Never drink elixir from a magic man: The story of Jim Jones and Jonestown
Do you know anyone who supposedly espouses love, then begins to readily condemn others? Or even those who preach love yet demonstrate hate in their own walk?
I’ve known a few.
But perhaps one of the greatest diabolical examples of a hypocrite can be found in a fellow by the name of Jim Jones, who used a pulpit to rise and fall while slaughtering many innocent lambs along the way.
And the innocents' epitaph might read: "Many of those who heard him preach died miserably and lonely in a strange place on an even stranger day."
Jim Warren Jones was born on May 13, 1931. He grew up in a family who was short on parenting skills. Sound familiar? He lived in poverty and displacement along the way.
Love never came to visit his home.
One day a pastor’s wife introduced him to a Bible and told him to study the Word. As he grew and studied, he attended many different churches, was baptized in several of them and acquired a desire to become a preacher.
Neighbors said he was an unusual child who was obsessed with religion and death. While studying his Bible, his talk often included vulgarity as he also developed a reading library of authors like Hitler, Marx, Stalin and Mao Zedong.
In high school, Jones regularly carried his Bible to class and chastised others for drinking, smoking and dancing.
These behaviors were of the devil, he most likely shared.
He also obtained a strong condemnation of racism and the mistreatment of blacks.
Jones would develop an interest in communism, too. In 1953, Jones began attending and preaching at the Laurel Street Tabernacle in Indianapolis, according to populartimelines.com.
Jones preached at several revivals, and soon, many of his congregants believed he possessed a supernatural gift. He became a minister of the People’s Temple ministry.
History:Jim Jones and the People's Temple in Indianapolis
He continued to protest the treatment of blacks and racism.
By 1970, the Peoples Temple opened branches in several cities including San Fernando, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as Jones began shifting his focus to major cities across California, according to accounts from the book "Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People." He then also began to attack certain forms of Christianity.
California Assemblyman Willie Brown once described Jones as “a combination of Martin Luther King Jr., Angela Davis, Albert Einstein, and Chairman Mao.”
Published reports state that by 1973, the Peoples Temple reached 2,570 members, with 36,000 subscribers to its fundraising newsletter.
Jones became actively involved in faith healing, and soon his Peoples Temple church came under close scrutiny and investigation for fraudulent practices. He rejected the King James Version of the Bible and, according to the Jonestown Institute at San Diego State University, explained that nature of sin: “If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin."
Members who joined Peoples Temple turned over all their assets to the church in exchange for free room and board. Jones' control over these members extended to their sex lives and who could be married. Some members were even coerced to get abortions.
In the fall of 1973, Jones developed a plot to escape America for a new beginning in Guyana, South America. Jones now described Lenin and Stalin as his heroes, and saw the Soviet Union as an ideal society, according to the Jonestown Institute.
In May 1977, Jones and about 600 of his followers arrived in Jonestown. About 400 more followed over the next few months.
In the autumn of 1977, some defectors had made serious allegations of abuse against Jones. Jones had long ago become paranoid and routinely used powerful drugs.
Jonestown was becoming a living nightmare and hell for the congregants of the People’s Temple.
California Congressman Leo Ryan and a group had travelled to Jonestown to investigate the allegations. As Ryan and his entourage prepared to leave on two planes on Nov. 18, 1978, Jones sent armed members to stop them. Soon Ryan and four others lay dead on the tarmac.
Later that day, Jones received word that his security guards didn't kill all of Ryan's party. Jones concluded the escapees would inform authorities in the United States, and the military would be sent to Jonestown.
The rest is history.
A drink mixture of Flavor Aid and cyanide was created and handed out to the members of the community to drink, according to the Jonestown Institute. Those who refused to drink were injected with cyanide via syringe.
The children were killed first, and before Jones "revolutionary suicide" was done, 909 followers of the People’s Temple would lay dead, 276 of them children, according to the Jonestown Institute.
Jones was found resting on a pillow near his deck chair with a gunshot wound to his head.
No Bible was nearby.
And the moral of this story?
Never drink elixir from a magic man.
Amen.
Pete Waters is a Sharpsburg resident who writes for The Herald-Mail.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Jim Jones was perhaps the greatest example of a hypocrite
