Book: Sex Cult Nun

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

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There’s actually a convoluted story as to why I decided to read this book.

I’m from Macau, and I’ve always heard about The Children of God, but never really understood what it was. I was born in the 80s, so I probably was too young to understand anything properly.

Recently when I listened to Podcasts, there’s an ad for the Podcast Trust Me, about cults and such, and they kept mentioning The Children of God (in the ad, didn’t get to listen to that podcast yet). I thought I’d do a cursory search about them.

They had a farm in Macau, etc. etc. But when I read about it being Ho’s Farm, I felt the chills. I was slightly worried why it was called Ho’s Farm, as Ho is a prominent figure in Macau (casino mogul business tycoon type of big deal). I was thinking maybe they rented land from him or something. After more searching, I found this book. The synopsis already mentioned Jones writing about her life in Macau, so I figured, nice! Two birds one stone

To me, it was a rollercoaster read. Bits and pieces of information that I know of just slip into place.

The first thing to calm my nerves was that Ho’s Farm had nothing to do with the casino boss. It was just the dad being called Hosea and usually in Chinese we pick one sound or syllable in a multi-syllable name and find the nearest similar-sounding Chinese surname to set it as that.

I’ve heard people talk about the donkey rides in Hac Sa, but I haven’t been on one, hadn’t even seen it. That was happening in the 80s, and probably my parents never really took us out to Hac Sa. I had also heard about the horse riding school (before the Jockey Club started their own riding school) and I wasn’t aware it was them. I do remember asking my parents if they would take me learn horse riding, but for one reason or another, it was always a no.

By the time my Dad opened his restaurant in Coloane (Restaurante 1999) it was early or mid 90s, I think by then they were probably out of Macau, so maybe all that farm and stuff were gone. I wonder if it’s the same location as where the new(ish)(?) police canine training school is located now.

As a “foreigner” who loves reading and living in Macau, this line resonated a lot with me.

“More than the little luxuries of American living, I miss my novels. On my day off, I go to the local library in Macau, but the only English books are for learning English, and those are dumbed-down versions of classic literature meant for a child, like Charles Dickens in 35 Pages for an English Learner.”

I was lucky while in high school/secondary school in that the in-school library had quite a selection of English literature (Narnia, Nancy Drew, Three Investigators, etc) but in the public library, indeed, the selection was shit. It’s gotten better in recent years, I can find a rare gem once in a while, but it is still not comprehensive enough.

I’m probably overthinking it as from Jone’s book, the children didn’t go to “System school”, but I remember in primary school, I had some foreigner classmates that stayed with us for like a year, and then were gone. (I remember a boy called Matthew). Also, when I started working, there was a new girl and her English had a very American pronunciation. I asked if she’d been abroad or from abroad, but no, she said she “lived in Coloane next to some foreigners, and grew up talking to them” and now I wonder if she was neighbours with them?

When Jones returned in 2000 to give the English course to the Legend Club staff, that was the year that I graduated high school and going to University. We had an English teacher (British guy I think) that although all the students said was cool and stuff, but he always cancelled the 8am class (because he was still hungover from the previous night’s drinking) and soon after the first year he was kicked out. It would have been nice to have a diligent teacher.

This is coming out less of a review and more of a me reminiscing the Macau of the past. Sorry.

I’m glad to read that Jones managed to breakaway and find her own path and get to where she is today. I’m also not here to pass judgement on the parents or the group or whatever, I just don’t know enough about them despite the cursory “ugh what the heck?” I’m sure people will say “brainwash is brainwash and you can’t help it” and sure, so that’s why I’m not going to pass any judgement.

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thought of more after I posted the above I wonder which vet went to check on Sheba and/or the subsequent dogs. There was the one known Jockey Club vet Dr. Ip, and there was also the Australian vet, but I’m not sure if he was in Macau already in the 80s. When my dad had his restaurant in Coloane, he somehow got 2 Dobermans, Nancy and Cesar. I wonder if Nancy and Cesar are somehow related to Sheba. I think he got them from someone who had Dobermans in Coloane.

(Extra not in Goodreads review) I asked Dad if he knew that the horse riding school and donkey ride were by the Children of God group, and he said he didn’t know. All he knew was, he has a friend, and this friend’s wife, “saw the light” with the Children of God, and went with them, leaving husband and kids behind. But I thought they wouldn’t take in new people? I don’t get it. But anyway.

The Guia Lighthouse

Happy Sunday being a "Tourist" in town LOL.

So, on place and street names in Macau, it's a bit different from Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the English and Chinese names are direct translations. Say for example, Garden Street is 花園街 in Hong Kong. In Macau, it's usually chaos. I have the example of Jardim da Flora (Flora Garden) in Portuguese, and... in Chinese it is... 二龍喉公園 (2 dragon throats garden). Look at the entrance of this place. There's this wall fountain, with 2 dragon heads, and the sprout where water comes out (like faucet), is called 水喉, and so... 二龍喉

We decide to take probably the World's Shortest Cable Car Ride. (That probably took the longest of a couple of years to be fixed one time after a breakdown)

Old style cable car, no air con, being roasted alive.

There's actually quite a bit to see and do in this garden, but I didn't come here much before.I didn't explore this garden much. There's a nickname of "Monkey Garden" because there used to be monkeys in here. It had monkeys, some birds, and a black bear (Bobo, saved from a restaurant, passed away a couple years back), but it was never officially called a zoo. So, I don't really know what it is.

But, a lot of the enclosures are gone now, probably sent off to the main zoo in Coloane, and instead, there's space for kids for bikes, skates, and such.

Had to orient ourselves for a bit as I hadn't been here for over 20 years.

This was a fortress hill and such so there are 防空洞 which I just forgot the English name of... air raid shelter?

Here be fake cannons. I don't know where I read/heard about that, but I heard the cannons in Macau were used to make the bell in the Big Ben.

The typhoon signal signs. They hang this out when there is a typhoon.

Chapel and Lighthouse. The Lighthouse looks so short here.

No photos in the chapel, so I got this snapshot.

Oh yeah, I didn't say what we were doing. The Guia Lighthouse is usually closed but they've opened the lighthouse for public visit yesterday and today, so we went. There was a queue. A kid asked, "why is it the marine department handling this tower up on a hill?" Well kid, a lighthouse is for MARITIME travel, and so, it's under the responsibility of the marine department 海事及水務局

Requisite panoramic shot.

The lightbulb!

Skyline.

More skyline.

Height and beware of falling. My Sis got spooked and left very soon.

Another cannon.

Cross section of the lighthouse!

Some random photo taking LOL.

Some old photo exhibition in the raid shelter corridor. I remember back then when I was a kid this was off limits and it was spooky as heeeeeelllllllll

We screamed at this photo. "WOW! Look! A dog!"

Border Gate. Used to just be able to cross this arch and you were in China.

Took some time for us to understand where this was. It was just next to home.

Cable car ride down. That's the bird enclosure and I think I saw a peacock.

This is another example. This street is Avenida Coronel Mesquita, but in Chinese it's simply 石獅子 (Stone Lion) because... of the stone lions on this private property.