Granddaughter of pedophile who founded Children of God SEX CULT opens up about what it was like to be raised inside twisted 'religious' sect - from being forced to be intimate with adult males as a CHILD to facing heinous 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 To Consciousness podcast to discuss her harrowing experience as part of the sect, which was later known as The Family International.

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

Berg founded the organization in 1968 out of Huntington Beach, California, before it evolved to have 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 against children as part of the sect's principles.

Faith, who has since written a book titled Sex Cult Nun, began by telling host Shelise Ann Sola about 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 of drop out of the system, serve God full-time, become a full-time missionary - the civilization was ripe for that message.'  

She continued: 'In the early days it was still much more strictly following sort of traditional Christian morals like no sex without marriage and so on and so forth.

'It wasn't until some years later that my grandfather began getting all of these revelations about free love, free sex, "the wife of one is the wife of everyone" kind of thing.'

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

'Sadly, that is what happens a lot in these types of organizations - particularly ones run by men where they justify their sexual inclinations by coming up with some God-given revelation that that's what God wants us to do,' she said.

'[My grandfather] had already had been engaging in pedophilia really with his own daughters to some extent... and that doctrine also fed into the group as far as this being the norm.

Faith, who has since written a book titled Sex Cult Nun, began by telling host Shelise Ann Sola (pictured) about how her family started the Children of God cult in the 'hippie generation' of the 1960s

Faith claimed that her grandfather (pictured with an unnamed woman) had numerous affairs, adding: 'He wanted more of that and I think he kind of created a religious doctrine to justify his own desires'

'It was a rejection against what he felt he had been brought up with which was a very strict no sex, shame about your body, your sexual inclinations.

'He took his concept and spread it to everybody and was like "this is how you raise godly children who are not ashamed of themselves and their bodies."

'But it was actively promoting pedophilia within the group.'

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

'I didn't realize it was bad or wrong. I had a sense inside of myself that this wasn't right but I also was 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 was how my grandfather had talked about it.

'He said the bible says if somebody's hungry give them to eat, if he's thirsty give them to drink, if he needs clothes give him your cloak.

'And of course that's all legitimate but in my grandfather's mind the way he had built it up was sex was a fundamental physical need that you should be required to give to men.'

Faith said that the cult was 'coercive' and did not allow birth control, explaining: 'Women did get pregnant and the problem was that often times if you got pregnant from somebody you would be forced to marry them - even if you didn't want to.

'That fear was very, very real.'

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

She revealed that it was not just sexual abuse but that also physical attacks including 'very harsh spankings and discipline' carried out publicly.

'You had to be very, very aware of your surroundings, of the adults, of their reactions so that you could try to navigate that with as little pain as possible.'

Delving further into the cult, she said: 'It is not until you're in it that you can really realize how that can happen and how that can take over your mentality...  

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

'If you can get someone to believe that, then you can take away all of their other rights.'

She said that the leaders, who were referred to as Shepherds, would tear apart marriages and take away children if they claimed the relationships were not 'glorifying God or serving God in the best way.'

Faith claimed that the child abuse was largely stopped in the 1980s, arguing: 'The authorities were getting called in, there were raids on the homes, they wanted to take the children away.

'Then there was a huge court case in the UK which made them adjust their stance on corporal punishment and really excessive spankings.'

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 did leave and I experienced life outside the group and I went through a process.

'It takes time to shift your whole mindset to escape that model of the world and that pattern.'

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

Giving her final word, Faith candidly revealed: 'I'm so grateful for my life. I realized I was really 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 hadn't experienced some of those things.

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

'It's not that I don't recognize that people did wrong but in my heart I didn't want to have to carry that everywhere.

'I was a victim but I didn't have to continue to be a victim.'