{"id":621770,"date":"2026-05-03T22:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621770\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:15:09","slug":"false-prophet-wife-on-leaving-flds-cult-healing-through-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621770\/","title":{"rendered":"‘False Prophet’ Wife on Leaving FLDS Cult, Healing Through Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Naomi \u201cNomz\u201d Bistline initially auditioned to be in her prison\u2019s band, she tried out to be the guitarist. \u201cThen I started singing a little and they said, \u2018Put the guitar down. Let\u2019s just hear you sing,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI sang Miley Cyrus\u2019s song, \u2018Flowers,\u2019 a cappella. And they said \u2018We got our lead vocalist.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough excited, Bistline, now 27, was apprehensive about performing in front of the other incarcerated women. \u201cI remember that night going back to my cell and thinking, \u2018This is so scary \u2014 I\u2019ve never done this,\u2019 and then coming to the conclusion that I\u2019m the lowest that I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m the lowest that anyone will be. Nobody has phones to video me and mock me or anything. Like, why not?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAt that point, Bistline was in a Texas prison serving a 21-month sentence<\/a> for unlawfully removing minors<\/a> from state custody \u2014 a crime she committed under the direction of Sam Bateman. Bateman is the leader of a small offshoot sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS<\/a>) who claims to be a prophet and the heir apparent to Warren Jeffs<\/a>, the FLDS president who is currently serving life in prison<\/a> for child sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBistline was the 13th of Bateman\u2019s 23 \u201cspiritual wives\u201d \u2014 nine of which were girls as young as nine, and all of whom he sexually abused. After living a sheltered life in a secluded town, followed by a stint in prison, Bistline now finds herself in the public eye, thanks to Netflix<\/a>\u2019s new docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet<\/a>. It tells the story of Christine Marie, PhD \u2014 an expert in cult<\/a> psychology who infiltrated Bateman\u2019s group posing as a documentary filmmaker, ultimately taking him down using footage as evidence against him \u2014 and the women like Bistline whom she helped to set free.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn September 2022, Bateman was arrested following an FBI raid of his Colorado City, Arizona compound, and the minors in his group were placed in state custody. That November, he instructed Bistline and two of his other followers to kidnap the girls and take them out of state. The women were caught in Washington State, arrested, and returned to Arizona.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tIt took a few months of being in prison \u2014 and away from Bateman \u2014 for Bistline to realize that\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t a prophet, and that he had actually been abusing her and the other women and girls. \u201cI started talking to the other inmates, and they\u2019d tell me about their lives,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I hinted about things that happened in my life, they\u2019d be like, \u2018Your life was not normal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom there, she started challenging her beliefs. \u201cI was also really scared,\u201d she explains. \u201cI literally thought that if I questioned Sam or Warren Jeffs, then lightning would come in and strike me and kill me. That was how brainwashed I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNomz Bistline and Christine Marie.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTOLGA KATAS\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, 18 months out of prison, Bistline has turned to making music and studying psychology to gain control over her own life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo see her come into her own is a profound experience,\u201d Marie, the filmmaker behind False Prophet, tells Rolling Stone. \u201cShe\u2019s finding her independence and walking her own walk and making her own decisions. It makes me ecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Bistline\u2019s eyes were opened in prison, many of the women in Bateman\u2019s group still believe that he is a prophet and remain devoted to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think Sam\u2019s group was actually a cult within a cult,\u201d Bistline tells Rolling Stone. \u201cAfter Warren Jeffs took power, the FLDS did turn into a cult. But a lot of the people in it are not bad. They\u2019re very, very good people, but they don\u2019t know any different. So when Sam came, it was kind of like a break off of the FLDS. He was still controlling us through Warren Jeffs\u2019 trainings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tSECULAR MUSIC IS STILL NEW to Bistline. \u201cGrowing up [under Jeffs], it was all religious,\u201d she says. \u201c[Our songs] were either written by the people in the cult, or they were the FLDS hymns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tToday, Bistline has Olivia Rodrigo, Faouzia, Benson Boone, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga on repeat, but she\u2019s constantly exposing herself to new genres and musicians. She recently listened to Hole for the first time after Courtney Love commented on one of her Instagram posts<\/a>. \u201cI do love that old music a lot because of the rawness of it,\u201d she says of artists from the 1990s. \u201cThere\u2019s no AI stuff and it\u2019s not autotuned or anything. It\u2019s so refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMusic has always been a presence in Bistline\u2019s life. \u201c[In Bateman\u2019s group] we sang every day, but it was all choir singing \u2014 very classic, calm, like, cult singing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was still beautiful, though, with amazing harmonies.