The following is a message by Samuel Lee given at a UBF staff meeting in Chicago as a “New Year’s Address.” It includes a sweeping statement of condemnation of reformers as “rebels” wanting to destroy the glorious ministry of UBF, which is portrayed as the summit of God’s salvation ministry to the world. Most parenthetical remarks are added by the webmaster of ubf-info.de with a couple from me. You can visit UBF’s site at the webpage of their world headquarters Samuel Lee passed away in 2002.

Dr. Samuel Lee, UBF Director

February 2, 2001 New Year’s Address
YOU ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE

Key Verse: 2:9

1 Peter 2:1-10

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”

May the love of God be with you. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. May the Holy Spirit, who works in our souls, work powerfully and be with you. At this national staff meeting I want to share with you what God is doing in America and around the world.

I. God’s plan for world salvation

After the Fall, God did not abandon his rebellious people. Out of his love, God wanted to make his people a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This conception is clearly mentioned for the first time after the Exodus from captivity in Egypt. Exodus 19:3-7 says, “Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’ So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak.”

After the Exodus, God said to his people, “You are a chosen people out of all nations. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Even though they had been a slave people for 430 years under the Egyptian Empire, God had faith in them that they were a chosen people and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, these people would be the servants of God’s word for the world. This idea is more clearly revealed in 1 Peter 2:9. It says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” It was the time the early Christians were overjoyed by believing in the blood of Jesus. They thought they would be happy in this world forever. But suddenly, persecution from the Roman Empire came to them on the grounds that they did not worship Jupiter god. Another persecution came from their own people, that they did not keep Jewish tradition but taught Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Jewish persecution was indeed intensive. It was because if the Jews believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus, they had to become Christians, abandoning all their traditions and racial superiority. The Jews thought that only Jewish people were God’s chosen people. All other people were thought to be living animals or the Gentiles. So when the long-awaited Messiah came, their own people rejected him (Jn 1:11). If the Jews had believed in Jesus’ death and glorious resurrection, they would not have to shed the blood of Arabian people because of the territory of the Jerusalem Temple. But they did not believe Jesus’ death and resurrection. So they had to fight against Arabians for many centuries and shed much blood. In the future the same phenomena is going to be permanent.

The first Christians who accepted Jesus Christ for a short time were very happy in the grace of Jesus. But because of the persecution they had to scatter as strangers in that world throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia simply because they were Christians.

It was God’s purpose to scatter his people allover the world even though they had to suffer much. It was because God wanted them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In short, God wanted his people to be the Bible teachers of all peoples of all nations.

St. Peter did not say, “I am sorry for you that you lose your families and scatter all over the world.” But he said in 1 Peter 2:9, “…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Under the leadership of St. Peter, the early Christians scattered allover the world of the time and preached the gospel. Some people accepted and many were persecuted and killed. After awhile, St. Peter and St. Paul came to Rome. At first, St. Paul was in a “house arrest” situation. So he invited immigrant Jews to Rome and made one-to-one Bible study appointments. A few people came. But most of them didn’t come. In the past and present, one-to-one Bible study is always difficult. But when Jewish immigrants didn’t come, Paul kept one-to-one Bible study with prison guards. Most of them accepted Jesus as their Savior.

In reality, God’s plan of world salvation started with Abraham. God looked around to find good Bible student candidates. But there were none. Finally God chose one man called Abram who was 75 years old, and whose wife was barren. God took care of him for 25 years through one-to-one Bible study. Finally Abram, a noble father, became Abraham, father of many nations. The same was true of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

When we study the Bible, the most distinctive character is God’s plan to raise his people as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Through Isaiah the prophet, he described a fantastic vision. Isaiah 2:3 says, “‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the lord from Jerusalem.” God’s fantastic vision had been realized after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The early Christians in the midst of severe persecutions scattered all around the world and preached the gospel. Some went to Rome and lived in the underground graveyard called the catacombs. They finally conquered the Roman Empire. It is indeed fantastic that the early Christians conquered the mightiest Roman Empire with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

II. The gospel of Jesus spread from Jerusalem to Rome

When we study world history, the gospel mainly spread to the Roman Empire. There was God’s precise plan. Paul wanted to evangelize Asian countries, where so many Satan worshipers were stomping and people were bound by the power of evil spirits. But God led Paul through the Macedonian’s calling Paul to go to European countries first (Ac 16:9). So St. Paul was sent from the Antioch church to Philippi. Later, by the help of a powerful woman, he was able to go to evangelize European countries and finally reached Rome. It was because God wanted to conquer the mightiest country, and through Roman roads he wanted to evangelize the whole world of the times.

Therefore we can say the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ came from Jerusalem first to Rome, next to England, and next to America. There were many people who bled for owning the land. But there were also many dedicated Christians who went to many countries as missionaries. According to the encyclopedia, the number of American missionaries to the world was one million all together. I know one missionary to Korea. He was invited to dinner by a Korean Christian family. He was treated with a boiled hen. The hen was boiled from its crest to the toenail. The missionary wanted to please the family. He ate some of the boiled hen. Then he went home and died of cultural shock.

