This article was restored from the Cult Awareness and Information Centre archives.
This group originated in Australia, and spread abroad.
Like all aberrant bible-based groups they follow the usual practice of only using those scriptures which support their beliefs, wresting verses out of context, and ignoring or explaining away any which are contrary.
A major difference between RCI and other pentecostal churches is in the doctrine which revolves around speaking in tongues. According to them, UNLESS YOU SPEAK IN TONGUES YOU DO NOT HAVE SALVATION. To quote from their pamphlet ‘Salvation and the Holy Spirit’ …
” … it is ONLY when the earnest seeker speaks in tongues that we can say with scriptural that he has received the Holy Spirit.”
“The baptism with the Holy Spirit is NOT AN ‘OPTIONAL EXTRA’ in the Word of God. Rather it is God’s seal or pledge that we are saved (Eph 1:13-14) … The Bible therefore offers no assurance for those who choose to remain outside this freely offered experience … We are also warned that ‘no other gospel’ is to be preached (Gal 1:8). To preach less than the Holy Spirit Baptism for salvation is a disaster.”
“There is no salvation outside the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Anything less is not God’s plan and IS NOT SALVATION.” (emphasis are ours)
As regards ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit’ or ‘being filled with the Holy Spirit’ one only needs to look at Acts 9 to see that Paul the apostle was himself ‘FILLED with the Holy Spirit’ (vs17) AFTER he had acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord (vs6); AFTER he had received a further vision from the Holy Spirit concerning Ananias (vs12) and AFTER he was made a ‘chosen vessel’ unto the Lord (see Acts 9:4-17). This and other passages from Scripture indicate that AFTER being ‘born-again’ by the Spirit of God, a Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit. But there is no passage that indicates that one must speak in tongues to show that they are saved.
It is also worthwhile to point out that spiritual gifts are to be DESIRED or SOUGHT AFTER (1 Cor 12:28 and 14:11) by the BELIEVER only!
The Christian is warned not to look to supernatural manifestations such as prophecy, casting out demons, wonderful works (healing etc) as the SOLE CRITERIA for proof that a person is a Christian (Matt 7:17-23 shows there will be those who do these things in the Lord’s name but the Lord is going to cast them away because they are not His).
The reasons for this warning become clearer when we look at such passages as 2 Thess 2:7-12; 1 Tim 4:1; and Rev 16:14, 19:20. Many will be deceived by miracles and the ‘supernatural’ because they will be looking at THESE as the foundation for their faith, NOT at the Lord Himself. This emphasis on a physical evidence to ‘confirm’ salvation is contrary to the injunction to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).
In verse 21 of Acts 2, Peter told his listeners how to be saved. In verse 37 they cried out “What must we do?”. Peter then told them to REPENT and be baptised for (because of) the remission of their sins. Then, Peter told them, they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
IN SUMMARY:
THEIR BASIC BELIEFS ARE
- Salvation is only for those who speak in tongues and this is the only way you can know the assurance of salvation.
- They are the only true church.
- The ‘lost ten tribes’ are Britain and the USA (British Israelism).
- The major part of the book of Revelation has been fulfilled.
THEY ALSO TEACH
- THAT Adam was NOT the first man, but that man was alive and reproducing his kind many thousands of years before this.
- THAT “goodness in natural terms is a fantasy, a delusion, set before us with its seeming opposite, evil, by the devil. THE TWO ARE INTERCHANGABLE depending on where we view them from …”
- THAT “even family ties were to be callously disregarded when they impinged on a follower’s walk”.
- THAT there is no forgiveness for the sin of adultery or fornication and that those who sin in this way are to be permanantly removed from fellowship.
This organisation is potentially dangerous. It has a particular appeal to those who seek the reassurance of a ‘sign’ or a supernatural experience before they believe they have salvation.
Former members describe a system of control and manipulation and experience the same post-cult symptoms as those who come from other well known cults such as Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Moonies. All indications are that this is a destructive Bible Based cult.
