DistantNews
Support us
🇦🇺 Australia /Culture & Society

Former doomsday church member details childhood fear and isolation

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Bek Condello grew up in the strict Pentecostal doomsday church, the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), where she was taught that God would return imminently and any sin could lead to eternal damnation.
  • She described a childhood marked by fear, physical punishment justified by scripture, and isolation from the outside world, including being homeschooled and forbidden from having non-church friends.
  • Condello left the church at 27, facing estrangement from her family, and later made a submission to a government inquiry into religious coercion in Victoria.

Bek Condello lived in constant fear of divine retribution as a child, raised within the strict confines of the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), a Pentecostal doomsday church.

"I just grew up with this mortal fear of God returning to the Earth at any point, and if I hadn't prayed properly this morning, I might burn in hell for all of eternity," Condello told triple j hack. The GRC, established in 1972, emphasized baptism and speaking in tongues, while also fostering a climate where physical punishment was considered normal and justified through scripture.

I just grew up with this mortal fear of God returning to the Earth at any point, and if I hadn't prayed properly this morning, I might burn in hell for all of eternity.

— Bek CondelloDescribing her childhood fear instilled by the church's teachings.

Condello recounted the harrowing experience of her father shutting the house windows to muffle her screams during beatings. "The more you hit a child … the more you were kind of guaranteeing their place in heaven," she said, reflecting on the emotional disconnect of such actions. Her childhood was further isolated; she was homeschooled until age 10 and forbidden from befriending anyone outside the church.

The more you hit a child … the more you were kind of guaranteeing their place in heaven.

— Bek CondelloExplaining the church's justification for physical punishment.

Friendships, dating, and marriage were strictly controlled within the GRC. Members were not permitted to date outside the church, often leading to early marriages. Condello, facing a future she felt she couldn't escape, fabricated a story of premarital sex to provoke expulsion from the church, hoping for a temporary reprieve. However, meeting her ex-husband offered a different path, though leaving the GRC often meant being cut off from family and friends.

Allegations of abuse within the GRC prompted a government inquiry into religious coercion in Victoria, to which Condello submitted her testimony. While church leader Brian Griggs has stated that the church does not employ coercive control and members are free to leave, Condello's experience highlights the profound impact of such environments on individuals.

I thought if I tell them I've had sex with someone, I'm going to get kicked out of the cult for at least two years. That was the expulsion for sinning.

— Bek CondelloDetailing her plan to fabricate a sin to gain freedom from the church.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog