My Narrative
By Eric Navas
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Hello. This is my story of why I left UBF: the long version. In it I will use peoples’ real names unless otherwise noted.
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Before I begin I will give a liitle background/history that will draw a better picture of what I went through:
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A brief history (don't worry it ties in to all of this) Shepherds' Church is the front group for El Camino UBF which is a branch of an group called University Bible Fellowship (UBF). UBF is one of the few groups that still carry out what is called the Shepherding Movement.
The Shepherding Movement was created in the 70s by four men: Derek Prince, Bob Mumford, Don Basham, Charles Simpson. The idea is that you would have a personal pastor (human shepherd) to guide you in the ways of the bible and basically be a middle man of God. In theory it sounds good but in practice it was a disaster. All kinds of abuse happened: spiritual abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse,etc,. People ended up worshiping their shepherd over God in a subtle way by putting man over God. Even illegal activity was committed under the name of God. So the movement as a whole died down in the mid 80s. Here is more info on the shepherding Movement: https://www.vulcanhammer.org/2011/04/29/pat-robertson-vs-the-shepherding-movement/
https://www.gotquestions.org/shepherding-movement.html
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El Camino UBF is the real name. Shepherds Church is the front group/fake name.Do they know they are in UBF? Prior to the international UBF conference in August 2018 all of the seniors/married couples and John Baik's family including Sarah Baik, the daughter of the pastor, knew the church's real name and the fact that they are part of UBF. When they fish they don't tell you or any student that they are part of UBF. So the only way you would know this is if you did your own research or go to the UBF international conference which they hold every 5 years. There are a few articles of "Shepherds Church " on the UBF website. This is the latest one made back in May 2018: http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/north-america/63-registered-and-40-42-leaders-ready-serve-isbc-el-camino-usa
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Part 1:
How did I get involved with a Korean diaspora cult called UBF? I wasn’t fished but a classmate of mine was. He pressured me into coming and that is how I met my enemy for life Clifford Tylin “Ty” Rothrock. I went to bible studies because I got nothing better to do and also I was a bit curious about it. I continued while my classmate stopped after awhile.
In 2014 I became brainwashed and indoctrinated. I made “friends” such as Sarah Baik and Saleh Muriezn. Bascially I was plugged into UBF’s matrix.
In 2015 I began my journey out of El Camino UBF after getting shattered with reality checks and events. [There were many events that lead me to leave the chapter. But in this story I will go over the main events that impacted me the most.] The first reality check was right after the wedding of Robert Crane and Iliana Garcia in January 2015. It wasn’t the wedding itself but what happened right after. The Saturday after the wedding right before bible study (b.s.) Rothrock got on my case just because I was taking photos with several members. I tend to take picture at special events to cherish the moments. At moment the matrix was ripping apart. From that moment on I came to despise photography.Later on in the middle of the year that was when I started to blog my experiences. I’m the first person to have done so. A year later I was betray by a so-called “brother”. Rothrock came up to me after worship service all whiney and cry-babyish and ask to remove the blog. Instead I just privatized it and resume blogging.[There was word that it was Bianca Arreola’s husband that betrayed me but this has not been confirmed.]
In 2016 is when I became pragmatic about leaving the cult. Another reality check hit me. Rothrock gave me the direction to ride with Elva Aldrete [whom would later on harass my family the last week of 2016] and my sister in order to get my sister to come to Friday night testimony sharing. I was extremely pissed off. Rothrock, some of the other seniors, and John Baik got on my case about my “lust problem” and “marriage problem” [which is total bogus] 93+ times for 93 consecutive weeks since mid-January 2015 and yes I kept count. And now all of a sudden it is fine for me to ride with a “sister”?! This is the first time I put my foot down and refused to obey Rothrock. He had an alternative motive in getting me and my sister to carpool with Elva. I have 2 theories on what his real scheme is. [Note: they are theories]
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He could have been preparing my “marriage by faith” in order to keep me there. The older members suspected that I was going to leave the chapter soon
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He was trying to turn the church against me by having me seen with Elva. At the time not only was I deprogramming from UBF’s matrix I was only trying to reach out to other members of the chapter.
The biggest reality check of all was how John Baik tried very hard to destroy my friendship with Sarah Baik. I actually submitted a detailed article to Eddie several months back. Here’s the link: http://ubfriends.net/a-friendship-fractured/ It was what John Baik said and his response to the mass email sent to the chapter which became the final straw for me. October 31, 2016 was the last time I would ever set foot on UBF ground ever again. As of this day I see Sarah more or less as a bystander. As for my friendship with her it is now nothing more than sad memories.
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Part 2:
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I will reveal what happened after I left, what I did besides these articles, and why I’m doing what I am doing.
There were many things that happened after I left and many things I did. So here are the main events and actions that happened.
On Dec 26, 2016 at night Elva Aldrete came to my house to harass my family to go to the conference. My sister only agreed in the end in hopes that Elva would stop harassing my family. If Elva just wanted to ask all she needed to do was text my sister and let her make that decision by herself. Not harass my entire family late that night. To this day my family is overall still deeply hurt by Elva’s actions. My sister revealed to me recently that the only reason she went to the conference was in hopes that Elva would stop harassing my family.
On March 1, 2017 when I was heading to class at CSUDH in the LSU at passed by Clifford “Ty” Rothrock, Rothrock out of the blue threatened to call the cops on me. [This was John Baik’s command to all the seniors: if they see any ex-member anywhere that they must threatened them.]
If you were to ask Rothrock and Elva about these events they will do some of the following:
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Refuse to talk about it
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Change the subject
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Avoid eye contact
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attempt to justify with some bible verse/passage.
Since those events I have made up my mind to continue breaking the silence and expose the atrocities, classified intel, and all of the church’s secrets
At this point the church will blame Rothrock and Elva for the church’s downfall and treat them as nobodies if they haven’t already.
Earlier this month I was able to track down Chris Mueller, Rothrock’s original bible teacher. I asked Chris for his side of the story. When I heard his story I was moved by his words and was appalled by the lies and deception of John Baik and his cronies (the seniors).
As for what I was doing after I left besides writing articles on ubfriends I did the following:
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destroyed all my notes that contained UBF theology
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visited a Christian church that was both healthy and genuine
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rebuilding my personality
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connecting with the first group that left in 2010-2011 and hearing their side of the story
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letting my health recover
I may explain the details of the things mentioned above in the future but I’m still not sure.
Additional notes: As of this article I completely cut off all communication from ALL the seniors. For they lost my trust completely.
As I was explaining to some current members earlier this month I cannot be part of a ministry that condones and practices betrayal, threats, and the like.
To this day my family hasn’t received a written apology from the seniors, John Baik, and Elva.
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