Q1054-4 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: None

 Date cues on tape:    Fall 1972 (between Republican National Convention of August 21-23, and the November election; it is likely before September 12, however, since Jones is more conciliatory towards the press than he was after a series of articles by Lester Kinsolving began in the San Francisco Examiner)

People named:

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.)

1. I have reincarnated the very personality. I’m in the first person. I’m speaking in the I Am consciousness. (Exodus 3:14, “And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am…”)

That there are many going to be like him, a multitude is going to come forth in the land just like Jesus. They’re going to beat their 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)

Christ of God doesn’t ask for money or price or reward (phrase – out of context – from Isaiah 45:13)

I’ll cry out and I’ll stand up and I’ll show my people their transgressions and I’ll show the house of Jacob its sins (Isaiah 58:1, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”).

The knowledge of God is covering the earth 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.”)

It robs God from his rightful place (Malachi 3:6-9).

King James, according to Matthew, doesn’t give the same ancestry as Jesus back to David, as Luke does in the third chapter. It’s confusion. One place Jesus’ grandfather is Heli, the other place it’s Jacob. In one place his great grandfather is Matthan, and the other place it’s M-A-T-T-H-A-T (Matthew 1:1-16, compared to Luke 3:23-38)

One [gospel] writer says that he went with his parents immediately to Egypt. (Matthew 2)

Recognize the day you’re living in. 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. (Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”)

And if we get love like that, and turn the other check sufficiently, and keep on preaching, and keep on struggling, finally they won’t be able to fight us. (Matthew 5:39, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” See also, Luke 6:29.)

You have to have that holiness of heart. And if there’s attachments of the mortal version, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”; also Luke 12:34)

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

Jesus, the captain of our salvation, was called not only a devil, child, but he was called the prince of devils, Beelzebub. He was called the prince of all devils. Now we 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 (unintelligible) house divided against itself (Matthew 9:32-35; Matthew 12:22-29; Mark 3:22-30)

I believe and take seriously the ethics of the scripture, who is my father and my mother? Who is my sister and my brother, except he that do the will of him that sent me (Matthew 12:49-50, “And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”)

You can have thirty percent God, sixty percent God, or hundredfold, if you want to be. You can be one hundred percent yielded to God Almighty. (Matthew 13:3-23)

Because I’ve got a treasure that is hid. (Matthew 13:44, “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field…”)

You’ll have a structure that’s dead as a bone. You’re dead as a boneyard. I mean there’ll be a structure of death, not life. (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.”)

Do you want to see Jesus? All right then, you can see him tonight. Is there anybody hungered? Feed them. Is 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. … He said I’m naked and you did not clothe me. I was thirsty and you did not give me any drink. I was in prison like, and you did not come to me. They said Jesus, when did we ever see you in prison? He said in that the least of thee, who fight for righteousness, and– that’s what sense it makes. That’s the way it is in the original Greek. The least of these that fight for righteousness. If they’re in jail, I’m in jail, if the hungriest child is someplace without food, I’m hungry. Because just as Matthew 25 ring out over the centuries, God is still speaking in this Fathership degree, telling you this. (Matthew 25:34-46)

[Jesus] gonna say depart from me. I never knew you. (numerous references to phrase; in context, Matthew 25:41)

He said, lo, I am with you always… the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the beautiful spirit of love, that great self-sacrificing love spirit that’s been with us since the beginning and never will leave us, lo, not even to the end of the world, that same spirit. I want that spirit to be garnered and that spirit to be glorified… And the Word of God has never left us. Said, lo, I am with you, always even unto the end of the world. It’s never left us. (Matthew 28:20, “…lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”)

It doesn’t go out with purse or scrip on its 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 6:4-9; Luke 10:1-11)

Another [gospel writer] says he kept the feast of the Passover every year in Jerusalem. Never even left Egypt, didn’t even mention King Herod (Luke 2:41-42)

In fact, I would say, that the scripture says beware when all men speak well of you. I would be most unhappy if someone came in here and printed very good things about us down the line (Luke 6:26, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”)

He said take no thought for what you’ll say in that hour, but the Holy Ghost will speak, and that’s what I’m trying to do (Luke 12:11-12)

Take no thought for what you shall say, but he’ll bring all things to remembrance in that hour. When they deliver you to the counsels and to the tribunals, to the governors, to the magistrates, and even kill you thinking they do God a service. So it’ll be the church that’s gonna persecute you, ‘cause they think they’re doing God a service. (Luke 12:11-12, conflated with John 16:2)

You will go out in the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in. … The Holy Ghost said when it comes upon you, it’ll take you out in to highways and out in the hedges, it’ll cause you to go out there where man is suffering, out there where the needs are, and you’ll do something about human need. (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.”)

People want somebody to do something for them. Jesus never did something 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… They been robbing you, child. Telling you that God [is] someplace else other where he is. God is within, and don’t let anybody take that away from you. (Luke 17:19-21)

What is the Word? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”)

The Word is now made flesh and dwells amongst us… Once you have known the embodiment and incarnation of the Divine Word, don’t you be satisfied for anything else, but the Word made flesh dwelling amongst you … [W]e have seen Jesus made flesh. Our God is made flesh and dwells amongst us… [T]o recognize the oneness of God, to see him made flesh… the Word is made flesh. In a moment, you shall see the Word made flesh… Said the Word of God is made flesh. (John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,”)

[Jesus] is the door, and if you open up the door, you give into the great powers of the universe. (John 10:9-10)

It’s 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 works sake (John 10:31-38)

That’s why I love Jesus. 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.”)

When you get the Spirit of the comforter. The comforter means the spirit of bravery. In the Hebrew it means the com-forter, the with-purpose, com-forté, with bravery. It’s not comfort like the quilt. Some of you think the Holy Ghost is a quilt to put you to sleep, it’s com-forté, with strength, with power. (numerous references to the Comforter in John, chapters 14-16)

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 go over around the throne and beg to some big daddy in the sky, but he said these things shall you do and greater… reproduce a greater one in yourself. (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.”)

You will even be killed, they will kill you thinking they do what? God a service. Not the devil, but God a service. They’ll kill you, thinking they do God a service. (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.”)

The world does not give and the world cannot take away (John 17)

Now remember when Jesus appeared on the road to Martha and Mary. Get that truth, it may be overstated and trite to some, but it can never be lost, the meaning, the essence of it. 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 this wayside, but it didn’t look like the same Jesus. But he was the same Jesus.… Don’t be like Mary and Martha and miss him, because you’ve got a visual image of somebody with a long, white robe and long hair, or golden tresses. Don’t miss him. (John 20:11-17 conflated with Luke 24:13-34)

He said all the things that Jesus had both begun to say and do, if they had been written in a book, the world would not be able to contain the book. (John 21:24-25, “This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. 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. Amen.” See also John 20:30-31)

It’s been withheld from ages past, but now revealed to the children of men in these, the last days of time. That he is going to pour out his spirit on all flesh. His sons and daughters are going to 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:”)

I’m glad I found my God and he is 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, would stop communism, stop fascism. (Acts 2:44-47; also Acts 4:32-35)

You are they upon whom the ends of the world has come. You’re the cornerstone builders (Acts 4:10-12)

If God’s within you, they’ll make a way where there is no way. It’ll be like Paul that was preaching to the jailer, and all of a sudden the walls come tumbling down (Acts 6:25-33)

God is no respecter of your person (Acts 10:34, “Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:”; also Romans 2:11; James 2:9, 1 Peter 1:17)

What can carnal minds say about the spirit of God? Carnal minds can only speak ill of the spirit of God, can’t say anything but ill of the spirit of God. Carnal minds is carnally and carnal uh, is– has been carnal from his beginning and he’ll be carnal to his end. The carnal mind is death, and it’ll be deathly in its interpretation of anything that goes on. So I’m not interested in what carnal man has to say (Romans 8:1-9).

I’m glad I heard him say, that he is the firstborn 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.”)

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 righteous that preaches the faith saith, he is in thine heart and in thine mouth, that God is in me. … what say that the Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. (Romans 10:8-10, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”)

How can you hear without a preacher, how can you preach lest he be sent… How can we hear without a preacher, how can he preach lest he be sent, faith cometh by hearing and hearing – not reading – by the Word of God. (Romans 10:14-15, “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?”)