\u201d It was around then she started to write her own songs. \u201cGoing back and reading those lyrics, it\u2019s quite painful to realize how much conflict was going on inside when my heart was hurting all the time, and then my brain was just trying to do everything he said,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand the pain and suffering and punishments when I was trying my hardest to appease him, do everything he said, become the perfect wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough she started on guitar at 13, she was able to practice in prison after one of the unit managers learned that she played the instrument. \u201cIt was crazy cool and unexpected, but one day he just brought one in to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI started writing more and playing in my cell and just singing.\u201d That\u2019s when other incarcerated women approached her about being in the prison band.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Bistline is working with a vocal coach and making her own music, which she describes as \u201cmostly pop, some country.\u201d This is a departure from the first songs she wrote while in prison. \u201cThey were before I\u2019d ever even heard of Billie Eilish, but they had a very Billie Eilish-vibe \u2014 sad, melancholy,\u201d she says. \u201cI wrote songs about my past and forgiving that younger girl. But then I got into these rage anthems when the anger hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBistline in the Netflix docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNETFLIX<\/p>\n

\n\tToday, music is a critical part of Bistline\u2019s trauma recovery. \u201cIt\u2019s been a release,\u201d she says. \u201cWhenever I\u2019m getting overstimulated or overwhelmed I usually just put on music or start singing. It\u2019s a go-to and so easy to do \u2014 I can do it when I\u2019m doing anything. It\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBistline is currently working on her first album. \u201cThe only songs that I have finished are the prison experiences and processing that, and the rage anthems against Sam,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe hopes to release her first single and the accompanying music video in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI actually can\u2019t wait, because it\u2019s been this little secret obsession,\u201d she says. \u201cBut when it\u2019s actually out there, and I have something to prove, I think it will be so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough she\u2019s still living in Short Creek \u2014 an enclave of FLDS families on the Arizona-Utah border \u2014 she plans to move out of the area soon. At this point, she hasn\u2019t decided where to call home next. \u201cI have so many options,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce she earns her degree in psychology from Mohave Community College, Bistline plans to become an advocate for people in cults and coercive relationships \u2014 work she has already started by sharing her story in the docuseries.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe did a great service to all of the other victims of Sam Bateman,\u201d Marie says. \u201cShe validated their pain without them having to come forward. And because the response has been so positive, now other victims are realizing they have nothing to be ashamed of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThough watching herself in the series was initially difficult, she\u2019s now processing viewers\u2019 positive response to the show. \u201cI\u2019m still in this space where it\u2019s overwhelming, but a relief, because I didn\u2019t expect this much support,\u201d she says. \u201cI was bracing for more pushback, more hate. I felt like everybody has that right to hate me because I existed in that space, even though I was born and raised in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn the meantime, amid the music, classes, and self-reflection, Bistline is building herself back one step at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI started this diary called \u2018My First Time Diary,\u2019 and I save receipts and tickets and all the different things and then take pictures and write about those experiences and what I felt about them.\u201d Her diary includes a napkin from the first time she ate in a restaurant (she had a tomato sandwich, fries, and orange juice) and the ticket stub from her first trip to a theater (she saw Moana 2). \u201cI\u2019m still in that era where I say I\u2019m just a baby,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m only 18 months old.\u201d<\/p>\n