WE WILL BE WRITING ABOUT REVEREND JIM JONES AND THE PEOPLES TEMPLE. SO FAR, WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT CULTS IN A MATTER OF FACT WAY, AS IF THERE IS NOTHING BUT FACTS TO DISCUSS ALSO KNOWN AS A “BLACK AND WHITE DISCUSSION.” THERE IS A GRAY AREA OF CULTS, WHICH STARTS OFF WITH THE THEORY THAT SOME OF THESE CULT LEADERS ARE NOT ALL BAD AND EVIL. WHAT MAKES AN AREA GRAY, IS BEST EXPLAINED WITH THIS: CULT LEADERS START OFF AS HUMAN BEINGS. WHEN THE CULT IS NEW AND FRESH, THESE LEADER’S BELIEVE IN THEIR CAUSE AND WHAT MESSAGE THEY ARE SPREADING. WHAT HAPPENS IS OVER TIME AS THE CULT BECOMES LARGER ALONG WITH ITS MEMBER BASE?
THERE APPEARS TO BE A TRANSFORMATION, WITH TIME AND GROWTH THAT THE LEADER GOES FROM IN THIS CASE, FROM A REVEREND OR ACTIVIST WISHING TO SPREAD A MESSAGE. SOMEHOW, NOT ONLY FROM THEMSELVES BUT THEIR MEMBERS AS WELL, THEY GO FROM HUMAN BEING TO “PROPHET”. “I STICK WITH THE BIBLE ON THIS ONE” WHICH STATES THERE IS ONLY ONE REAL PROPHET AND THE REMAINDER WHO CLAIM TO BE PROPHETS ARE FALSE ONES.
THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED IT APPEARS WITH JIM JONES. STARTED BY JONES IN THE MID-1950’S, JONES HELPED THE IMPOVERISHED AND BLACKS BY EMPOWERING THEM THROUGH NOT ONLY SPEAKING OUT AGAINST BOTH. IT APPEARS JONES AND THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE PEOPLES TEMPLE OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, COMBINES PARTS OF CHRISTIANITY AND COMMUNISM WITH SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY.
IN 1978 JONES MOVED HIS CULT TO GUYANA AND STARTED HIS OWN CIVILIZATION WITH APPROXIMATELY 900-1000 OF HIS FOLLOWERS. JONES GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN CRETE, INDIANA WHERE AT A YOUNG AGE, HEW GREW UP. JONES, LOVED READING LITERATURE PARTLY BECAUSE HE HAD FEW FRIENDS. OTHER CHILDREN FOUND HIM “WEIRD AND ISOLATED” OBSESSED WITH RELIGION AND DEATH. HE AND A FRIEND CLAIMED THEIR PARENTS WERE A PART OF THE KLU KLUX KLAN. AFTER JONES BECAME A YOUNG MAN, HE MARRIED MARCELINE BALDWIN IN 1949 WHO WAS A NURSE AND THEY RELOCATED TO BLOOMINGTON INDIANA. WHILE THERE, HE HEARD A SPEECH BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT WHICH IMPRESSED HIM ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF AFRICAN- AMERICANS WHILE ATTENDING INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON WHERE, AFTER HEARING THE SPEECH, INSTEAD OF PURSUING COMMUNISM AS HE ONCE HAD,HE BEGAN SUPPORTING THE PLIGHT OF THE UNDERPRIVILEGED AND IMPOVERISHED.
