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Date Posted: 15:34:53 08/08/04 Sun
Author: PSUDAB
Subject: Re: PSU Directorship, marriage, and MY TESTIMONY
In reply to: Jim St. L. 's message, "Re: Follow-up -- Not JLemmon" on 13:17:36 08/08/04 Sun

I should clarify a bit more.

Joe S. and family moved to Australia in August 2003 while
he was on break from research. While there, he took the
opportunity to assist the ministry in Australia, which had
been decimated due to lots of factors, I suppose, probably
not the least of which was influence from the reform move-
ment in Korea.

While the Schafers were away, DL was in charge. Now that
the Schafers are all back, I think that they're praying
to yet again return to Australia full-time in a year or
two. In the meantime, what I think they want to happen is
that DL could continue the directorship, while JLS works
as an actual UBF staff person abroad, doing stuff like
Daily Bread writing and other things.

As to my present involement with UBF: I only maintain con-
tact with a few people, and only when it's convenient for
ME to do so. I don't attend their Bible studies, and I
don't attend their worship services or any other meetings.
The MSU conference (of which I only attended the Saturday
evening program and the ONE worship service) was a way for
me to retain contact with them to see what kinds of things
are new... It's a TOTALLY self-serving project.

It is interesting that you brought up marriage. That would
be part of my big testimony (of leaving).

It's not that I felt forced to marry, it's more that I felt
that I wouldn't be allowed to marry the one person in the
world I felt was right for me. I was a prisoner of love,
really... My body was here in Penn State, but my heart was
many thousands of miles away, in the forbidden lands of
Russia. I could not EVER tell ANYONE that I was talking
to a Russian UBF shepherdess... Remember all the barking
that Samuel Lee did about how bad it was for ANY American
man to even talk or look at ANY of the Russian women? They
would all just refer to the Jim Rabchuk incident.

So... when I left Russia in 1997, I was hurt pretty badly,
because I had committed the unspeakable atrocity of making
friends with a Russian Shepherdess. As writer Ayn Rand put
it in "Anthem", "We had committed the crime of Preference."
I couldn't think of much else besides the fact that she was
simply so lovely, and she seemed to like me. That, and
the not-so-subtle reminders from Colnel Helen R. and others
about how Russian women harrass American men so they can
get into America.

After 3 years, the hope faded to the back of my mind. In
the summer of 2000, I was chosen again to go to Russia.
The conference was like any other, until the first morning.
I saw her again. And SHE asked ME if I remembered HER!
Amazing, I thought to myself... if she only knew the truth
about how I felt.... if only I felt free enough to express
my feelings. She told me that she had received one letter
that I wrote to their chapter. She said she'd tried to
write a letter back to me in English... she'd tried for
an entire YEAR. Any feelings that had faded... had come
back one-thousandfold. EVERYTHING about my life changed.
I became so obsessive about the fact that I was a true
prisoner of love, never able to speak to anyone of my
feelings, for fear of being scolded and "trained", Chicago-
UBF-style. My heart was simply shattered. A couple of
months later, I withdrew completely from all Bible study
and testimony sharing. I only continued attending SWS.

It was in May of 2001 that I felt that I'd had too much.
I knew that I needed to keep silence, but I was already
dying inside from the pain. It was then that I attempted
suicide. It was a very embarrassing moment, as the police
had gotten me off the roof of a building, the Human
Resouces Rep from my work department had been called, the
big Boss from my dept also was notified, and my direct boss
was also called.... Wanna guess who my direct boss was???
JOE SCHAFER.

So... in UBF terms, I became "a mental patient". Only it
was literally true. They took me in and confiscated all
sharp objects from me and put me in the mental unit at the
Hospital. After I got out in 4 days, I said to Joe that
I wanted to start writing testimonies again. Bad mistake.
The very first failue on my part to write a testimony was
the last failure. Joe said to me, "I'm really disappointed
in you. I had hoped that your time in the hospital would
have changed you, but it hasn't. You went right back to
acting weird again." I started to cry. I vowed that it
would be the last time I would ever interact with him on
a spiritual level.

