Q1055-1 Summary

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.

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FBI Catalogue           Jones Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note: Q 1055 – all parts – labeled in part “9/6/75”

Date cues on tape:

People named:

Public figures/National and international names:
Dr. O’Thomas, unknown doctor who treated Jim Jones for cancer>

Bible verses cited

(Editor’s note: The verses below appear in order of biblical reference, not as they appear in Jim Jones’ address. For a complete scriptural index to the sermons of Jim Jones, click here.)

“Ichabod will be written above the altar, the glory of God departed thereof.” (1 Samuel 4:19-22)

“God is my armament! God is my shield! God is my salvation! God is my clothing! God is my covering! God is my deliverance!” (2 Samuel 22, esp. 22:2-3, “And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.”)

“I came on the wings of the morning in Los Angeles.” (Psalm 139:9-10, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”)

“I being among the poorest of men along with Jesus, have decided that Heaven can be established in the lives and the affairs of men.” (Proverbs 3:19, “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.”)

“There’re many gonna be like him, a multitude is gonna come forth in the land… They’re gonna beat the swords into plowshares and study war no more.” (Isaiah 2:3-4, “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” See also Micah 4:2-3)

“Just like the oak that makes the forest, but it’s all involved in the acorn. The seed, the seed, the seed that forms in me has now become a mighty oak, and I’m reproducing acorns, and I’m gonna have a forest.” [reiterated several times] (Isaiah 6:13, “…as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.”)

“Isaiah said, 7:20, after that day he will shave with a razor. The same God! The same God and not another.” (Isaiah 7:20, “In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.”)

“We’re causing these deserts to blossom as rose.” (Isaiah 35:1-2, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.”)

“This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” (Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Recalled in Acts 2:16, “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”)

“The knowledge of God is coverin’ the earth as the waters cover the sea.” [later in sermon] “I declare, I promise, I foreswore in the ark of the covenant, we shall cover the earth with this great knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”)

“King James, according to Matthew, doesn’t give the same ancestry of Jesus back to David as Luke does in the third chapter.” (Matthew 1:1-17 contrasted with Luke 3:23-38)

“One writer says that he went with his parents immediately to Egypt. Another one says he kept the feast of the Passover every year in Jerusalem. Never even left Egypt. Didn’t even mention King Herod.” [later in service] “Did he keep the feast of the Passover with his parents in Jerusalem every year? That’s what one writer says. Said he never [had] to flee from Herod. Read your Bible. Said he never fled from Herod. Said he kept the feast of the Passover every year in Jerusalem. Another said he went to Jerusalem and never returned.” (Matthew 2 contrasted with Luke 2:41, “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.”)

“Jesus was touched by the dove symbolizing his combustion into the consciousness of God’s son, in the sonship degree, when the Holy Ghost descended upon him.” (Matthew 3:16, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” See also, Mark 1:9-10, Luke 3:22, and John 1:32-33)

“One scripture says he went 40 days into the wilderness, and stayed there 40 days and 40 nights.” (Matthew 4:1-2, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.” See also Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2)

“This is the day when blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall not only know God! Not only feel God! But they shall see God!” [later in sermon] “Well, I’m here to tell ya, blessed are the pure in heart! Blessed are the pure in heart! Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”)

“These people want somebody to do somethin’ for them. Jesus never did somethin’ for people. He showed you how to do it for yourself! He said, what’s within you? Thy faith has made you whole. He didn’t direct it to him, he said it’s in you!” (Matthew 9:22, 15:28; Mark 5:34, 10:52; Luke 8:48, 17:19.)

“The Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. It’s the Spirit of your Father. It’s the Spirit of God that speaketh to you today. These things I cannot do of myself. But I have heard the Spirit speak.” (Matthew 10:20, “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”)

“Jesus … was called not only a devil, child, but he was called the Prince of Devils, Beelzebub. He was called the prince of all devils. And all he could say to them, how are you so sick? Will a devil cast out a devil? Does a devil heal the sick, will a devil cast out the demon oppressions of diseases? No. He said, if it did, it’d be a house divided against itself. (Matthew 12:24-28)

“What do I need with treasure houses of this earth, ‘cause I got a treasure that is hid.” (Matthew 13:44, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”

“[Jesus] said whatsoever I bind shall be bound, whatsoever I loose shall be loosed.” Matthew 18:18, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”)

“Jesus said, by what authority do you do these things? I do it by the authority that God is livin’ in me, that I have come in my Father’s name.” (Matthew 21:23-46; Mark 11: 27-33; Luke 20).

“Father sent his servants to the vineyard, to his own vineyards, … and they killed a servant, and they sent a prophet, and they killed the prophet, and they sent his son, and they did to him what they would, but he said then he would come himself, and no man would be able to take his life from him, and it (unintelligible word) the truth today, God has come on the scene in the fathership degree. God Almighty has come on the scene, and he’s gonna take the harbor, he’s gonna take his vineyards back from those false rascals, from those (unintelligible word) that have spoiled the vineyards.” (Matthew 21:33-44)

“You’ll have a structure that’s dead as the seeker’s bone. Be as dead as his boneyard.” (Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”)

“That’s why the eagles are gathered together, that’s why the carcass is here.” (Matthew 24:27-28, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”)

“You want to see Jesus? All right, then, you can see him tonight. Is there anybody hungry? Feed them. Is there anybody naked? Clothe them. If there’s anybody that’s a stranger, take them in, as we did the sister last night. Take them in.” (Matthew 25:34-46)

“One says – one Scripture, one Bible verse says – that the thieves … railed on him, all the thieves cursed him. The other says only one, and the other thief cursed and rebuked the other one. And Jesus said to the one good thief, this day, you shall be with me in paradise.” (Matthew 27:38-44, contrasted with Luke 23:39-43)

“The Word of God that said that I’ll be with you always, even unto the end of the world.” [Later in sermon] “Lo, I am with you always, I will never leave you nor forsake you, not even to the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”)

“The more you recognize of God, the more God will be reproduced in you, for I have come, not as thirty percent, not as sixtyfold, but I have come as a hundredfold, … and now it’s a hundredfold, it’s a hundredfold. One hundred percent God Almighty God!” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Mark 4:20, “And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.” See also, Matthew 13:8, 23; Matthew 19:29; Mark 4:8; Mark 10:30; and Luke 8:8)

“Don’t ask them for money or price, ‘cause the Christ of God doesn’t ask for money or price or reward. He doesn’t go out with purse or scrip on his journey. Doesn’t need any scripture. Doesn’t need any purse. Doesn’t need anything on that day’s journey but the Holy Ghost within.” (Mark 6:7-12, Luke 10:1-9, Luke 22:35-36)

“They may deliver you to the councils and to the tribunals, to the governors, the magistrates, and even kill you, thinking they do God a service.” [later in sermon] “Then the last days, they’ll turn you over to the councils and the governors, put you in prisons, and even kill you, thinking they do God a service.” (Mark 13:9, “But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.” See also, Matthew 10:17. Also, John 16:2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”)

“He said, when he’s come, take no thought for what ye shall say, but he’ll bring all things to remembrance in that hour.” (Mark 13:11, “But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.”)

“I’ve adopted eight children, I suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of the consciousness of God of which I am.” (Mark 10:14, “Jesus … said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” See also Matthew 19:14 and Luke 18:16.)

“Yes, he was born without a place to lay his head. The foxes had dens and the birds had nests, but he had no place to rest his head.” (Luke 9:58, “And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” See also, Matthew 8:20)

“You’ll go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.” (Luke 14:23, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”)

“I have come to show you God is within you because God is within me! “ [later in service] “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” (Luke 17:21, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” See also Luke 10:9-11)

“What is the Word? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”)

“And God’s no longer invisible. God is no longer visible but the Word, the Word is made flesh and dwells amongst us.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] “ (John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”)

“Jesus … came out of Nazareth and … they said no good thing ever came out of Nazareth.” (John 1:45-46, “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”

“King James has got it mixed up. In another place, he says three days after his baptism, he was in Cana of Galilee, which is some 80 miles from the wilderness, turning water into wine.” (John 2:1-11)

“You will not know death, but come in to Life.” (John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”)

“You quote to me, there’s three that bear record in heaven. John 5. Three that bear record in heaven. God never said it, Jesus never said it, Apostle Paul never said it, Pope Pius, one of the ugliest Roman popes of the Catholic Church, put it in there to support that ungodly doctrine of the Trinity.” (John 5:31-37)

“I have poured out myself, and people gather to eat of my flesh, … the flesh of God. (John 6:48-58)

“And the well’s flowing here, with water. Out of my belly is flowing water, as the issues of life.” (John 7:37-38, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”)

“[The Pharisees] chided him and said we know who our father is, Abraham, but who’s your father?” [later in service] “When they said Abraham is our father, but who is your father?” (John 8, esp. 8:33-42)

“I have come to give you life and life more abundantly now in the abundance of God’s presence.” (John 10:10-11, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”)

“No man takes my life from me… and I shall lay it down when it pleases me.” (John 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”)

“When they took Jesus and were going to persecute him, he said, for what good work do you stone me? You can’t receive me for my namesake, receive me for my worksake.” (John 10:24-33)

“I have heard the words of Jesus. He said be one, even as I and my Father are one. I’m living in the oneness of God.” (John 10:30, “I and my Father are one.”)

“My God, he is the hope! He is the way! He is the truth! He is the life!” (John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”)

“The Spirit of the living God dwells in me.” [later in service] “Not that Jesus is God up in the throne, but that Jesus has become God and God dwelleth in us.” (John 14:10, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”)

“Once you have seen the embodiment of the oneness of God, once you know that Jesus is God and that he is reincarnatable. He said these things shall you do and greater. That means what he was, you can be and greater! Not just the same, not to just grovel around a throne and beg to some big daddy in the sky but he said, these things shall ye be and greater!” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”)

“He said, if you keep my sayings, you shall live.” (John 14:23-24, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”)

“When … the Spirit of truth is come, he will lead you and guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”)

“When Jesus appeared on the road to Martha and Mary … when they were walking by the way, so deeply depressed over the loss of Jesus of Nazareth, the ones that had supped with him, dined with him, fed him, worked with him, did not know him, because someone had reincarnated that same Spirit, but the bodily appearance was different. You understand the mystery? One walked by the wayside, but it didn’t look like the same Jesus. But it was the same Jesus! But they called him, what? The gardener. That’s the way with people today. They’re so far from God, they call it everything, but it’s the same Jesus.” (conflates two stories from Bible: the women and the gardener in John 20:14-16, and two people meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-18.)

“See, the Acts of the Apostles still going on. He said, all the things that Jesus had both began to say and do, if they had been written in a book, the world would not be able to contain the book. So the Acts of the Apostles are being written here tonight” (John 21:25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”)

“It’s been withheld from ages past but now revealed to the children of men in these l– last days of time, that he’s going to pour out his Spirit on all flesh. His sons and daughters are gonna prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”)

“This same Jesus that was once just a Nazarene, this same Jesus is now both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:22, 36, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: … Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”)

“I’m glad I found my God and he’s Principle. He’s love, and love is exemplified in Acts of the Apostles in pure sharing, the pure Socialism that would solve all problems of today.” (Acts 4:32, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” See also Acts 2:44.)

“Acts, Chapter 9. Acts, Chapter 22. Paul said the ones that were with him on the road to Damascus when he had that great conversion, which he had, but King James is the king of England, he doesn’t know his right hand from the left. He said those that were with him in one case saw the shape but did not hear the voice. The other place it turns it just around, and says the opposite. They heard the voice but did not see the shape.” (Acts 22:9, “And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me,” contrasted with Acts 9:7-8, “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.”)

“It’ll be like Paul that was preaching to the jailer, and all of a sudden, the walls come tumbling down.” (Acts 16:25-34)

“But the thing I’m so glad, I heard him say, the captain of our salvation is bringing many sons under glory! I’m glad I heard him say that he is the first born of many brethren!” (Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”)

“The righteousness which is of faith sayeth not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven and bring him down, but who shall descend into deep and bring him up. What sayeth if the Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.” [later in sermon]  “I’m so glad that my God is not out there for me to fly to, he’s not out in the heavens for me to ascend to. He’s not in the deep for me to descend to, but the righteousness which is the faith sayeth he’s in thine heart and in thy mouth that God is in me.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Romans 10:4-10)

“You can’t be perfected through the reading of the Word, you cannot be perfected by anything but by the hearing of the Word, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Romans 10:14-15, 17, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? … So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”)

“But when someone says exactly what Temple means – that means you’re the body of God – if you’re the Temple of the Holy Ghost, you’re the body of God, the Holy Ghost is God’s Spirit.” [reiterated numerous times throughout service] (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”)

“You gonna be translated in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… You talk about getting raptured, you say, well, it’s a moment in the twinkling of an eye. I don’t care how many twinkles, it still takes you 300 million light years of twinkles to get there! They always got you twinklin’, too. Lookin’ up. Lookin’ up. I said look within.” (1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”)

“One place he said, forgive them their sins. As you forgive them, I forgive them, also. And he said, I forgive you in the person. … I forgive you in the person, he said, of Jesus Christ. Because the person was living in him.” [Later in sermon] “Paul wanted us to get that message … where he said, what you forgive, I forgive. I forgive it also. Whatsoever you bind, I bind. I do it, in the name? No. He said I do it in the person of Christ! I have reincarnated the very personality! I’m in the first person! I’m speaking in the ‘I am’ consciousness! I’m speaking with the Word in me!” (2 Corinthians 2:10, “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.”) [Note: the first “he” refers to Paul, although in the context, it sounded as though Jones was referring to Jesus.]

“The world needs Jesus, and the only place they’re gonna find Jesus, child, is in you. You are living epistles, the only one they’re gonna read.” [reiterated numerous times throughout service] (2 Corinthians 3:3, “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

 “The letter then kills but the Spirit maketh alive.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (2 Corinthians 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”)

“We’re gonna disperse this Christ and re-distribute this Christ.” (2 Corinthians 9:9-10, “As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.”)

“You can be crucified with Christ, nevertheless you will live, yet not you, but Christ that liveth in you!” [Later in sermon] “So glad that this body is God’s and not another. It is not Jim Jones, but Christ that liveth in me.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”)

“It’s the same Jesus, it may be one time in a black person, it may be another time in a man, it may be in a woman ‘cause there’s neither male nor female, bond nor free, Greek nor Jew!” (Galatians 3:27-29, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’)

“When you are free, stand fast in the liberty, where with Christ has made you free, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”)

“You’ve got to have the fruits of the Spirit.” [laer in service] “We have to have those manifold gifts and the manifold fruits of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Also, Ephesians 5:9, “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”)

“I have come in the dispensation of the fullness of time, I have come as the essence of truth, and I presented my body as my reasonable sacrifice, wholly acceptable under God.” (Ephesians 1:9-10, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”)

“He said he’s able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that you’re able to ask or to think.” (Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”)

“You see this apostolic ministry that is absolutely requisite for the perfection of the saints, apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists which are necessary for the perfecting of the saints.” [later in service] “The Bible will kill you, if you don’t have God within, and don’t have the fivefold ministry. He didn’t say Bibles would bring you to perfection, but apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelist, they are necessary for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-12, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.… And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”)

“You can let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, considered it not robbery to be equal with God.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Philippians 2:5-6, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”)

“That means he wasn’t perfect, he had to be made conformable, to the image, to the death of the cross.” [later in sermon] “Jesus was made obedient. If you’re perfect, you don’t have to be made obedient. He was made obedient and conformable to the image of the Son of God through the death. He was made conformable, made obedient through, what? The death of the cross. He was made perfect, what? Through suffering.” (Philippians 2:7-8, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”)

“Why any of you … would not forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto those things which are behold and before. And why not? Why would you not press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus that’s in your midst right here for you to behold.” (Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”)

“I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.”)

“If you’ll believe in the actual conscious presence of God, it’s the source of all supply, it can and it will and it does satisfy every good desire.” (Philippians 4:15-20)

“I have the mind of Christ and my body, my body is the church of God!” (Colossians 1:24, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.”)

“This is the marvelous mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”)

“That’s the marvelous message of the Unitarian concept of the Godhead, that God is one and that he is the oneness and that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in us, that the same Jesus is in us.” (Colossians 2:9, “For in [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

“For I’m hid with Christ in God. I’m made in his image.” (Colossians 3:2-4, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”)

“Without the Holy Ghost, it’ll build of form of godliness denying the power thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:2-5)

“They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” [reiterated several times throughout service] (2 Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”)

“I’m gonna bring many sons unto glory, sayeth God. The captain of our salvation was made perfect through the things he suffered.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Hebrews 2:10, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”)

“The Word is sharper than a two-edged sword and what does it do? It discerns the thoughts and knows the intents of the heart. And in every meeting for twenty-some years, I have been discerning the thoughts of the mind and knowing the intents of the heart.” [reiterated with variations throughout tape] (Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”)

“He said he learned obedience. That means he had to grow. He was made perfect.” [later in service] “He sits at the right hand of power, because he was perfected through suffering, he learned obedience, and now he’s the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” (Hebrews 5:8-9, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”)

“Why any of you would have a taste of the heavenly gift…” [later in service] “You just have not tasted of the heavenly gift.” (Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.”

“This is my body, it’s death to sin, and the trespasses of carnal law.” (Hebrews 7:16, “Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”)

“Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Follow holiness with all men. What’d it say? Without which no man shall see the Lord. Where do you have to follow holiness? With all men. You gotta find that holiness within and within others. Then you see God.” (Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”)

“In me is Christ and Christ is always the same. All may change, but Jesus never!” (Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”)

“For as James said, all good things comes down from the Father of Light, whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”)

“For pure religion undefiled before God and the fathers to minister to the orphans and widows in their affliction, keep yourself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”)

“He said when we see him – that’s the marvelous, marvelous beauty of the reincarnate-able Principle of Jesus Christ – when you see him, you shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”)

“He is the door, and if you open up the door, you enter into the great powers of the universe!” (Revelation 3:20-21, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”)

“I am the ancient of days, the everlasting Father, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending.” (Revelation 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”)

“One place, he ascended from Bethany, another place mentions another place. You have four different accounts of where Jesus ascended.” (Unknown references)

Summary:

(Editor’s note: This tape was transcribed by Freya Kory. The editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)

Jim Jones preaches a sermon to the Peoples Temple congregation.

With very few references to members of the Temple, and even fewer references to current events – both rare occurrences – this sermon is difficult to locate in where it took place. At one point, Jones speaks of “this valley,” and of the swimming pool in “this building,” a building which he helped construct – all suggesting that he is in Redwood Valley – although elsewhere, he speaks of the purest of his followers able to see God “in San Francisco, California.” In the continuation of the sermon located here, however, Jones refers to a puppy and a little cat “upstairs,” which – as former Temple member Garry Lambrev notes – places the location in San Francisco. “There was no ‘upstairs’ at the Redwood Valley Temple or at the one in LA.”

The difficulty in identification extends to its date as well. The tape identification note lists all four segments of Q 1055 as “9/6/75,” although at least one segment of it comes from 1966. Garry Lambrev also offers this in terms of dating the address the particular tape: “The term ‘Body of God’ didn’t come into currency until the arrival of the elderly ladies and few gentlemen from Father Divine’s Peace Mission, which means it can’t be earlier than July 1971. Moreover, the reference to a Sacramento meeting dates it to later than the spring of 1972, approximately the time of our one public Sacramento meeting. He has evolved by this point to speaking of the ‘office’ he held and the authority of such ‘office’, a very important point in terms of ideology and reflective of the disappearance of Jim into/behind the mask of his role as savior. It seems in this first tape that he’s speaking to a lot of people who’ve never heard him before, and undoubtedly a black audience.”

It is a passionate address which both thunders and whispers.

In fact, this is as close to a sermon in a traditional sense as has been located in the body of the tapes recovered from Jonestown. Jones offers prayers calling upon the “Christ Mind” to come forth, to allow them to do the work of the Holy Ghost. While he tells his people not to turn their eyes to the sky for comfort and aid, he evokes the concept of “Great God Almighty” in his mission. He often employs glossolalia, recalling his older traditions in the Pentecostal movement. He uses the emphatic hand claps and, less often, the singing of the message, also hearkening back to his earlier days. And while he quotes the Parable of the Last Judgment and discusses other elements of the social gospel, he speaks of socialism itself only four times, and those are in passing.

Most of all, he uses the Bible as his authority to claim for himself the qualities that make him a leader and a Christ-figure. He makes familiar references to the King James who “translated” the Bible – an “alcoholic” who “sent the Good Ship Jesus to Africa to bring back the blacks in chains” – and he points out numerous errors and inconsistencies within the Bible, but there are direct quotations, references, or paraphrases of more than 100 passages in this 75-minute tape, almost all of them within the New Testament, and a vast majority of those from the Gospels.

But even as Jones calls upon the name of Jesus, he reminds his congregation that they are witnesses to Christ’s reincarnation. Moreover, he wants them to take that identity themselves. “[Y]ou’re his temple because I’m his temple,” he says early in the address, then a few moments later, says, “God is living in this tabernacle. Christ is in me, as he is in you.”

He is not yet ready to turn over that mantle, though. About halfway through the address, in a passage which quotes both John 14:12 and 2 Corinthians 3:3, he says, “That’s my desire for you, to let you have what I have, and more. I hope you can see a picture of what I’ve taken, and reproduce a greater one in yourself. ‘Cause the world needs Jesus, and the only place they’re gonna find Jesus, child, is in you. You are living epistles, the only one they’re gonna read.” In the next breath, however, he retracts the complete offer – “Don’t jump the gun. Don’t go out and think that you gonna get into this realm overnight. I’ve come through lynch mobs, I’ve been shot and shot down before your eyes” – and then, finally, extends the offer more conditionally: “I cannot die. My people need to see the Christ in me to bring forth the Christ in them. I cannot die. My people are not ready.”

Jones sums up this relationship in the last minute of the tape, when he says, “I come along and tell you, that I’m the body of God, and that bothers you, because when I become the body of God, it means you’re gonna have to become the body of God. You’re gonna have to listen to what God has to say.”

If there is a single scripture upon which this address is based, it is Philippians 2:5-6: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Repeated six times, invoked numerous other times, the passage allows Jones to equate himself with Christ, even as it reinforces the authority of Christ.

The sermon continues here.

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 6/21/79

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.

On June 15, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B108-18. This tape was found to contain the following:

Reverend JIM JONES preaching on the power of his mind and asking the people to let Jesus into their minds. JONES claims God is in him and proceeds to heal people and recounts other healings and raisings from the dead. This tape was apparently made at San Francisco Temple. JONES talks in a religious vein and about God for the entire tape and doesn’t mention socialism.

Differences with FBI Summary:

Jones talks about the people he has healed, but the tape includes no healings. Other than that, the summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.

Tape originally posted June 2010