May we never forget…

In memory…

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.

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…

I do not blog here out of my own pain, not out of things done to me, but out of the pain of what happened to others… and the pain of not speaking up when I could have. I blog for my public repentance. I blog to put a stop to the various kinds of abuse that have happened in various UBF chapters around the world.

Former Bonn UBF: “So that these problems may be solved absolutely”

A testimony of what has gone on behind closed doors in one of the power centers of UBF…
http://exubf.blogspot.com/2007/04/susanna-p.html

The children are the crown of the father and a gift from God. Jesus also let the children come to him. In order to bear this blessing from God the parents have to bring up their children according to the will of God and with great care. The unnatural and violent bringing up of children by M. Peter reveals his goal of training children to become puppets on a string which move only on his orders.

Dear coworkers! I have testified by listing some examples of what actually happens behind closed doors in the ministry of Bonn UBF, which unfortunately is misjudged [by the UBF director, Samuel Lee] to be an exemplary ministry. I have done this so that these problems may be solved absolutely.

Former Hamilton UBF: “I began to feel crushed”

…and a friend to whom I must apologize greatly, and publicly. If you read this Robert, please contact me. I should have spoken up when you visited…
http://exubf.blogspot.com/2007/04/robert-j-p-former-hamilton-and-toledo.html

My family left Hamilton UBF (at McMaster U.) on November 1, 2001 after I had been in UBF for over 10 years. The words of Micah scrolled onto the front of Erskine Church in Hamilton helped me to make the final decision. It was not easy to leave because of my attachments to UBF co-workers and friends. I had fond memories of many missionaries and was especially fond of co-workers in Montreal UBF even though I could only fellowship with them for a couple of days each year. I was very heavily involved in my chapter as a fellowship leader and a presider, a role which I carried out for 10 years. Through Bible study I met Jesus personally and confessed my faith publically. I learned to love the Bible and I experienced God’s calling (Mk 10:45).

However, over time (5-6 years), I began to feel crushed by this same ministry in every aspect of my life. I witnessed so many Canadian students leave with out any explanation. Some of these were Philip Styles in 1995 (Hamilton), Sandor Szulc (1997), Ryan Collins and Steve Nagy in 1996 (Waterloo)and Dean Fleming (1997). In 1999, my personal Bible reading revealed to me many of the “internal contradictions” mentioned in other RSQUBF postings and my conscience was bothered by many wierd directions. When Missionary Tim Hwang (Montreal UBF) left UBF to become a Presbyterian minister I rejoiced that God had blessed him to serve the Lord. However, Hamilton missionaries to a man condemned him and said that he only became a minister because he loved money and wanted a salary. This stunk really bad to me. It stunk because I know that as an RN, I make more money than the minister in my mom’s church (Knox Burlington)which has over 500 attendant. I valued Tim Hwang’s decision as a godly one. They didn’t think so.

Former Toledo UBF: “I wanted to build a better UBF”

James Kim… a friend who passed away not too long ago. But someone who’s family I owe a huge debt and apology to…
http://exubf.blogspot.com/2007/04/james-j-k-former-toledo-ubf.html 

Eventually, at the end of 1993, our names were not printed in the Daily Bread of Korea and USA. In fact, we reached the point of being expelled from UBF. I could not understand these things at all, since I wanted to build a better UBF through proposing the problems that should be absolutely changed in UBF. At first, I wanted to retreat without a word and to live a life serving Jesus quietly, since I did not like causing trouble and meeting with darkness. I dared to take up my pen like this, thinking how many co-workers would be sacrificed in the future and that it was not right to cover the truth and to leave the history distorted, if I went away silently like ex-UBFers in the same boat in the past. Here, I outlined the problems which M. —– [formerly of Columbus, OHIO USA] and I proposed. I cordially ask your objective judgment, advice and prayer.

1. I would rather hear this song at church than most hymns.

2. I hear the gospel in these songs by Pink, Eminem and Bon Jovi more than in a lot of preaching.

3. My favorite rum is Kraken, my favorite vodka is Tito’s, my favorite beer is Sam Adams Boston Ale and my favorite wine is any kind of merlot.

I am a Christian. I believe in the grace of the forgiveness of sins found only in Jesus Christ crucified on the cross. Yet my dialogues are “outside the gate”.

1. I accept an LGBT person without trying to change them to become heterosexual, and support monogamous, same-sex marriage.

2. I believe the grace of God is not a license for doing anything we want, but is both a powerful restraint against sin and a healing solution for sin.

3. I do not believe the Bible condemns all LGBT people to hell automatically.

4. I believe an LGBT person can accept the gospel of Jesus and will remain LGBT the rest of their life if that is their orientation, because there is a difference between a heterosexual choosing to engage in same-sex activity (sin) and a truly same-sex oriented person (not sin).

5. I accept that God has a plan for “Ismael” just as He does for “Abraham”, and that I should accept both a Jewish person and a Muslim person as my brother/sister under the same God.

6. I believe that the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets means: the written code was canceled, nailed to the cross, abolished in the flesh of Jesus Christ, ended with the work of Jesus and has no power or authority to supervise our Christian lives.

7. I believe there is not a single act we can do to in this life, once we believe the gospel of Jesus, that can separate us from the love of God.

8. I believe that Jesus’ death on the cross does not spare Christians from the penalty of sin in this life, and that Christians will experience the pain and suffering of consequences of our actions in this life.

9. I believe the actions of Christians in this life will affect the quality of life in Heaven.

10. I believe there are two Judgments after death: one for entering Heaven based only on the grace of God in Jesus and another for determining our quality of life in Heaven based on our obedience here on earth.

11.  I believe anger and confusion are the two most important emotions for the Holy Spirit to teach and express His will among us.

12. I believe Christian life must be Spirit-led and Bible-rooted, and that it is obedience to the Spirit that supersedes (but does not stray from) the Bible.

13. I believe it is the obedience of Jesus that saves us from hell, death and sin, not our obedience out of faith in Jesus.

14. I believe Jesus did not intend to create a “better Judaism” or any kind of physical kingdom or nation or organization on earth, but an entirely new way of living on earth as citizens of Heaven (a “new Jerusalem” if you will).

15. I believe that it is possible to make the Bible into an idol, as well making mission, church, religion or devotion into an idol.

16. I believe the great human problem has five main aspects: sin, death, law, curse and brokenness, and that the grace of God is the solution for all five problems.

Oh, and two more reasons I am outside the gate:

1. I resigned from UBF in protest and live as a vocal critic of UBF.

2. I’ve had a “paradigm shift” away from a legalistc, authoritarianistic, empire-building worldview, and as such, I agree with many thoughts of the Outlaw Preachers, especially that Joe guy :)

Today I share nothing new. No new revelation. No new facts. Just a summary of what has already taken place. Just a collection of public information. I share no analysis or opinion; just the facts.

But still I write today. I write because ignoring facts about dark events is not healthy. Sweeping dark events under the rug only propagates unhealthy and destructive patterns. I share in memory today of Sarah Regina Thompson. I pray that one day UBF will setup a trust fund in her name, in a public effort to end the pattern.

Woman Jumps off CTA Train in Chicago, 2/16/2005

The Phoenix News
Issue: 2/16/2005
by Dianna Heitz

Wellness Center receptionist Eva Martin headed toward the Loyola Red Line el station to go home after work around 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10. After passing through the turnstile, she took the escalator up toward the southbound tracks. When she arrived at the top of the escalator and stepped off, Martin was stunned to see a woman leap off the platform and onto the tracks in front of an approaching train.

“I saw her squat down and jump off the platform,” Martin said. “The woman in front of me started screaming and everyone on the platform was stunned. We didn’t know what else to do other than call an ambulance.”

The woman, whose identity has not been released, was 42 years old. According to Sergeant Robert Cargie of the Chicago Police Department, she jumped at approximately 5:03 p.m. and was killed instantly by the train.

“We are not releasing the woman’s name because this is a tragedy and her family has suffered enough,” Cargie said. “What we do know is that it appears it was a suicide. Eye witnesses say it looked like the woman had the intention to commit suicide and didn’t just slip off the platform.”

According to Cargie, the CPD is investigating the death in order to make sure that it was a suicide. The CPD has spoken with the woman’s friends and family and has looked into whether the woman had a history of mental illness. As of now, the CPD has concluded that the woman did not fall off the tracks nor was foul play involved; they believe the woman intended for the oncoming train to hit her.

Junior Patti Neugent was on the northbound platform when the woman was struck. Although she did not see or hear anything, she instantly knew something was wrong.

“People started moving us off the platform and I didn’t really know what was going on,” Neugent said. “When I got downstairs, someone said they had seen someone jump.”

Martin said that the CPD and ambulances arrived within a few minutes of the woman’s death. According to Cargie, the ambulances and fire department arrived at approximately 5:10 p.m.

The driver, who was visibly shaken by the accident, was ushered off the platform by the Chicago Transit Authority attendant stationed downstairs.

Public Words from Friend of Sarah , 5/25/2005

“I know this poor lady who killed herself, my kids play with her kids. I have known her for almost 20 years. She had been a long time member of a religious group that is unhealthy, to say the least! That group is called the University Bible Fellowship(ubf).

In fact, another member of the ubf group who had attended Loyola for a short time committed suicide in 2000 or 2001. This group is trying to fly under the radar of cult watchers, but the word about them is being spread more and more.

