Some may label me as an antinomian or anarchist but I stand now on God’s grace. Such grace is the only truth that motivates me to be willing to suffer and die. And such grace is the only motivator that inspires me to pray continually and to actually be content with my life. That’s the “secret” – Christ in you (Colossians 1:27).

Dialogue is essential, and life-change won’t happen with monologue or quotes from books.  Some ultra-loyal leaders were still asking things like “does Brian have an evil spirit?” I’m blogging now for the future, especially to prepare for the year 2041.

The first wave of reform took 15 years (1961 to 1976), the second wave took 13 years (1976 to 1989), the third wave took 12 years (1989 to 2001) and the fourth wave took 10 years (2001 to 2011). So I predict the next wave will take about 8 years, occurring sometime around 2019. 

Because of these things, several ex-members will be introducing a new website this year documenting and explaining many of these things as a permanent public record.

I also agree with you that Daniel’s prayer must have been vastly different from how we picture and practice prayer. In fact, Daniel 6 tells us that he prayed and that he offered thanks to God. A German translation adds that he was praising God. Thus, the praise of God and thanksgiving was a crucial and substantial part of Daniel’s prayer. I would love to give it a try, for the next 30 days or so to use the prayers of others to come before God. Thank you, Joe.

As for the role of UBFriends, i am not too sure whether it can be called a “voice of reform”. For true change to happen in UBF, people who hold leadership positions in UBF have to join the discussion and conversation. I don’t see this happening here. Rather, i would like to see UBFriends as a forum for friends of UBF to have a meaningful exchange and debate here on issues, which are not only of immediate interest for UBF, but on broader Christianity themes as well.

The 50th Anniversary book calls these people “ungodly” and the leaving of leaders as a “crisis”. I call them Christians with a conscience and our leaving is a cry for help.

In the past, the reforms were initiated by Korean staff shepherds. In 2011, the big difference was that the reforms were initiated all over the world by native/national leaders who had given more than 10 years of service and in some cases more than 20 years to the UBF cause. And another difference is that in 2011, there is no coordinated effort except by the Holy Spirit.

“reform” may not be the best word, and whatever has been happening, it is still going on in and out of UBF. I like the word “independence” because many of us left or went on strike to expose problems, many of which are similar to the 1976 reform.

This time, there is no single person leading or coordinating the reform effort. There are numerous notable people making changes (many of them are named Yoon!). The most vocal are of course Joe and Ben. ubfriends has become the voice of the reform.  I felt moved by God to become the “librarian”, documenting many things on my priestlynation.com blog. (I believe every priest/monk movement has had a librarian, so I view that blog as my “priestly duty”).

I will be summarizing the 2011 movement and attempting to find out what reforms in the past have taken effect. This will be made available en-masse. I believe that UBF has primarily continued to exist because of these reform movements. For example, the 1976 reform seems to have succeeded in removing the violence and torture training from UBF that existed in Korea. The 2001 reform seems to have brought some level of financial accountability (ECFA). One notable effect of the 2011 reform is that outside people, such as Mr. Armstrong, are far more aware of the real condition of UBF and are bringing sound, historical Christian teaching into our closed circle.

I have to confess that my prayer life is a story of failure. I think you are right in saying that having noble prayer topics, which lie heavy on our hearts, as was the case in Daniel’s life for his people, can provide some motivation and desire to pray. But at least in my experience, none of these effects were lasting. I realized that in order to be able to pray fervently and unceasingly, something much greater has to happen in my life. As mentioned in my reflection, I have to be gradually transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. This process happens, when my heart and character is shaped by the good news of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God.

You are absolutely right in saying that we need a better perspective of who Jesus is and experience him more. I am in a very slow reading process of a book by Jonathan Edward on David Brainerd’s life. (As a person living in New England, this is actually a very good and obligatory read). I have to say that the puritans seemed to have had a knowledge of the glory and joy of God and a spirituality of which i know close to nothing. At the very least, this book helps me to have a more realistic picture of where i stand in my pursuit of God’s glory: i am a total newbie.

In our housechurch, we have started using the term “reflection” rather than “testimony” because testimony usually refers to how we witness God’s work in our lives, i.e. how we were born again. Reflection on the other hand is a personal meditation on God’s word. 

Out of curiosity: what do you mean by reform movement in 2011? Did i miss something?

The initial chapters of Daniel make it clear that Daniel knew (personal relationship) who his God was very personally. And his relationship with God went on becoming stronger just as his understanding about God [encounters] kept increasing. As a result, his decision to abstain food from the king’s table, overnight prayer meeting to gain understanding of the king’s dream, his friends’ refusal to bow before the idol, and defying king’s edict to offer prayers only to the king, are not just about doing the right things, but primarily about becoming the right person based on a personal revelation of who God to me is. The point I am trying to make is, although a prayer topic, for example, “May God make [so and so country] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” may be good and the right thing to do, but it does not make me pray like Daniel. On the other hand a deeper revelation [deeper personal relationship] with God might actually make me pray like Daniel.

Next, why did he not stop praying, “May God bring Israel back to their land and make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” even before the threat of the lion’s den? The timing and the context of the passage makes it clear that Daniel knew what was going on. That the seventy years of captivity was over (Dan 9:2-3). Probably a group of the captives had already returned to the land but were facing serious opposition and the building of the temple is not happening. Further he has been having those series of visions about the future of his nation yet unable to fully understand them (Dan 8:27). It says he sets his heart to gain understanding and as a result God is sending angels to interpret his visions and give right understanding about the future of his people (Dan 10:12). Now, I think such a dynamic spiritual life and understanding of the signs of the time definitely motivates to pray for what God is doing.

