brother_2008 wrote:
” I am a former UBF brother who left UBF a few years ago. When I left, my
feelings was almost the same as that of the previous shepherd’s
leaving testimony a few months ago. The difference is that at that moment, I
was like being isolated and failed to find the right person to share with.”
In fact, all exodus of former UBF – Hong Kong members would
probably experience this sort of mental experience. From “suspecting” to
“struggling”, from “being brainwashed” until “coming back to
senses”, then he would experience some incidents to
trigger him off. At last, he made decision to
leave. Although this process will experience the painful
feeling of discredited, isolation, or even be demoted. However,
when he leaves UBF, he would have
freedom in Christ and could drink the pure spiritual milk, so he will
recover very soon and live a new life filling with freedom and
joy.
It is said that the incident triggered one fellowship
to leave UBF is in the Q&A session of the CUHK’s KimChi Talk. During
the Q&A session, several UBF core shepherds were suspected of telling
lies, untrue and misleading words publicly. Their behaviors caused some
sheep to question about the integrity of the
shepherds. They began to believe that UBF is an abusive church
and made a decision to leave.
The following are several
important cases in CUHK’s KimChi Talk on 11th April, 2012:
Case 1 (UBF-Hong Kong’s messenger
Shep Tang XX claimed: I am just an ordinary shepherd, I hope that I
could promote to a senior shepherd in the future)
During the Q&A session of CUHK’s KimChi
Talk, one director class shepherd stood up. Dr. Cheung Teng asked him
to introduce which shepherd’s class he belongs to. He kept on smiling and
denied that he is a senior shepherd. He claimed that
he is just an ordinary shepherd. And he even said that he
hopes to promote to a senior shepherd in the future.
However, what is the actual position and the real identity of this shepherd?
The following content is quoted from UBF’s official web site:
“Shepherd Hayes Tang reported on Hong Kong Mission, and
shared his life testimony. He became a born again Christian through one to one
Bible study during his school days, and then he became an ancestor of
faith in Hong Kong UBF …”
(source: http://www.ubf.org/content/america-visit-report-moody-park)
According to UBF’s official web site, Hayes
Tang is the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF (also called “ancestor
of faith – Abraham”). In UBF, every University has only one ancestor of
faith. The statues of the ancestor of faith in
UBF is very high and is highly-honored by missionaries. Shep.
Hayes Tang is not only the ancestor of faith of one university, he is
even the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF which is a chapter
combined by few universities. However, he claimed himself to
be an ordinary shepherd. Obviously, he
is suspected of telling lies publicly. Furthermore, he also
said that he would like to promote to a senior shepherd. Does he
think that being the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF is
not enough? Does he even have a greater ambition to pursue further
promotion?
Summary of case 1: As the ancestor of faith of
Hong Kong UBF, he was actually giving false speech, leading
to the questioning about his integrity. As a faith
ancestor and messenger of UBF, he did not set a good example of speaking
honestly. Will he bring bad influence of releasing false
speech publicly to UBF’s shepherds, brothers and sisters?
Case 2 (Shep. “Wanna Buy House”, sheep of
Shep. Tang XX, claimed, “I have freedom to travel and my life in
UBF-Hong Kong is very free. If being Shepherds are so busy, I think I
have already left UBF.”
(Remarks: Shepherd “Wanna Buy House” once wanted
to buy a house but his ideas was rejected and judged
by missionary.)
During the KimChi Talk, Shep. “Wanna Buy House” claimed
that his life was very free in UBF. He could even
go traveling and buy T-shirt, etc. However, his
statement was misleading. Since according to
the message of Shep. TangXX, “Traveling” is worldly (or an
example of the easy-going life). Let’s see below the UBF-HK’s faith
ancestor TangXX’s teaching (Message of Chapter III in UBF-HK).
In his message, he pointed out “traveling” is a “wide gate”, that leads to destruction:
"But
for the wide doors, it is no need
to invite others or to send invitation card. Everyday
there are people forming teams to enter. They might form teams like
“Tour group”, “Food group”, “Shopping group”… to rush into the wide gate.