FYI, at the ubf they officialy explain away the lady’s death as an accident. They also disrespect her by saying that she had mental illness for many years, so “they should never have allowed her to marry.” The ubf is similar to the Moon cult in that all marriages are arranged personally by the leaders. Usually the marriages are arranged without any thought of love, happiness or compatibility. The lady who committed suicide at Loyola was married to a total stranger, and obviously felt trapped in a loveless marriage and a hopeless future in a cult group.”

http://www.ctatattler.com/2005/02/eyewitness_acco/comments/page/2/#comments

http://www.ctatattler.com/2005/02/eyewitness_acco.html?cid=3859704

http://kjo84.typepad.com/cta_tattler/2005/02/eyewitness_acco.html

Chicago UBF Report by her husband, 8/5/2009

“God and his word have guided me safely through the storms of life. On December 29, 1989, I married Sarah Regina Thompson, with full confidence in God’s sovereignty. And God gave us peace, and a family of three children: Christopher, Charles, and Ruth. Sarah Regina was a powerful Gospel worker who prayed very earnestly for God’s flock and raised up Loni Loy, myself, and our children through prayer and bible study.

The calm in our family was disrupted when she passed away, in 2005. This shocking event caused me to realize that I am subject to God’s absolute sovereignty. He can bless, and he can take away. So I decided to trust God’s love and make the most of Sarah Regina’s investment in me and our kids. I decided to follow through with god’s calling to go to Russia with my kids.”

http://chicagoubf.org/messages/view.php?pta=428

Public discussion by former UBF members, 3/4/2005

While I agree that we should show respect for Regina’s family during this awful time of grief; I think we would do her and her family a great injustice to not speak of this tragedy again.

UBF is renowned for dismissing human suffering in every aspect. Regina’s death cannot be dismissed or ever forgotten.

I will never forget. I believe that every former UBF member should continue to speak out and expose every travisty that has continued to take place within UBF.

http://www.voy.com/60734/2/9853.html
http://www.voy.com/60734/2/9830.html

This week I had several online discussions with various people, in and out of UBF. Based on those discussions, I am prompted to write today’s article.  I want to address a sad and serious issue that has been ignored for decades– suicides. Either the claims below are extremely elaborate hoaxes, or they are true. They simply cannot be casual lies; the reports of suicides of UBF members are something that needs discussion.

As I said, leaving UBF can mess up your mind. The silence from those who you once called shepherd and pastor is maddening. The confusion caused by your former mentors asking whether you have an “evil spirit” is soul-wrecking. The insistence of well-meaning Christians outside of UBF that former members “reconcile and forgive” is gut wrenching.

I blog in hopes to be a source of understanding, healing and reconciliation for former members of UBF. Sometimes I feel like a doctor in a battle field! I and my family are being healed and have found a healthy Christian church. But not everyone fares so well.

Here are some reports of at least six suicides that have happened to UBF people, both in the US and in Germany. If anyone has further details or would like to clarify or share, feel free to comment here or contact me.

Scripture urges compassion, kindness and love. Yet the attitude displayed by UBF leaders in regard to these suicides is baffling.

1 Corinthians 8:12 “When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”

Here is a report from an ex-member in Heidelburg:

“Then something tragical happened. A UBF shepherd from my chapter had commited suicide. I had known him a little bit and had lived for some time together with him in UBF “common life.” Therefore I went to his funeral, together with D (who had been his shepherd) and one or 2 other UBF members.”
http://www.voy.com/60734/10/7203.html

Here is a description for 4 suicides in Germany:

“I would not go so far to say that UBF caused all these suicides and depressions. But I would say that UBF is not equipped to help such people and often aggravates these problems, because UBF shepherds don’t have any education in Biblical couseling or psychology and try to “help” people by pressing them into the mold of a UBF shepherd. It may work in 1% of the cases, but for the 99% where the mold does not fit, it is desastrous.”
http://www.voy.com/60734/4/9200.html

James Kim’s letter mentions some suicides in the US:
(Note: I knew James Kim and his wife Rebeka B. Kim)

“D. Lee announced in one of the Chicago meetings that missionary J. Shim was demonstrating to him so that she could pressure him to solve her marriage problem. He boasted that he would not barge even one inch by such an act. His attitude was almost scoffing at her. How can one individual scoff at another when one was struggling with the matter of hope and despair related with one’s life and death? Just before her suicide, she met with D. Lee and had a big argument with him. People could hear her yelling from the outside of the office of D. Lee on the top of her voice like this: “You are the one who ruined my life.” When she finally committed suicide, how was his response? Again it was 100% M. J. Shim’s sin and only the Great Shepherd, D. Lee suffered endlessly in helping this stubborn and sinful woman. Because Chicago UBF refused to serve her funeral, a Korean church performed the ceremony. I don’t see any mercy of God here, but heartlessness and escaping the responsibility of a fallen man.”
http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/2001_jameskim/

Joe C.’s testmonies, regarding what happened in Chicago:

I won’t post any excerpts from Joe C.’s reports. My heart is too burdened and too sorrowful to read these accounts again. Reading them once is enough. So I will let readers here read at their own caution: http://exubfjc.wordpress.com/?s=suicide

Jesus’ compassion

We can build any kind of spiritual heritage or empire if we work hard enough… But to be like Jesus we need compassion for people. I dedicate today’s post for all those who struggle with the trauma of leaving elitist, ultra-control groups.

