Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult [Paperback]

Miriam Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 1999

An explosive first-person account by a young woman who spent fifteen years in a sex cult called the Children of God, which encouraged "sacred prostitution" and taught that "The Lord is our pimp."

Miriam Williams was an idealistic child of the sixties who, at seventeen, accepted an invitation from a "Jesus person" to visit a commune in upstate New York. She would soon be prostituting herself for a perverse cult that used sex to lure sinners to the Lord -- and this is her shocking, searingly honest account of a fifteen-year spiritual odyssey gone haywire.

The Children of God turned its female devotees into Heaven's Harlots, leading strangers to the love of God by enticing them with the pleasures of the flesh. At its height, the cult boasted 19,000 members around the world: In such places as France and Monte Carlo, young women, Miriam among them, mingled with the rich and famous to save their souls, and in this unsparing, unnerving autobiography, she'll identify some of her high-profile "clients." She left this bizarre world in an attempt to protect her son, born through an arranged marriage and kidnapped by his father.

Now, in a clear, compelling, cautionary tale, she shares both her extraordinary existence as a holy whore and the daunting experience of rebuilding a normal life -- an ordeal that led her to found a group dedicated to helping other cult survivors reclaim their souls as well.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For over 15 years, the elusive Children of God cult leader, Moses David, commanded a fold of 19,000, his teachings disseminated through pamphlets that combined quotes from the Holy Scriptures with theories that condoned arranged marriages, the use of sex to attract recruits and the separation of children from parents. In her first book, Williams describes how, in 1971, as a young hippie who burned to "live in the purity of Jesus' words," she joined the Christian fundamentalist cult (River Phoenix had spent years in the cult as a child). Williams soon found herself pregnant, married and forced into "giving sex in order to tell a person about God's love." Over the years, Williams says, commune life shifted from prayer, panhandling and street evangelism to hardcore crime, as David became more tyrannical. A high-class prostitution ring evolved that funneled thousands of dollars a month into COG's Swiss bank accounts. David's request (according to Williams) that couples practice group sex, homosexuality and pedophilia prompted the author to leave the security of the COG family to protect her younger children. Williams's painstakingly candid story provokes striking insights and questions about disenchanted youth, misogyny and the psychological appeal of cult living, demonstrating that the best stories strive to tell the truth and let readers draw their own conclusions. 16 pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Williams established a group called Safe Haven to assist former cult members after she left the Children of God, to whom she belonged for almost 18 years. This memoir was written to shed light on one idealistic woman's voyage into self-discovery, which for a time caused her to lose her "self." Born in 1953 into a fundamentalist Christian family, Williams found God when she was 12 at a Bible camp but was troubled about her calling until her first year in college, when she viewed a film entitled The Ultimate Trip and became convinced that the Children of God held the answers she was seeking. The book chronicles her experiences and the duties the cult's leader, Mo, imposed on his followers, including activities such as multiple marriage partners and sex with strangers to spread the gospel as well as to raise funds for the Church. After hearing allegations of young child sexual abuse, Williams decamped. This book illuminates one person's struggle with spirituality and obsession but is not a thoroughgoing critique of either the Church of God or of cults in general. Good popular reading but not an essential purchase.ALeo Kriz, West Des Moines P.L.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; First Edition edition (June 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688170129
• ISBN-13: 978-0688170127
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enlightning, fascinating, troubling, August 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years As a Sacred Prostitute in the Children of God Cult (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating and sad account of the author's journey from being a rebellious teenage intellectual to being caught up in a suffocating cult. The pseudo-Christian organization, known as "The Children of God" claimed 20,000 adherents at it's peak. The book details her slow realization of the web of deception and depravity that ensnarl her and describes her journey back to a life of appropriate human relationships.

Semantic snapshots include the rebuke she received from cult leaders for the sin of having a difficult labor and delivery; her cult directed descent into "flirty fishing", perhaps better described as "hooking for Jesus", and the bizarre manner of the cults leader and founder, "Mo" David.

David lead the cult from it's founding in the mid-60's until his death in 1994. From the book I can only conclude that the reason he did not die at a younger age was the time it took to construct a special place for him in h! ell.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book, March 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years As a Sacred Prostitute in the Children of God Cult (Hardcover)

There has been written many books about Children of God/The Family but this is certainly the best I have read. It is nuanced, and gives a very convincing picture of the life in this group. It is free from the stereotypes in much anti-cult literature - the author describes humans caught up in a bizarre and abusive cult but she doesn't demonize them, not even the leaders. The book is valuable for anyone interested to learn about abusive cults, but even to those that want to learn about preserving human dignity in an abusive environment. It can highly be recommended.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting look at one of the more outrageous cults., June 3, 2002

By 

Cas (the Idaho mountains) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult (Paperback)

The Children of God, one of the more bizarre semi-Christian cults out there, makes for some of the most interesting reading in comparative religions. This autobiography details one woman's descent into one of the cult's weirder periods. There is much here for students of cultism and religion -- the man who headed the religion sounds like a complete fruitcake, so half the "fun" is figuring out what possible appeal his philosophies could have for anybody remotely normal. Miriam tries to answer that question, and I think she did a good job of it.

Miriam's story is filled with regret and apologies for her involvement, but it is honest. I about cheered for her when she finally stood up for herself and her family and said "I'm out of here!" She joined as a high schooler and was in the cult for 15 years. Though only a few years of that were spent as an official prostitute, the entire story reads as one long journey of sexual repression at the hands of a group that seems more obsessed with deviance the further along it gets (something else she addresses quite well). Sadly, at its end, Miriam herself is a damaged-but-recovering soul, frayed around the edges as so many ex-cultists are regardless of what cult they've left, and uncertain how to approach religion. This, too, is good information.

I think this book would be worthwhile for any student of religion or anybody interested in cults. I don't think it would be appropriate for underage readers, but it's safe reading for those who get ruffled easily. There's nothing too graphic in it.