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: Labeled in part “Healings”
Date cues on tape: mid-1970s (tape made during service at LA Temple)
People named:
Archie Ijames (speaks)
Brother Calhoun (friend of unknown person being healed) (speaks)
Catherine Gomez (person healed) (speaks)
Helen Hill (person healed) (speaks)
Aramay McGuiness (phonetic) (person healed) (speaks)
Ethel Hightower Murphy (person healed) (speaks)
Felicia Mayberry (person healed) (speaks)
Ms. Mitchell (person healed) (speaks)
Russell Mitchell (person healed) (speaks)
Sister Williams (person healed) (speaks)
Jack Lacey (son of Ethel Murphy)
Hillary (husband of Ethel Murphy)
Ronald (son of friend of Ethel Murphy)
Willis Mitchell (brother of Russell Mitchell)
Doctor Clarence C. Woods (friend of Lydia Thomas Arlington)Davis Beldon (related to unknown person being healed)
Falcon (neighbor of unknown person being healed)
Gail (daughter of unknown person being healed)
Sister Jeffrey (friend of unknown person being healed)
Lambert (son of unknown person being healed)
Louise (neighbor of unknown person being healed)
Maggie (neighbor of unknown person being healed)
Willie B. Mayfield (neighbor of unknown person being healed)
Sister Reed (neighbor of unknown person being healed)
Wayne (son of unknown person being healed)Loreen Hayes (friend of Ms. Mitchell)
Philip (related to Ms. Mitchell)
James (related to Ms. Mitchell)Monica, Ruth, Marie, Dorothy, Maddy, nieces of Felicia Mayberry
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.)
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- “I just put [my glasses] down so that I can let my eye be single and concentrate upon your need. Said if your eye be single, then it’ll be filled with light..” (Matthew 6:22, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” See also Luke 11:34)
“Faith does not come by reading, as much as we love the truths that are in the Bible. The truths must be brought out by a prophet. How can we hear without a preacher, how can he preach ‘lest he be sent? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:14-17, “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? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”)
“Spirit! Who, he said, the word would discern the thoughts. God would discern the thoughts of the mind and know the intents of the heart… Hebrews 4:12 tells us what the word is. Says it will discern the thoughts, and it will know the intents of the heart. It’s sharper than a two-edged sword.” (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.”)
Summary:
(Note: This tape was transcribed by Vicki Perry. The editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)
This tape consists of ten faith-healings performed by Jim Jones during a Peoples Temple service in Los Angeles. As with the healings on other tapes, there is a general pattern to each one: Jones speaks to the person who has come forward for his touch, he reveals to them things about their lives that only they would know (or at least, that he himself would have no way of knowing except through revelation), he describes their conditions or illness (whether or not they know they have the condition or illness), and then he cures the malady. The congregation usually responds with cheers and applause, especially if the person being healed has been crippled or incapacitated.
While Jones is the faith-healer in this service, his invocations of God are ambiguous – “Good you came to the house of God today,” he says at one point – and could refer either to himself or the biblical God. This is likely due to the presence of first-timers in the service.
The last two healings include commentary by an unknown announcer, who describes what he sees as the healing takes place. He joins with Jones and the congregation in celebrating each successful healing. It is unknown whether these healings were recorded for radio broadcast, but the fact that the announcer has a well-trained voice suggests that the tape would be used elsewhere beyond the immediate Temple service.
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 6/27/79
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 14, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B107-12. This tape was found to contain the following:
JIM JONES healing people of their physical problems.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted December 2009