Jonestown Audiotape
Primary Project : Summaries
Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee, III. If you
use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
Tape Number : Q 1035
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FBI Catalogue: Jones speaking
Date cues on tape: October or November 1972 (reference to 1972 early
in address; later, he speaks of resurrecting 63 people in the eleven months
since December 1, presumably of 1971)
People named:
Public figures/National and international names:
Bible verses cited:
"Paul said, I perceive you're too ... superstitious, he said ... you should
make your inscription to the unknown God." (Acts 17:22-23. "Then Paul stood
in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all
things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions,
I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.")
"Jesus was ... the Alpha and the Omega." (Four references to Alpha and Omega
in Revelation, including Revelation 22:13, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last.")
"[I]n the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the
Word was made flesh. (John 1:1, 1:14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God... 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, Emmanuel, God with us." (Matthew 1:23, "Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is, God with us.")
"[Jesus was] Born without a father, as far as the world knew anything about
it. That's the way the world considered him." (Hebrews 7:3, "Without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of
life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.")
"[They] Said, we know whose father our father is. Our father's Abraham, but
the inference of the written Scripture was, Jesus, you're born of a bastard.
You're nothing. We know who our father is, but who is your father? But you see,
that was the beauty of Jesus. Though he was made in the form of a servant, though
he was born on the wrong side of the tracks, yet he saw in himself the form
of God." (John 8:37-42)
"And though [Jesus] were a servant, though he made himself a servant, he did
not consider it robbery to be equal with God." (Phil. 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.")
"Jesus said, when you see me, you have seen God." (John 14:7-9, "If ye had known
me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and
have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Show us the Father?")
"[He] Said, I and the Father are one... he said, for what good work do you ...
stone me? ... [T]he assailant said ... we don't stone you for any good work.
We assail you because you being a man, blaspheme and make yourself God. That's
what got Jesus in all the trouble." (John 10:30-33, "I and my Father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good
works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone
me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for
blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.")
"[He] Said, I've come in my Father's name." (John 5:43, "I am come in my Father's
name.")
"Heaven and earth may pass away, but I'll never fade away." (Matthew 24:35,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." See also,
Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33.)
"Jesus said, Lo, I am with you always. [He] Didn't say, some thing. He said...
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:19, "Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world. Amen.")
"The truth sets you free. That's all Jesus came to earth to say. He said, you
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That's what I've come
back to tell you." (John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.")
"[Jesus] Said, what good work do you stone me... We don't stone you because
of good works, Jesus, it's because you, being a man, make yourself God. He said,
well, isn't it written to those whom the word of God came, Scripture can't be
broken. He said, it's written that ye are gods." (John 10:31-34, "Then the Jews
took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have
I shown you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews
answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy;
and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them,
Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?")
"Yet Jesus was made perfect through the things that he suffered. He learned
obedience through the death of the cross. That means he didn't know it when
he started, 'cause if he had been God at the beginning, he would have been perfect
to begin. But he said, he was made perfect through suffering... So Jesus was
made God. Jesus made himself conformable to the image of the death of the cross."
(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.")
"Elias... said let the God that is God answer by fire, and that's what I say
to you." (Luke 9:54-55, "...They said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned,
and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.")
Long discussion of creation story, Genesis 1-4. Later in service, Jones makes
specific references to Genesis 1:25-26, Genesis 2:18
"Jesus said you can't take new wine until you get rid of the old. You gotta
get rid of the old vessel. You can't put new wine in an old vessel. You can't
put a patch on this thing, you've got to get a new garment." (Matthew 9:16-17,
"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is
put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither
do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth
out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both
are preserved." See also Mark 2:21-22 and Luke 5:36-38)
"I said like Elias, we'll show you who's the God." (Matthew 17:10-12, Mark 9:11-13,
John 1:21-25)
"Remember you are saved by the foolishness of preaching." (1 Corinthians 1:21,
"For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
"[The Bible] Didn't say you were saved by Bible reading. Said, faith cometh
by hearing. And hearing cometh by the word of God." (Romans 10:17, "So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.")
"The word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. It can do things like that.
