National Enquirer: I was a Hooker for Heaven in an Evil Sex Cult

From XFamily - Children of God

Enquirer Investigation

I was a Hooker for Heaven in an Evil Sex Cult

National Enquirer/1999-07-06

by Phllip Smith

Miriam Williams spent 15 years as a member of a bizarre sex cult called Children of God, sleeping with countless men in the twisted notion that it "would show them God's love."

An exclusive ENQUIRER investigation reveals the group, which is still flourishing, had 18,000 members at one time, including Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer and River Phoenix, the young movie star who died from a drug overdose, whose parents were members.

The cult's leader was a perverted preacher who called himself Moses David. He told his female followers that "God was a pimp" and they should offer themselves to men because they were "loving whores of God."

"I bought into the whole thing," Miriam, 45, told The ENQUIRER in an exclusive interview. "I didn't see anything wrong with having sex with men because I viewed it as showing them God's love. I considered myself a sacred prostitute."

Miriam joined the cult at age 18 after meeting another Children of God member and moved to a commune in upstate New York.

"At first, everything was fine," she said. "We spent our days studying the Bible. We were told God had chosen us to be missionaries. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for."

She found out the cult's leader was a former ordained minister who called himself Moses David, or Mo. His real name was David Berg, and he communicated with his followers through a series of edicts called "Mo's letters."

Miriam married another cult member, 20-year-old Cal, and they had a son, Thor. Then, four years after she joined the cult, Mo wrote a letter saying that since there weren't enough women in the group, husbands should share their wives with other men.

"We were told it was another part of God's love and we were selfish if we didn't do it," Miriam recalled. "Some of the wives started to sleep around, and once it started, everyone started doing it."

Miriam moved to a commune in France with Cal and Thor, and became part of a singing group the Children of God used to raise money. But the cult grew more perverse--Mo ordered the women to sleep with strangers.

"The idea was to use sex to recruit men to the Lord," she revealed.

"Having learned I had to obey, or leave, I obeyed. I gave my body as a soldier is taught to give his life. We usually went out in groups of four or five girls. One of our husbands would take us to a nightclub and we went around picking up men. We told the men that having sex with them was our way of showing them God's love."

Miriam split from Cal and moved to another commune in Monte Carlo, where she spent three years sleeping with wealthy men--and now the women demanded money.

"Mo told us to view ourselves as sacred prostitutes spreading the word of God," she said. "The way I looked at it, I was helping to support our group with the money I brought in."

The police finally caught up with the women, who were known as "Jesus hookers," and kicked them out of Monte Carlo. Miriam went to Italy, married a man named Paolo and they had four children while living in different Children of God communes.

Finally, in 1988, she quit the cult when she discovered some members were sexually abusing children.

"I didn't want my children exposed to that, so I decided to get out," she said.

Miriam is now living in Georgia with her five children. She has married for the third time and is working on a Ph.D. in sociology. She has written a shocking book about her experiences called "Heaven's Harlots."

"I wrote my book because I want people to know what the Children of God are really about," she said.

The cult's leaders claim that the sexual practice with female members ended more than a decade ago.

Miriam added: "Mo died a couple of years ago, but the Children of God is still flourishing.

"The cult's leaders aren't interested in spreading the word of God. All they care about is power and money and they will do anything--even if it means getting girls into prostitution--to keep the money rolling in."