experience wave after wave of indoctrination that will seep into your subconscious.
Time Control: (year 1-2) They will ask you to join the orchestra, singing group, become a presider, become fellowship leader, or any number of activities. I notice that they ask you to join the orchestra or some singing group even when you can’t sing or play an instrument. You begin to realize that you are visiting the local UBF center almost every day. You don’t have any time to spare for non-UBF friends or family.
Relationship Control: (year 2-3) They will ask you to move in with another UBF member. This is known as “common life.” The point is to totally immerse you in the Confucian-Christian UBF lifestyle. The natural power of peer pressure then begins to take effect. It’s natural for people to want to conform to the behavior of the group. Once you live with a UBF member and all your time is devoted to UBF activities your personality will inevitably change whether you like it or not. They will convince you that dating is sinful and you will begin to feel lonely and desperate.
Marriage Control: (year 3-5) They will ask you to agree to marry. They don’t tell you who, they just wait for you to become sufficiently desperate after years of Relationship Control that you are willing to marry almost anyone. If you refuse their proposal, they will starve you for another year or two and then apply even more pressure. Eventually, you surrender and agree to marry unconditionally on their terms. You will think it was your decision and choice, but actually you were controlled and you had no choice. Ideally, they want you to marry a stranger so as to minimize the possibility of love.
Total Control: (the rest of your life) Once you are trapped in a loveless arranged marriage, you are completely trapped. Your involvement with the group is the only thing that justifies your marriage. The endless time consuming UBF activities allow you and your spouse to essentially lead separate lives and keep your minds off the fact that your marriage is loveless. You will repent of your sinful desire for love and companionship and rededicate yourself to UBF activities. All your friends, your entire social network, is in UBF. Once you have “married by faith” you have proven to them that they control your entire life. There is nothing they cannot ask you to do. The cycle is complete when you find that you are a fifty-year-old hanging around college campuses deceptively inviting some young naïve college students into the same trap you fell into.
Their mind control techniques failed to work on me because I continually refused to join orchestra or singing groups and I refused “common living.” Because of this thier attempts to coerce me into “marriage by faith” failed.
Don’t Fall For the Trap,
ex-UBFSoul
Darkness at New York UBF
When we received the “Utmost Respect” letter at ubfriends, a good discussion about making apologies followed. Joe asked a great question in this discussion, “Apologize for what?” As several people pointed out, if we don’t know the “for what”, we are not really moving forward in a healthy manner. Recently I was involved in some discussions that highlight the “for what” better than anything I’ve experienced so far. I ask your prayers and thoughts for this matter.
A Duty to Pray for hurting parts of the Body
1 Corinthians 12 has been a huge part of my recovery from pain suffered while in the body of Christ. Paul’s words in chapter 12 came to mind again this week as I heard about some horrible abuses going on in a ubf chapter. We are one body in Christ. This sentence stands out to me: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored,all rejoice together.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 ESV
If one chapter of a church is hurting, should not the entire church care about it? Should not we who are members of the Body pray for hurting people in the Body? This week, New York UBF is hurting. Please pray for them.
A Courageous Blog Post about Light
I recently pointed readers to a blog series that began expressing the pain and exposing the abuse at New York ubf. Here is that link. Like me in Toledo ubf, my friends in New York left the ministry and decided to “blog out” their pain and difficulties. The link is now gone.
Threats and More Pain
The chapter leaders at New York ubf have been pressuring my friends to shut down this ubfriends website. When the abuses came to light, my friends were additionally threatened with vague scare tactics such as “watch your family members lives” and other threats meant to instill fear and to silence their words. My friend removed his blog posts due to these threats.
Please pray for these friends and the New York UBF chapter. This incident exemplifies the “apologize for what” very well. I hope you can see that far more than an apology is needed. Repentance is required.
Oh and to any ubf leader who wants to make threats, make them to me. In the infamous words of Ben Toh, I can only say “Go ahead. Make my day.”
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