Mark 1:41  Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Some claim, as I used to, that UBF has changed and is changing, and is no longer cult-like, or never was cult-like. This is partially true, but such conclusions are made by those with blind eyes who are in denial of historical fact. Such people are those who praise God, but ignore division.

Indeed, internal changes are constantly happening in UBF. After every reform movement the past 50 years, UBF leaders adopt new and better language such as “theology” or “grace” or “Holy Spirit”, but these are nothing more than internal adjustments. The fundamental doctrines of UBF (i.e. the Spiritual Hertiage of God’s ways from Samuel Lee) remain unchanged. From time to time, I see small glimmers of the Spirit working, but see little evidence of the abundant, transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, I see a constant re-writing of UBF history by UBF people.

In the past two years, UBF’s headquarters in Chicago has made much effort to keep a good public face to the larger Christian community. While this is unprecedented, given UBF’s absolutely closed past and severe criticism of Western Christianity, such public-facing activities have not made an impact outside Chicago. Indeed, from both an inside and an outside perspective, such attempts at being loosely connected with Western Christianity seem to be only a way of covering up the problems that have led UBF to be on cult-watching groups.

Yes, in 2012, there are six groups that list UBF as “being watched” or as “abherrant”.

1. Apologetics Index
2. Rick Ross Institute
3. New England Institute of Religious Research
4. Cult Information Services of Northeast Ohio, Inc.
5. CARM
6. Freedom of Mind

The Apologetics Index says this:

“In short, we have seen nothing that suggests University Bible Fellowship’s teachings and practices should not — at the very least — be cause of concern for Christians. In our opinion, the UBF is an unhealthy organization whose teachings and practices provide a breeding ground for spiritual elitism and spiritual abuse.

Theologically, we consider the University Bible Fellowship to be at best an aberrant movement. In Christian theology, aberrant means, “Off-center or in error in some important way, such that the doctrine or practice should be rejected and those who accept it held to be sinning, even though they may very well be Christian.” (source)

In 2004, UBF was expelled from the NAE. What the public probably doesn’t know is that only the Chicago chapter was a member, and not as a denomination but only as an organization. In 2008, UBF re-applied, more officially, and persuaded the new NAE board members to accept them, partly because of the new UBF public relations activities.

But has UBF changed?

To answer that, I look back at the three reform movements and note the ongoing 2011 independence movement (called a crisis by the UBF 50th Anniversary Book). After reviewing the reform material, I’ve decided to focus on the 1976 reform movement and see what reforms, if any, suggested by the Korean staff shepherds in 1976 have been implemented as of 2012.

Below are the highlights of the Korean-drafted 1976 UBF reform letters. In follow-up comments to this article, I will share my observations as an American Director shepherd who was “Mr.UBF” and defended UBF for 24 years, from 1987 to 2011. I would hope others would share their observations (minus the emotion and focusing on facts).

The 1976 reform movement:

– Led by seven Korean UBF staff shepherds

– Reform letter was sent April 17, 1976 before Easter to Samuel Lee

– Their allegations are based on factual, eye-witness accounts, most of which are well-documented

– Allegations of Offering Abuses:

• Misappropriation of offering money
• Concealment of an accounting book in UBF headquarters
• Obscure expenses and expenditures

– Allegations of Human Rights Abuses:

• Examples of violence
• Forced arranged marriage

– Allegations of Illegal Activity:

• Theft
• Forged documents and bribe
• Destruction of family

– Allegations of Non-Biblical Education:

• Forced repentance
• Forced testimony sharing
• Infusion of personal philosophy
• Inhumane training

– Allegations of Ministry centered on Samuel Lee:

• Committees unable to operate freely
• Dictatorship style meetings

1976 Reform Direction

Ministry directions of UBF

UBF should be the ministry that God may use after solving the problems mentioned above. We suggest the following ministry directions based on the Bible. We want to change the regulations of UBF based on the following directions.

Main direction: The Holy Spirit instead of one person should lead ministry. The agenda should be discussed and determined together.

1. System

(1) Identical man-made system should be changed to creative and independent system that respects the ministry of local chapters (Ephesians 2:21,22).

(2) Each chapter is led under each chapter director’s responsibility. UBF discussion committee should be organized.

(3) Abroad chapters are independently administrated. Offering money for missionaries’ education and training should be sent to the main accounting department (Romans 15:25,26). Missionary sends offering to his home chapter by his own will.

2. Enforcement of committee

The function of committees should be reinforced to establish budget, audit, inspect accounting, and administer personnel (Acts 20:28).

