Granddaughter of a pedophile who founded Children of God SEX CULT shares what it was like growing up in a twisted 'religious' cult – from being forced to be intimate with adult men as a CHILD to facing horrific physical and sexual abuse

A woman has candidly revealed how her grandfather founded the Children of God cult to promote his liberal views on sexuality, practicing polygamy and free love even with underage members.

Faith Jones appeared on a recent episode of the Cults for consciousness podcast to discuss her harrowing experiences as part of the cult, which later became known as The Family International.

The now 47-year-old was born in Hong Kong in 1977 on 'The Family' and was considered cult royalty as the granddaughter of psychosexual leader David Berg.

Berg founded the organization in 1968 from Huntington Beach, California, before it grew to a following of more than 15,000 members worldwide, including Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan.

Faith has said that her grandfather, who died in 1994, encouraged sexual and physical abuse of children as part of the sect's principles.

Faith, who has since written a book called Sex Cult Nun, began telling host Shelise Ann Sola how her family started the Children of God cult in the “hippie generation” of the 1960s.

'My grandfather was the guru prophet of the group, but my parents were very active,” she said.

“My grandfather's very radical message: get out of the system, serve God full-time, become a full-time missionary—civilization was ripe for that message.”

She continued: 'In the beginning, people followed traditional Christian morals much more strictly, such as no sex without marriage, and so on.

“It wasn't until a few years later that my grandfather had all these revelations about free love, free sex, 'the wife of one is the wife of all'.”

Faith claimed her grandfather had previously had numerous affairs, adding, “HHe wanted more of that and I think he kind of created it religious doctrine to justify his own desires.

'Unfortunately, that's what often happens in these types of organizations – especially those run by men, where they justify their sexual proclivities by coming up with some G's.a given revelation that God wants us to do that,” she said.

'(My grandfather) had already engaged in pedophilia to some extent, with his own daughters… and they doctrine also fed in the group to the extent that this is the norm.

'Iit was one rejection of what he thought he had been brought up with, namely a very strict ban on sex, shame about your body, your sexual tendencies.

'HHe took his concept and spread it to everyone, saying, “This is how you raise godly children who are not ashamed of themselves and their bodies.”

“But it actively promoted pedophilia within the group.”

Faith said that from a very young age she observed people having sex and was also forced to participate in sex acts with older men.

'I didn't realize it was bad or wrong. I had a feeling inside that this wasn't right but I was also told that this is fine, this is normal, this is healthy, godly…,” she said.

'In the group, sex was seen as a physical need, that's what my grandfather had talked about.

“He said the Bible says, if anyone is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, if he needs clothes, give him your cloak.

“And that's all legitimate, of course, but according to my grandfather, sex was a basic physical need that you should give to men.”

Faith said the cult was “coercive” and did not allow contraception, explaining: “Women did get pregnant and the problem was that if you got pregnant by someone you would often be forced to marry them – even if you didn't did. want.

“That fear was very, very real.”

She revealed that it was not just sexual abuse, but that there was also physical assault, including “very severe beatings and discipline” in public.

'You had to be very aware of yourself environment, of the adults, of their reactions, so that you can try to get through it with as little pain as possible.'

Delving further into the cult, she said: 'Only when you're in it can you really realize how that can happen and how that can take over your mentality…

'Making people believe that they don't own themselves, that they don't own their own bodies – that's the core.

“If you can make someone believe that, you can take away all their other rights.”

She said the leaders, who were called shepherds, would tear up marriages and take away children if they claimed the relationships “did not glorify God or serve God in the best way.”

Faith claimed that child abuse had largely stopped by the 1980s, arguing: 'TThe authorities were called in, the houses were raided, they wanted to take the children away.

'Then there was a huge trial in Britain that convicted them adjust their position on corporal punishment and truly excessive beatings.'

Speaking about her own motivations for breaking away from the cult, she said: “I didn't leave the group because I thought they were wrong, I left the group because I wasn't allowed to get an education.

“But once I left and experienced life outside the group, I went through a process.

“It takes time to change your entire mindset and escape that world model and pattern.”

She said 'when you left the group, you left with nothing', but she has since become a lawyer and now speaks about moral principles.

Giving her final word, Faith candidly revealed, “I am so grateful for my life. I realized that I was truly grateful for everything and even the bad.

'People don't always understand. I'm really grateful – the rapes, the abuse, everything – I'm really grateful because I wouldn't be who I am today, I wouldn't have the understanding that I have, I wouldn't see how strong I am if I had some of those had not experienced things.

“I wouldn't understand what others are going through if I hadn't experienced some of those things myself, and I think when you get to a point where you're grateful, it can really change your whole life.

'It's not that I don't see that people have done something wrong, but in my heart I didn't want to carry that with me everywhere.

“I was a victim, but I didn't have to remain a victim.”