(May 2004 Xanga blog entry of a former member)
::UBF; What I Know Now, It was a Cult!::
(i'ma try to make this as short as possible)
UBF =University Bible Fellowship founded in the 1960's by Dr. Samuel Lee and Sarah Barry.
The University Bible Fellowship is an international evangelical student organization with emphasis on world mission. <--pulled directly from their home web page.
The UBF (University Bible Fellowship) is a little bit difficult to characterize, because hardly anything comparable exists. One might say that it is a centrally organized, international, fundamental-evangelistical ministry and mission movement, which targets on university students only. UBF itself uses the term world campus mission for that.
(This is something that has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind for quite a while now. Something that I believe has been the cause of many a thing that have gone on in my life in the past few years. This is a huge step that I am taking. There are many UBF Reformers out there who are trying to open the eyes of those still involved in UBF including it's leadership. There are many UBF members who have XANGA sites and I'm sure that eventually one if not all of them will stumble upon mine. I'm not sure how they will react since I have remained silent about this whole situation for the past 2 years...ah well here it goes.)er
I had never even heard of UBF which is strange I thought since I have always been active and in my church and was pretty knowledgeable about what was goin' in the circle of Christian churches located in Chicago, Untill I began to attend UIC.
My first Month at UIC I had been asked 5 times by little Korean women to study the bible. The first 3 times I said no staight away. The second time I said "yes" and gave Missionary P* my phone number but I never answered her calls and never attended bible study. The 4th time Missionary P* had asked me again, I think she had forgotten what I looked like cause she had no clue who I was it seemed and this time I said no again. The 5th time was different. This time I was laying on the lawn in front of Stevenson Hall listening to my headphones while catching a quick nap when a lil' Korean woman woke me up. She was all smiles and simply lovely. At first sight of her I knew what she wanted. I had been tryin to avoid all the people "fishing" as they called it on campus for the past month as much as I possibly could.... We talked for a good half hour. She filled me in on what UBF was and that they focused on bringing college students throughout the world to the bible. I proceeded to tell her how I know about that stuff cause I've grown up in church.... I felt comfortable with her so I said yes to bible study, this time with the intentions on acutally going...
So I went. It lasted an hour everything was cool. I enjoyed it. I met alot of great people a ton of new friends. So I continued to go once a week for the next 2 months. Then I was asked to come to a their Thursday meeting, kinda like a youth group thing, so I went. It was great. Each member of the fellowship shared testimony on what they were currently studyin in bible study or off of the previous Sunday's message. The singspiration was wonderful. The people again very friendly and inviting.... So I started to attend bible study once a week and then Thursday meetings. Before I knew It I was writing my testimony to share at the Thursday meetings. I even met a whole bunch of friends that I had in grade school etc that were also apart of UBF. Which made me more interested. After a while I was then asked to attend Sunday worship service and I did... So now I was having bible study once a week, attending Thursday meetings and Sunday's worship service.... I was in their Thanksgiving play. I attended their Christmas service in which over 5,000 people all over the world attended.... The more I studied the bible the more inviting they were the more time I spent with them the more I wanted and needed.... After a while I was asked to attend a Friday nite meeting and so I said yes then before ya know it I was having bible study on Tuesday, Thursday meetings, Friday meetings and Sunday service...
I have been asked now many times ? Didn't you know or don't you feel like it's a cult? The answer: No I didn't feel like that cause I was blind. They came into my life at the right time they were fullfilling the need I had in my heart. At the time they came in my life I had alot of spiritual questions, I was searching for a way to get out of my stagnant spirtiual state..... Now when I look back I wonder how I was so blind? What was I thinking?
So this went on for a year. In this time I was still attending 4 days a week, I went to all their retreats, I was having my own bible study with a fellow student, I had even been leading Singspiration on our Thursday meetings... Things were great. Not only had I found what I had been looking for spiritually but I also had found a whole bunch of great new friends. I was loving it. Soon I found myself always hanging out at the bible house inbetween classes, sometimes I would even miss class...
This continued into the summer where I was asked to give a message at our 4th of July service. In which I said yes. I prepared my message with all my heart working on it day and nite even over my homework. I had practiced it over and over with my bible teacher and had it down. Then when we submitted it to our fellowship leader he told me " it's good but you should use this instead" then he handed me a copy of the same topic written by Dr. Samuel Lee. I was told to humble myself and use his speech. I agreed but when time came to give my message I used my message. I worked hard on that message. I could tell he wasnt pleased but I didnt care. I didnt understand what was wrong with my message.
I got a probation notice saying that I needed to raise my GPA so I stopped going to friday meetings and switched my bible study to Thursday so I could just be there thursday for bible study and the Thursday meeting,.. In July my uncle and godfather passed away and my fellowship was great. They attended the wake services gave a generous donation to my family and had gotten together a sympathy card. They were great. But I was cold... I stopped attending for a while everything. I would get calls everyday wondering where I was why I was missing meetings etc.....
After a while I went back. But it wasnt the same it was like I got new eyes. I could finally see what everyone else was seeing. It was cultish....
Everyone looked the same, Everyone worship Samuel Lee as if he was God. Everyone looked the same, taught from the same bible study guides...Etc.....
It was at this time that I had decided to do an internet search on UBF I guess to prove that I along with everyone else was wrong...but I didn't get that.. Instead I got validation... I found tons of testimony from ex UBF members ...
...
I have been gone from UBF now for over 2 years and I still receive calls from my old fellowship leader and bible teacher. Until 8 months ago they were still showing up at my parents house sparatically. They were showing up at my work calling my work, sending me emails etc.... This is cause I just left without giving a reason.
I didn't like the person they were molding me into. They wanted everyone to be the same, think the same and do the same. They worshipped a MAN Dr. Lee over God.. They made me lose self-confidence and tried to make me think I didnt need my family and all I needed was them. They were emotionally, mentally and physically abusive. If u look under the sites I provided above you'll see examples.... I was living in fear and full of guilt and unfullfillment... I could write forever and tell you tons of my own examples but that wud take up to much time...So again if you' d like to know or you have ne questions contact me via email.... Please check out the sites above and more if you search for them if not for yourself, your own curiosity or maybe a UBF family member or friend....
THANKS
