Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult

Written by Faith Jones

Narrated by Jaime Lamchick

Educated meets The Vow in this story of liberation and self-empowerment—an inspiring and stranger-than-fiction memoir of growing up in and breaking free from the Children of God, an oppressive, extremist religious cult.

Faith Jones was raised to be part a religious 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. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062952523

Faith Jones

Faith Jones is a lawyer, activist, entrepreneur, and business advisor. She began her career as an attorney with Skadden Arps representing clients in a wide variety of cross-border corporate transactions and has worked with businesses and government leaders in the Pacific Rim. Faith has been a featured TEDx speaker, has traveled the world, and has done humanitarian aid work in Kazakhstan, Russia, Japan, and Taiwan. 

Reviews for Sex Cult Nun

[Victor Morillo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The previous comment should deter you but fear not. Although some topics may be too graphic or sensitive, it is a wonderful description of what it is living with an authoritative and charismatic figure. This book serves as a warning to those who may be living with a restrictive person or be part of a restrictive group or cult. Faith did an amazing job describing important elements such as the environment such as the farm, the weather, the bar, the streets in China and even sneaking out at nights. Unfortunately some disturbing scenes were richly written. At the same time the narrator translated this very well feelings such as fear, anger, happiness were wonderfully translated.
I definitely recommend this book but under the advisory of sensitive, angering content. 11 hours well spent. Although I passionately hate someone went through this so we can have this book. Believe in God, not the religion.

[Carrie Elizabeth · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Had to cut it off when it got into detailed sex acts with children...

[Jamila Sids · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enlightening report of life in the Children of God cult... amazing coming of age, realizations, tussle with beliefs and finally the epiphany of the farce of religious teachings. 5/5 would recommend

[JustNatasha · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So, I am typically interested in all things dealing with cults and people's experiences in it. But I wasn't expecting the sexual acts involving children, for example, the scene where she is made to watch her mom make her father get off. It made my stomach turn. It was very very very hard to read and I couldn't finish. I suppose you could try to read the book by skipping these parts but since the whole book is all about this weird concept of FF (flirty fishing) sending women out to seduce men so you can be a good believer. It is so sad. Just be mindful if you had a hard time reading child sex acts some people can't finish reading because of that. If it didn't have those scenes I would probably rate it higher.

[Paige · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written. The author deserves the world and more after what she went through.

[loraineo_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written memoir of the author growing up in the Children Of God cult, founded by her grandfather about 10 years before she was born. The cult grew to over 10,000 followers from around the world.. She eventually left and with strong will and determination has become a lawyer and enourages others to become independent and follow their own path.

[theloislevel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story, squeamish in places. Some of the most interesting parts are about growing up overseas. The fact that these people were lured into pedophilia and allowed it with their own children turns my stomach and was hard to read.