Former believers of religious sect detail the dark side of joining Shincheonji Bible study

Adelaide student Dallas Reynolds said it was only that she accidentally stumbled on social media videos about the religious sect’s devious recruitment tactics that she was able to escape.

When Laura Mendez* joined a Bible study group in 2019, she had no idea it was a “doomsday cult” that would lead to her giving up her dream career and losing family and friends and thousands of dollars.

Now, she wants to warn others before they get in too deep.

Ms Mendez, 26, was one of the first Adelaide recruits at the non-denominational Christian group that promised to connect young people to their religion.

She proved herself to be a devout student and after successfully completing the various levels of the religious study, she became initiated into the Shincheonji Church of Jesus – a group that claims to offer young people a “pathway into the Kingdom of Heaven with God”.

They believe the leader of Shincheonji will guide his followers to salvation during the Second Coming, as well as give them a chance at immortality.

Founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Lee Man-hee. Picture: Supplied

Ms Mendez said by the time the group revealed themselves to be Shincheonji, she had been “brainwashed” into accepting their truth for reality.

She had also sacrificed too much to give up her faith.

After evangelising, she dropped out of Flinders University, gave up her internship at a major media organisation and isolated herself from her friends.

Her days were fully dedicated to practising her faith, teaching it to others, recruiting new followers, as well as cooking and cleaning in the study centre.

She said it reached a point where she “barely had time to shower sometimes”.

She believed the demands took a brutal toll on members’ wellbeing.

“Everyone was always sleep-deprived because they are expected to do so much,” she said.

“Missing a Bible study because someone needed rest or needed to go to a doctor’s appointment, it wasn’t acceptable. This also made everyone very anxious.”

Beyond investing time into the group, Ms Mendez said she also spent more than $10,000 on group expenses and recruiting others.

“Shincheonji is tricky to manage financially,” she said. “They don’t want you to have a job and you don’t really have time for it either because you’re tied up with studies.

“At the same time, you have to tie 10 per cent of your earnings to the group so they recommend you apply for Centrelink support.

“You also have to use your own money when you’re recruiting people or going out to lunch with new members because they have to believe you’re their friend.”

Despite that, Ms Mendez remained loyal to the group for three years – until one of her students pointed out the inconsistencies between Shincheonji and the Bible.

Ms Mendez experienced a “glass shattering moment” when no one could disprove the faults.

She realised she had become embroiled in a cult and decided to leave the group.

However, Ms Mendez said the group “twisted the truth” about her departure.

“After I left, they held this service where they ‘expelled’ me from the group,” she said.

“They put my picture up on a wall and told everyone I was on dating websites which wasn’t true, and then they forbade everyone to talk to me.

“I just feel like they completely bashed my character on my way out, it was complete character assassination.

“I felt so used and abused by them … I felt like I gave up so much to be with them.”

Dallas Reynolds wants to publicly raise awareness on Shincheonji after they attempted to recruit her in 2022. Picture: Tom Huntley

Dallas Reynolds, 19, almost fell for the same recruitment tactics.

She has since raised concerns over Shincheonji’s “predatory” methods in recruiting students in a deputation to the City Council.

Ms Reynolds told The Advertiser Shincheonji attempted to recruit her in 2022.

She said she saw TikToks about the Melbourne Shincheonji – specifically, their recruitment tactics – which allowed her to escape their recruitment.

Ms Reynolds said she wants the Adelaide City by-laws to be improved to stop them recruiting students in the streets.

“Under current laws, you need to have a permit if you’re preaching, but the issue with Shincheonji is they fly under the radar, we need to fix that somehow,” she said.

George Geri was once a member of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Picture: Dean Martin

Former Shincheonji member George Geri, 20, was another unsuspecting victim of Shincheonji.

His life changed when he was approached by two “perfectly normal” strangers in the city in April 2023.

Mr Geri said the pair – a man and a woman in their early twenties – felt like old friends and spoke to him about reconnecting with religion.

Born and raised as a Christian, Mr Geri had not attended church for at least two years so when the opportunity presented itself to return, he was tempted.

He was eased into the group slowly. Initially, he did one-on-one Bible study classes for a month before joining the beginner classes with about 70 other people.

It started as a “bit of fun” but soon things intensified.

Mr Geri said they demanded he attend class up to four times a week; with each session running up to three hours.

The 20-year-old claimed he was also instructed to distance himself from his family because “Satan was working behind them”, as well as lie to his family and friends about the Bible study classes and their teachings.

“Honestly, I was getting drained dry because of all this,” Mr Geri said.

“Eventually I started losing touch with everyone I knew … and they (the cult) became my only social circle.”

Mr Geri said his main friends were the people that recruited him.

“I didn’t realise this at the time but they assign new recruits a guide, they’re called ‘maintainers’,” Mr Geri said.

“The maintainer pretends to be your friend and they go to every class with you, they invite you to lunch for extra studies, text you asking if you’d done your homework.

“All that time, you think they’re doing it alongside you and they’re a beginner like you but in reality they’ve already completed everything and are known as the ‘passed over’.”

After nine months of rigorous Bible studies with a strict prohibition on researching the group online, they revealed themselves to be Shincheonji.

George Geri, an ex-cult member of Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Picture: Dean Martin

However, Mr Geri said he felt something was wrong and decided to break the main rule of the Shincheonji and research it online.

That, he said, was when the pieces fell into place – and he realised knew he had been “tricked into a doomsday cult”.

But leaving the organisation came at a cost.

“Your identity becomes so wrapped up around Shincheonji – their people, their beliefs, their classes – that when you leave you feel lost,” he said.

“It was strange for me because no one knew what I just went through and so I felt alone.

“I also feel like I’ve seriously lost my ability to trust, I don’t like it when strangers come up to me anymore because that’s how all of this started.”

The Advertiser has contacted Adelaide Shincheonji for comment.