Disclaimer: The following images may cause triggers.
John Baik worships Chang -Woo “Samuel” Lee in a very sneaky way.
Here is evidence in Baik’s very recent sermon:
“We remember Dr. Samuel Lee’s struggle. He was already serving great work of God. But he didn’t think that he knew the Bible. So, he started his personal everyday Bible study, and it took for him four years to cover the entire Bible. But he still did not think he knew the Bible. So, he studied the entire Bible one more time, taking four years again. But after eight years’ study, he still did not think that he knew the Bible. So, he did it one more time, taking another four years. Then, after 12 years studies, he finally grasped what the Bible was talking about. He said that the Bible is about paradise lost and paradise regained. Then, through the word of God he served, so many people have been strengthened, encouraged and inspired to go and live for God alone….”
“Great servants of God like Billy Graham, Dr. Samuel Lee, or Mother Barry….”
Source: http://www.shepherdschurch.org/Current-Message/sundayjanuary282018
Baik made it seem like Lee just came out of heaven. This is a sugarcoat and overrated perspective of Lee. Noticed how he emphasized Lee out of all people in addition to basically copying all of Lee’s sermons.
For the new “sheep” of the church you are probably wondering who is this Chang-Woo “Samuel” Lee Baik is talking about? [Chang-Woo is the founders birth name. Lee took the name Samuel when he came to the US in the mid 1970s]. This is Lee:
This is a rare photo of the founder standing next to people
This is the same Lee Baik mentions in his sermon. Note how Baik NEVER mentions University Bible Fellowship (UBF) in his sermons. When Baik does mention UBF at the church it is extremely RARE.
John Baik is not the only one who worships Lee. In fact basically all UBF “missionaries” does this as you can see:
That is UBF’s perspective of the founder.
To see the other perspective of Lee check out the following:
former UBF missionary Mark Hong’s account
former UBF missionary Peter “Man-Suk” Chang’s letter to Lee
former UBF missionary Andrew’s account
Those images in the article were from the newsletter made about the founder shortly after he died as part of the memorial http://history.ubfservice.com/people/samuel_lee/NL2002-p0117.pdf
I was there for SLee’s funeral. I was there for that photo too. They called it a “homecoming ceremony”. I heard many conversations about how bizarre his death was. One Korean woman was saying the door was not locked in the room where he was. In any case, we cannot expect anyone at UBF who was there/alive at the time to tell the details of the story.
In the end, we are left with the two strong, opposing views of SLee: Those who worship him like Buddha and those who despise his life work. Given his horrific training methods that included physical abuse, and given his confirmed ordering of abortions for the “glory of God”, we are left with no middle ground regarding his legacy.
“One Korean woman was saying the door was not locked in the room where he was. In any case, we cannot expect anyone at UBF who was there/alive at the time to tell the details of the story.”
I remember reading that reference at one of the old UBF reform websites
The only person who came close to that middle ground view of Lee that I know of is Ben Toh