Therefore, although behind the wide gate are “Comfort Station”,
“Pleasure Station”, “Vanity station”, ”Crime Station”, but …the
terminus is “Perish”…So what is the actual difference between “narrow gate” and
“wide gate”? “Wide gate” means “having a free (easy-going) life”. People do not
need hard-working or struggling spiritually but they can
still enter the wide gate. Behind the wide gate, people can
enjoy comfort and lust. Therefore, choosing “wide gate” is
a natural practice. On the way of wide road, people can meet many
friends and they would not feel lonely.” (source: message of Chapter
III, 21/9/2008, Mat 7:13-29)
Indeed, Shep. “Wanna Buy House” shared
sogam in the message of 2011 HK SBC. He mentioned that his
coworker cannot pass the “language benchmark test” for three
years, so she was requested to repent.
“…but I work with computer
everyday, so I don’t know how to love the others. Last year, my
coworker (wife) could neither find any sheep nor any job. She also
failed to pass the “language benchmark test” in the past three years. She was
not only discouraged, but also looked down by others. Those who did
not understand her, just asked her to repent, but did not
realize that she was one who also need to be shepherding. I
felt her frustration. I encouraged her that God can
easily give you a job.” (14/8/2011, message of HK SBC, John 21:1-17)
Summary of
case 2: From the above
message and sogam, we can see that shep.Tang XX’s sheep, “Shep. Wanna Buy
House”, cannot live freely in the real world as he said. His wife was
requested to repent and lacked of being shepherded. If he follows the
teaching of TangXX, it is impossible for him to travel. Therefore, his speech
was misleading or untrue. It is presumptuous for him to speak such misleading
or untrue speech. Is it inherited from TangXX?
Case 3 (A CUHK Shepherdess, Shep. G, claimed, “I was not
arranged marriage in UBF”)
During KimChi Talk, Dr Cheung Teng asked if UBF will arrange
marriage and asked the UBF shepherds whether they were arranged
marriage in UBF or not, and asked them to answer one by one. At that time,
all shepherds kept silent, including the faith ancestor shep. TangXX.
Nobody answered. However, Shep. G stood up suddenly and took herself as an
example. She told that she had a boyfriend before, and later they got
married in UBF, instead of being “arranged marriage”. Although
she was telling something true, she hided the fact that 90% of the shepherds
are arranged married in UBF – Hong Kong. Her marriage is just a rare example in
UBF. Although she did not tell lie, such speech is misleading people to
think that brothers and sister have freedom to date
with someone and choose to marry in UBF-Hong Kong.
Summary of
case 3: Shepherdess G took herself as
an example, so that people think that not all shepherds are arranged to marry
in UBF. However, she did not honestly point out the fact that 90% of the marriages
of shepherds are “arranged marriages”. This practice was misleading, confusing
the public and resulted of losing her integrity.
The aftermath of KimChi Talk
Recently, a former UBF member
shared with me honestly the follows:
Since his shepherd often told
him that the speech on web are false, it is difficult for him to distinguish
whether they are true or false, as a result, he hesitated and stayed in UBF for a
period. However, “KimChi Talk” helped trigger his decision to leave UBF because
he personally saw that UBF shepherds was lying, hiding the facts, misleading and
confusing the public. The missionaries (as leaders) were hiding behind in the
Q&A session of KimChi Talk. These triggered him to question the integrity
of the UBF missionaries and shepherds. Finally, he realized that the speech on
web is mostly with evident to support. He had reflections after “KimChi Talk”
and he finally made decision to leave UBF-Hong Kong. He left UBF because he
heard the voice of UBF shepherds (especially those
with ancestor class), and that helped trigger his decision to
leave UBF.
I believe those shepherds,
including Shep. Tang XX, Shep. G and Shep. “Wanna buy house”, are victims
indeed. They are kind-hearted. They thought that they could stand out as the
shields for the missionaries which caused this exposure of their speech suspected of lying and misleading.
I hope those missionaries,
as leaders, do not use the poor local shepherds to become their
shields. So that they could be leaders who walk in front of
the sheep bravely to face and address the issue of UBF’s manipulation,
dictatorship and lies, etc.
“You
belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth,
for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for
he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) This key verse is often used
by UBF shepherds for teaching the sheep. Hope that each time when they teach
the sheep this key verse, they could also reflect on it.
