Jacob Jones
Ms. Hull
English 2010
Lead Into the Darkness
Figure 1 Cover of TIME Magazine following Jonestown Massacre
Cults have a way of captivating the minds and hearts of the followers and believers. A
chance to escape from a world of normalcy to one filled with new ideas and adventures intices
many. The idea of joining a cult may sound appealing to some. Cult benefits include feeling a
sense of belonging, something that might have not been present before. Another plus about
joining a cult is that a lot of cults are actively involved in their community and engaged in
meaningful, self-lifting activities. A popular reason that attracts many to cult involvement is the
idea of receiving help in every-day tasks and decisions. Cult members assist each other in
decision making and many cults heed the counsel of their leaders. Leadership is a grand quality
that most people do not possess. Great leaders inspire and uplift those whom they are
responsible for. Sadly, many cult leaders do not hold such traits of greatness. Enter the
infamous Jim Jones.
Born in 1931, Reverend James Jones was the leader and founder of the People’s Temple,
a cult that ultimately followed their charismatic leader to the death by participating in a mass
suicide. Jones slowly took over the minds of his followers by invoking the art of Milieu control
(Lifton). Milieu control is described as tactics that control environment and human
communication through the use of social pressure and group language, Such tactics enable
group members to identify other members, or to promote cognitive changes in individuals.
Jones started his career in 1952 as a student minister at a Methodist Church. Jones left
shortly after joining when the church refused to allow African Americans to participate in the
service. On an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Jim Jones Jr., surviving son of Jim Jones,
states:” My father preached a so-called "social gospel" that consisted of human freedom,
equality and love. This “gospel” required helping the lowliest of society’s members. Over the
course of time, this gospel became socialistic, or communistic according to Jones, and the
hypocrisy of white Christianity was ridiculed while "apostolic socialism" was preached.” To
establish dominance and a sense of Godliness Jones went so far as to encourage Temple
members to call him "Dad" and "Father". Jones also asked his members to consider him the
incarnation of Christ and of God. (Oprah Interview Jones Jr.)
In the same interview Jones Jr. opened up to Oprah and further told the story of his
father. By the late 1960's Jones openly preached in the Peoples Temple his version of
communism which he called "Apostolic Socialism".(Oprah Interview Jones Jr.) Jones taught that
he was the manifestation of the Christ. Jones healed like Jesus did, and even claimed to have
raised the dead. Like Jesus, Jones preached the importance of right human relations and radical
equality. He taught that all people had access to the Holy Spirit within themselves, but that
Jones' healing power demonstrated that he was a special manifestation of "Christ the
Revolution." (Oprah Interview Jones Jr.)
Jones offered a place of refuge in his church for those suffering from social torment.
Jones included the lower class African Americans, who at that time were in the midst of racial
segregation. Jones claimed that he was a “highly evoked black soul incarnated in a white body”,
and felt that only he could identify with the problems of the African Americans. Jones believed
in a utopian society consisting of racial integration and social equality. But, he believed that a
catastrophic period of race war, genocide, and nuclear war was nearing. (Oprah Interview Jones
Jr.)
Jones was able to participate in evil acts such as manipulation of his followers,
distortion, and the use of drugs because the people around him accepted and permitted Jones
to fulfill his desires. At times his group members and followers assisted him in committing these
evil acts. Peoples Temple members' dualistic perspective in which they saw themselves as being
attacked by evil capitalistic society, ultimately led them to resort to violence in an attempt to
preserve their community. Jim Jones first mentioned suicide to his followers in 1973. In 1976
the first suicide drill was conducted within Jones' inner circle as a loyalty test. These tests were
done to see if people would actually go thru with the suicide. For at least a year prior to the
infamous Jonestown Massacre, a mass suicide that involved the death of 909 followers
including Jones, revolutionary suicide was discussed publicly at Jonestown. This was discussed,
and Jones believed, that suicide was the last act to bring them Because Jones closer to God.
Followers viewed him as Christ, whatever Jim Jones commanded, the members willingly did.
(Oprah Interview Jones Jr.)
According to the PBS documentary Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,
Jones’s destructive behavior began at an early age. Jones’s mother, Lynetta Putnam believed
and told him that he was the Messiah. As a child Jones was obsessed with religion and also was
fascinated with death. It has also been alleged that as a child Jones held funerals frequently for
animals and apparently stabbed a cat to death. Jones
read, admired and rigorously studied dictators such as
Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Jones noted
their strengths and weaknesses and later attended
communist party meetings. Due to his charismatic
attitude, Jones attracted many to develop trust in him
and his cause. Over the years of selfishness, deceitful
lies and an extensive history with the use of illegal
drugs, Jones was a ticking time bomb on the verge to
self-destruct. Unfortunately, when Jones exploded, he
Figure 2 Senior Picture Jim Jones Richmond High
School
didn’t go alone. He led over 900 of his loyal followers to their demise in a Mass Suicide.
(Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,2006)
Infamously known as The Jonestown Death Tape, Jones and his followers made an audio
recording on November 18, 1978, at the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana,
immediately preceding the suicide. This recording resurfaced in 1998 in Hearing the Voices of
Jonestown, written by the Syracuse University Press. These are some excerpts of Jones’s last
sermon on that fateful day, which were recovered by the FBI following the mass suicide:
“So my opinion is that you be kind to children and be kind to seniors and take the potion
like they used to take in ancient Greece and step over quietly because we are not committing
suicide; it's a revolutionary act. We can't go back; they won't leave us alone.” (Paragraph 8).
[“Lay down your burden. I'm gonna lay down my burden. Down by the riverside. Shall
we lay them down here by the side of Guyana? What's the difference? No man didn't take our
lives. Right now. They haven't taken them. But when they start parachuting out of the air,
they'll shoot some of our innocent babies. I'm not lying--I don't wanna (inaudible). But they
gotta shoot me to get through to some of these people. I'm not letting them take your child.
Can you let them take you child?] “(Paragraph 36)
“So be patient. Be patient. Death is--I tell you, I don't care how many screams you hear.
I don't care how many anguished cries. Death is a million times preferable to ten more days of
this life. If you knew what was ahead of you--if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad
to be stepping over tonight.” (Paragraph 47)
After administering the poisoned Kool-Aid to over 900 of his beloved followers, Jones
took his own life with a gunshot to the head. Jones took full advantage of his followers and led
them astray. On the same episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Jim Jones Jr., claims: “If given
the choice to commit suicide, only 20 of the 900 people would have done it. They were
repeatedly brainwashed and honestly had no choice but to follow my father”. (Jul 09, 2010)
These tragic events could have been avoided or stopped if more knowledge was known
and made available to those participating in the People’s Temple. Knowledge is the most
important aspect of cult membership. If more Knowledge was known at the beginning many
would choose not to join certain cults. In today’s world it is common for one to take advantage
of those whom love and trust them. Hopefully people can be more conscious of their current
situations and prevent another Jim Jones from destroying so many innocent lives.
Works Cited
Chambers, William V., Micheal Langone and Peter Malinoski. "History of the American Family
Foundation." 1994.
Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. Harvard Mental Health Letter 1981.
transcript was made by Mary McCormick Maaga in Hearing the Voices of Jonestown (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 1998), by permission of the author.
Oprah Winfrey, (Jul 09, 2010). Interview with Jim Jones Jr.
Public Broadcasting System, 2006. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,2006
Visuals
Figure 1. Cult of Death, Cover of Time Magazine Dec. 4, 1978
Figure 2. Jim Jones senior picture, Courtesy Richmond High School