IN 1951 JONES GRADUATED FROM BUTLER UNIVERSITY AFTER ATTENDING NIGHT CLASSES WITH A DEGREE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION. 20 YEARS OLD JONES BEGAN ATTENDING GATHERINGS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY USA IN INDIANAPOLIS. HE BECAME IRRITATED AND FRUSTRATED DURING THE MCCARTHY HEARINGS. AFTER AN EVENT HE ATTENDED WITH HIS MOTHER FOCUSING ON PAUL ROBESON, AFTER WHICH HIS MOTHER WAS HARASSED BY THE FBI IN FRONT OF COWORKERS FOR ATTENDING. HE ALSO BECAME IRRITATING FROM WATCHING THE PERSECUTION OF THE COMMUNISTS IN THE UNITED STATES, ESPECIALLY AFTER ATTENDING THE TRIALS OF JULIAS AND AND ETHEL ROSENBERG. JONES SAID HE ASKED HIMSELF, “HOW CAN I DEMONSTRATE MY MARXISM? JONES WAS APPROACHED AROUND THIS TIME BY A UNITED METHODIST DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT. AROUND THIS TIME, JONES WITNESSED A FAITH-HEALING SERVICE. AT THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH. WANTING TO DRAW CROWDS, HE ORGANIZED AA RELIGIOUS CONVENTION WITH HEAVY ORACLED WILLIAM BRANHAM, A HEALING EVANGELIST AND RELIGIOUS AUTHOR. JONES WAS ABLE TO START HIS OWN CHURCH, THE PEOPLES TEMPLE AFTER THE SUCCESS OF THIS CONVENTION CALLING IT THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE, INITIALLY AN INTERRACIAL MISSION.
JONES WAS KNOWN TO REGULARLY STUDY ADOLF HITLER AND FATHER DIVINE TO LEARN HOW TO MANIPULATE MEMBERS OF THE CULT. AFTER THIS, JONES FOUND A CAUSE WHO PEOPLE FELT STRONGLY ABOUT TO MANIPULATE THEM FOR HIS CHURCH FOLLOWERS. THIS WAS WHERE INTERRACIALISM CAME IN. IN 1977, JONES WAS AWARDED A MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HUMANITARIAN AWARD. JONES CONTINUED WITH HIS WORK, EXPANDING IT TO HELP MOTIVATE INTERRACIAL CHURCHES. HE THAN RELOCATE THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE TO GUYANA. JONES, STILL MARRIED TO HIS WIFE BEGAN ADOPTING NON WHITE CHILDREN. THE COUPLE ADOPTED THREE NON WHITE CHILDREN, THREE KOREAN CHILDREN, AND TWO ADDITIONAL CHILDREN. IN 161, THE COUPLE HAD THEIR ONLY BIRTH CHILD AND NAMED HIM STEPHEN GANDHI. IN 1961, THEY WERE THE FIRST WHITE FAMILY TO ADOPT A BLACK CHILD.
IN 1961, JONES AND HIS FAMILY TRAVELED TO BRAZIL WITH THE IDEA OF SETTING UP A NEW LOCATION OF THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE. JONES RENTED A MODEST THREE BEDROOM HOUSE, STUDYING THE ECONOMY AND RECEPTIVENESS TO RACIAL MINORITIES TO HIS MESSAGE AND HE WAS RECEIVED WELL, DESPITE THE LANGUAGE BARRIER. HE SPOKE OF AN APOSTOLIC LIFESTYLE CARE NOT TO DEMONSTRATE ANYTHING REGARDING COMMUNISM. HIM AND HIS FAMILY MOVED TO RIO DE JANEIRO IN THE NEXT TOWN DUE TO MORE REASONABLE HOUSING. JONES BECAME PLAGUED BY GUILT FOR LEAVING HIS INDIANA FAMILY SO HE WENT BACK. JONES RETURNED TO BRAZIL IN 1963 TELLING HIS INDIANA FOLLOWERS THAT THE WORLD WOULD BE ENGULFED IN NUCLEAR WAR, ON JULY 15TH, IN THE 1960’S. BY THIS TIME HE BEGAN PARTIALLY REVEALING HIS APOSTOLIC SOCIALISM UNTIL THE 1970’S . JONES TAN BEGAN DENOUNCING CHRISTIANITY AS A “FLY AWAY RELIGION”. HE ALSO DENOUNCED A SKY GOD, WHO WAS NO GOD AT ALL. JONES ALSO BEGAN PREACHING HE WAS THE REINCARNATION OF JESUS, GANDHI, FATHER DIVINE, JESUS, THE BUDDHA.