It'll cut away the bone from the marrow... It said it'll discern the thoughts
and know the intents of the heart. It'll quicken the body, that separate the
soul from the spirit." (Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged 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.")
"[The word of God] will straighten out the crooked bones and make them straight."
(Luke 3:5, "... and the crooked shall be made straight.")
"If you try to live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to get persecution.
They're gonna even deliver you to the council and the courts, and they'll lie
on you, and they'll say all manner of things falsely, and they'll even kill
you, thinking they do God a service." (John 16:2-3, "They shall put you out
of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they
have not known the Father, nor me." Also, Matthew 5:10-11, "Blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say
all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.")
"Hebrews 11:17. By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac, his only begotten son."
(Hebrews 11:17, "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.")
"Galatians 4:22, For it is written that Abraham had two sons. You either have
one or you have two, honey, you can't have both." (Galatians 4:22, "For it is
written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.")
"Genesis 25 said that Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. (Genesis
25:1, "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.")
"1 Chronicles 1:32 got honest and said, Keturah, Abraham's whore. Abraham's
concubine. Now, if you're a whore, honey, you're not a wife. Or you could be,
but it's hard." (1 Chronicles 1:32 , "Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine...")
"God promises Abraham everything, and He said, I'll give you the seed, all the
land of Canaan, for an ever-lasting possession." (Genesis 17:8, "And I will
give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.")
"Acts 7:5, and he gave him none. Not any inheritance in it. No, not so much
as to set his foot off it. He didn't get his foot on Canaan, much less get it
all, he didn't even his foot in it." (Acts 7:5, "And he gave him none inheritance
in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would
give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had
no child.")
"Hebrews 11:9, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise. There all died
in faith, not having received the promise." (Hebrews 11:9, 13, "By faith he
sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise... These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth.")
"Numbers 33:37, Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of
God and died there." (Numbers 33:37-39, "And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched
in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up
into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth
year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the
first day of the fifth month. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three
years old when he died in mount Hor.")
"Deuteronomy 10:6 said he didn't die there at all. And the children of Israel
took their journey from Beeroth to Mosera, there Aaron died in Mosera and he
was buried. Mosera is miles away from the other place that was mentioned, Mount
Hor." (Deuteronomy 10:6, "And the children of Israel took their journey from
Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he
was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.")
"I don't care if it's in a western magazine, you're supposed to divide the word
of truth wherever you find it. Rightly divide the word of truth." (2 Timothy
2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.")
"The Bible says let the women keep silent in all of the churches, suffer not
the woman to teach. That means, honey, shut your mouth." (1 Corinthians 14:34,
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them
to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.")
"[The Bible] said, to the slave, if you got a good master, be glad. [The Bible]
Said, if you got a bad master, endure him. Oh, yes it does." (Unknown reference)
"Elisha, the great prophet supposedly of God. Second Kings, second chapter,
twenty-third verse. There came little children out and mocked him, laughed at
him, saying, go up though, baldhead, and he turned back and he looked on them
and he cursed them in the name of God, Jehovah, the Lord, and there came forth
two she-bears, according to his curse, out of the woods and those two she-bears
came and they tore forty and two children a pieces." (2 Kings 2:23-24, "And
he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there
came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him,
Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked
on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she
bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.")
"God, according to the Bible, in Exodus 21, sanctions slavery. Said, if you
buy a servant or slave, if his master's given him a wife, and she has borne
him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be her master's. Take
them away from the man." (Exodus 21: 2,4, "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six
years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing...
If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters;
the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.")
"Leviticus 25 says the same thing: Both thy bondman and the bondmaid which thou
shall have shall be of the heathen that are around you, of them shall you buy
bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, the children of the strangers that do sojourn
among you, of them shall you buy. You'll take the children from them, as your
inheritance." (Leviticus 25:44-45, "Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which
thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall
ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that
do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with
you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.")
"Exodus 21:20. And if a man slap your servant or his maid and he die under his
hand, if he continues a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his
money. In other words, somebody can slap your slave around, and smite them and
do what he wants to, but he shall not be punished, because he has money." (Exodus
21:20-21, "And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die
under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue
a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.")
