Celibacy is a false teaching (per UBF)

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

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

Deep deep bible study

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

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

Han Syndrome

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

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

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

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

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

This new report from the Cologne UBF Fall Bible Conference reveals the sickening pattern of self-glorification that repeats over and over like a broken record. I’ve seen this pattern hundreds of times since 1987.

Two Agendas

The German Bible students want to build an altar of thanksgiving to God, which is good and pure. The UBF directors want to establish longterm UBF heritage loyalists, which is not so pure.

In preparation time, Eberhard Gross and Volker Keller were convinced that through this conference we should build an altar of thanksgiving to God. At the same time we wanted to raise two longtime Bible students as shepherds. But the messengers we first chose, were not ready. Some pioneering chapters had their own program and shepherds in Koeln were under pressure from studies and/or work. God used this to glorify himself among us through his word and his spirit.

Mystical Weather Observations

UBF directors continue to be mesmerized by weather patterns. They tend to see some specific blessing on UBF in the weather.

The environment was also beautiful: a house on a hilltop. And instead of streams of November rain, we had mostly dry weather with pleasant temperatures.

Isolation and Separation from The World

UBF directors continue to push the UBF lifestyle as “the best way”, prooftexting this hidden agenda with Bible verses and using guilt-tripping to push students into a life separated from friends and family. They usually draw on a source of pity as well, such as someone who “had no chance” up to now.

Pastor Abraham Lee had had no chance of preaching in a long time, but this time served the opening message on John 15:1-17. In this passage, Jesus taught his disciples their indispensable relationship with him, like the branches and the vine. This relationship needs active care. As the gardener cuts the branches, we, the disciples of Jesus, must separate ourselves sometimes from good and even better things in order to serve the best, i.e., doing what God wants us to do. Our lives will be meaningful, happy, and fruitful when we remain in Jesus.

Teaching Irresponsibility

UBF directors continue to teach that worldly vocation and study outside of UBF activity is bad. They teach that Jesus must be first always, and thus UBF activity must be first, instead of the Christian teaching that Jesus should be in the center of our lives.

Rene Richelshagen preached from all his heart. By the end of this month, he is supposed to turn in his bachelor paper. Still, he put priority on God’s word and both challenged and invited us through Jesus’ teaching.

Secret Sauce

I have become convinced that the “secret sauce” that makes UBF keep going year after year is the binding of UBF heritage to the Bible. The prized heritage activity is testimony writing based on a UBF message. In this way, the grace of God is exchanged for human work and human authority. To take the edge of strangeness off, testimony writing is always followed by some fun activity.

The message helped us to write our testimonies and to share them in our groups. In this way, the grace each one received was multiplied, and we can pray for each other from our hearts even after this conference. On the same afternoon, we also had much fun through games supporting team spirit.

Winners inside; Losers outside

UBF directors continue to teach that those outside UBF are “the lost”, binding UBF to Jesus and other religious people to the Pharisees. Yet the UBF directors refuse to see that they are the Pharisees who have no love for the lost. They continue to heap guilt onto Bible students, making them feel that they were “lost” before adopting the UBF lifestyle.

On Saturday night, Michael Pohl preached on John 10:1-18. Jesus taught about the Good Shepherd on the background of the Pharisees who had cast out of the synagogue a man born blind who had been healed by Jesus. The Good Shepherd does the very opposite: he gathers those who are lost. Jesus gathers the lost ones and makes them winners of life. He takes care of God‘s sheep because he loves them from his heart. And since he loves them selflessly, only for their own sake, he is even willing to lay down his own life for them. The lost ones – that doesn’t mean only losers, but also people who seem to lack nothing – just as Michael himself experienced.

Immoral Activity

UBF directors continue to allow immoral activity more boldly in order to “be relevant” or to “appease the second generation”. The sexual inneundos at UBF conferences are getting less and less subtle. A UBF lifestyle eventually leads to a numb conscience in which immoral or illegal activity is no longer shocking.

On the Sunday before, all the assembly of Koeln I had danced a “good shepherd style” (like “Gangnam Style”) right after worship service. God has truly given us many possibilities to express our joy of his calling and over the task entrusted to us.

(source)

“Let us take your children all summer so that you can rest and renew your mission.”

“Our problems are none of your business.”

“You might be spiritually dead.”

“Since you are a director in UBF, just do your own ministry however you want, but remain connected to UBF.”

“Please come visit Chicago.”

“No one considers you an enemy.”

“May God bless you. Never send me emails again.”

“God bless your faith, but take me off your email list.”

“None of our coworkers are interested in what you have to say.”

“No one wants to hear what you are talking about.”

“Your issues would take years to discuss.”

“Maybe you could study Bible with [name remove] in Chicago.”

“Thank you for your many years of service. Good-bye.”

“I don’t know if breaking into someone’s house in 1990 was illegal or not, but it was for God’s glory.”

“Have mercy on us! Stop sending emails.”

“I don’t care about your secret.”

The Unity Committee

UBF used to have a “Public Relations Committee”. I have their reports. But now the same guy who led the PR Committee is heading a new committee…wait for it… the Unity Committee! And how is he leading this committee? Isaiah 45:21 is his direction. Just “declare what is to be”. Just coerce people into unity. Be united! Just command it, and it will be so…that’s what the 2012 UBF Newsletter says, in essence, on page 35 (see screenshot above). The goal of this Unity Committee is the same as the old Public Relations committee, which was also led by Jacob Lee. The goal is to create a good public face for UBF.

God quieted all critical people

Unity, in UBF terms can be described as “shouting slogans all together”. Ready… “Praise God for declaring what is to be in 2011. God quieted all critical people to UBF so that UBF may be used as God’s instrument for the world mission.” (2012 UBF Newsletter, page 35).

Apparently, God cannot work if there are critical people. Apparently God won’t bless people who think for themselves or ask questions or try to reform or improve things. Apparently God’s arm really is too short…

I will not be silent!

So according to the Director of Unity in UBF, God quieted all critical people in 2011? Really… so I guess Jacob Lee didn’t read my emails. I guess he didn’t read all the ubfriends articles or my priestlynation articles, and the world-wide discussions that ensued in the USA, Russia and China? I guess he didn’t read the recent Wikipedia entry or the Freedom of Mind entry? I guess the inclusion of UBF on 8 cult-watching groups world-wide doesn’t count as criticism?

Criticism of UBF in 2010, 2011 and 2012

In case you missed it…

Undocumented beliefs in UBF

UBF Spiritual Heritage

UBF Business Mission

UBF Official Teaching Material

Mission/Legalism/Tradition Hinders Spiritual Growth

Racism in the Church

Rethinking Genesis: Man Equals Mission

Shepherds or Sheep: Who Sacrifices More?

Sexual Sin and Church Leadership

Spiritual Abuse: Shape Up or Ship Out

An Explanation of the Excessive Control in UBF

The Myth of Multiplication, Part 1   Part 2   Part 3

In fact, you would think there are no problems whatsoever in the “great lakes region” UBF…It’s all so wonderful and happy!

The “great lakes” UBF ignores the pain and division that has happened and simply prepares yet another Bible conference.

The prayer topic? “Establish me forever!” With a loose understanding of the Old Testament idea of graciousness, the directors put themselves back in the center of power and authority, claiming “God’s grace through David”, from 2 Kings study.

The report says “This precious time promoted personal dialogue and steps toward greater relational connections among the committee members.” Really… such great relational connections… perhaps we could get a diagram of that :)

Who is the fertilizer generation? They are the first wave of Bible students who accepted Jesus and found God’s calling in UBF just after the first Korean missionaries came to America or to other nations. Primarily they are those who committed to UBF ideology in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and grew through the early 1990’s. But their commitment was not deemed “good enough” and they “fell away” from the faith. In reality, they were ground up and spit out, while UBF leaders re-focused on new, young, “leadership material”.

I never heard an official explanation of what the term “fertilizer generation” meant but I did hear Samuel Lee reference the term one time when I had breakfast with Sarah Barry. But it seems obvious now: When the Korean UBF missionaries came to North America, they didn’t quite know what they were doing. That is why they almost lost their mission entirely in Winnepeg, Canada. Nobody in UBF will talk about any facts  about Winnepeg UBF: just that it failed somehow. There are many mysterious stories about those early days. Many people were simply written out of UBF history.

If I look back at some of the events I witnessed (either firsthand or by knowing the people involved), I think the meaning of the fertilizer generation is clear: an experiment meant only as soil to grow something else. I was so focused on my own life at the time, I either ignored things or didn’t have the capacity to do anything about it.

