While the media quickly label groups like Remnant Fellowship (and places like the International Churches of Christ, the Unification Church and so many others) as "Evangelical" churches, it's easy to understand how they arrive at that conclusion.
These groups structure themselves in assemblies and practices most familiar to whom they market their claims. They call themselves churches. They use the Bible. They have affective worship services where interactive and experiential involvement is promoted. They pray passionately and speak of the Kingdom of God. A lot.
They point to a God, a Jesus and maybe even the Holy Spirit. Music is drawn from polished worship bands. Expositors and participants enthusiastically commend you to the presence of a tangible God seen in their friendly people and encounters. Media savvy propagation of their message is streamed, podcasted, borne by people ready to interact with you. Etc.
Yet Remnant Fellowship is not an Evangelical church. I'm an Evangelical Pentecostal pastor and can firmly attest to this (of course, if you are of the persuasion that all churches are cults than nothing else I'll blog here will make any sense, but I can't help that).
It takes the form of a flashy, dynamic church to most deceptively draw hapless and ill-informed candidates into an environment that uses all these above familiar features to move them from the known to THEIR unknown. The familiar "church" expectation held by prospective audiences at large is harnessed cunningly as the vehicle to convey them into the real agenda of RF, which is to parasitically draw away disciples after themselves - something an apostle in the Bible warned would happens, weeping for over two years as he did so (Acts 20:30). Therefore, many never discern that RF doctrine is unbiblical and many of its practices breaking with reality, compassion and decency. They achieve control of thought by stifling dialogue and demanding a blind obedience to authority. Their intrusion and domination of member life using their false practices and doctrines are NOT features of sound Evangelical practice (as much as it seems unlikely, not all churches are like Remnant at all).
But as we said, it's easy to understand why so many media and journalists just don't see the difference. It looks too similar to so many and therefore, Remnant to them is just "another" Evangelical church. And when Evangelical churches manifest actual cultism, we get it. But a blanket identification and association of RF with sound churches is not just inaccurate but quite short-sighted and even unfair. While we'll be the first to agree that there ARE Evangelical churches that ARE cultic, not. All. Are.
In short, there's a reason Jesus called the leaders of such places - including Gwen Shamblin and her tribe of sycophantic leadership - ravening wolves in sheep's clothing in Matthew 7:15. You've heard the expression perhaps .. and it's this proverb you need to keep in mind when Remnant is misidentified as a church. It is an accursed cult (Galatians 1:8) foisting itself off as a church to deceive many .. just as Jesus also said in Matthew 24 as well. We should expect to find more of this arising in the days to come and RF is a poster chile of what spiritual deception looks like.
