God bless!

“You can not serve both God and mammon” And you can not serve both God and mammoth :)

Thinking about ubf it has been discussed already that ubf’s official statement of faith is nice but the practical life is very legalistic. ubf teaches that people are saved by faith, and at the same time it is really difficult for any ubf member to stop doing any ubf practice (daily bread, testimony writing, meetings and fishing and sws) even for a while. If someone stops doing something or express some “doubts” he/she is rebuked and feels inner fear and guilt for not doing something even once or for having a desire, a thought about not doing or not doing enough. In this sense ubf is surely not a Christian organization, it is a “fallen-from-grace” legalistic system. It has been bringing to young people a different gospel. It can be humanly nice as Confusianism and Judaism are humanly nice, but according to Paul “Let it (the system and whoever brings it) be eternally condemned”.

Some quotes from MacArthur’s sermon,
” Now throughout all of the history of man, God’s religion of divine grace has been opposed by Satan’s religion of achievement or self effort or self righteousness.”

“Conversion was the act of emancipation, and the Christian life is the life of a free man… It’s freedom on conscience. Freedom from the tyranny of the legal system. Freedom from the terrible frustration and pressure of struggling to keep the law when you can’t. Freedom from the terrible pressure that comes by trying to do things that will gain God’s meriting favor.”

“The law is like a prison. It keeps people bounded by walls, because they don’t have internal capacity to govern themselves within the limits of law… It means that he (a Christian) now has the capacity to walk out of his cell and still live within the bounds of law, but not by being walled in, but by the internal restraints that are built in through the ministry of the Holy Spirit” (not through the ubf’s life-long trainings to make you a disciple)

“They (Galatians) have that Holy Spirit there. They turn right around, walk right back into a cell that they don’t even need to be in and thus confine the Holy Spirit to their cell.” (Very similar to ubf)

“If you come all the way up to grace and you say grace is where it’s at and all of a sudden you add law, you’ve fallen from grace as a principle… Christ becomes of no effect to you.”

And this story express ubf’s history and future so well, “There was an artist long time ago, I read about him this week. He had a dream all of his life and his dream was to sculpt the masterpiece. A masterpiece of multiple characters. He finally received a commission from a great donor to do a work that was to be placed in a great museum and it would bring him honor and fame. And so he began to work. He worked from the early years of his life until the end of his life. Year after year after year he toiled and his masterpiece. It was mammoth. He finished it. And he was all ready to win the acclaim of the world. And they found there was no way to get it out of the room that he’d built it in. And nobody was willing to pay the price that it would have taken him to work to destroy the huge building in which he had worked. Everything he’d done was captive to the prisoner of the room in which he’d done it.”

I think it is simply not true and can not be true. Faith and calling of Christians are based on the word of God. To say that all the prophets and God’s servants were campus shepherds is crazy. To say that every part of the body has its own function and so every organization is a part of the body of Christ and has its “specific mission” is also a fruit of the crazy ubf theology. God created His Church and it was not for campus students. So there is no and can not be a calling from God for an organization and “our reason to live and the purpose of our lives” to have this “specific mission”. It is ubf’s self-deceit. And it is a tragedy that the idea of the “specific mission” has been sold for decades and also has been bought by many naive students who thought they were taught the Bible. (Though by God’s mercy ubf is not successful in “fishing” campus students and so not many buy the idea). And when ubf tries to attach all ages to the “campus mission” it looks very unnatural and shows that it should not be this way in a church. God’s church is for everybody, for people of all ages.

Again, for me as I see ubf as a cult, the easiest target for cultish manipulation and abuse is campus students. The students are children without parents nearby. Other people wouldn’t buy ubf’s teachings and practicies. And fortunately the “post-modern” generation of campus students is familiar with internet which is not on ubf’s side. John Stott wrote, “Nothing can be more distasteful for a modern young person as hypocrisy is, and there can be nothing like honesty that attracts young people. And in this they are similar with the Christ who strictly condemned hypocritical people”. (Sorry for my poor translation from Russian). I hope that even reading through this site many young people will see what the truth about ubf actually is.

