Someone asked me this week about why the negative articles about UBF are all from the 1980’s and 1990’s, with almost no recent articles. Did UBF suddenly get better since the death of Samuel Lee in 2002? Here is my answer.
Come into the light?
As we know, UBF missionaries from the “hermit nation” of Korea hate one thing above all else – publicity. They really don’t want to come into the light of public scrutiny. At the same time, they are highly concerned about their image. What people say about UBF is of utmost importance to most UBF people. They naturally want to control who says what about them. That is why they either fear me or hate me or dismiss me– I am a loose cannon.
How UBF is attempting to improve their public image
Here is a timeline of events…
2002 Samuel Lee dies in a fire in Chicago (January 8, 2002, at 12:50 p.m)
2003 Former member discussions explode on the internet and elsewhere
2004 Former members send petition to remove UBF from the NAE
2005 The online discussion forum for former members shuts down
2007 UBF initiates a lawsuit against a former member website
2008 UBF re-joins the NAE and joins the ECFA
2009 UBF gathers numerous letters of recommendation
The Fourth Reform/Crisis Event
Things seemed to be going well up to this point. The three major reform situations in the short history of the group, in 1976, 1989 and 2000, seemed to be in the past. Many members breathed a sigh of relief. “God silenced all critics!”…they later claimed boldly in a 2012 UBF newsletter.
But already in 2010, a fourth event was being sparked. UBF saw a massive exodus of longtime leaders (like my family) in several chapters around the world, in the following years. The group had to focus on many internal problems, and then glorified themselves in a 50th anniversary celebration.
While the leaders celebrated, Joe Schafer surveyed many members. He found that morale was at an all-time low. Many members are frustrated and ready to leave if the cultic nature of the group is not addressed soon.
The Image Improvement Continues
2010 The Fourth Reform/Crisis Event sees a mass exodus of leaders; low morale
2011 The group paints a glorious picture of itself; 50th Anniversary
2012 The ubfriends.org website kicks into high gear
2013 Former member Isabelle publishes her book, “I Choose: Subtlety in Cults”
2014 Former member BrianK begins publishing 4 books,”Identity Snatchers”
2015 A Korean second gen puplishes her book, “Spirit Moves West”
2015 Abuse allegations are reported to police/authorities in two cities
2016 UBF forms a “Wikipedia Improvement Committee”
What happens next? What events did I miss here?
I have always claimed that in fact Samuel Lee was the driving force behind the abuse. He was the inventor and protagonist of the abusive system of UBFism. As the 1976 open letter shows, from the very beginnings he had the criminal energy, long-time determination and unscrupulousness to subdue people to physically and mentally abusive “trainigns” some of which can be called torture, to collect and misappropriate lots of money while evading taxes, to force people to have perms, eye surgery, even abortions, to marry, divorce and re-marry people as he liked. I have read many books on cults and Samuel Lee in fact had the same characteristics as the leaders and founders of other cult leaders: Firstly, he was able to create a seemingly consistent, convincing, Biblical system of beliefs, practices, teachings, behavioral patterns and mind control techniques that was able to create a stable cult, and replicate itself. Whenever UBF leaders copied his UBF formula, they had the same kind of results. Secondly, he himself had a certain charisma. He was able to make people believe he was somebody special, “the servant of God”. He intuitively knew which buttons to press to make people adore him, fear him, love him, hand over their lives to him, do whatever he wanted. That’s the other quality of cult leaders: They have an ingenious talent for psychology and manipulating people. Samuel Lee was at the core of UBF. Whenever people wondered how to behave, how to preach etc. they would just copy Samuel Lee. All the sermons were essentially copies of the sermons of Samuel Lee. In that way he also unified UBF. And he would kick people out who did not obey him or did not follow the UBF frenchise model exactly enough. Now that he’s gone, the normative power and driving force isn’t there any more. That’s why UBF has become a bit more diverse and less abusive. But of course the abuse has not been completely stopped, the wrong teachings and practices are still followed to various degrees. UBF is like a heavy train that needs years to stop even when the locomotive is gone, still keeps rolling on the old tracks.
Another reason why we see less reports today is that people believe everything has already been said and they don’t need to publish new testimonies any more, with experiences which are probably less extreme than those in the 80s and 90s anyway. Also, people leave much earlier today, thanks to all the warnings available on the Internet, before they are completely indoctrinated and the worst abuse starts.
And of course, you’re right in that UBF nowadays is more cautious about its image, trying to avoid and suppress negative reporting. The Internet is a big problem for UBF, they did not need to be so careful in the past. Even if there was coverage in the media, it was quickly forgotten.
Excellent points Chris, especially about the Internet and visibility. One Korean Ubf person lamented to me on Facebook last year “Sonehow we used to be able to control students better in the past.” This was in the context of arranged marriage.
I also think that the Internet makes it harder for UBF to be secretive. In the early 1980’s, when I became a sheep and a shepherdess through a gradual process of assimilation, which I was largely unaware of, I sensed that something was off.
But although I tried, I could not find any information about UBF. Eventually, the attention and help I received convinced me that UBF was a Christian organization.
My husband and I left in the 1990’s after finally realizing how much deception and abuse was being perpetrated and covered up.
Nowadays I occasionally run into loyal UBF members who I knew in the 80’s and 90’s. They usually assure me that things have changed and invite me to reestablish my relationship with UBF.
But I do not trust them because many leaders who consistently lied and perpetrated abuse are still honored and respected leaders to this day.
However, they have to work harder to keep their flocks in line because websites like ubfriends and the books that Brian and others wrote provide the information that I needed badly but could not find way back when. So thank you, Brian, for the great work you are doing.
That may even be true for many chapters. But the point is that UBF will never admit in public that they have changed, because that would imply something has been wrong in the past that needed to be changed. UBF has so many accounts of their history on the Internet and in their own teaching material, they even have a UBF museum in Korea: The big change should be mentioned there if it is real, right? But if you read their accounts, it’s a straightforward glorious history containing only things to be proud of. So when they privately admit that they have changed, but publicly refuse to do so, it tells me one thing: UBF is still secretive and hypocritical, still not willing to be an open organization that wants to live in the light.
According to the Bible, the only way to healing is through repentance. And the only way to repentance is admittance of your sins. This is true for individuals, but also for nations, organisations and churches (see the OT where Israel as a whole is told to repent, or Rev 2 and 3 where local churches are told to repent). As long as UBF is not willing to repent as a church/organisation, I will always consider it as a fake, unrepentent church. As long as they do not officially condemn the abusive conduct of their former leader and the abusive and cult-like practices and mind control methods, I will also consider UBF as a cult. Even if they have changed and the abuse has become less. To live as people of light (Eph 5) does not only mean to change your ways but to clearly admit your former wrongdoings, and to rehabilitate all those who have been expelled and denigrated for pointing out these things in the past. As long as that does not happen, they are still living as people of darkness, and I would not consider a second to re-join.
Moriah, I am encourage that your family could get out of the group.
You mentioned: “I could not find any information about UBF.”
That problem has been rectified 🙂
Has UBF changed? At the highest levels of leadership, the only thing that has changed is that the leaders have gotten older. The same people are still in charge and their mindset is still the same, still full of UBF-olotry
Case in point: The “World Mission Report” taking place in Seoul this weekend. The purpose is the same as it was five years ago, and as every previous event like this. To promote UBF values and UBF identity. Not to deepen understanding of the gospel, but to reinforce the idea that UBF is special and worthy of even more dedication and sacrifice.
“We believe that God will surely and greatly encourage all UBF missionaries and native shepherds, renewing their clear identity as UBF missionaries and shepherds through the upcoming WMR & missionary conference.”
http://ubf.org/world-mission-news/korea/korea-ubf-national-world-mission-directors-managers-meeting
maybe ubf is north korean, thinking similarly in rigid expected mindsets; individuals & groups tend not to repent or change in church or state, until they have no other choice, as they keep getting something, whether the overrich of the world or the overprivileged of ubf;
as matter of fact, the increased exposure is sometimes misused as fuel for the wrong fire, insolence instead of repentance (in other words sincere seekers will benefit from awareness of wrong while crooked operators will enjoy more wrong enabled by denunciation of exposers & increased justification of perpetrators, until one day:
like priest abuse scandal or mars hill when time is ripe
Note they didn’t write “identity as missionaries”, but “identity as UBF missionaries”. We all know what this means: A UBF missionary must live according to the UBF “heritage” of Samuel Lee, following the rules of UBFism.
To “re-new” that heritage means the opposite of change, namely reverting change and sticking to the old abusive, problematic, unbiblical practices and teachings. So again, in private they say “we changed” and in public they say “we must never change and revert any accidental change”.
“We all know what this means: A UBF missionary must live according to the UBF “heritage” of Samuel Lee, following the rules of UBFism.”
Precisely. Now let’s continue this line of thought. Every ubfer I know who has been there over 10 years has taken the ubf oath. They have literally vowed unto death to defend UBFism. They claim to die for Jesus but the reality is they have taken a death oath for the sake of UBFism.
This is one reason why we are caught in the ubf vs exubf cycle. This cycle is observable in my timeline above in the article. The yin/yang back and forth nature of this Korean group stems from the same conflict that North and South Korea are locked into.
The vow unto death is evil and must be removed. That is why I have rejected reforming UBFism. Such ideology, I claim, cannot simply be changed for the better. If it could, then the normal Christian reformation methods (which have been attempted in ubf) should have worked by now. But decades of reform attempts have failed to change UBFism.
That should clarify why I am so very harsh with calling out UBFism — it is rooted in the evil of taking vows unto death.
Moriah, in my opinion, what you wrote here is a serious problem: “…many leaders who consistently lied and perpetrated abuse are still honored and respected leaders to this day.”
Why is this so?
# The “abusive” leaders REFUSE to hear or read about their “bad behavior.”
# They think that the fact that they “bore fruit” (whatever this means to them) justifies them.
# They don’t think they abused people but that they were simply training them and helping them spiritually. To them drastic measures were necessary because sheep are so sinful and unspiritual!
# They likely believe that they have changed, are changing, growing and maturing and that it is unnecessary to bring up past problems, which to them is not that serious and that is mainly the result of ungrateful and unthankful people, whom they likely believe God will surely punish them for “playing Satan”!
Ben, those are the narratives ubfers spin up. Those are the exact narratives I heard in 1987, and the exact narratives I heard about from reading the hundreds of exubf testimonies.
The problem is that those narratives never change. Understanding this helps understand the points Chris just made in a comment above. Why does ubf change but never change? One reason is that the nostalgic hagiographical narratives don’t change.
This phenomenon creates a fantasy world disconnected from reality. It suppresses peoples’ ability to discover and write their own narratives. This is why I entitled my first three books with the word “narratives”. It is not so much about leaving ubf or criticizing ubf, but about desperately connecting with my own narrative.
Some people cannot handle this disconnect between the ubf spin/narrative and their real life, and so they commit suicide or become suicidal at worst. At best they leave and reject the ubf scripted narrative, and begin living their own narrative.
“many leaders who consistently lied and perpetrated abuse are still honored and respected leaders to this day.”