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”)

So I do not wish to waste time on the foolishness of the world. (1 Corinthians 3:19, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”)

There wasn’t anything for me to lose, I had everything to gain. I stood on my feet and I said, this is the body, this is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And for 17 years, I have been showing you that you also are the temple of the Holy Ghost. (1 Corinthians 6:19, “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?”)

You can make a lot of noise, and it can be like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal… But when you work up a mechanistic kind of noise, it’s just a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”)

You can’t fly away to heaven in clothes. You’re gone be translated in a moment in a twinkling of an eye that’s gonna zip the clothes right off your back, honey. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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.”)

Paul wanted us to get that message in Second Corinthians, the tenth verse, in the second chapter 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. (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;”)

The only place they’re going to find Jesus, child, is in you. You are living epistles, the only one they’re gonna read. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 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.”)

If you go just for the letter– that’s why Corinthians warns you, the letter will kill you, meaning the letter to Romans, to letter to Corinth, the Bible, in other words, just translated English, the Bible kills, but the spirit. God is love. What is the spirit then? God is love, so the Bible kills, but love makes alive. That’s the only thing that’ll make alive. The Bible will kill you, if you don’t have God within and don’t have the fivefold ministry (2 Corinthians 3:6, “…the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”)

You can be crucified with Christ, nevertheless you will live, yet not you, but Christ that liveth in you… It is not Jim Jones, but Christ that liveth in me. Nevertheless I’ve lived like I never have lived before… You want to be mortified, crucified with Christ, nevertheless to live, yet not you but Christ to live in you. (Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for 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 it’s neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, Greek nor Jew. God can move wherever he chooses, whenever he chooses, withsoever whom he chooses. (Galatians 3:27-28, “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.”)

You are free to stand fast in the liberty wherewith 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. You’ve got to have so much love. (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.”)

We feel it’s the duty of the church, the obligation of the church to take care of first the household of the faith. We feel that it should take care of the household of the faith in every area. It should educate its children, it should take care of its people in their golden years, it should be as a family. The body of Christ represents a family. A body represents a congregational life, a family life (Galatians 6:10, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”)

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… It didn’t say Bibles would bring you to perfection, but apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists, they are necessary for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, “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:”)

Jesus was flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone. (Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of [Christ’s] body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” conflated with creation story of Genesis 2:23, “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…”)

I had let this mind be in me, which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, considered it not robbery to be equal with God Almighty… Yet he said, I considered it not robbery to be equal with God Almighty. (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.”)

Christ is in me as he is in you … Christ in us, the hope of glory… That’s the mystery of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27, “…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. (Colossians 2:9, “For in [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”)

When you got the Holy Ghost, it’ll open up marvelous truths to you, but without the Holy Ghost, it would build a form of godliness denying the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”)

They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution… He can write anything he wants to about me, because it says they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution… he said they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution… I welcome that old fashion persecution that was once delivered to the saints. (2 Timothy 3:10, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”)

I’ll not be instant, only once in a while, but I’ll be instant always in season and out of season. (2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”)

I’m going to bring many sons unto glory, saith God. The captain of our salvation was made perfect, through the things he suffered. He was human of humans, born in a manger, born when they said Abraham is our father. (Hebrews 2:9-16)

He suffered, made perfect through suffering. But the thing I’m so glad I heard him say, the captain of our salvation is bringing many sons unto glory. (Hebrews 2:10)

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… the Holy Ghost is sharper than a two-edged sword… Hebrews 4:12 tells you what the word of God does. It’s sharper than a two-edged sw– sword, it will divide bone from marrow. That’s what we did Wednesday night, when a woman was crippled, was healed instantly. The bone and the marrow were separated. (Claps once) It says that it is quick and powerful, and I could say some quick and powerful things, because God lives in this body. It says it will discern the thoughts of the mind, and know the intents of the heart, separate the soul from the spirit. (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.”)

