The International Youth Fellowship (IYF), is an organization founded by Ock Soo Park in 1995, in South Korea, with the aim of taking ‘full charge of problems of the youth.’ According to their official website iyf.org, its roots go back to the July 1995’s ‘first South Korea-U.S Combined Youth Camp.’
This year, they shall be holding their ‘Changed Mind, Changed Life: 2017 National Mind Education Camp’ at Makerere University Kampala, Uganda, at Freedom Square on the 29th of July to 1st August 2017.
The Founder, Ock Soo Park also founded Good News Mission (GNM) that has a penumbra of churches, which, according to their official website (found here) is an ‘independent Baptist mission organization dedicated to spreading the gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth.’ In this regard, IYF carries out the Mission of Good News Mission.
Although GNM’s Statement of Faith is consistent with Baptist confessions of faith, their teaching, both in their popular camps and books, differs significantly from their doctrinal statement.
It is also crucial to know that the Baptist Convention of Korea, the Christian Council of Korea, the Korean Presbyterian Church Council, and the Synod of South Atlantic consider this movement cultic.
In this article, we will focus on two things: their teaching on sin, and their corrupt authoritarianism. In the next, we will explore their mind control ideologies.
Their View on Sin
In his book Secret Of Forgiveness And Being Born Again, Pastor Ock Soo Park teaches that Saints do not sin. Accordingly, whoever transgresses only proves that he is not a believer. He says:
“You may have stolen, lied and committed murder, but those are not sins, they are crimes.” (p37)
‘What did Jesus say [to the woman of John 8], after writing on the ground with His finger? “…I do not condemn you. You have no sin.”’ -p121
‘There are many people who pray, saying, “God, forgive my sins.” You are doing well, but let’s think carefully about this. Folks, when Jesus was crucified, did he wash away your sins, or did He not? If your sins are washed away, do you have to ask to have them washed away again?’ – p124
‘You must have no blemishes, no sins and must be clean to be a saint. A person who has sin, is not a true saint.’ – p145
“You say that you believe Jesus washed away your sins, but when you are asked, “Do you have sin?” You answer, “Yes I have sin.” That is not believing…You must believe that the Lord washed our sin perfectly clean. Then your heart can be freed from sin.” – p235
Christians though understand that the Bible teaches the opposite.
John the Apostle insists that anyone who denies the sinfulness of believers and humanity in effect charges God with falsehood. To say that you have no sin, says John, is the same as saying that God is a liar (1 John 1:7-10).
This is why Scripture continually calls us to daily put off the carnal ways and put on the new man (Eph 4:20-24).
The Bible insists that every regenerate man is in a battle against sin and its fruit.
To call murder merely a ‘crime’ rather than sin suggests that these acts are primarily an insult to the State rather than God. But God is the primary injured party in any transgression, and the Psalmist insists on this in Psalm 52:4.
Even after adultery, and murdering Uriah, his most loyal follower, David insists that his sin was against God ‘only.’ That is, believers sin, and they sin against God.
And yet, interestingly, IYF and GNM use the biblical idea of the intrinsic sinfulness of man to forbid its members from using their minds to think independently and to discuss ideas freely.
Whoever disagrees with any of their teachings is shamed for not having ‘an open heart,’ and for expressing ‘rebellion’ and ‘sinfulness.’ It thrives on mind control.
We will explore mind control in more details in Part 2 of these series. For now, let’s look at how this mental enslavement happens.
Loss Individual Freedom to Belong and Believe
Although their doctrinal Statement reads that ‘Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes, (whereby) in such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord’, many who have left testify of high-level manipulation and authoritarianism exercised by IYF and GNM.
Two years back I strode by University Hall Makerere University, where IYF was inviting students to its camp then.
I usually engage people of various worldviews and make new friends. So, I began a conversation with one of the volunteers, challenging him concerning some of IYF’s doctrinal positions. It was a warm conversation.
But because I was somewhat in a hurry and it was also getting late, we agreed to link up the next day. We exchanged contacts and said goodbye to each other.
The next day I called him up, as a follow-up. But instead, he was less enthusiastic and a bit cold. I had not known that he had contacted his superior, who warned him not to meet me. When I called him again, he asked me first to ask permission from his ‘leader.’
It then dawned on me that those who join IYF have no right and freedom to hold any position different in any way from that of IYF, and neither are they free to have discussions about what they are taught, in the absence of their supervisor. And my experience is not an isolated one.
It is also noteworthy that IYF has striking similarities with the Moonies Cult. One observer notes:
“The training programs (are) aimed at breaking down the individual’s identity by subjecting him or her to an emotionally and physically exhausting schedule of repetitive lectures…The restructuring of the trainee’s ego (is) based on Moon’s theology that projects absolute faith in (the leader) as the essential building block of a “restored” personality. It attacks the validity of the individual conscience. It explicitly denies the individual’s capacity to make morally responsible existential decisions. Somewhere along the line in the theology (the) love of God is translated into blind obedience to the leader and his representatives in the hierarchical chain. One is finally left with submission to (the leader, in this case. Ock-Soo Park) as the only answer to the fallen man’s condition of moral paralysis”
IYF targets students and the education sector. That explains their interest in Universities.
I mentioned how they are having a Youth Camp this week, in the heart of Uganda’s Topmost University, Makerere. They target influential churches and bodies and use their alliances to further their agenda.
This year, they sought a platform at St. Francis Chapel, the leading evangelical chapel at the University. St. Francis Chapel would be strategic as the ground for the central Christian Union (CU) at the campus, and an endorsement from this chapel would be an endorsement IYF. The consequences of this move would be far-reaching.
An invitation to this event sent to many of the Church Leaders in Uganda by the organizing team of IYF shows that IYF Uganda has had mind education lectures and other activities at many universities of Uganda which include Cavendish University, International University of East Africa, Kyambogo University, Makerere University, and Uganda Catholic Management and training institute.
Accordingly, they have had a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ministry of Education under the directive of the President and First Lady, and the President of Uganda H.E. Yoweri Museveni promised to support them with land and building and, in his words, ‘everything needed for the mind education.’
Meanwhile, I learned that their mind control course would be part of Ndejje University’s curriculum for the next subsequent intake beginning with the upcoming Academic Year.
Their strategic planning made it possible for them to convince Mrs. Janet Kataaha Museveni, Uganda’s Education Minister, to join their cause and use her position to their advantage.
In Part 2, we will look at the mind-control experiences in IYF Youth Camps in depth, as narrated by those who attended them.