nbc5triton1997d<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s a transcript of the news report:<\/p>\n
Dangerous Devotion?<\/h3>\n
Cults have earned a lurid, far-out reputation after a serious of catastrophic events, most recently the suicide deaths of the \u201cHeaven\u2019s Gate\u201d cult.<\/p>\n
But tonight one family is claiming: Religious groups don\u2019t have to be that extreme to be dangerous.<\/p>\n
Mark Suppelsa is here with a special report.<\/p>\n
Mark Suppelsa:<\/i>\u00a0One particular religious group answers by asking tonight: \u201cWhat\u2019s so dangerous about studying the Bible?\u201d A western [Chicago] suburban family says, they thought their son was joining a simple Bible study group he had met on the college campus. But they now angrily claim: It changed their lives.<\/p>\n
A star athlete, his high school wrestling awards decorate the family\u2019s basement walls. His parents won\u2019t show you his picture, but will say, he was a loving, all-American boy, until he hooked up with one religious group.<\/p>\n
Jim Savage (father):<\/i>\u00a0\u201cThis is a dangerous group. What they did to my son, nobody should be allowed to do that, in the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teddy Hembekides (UBF pastor):<\/i>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not a dangerous man, and my group is not dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s Teddy Hembekides, pastor at this River Grove branch of the \u201cUniversity Bible Fellowship,\u201d or UBF, the house, where Jim and Sandy Savage say they have lost the son they used to know.<\/p>\n
Jim Savage:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cHe never came home. I mean, he did came home, but he never really came home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandy Savage (mother):<\/i>\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s changed, and I just feel there\u2019s a wall between us sometimes. There is that \u2013 that ripping away, that they did.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Internet, Teddy Hembekides is listed as director of the \u201cTriton College UBF.\u201d In fact, the college in River Grove has no association with this group, Triton calling this \u201cdeception.\u201d The Savages claim UBF deceived their son, into thinking it was a simple Bible study, when eventually it demanded total commitment.<\/p>\n
Jim Savage:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cHe had cut off from all of his friends, cut off from us in all respects, and I wasn\u2019t going to let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hembekides says there is no deception: \u201cMy conscience \u2013 I say that I have never taught anyone to leave the family or hate the family, especially not that family.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Savages say, their biggest problem came later, when after a few years their son finally started talking to them about leaving the group.<\/p>\n
Jim Savage:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cMy son says to my daughter, he says: \u2018I\u2019m thinking about leaving this group.\u2019 And she says: \u2018Well, leave.\u2019 He says: \u2018You don\u2019t understand. You just don\u2019t get up there and leave a group like this.\u2019 And she says: \u2018Yeah, you do, and if you\u2019re in any church and you think something isn\u2019t right, you just get up and you leave.\u2019 And he says: \u2018No, you don\u2019t understand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporter:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cThey are free to go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hembekides:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporter:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cWithout any harassment on your part?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hembekides:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cThere is no harassment. Why should there be any harassment? We try our best to live by the Bible teaching, by the words of Christ Jesus and by the life style that is spelled out to us in the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Savages say, their son, now 25, left the group permanently in December of 1995, saying one sign his involvement changed their relations: He now lives with his grandparents. Their son refused our request for an interview.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20070420054434\/http:\/\/ubf-info.de:80\/index.en.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,1,124,86,13,147,132,141,138,151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","hentry","category-abuse","category-article","category-cults","category-denial","category-emotions","category-evidence","category-history","category-info","category-injustice","category-spiritual-abuse","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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