Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult - Faith Jones
Faith Jones was raised to be part an elite army preparing for the End Times. Growing up on an isolated farm in Macau, she prayed for hours every day and read letters of prophecy written by her grandfather, the founder of the Children of God. Tens of thousands of members strong, the cult followers looked to Faith’s grandfather as their guiding light. As such, Faith was celebrated as special and then punished doubly to remind her that she was not.
Over decades, the Children of God grew into an international organization that became notorious for its alarming sex practices and allegations of abuse and exploitation. But with indomitable grit, Faith survived, creating a world of her own—pilfering books and teaching herself high school curriculum. Finally, at age twenty-three, thirsting for knowledge and freedom, she broke away, leaving behind everything she knew to forge her own path in America.
A complicated family story mixed with a hauntingly intimate coming-of-age narrative, Faith Jones’ extraordinary memoir reflects our societal norms of oppression and abuse while providing a unique lens to explore spiritual manipulation and our rights in our bodies. Honest, eye-opening, uplifting, and intensely affecting, Sex Cult Nun brings to life a hidden world that’s hypnotically alien yet unexpectedly relatable.
My Review: My first word to describe this was "damn......." This was a hard-to-read memoir. That might be an understatement. Some parts are absolutely horrifying. The author describes child abuse (including sexual abuse) quite explicitly, and as a parent it was heartbreaking. I had never heard of Children of God cult before reading this book but I'm glad to have found out about it from the words of its founder's granddaughter. She was forthcoming and brutally honest. You can feel the trauma from its pages. Not the trauma of a victim necessarily, but the one of a survivor who speaks out. I don't know how Christians would receive this book, but I have no problem saying "Holy Sh*t, this was intense!"
Publisher: William Morrow (November 30, 2021)
ISBN-10: 0062952455
ISBN-13: 978-0062952455