Some people in UBF wonder why ex-UBF people don’t display “love and affection” or “kind words” toward UBF. Well perhaps this is why. I “grew up” in UBF where these things actually happened in the 1980’s and 1990’s:

– one family tried to take a family vacation, they were rebuked for going on vacation, when their car broke down on the way, they were told that God was angry with them and had ruined their plans; no family dared to take a family vacation for quite a few years

– several families were rebuked publicly for having a Christmas tree

– several young leaders were rebuked for wanting to go trick-or-treating with their children

– several families were rebuked for buying a TV and for being lazy and indulging in entertainment

– one brother smashed a Christian music tape of another brother, because it was deemed too worldly

– Bible students were told that computer technology was not spiritual and it was inappropriate to answer Bible study question sheets on a computer; printing out your testimony or Bible verses on paper was considered cheating

– one brother was called Satan for visiting his brother’s wedding

– one brother was asked to drop his pants in private to show obedience, then left the ministry

– one brother was asked to drop his pants to display whether he was circumcised or not

– one leader was arrested on campus for public exposure (not sure if any actual charges)

– one brother was a homosexual and allowed to be a children’s ministry leader, but later “excommunicated” after it was clearly known that he was homosexual

– one sister was a border-line homosexual and coerced to marry a brother who was not told about her situation

– one leader suddenly announced he had a mistress and 2 children at a Friday meeting, then left

– some Christmas messages graphically used the words “pee” and “poop” when describing baby Jesus’ humanity

– when one Christmas offering didn’t reach the required goal, leaders were rebuked and made to offer more, even though more than $12,000 was already offered by a rather small number of people

– attendance records for Bible study and Sunday service were tracked on large bulletin boards in the main Sunday service room, so it was easy to see who missed

– some leaders were well-informed as to who missed their offering each Sunday, as well as having a detailed report of all people who offered and how much they offered. Offerings were tracked so often that leaders knew whether someone had increased or decreased their offering over time

– when one brother received a letter with a newspaper article mentioning possible problems with UBF, a leader took the letter away and would not give it back

There are dozens if not hundreds of more events like this, but I’ll stop here. I think you get the point. These kinds of actions, and worse, are how UBF was built. It is not a small matter. It is not a matter of “just forgive and move on.” It is a matter of conscience.

I write these things on this blog, not for now, but for the future. In a few years, when the next wave of leaders exit UBF, they will have something and someone to help them.

Below is the letter I sent (with names removed) first to a select few leaders, to the entire Council, and to numerous UBF people. As of today, more than three months later, I have received no answers to these questions. I did receive two invitations to a closed-door meeting with a few people to talk about my “top 3 questions” for “repentance” and “reconciliation”, which I declined. I was also told that it would take an effort equivalent to thesis writing to answer my questions. And one person told me I could just answer them myself.

I now share this letter publicly in order to bring these issues further into the light. I hope to spark open, honest discussion, which to this day has not happened, with senior UBF leaders. Some active discussion has taken place with a few UBF people however. It is true that I am not interested in reform. I am interested in rebuilding and finding a new identity. I am interested in “moving on” (but not in silence). Much of the content on this blog was a result of the response (and lack thereof) to this letter.

Leadership Council:

After I receive a written response to my questions below from the new leadership council in Toledo UBF, I will consider an in-person meeting in Toledo UBF. My reasoning for this request is that I have observed the same pattern of people leaving UBF the past 21 years. Although we are beginning to experience something new, the words and actions of Toledo leaders the past 8 years do not reconcile. The words are good and genuine, but the actions tell a different story.

Event 1: The 1990 moving of James and Rebekah Kim in Toledo.
Were our actions illegal according to Ohio Law?
Did these actions violate the US Constitution, the 4th amendment?
Did these actions violate God’s commands to love our neighbor?

Event 2: The Detroit chapter pioneering.
Why was I not allowed to form a pioneering committee to assist the process when I requested such help?
Why were we demanded to travel to Toledo every Sunday for 6 months as a requirement to be officially sent out to Detroit?
Why did we not seriously discuss being missionaries to Russia or to England?
Why were we just left in Detroit alone for 7 years? (the first year a Korean missionary was in Detroit, but after he left UBF, Toledo UBF stopped nearly all communication).

Event 3: Succession of leadership in Toledo UBF.
Why were five fully-qualified leadership candidates not groomed to become pastor over the past 21 years?
Why is there confusion about being a director vs. being a pastor?
Is there any plan for someone else to be pastor/director?
How does this situation compare to what happened in Bowling Green?

Event 4: Dead dog training.
What is dead dog training?
Does this training still exist or anything like it?
Why is obedience to authority so highly valued above other Christian values?

Event 5: The gospel.
What is the gospel?
What might UBF learn from other churches?
How can UBF be connected to 2,000+ years of Christian history?

Event 6: Christian ministry.
What is the role of a pastor?
How does a pastor work with other elders?
How does a pastor help church members fine their role and gifts from the Holy Spirit?
What doctrines and teachings should a pastor be reading and knowing?

Event 7: Systematic problems with UBF.
Other former members have already expounded on this. I agree with all of what they said regarding ministry problems and ways to change. Why is it so difficult to listen to honest, truthful Christians who have ideas for improving the ministry?
Why are those who speak honestly and truthfully driven away from the ministry?

There are however, a lot less people in the photo. But nevermind about that…just keep focusing on new students, who are so humble and great. Just forget about the nearly 40 members who just left. Don’t bother acknowledging any kind of problem whatsoever. Just put on a happy face and praise God…no need to mention there is one less chapter in the Great Lakes Region. No reason to mention that the newly formed Leadership Council is falling apart.

Why mention those things when there is such a “growing love, spirit of joy, and collaboration among us.” UBF makes me sick and yes this is today’s rant.

We had a wonderful Great Lakes Region meeting in Akron on Saturday, September 24th. The hospitality, Biblical expertise, and wonderful fellowship environments created for us by M. Isaac and Rebekah Kim and Latticia moved everyone’s heart. We had an insightful Bible study together on the shepherd life of Elisha from Lesson 4 of 2 Kings Chapters 6 and 7 led by M. Isaac Kim. Then we proceeded to share our prayer topics and the work of God going on in each of the chapters with members present (Akron, Bowling Green, Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh). The prayer topics for Buffalo, Erie, and Owens, who could not attend this time, were also shared. We all prayed together specifically for each chapter and for Akron and Toledo ministry. Akron UBF prays for harvest workers to join them. We all sensed a growing love, spirit of joy, and collaboration among us. We then enjoyed a most delicious lunch at a local Japanese sushi buffet. As a region, we have the following direction and prayer topics:

(1) Reaching out to college student through Bible study and disciple-making in each chapter
(2) To have the next regional meeting in Columbus sometime in the spring, unless another smaller chapter volunteers to host it
(3) To plan and organize a regional retreat for families and co-workers in the summer of 2012

(source)

This workshop is already giving me good ideas of how not to study the Bible. These are not new ideas to me however. I can see them in every conference and most Bible studies I’ve attended the past 24 years.

A) Command/promise switching. The title of this workshop is “Be a good minister of Christ Jesus”. This title is phrased as a command. But does Scripture state this as a command? No. The verse says “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.” 1 Timothy 4:6 NIV. The words “you will be” indicate a promise or a fruit or a result of a command. The command is to “point these things out”. The exhortation is to “Command and teach these things.” (v. 11) But the title of the workshop sets a mantra that switches out the promise or effect with a command.

B) Location baiting. Often I was excited about some new change for a conference, only to find that the “new change” got switched back to something else at the last minute. It is no different for this workshop. Those who registered early were told the conference would be at a Salvation Army campground called Camp Wonderland. I have heard that this is a very good place to have a workshop or retreat or conference. But a few days before registration closes for this workshop, the location was canceled and switched back to the local church building.

C) Subjective selection process. You might think that the public links for this workshop would indicate an open enrollment with objective standards for who could attend. The reason given for the location switch was that there were a “large number” of interested candidates. But the behind-the-scenes emails state: “Only about 45 leaders will be accepted to this workshop.” If this information was made public, it would not be a big deal. But the perception of a large, open enrollment process is contradicted by the hidden selection-by-your-leader process. This selection process is entirely subjective, with no evidence of an objective evaluation criteria. Members are left to wonder why some where chosen and others were not.

D) Missing role of the Holy Spirit. The prayer given for this workshop in an email to directors was this: “We pray that key UBF leaders serving throughout the USA and Canada, primarily those serving in the capacity of a fellowship leader, may be strengthened by meeting God our Savior and having a broader view of his church, and may learn to serve more effectively in God’s household as good ministers of Christ Jesus.” Again, there is only mention of a binary god: 1) God our Savior and 2) Christ Jesus. The four question sheets sent as material for this workshop do not mention the Holy Spirit even once. How can anyone minister the gospel without the Holy Spirit?

E) Telling the Bible what to say. UBF idealism has many values, but four important values are: 1) the acceptance of salvation in two gods 2) the family of God 3) growth or development and 4) servantship. The question sheets given for this workshop are carefully constructed to emphasize these values, prooftexting them from 1 Timothy chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The key verse chosen should have prompted an immediate question for those who would want to be ministers of Christ Jesus: what things should we be pointing out to our brothers and sisters? The passages in 1 Timothy are ripe with things we should be pointing out.

F) Incoherent arranging of Scripture. If the workshop studied 1 Timothy in some logical way, such as the way it is presented in the Bible, people would be able to grasp the truths God wants to convey through Apostle Paul to Timothy and to us. Unfortunately below is how the verses are arranged in four lessons. My head was spinning as I tried to follow the verses and questions. Notice how the verses are carefully selected and arranged in an attempt to support four themes important to UBF idealism. The arrangement is so noisy that I’m not really sure if they do support the themes, but I’m guessing there is some sort of wisdom that says they do.

1. GOD OUR SAVIOR (who God is and who Jesus is) ***
1 Timothy 2:3–6a; 4:3–4 (1:1,12–17; 3:16; 4:10; 6:13–17)
Key Verses: 2:3–4

2. GOD’S HOUSEHOLD: THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD
1 Timothy 2:1–2,8–15; 3:1–16
Key Verse: 3:15

3. HOW TO GROW AS A GOOD MINISTER OF CHRIST JESUS
1 Timothy 4:6–16; 6:11–12
Key Verse: 4:7b

4.HOW TO SERVE AS A GOOD MINISTER IN GOD’S HOUSEHOLD
1 Timothy 4:13; 5:1–25
Key Verse: 4:13

*** Note that the Holy Spirit (who has a critical role in ministry) is mentioned by Apostle Paul twice in these passages, but not once in any of the workshop lessons:

1 Timothy 3:16 “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

1 Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

The Altar Boys: “I question it”.

But much can be learned from the messages posted publicly.

“During the past several months, we have had chance to critically examine ourselves with questions, “What is going on in this ministry? What is wrong with us? Is there any hope for Toledo UBF? Should we keep being a part of this ministry?” While our leaders asking these questions, several student leaders took a specific action for reaching out fellow students. Last Friday, these student leaders organized Praise and Worship. The previous week, these students helped CBF Bible School. They were all united for this. This united effort our students is very inspiring for all of us.”

“This Friday I met with Pastor Abraham Kim, a new UBF General Director who will serve his four year term. We discussed several things. In this meeting I said, “Four years go very fast. Thus, please do not try to do too many and too soon. Pray very carefully and focus on one or two big things.” I apply this advice to myself as well. As Toledo Leadership Council is now organized. All six leaders (Mark Gamber, Russell Kille, Jim Paul, Greg Lewis, Mark Ohashi and Bruce Kwiatkowski) are very wonderful. They are humble and sincere. They will discharge many of the responsibilities in this ministry. As pastor I can now focus on one or two main things. What would that be? God’s message is clear. Focus on God. Therefore, pray. Be united in prayer. By God’s grace we will all learn from this persistent widow, humble tax collector and little children. In view of this passage, Toledo UBF will again have many praying people who are persistent, humble and trusting.”

Apparently…according to the quotes above from a recent message in Toledo UBF:

The leaders in Toledo UBF are not doing God’s work and just wasting time questioning issues about the ministry.

Only the young students are doing God’s work and are the only ones demonstrating unity and inspiration.

We should just forget about the more than 30 people who just left, and hope for persitent, humble and trusting people to be raised again.

What about truthful people who question things and have a different viewpoint? I guess we are all supposed to just forget everything that happened the past 5 months and move on.

Original public link:
http://www.utchristians.com/message_detail.php?id=244

A PDF screencapture in case the link above disappears:
Toledo UBF message 2011-08-21

Yes, that’s right. UBF has a committee devoted to promoting UBF in a positive light, and in a positive light only, on the internet. As of September 2011, this committee still scours the web searching for anything negative about UBF. And they will have their lawyers send you cease-and-desist letters if you really say something bad. They will contact the web admins and try to remove negative reports about UBF. I know because I helped do this in the past! I fought hard to keep the Wikipedia article about UBF sqeaky clean, for example. I singlehandedly took down 2 anti-UBF websites at one point.

But I repent of these actions now. Why should anyone be so fearful of a negative report? Shouldn’t people be able to think for themselves and make up their own mind? Even Billy Graham said once that he thanked God for his critics, who kept him accountable. Yet several elders in UBF ministry go into panic mode when they see something negative about UBF.

But this is my domain. I am an American. So for example, if I wanted to say that I think confucianism and buddhism influence UBF practices, transforming a basically sound Christian statement of faith into an authoritarian legalistic regime, could I say it? Sure. And if I thought UBF held to a gnostic belief system (two gods) that resisted, quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit, could I say so? I can and I will.