Some said he come down here already made. He said he learned obedience. That means he had to grow. He was made perfect, that means he wasn’t perfect. He had to be made conformable to the image, to 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;”)

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:”)

I’ll entertain strangers, for thereby I might entertain angels unaware. (Hebrews 13:2, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”).

As James said, all good things comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there’s no variableness of 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 a privilege (unintelligible word) before God and the fathers to minister to the orphans and widows in their affliction, keep yourself unspotted for 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.”)

Summary:

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

This tape may consist of as few as one or as many as portions of three separate addresses given by Jim Jones. As a whole, the tape is consistent in several regards: it was recorded in the fall of 1972, it is centered around a trip to Seattle, and the tone of the remarks and the recording values are consistent throughout. If there are breaks signifying changes in place and time, they are undetectable.

For much of the tape, though, Jim Jones is speaking to a gathering in Seattle. Because he is off of his home turf, the address – though fiery to the point that his voice sometimes overwhelms the microphone’s ability to record it – is measured and fairly organized, and does not include the edginess and critical remarks that he normally used before his own followers.

In the first two-thirds of this tape, Jones laces together scores of biblical passages, often conflating several in one sentence, rarely giving the actual reference, and almost all of them demonstrating both his own divinity and (somewhat less often) the divinity of his followers, especially those who mirror his actions and beliefs. He recalls the numerous miracles he has performed throughout the oration, including one near the end of the address during which he punished three people who “would do adverse things to God” by striking them dead in a church service and then raising them back up.

Jones speaks about his own biography more than he usually does, even if some of it seems to be fictionalized to make a point he wants to get across. He tells of the terminal cancer that he had in the mid-1950s, of the doctors preparing Jones’ wife for his death, but because “[t]here wasn’t anything for me to lose, I had everything to gain. I stood on my feet,and I said, this is the body, this is the templeof the Holy Ghost.”

Other descriptions of his divinity also evoke his spiritual predecessor, Father Divine, when he declares a few moments later: “So glad to know God Almighty, so glad to recognize God Almighty, so glad that this body is God’s and not another. It is not Jim Jones, but Christthat liveth in me.… God has always had a body. God always will have a body. God never was without one, and he never will be without one.” Putting the concept in even more Christian terms, he says, “They say, do you love the name of Jesus. My God, do I love it? I loved it so much that I died and let him live in this body.”

He does make several statements that this divinity extends to his followers. Following his description of himself as the temple of the Holy Ghost, he adds, “For 17 years, I have been showing you that you also are the temple of the Holy Ghost.” In the midst of presenting himself as the embodiment of God, he preaches, “It’s beautiful to recognize Christ in one another, and I’m doing that in you. I am seeing the Christin you. You are a chosenpeople.”

At the same time, he delineates boundaries between himself and his flock. “You can see God manifest through your brother and sister in varying degrees of consciousness,” he says, and “if you see me as just an ordinary friend, I’ll be the bestfriend in the world.” In the next breath, though, he adds, “But a friendcannot raise the dead. I’ll be a friend, but a friend cannot cause the cancers [to] came out.”

The last third of the sermon adds more political elements, but aside from a swipe at Richard Nixon, comparing his re-election campaign to the election of Hitler in German in the 1930s – most are placed in the context of religious teachings. He speaks of the need of Temple members to live according to Jesus’ words in Matthew to take care of the poor and to visit people in prison, such as current American prisoners of conscience Daniel Ellsberg sand Benjamin Spock. It will be the Holy Ghost that moves them, that will cause them to take a stand against police brutality, against joblessness, against poverty, and against all other forms of injustice.

There has been one disruptive factor in the gathering, though. Unnamed newspaper reporters and photographers have been coming into the church, trying to buttonhole people assembled there for interviews and pictures. Jones warns the congregation that the media may not have their best interests at heart, but he does so in terms which are much more sedate and measured than those he will use in a few weeks, when a series by Lester Kinsolving begins to run in the San Francisco Examiner.

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 1B108-17. This tape was found to contain the following:

Preaching and commentary by JIM JONES, including some comparatively traditional Christian concepts.

Differences with FBI Summary:

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.     

Tape originally posted February 2019.