The first generation of American missionaries to Korea was very exemplary. They taught how to pray in the early morning from 5:00 a.m. every morning at the church. On Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. they stayed at the church and studied the Bible. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon they had a worship service. After lunch they visited sick and needy people and came back. Again they had a revival meeting with Bible study and came back home. That was a great joy to Koreans who were under the Japanese occupation. We in UBF are pretty much influenced and imitate their way of worshiping God.

III. The Korean Church

The Korean Church was started in Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea. Pyongyang was known to the world as the Jerusalem of Asian countries. There were 600 church steeples. There were many who were martyred after not worshiping the Japanese Emperor. When the Korean Church was persecuted, it grew and grew. Three days before World War II was over, Japanese soldiers wanted to kill all the Christians in Korea. It was August 1945. But God had great mercy on Korean Christians and saved their lives from massacre. Now it is a different story. There was one Presbyterian Church. But it was divided by the influence of American missionaries. Once they were divided, the Presbyterian Church was divided. Now there are 63 denominations of the Presbyterian Church. (The UBF’s history comes from the Presbyterian Church.)

In 1961 in Kwangju, Korean UBF was established. I was an unordained pastor. Mother Barry was a country evangelist. We got together and began student work. At that time there was a work of the Holy Spirit. Students’ endeavor to pray could hardly be extinguished. Whenever they studied the end of the Synoptic Gospels, they heard the world mission command from the Risen Christ. I, as the leader, really wondered how to obey the world mission command in the Korean situation, where passport control was thorough so that no contact could be made with North Koreans. Kwangju UBF students prayed for six years day and night to obey the world mission command of Jesus. But no sign in the sky appeared. Before coming up to Seoul, I pioneered Chun Ju and Tae Jeon and served many students from many provinces. In 1967 Mother Barry and I went up to Seoul to make UBF nationwide. It was done in three years.

In establishing UBF and expanding UBF the potent weapon was intensive one-to-one Bible study, strict discipleship training and planting the world mission vision. This came from the spirit of gospel faith. Where there is a spirit, nothing is matchless. We could overcome ourselves. We could dedicate ourselves. We could endure any kinds of sufferings without any pain. In this way, God blessed Korean UBF.

When UBF grew strong, well-disciplined leaders grew strong. They sent me as a missionary to Chicago, where there were several aide nurses and doctors. (Nobody sent Lee or could have sent him. He was the one who decided who was sent. He chose Chicago himself to make it the new headquarters.) Chicago UBF began to work hard. (Lee liked to emphasize how the UBF missionaries in America were only sluggardly sitting around and as his first measure he had to whip them into shape.) Then many American students began to come to our Bible study group or worship service.

IV. American ministry

At the beginning, American ministry was genuine. Those thirsty Americans came to study the Bible. Around thirty Americans came at first. Next, around fifty Americans came to Chicago UBF. And the students grew in the word of God and began to see the word of God as God’s word. Then their parents thought that their children do not obey them, but they obey UBF people. Then American parents’ pride was offended. They called professional deprogrammers and kidnapped their children one by one. But the power of the gospel could not be stopped. More American students came to study the Bible the more deprogrammers targeted UBF as their prey. But there formed American parents’ fellowship under deprogrammers. The focus of their attack was Dr. Samuel Lee (referring to himself in the third person, his dubious doctor title inclusive, was not unusual for Lee). Kidnapped students were all deprogrammed until they became enemies of UBF. It continued for nineteen years and three months. I don’t know how UBF survived. I don’t know how I was not weakened, but rather became stronger.

V. Korean UBF

Since I left Korean UBF in June 1977, Dr. John Jun took over my position. In the past, always one-to-one was sternly emphasized and discipleship training kept on. But since he took over my position, he directed UBF according to his character. He has never given anybody Biblical divine discipline except for his wife. As a result, in Korean UBF Biblical divine discipline was gone. As for the Bible study, he always made a topic Bible study whenever he had a staff meeting or staff conference. (Topical Bible studies are actually taboo in UBF. The Bible may be only studied passage based, in order to prevent any attempt of systematic teaching.) As a result, his authority and his spiritual leadership has been weakened. On the other hand, he does not like to write. So he never wrote me a report. (Reports about membership numbers and collected offering moneys have normally to be sent to the headquarters every week.) As a result, the mutual communication or relationship was distanced. The same is true among Korean staff members. Dr. Jun is very gentle humanly. But he is very fixed spiritually. So in the conversations between he and Korean staff members, they didn’t communicate. Nevertheless, I laid the firm foundation in Korea. It spread and pioneered allover the universities. But these days they are in tension because of the split.

First, what was the cause of the split? Caleb Chung in Tae Gu has always been my brother with a different mother. He was always on my opponent’s side in his mind. In order to melt his heart, I bore with him for the last 30 years. But it didn’t work. He became the leader of rebellion.

Second, how they persuaded so many coworkers in their group. Matthew Byun of Chun Ju has always been one who crept in. He is a friend of Caleb Chung. Matthew Byun planted easy-going mentality to so many junior shepherds. He said to them that we don’t have to do one-to-one Bible study and that we don’t need discipleship training; we must all separate and make a church system and have a general assembly meeting every two years (sounds like Unity Conference to me). Those who are lazy-minded were all persuaded very quickly.

As you know, people call America a “melting pot.” Why do they call America a melting pot? Why were they not afraid of Communism of any kind? For example, Chinese students came to Chicago. They rode their bicycles as their identity and diligence. But after one month they were driving very expensive cars. Those who came from China work hard to remain in America because America offers them an easygoing lifestyle.

Third, they call themselves the “reform group.” If they are a reform group, they should be better than before. But in order to overthrow UBF as a whole, they have tried with all their means and ends. Still it didn’t work at all. It is obvious that UBF has 40 years of roots. They cannot dig it out in a short time. So they began to set a fire in every area. And they bragged that they were very smart and efficient people. But I don’t think they are smart and efficient people. (Compare with ‘super-apostles…’ in recent articles.) As we know well, building a house is very difficult. But setting fire to burn it down is so easy. They set the fire and burned down many things. They brag about their boldness. It is very foolish. Setting a fire or attacking others and slandering cannot be the acts of a reform group. Their activity thus far reminds me of Romans 2:8-9. It says, “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will trouble and distress for every human being who does evil; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

We can see the exemplary reformation in St. Paul’s life. St. Paul was born as a Jew. He was short and aggressive. Someday he wanted to be a leading figure in his community . One day he was on the way to Damascus to persecute the early Christians. The Risen Christ called him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied (Ac 9:4-5). At the moment he saw the Risen Christ, he was blinded and fell down from the horse to the muddy ground. The Risen Christ forgave all his sins by referring to his new attitude. The Risen Christ also wanted to use his wisdom and power for God’s world mission purpose. So he said to Ananias in 9:15-16, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” From that time on Saul changed his name from Saul, “the greatest one,” to Paul, “the smallest one.” (More exactly: Saul means “asked of God,” whereas Paul means “the little one.”) There are many parents who name their sons Paul. But they must know that Paul means “a small one.”

We can see a true outlook of reform in St. Augustine. St. Augustine was basically a wanderer even though he was a professor of oratory at the Roman Senatorial Academy. His quest for meaning of life seemed to be in vain. But he heard Ambrose’ message based on Romans 13:13,14. It says, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” After the worship service, he was going to his house. One of his prostitute friends was coming from the opposite direction. He turned around and ran away. True reform starts from one’s heart, as we see in St. Augustine.

The rebel group’s motto was good. But there was no way to justify themselves. So they kept what they were doing from students and graduates. Finally students and graduates came to know what they were doing. Students and graduates became very rebellious, as they are rebellious, to their leaders. In the rebels’ chapters many are running away every week (“to run away” is a UBF term for “leaving UBF” compare to the phrase “fall away”). Among the members in the rebel’s groups, there are divisions. We learn that rebellion begets rebellion. True reformation produces good fruit. Therefore, we cannot recognize them as a reform group, but as those who destroyed the spiritual order and planted rebellious minds in all the rebels’ chapters. Now they ask my help. (Lee probably refers to the reformers’ attempted talk with him about the problems of UBF in January 2001.) But I have to prepare the 2001 UBF Bible Conference, International. I have no time to help them.

Fourth, future UBF world mission. Generally, missionaries in the front line are very upset because the rebel group refuses one-to-one Bible study and discipleship training. It is because to the frontline missionaries, if they stop one-to-one Bible study and discipleship training, they have nothing to do.

Since I left Korea, I visited Korea every year and visited each chapter. Each time I went to Korea, so many missionaries were sent. When I talked about Russian pioneering while the Soviet Union was still behind the Iron Curtain, students responded and smuggled themselves into Russia through Hungary UBF. And Russian UBF was started as soon as Gorbachev opened the gate to Russia. In 1985, at the Korean World Mission Report, we prayed to pioneer the Soviet Union within ten years, by 1995. God opened the door to Russia five years earlier. So we could have the first conference in 1990 in St. Petersburg.

Conclusion: I only thank God. I only praise God. Korea is a small hermit country in the corner of Asia. It has been ruled by China. And for 35 years it was under Japanese occupation. When we look back on 1,500 years of Korean history, it was nothing but the succession of political intrigue and bloodshed. But God raised UBF. For the last 40 years, we experienced “Koinonia,” spiritual order (UBF term for the UBF internal hierarchy), true brotherhood in Jesus Christ and absolute obedience to the world mission. God has been indeed showering his blessing upon South Korea, especially upon UBF people. So I only praise God in my soul. Even the rebels are very cute because of God’s grace upon UBF for the last 40 years.

America is the only world power nation. America is obliged to take over the world mission command allover again. And we must pray that another one million missionaries might be sent out from America. God hears our prayer. When we prayed for American girls to attend the Sunday worship service, many girls attended the Chicago UBF Sunday worship service. Many boys were very shy to look at them. (reminds me of a certain shower reference) Likewise, when we pray for the USA to be responsible for world mission, God will surely hear our prayer and pour his grace upon us. May God make us a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. May God use Americans as the most devoted Christians in obedience to the world mission command.