And one more quote, “Dedicated to the young in whose spirit the search for truth marches on”. (Oliver Stones film on JFK)

I think you are correct, Ben. I’m aware of this. But what about other people in ubf? I think they do have a clue, many clues in fact. And I think those people can and are changing and becoming aware of our concerns. So yes I expect the reaction you mention from ubf directors/etc. But I think other people will respond more positively.

Sadly, many older UBF leaders (who have been in UBF as leaders for 2-5 decades and who know virtually nothing outside of UBF) simply do not know or realize just how oppressive, burdensome, restrictive and constrictive they are to their own younger UBF members and new sheep.

They really do not have even the slightest clue. Even when they hear you telling them how intolerable UBF may be, they will IMMEDIATELY begin thinking in their own minds what YOUR PROBLEMS ARE for voicing any concerns about UBF. Until the Holy Spirit opens their hearts and minds, they are simply unable to listen or hear or process the legitimate concerns you have to express.

UBF has focused primarily on new sheep, and on those “leaders” who never question the status quo. Virtually anyone who dares to challenge the “untouchable” UBF paradigm has left or has been marginalized.

Seemingly this has always been how God fulfills his own mysterious plan and purpose.

“it is all about control and numbers…”

At the director level, yes indeed it is. I heard directors say many times “Change anything you want, just don’t change the gospel.” As I look back, that was loaded language for “Don’t mess with my authority and don’t tarnish my glory.” The gospel of “human power and glory” needs to be challenged with the gospel Jesus preached. Such a challenge requires courageous, bold and decisive action.

“Every day since leaving UBF in August last year, I turn to my wife and tell her how relieved I am that we left UBF.”

We know the feeling. For at least one year after leaving, nearly every day either Mary or I would say “I’m so glad we left when we did!” We’ve stopped saying that now, so I think we’re on the road to recovery. I feel so fulfilled now, as if the empty shell of myself is full.

I’ve been listening to some awesome messages from John MacArthur from Galatians. Especially, this sermon resonates with what I was implicitly taught and made to believe: http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1665/fallen-from-grace-part-1-the-works-of-false-doctrine. If you have a free hour, I highly recommend listening. It is so helpful to deconstruct the spiritual system that I was immersed in.

Precisely why I am so “scary” and “poisonous” in the minds of ubf directors. Going on 3 years now since resigning, and I haven’t gone away as they had hoped.

Recently a friend in ubf asked me why I seek tension instead of peace with regard to ubf. My answer is that I seek tension in order to keep the dialogue open, to provide some level of public accountability to ubf directors, and to use such tension to counteract the pressure ubf directors are giving to ubf members.

The good. To this day (because of “campus evangelism”), I have loved meeting with, dialoguing with and engaging with college students ever since I’ve been in UBF in 1980. It has compelled me to fight against simply and naturally gravitating toward becoming a geriatric church, to contextualize the gospel to the next generation, to love CCM in addition to hymns, and to “feel” young even though I am no longer in my 20s, since I have always been around people younger than I. In Manila I am 3 times older than the students I meet for Bible study.

The bad. Showing favoritism toward college age ministry, while regarding BBF, MBF, HBF, music ministry, etc, as “inferior” to college ministry. Regarding “campus ministry” as more important than your secular occupation and even your own family. Having no theology of work whatsoever. Becoming dichotomous rather than holistic in outlook.

The ugly. “Campus evangelism” has become an idolatry, an elitism, an exclusivity, an insularity, an isolation, etc, as though UBF has the corner on the market on campus evangelism. (“We own the campus.”) Perhaps, it sadly justifies to some UBF leaders when older UBF leaders leave after decades, since we can simply “fish more new young sheep,” without working toward trinitarian reconciliation, relational and trust issues that are key and foundational to the health of any church or ministry.