Quite frequently discussion here is dismissed. It is brushed aside and people are encouraged to “look away” from the misdeeds of the elder. This is even something directly taught. When I studied the story of Noah and his brothers I was told the message from the text was to not look on the misdeeds of the elder. I immediately pointed out that this was Confucianism at its finest, and even my indoctrinated roommate couldn’t find a defense for such an interpretation. Instead of holding him to a higher standard the elder, by virtue of his age and commitment to UBF is excused of any wrongdoing. If you push hard enough they will even be a call to forgive (a tacit admission of guilt, for if there is something to forgive there is something that has been wrong).
UBF will face a huge uphill battle until it realizes that you cannot proclaim a gospel which speaks so highly of truth and justice…and then in action refuse to practice such. Justice may not be for us to administer, but at the very least we are to uphold it as virtuous. By excusing the elder and commanding others to turn a blind eye the conveyed message is that justice does not matter- only status and loyalty to UBF.
Hi, Brian,
Thank you for your comments that have been inspiring me to think about my life.
It took me a long time to start living my own narrative. I had simply accepted what Samuel Lee and other ubf pseudo-psychologists had told me about myself and especially about my life before ubf because I believed when they taught me that SL had special insights into a person’s life.
But it always felt so wrong that the ritual of writing and sharing my life testimony over and over again made me feel terribly uncomfortable since I reported somebody else’s interpretation of my life and their desires for my future.
After leaving ubf, I was able to contemplate about my life without their input. I realized who I really was and what really happened. It felt so liberating!!! God is still revealing and explaining things about me, which I find very exciting.
The other day, I shared part of my testimony with a small group at the church that my family and I are now attending. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all because I was sharing my life story as I saw it.
God is good!
If I had a million stars, I would rate this a million stars!
“After leaving ubf, I was able to contemplate about my life without their input. I realized who I really was and what really happened. It felt so liberating!!! God is still revealing and explaining things about me, which I find very exciting.”
That is EXACTLY what my wife and I are experiencing. That is EXACTLY what NINE Christian pastors told me! Those nine Christian pastors have different theology–but they all share at least one mark of Chrisianity–allowing people to pursue their spiritual journey with their own narratives in light of the cross of Jesus.
UBFism says take up the cross of UBFism. Jesus says “My yoke is easy”. That yoke is grace–grace to live your authentic life in light of the love of God and to be transformed, not into a UBF mold, but into the person God created you to be!
“God silenced all critics!”
This is hilarious.
It’s so funny how there are so many arbitrary standards within this organization that don’t match up with reality at all. Like goals for a conference that are the same as the ones for the conference five years ago.
I see abuse and authoritarianism others see it as God’s kingdom coming to earth.
People hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. They/we dismiss anything that doesn’t match our desired narrative…
Samuel Lee said similar things after the CAN (cult awareness network) had to close after law suites driven by Scientology lawyers (and finally was taken over by Scientology). In one newsletter he wrote “the era of Christ has come”, referring to that event. He also repeated distortions of several of Scientologie’s slanderous (and proven to be false) claims about its founder, Ms. Kisser.
Well, in my accounts, if an anti-cult organization had to close, then I would rather conclude that the age of cults has come instead of the age of Christ. I wonder if Waco and Heaven’s Gate could have been prevented with better cult awareness institutions.
During my “prison” time in KC ubf I remember the chapter faithful speaking about S lee as if he could walk on water. I remember my former Sheppard in a way boasting about how many people showed up at his funeral. Having read the accounts of numerous ex-ubf members concerning s. lee all I can say is the constant worship of this demon infested person who operated under a Christian veneer is a slap in the face to those who’ve suffered and continue to suffer under his authoritarian system.
Unfortunately, ancestor worship is a component of UBFism. This stems from UBF having a group theology that exists at the fringes of fundamentalist Christianity and near the intersection of Confucianism and Buddhism. Taoism is also not far away from UBFism. I know the Koreans who take pictures on SL’s gravesite. They all are jockeying for a “double portion” of SL’s “spirit”. The German guy from Bonn who likes to sit on the ground above SL’s head is most dangerous.
But as you point out, UBFers will defend the glory stories surrounding SL.