3. Separation of administration

Administration personnel will control budget, accounting and auditing. (Currently, the president of leaders has controlled accounting even though he should concentrate on the
prayer and the ministry of the word.) (Acts 6:3-6)

4. Education of shepherds and missionaries

Impersonal physical training should be stopped and education should concentrate on spiritual inspiration. (1 Timothy 4:7,8)

5. Administration of personnel

Personnel administration committee should maintain the administration of personnel. (Currently, the president of leaders decides and maintains the administration of
personnel.) (Acts 1:15-26)

6. Protection of private life

The family of shepherds and laymen should not be inhibited by anybody for any reason.

So again I ask, did UBF change after the 1976 reform movement?

I present the letter from the 2000 UBF reform movement, again led by Korean staff shepherds, as evidence that nothing fundamentally changed in UBF from 1976 to 2000. The “change” was nothing more than internal adjustments and appeasements.

The 2000 reform movement:

God established UBF 39 years ago and has blessed her to send out over 1,500 missionaries to 87 countries. Being convinced that we need the mentality of reform, open-mindedness and an embracing attitude in order to grow and progress further, we declare the following in this beginning year of a new millennium:

First, the Lordship of Jesus Christ should be restored in UBF. It is God who established our fellowship. But in the last 39 years, everything has been decided and ruled by one man and many people have been hurt in the process. This ill must stop now. We need to accept Jesus Christ as the King of our fellowship. UBF should be guided by the Holy Spirit and grow and develop by the free consultations and cooperation of coworkers.

Second, our fellowship should become a Christ-centered community of love. Thus far, due to authoritarianism and number-emphasis in our fellowship, the personal relationships among coworkers has been jeopardized. Love and trust have been sorely missing. Now we need to get back to our Lord’s command, “Love one another.” Our fellowship needs to become a mature fellowship built around love and service.

Third, we need to embark on educating staff shepherds as spiritual experts in order to have spiritual quality.

It is our sincere desire to pursue the above goals in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation. We do not want UBF to be divided. We will keep the spirit of dialogue in the Holy Spirit to the end.

May 23, 2000

Initiating members of the committee for UBF reform:

MyungRoon UBF
DaeJeon UBF
MohkPoh UBF
JeonJoo UBF
SooWon UBF
DaeGoo UBF
InCheon UBF
KyoungHeemoon UBF
Pusan UBF
KyoungJoo UBF
ChungJoo UBF

(source)

http://www.odnimslovom.org/

“odnim slovom” is Russian for “one word”. My primary project will continue to be to articulate the gospel of Jesus one word at a time. This project will produce presentations called “sermon starters”.

http://www.knet6.com/grace/

I contend that grace is the primary lens to unlock and unpack all Scripture. I’ve already reviewed God’s message of grace in the book of grace, Romans. This project will keep me centered on the grace of God as I continually learn the vast majesty of God’s ways.

http://www.priestlynation.com/

This blog will remain as a permanent witness of the first 50 years of University Bible Fellowship. I lived the last 24 of those 50 years. The UBF celebrations will tell the world only the positive, glorious-sounding, good-natured viewpoints of the last 50 years. This project will document my view and the viewpoints of many who see a real picture of what UBF has done and failed to do.

Today I open a new chapter in this ongoing blog, with the purpose of sharing what God has put on my heart and mind regarding His priestly nation. In this blogging project, I will be examining the Bible’s teaching about God’s chosen people and comparing the Bible’s teachings with what UBF teaches in their Blue Book. It is clear to me that God’s purpose is indeed to raise up a priestly nation (Exodus 19:5-6, 1 Peter 2:9). I want to find out how God’s purpose compares to what UBF teaches, examining the Blue Book lectures in light of Scripture.

The questions on my mind today are these:

• What does God want His chosen people to do?
• Did God ever become angry with His chosen people?
• What messages did God give to His prophets to declare to His chosen people?

So today I am making my final post to this priestly nation blog. As my new tagline says, this blog is a collection of stories about my old, graceless life spent trying to be a priest. It is true that Christians are a “royal priesthood” and a “holy nation”. Yet I see no evidence to support building such a “nation” by human effort or ambition. Although I often did not believe in such nationalistic and elitist ideals, I have discovered this year that I helped facilitate and support such things.

While I do not reject the idea that I am a priest (in the sense that all believers are priests), I do reject the idea that I should help build a new, supremely pious, religious community around the world. I do not think that is what God (or Peter) had in mind when they wrote 1 Peter chapter 2.

One of the reasons I started this blog this year was to capture the topics I blog about. As you can see in the Tag Cloud of categories, I’ve written most about Bible study, news, truth, freedom and Jesus. It is rather shocking to me now that I see the word “grace” did not even become a category in my writing! A quick review of any respected Christian author or preacher will reveal that the grace of God is central to Christian faith. Yet it is missing entirely from my thoughts.