FORMER TEMPLE MEMBER HUE FORTSON JR. QUOTED JONES AS SAYING: YOU NEED TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE. IF YOU SEE ME AS YOUR FRIEND, I WILL BE YOUR FRIEND. IF YOU SEE ME AS YOUR FATHER, I WILL BE YOUR FATHER. IF YOU SEE ME AS YOUR SAVIOR, I WILL BE YOUR SAVIOR. IF YOU SEE ME AS YOUR GOD, I’LL BE YOUR GOD. IN A 1976 CONVERSATION, WITH JOHN MAHER, JONES ALTERNATELY SAID HE WAS AN AGNOSTIC, AN ATHEIST. IN THE EARLY 1970’S , JONES BEGAN SHIFTING HIS FOCUS ON EXPANDING DUE TO A HUGE GROWTH SPURT IN SEVERAL U.S. CITIES. IN THE SUMMER OF 1977 MARSHALL KILDUFF, A WELL KNOWN CHRONICLE REPORTER PUBLICLY PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE ABOUT HIM, WHICH CLAIMED HE WAS SEXUALLY ABUSING A PART OF THE TEMPLE SEXUALLY, EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY. JONES BEGAN TO PROPAGATE HIS BELIEF IN WHAT HE TERMED “TRANSLATION” ONCE THE TEMPLE HAD MOST MEMBERS LIVING WITHIN ITS PLACE OUTSIDE BRAZIL.
JONES CONTINUED TO BE MORE RADICAL IN IS BELIEFS AND ABUSE HIS MEMBERS. COMPLAINTS WERE MORE RAMPANT AND JONES BEGAN TO VIEW THE LOCATION IN GUYANA AS DANGEROUS AFTER HEARING REPORTS HAD BEEN RECEIVED FROM CONCERNED MEMBERS TO THEIR FAMILIES AND A CONCERNED U.S. CONGRESSMAN, LEO RYAN. JONES INVITED THEM TO VISIT JONESTOWN FROM CALIFORNIA. TWO DAYS LATER CONGRESS MEMBERS AND THE U.S. CONGRESSMAN WAS DEAD AND OTHER MEMBERS EIT DEAD OR INJURED. THE FOLLOWING Day, OVER 900 PEOPLE WHO INITIALLY FOLLOWED JONES TO GUYANA INCLUDING JONES COMMITTED MASS MURDER WITH EITHER A DEADLY KULADE MIXTURE FOR MOST OF THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OR SHOOTING BY SUICIDE AFTER JONES INSTRUCTED THEM TO DO SO. THIS STORY IS THE TRUTH AND JUST HOW FAR THE LEADER OF A CULT WILL GO TO PROVE HIS POWER. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING ABOUT THIS HORRIFIC TRAGEDY WHICH DEPICTS THE VERY EVIL A CULT LEADER CAN BRING UPON HIS MEMBERS EVEN AFTER CHANGING BELIEF SYSTEMS TO EXTREME OPPOSITES OF ONE ANOTHER.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MADE JONES SO HORRIFICALLY SUCCESSFUL IN MOVING THIS MANY PEOPLE TO A PLACE CALLED GUYANA OUTSIDE OF BRAZIL APPROXIMATELY 200 MILES FOLLOWING HIM ALL THE WAY FROM THE USA? HOW AND WHY DO THEY HAVE THIS KIND OF CONTROL AND POWER OVER THEIR FOLLOWERS? PART 5, OF 5 ON CULTS WILL DELVE INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CULTS AND THEIR LEADERS. PLEASE READ ALL FIVE PIECES ON THESE CULTS IN ORDER. THANKS SO MUCH. SAMANTHA/DAILY WISDOM WORDS FOUNDER
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