The Living Word (Text)

(Cover)

The Living Word

An Apostolic Monthly

July 1972

Vol. 1, No. 1

 

(Inside front cover)

 

People’s Temple Christian Church is proud to have on its staff many former ministers of the written Gospel who have decided to give up their individual churches, as well as the status and other benefits usually associated with the ministry, in order to join Pastor Jim Jones in his God-ordained work. They include:

 

REV. A. J. IJAMES, Seventh Day Minister

REV. JACK BEAM, Jesus Name Pentecostal

REV. S. D. PETER, Unity Mission Church

REV. MABEL DAVIS, Pentecostal

REV. DAVE GARRISON, Baptist

REV. JAMES EDWARDS, Church of God

REV. HARRY WILLIAMS, Baptist

 

These dedicated servants of God have associated themselves with Pastor Jones in order to lend their strength, skills, and dedication of faith to bring all people together and advance the kingdom of God ” . . . in Earth as it is in Heaven,” in obedience to the prayer of Christ Jesus.

 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Garrett Lambrev

MANAGING EDITOR: Morgan Cavendish

ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Edith Roller

Joyce Cable Shaw

Peter Wotherspoon

COLUMNISTS: Marceline LeTourneau

Mary Love

S.D. Peter

ART DIRECTOR: Patti Chastain

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR: Robert Houston

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Teddy Ballard

Larry Schacht

STAFF ARTISTS: Dennis Toth

Kathy Tropp

STAFF ASSISTANTS: Tom Adams

Harriet Randolph

PRODUCTION MANAGER: John Harris

 

THE LIVING WORD: AN APOSTOLIC MONTHLY, is published on a monthly basis by People’s Temple Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a nonprofit religious corporation. Mailing address is: Post Office Box 214, Redwood Valley, California 95470. Introductory copies are available free of charge. Persons wishing to receive this magazine monthly should write to the above address requesting to be added to the subscription list and, if possible, include a free-will donation. All rights reserved. Manuscripts: Unsolicited manuscripts sent to THE LIVING WORD must be sent with stamped, self-addressed envelope; no responsibility is assumed for unsolicited manuscripts. Subscription correspondence: Send both new and old address. Third class postage paid at San Francisco, California, and at additional offices as required. Postmaster: Send form 3579 to THE LIVING WORD at above address.

 

 

(Contents Page)

The Living Word

An Apostolic Monthly

Of People’s Temple Christian Church

Branches and Extensions

 

July 1972 Vol. 1, No. 1

 

4 THY KINGDOM COME
Evangelist S. D. Peter

6 SPECIAL MERIT AWARD

9 MY LIFE IS RESTORED
Rev. Harry Williams

12 MY DARKEST HOUR WAS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
Polla Mattarras

16 FOUR YEARS OF PAIN UNTIL GOD SET ME FREE
Helen Torkelson

18 THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN
Excerpts of a Sermon by Pastor James W. Jones

23 HE TOUCHED ME, AND MADE ME WHOLE
Elretha Grays

24 GOD’S PROPHET RAN TO ME
Mark Cordell

26 FREE FROM HEROIN! FREE AT LAST
Chris Lewis

29 GOD SAVED ME FROM AN ACCIDENT THAT CLAIMED 9 OTHERS
Liz Forman

30 SONS OF GOD
Marceline LeTourneau

33 BROTHERHOOD IS OUR RELIGION
Editorial, Garrett Lambrev

34 THY WILL BE DONE

 

We invite those of you who have questions or comments concerning the Christian ministry of Pastor Jim Jones and People’s Temple Christian Church to direct your inquiries to Voice of the People, P. O. Box 214, Redwood Valley, CA 95470. The letters chosen to be in print will be answered by Sister Mary Love. Every attempt will be made to assure that each letter is answered personally.

 

(Pages 4 & 5)

Evangelist S.D. Peter

was President of the Unity Mission Church and of its many branches and extensions around the world. He has also been President of a large co-operative grocery over a period of twenty-five years. Brother Peter joined Pastor Jones some time ago because of the miraculous healings that occurred among members of his religious organization who attended Pastor Jones’ meetings and who believed in his message of apostolic sharing. He is a dedicated member of Pastor Jones’ staff and lives at 387 N. Oak Street, Ukiah, CA 95482.

