(This story was located at http://www.windyhop.org/ubb/ubb2/Forum10/HTML/005951.html.)
Lindy Ox
Are You Hep to the Jive?
Posts: 118
From:Westmont, IL
Registered: Jul 2000
If the students are from UBF - University Bible Fellowship - then run away. It's a cult. I know, because I joined them and they did everything they could to brainwash me. Luckily, I questioned them. And when I realized they were a cult, I left and they followed me. Even though I moved 3 times, they still found out where I lived and knocked on my door. They thought I was going to go to hell unless they did something to bring me back. Finally, I said, "I will pray to God and I will let God tell me what to do." What could they say to that? They finally left me alone. I got so mad that I went to the school and protested UBF from becoming a student organization. The school researched the organization and denied them a charter.
A lot of people have posted about what they should teach to their children. Well, you better teach them something about cults, because when they get to college they are going to be confronted by people who are in them. I remember one teacher at a campus meeting who said, "Be careful of a person who says he has all the answers." I guess you can say that about any religion. Cults thrive on the weak minded. Please give your children the tools to think for themselves and question people. If God didn't want us to judge, he wouldn't have given us brains. We have to judge people and see where they are coming from.
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imaione
Are You Hep to the Jive?
Posts: 284
From:Toronto, Ontario
Registered: Feb 2002
"If the students are from UBF - University Bible Fellowship - then run away. It's a cult. I know, because I joined them and they did everything they could to brainwash me. Luckily, I questioned them. And when I realized they were a cult, I left and they followed me."
LindyOx, I am curious - what exactly types of things did they try to do to brainwash you? Was it just propagandization, or did they have other sorts of tactics? ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lindy Ox
Are You Hep to the Jive?
Posts: 118
From:Westmont, IL
Registered: Jul 2000
First, it was propagandization. Unfortunately, I asked them if I could study the Bible. I had been in a summer Bible group in my step grandmother's church in Evanston that was Presbyterian (I am Catholic). I was looking to continue my Bible study at IIT and I just happened to bump into one of the UBF students. They didn't approach me like the other students where they just go up to you as a stranger and say, "Do you want to study the Bible?" That approach really angered a lot of students.
It was like a normal Bible study, but then it started getting strange. They would to passages on how Jesus called for change and that you should leave your family for Jesus. They also made a big deal on how UBF had a very big following in South Korea (it doesn't). UBF originated in South Korea when their minister, Dr. Samual Lee, became a Presbyterian minister. He later got kicked out of the Presbyterian church and he fled to the US and formed UBF.
The also do a "love bomb", where all the members try to help you. I had UBF members become my doctors and help me with medical problems. They also try to make you feel like you are accepted. But then they try to control you. For instance, when I was attending church, my sponsor said that she "volunteered me to speak to the church." I had to stand up at the podium and tell the parish what Jesus and UBF meant to me. This, after only being a member for 4 months. Luckily, I had been in Toastmasters and I was able to speak in public. But I was mad as Hell at my sponsor for doing that to me.
The breaking point was the Easter Retreat. For a weekend you go off some where and that's where they do the major brain washing. Well, I was in Air Force ROTC and we had an Arnold Air Society major show on that weekend. I told my sponsor that I couldn't make the Easter Retreat and she threatened me with never teaching me the Bible. I said fine. That shocked and surprised her. I was able to leave them without a forethought.
Two weeks past and things started getting weird. My sponsor would call me on the phone and cry. She begged me to come back, but I said that I didn't want to. Next, I got calls and a knock on my door from UBF members asking me to come back. I refused. They began calling me every day. Finally, I thought of the answer, "I am praying to God and I will do what God wants me to do. If God wants me to come back to UBF, I will do what he wants." Even though I moved 3 times, I was harassed every step of the way. Finally, after 2 months of this, I had enough. I went to the Dean of Students at IIT and complained. I heard that UBF wanted Student organization status on campus. I protested and told the student committe not to do it. I told them about my experiences with UBF. UBF was denied student organization status. They stopped harassing me after that.
Because of UBF, I became an agnostic for 10 years. I hated organized religion and I felt that all religions where corrupt and bad. Every religion has some form of dogma and that's where I had problems.
How I went from an agnostic back to being a Christian and Catholic is a long story. Heck, I am even thinking of becoming a priest. Go figure!