So my journey of faith takes yet another turn. For those who wonder if I will continue to speak up about issues facing UBF, rest assured that I will. God help me if I remain silent about such matters! I will keep this blog open for comments and as a permanent reminder of the events that transpired in 2011. I will also reply back to those who comment here, as well as continue my ongoing dialogues via email and Facebook. And yes, I will be participating in various internal and external projects related to explaining, examining and exposing the UBF system.

Soon I will also have a new blog where I capture my thoughts and questions on my journey of life. In the past I felt it was burdensome to write a two page testimony every week. But now I write far more than this and spend way more time in dialogues, yet I’m not burdened, but filled with peace, power and joy. 2011 was something like the movie “Monsters, Inc.” for me. I found that joy is 10 times more powerful than fear.

I want to leave my readers with some excellent sermons by two good friends (so far we have only been virtual friends; I really must visit Chicago!).

God Became Weak

Christianity is the End of Religion

God’s Love Brings About Real Change

The grace of God be with you,
Brian.

How did Peter and John react to being put in jail for talking about Jesus and obeying the direction of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:1-22)? What did they do when the religious leaders threatened them and commanded them to stop talking about Jesus? Peter and John’s reaction is described in Acts 4:23-31. They were commanded to stop talking about Jesus and threatened to stop obeying the Holy Spirit. They said no.

Acts 4:23-31 (NIV)

“23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.’

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

And today’s sermon will be soon posted here:

http://www.gracewired.com/Grow/All-Sermons.aspx

“29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

As I was reviewing the Google search terms yesterday, one term stood out. It was actually a question someone had typed into Google: How to leave UBF? This inspired me to post today’s article. I believe Scott Moreau of Wheaton College was correct in his suggestion for UBF to “publicly discuss their administration problems”. This is a nice and politically correct way of saying UBF needs open, honest and group communication.

The question of to stay or not to stay? has been discussed on another blog. In fact it is the number one discussion in terms of number of views and comments.

So here is my initiation of a public discussion of the question “How do I leave UBF?” I kick off the discussion by presenting a historical overview of how people have left in the past 50 years. This is of utmost importance because when you decide to leave UBF, you often feel like you are alone, as if no one else has left UBF. You can rest assured that many thousands of people have indeed left UBF, and continue to leave even today in 2011.

1. The deprogrammer way of leaving: In order to properly answer a question like this, it is important to understand the historical background. The fact is, people and organizations are constantly changing. And if we don’t acknowledge history, we are, of course, bound to repeat it.

UBF began in 1961, in South Korea. When Korean missionaries were first sent to America, Germany and Canada and other countries in the 1970’s, cult-watching groups immediately picked up on their practices as unusual and strange. Some have explained this as Korean culture and the clash between Eastern and Western ideals and value systems. This does go a long way in understanding UBF. Nonetheless, the first reaction to UBF was strong. Groups like CAN (Cult Awareness Network) actually kidnapped people in UBF and tried to “deprogram” them. It is unknown to me how often this happened to UBF Bible students, but I know it did happen. Thankfully, this organization went bankrupt. Almost everyone acknowledges this was the wrong approach Biblically, emotionally and psychologically, and illegally, to leaving groups like UBF.

2. The traumatic way of leaving: Although the deprogrammer approach subsided quickly, leaving UBF has historically been traumatic. There are literally hundreds of testimonies to this fact. A few have kept their Christain faith; many have shipwrecked their faith in their attempts to leave UBF. And tragically, there are reports (from Germany) that some have committed suicide after their leaving, due to the overwhelming madness of the response from UBF leaders. In my eyewitness observation and personal experience, nearly all of this trauma, pain, bitterness, anger, frustration, confusion and depression is attributed to one thing: the hard-hearted mindset of UBF leaders.

To a UBF leader, discipline and army-like devotion and loyalty are paramount. Leaving UBF is not an option and not acceptable to them. In their minds, it is not a question anyone should be asking; it is equated to losing your faith and disobeying God. The Korean ideas of shunning and shaming have traditionally been used to coerce people to stay, to come back, or to leave in silence. (In my case those tactics were used to get me to leave quietly…but as you can see that did not work.)

When you want to leave UBF, you need to understand this mindset. UBF leaders will say many nice words and may claim you can freely leave. In their actions, they will make it as difficult to leave as possible. At best, they will claim you are a “lesser Christian” and leaving the “green berets of Christianity” or going to a “luke-warm church” (if you found another church).

As Scott Moreau pointed out, these “turn-the-table” tactics, which attempt to place all the blame and fault on the person leaving, will lead to “vocal enemies” and explosive exit testimonies when shame and guilt tactics are used in America and in the West.

3. The pact of silence way of leaving: As I pointed out in a post earlier, some have left UBF with a large sum of money or other mutually beneficial terms. My good friend James Kim left this way. This might be called the “agree-to-disagree” way of leaving UBF, if the leaving happens to be amicable.