 

Thy Kingdom Come…

For years our Pastor, Jim Jones, had the great inner urge to free the people from superstition, lacks, wants, and limitations, to free them from mental and spiritual stagnation. His highest intuition gave him a still greater urge to bring back to the people their rightful inheritance of true Christian fellowship as shared by Christ and expounded by His Disciples at Pentecost.

This great infinite urge to bring all people together, regardless of their race, color, or creed, on one common level of communal fellowship, each one sharing alike of food, clothing and shelter, was endeavored and practiced by the first early Christians. In such living and sharing they created a happy harmonious atmosphere in which for many years there was neither sickness nor death … until selfishness crept in.

Our Pastor’s great desire to serve as a channel for the Spoken Word and to lead his people out of bondage became such a passionate urge that he sacrificed the Individual for the Universal Principle. Through this unselfish and unfeigned passion the Holy Spirit fell upon him; the Gift of Prophecy became a living reality; and the Principle of Christ was renewed in him. Pastor Jim Jones has come to personify this Infinite, Spirit and Mind that was in Christ Jesus.

With his coming in the One Hundred Fold degree of expression, manifesting the will of the Father in the Spirit of Prophecy, the Word becomes incarnate anew. Our bodies are made whole, and our minds are renewed as on that Pentecostal day.

What you see in Jim Jones he will transmit to you. He is the living witness of the Christ life for people to think upon harmoniously and in deep faith. Gazing at his example, you will have no occasion to say: many are sick among you and sleep the sleep of Death for not discerning the Body of Love.

By manifesting His Greatest Infinite Supernatural Presence through our beloved Pastor, Jim Jones, Christ is here and now renewing the people’s minds and bodies with that New Life; and He is doing it here in Redwood Valley.

This is the clarion call: Reach out for Christ. Prophet Jim Jones is answering that clarion call. Let us all arise in Christ!

 

(Pages 6 & 7)

SUN REPORTER PRESENTS

SPECIAL MERIT AWARD to

PASTOR JAMES W. JONES

Pastor Jim Jones was recently recognized and honored for his unceasing dedication to serving the needs of his fellow man in a special ceremony held in San Francisco, April 23, 1972. Dr. Carleton B. Goodlett, prominent Bay Area physician and publisher of one of the largest newspapers in Northern California, The Sun Reporter, presented Pastor Jones with the coveted Sun Reporter Special Merit Award. Addressing the several thousand present in the huge filled-to-overflowing auditorium, Dr. Goodlett praised the Pastor, saying “In the implementation of his life he has lifted his hand to reach the oppressed, the distraught, the lost at every opportunity. Every minute of the day, he searches for new opportunities to reach out and touch somebody.”

He further acclaimed Pastor Jones for his “… profound concern for the children of the world. No man can do any more than open up his heart or place under his roof the children of God of all colors, all creeds, all races. He has found an opportunity to snatch from the living hell of narcotics hundreds and scores of young people, and he has made their life meaningful. I can spend a lot of time talking about this God-serving man … but when you look at the social gospel of Jim Jones, not only is he concerned with the beginning of life, the Alpha, but he also has a profound concern for the ending of life, the Omega. This is a man for all seasons.”

For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat:

I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me,

I was sick, and ye visited me:

I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 

(Pages 8 & 9)

My Life Is Restored

Rev. Harry Williams San Francisco, CA

Before I came to Pastor Jones, my heart was so bad that I couldn’t even work to support my family. After several heart attacks my doctors told me that if I tried to work, I would kill myself. I had nothing to look forward to in this life except to sit at home waiting to die! For me, as a minister and a naturally hard worker, this was the worst possible fate.

But I found The Great Physician working through this Prophet of God, Jim Jones. He found me an utterly broken man. Today, I am an active Christian campaigner. When Pastor Jones called me out, he told me things about my life which no man could have known but for the Holy Spirit’s presence. I told him nothing; he told me exactly where my pain was. He touched me while under the anointing and I was, Praise God, instantly healed! Then he told me to run around the church and see how I felt. I knew that normally I wouldn’t be able to run down the aisle without being completely exhausted, but I stepped out in Faith! I ran and ran around that room and even did jumping-jack exercises, and I felt myself filled with a most wonderful kind of strength and energy.