"Philippians 4:11, I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to
be content." (Philippians 4:11, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I
have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.")
"Colossians 3:22, Slaves, obey in other things your master. Servant, slave,
same thing. In the Hebrew, it's slave. Slaves obey all things your masters according
to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as menpleasers, but in singleness of heart
and fear God." (Colossians 3:22, "Servants, obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness
of heart, fearing God.")
"Slaves be obedient to them that are your masters according to flesh, with fear
and trembling as unto Christ." (Ephesians 6:5, "Servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness
of your heart, as unto Christ.")
"First Timothy, let as of many slaves as are under the yoke, count their own
yoke worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
In other words, stay a slave." (1 Timothy 6:1, "Let as many servants as are
under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of
God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.")
"Titus 2:9, exhort slaves to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please
them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, not showing anything
but good fidelity that they adorn the doctrine of God, our savior in all things.
(Titus 2:9-10, "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to
please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but showing
all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things.")
"Slaves, 1 Peter 2:18, be subject to your masters with all fear. Not only to
the good master, not only to the gentle master, but also to the forward, or
to the evil one, or to this that is unthankworthy. If a man for conscience toward
God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, it is right to do. (1 Peter 2:18-20,
"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye
do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.")
"Matthew 1 and Luke 3. You'll find that uh, Matthew and Luke disagree as to
who Jesus' grandfather is, and how many great-grandparents he has back to Abraham.
One has him having 15 more grandparents than the other." (Matthew 1:1-17, ending
with 1:17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations;
and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations;
and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations."
Compared to Luke 3:23-38.)
"Now, where did Jesus die? Where did he resurrect? One [gospel] says it was
at Bethany, one says it was at a last supper, one says it was on another mountain,
one says it was in Galilee." (reference unknown)
"One [gospel] said when Jesus was crucified on the cross, that all the thieves
that were there railed on him. The other says only one malefactor did, and he
rebuked the other. Now what was the case? You don't know what the case was."
(Matthew 27:38-44, ending with 27:44, "The thieves also, which were crucified
with him, cast the same in his teeth." Compared to Luke 23:39-40, "And one of
the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou
fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?")
"I come from another planet. And that's all the whole parables of all the Bibles
is talking about. The wheel in the middle of the wheel, all this ... was just
talking about visitations from other planes ." (Ezekiel 1:16, "The appearance
of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four
had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel
in the middle of a wheel.")
"Jesus said, ye are gods. 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.")
"The new life has gotten them a blessing, and they give all. That's the way
it was on the day of Pentecost. That was the new earth's message there. A visitor
met them then, a visitor from outer space." (unknown reference; Day of Pentecost
in Acts 2)
"I said, sell your possessions and have all things common and part to every
man as had need." (Mark 10:21, "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said
unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up
the cross, and follow me." See also Matthew 19:21 and Luke 18:22)
"You're ashamed of me, like Nicodemus was ashamed to see Jesus." (John 3:1-21,
esp. John 3:1-2; see also John 7:50 and John 19:39.)
Summary:
Delivered before a congregation in late 1972, this sermon by Jim Jones makes
many more Christian references than do his later addresses, and certainly contains
more quotations and citations of the Bible. While he criticizes the Skygod,
as he often does elsewhere, he places much of what he says in the context of
a Christian God, the reference that everyone in attendance will understand.
As do most of these tapes, this opens in the middle of a sentence, in this instance
as Jones speaks about the nature of the Christian God and of the Christ figure
himself. Jones says Christianity was not based on the idea of an unknown God,
but one of flesh and bone, one that was visible, tangible and human. Moreover,
even though Christ was the son of God, yet he was equal with God. "Jesus said,
when you see me, you have seen God." It was for that claim that he was condemned,
because people don't like it when God is visible.
And that's why people have trouble with Jones himself, because the same applies
to him. "God speaks for himself, and addresses the masses on his own behalf,
and on his own right."
