Jim Jones: A Reverend to A Rabid Murderer

Lost Paradise

Lost Paradise

There are a few other documentaries of this gruesome massive suicide in American history. Most of them recreated the dark history of Jim Jones, from his childhood, society’s idealogy, his mastermind of Loring the minority race during the segregation, and the horrifying ending. Some contain a lot of real audio tapes of Jim Jones’ confession to the FBI, his preaching, and the death video of the speech Jones gave before forcing a community to commit suicide.

Paradise Lost focuses on the final five days before the massacre, including the late congressman, Leo Joseph who was assassinated while going there to investigate the shadowy rumors of violating human rights there. The film was interspersed with interviews with survivors and dramatic recreations of the events.

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In 2021, Leonardo Dicaprio was reported to make a movie about Jim Jones, and he would act as the cult leader in it, but so far, there’s no further update about it.

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Airlifting 900 Bodies to America

To make things worse, America initially refused to take all these bodies back to American soil and required them to be buried in Guyana, but the Guyanese government declined. Furthermore, the victims’ families and loved ones hoped to rest their losses in peace in their own countries.

Therefore, the government ended up airlifting all 900 bodies back to America. The massive amounts of bodies forced the military aide to put several bodies inside the same cases, for example, 490 corpses were needed to fit in 267 cases.

These people left their segregated homes in 1970 America for an equal society, endured tremendous physical efforts to build a community in the deepest rural area, being controlled, tortured, and frightened by the totalitarian, Jim Jones. Their whole life was manipulated by one man who used their vulnerability and weakness due to unfair treatment.

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Unlike many black ministers who were still preaching patience, asking their congregations to accept inequities and await a better future in heaven in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Jones’ speeches were challenging the theory of single race, attracting many black people who were numb to their conservative churches.

Moreover, Jones was a charismatic performer whose flamboyant ‘healing performance’ made African Americans and other spiritualists firmly believe he was the God-sent savior. While performing the healing session, he would command an old lady sitting in a wheelchair to stand, and then she could stand; he would get off a young man’s cast in his leg on the stage, and the young would soon be able to rush to the audience.

He constantly reminded people that no one would love and care for them more than he would. He loved all races, black, Latin, and Asia, and he would die for his followers

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Peoples Church

To create a church gathering that includes all kinds of races, Jones built up his church against the state’s segregation law. Peoples Church was located in California, a place that he thought had the potential to be changed.

Even not Jones’ followers, people were moved and excited to see the scene of the congregation of race and ethnicity. Black people felt that they were finally accepted by their own country. Tears moved down white people’s cheeks as they saw Jones kiss a black kid. Interracial marriage was accepted and celebrated. All could only happen in Peoples Church.

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Controversy

As more and more people were convinced Jim Jones was their messiah. The media released an unsettling report from anonymous people about sexual harassment, corruption, and drug abuse that Jim Jones was involved in.

Jones started claiming his innocence and unselfish love for every human through preaching, setting the press as his targeted enemy to deter him from creating a utopian world, and condemning the government to conspire sinister crimes.

At that time, a large amounts of young Americans were sent to fight in the Vietnam War, and MLK was assassinated, everyone was seeking a promising shelter and a dependable rescue. Jones, who studied in Society in college, was fairly aware of it and offered the much-needed help, care, and words to develop his believers.

In the next article, I would like to briefly discuss what was Jim Jones’ political stand, how he delivered Nuclear Holocaust rumors to evoke people’s fear, how he threatened and tortured a community, his deteriorating mental health due to drug abuse and his wife’s death led to the final break loose.