Two years before, I reached a crisis in my life and as a result decided to stop doing all things that seemed right and prayed to be a right person before God first. At that time the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and helped me to see Jesus in a fresh perspective as the Bridegroom God and the Judge. As the Bridegroom, He desires love from his people and as the Judge, He removes everything that hinders love. Based on this revelation I also received a new identity for my life as an intercessor to prepare myself and others for Jesus, who desires for His people and will return to finish the evil on planet earth and establish his glorious kingdom all saints (old and new) have been waiting for. After coming out of UBF, as a small community in New Delhi, we call ourselves F.R.I.E.N.D. (Fore-Runner Intercessors of End-times in New Delhi). Our existence and our activities are centered around the new revelation of Jesus to us, and hence to encounter Him more in this understanding and to make Him known as the Bridegroom and Judge, of course not neglecting what he did on the cross. Prior to this encounter, I could not have thought of prayer and fasting etc possible for me. I still have a long long way to go when I think of Daniel. But my prayer is not to be another Daniel, but to be a person that God wants me to be in my own peculiar life situations with the understanding of God’s heart so as to participate in what I know Him to be doing.  Further I am hearing the fascinating stories of people who pray in tongues for hours without getting tired or bored! I wish to have such gifts from the Spirit to pray because it is biblical.

Sorry for the lengthy comment (or sogam?).    

For example, why does no one write a sogam about the four reform movements in UBF? Those are historical fact in 1976, 1989, 2001 and 2011. We already have the testimony about the movements. I think we would all be far more healthy if we would write sogams and reflect on such events honestly. God never meant for us to keep all those painful memories bottled up inside, drudging on like a wounded soldier.

One reason sogam writing becomes drudgery is when someone is hovering over you, trying to “shape up” your reflection, trying to make you reflect in a way that contradicts your conscience or your feelings. My sogam writing became very burdensome over the past 15 years because I was literally told how to react and reflect during message writing. My “personal applications” in my messages were abut 90% dictated to me. That is common for UBF messengers; you are told how to reflect and how to feel based on someone else’s observation of your life.

Another reason for burden in sogam writing is when you feel that you must reflect in a specific way that conforms to some ideology or pattern. For example, must we always conclude with America becoming a kingdom of priests? Must we always conclude that repentance means going fishing more or having more one-to-ones? True reflection is from the heart, and should be allowed to be a free expression of thought and emotion.

Such writing should not be called “testimony writing”, because a testimony is a declaration of facts or a written proof or exposition of something. A sogam is about how you react or feel about something. Perhaps we need both. Jumping right into “sogam” without “testimony” could be dangerous. We might be easily manipulated by someone or led astray by our feelings. I think our reactions and emotions should be kept in check with testimony based on fact.

And my blogging projects don’t seem to require much effort; I just write based on what I know and express how I feel, and attempt to learn from Scripture instead of dictating my ideas (something I’m still working on :)

Also, thank you for your minor correction. I am not too sure, though, whether John 19:36 is supposed to be taken literally since it is in the context of not breaking Jesus’ legs. I assume that driving nails through hands and feet would crush at least some bones.
In any case, i would probably rewrite this section anyways to make my point clearer. The bone crushing is actually derived from Daniel 6: once king Darius threw Daniel’s enemies into the lion’s den, the story tells us that their bones were crushed. That was what i was shooting for.

Thank you also for your comment on sogam/reflection writing. In fact, my short article is a reflection on Daniel 6. I have encountered many people who told me that writing reflections has become a burden and drudgery for them. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with writing reflections. After all, isn’t it supposed to be an enjoyment to meditate on the word of God? I would never want to abolish writing reflections. Rather, i would like to see people  writing them for the right motives. 

By the way, your blog projects sound like an herculean effort. :)

“But Daniel’s story points to a much greater and even more marvelous story. Years later, there was another man greatly beloved who prayed three times, with tears, sweating and blood. Like Daniel, he was thrown into a lion’s den as Psalm 22 says: “Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.”

Henoch, you touch on some very good points in this article. Indeed, Daniel does point us to Jesus. We ought to view the Old Testament events as speaking about Jesus, just as the New Testament writers did frequently. That provides for a rich Bible study and one that is far more life-changing than gleaning some moralistic imperatives from the Old Testament.

Just one minor correction: “But this time, there was no angel to save. On the cross, Jesus was literally overpowered and his bones were crushed.”  I don’t see anything that tells us Jesus’ bones were crushed. In fact, not one of Jesus’ bones were broken (John 19:36). 

But getting back to your points. Your personal story witnesses to something God has been showing me lately. In my mind, holiness was bound to morality (as defined in UBF). But I found that by accepting the grace of God’s forgiveness for my sins, I could begin to love, to pray, to believe, to serve, and to hope with an all-surpassing, effervescent, exceedingly effective nature. In other words, by accepting that I can do nothing to please God, and that all my good works with well-intentioned motives really are filthy rags before God, I found the new wine Jesus spoke of.

You seem to have found this new wine also, as evidenced by your praying that far exceeds what you could do when you attempted to pray legalistically. My example is that I could barely write two pages of “sogam” in UBF per week. Sogam writing started out good, but became a dread, as the new wine was slowly sapped out of my soul. Now that I have the new wine of the gospel again, I am able to write dozens of pages per week through blogging, emails and Facebook rather effortlessly!

I am certain this kind of revelation is what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:20. Only by surrendering my ladder of self-atonement at the foot of Jesus’ cross can I surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees.