Blogging plan for this year

Here’s a blogging plan for this year:

* More on moral relativism and moral apathy in UBF; how UBF tries to “rise above” the moral struggle just as it tries to “transcend” the need to help the poor; how “preaching the gospel” in UBF becomes an excuse to stop “wasting time” to think about morals and ethics; “that’s not our main ministry.”

* How the leader veneration culture and authoritarian structure of UBF is a natural extension of the works-righteousness belief system of UBF; the two go hand-in-hand.

* The crushing of healthy individuality in UBF; “message” and orchestra “training.”
** “message training”
*** spiritual abuse as “serving” or “helping”
*** CUBF’s “short-term missionaries” sent to oversea conferences mainly to make the “messages” more CUBF-compliant.

* The “cultural differences” rationalization and the assumption that cultures are equally good or equally valid.

* Recent traumatic departures (Patrick Chan and Sola Fide) and what this shows about UBF’s depictions of God and salvation.

* The “Cursed woman’s desire” crucial false teaching.

* “We must not love God less by not neglecting our children”; “giving up our Isaac”; “don’t make children your idols”; thoughts on biblical parenting.

* The sapping of Christian joy in UBF and why people burn out and leave.
** numbers obsession, performance preoccupation and resulting tendency to
settle for mediocrity, just do enough to survive another week.

* How it all comes down to the attitude of “I don’t care, I don’t care.”

* Exclusivism; Barry’s ignorance of Harvest BC and local Presb. church; UBF being “uber-Christianity”.

* UBF and Yong-Gi Cho.

* Signs of the UBF apocalypse: A World Buffet bash for Harriet, a 2ndgen is sent to seminary or Christian college.

* “The Perils of Obedience,” the Milgram Experiment.

* Paulus Eun on UBF and the facts.

* The ministry of numbers and the doctored Wharton Center photo.

* W. Jun, numbers enforcer.

* Stupid UBF defense trick #1: Everything is about subjective feelings; you FELT “hurt” or “offended.”

* Stupid UBF defense trick #2: Jesus did it that way, too.

* All “fruit” is external and of one kind in UBF.

* What’s So Amazing About Grace.

* What feeds abusive behavior? Performance preoccupation (ignorance of grace, numbers obsession), exclusivism (“God bless OUR ministry”, keep and hold and control a recruit at all cost, ties in with perf. preocc.)

* “Africa first needs the Ten Commandments” and http://religion.info/english/articles/article_154.shtml

* and more.

"Tradegies in UBF: Abandon Your Child"

Something that was posted by someone recently:

Date Posted: 10:57:53 07/09/04 Fri
Author: Sorry for those Children
Subject: Tradegies in UBF: Abandon Your Child

Here’s a tradegy that went on in UBF that I think needs to be discussed more:

Samuel Lee/UBF leaders made members give up their children. Before Barbara D. could “marry by faith” in UBF she was told that she had to give up her child that she had had through an immoral relationship [This was back around 2000, if I recall correctly]. If I remember correctly, her child was about 7 when she was told to give him/her up in order to marry Jerry Robinson. And from what I remember, she did give up her child for adoption. I was told she had to do this to start a new life and that a future husband wouldn’t want someone already with a child. This is so sad, tragic and evil. If Barbara became a Christian her sins are forgiven, including getting pregnant outside of marriage. Samuel Lee and other UBF leaders should have encouraged her to continue to take responsibility for the wrong choice she made earlier by taking care of her child. Instead, the-ever-so warped Samuel Lee pushed her to give up her child as the only way for her to get married in UBF.

There are other cases: Jacob Kim told me he was married before to someone else in UBF. Together they had a son. His wife had mental issues and they divorced (I don’t remember if Samuel Lee told them to divorce or if she was critical of UBF– does anyone know?). Samuel Lee also told Jacob Kim to give up his son for adoption and then to re-marry in UBF which he did. A few years ago I asked him if he sees his son and has a relationship with him and he said no. I just don’t understand these things. I think this is so wrong. You don’t abandon your child. You love them, take responsibility for them and care for them.

Remember Samuel Lee also tried to make Rebekah Yoon give up her child to the Joungs. In fact, they did have him for about 9-10 months, if I remember correctly. Who else did Samuel Lee do this to? Kathy Calabrese also wrote in her testimony that when she was pregnant with her 5th child Samuel Lee told her to give up her baby for adoption after birth. Thank God Kathy refused and stood her ground even though Samuel Lee later slandered her. He lied and said Kathy was so burdened financially by their 5th child and that somehow she ruined the Northeastern ministry. Did Samuel Lee do this horrible, evil thing to anyone else???

A summary of some of UBF’s biblical/doctrinal errors

The following was actually sent in a letter prior to my personal story:

A summary of some of UBF’s biblical/doctrinal errors

One of the biblical passages often used to justify UBF’s much-criticized practice of leader-ordered and leader-arranged marriages is the Genesis 24 account of Rebekah and her marriage to Isaac. Rebekah is seen as exemplary because she made a choice to marry a man “sight unseen.” An unmarried female member of UBF is seen as “obedient like Rebekah” if she can declare that she will marry anyone, any time, anywhere in obedience to the “servants of God” (her leaders). Indeed, UBF members have been notified by leaders that they will get married, whom they would marry, when they would marry and where they would marry just one week or less prior to the marriage date set by the leaders. [Unlike the Genesis account of Isaac and Rebekah in which their parents played a large part in the choice of marriage partner, in UBF the role of the “marriage candidate” recruit’s parents in the marriage decision is usurped by the recruit’s “shepherd” and ultimately by the top leaders of UBF.]

The neglect of children and family, a practice that UBF has been accused of in the USA and Germany, is often justified by comparing one’s family and children with Isaac, whom Abraham chose to sacrifice in Genesis 22. A UBF member’s commitment to the group is seen as exemplary when they can “give up their Isaac,” that is, when they are willing to neglect family life and even the care of their children to participate with full zeal in the UBF ministry.

Samuel Lee, the late director of UBF, was often given status akin to Moses, a “visible” representative of God, who knew God’s will at a much greater level than anyone else in the group. It followed then that UBF members who tried to challenge the abusive and cultic elements of UBF under Lee’s leadership were compared to Korah and his followers (Numbers 16) or Aaron and Miriam (Numbers 12) and were said to be “rebelling” against “God’s chosen servant.”

Romans 1:5 is often quoted by UBF leaders to equate grace and apostleship, such that a person’s acceptance of God’s saving grace is constantly called into question if they are not participating in the group’s main mission of recruitment. Apostleship, as UBF defines it, is the only fruit of grace that UBF recognizes, contrary to what Paul writes in Romans 12:6-8. As Samuel Lee often stated, “Those who have no mission (UBF apostleship) have nothing to do with God!”

Jesus’ pre-ascension command to Peter to “feed his sheep” (John 21:15-18) is interpreted into the demand on all UBF members to perform constant UBF-style evangelism, which is called, not surprisingly, “feeding sheep.” UBF-style evangelism is an activity in which UBF shepherds “feed” the sheep (recruits). The result is that a person who is successfully recruited tends to become assimilated into UBF’s pyramidal authoritarian structure, a structure in which a sheep remains a sheep to his shepherd and his shepherd’s shepherds, regardless of how long he remains and serves in the organization.