I have to say I shouldn't be too surprised that such a forum like this exists. I had thought this (schismatic) Church flew too far under the radar to be of much concern.

My family joined this cult before I was two years of age, so I didn't have much say in the matter in participating. I don't blame my parents for joining. My mother was dying of cancer and of course the Revival Centre promoted faith healing, so I don't doubt the desperation as the credible reason; not that the magic sky fairy granted any wishes that year (she still died.)

At some point I started speaking in tongues. I don't remember how old I was at the time. I was a child though and was quickly baptised thereafter.

I was a true believer for many years and quite the God-boy. I think the first problem arose was when I actually went and studied history at University. I don't know what the schismatic cult preaches these days with regards to history, but in my day they were completely and proudly ignorant. For example I learned that the Pope did not in fact run the Holy Roman Empire (the Holy Roman Emperor barely did that) as was regularly taught in the cult.

When presented such to the backwards collar man (pastor in case that was too subtle), he couldn't deny it and said it wasn't too important. Though I was rebuked later on for correcting an ignoramus who was preaching non-history as history by said backwards collar man. This I took quite badly I have to say: facts are facts and ignorance should be corrected or so I felt. It was hardly as though the ignoramus was making a sermon on it and this was in casual conversation.

Not that this was the straw the broke the camel's back. One of the bigger ones: many years prior to this my father had posed a problem; one he didn't have an answer to and one that probably cannot be solved by a fair number of religions. It was on the question of marriage. As people reading this forum should know the Revival Centre was and is dogmatic that every other religion and forms of Christianity are wrong. As such were people married in other faiths married in the eyes of God. In particular were people married in the Catholic religion married in the eyes of the Sky Fairy? I definitely had no answer at this point in time however it was a question that my brain contemplated from time to time.

Studying history helped solve this problem. In the biblical era marriage was agreed between the fathers. If they agreed you were married otherwise not. As such I failed to see how defacto marriages were wrong in the Church. Backwards collar man disagreed, but could not say why, especially not from the Bible. It didn't help of course that under this definition he himself was not married, as his wife's father refused when backwards collar man tried to get her father's permission, i.e. under Biblical arrangement he was not married and therefore living in sin. This I believe was a major step in what followed, but it was not the end.

(In the bulk of Western Christendom the Catholic Church usurped the right to marry (12th century). Centuries latter the state usurped the Church's right to marry and this is something we still live under. Prior to that marriages were the domain of the fathers. I also don't care anymore being an atheist, but it is an interesting thing to note when the definition of marriage comes up from time to time. BTW I also know there were exceptions to the usurpation of marriage by the Church like in Bohemia, so please don't assume this was clear cut and without gradients of grey.)

My God-glasses* had become a little dull and I started reading scriptures in a different way to the backwards collar man, and as such started asking uncomfortable questions. These were always done respectively mind, that is one on one and never as an attempt to undermine his authority.

After several sessions like this with backwards collar man being unable to respond effectively (answers based on emotions rather than any facts) I was excommunicated. This was in the early 90s and I have to say one of the best things that ever happened to me. You'd think I would have long since got over it and in principle I have. The unfortunate thing is I still have family involved in this cult, so I still get wrapped up in this BS from time to time.

Not this was the complete end. Backwards collar man had once claimed people he had excommunicated never wanted to talk to him again, so I decided to keep in contact from time to time...just to annoy him. I hadn't given up on the Bible at this point either and decided to take formal papers at University to learn Koine Greek (the Greek of the New Testament.) I got good enough to be able to read (and understand) the New Testament without having to reach for a Lexicon. I also started trying my hand and learning Classical Greek so I could read the Septuagint (the New Testament regular cites the Septuagint.) This annoyed backwards collar man no end, because I started rubbishing the cult's pathetic understanding of Greek.

(I have not kept up the practice, so memory has dulled quite a bit. IOW don't expect me to be able to translate passages from the Bible anymore. It's been over twenty years of non-practice. I do remember Christian Churches, not just the Revival cult are really at odds with their Bible when it comes to the original languages...not that you'd know it from the English translations which usually gloss over the problems.)

The most laughable one that springs to mind is the utterly wrong definition of "New wine." According to cult doctrine "New Wine" meant non-alcoholic grape juice. This is absurd. New wine was the most alcoholic. It's not like modern day wine-keeping where age generally improves the wine; the longer the wine was kept around the more alcohol turned to vinegar (i.e. became less alcoholic with time.) Of course backwards collar man continued to preach the lie. There were others, but that one is the most memorable because of their insistence that the Greek mean non-alcoholic in that particular branch of the cult was one regularly mentioned.

I found this clip rather reflective of my involuntary escape (put up by uncoolman): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJSDyS3Eo0 . How the Church taught people to see everything in black and white, the isolation from family and so-called friends and so on and so forth. How social skills were woeful on leaving. Still it has been decades since my departure and I haven't ever wanted to return. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Possibly the most painful thing though was the BS on end times. My exit was years ago, so the cult has probably revised this a long time ago (like decades), but in my day the Great Pyramid was believed to prophesy that Jesus was returning in 1992 based on some measurement (you know the wonder built by pantheist non-Hebrews who if you believe the Exodus fable enslaved over a million Hebrews somehow prophesied the return of some Jewish magician whom they wouldn't have ever believed in.) This wasn't official Church doctrine, but it was one that was regularly discussed in Church by Church officials to the gullible. I was one of the gullible in those days. As such I rationalised that preparing an actual career was a waste of time. Oh well, no point crying over spilled milk and all that, but as 1992 passed by I realised I had made a huge blunder trusting in the Church.

Did the cult ever revise the Great Pyramid prophecy BS or was that swept under the carpet?

Do remember when you critique this post I was kicked out a long time ago. Church doctrine may have changed. I have no idea, for example, whether the cult still clings to the absurd new wine equals non-alcoholic grape juice.

* Coined as far as I know by the vlogger and atheist (and former God-boy) Seth Andrews. A YouTube channel well worth following. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist