r/singaporecult

I’m feeling so happy after leaving the cult group (RFA - Revival Faith Assembly). Today, while walking down Orchard Road, I saw an uncle singing Christian songs, and for the first time it felt enjoyable and refreshing.

My cult used to teach me that Christians outside the group weren’t “real Christians.” I used to look at people like him and think they were going to hell. Now I feel different. I can simply appreciate the moment and praise the Lord together with them.

The turning point for me was watching a video about my church’s (RFA - Revival Faith Assembly) doctrine on British Israelism. I was shocked when I realized our church embraced beliefs that are commonly associated with cult groups. The video explained why the doctrine was flawed, and for the first time I seriously started questioning our teaching that we were the only church preaching the truth.

The Cult I Grew Up In | British Israelism Debunked
https://youtu.be/HaKpI7tpryc?si=llOcY0T2Av06pLdF

After that, I started digging deeper into other issues surrounding the church. I came across the sexual assault cases connected to our affiliated assembly in Geelong and listened to a podcast covering them. Hearing the victims’ stories genuinely affected me. I felt deep sorrow and compassion for what they went through.

Pray Harder - Secrets We Keep
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/introducing-pray-harder/id1699106866?i=1000677811160

What finally broke everything for me was a conversation with my pastor.

I asked him why the church wasn’t more open about these issues and whether we should acknowledge what happened or apologize to the victims. His response stunned me. He told me not to think about it too much, to just follow, and “don’t feel too much for the victims.”

Eventually, he asked me to leave and admitted he had no answers to my questions.

That moment changed something in me. I realized I couldn’t see any love, humility, or accountability in his response. I kept thinking: how can someone claim to be a true prophet of God while showing so little compassion?

That was the moment I woke up and realized I had been in a cult.

When I confronted my pastor, Tony Koh from Revival Faith Assembly (RFA) Singapore, about the sexual assault victims in our affiliated church in Australia, GRC, he said he had no answers and told me to just leave the church. Watching Unbelievable on Netflix made me realise how important it is for victims to receive acknowledgment and an apology when institutions fail them. I can’t stop thinking about how badly the church’s handling of the situation may have affected the victims’ lives.

The video is a snippet of the story of Elizabeth Struhs, who lay dying in her home in Toowoomba while her parents and other members of the religious cult The Saints gathered around her and sang.

They withheld her life-saving insulin medication, believing God would heal her.

This snippet brought back such a vivid flashback for me. I was in a very similar baptism tank and was pushed into the water the same way, without much warning. I was 16.

It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I felt lost, overwhelmed, and completely flooded with adrenaline. There were so many people around me shouting in tongues — yes, shouting, not speaking — and I remember trembling.

I guess part of me felt happy then because, after struggling for so long to “speak in tongues,” I finally felt a sense of belonging.

For context, in Revival Faith Assembly in Singapore, we were taught that we needed to receive the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues before we could be baptised. I was told that in order to receive the Holy Spirit, all I had to do was repeatedly say “hallelujah” until my words slowly turned into gibberish — and that was supposed to mean the Holy Spirit had entered me.

To be honest, if I wanted to, I could still “speak in tongues” today because it was really just gibberish with no meaning. Deep down, though, I know it was nothing more than a learned behaviour — a collective act of belief convincing us that the Holy Spirit was within us.

But was it really? I honestly don’t think so.

Did you also speak in tongues? What was your experience like? And what do you think speaking in tongues really is?

I was part of Revival Faith Assembly (RFA), and one of the most harmful teachings I experienced there was around faith healing.

We were taught that true Christians should trust God alone for healing and not rely on doctors or medical treatment. The pastors constantly preached that God could heal any sickness without medical intervention if your faith was strong enough.

People who went to doctors were often viewed as lacking faith. If someone recovered after receiving medical treatment, they were not even allowed to publicly testify or praise God in the assembly. It wasn’t considered a “true” healing from God.

This video describes a church group that is extremely similar to the one I was in — the same emphasis on speaking in tongues, baptism teachings, divine healing, and distrust of medical treatment:

The Saints on trial: How a religious cult let a child die
https://youtu.be/tQXmxrk7dcI?si=erLLfaPWzQEitBtU

What makes this especially painful for me is that I personally saw members become seriously ill and refuse treatment because they believed God would heal them. Some of them eventually passed away.

At the time, I thought this was normal Christianity. Looking back now, I realize how dangerous and psychologically controlling these teachings were. People were made to feel guilty or spiritually weak for seeking basic healthcare.

Leaving the church made me realize how much fear and pressure we lived under. I still believe in God, but I no longer believe a loving God would want people to avoid medical care just to prove their faith.