Time went on, but I really didn't. Some things changed,
other things didn't. It was less than one year after that
incident on the rooftop that I lost my job at Penn State.
I was really convinced for a while that it was a personal
vendetta for having left UBF, but I have no real facts to
prove so.

That really is just the minor issue. The major issue is
that now, even after seven years of first having met this
Russian girl, my feelings are still as strong as they ever
were.

It was my hope that somehow, by reestablishing contact with
UBF, I could at least find out if this girl had already
been married, and then I can move on with my life. The
scary thing would be if I found out that even now, she is
not yet married. What would I do about that? The best
scenario would be if she felt the same way about me, and
that I could convince her to leave UBF. That, however,
is not as probable as I would prefer.

And so now, in August of 2004, I am keeping the "old
friends" of UBF at arms-length distance at all times. It
is my hope that one day soon I may find out about this
girl.

PSUDAB

>Dear PSUDAB:
>
>Thank you for that clarification. But the same
>applies, Joe Schafer should stop lying. I had accepted
>the gospel 1.5 years before I came to UBF. I was also
>teaching the Bible before I came to UBF. Recently the
>man who led me to Christ, Stanley N. Friberg, passed
>away. I was glad I talked to him a few times before he
>died. He was a Christian who passionately enjoyed
>studying the Bible though he received no benefits like
>the UBFin's. His passion to study the Bible was
>unmatched by anyone I saw in UBF. At his Memorial
>Service several people got up and told about how Mr.
>Friberg led them to Christ. A lot of people he led to
>Christ weren't even there. It was best memorial
>service I ever attended because I was sure that
>everyone in that room sincerely loved and valued their
>time with him. He was also a man with a large family
>of 10 children. Despite his large family size he
>eagerly shared his faith and led several Bible studies
>in between his work and hectic family life. He didn't
>have much worldly wealth but I'm sure the Christ was
>waiting to embrace and reward him in heaven. He was
>one person that look forward to his heavenly reward
>more than anyone else I knew. He also didn't care if
>he was recognized by the world as long as he glorified
>God through his life.
>
>Why do you keep going to UBF? Is it your friendship
>with Joe Schafer? Are you hoping to get married in
>UBF? If you come to this website and the Rsqubf site
>it is very clear how ungodly and unbiblical UBF is.
>They have no intentions to change but continue in
>their ignoble traditions of manipulation and abuse on
>young American college students. There are several
>reasons why they have been kicked out of the NAE
>(National Association of Evangelicals). Did you know
>that only 3 member groups have been expelled from the
>NAE over the last 10 years, despite having around
>50,000 members? Two of the three have tried to
>reconcile with the NAE but UBF just sends people like
>Brian Karcher who say everything is a lie. Brian is
>just trying to defend the indefensible. There are more
>people who have left UBF, than are currently in UBF,
>that testify about the cultic practices of UBF.
>
>Currently I attend Moody Bible Institute. Every
>professor I talk to there knows about UBF and tells me
>about the abusive character of UBF. They tell me about
>the people they have ministered to after leaving UBF.
>Noone has a favorable opinion of them and they are
>regarded as a cult. I hope and pray that you can
>decide to leave UBF for a real Bible-believing church
>that has a passion to witness to unbelievers about
>Christ. I also suggest that you join a small group in
>that church so they can pray for you and help you grow
>as a Christian. I suggest you get a copy of R.C.
>Sproul's "Five Things Every Christian Needs To Grow."
>It is a short book that will point you in the right
>direction.

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Replies:

Re: PSU Directorship, marriage, and MY TESTIMONY -- Jim St. L., 21:18:22 08/08/04 Sun
- Helen Rarick -- PSUDAB, 22:52:34 08/14/04 Sat