Email to believers from Philippines about persecution by church leaders in Dubai

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ from Philippines,

My name is Andrii Shybanov, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ from Dubai who currently resides in the Philippines due to quarantine caused by coronavirus pandemic.

I am writing to you to describe what happened to me and what I observed in Dubai International Church of Christ, although this is not at all a church in the biblical sense of the word, but just an organization of human origin. 

Church leaders and many other people horribly misinterpret scriptures. Every disciple of Christ must report to the leaders about his or her sin. For example, church leader by the name Alfred Varghese asks brothers in Christ to spend time together and ask them about their sins, if any. The person confesses and prays together with Alfred Varghese, but later Alfred reports sins of people to other church leaders higher than him in the hierarchy. Next, the highest in rank church leaders

make an appointment with the sinner and decide whether to forgive him or disfellowship him from the organization.

Homosexuality occurs often. When I found out that my brother in Christ continues to sleep with men, although I have told him to stop it because this is a sin, I did not go to the leaders to report this brother as per the local rules. I asked other brothers in Christ to rebuke this person who engaged in homosexuality:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses”. - Matthew 18: 15-16

Believers told me that I need to follow the rules and approach leaders. They refused to speak to homosexual man themselves without permission from church leaders. The leaders and their wives are seated in a separate office, and, before I approach them, I had to first have an interview with church leader Jacob Kuruvilla at his house. I visited Jacob Kuruvilla, he listened to me and recorded our conversation on a phone (I don’t understand why leaders always record conversations on their phone).

After my meeting with Jacob, he allowed me to meet with leaders and their wives, but they gave me no more than 5 minutes of their time. When I met with the leaders, I laid out the problem on the table - there is a homosexual, and the other brothers do not want to point him his fault but sent me to church leaders. 

The leaders were furious that I came to them with this matter. The leader Andrew Moreno after the meeting told me: “the church cannot have two leaders -  you and us”. Jacob Kuruvilla, Andrew Moreno, and Jomar Morra called me for another meeting at the mall and said, "shake off the dust from your sandals and go to another church." They accused me of being divisive (“divisive” or “heretic” from Ancient Greek “heretikos”- the standard accusation of Roman Catholic Inquisition which tortured to death thousands of believers and other bright men) and gave me the first warning. Soon afterwards they gave me a second warning and disfellowshipped me from the organization, but I did not care.

When I arrived for fellowship, they called Deira City Seasons hotel manager by the name Marvin, who invited me to a separate room for a conversation and said: “Andrei, I know you and your family, you have been attending meetings for last three years and I have nothing against you, but the leaders told me not to let you in”, - he also added, “They pay us, so I have to obey them”.

I wrote an email to a well-known person and author of many books on apologetics by the name Dr John Oakes. He answered me copying Jacob Kuruvilla:

“You have been asked to leave. That is exactly what you should do.  If you refuse to do so, then you give the group there no choice but to physically remove you.  What else can they do?  That would be on you, not on them.  I am sure they will not use any more force than is required if you physically resist leaving.  Let me suggest a better option:  Move on to another group which is closer to what you believe and practice”. - Dr John Oakes

When I arrived at the hotel to fellowship with believers as usual, they did not physically remove me. A woman named Nikki Jeronimo collected 59 signatures (document attached) and threatened to file a police case against me accusing me of trespassing private property. According to hotel manager Marvin, the fellowship officially is indeed a private meeting organized by Clifford Camillo. 

I still did not pay any attention to Nikki and the leaders, because I am not afraid of them. Then one of the richest and most influential persons in the organization by the name of Mark Lutz threatened me saying that they would not kill me with their hands but report me to hotel security staff and police, and, if I resist them, then I could die. This can happen to anyone who opposes church leaders because Mark Lutz considers church leaders to be appointed by God himself (the truth is that they were appointed by other leaders like them). 

Jacob Kuruvilla went to his friend working in CID (UAE analogue of FBI) and reported me to him. He told him that I consider myself a prophet, and yet the last prophet in UAE and throughout the Muslim world is Muhammad. I indeed consider myself a prophet, but a New Testament prophet who teaches truth to those who believe in the name of Christ. I am not a Muslim prophet. I no longer went for fellowship with all those people who persecuted me. I am writing this letter from the Philippines, where church leaders have fewer connections. This is a safer place to tell you the truth about what’s going on in Dubai.

Love relationships 

Besides homosexuality, most unmarried men are heavily involved in viewing pornography. It is by their own confession, a leader named Alfred Varghese reported this to me.

Most women are already older than 30 years old, and many even over 40. How are women going to get married when men are content with watching pornography? Brothers in Christ do not rebuke each other for watching pornography. They might report someone to church leaders and church leaders can't do much. 

Even when a man is interested in a woman and begins to court her, leaders intentionally attempt to disrupt just about to form relationships. They say to couples such words as “you are not ready yet”, “you need time to get to know each other better”, “you do not match each other”, etc. It happened to me as well as to many of my friends. I ignored the instructions of the leaders, otherwise, I would never have married Angie (this is the name of my wife).

Leaders always say that they are not the only church in the world but there are many other churches. However, if someone dares to have a relationship with a believer, but from a different group, then the leaders will disfellowship him or her. They will not be allowed to fellowship with others anymore without obtaining permission from church leaders first. Church leaders will forbid to communicate with those who are dating or got married outside ICOC, and whoever disobeys will be disfellowshipped.

Solution

The International Church of Christ is an organization that was founded by Kip McKean. Despite the fact that Kip is no longer dominant, the rules and traditions have already been established. No one can change ICOC, the same way it’s impossible to change Catholic, Baptist, Protestant or any other organization. Even if a church leader tries to change something in his organization, other church leaders will not allow and remove him. If some church leaders will succeed in changing one organization together, ICOC higher leaders will remove them from ICOC network, so new “church” with new rules will be established. This new “church” will create its own network of organisations in different cities and this how the cycle goes on. 

According to the biblical definition, a church is a fellowship of all believers in a city, not a group of believers united under the same traditions (they call their traditions doctrines and creeds).

To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. -Romans 1:7

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: -Philippians 1:1

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: -1 Corinthians 1:2

You must cancel the membership in your organization and begin to fellowship with all believers. Never become a member of any organization. If you are a member, then you have to follow the rules of the organization. Remember that God is jealous God and He will not tolerate you following doctrines of organizations and their leaders.

If you are a leader, then you need to leave this position. The only position in the church is that of an elder. The elder is the older brother in Christ. He does not have any authority to disfellowship someone, to preach without giving a word to others and they don’t collect money from believers. 

Forward this letter to all disciples of Christ so that they can learn not to repeat the mistakes of others and correct their own because the time is approaching when everyone will stand before God and answer for their words and deeds.

With love of Christ Jesus,

Andrii Shybanov