'It was a doomsday cult, we believed that the end of the world was going to happen'

Ryan Carey was born into the Geelong Revival Centre, a Pentecostal church where his father was second-in-command. It was a cult, founded on abuse.

Ryan Carey grew up never expecting to live into his 20s, he was told everyone around him would die in a nuclear holocaust.

Carey was born into the Geelong Revival Centre, a Pentecostal church in Australia, where his father was second in command.

“It was a doomsday cult. We believed that the end of the world was going to happen at any minute, that there was going to be a great battle of Armageddon,” he told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.

Ryan Carey on leaving the church he'd known all his life

“And I believed at any moment that everyone around me would die in a nuclear holocaust and that my job was to save souls from that impending doom. And that was my mindset ever since I could think.

“That was drummed into my head that the world was going to end.”

The cult was a “state within a state” he says, with its own rules which were strictly enforced.

“It had its own guidelines, enforcement and punishments as well. So, if you broke the rules, you'd be isolated from the group or shamed. You'd be removed from everyone you knew.”

Although not a commune, the cult forbade contact with the outside world, he says.

“The members are taught not to associate or form friendships with people that aren't in the group.

“And they're told that those people are evil and worldly and they're there to take you away from your salvation.”

This “fearful upbringing” meant he had to ask permission to get married, he says.

“I had to ask permission to date. I had to live in a certain location. I wasn't allowed to move towns or countries unless I was in the ministry. Everything about me was controlled.”

There was a constant fear, Carey says.

“I knew that at any moment that cult leader could take everyone I loved away from me and shame me and isolate me from my world.”

All cults use similar control tactics, he says. His church used the “Four Fs” of friends, family, fear and finance - all of which the cult leader had control over, he says.

Eventually it was too much, Carey could no longer do the “mental gymnastics” to justify how the cult operated and found the strength to leave the Geelong Revival Centre.

He saw a member taken off medication for mental illness by a cult leader, which was a final straw.

“I was watching so many people just get destroyed time and time again needlessly, and that was really the last straw to break the camel's back. But before that, I was already considering it because just the weight of everything was getting on top of me.”

His wife however remained in the cult, he says

“It was a very patriarchal, chauvinistic environment. I didn't want to force my wife to leave. I wanted it to be her own decision, and that's very important for somebody leaving one of these groups. They have to have ownership of it.”

His wife, Catherine, followed six months later and since 2020 they both have become advocates for those who have experienced abuse in similar religious groups, co-founding the group Stop Religious Coercion Australia.

Their campaigning helped prompt a parliamentary inquiry in the state of Victoria into cults and organised fringe groups.

“We knew that if there was an inquiry raised and there was an ability for people to talk freely with protections, that this will be a Pandora's box that would be opened. That's exactly what happened.

“People came forward and told about the horrors, what was happening in these groups, and a lot of these people, it was the first time they could speak freely with parliamentary privilege.”

The parliamentary inquiry’s landmark report was released in July, and among 39 recommendations is a proposal to criminalise group-based coercive control.

Ryan Carey is speaking at New Zealand's Decult Conference 24–25 October at Christchurch Town Hall.

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