People prefer the unknown God, because it gives them an excuse or a convenient
explanation. If we don't understand something, Jones says, we attribute it to
the unknown God. When you can't find a job because of your skin color, he adds,
you can blame the unknown God, rather than the racist society or capitalist
economy. In short, we can interpret him any way we choose. "And because of that
unknown God, the most segregated institution in America is the church at 11
o'clock on Sunday morning." But when God is made flesh, Jones says, no one can
interpret him.
Along with the unknown God comes death, Jones continues. Other churches that
worship the unknown God have funerals. This church doesn't, because, Jones says,
he saves them from death. If people look around "my house," he continues, they'll
see no one that is hungry or needs a home or lacks an educational opportunity
or needs protection from the law. The only catch for all of this to work, he
adds later, is that "you can't carry that Skygod in here, 'cause that messes
us up... You gotta leave that Skygod alone."
Jones eventually makes the more direct connection between himself and Christ.
In a ministerial cry, he tells his followers, "The truth sets you free. That's
all Jesus came to earth to say... That's what I've come back to tell you." But,
as he often does at this juncture, he continues quickly to make the claim all-encompassing.
"I'm gonna cause you to know that you are what Jesus was... It's in the book...
I can give you the verse and scripture to the line, that you are God. I'm a
god and you're a god. And I'm a god, and I'm gonna stay a god, until you recognize
that you're a god."
Returning to his criticism of the Skygod, Jones reads an article about a nursing
home fire in Atlanta, Georgia that killed 27 people. The people cried out to
God as they hung onto the burning building, and they died. If they had called
upon Jones, even though he didn't know them, he would have heard them and saved
them. "See, I'll give you what you give me. I'm just a motivator and a duplicator
and a reproducer and a dynamo and a generator." The proof, he says, are in the
miracles that happen in this church every day.
The nursing home deaths find reference later in the sermon as well, as Jones
draws direct comparisons between what "this God is doing" and what the Skygod
is doing. After describing the facilities at Redwood Valley in glowing terms,
Jones says, "Even our aged home has a fire sprinkler, it has a fire alarm system
in every hall, in every room, you can see the little device. No, you trust in
Jim Jones, he won't put you up on no nine floors without a stairs to get down.
Only the Skygod does that kind of nonsense."
Jones also returns to the subject of miracles and healings throughout the sermon,
and eventually returns to the separation between himself and the unknown God.
"That's the difference between having something you can see, because what you
see is what you get, and if you can't see, you're not going to get it."
Jones criticizes not only the Skygod, but also his messengers, especially those
who can't answer questions about the Skygod. But, Jones adds, that's because
the questions are unanswerable. Jones singles out Billy Graham for particular
scorn, describing the evangelist as a hypocrite and a fool.
Returning to Graham later in the service, Jones says the evangelist acknowledges
that he doesn't believe the Bible, but he uses it to get to people. Once Graham
used his words to bring the people the social gospel. Now he doesn't; to the
contrary, he refers to shoplifters and petty criminals trying to survive on
the streets as sinners, but says nothing about governments and corporations
that bleed people with their corruption. Why? Because he has a big house to
protect, a place in society to defend.
Later in the service, Jones mocks other preachers and how they sound with their
traditional messages, then imagines how they describe him: "And they say, 'Ohh,
you gotta watch that Jones. He's against God, he's the anti-Christ.' I am. I'm
giving you blessings, I'm healing you, I'm saving you when you die."
Jones says he knows he is upsetting people, and, as he does in other services
as well, calls out to them. "So if ... you're upset by this, that's a design.
I gotta find out who's willing to think." He continues with another familiar
theme: "It's only right that I get somebody to be like I am. I want you to be
like me. I don't want you to worship me, I want you to be like I am. I want
you to become what I am."
As for people who might be frightened on a more fundamental level — that
they might be getting in trouble with their idea of a God, or with society's
need to preserve its God — Jones points out that he's been preaching for
almost fifty years, "ever since I was a child, and I'm gonna preach a long while
yet, nobody come down and knock me out yet." In one of the only illusions to
his death in this service, he adds, "And you know what? I wouldn't care if they
did, because I'd be free." Later, he reiterates his determination to live: "I'm
gone keep holdin' too, 'cause too many people want me to die, and I'm a contrary
cuss when folk want me to die. I don't die when folk want me to die."
In speaking to yet another segment of the congregation that might be disappointed,
because they came to be healed instead of hearing him tear apart the Bible,
he tells them to listen and laugh, as others in the gathering are doing, because
that would go a long way towards getting them healed.
Jones spends much of the tape criticizing the Bible, both for its inconsistencies
and for its poisonous messages. He goes over the creation story, as he does
in other sermons, discussing the angels who continually worshiped God, and Lucifer,
who refused. He chastises God for creating Adam and Eve solely for the purpose
of having someone to else to worship him. He questions how Adam and Eve, the
only people in God's creation, could have two sons and how one could find a
wife in the land of Nod. These are "silly stories," he says. (And it's also
why Jones doesn't want his followers to call him a creator. "Savior, I am. A
friend, I am. A deliverer, I am. Don't call me no creator. 'Cause I'll tell
you, I wouldn't put you in the messes that you've been in.")
He speaks of the Bible's errors, beginning with the two different accounts of
creation in Genesis. He disagrees forcefully and passionately with a Bible story
in which a prophet calls forth two bears to rip apart 42 children who have laughed
at the prophet's bald head. He speaks of the oppressiveness of the Bible, quoting
passages that hold back women and others that sanction slavery. No wonder blacks
are discriminated against, he says. It's a good thing Harriet Tubman and Frederick
Douglass didn't take that part of the Bible to heart.
Jones also challenges the belief that Christ was perfect, and — in this
case — uses the Bible as his authority. He quotes a passage from Hebrews
which says Jesus was made perfect upon the cross, and concludes, logically,
that he was not perfect before, but had faults and failings like any other human
being.
So what do the people of Peoples Temple believe, he asks rhetorically. "You
believe in me in order to believe in you. That's the only thing gonna set you
free. Christ is in you. The only hope of glory you're ever gonna see." On the
other hand, Jones says a moment later, if those who hear him don't believe him,
"you're gonna be in real serious trouble. I'm going to tell you this: When light
comes to you, and you don't walk in the light, then darkness comes... I'm not
going to scare you with hellfire and that kind of thing. I'm going to tell you,
that you lose your soul when you don't walk in light."
In more political and social terms, he promises that people who follow his teachings
will be persecuted, just as Christ was, and — he adds — just as he
is. After listing some of the sins of other preachers, he points out that they
aren't touched. But the press is after Jim Jones and his followers. The press
attacks Tim Stoen for unscrupulous acts, when all he is doing is helping the
poor. But the larger society has to attack Peoples Temple, and has try to mess
them up. "'Cause they know, if they don't mess me up, I'm gonna mess them up,
and that's what they're trying to do, you see."
Jones returns to the subject of press criticism as he discusses his own source
of power. "[You] Say, where are you from? How you get this power? You want to
know? I'm going to tell you. I've come from another planet." Then, after saying
that's where all the parables in the Bible are from, he asks his followers to
imagine how that would sound in the press. He returns to the interplanetary
theme late in the sermon, saying it was the same on the day of Pentecost. "That
was the new earth's message there. A visitor met them then, a visitor from outer
space... Yes, it was a visitor then, a visitor now, a visitor from another planet."
Towards the end of the service, Jones takes the microphone into the crowd to
talk and laugh with the people. It begins as he asks people who believe he is
drinking wine in the pulpit to taste the grape juice for themselves.
Amidst the light banter, he says this is where he is most comfortable, among
his flock. He speaks about narrowing the focus of his speeches, so he doesn't
have to say the same thing over and over to people who already know what he
believes. If they could keep newcomers out, the committed congregation could
accomplish so much more. "That's what coming," he says. "There won't be public
meetings... There'll be a smaller number, but you'll have to make a reservation
to get in here... We've heard A-B-C, now we want to get to D."
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 1B108-7.
This tape was found to contain the following:
JIM JONES speaking before a group regarding miscellaneous topics such as:
(1) God
(2) Adam and Eve
(3) People trying to "mess up" JIM JONES
(4) BILLY GRAHAM
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI's purposes.