Although money may not always be involved, this “pact method” is currently the preferred way of leaving UBF by UBF leaders. Most people I know who left UBF (about 103 people from about 22 families–all from one chapter) did so with some sort of agreement to remain silent about any issues that caused them to leave. Some have had a final Sunday service or final meeting in which UBF leaders prayed with the people leaving. But then after the people leave, often the UBF director tells UBF members the person left because of one of two reasons: “They don’t like Korean culture” or “They have inter-personal problems and just can’t get along with so-and-so.”

4. The vocal/public way of leaving: This is how I describe my leaving UBF: the vocal way. All I really wanted for the past 8 years is constructive dialogue about UBF issues and past “dark side” history. My reasons for leaving explain this in more detail. Leaving this way gave me and my family time to transition into a new, healthy Christian church.

Most of the questions I raised were a means of buying time so that we could do this in a healthy way. UBF leaders constantly demanded a quick resolution, except when they took time out to form a new council. Most of the time, UBF leaders just wanted me to go away so they could get back to “serving Jesus” or “student ministry”. To them, my family’s leaving was a distraction to their work.

Reconciling quickly would have had a destructive effect on my mind and heart. So I kept the dialogue open for 4 months. This enabled me to rekindle my faith (which had become stagnant), as well as to find out who I could trust (lack of trust was a key issue). Keeping the dialogue going was difficult, but opened the door to nearly 500 email discussions, several hours of in person meetings and several phone calls. To do this required a huge investment of time, effort and money. I took over 4 full days off work (without pay), made three trips to Toledo (70 miles away) and spent many hours in prayer and reflection.

Expressing my thoughts on this blog and to some extent on ubfriends.org, helped me keep my sanity and provided psychological stability. Meeting in person with many friends helped me (and our family) to have emotional stability. Most importantly, the vocal method of leaving allowed all UBF leaders to hear my story firsthand (via emails and blogs) so that no one could turn the tables and claim I was just leaving out of “bitterness toward one leader” or out of a “dislike for Koreans”. My blog demonstrates these things are not true.

If you are considering leaving UBF, I won’t advise you either way. I only advise you to focus on facts and think for yourself. Please know that you are not alone. Understand that the burden of proof is on UBF leaders, not on you. It is not your fault. You are not required to feel guilty for leaving for any reason.

And finally, you are not required to give any reason for leaving a church other than, “I don’t want to stay.”

The documents describing the three reform movements are posted in an earlier entry. UBF started in 1961. The three “R-Group” movements were in 1976, 1989 and 2000. So the attempts to reform UBF have lasted 35 years.

Recently I came to know that my leaving UBF was part of a rather large exodus of members and long-time (10+ years) leaders around the world. In the past, the reform attempts were led by Korean missionaries, many of whom formed a new ministry called CMI (Campus Mission International).

The movement in 2011 is lead by “natives” (Americans, Indians, Russians, etc.). Very few Koreans are involved this time.

Today I declare that this 2011 movement is the “Independence Movement of 2011”. We are the “I-Group” people. We are not rebellious. We are not poisonous. We are no longer interested in reform. We are tired of waiting for even a drop of change.

We are people who have decided to leave UBF for the sake of freedom. We tried to agree-to-disagree and to humbly reform things from the inside. But we have concluded that this is not possible, given the current structure of UBF, the absolute power and authority given to Korean directors, the stubborn rejection of open, honest discussion by UBF elders and the refusal of UBF elders to even acknowledge any kind of problem.

Therefore, we declare our separation from UBF in order to submit to the Holy Spirit, to obey Scripture’s teachings, to find our Gifts and put them to use in our Lord’s service, to seek the unity Apostle Paul spoke of, to let the things built by man to fall to the ground and to pursue the things of God with a passionate love for grace, truth, faith, hope and love for our King Jesus, our High Priest, in whom is all authority and power.

John Stott died today [July 27th, 2011] at 3:15 London time (about 9:15 a.m. CST), according to John Stott Ministries President Benjamin Homan. Homan said that Stott’s death came after complications related to old age and that he has been in discomfort for the last several weeks. Family and close friends gathered with Stott today as they listened to Handel’s Messiah. Homan said that John Stott Ministries has been preparing for his death for the past 15 years. “I think he set an impeccable example for leaders of ministries of handing things over to other leaders,” Homan said. “He imparted to many a love for the global church and imparted a passion for biblical fidelity and a love for the Savior.” Billy Graham’s spokesperson released the following statement from the evangelist: “The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen, and I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisors. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to Heaven.”

Stott was every inch an evangelical, but a reforming evangelical. He recognized that evangelicalism could and sometimes did sink down into mere piety, whereas the Bible spoke of a robust transformation of the world brought about by God’s people engaged in mission. As a London pastor, Stott increasingly recognized the need for evangelicalism to reclaim its heritage of engagement with the social issues of the day.

His greatest impact in the area of social concern came somewhat inadvertently. In 1974, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association convened an International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. About 2,500 members attended (in addition to 1,300 other participants). About half of the delegates and speakers came from Majority World countries. The gathering’s wide representation resembled meetings of the World Council of Churches, but the excited atmosphere of unified mission was unprecedented. Many participants grasped for the first time the global dimensions of the evangelical church….

…Stott had been asked to give the opening address on the nature of biblical evangelism. He began with characteristic humility, calling for “a note of evangelical repentance.” And he spoke head-on—with a lucid exposition of Scripture—to the issue on people’s minds. “Here then are two instructions, ‘love your neighbor’ and ‘go and make disciples.’ What is the relation between the two? Some of us behave as if we thought them identical, so that if we have shared the gospel with somebody, we consider we have completed our responsibility to love him. But no. The Great Commission neither explains, nor exhausts, nor supersedes the Great Commandment. What it does is to add to the command of neighbor-love and neighbor-service a new and urgent Christian dimension. If we truly love our neighbor, we shall without doubt tell him the Good News of Jesus. But equally, if we truly love our neighbor, we shall not stop there.”

Theologian David Wells, who was converted through a 1959 John Stott mission in South Africa, later shared a household with him for five years in the early 1960s. “His leadership was effective,” Wells says, “because of his personal integrity and his Christian life. People who knew him always came back to these points. He was known all over the world, but when you met him he was a most devout, humble Christian man. His private life was no different from his public life. It was the same person. That’s another way to say that he had integrity. There was no posing.”
One would like to say that such is the nature of plain, ordinary Christians. Not all live up to it. John Stott did.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/john-stott-obit.html

Why do I have such a problem with these things? Part of it may be due to the number of times I’ve studied certain Bible passages, such as Mark 8:33 “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Perhaps a more underlying reason is that any principle I thought I had was melted away as my father slowly died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in the late 80’s. There is no principle or theology that can comfort the soul in such times. Another reason may be that I have seen principles, theology and religion used for purposes that are contrary to the love, grace and truth Jesus clearly demonstrated. I have seen religious principles used to control and manipulate more slyly that even the best Vegas card dealer!

Yet none of these possible reasons justifies my lack of respect for religious principles. I must be “connected to the ancient Christian faith and doctrines”, as someone recently told me. Why do I need to struggle so hard to re-invent Christianity? Christianity was established long ago. I really just need to discover it. I am starting to realize in a big way that Christian life is not about submitting to a particular church’s rules or inventions. Christian life is (and always has been) a journey. It is a journey of faith, a journey with fellow believers and a journey toward a glorious meeting with Jesus Christ my Lord! This journey has been taken up many a time before me. I am realizing I need to respect those journeys and races of faith run before me.

For example, I am excited about G.K. Chesterton’s journey. His quotes are nothing short of amazing! He once said, “Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”

Some quotes more relevant to today’s topic by Chesterton: “No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete.” Perhaps my disdain for principles isn’t such a bad thing. I need to contain such disdain however, and not let it cloud my mind from the wisdom and knowledge of theologians, philosophers and educators.

This Chesterton quote stood out to me today: “Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” How will I know if someone knows what they are talking about when I hear a message that supposedly came from God? Well, I must educate myself. So I now dedicate myself to learning the ancients!

Throughout my life, since a young age, one question has been in my mind: Is every Christian a priest? As I look back on my 40-something years of life, I see that I have been on a quest to answer this question. When did this question get planted in my mind?  The question first appeared to me as a young boy, when I heard my mother and father discussing a letter my grandmother (my father’s mother) had written to them. I don’t know the full content of that letter, but know that it had something to do with how to raise children in the proper Catholic faith.

I attended the Catholic “CCD” (catechism) classes in high school. I felt a strong calling to be a priest. But there were two problems: I had no desire to perform the rituals and sacraments as the Catholic priests do, and I wanted to get married.

When I was invited to a Bible study at a campus ministry called University Bible Fellowship, I began to find answers to my question.  That was in 1987.

Since 2002, I have used this “priestlynation.com” website to tell my personal testimony of my faith in Jesus Christ.  Today I re-dedicate this website to that purpose.

I have discovered that every Christian is part of the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:1-10) and every Christian does indeed have a priestly duty (Revelation 1:1-6).  John the Revelator wrote: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father–to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”

These verses from the Bible are the reason I chose “Priestly Nation” as the domain name of this website. It is a term coined by two faithful women of God who have been tremendously influential in my life. As I re-dedicate this website, I now have a more complete idea of my priestly duty as a Christian. I will be writing and blogging about the ancient Christian doctrines and learning from pastors and pastors of pastors so that I may abundantly give my talents to the service of my High Priest, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians chapter 12 is especially relevant to the current segment of my journey of faith. I now pray to be a mentor and shepherd who can enable others to find their role in the body of Christ, serving out their priestly duty in the context where God called them, so that we may serve Christ together as one Body. I am now more excited than ever about my Christian life, faith, hope and joy!