I can thank Jesus for my life because now, two years later, besides holding a regular job, I am a member of Pastor Jones’ staff. Just this last Sunday, I helped him baptize hundreds by immersion in our indoor heated pool. It seems like the harder I work, the more I’m blessed, and the better I feel. Praise God!

Photo caption: Pastor Jim Jones baptizes one of his many followers in the Temple Baptistry. So far 1,057 people have been identified with Christ by immersion. Several hundred of these have been miraculously delivered from diverse diseases during these services which take place at the Mother Church in Redwood Valley. Truly the Holy Spirit blesses the followers of His anointed Prophet.

 

(Pages 10 & 11)

Go your way and tell what things

Ye have seen and heard,

Now that the blind see,

The lame walk, the deaf hear…

 

(Pages 12 & 13)

Photo caption: SISTER POLLA MATTARRAS, right, is shown assisting another sister who was miraculously delivered by the power of Christ working through Pastor Jones. Praise God for this divine manifestation!

My Darkest Hour Was A Blessing In Disguise

It all began last fall back in Indianapolis, Indiana. I had just arrived there from Jamaica, I was a stranger in a strange city and was all alone. It was a bright and cheerful day and I was crossing the street headed for my apartment. Suddenly without warning a car sped up behind me … so suddenly that I didn’t even have time to let out a cry of fear. The last thing I remember was a loud crack, which I now realize was the sound of my bones breaking. The automobile smashed into me so hard that I was hurdled high into the air and flung over 65 feet from the corner of Fifty-Second Street to the corner of Fifty-First.

When I regained consciousness I was lying on a stretcher in a dark hospital corridor. I had been there several hours and my body was swollen far beyond its normal size. No words could begin to describe the pain that filled every fiber of my being. The doctors performed surgery to try and put the shattered pieces of my body back together. They had to put seven pins and one nine-inch rod in my legs. I was told that I could not expect to walk for at least four years. I am an active woman and this news sent me into a deep depression. I even considered taking my life. But thank you, Jesus, you showed me the Light and the Way! You sent Your Blessed Prophet, Jim Jones, to lift me out of this awful despair!

I heard about this man of God and the healing work he was blessed to perform, so in my darkest hour I went to a service of the People’s Temple at Tenth and Delaware in Indianapolis, Indiana, December 11, 1971. It was a glorious service. As one after another was healed, I could see that God was with this man. Then I heard my name called! Although I was a total stranger, Pastor Jones called me out and told me that the Spirit said for me to come to Redwood Valley where the healing work would be done.

Soon after arriving in beautiful Redwood Valley, I felt the strength returning to my body and I went to one of the best doctors in Ukiah for a checkup. He took x-rays of my legs, and you can picture his astonishment when he saw that the seven pins had disappeared from my body! What could it be but a miracle? And now, only a few months after an accident that was supposed to leave me a cripple, I am walking … just as Pastor Jones had prophesied!

Good people, dear friends, what more proof is needed? God is the same yesterday, today, and always!

 

(Pages 14 & 15)

Photo caption: Pastor Jones wears a used choir robe to cover his modest clothing. In order to have more resources available for the human service ministry, he buys no new clothing whatsoever. His robe is not symbolic of any special glory or honor.

The sunglasses Pastor Jones wears during meetings are not special in any way. He uses them to minimize distraction during meditation.

 

(Pages 16 & 17)

“Four Years of Pain Until God Set Me Free!”

HELEN TORKELSON, San Pablo, CA

I was doomed to a life of agony and had been confined in a brace with no hope of recovery according to my doctors. The awful diagnosis was cystic fibrosis, a disease known to be incurable by any normal medical or surgical means. That’s why I could hardly believe my ears when Pastor Jones announced in the Mother Church in Redwood Valley in March of this year, “Whoever lives on 18th Street be in my meetings as much as possible.” I couldn’t believe that he could be talking to me, and yet, I was the only resident of 18th Street present in that room! At the end of that very same meeting Pastor Jones came down the aisle. As he passed me, I touched his robe. At just that moment he turned to me and waved his hand over me. Instantly the internal bleeding from which I had suffered for two weeks stopped.

I faithfully attended his meetings after that. I began to understand the Truth of his teachings about equality and brotherhood; and then, two meetings later, Pastor Jones, speaking with the Authority of the Most High Power of the Universe, again called me and told me to come down the aisle. When he took my hands, I was completely encircled by such love that I could feel the very presence of God. The next thing that happened was almost too astounding to tell in words. Pastor Jim said, “I’ll take your pain from you.” So saying, he put his back to mine, and I could feel myself filled with the most wonderful and joyful warmth, like a fire going up my spine as the Holy Spirit entered my body with its healing balm. Just as he said he would do, and contrary to all known laws of science, Pastor Jim Jones took my disease from me and left me in a state of health and well-being that I have not known since my childhood! Now I am serving God as an able-bodied woman and am a real crusader for Christ. I am thankful for the miracle of Healing which lifted my life from unspeakable Earthly misery to Heavenly comfort and strength!

 

(Pages 18-21)

GOD IS THE GOD AT HAND AND NOT FAR OFF. WE DESIRE NOTHING BUT TO EXALT YOUR NAME OH GOD OUR FATHER. YOUR NAME IS YOUR NATURE AND THE WORLD IS DYING FOR YOUR LOVE

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN Excerpts of a sermon by Pastor James W. Jones delivered to the thousands assembled at the Masonic Temple, 801 E. Pine St., Seattle, Washington, 78 April 16, 1972.

Today, all of God’s creation is travailing and groaning. The animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms – yea, the whole world is in agony. All around us, we find our brothers and sisters living lives of loneliness, anguish, and despair, their bodies too often wracked with pain. Riotous conditions face us on all fronts. There is unrest, rebellion, and strife in our neighborhoods and communities. If America ever needed the name of Christ to be exalted, it is today!

Yet, the Church to whom we look for guidance and leadership has not lived up to the standard of the Mighty Christ who would have admonished us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, and minister to the sick. Churches too often have ignored the needs of their households of faith, turning away from their own hungry, ill-clothed and homeless, to compete with each other for newer pews, a nicer organ, or more fancy stained glass windows.

The practices of the Church today cause strife and division. For how can people know what to believe when the many churches of the hundreds of different denominations are saying so many conflicting things? There are fifty churches in five square miles, each proclaiming themselves to be the True Church, and each telling the other that they have false beliefs and are doomed to Hell. It’s like the old story which told of three churches at a street intersection. One was singing, “Will there be any stars in my crown?” Another church across the way responded, “No, not one,” and the congregation of the third rang out with, “Oh, that will be glory for me.”

The Church needs to acknowledge that it cannot possibly discern God’s will or know His word except by hearing it through His Anointed Messengers. The Scripture proves that you cannot read His real word. It says rather that “… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and that “We are saved by the foolishness of preaching.” The Church must come to recognize that God’s Word is very much present in the world today. We are told “… how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). In the original Greek, it says, “How can you hear without a prophet? And how can he prophesy lest he be sent?”

This does not mean graduated from some seminary or ordained by some institution of carnal man, but birthed from Heaven, anointed from the Throne of God and set in a body as it pleases Him. Only then can you know that the prophet has heard from the Oracles of Heaven and has the coals of fire that God places upon those true of heart who know Him in all His might and power. And as it is decreed in Hebrews (4:12), “… the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” and that it “… is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Indeed, that is what this servant is doing in each and every service – discerning through Christ the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Our God, our dear Savior, the Mind of Christ is here in all its power. Is it not written that, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the Earth. I shall never leave you nor forsake you!” And the only way we can recognize the Word is that the Word be embodied in us. We must let the Word be made incarnate. Jesus said, “What I am so shall ye be. These things shall ye do and greater because I go to the Father.”

I have built on this ideal and, thus, have made Christ real to those who are ready for the Sonship ministry. I have come to demonstrate to you that God can abide in these temples of clay, that God can reign in our bodies, for we are, indeed, Temples of the Holy Ghost! Some have never actually come to terms with what this sacred teaching signifies! Yea, it is written, that the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ, was made perfect through His suffering. I have taken to heart the instruction in Philippians (2:5-7) to “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: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,” and have come to declare that you can have as much of God as you are willing to pay for with the dedication and sacrifice of your life in service to others.

What the age needs now is a manifestation of the Sons of God; not servants to God, not slaves of God, but the very Sons of Almighty God! You must become in deeds and actions, in every visible and invisible manner, the exact replica and image of the Almighty Christ. For it is written, “He has brought many sons; And He shall bring many more sons into Glory, for He is the first-born of many brethren.“

You must realize that it is one thing to preach Christ; it is far more important to live Christ in deeds and actions. Otherwise the Name of Jesus is taken in vain. If you use His Name, be sure you believe in His life. It will be a life of purity, of holiness, and of non-violence that does not conquer evil with carnal weapons of warfare, but seeks to overcome evil with good. It will be a life which projects a love that covers all problems, resolves and adjusts every matter satisfactorily.

The time must come when no one need teach his neighbor to know God, and it must come to pass that the very law and statutes of God be written in our innermost being. We must remember that, as Jeremiah said of old, “I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts” (31:33).

This is the only thing that will save you now; that is, for each of you, the many-membered Body of Christ to come forth, not to raise fortunes, build buildings, or erect monuments to mortal men. You must go out into the highways and hedges to compel the lost by your deeds and actions. This is the only hope for this hurt and dying world. No possible release exists for mankind except that you all become “… living epistles known and read of all men.” (II. Cor. 3:2). The hope of the world is Christ in you. It is the only hope of Glory for mankind. Yea, the very hope of glory will come forth in your own personality, if you will but recognize the actual presence of God that I am declaring and by the testimony of multitudes now manifesting! You are the sons and daughters of the Most High. I have come to declare, as was declared of old, that “The kingdom of God is within you!” Jesus in Nazareth Consciousness summed it up classically and beautifully when He affirmed “It is written Ye are Gods!“

 

(Pages 22 & 23)

He Touched, Me… and Made Me Whole

ELRETHA GRAYS, Oakland, CA

Two years ago I suffered heart failure so massive that after fifteen days in the hospital, the doctors agreed to release me only if I promised never to work again. If I did, I would die! You see, mine was not an ordinary heart attack. My heart had been deteriorating over the previous months, and was actually decomposing inside my body! There really was no hope for recovery, and by not allowing me to work, the doctors thought they could put off my certain death for a little while. I went home, so sick, so weak, that it was impossible for me to stay up all day. I had to spend long hours resting in bed. I had always been an energetic woman who believed in the value of hard work and could never stand to be idle, so being in bed was misery. I never thought I would be so sorely in need of God’s blessing as I was in that dark hour.

I had heard of Pastor Jones and the Christ-ordained power of healing that worked through him, and decided to go see him. I knew that a lot of traveling could bring on another, possibly fatal, heart attack, but anything was better than spending my last days in bed. I got to the meeting and God immediately showed His mercy as Pastor Jones called me out and told me that I would be all right! Within two weeks I had regained all my strength and was back to work! I’m working two jobs now, happy and strong, thanks to God Almighty and His Loyal Messenger, Pastor Jim Jones.

THIS SANE SPIRITUAL HEALING MINISTRY IN NO WAY OPPOSES MEDICAL SCIENCE, for “all good things come down from above.” Many people have sought medical attention for the first time because they were encouraged to do so by this Divine Prophet of God, often with the result that they were spared from illnesses and potentially fatal conditions. To help defray the costs of our extensive human service ministry, we would greatly appreciate any contribution you can make to help support the Christian service we render to needy humanity. Many blessings follow those who support this ministry!

 

(Pages 24 & 25)

God’s Prophet Ran To Me!

MARK CORDELL (Age 12) Redwood Valley, CA

If I hadn’t been touched by the anointed hands of our Pastor, Jim Jones, I would be hopelessly crippled from the waist down. A few months ago I didn’t obey a prophecy which Uncle Jim gave me about climbing trees around water, and fell out of one growing at the edge of a forty-foot cliff alongside a river. I landed on the rocks below, and lay on my back, my legs dangling limp and useless in the water. I was totally paralyzed!

I know that God is merciful, because at the exact moment that I fell from that tree, Uncle Jim jumped up from a chair in his living room. He didn’t even take time to put his shoes on, but ran a mile barefooted over sticks and rocks and thorns down to the riverbank to where I lay. He found me unconscious, but as soon as he put his hands on my broken back, I was able to stand and walk just like new. The doctors who examined me and took x-rays said that it was a miracle that I had no cuts, bruises, or broken bones!

I thank God working through our Pastor for my being alive and healthy today. Without him, I’d have to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, unable to run and play like other children.

God Saves Lives Through Picture

“Late one night a few weeks ago, young people of the Church and I drove onto the freeway the wrong way to find cars racing toward us. We were facing a head-on collision at 65 miles an hour! Quickly I reached for the picture of Pastor Jones which I always carry with me and called out his name. At exactly that moment a way parted between the cars and we found a pathway to safety.

“Later, I learned from members of his staff that at the very time we were in trouble, Pastor Jones was meeting with them. Suddenly he had stopped and said, ‘Terry Pietla is in trouble, and I must do something about it,’ He meditated briefly, and said, ‘Everything is alright.’ Hallelujah! Christ working through His prophet, Jim Jones, is truly a wonderful Saviour!” Mrs. Terry Pietla, Ukiah, CA

To date, over 1000 such testimonies of miraculous healings and deliverances wrought through these pictures have been reported. Since these letters of gratitude were all unsolicited, we have every reason to believe they are true, even though we do not have the ability to investigate each one.

We have available several beautiful full-color pictures of our Pastor and Prophet, Jim Jones. To get your picture, personally blessed by Pastor Jones, send a check or money order for $5, specifying by number which picture or pictures you desire, to PICTURE, P. 0. Box 163, Redwood Valley, CA 954-70. All proceeds from the sales of these anointed pictures which have brought blessings to so many go to help the 61 college students sponsored by People’s Temple in our Guaranteed Education program.

You can also send greetings from the Temple to your friends on stationery depicting different scones of Temple life, including Pastor and Mrs. Jones, the Mother Church, the Children’s Home, and the Senior Residences. Proceeds from the stationery go to support our Christian Service Ministry. Mail your check or money order for $1.50 to STATIONERY, P. 0. Box 163, Redwood Valley, CA 95470.

 

(Pages 26 & 27)

“Free From Heroin! Free At Last!”

CHRIS LEWIS San Francisco, CA

Before I met Pastor Jim Jones I was a heroin addict, supporting a $200-a-day habit. I didn’t believe in God or preachers, and needless to say, I didn’t believe in Pastor Jones. It took my family six months to persuade me to come to his meeting in Redwood Valley.

Many people were healed that day, but as I sat there, I found myself trying to figure out how he did it. I just couldn’t believe what I saw. How could this man heal these people? Then he touched me! He asked if there was anyone in the assembly who feared death from cancer. I did, but I did not respond. Then he named a street in Los Angeles where I used to live. I was really afraid because not even my mother knew of this address, which was where I picked up the dope I pushed for a living. Then he called me by my alias, known only to a few in the group I shot dope with, and asked me to come up to him. I went, and he told me details about my life that nobody but God Almighty could possibly know. He told me the exact time when I had had my last fix and asked me if I wanted to quit using drugs. I had used drugs for thirteen years and had no hope of quitting.

One of the members of the Church Family took me into his home and people stayed with me round-the-clock for six long days. Someone was always there to lend their support and strengthen me. It wasn’t easy, but every time I began to feel the withdrawal symptoms coming on, I’d think on Pastor Jones, and instantly relief would come and I could sleep.

I’ll never forget what it meant to me to have someone show me such warmth and love as these people had shown … and their concern had to be real, because I had nothing to give them. In the drug world you have friends who are only concerned as long as you have money to buy a fix.

That was three years ago; I have been “clean” ever since. I am now born again, living a victorious Christian life. At that time I was a parolee from prison; now, thanks to the divine guidance and the inspired example of this God-anointed Prophet, I am off parole and in business for myself. During this time I have worked with many of the over 119 young people who have come to us from the drug culture and have helped them straighten out their wasted lives that they might become a part of the Christ ministry of Pastor Jones.

Without the help of God working through my Pastor and my church family, I would be in prison or dead. My life has been blessed. I thank my God!

 

(Pages 28 & 29)

“God Saved Me From An Accident That Claimed Nine Others!”

LIZ FORMAN, Teacher, Redwood Valley, CA

One Sunday in March, 1972, our beloved pastor, Jim Jones, gave me a prophetic warning about a head-on collision that he saw taking place between two automobiles. He foretold that many people would be killed instantly in this tragic accident in the next few days, and I was admonished to meditate for two minutes before driving anywhere. I was told that if I followed this instruction faithfully, no one in our Temple family would die.

Early in the morning of March 10th, six of us set out for San Francisco to give our support to an unfortunate Black brother who was having difficulty in the courts and whose problem had come to our attention. We were late and in our hurry I completely forgot to meditate. I know it was the merciful Christ working through our loving Pastor who caused me to remember to pull off the road and to meditate the two minutes.

Thank you, Savior! How can I ever thank you enough! For twelve miles south of Redwood Valley we came upon a scene so terrible that it is burned into my memory for all time. Words cannot begin to describe the horror of the scene that met our eyes. There on that narrow road winding on a hill above the Russian River just north of Hopland was the still smouldering wreckage of two cars that had just collided head-on. There were dead bodies everywhere! One hung lifeless over a window. Others were lying in the grotesque positions that only the dead can assume. My God! My God! Oh, the horror of seeing the bodies of those young and beautiful children strewn all over the highway.

It was 7:42 AM and a witness told us that we had missed the accident by only two minutes … the EXACT length of time I had stopped to meditate ill obedience to the instruction of our prophet. Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus! All told, nine (including a precious baby) had perished that morning, all the passengers in the two cars. It was the worst recorded accident in all of Mendocino County in twenty-three years … and was reported on the front page in many newspapers.

We had to continue to San Francisco because we still had a mission to accomplish there. As I drove those many miles to the city, I realized that but for God working through His Modern-Day Prophet, Jim Jones, who protects all those who follow his teachings, we would all have died. I felt humble and small, especially when I thought back to my past. I was born into a non-practicing Jewish home. Organized religion had never interested me because I had seen only hypocrisy and corruption. I had become a sceptic and a total atheist over the years. But thanks to the Apostolic Principle of Brotherhood I had seen demonstrated by our mighty Prophet and the members of our beautiful rainbow family, my life had been saved for a life of true Christian service to my fellowman. I am humbly grateful. My life is no longer mine! It belongs to Him Who saved it from that terrible death. My only desire is to work for God here on earth. I shall give my thanks, not only with my voice but by my deeds and actions.

 

(Pages 30 & 31)

Sons of God

Marceline LeTourneau, Mother Church Bible Teacher, was active for fifty years in the Assemblies of God until she came under the Apostolic Ministry of Pastor Jones. She now lives in a residence on the Temple grounds. She will be teaching on “Sonship” at People’s Temple on 10th and Delaware in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 14, 1972, at 7:00 P.M.

Today God is preparing a people to lead the world into the New Age. In these last days before the ushering in of this new millennium, the Holy Spirit is quickening within the Sons of God. We are a driven people. We come to Him, victims of the sickness, poverty, and cares that are part of this world. If we were able to live without Him we would not come to Him, for we are dead in sins and trespasses until we see our need of a Deliverer which is Christ Jesus.

The Sons of God are given experiences from which knowledge comes. Knowledge, in its turn, becomes power to conquer mortality and things of this world, power to live an Overcoming Life which we could not do by ourselves. He has done all this, that we will be able to respond to the high and holy calling which He, in His infinite compassion, makes available to us through our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, whereby we receive the Spirit of Truth and can become manifest, in our own right, as Sons of God!!

As we accept His help, we are born again of the Spirit and become a new creation in Him. We recognize God as our Father, and in this way are adopted into the Family of God. We are to become as a little child and so we do. We now set aside the world and come to hate the things we loved or thought we loved; whereas, we now love the spiritual things we once hated. We are now alive! … resurrected in His Holy Spirit. We are now heirs of God, anointed with the Holy Ghost, and Jesus is our elder brother.

So we have grown from the position of a small child to that of a friend with whom He, the Father, can commune and show the things to come. We will have come into the fruits as well as the gifts of the Spirit. These fruits are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, faith, patience, temperance, and the spirit of a sound mind which gives the knowledge of Jesus through revelation. Wisdom is the use of that knowledge. The gift of prophecy comes to those who are moved by the Holy Spirit.

God is Spirit and has always had a Body. All His authority is now available to mankind, because God is working today through our beloved Pastor, Jim Jones, He is the only one to come into this fullness so far, but those who come into this Body of Christ will be like the Savior because they shall see him as He is. Pastor Jones shows us a sample and example that we might have the mind of Christ and be able to do His works. Jesus told us that we shall do even greater works because He has gone to the Father.

