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

In this exceptional debut, Jones recalls growing up within the Children of God cult (founded in 1968 by her grandfather David Berg). Berg’s Children of God blended free-spirited hippie ideals with teachings from the Bible—but only those passages he deemed worthy. He and his followers eventually settled in Southeast Asia, primarily Macau, where Jones was raised. Jones recounts the frequent changes in Berg’s teachings and the church’s rules, and candidly explores the impact of growing up in an environment where women couldn’t pick their own sexual partners and girls were groomed for abuse from a young age. The only education Jones received was provided by Berg himself, in the form of letters he periodically sent to each Children of God family. Jones’s book is a truly inspirational account of questioning her upbringing (the only life she knew) and becoming a successful lawyer. She writes that her will to succeed pointed her toward a new, independent way of life that she was proud to call her own.