We now have the Love of God flowing out from us to all nations, not recognizing barriers that divide us one from another. We see neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile. All become One in Christ that He might make of us One New Man and bring peace to this strife-torn world. The New Man is the many-membered Son of God born out of the New Age. So gird up the loins of your mind. A New Man is being created in Christ Jesus, holy and righteous, who will sit on His throne with Him and rule the world. If we are reproached for the name of Christ which we bear as Christians, we are happy because the Spirit of Glory is upon us. We are spoken ill of by our enemies, but He is glorified by our dedication and works.

We, as Sons of the Most High God, will witness a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first earth is passing away. Every fear will be wiped away from our eyes. Longevity shall be restored (Revelations 21:4). They shall build houses and eat the fruit of their vineyards. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain (Isaiah 65).

 

(Pages 32 & 33)

Brotherhood Is Our Religion

Garrett Lambrev

People’s Temple Christian Church is a unique experience; it is unlike any other place on this earth. Here each and every man and woman can know their full human worth, made as they are in the image of God, not of Gold or Poverty. From all corners of the country and even from many foreign lands, men, women, and children of all ages, races and social classes are coming to this Promised Land of Milk and Honey, this Noah’s Ark in a time of storm. Here Heaven is being created by willing hands and hearts, and by a lot of hard work.

No longer do we search in vain for a response to our pleas spoken to the heavens. What we have in front of us and can see with our own eyes shows us each day how much God does love the world and how wonderful a place it can become. How blessed we are to have an example set before us in this Man of God, Jim Jones, who has shown us how to follow Christ by way of his own life, one of selfless sacrifice and service to others. Because we have seen The Holy Spirit made manifest in him, we do know and can affirm the Spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Living Word incarnate. How close God is at hand, how deep he lies within every one who will only follow the example of this man.

We who live with him day by day have seen enough to believe that his sample and example of a way of life bears the ordination of God Almighty. He has shown us by his own life the way to our salvation. It has become our endeavor to let his example live in us as we make our pledge to Christ that Brotherhood will be our religion and good works our way of prayer.

We cannot be content to hide our light under a bushel, this Good News of the Heavenly Life made possible through the practice of Human Brotherhood. We are determined to share our Pastor’s vision as he so generously shares himself with his people.

We invite you to read these pages which try, so inadequately, to witness to the active Apostolic Ministry of Pastor ]ones and the entire People’s Temple family. We hope that you might become interested enough to look further and lend your strength, resources, and good will to our efforts to materialize the vision of Jesus Christ, that of Heaven on Earth where God’s Will is truly being done. We look forward to the New Heaven and the New Earth that are promised us in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 21:1-2) and work towards that Great Day when Heaven, the Holy City, New Jerusalem will be brought down to earth.

 

(Pages 34-38)

…Thy Will Be Done

Here in Redwood Valley it is Spring, a time of rebirth, and before our very eyes a little bit of Heaven is coming down to Earth. The members of the People’s Temple Family, under the loving counsel and guidance of our Pastor and Prophet, Jim Jones, are busy doing the work that Christ commanded.

In these pages we would like to acquaint you with the Temple, its people, and the various aspects of its ministry, all dedicated to the Spirit of the Living Word that is among us and that dwells deep within each of us.

The Temple building serves as the community center as well as a place of worship. It is open to all, whatever their race or religion, and to any school, church, public or private agency or organization that has need of such facilities. This beautiful edifice, our place of work and worship, was designed, built and financed by the people of the congregation under the inspiration of Pastor Jones.

Within the sanctuary of our Temple we offer every member of our interracial family education, recreation, and worship which inspire our youth to remain within the fold of the Family. For the children there are swimming classes in our large indoor heated pool; for the sick and elderly who need it physical therapy is provided. We are blessed to have many public school teachers in our midst. Our trained professionals offer our children help with schoolwork and enrich their lives with music lessons, an art program and other training for the Apostolic Life.

Members of our Christian family have taken in children who have no parents able to care for them. Following the example of our Pastor and his wife, Marceline, who have adopted and reared eight children of all races, our families have taken children into their hearts and homes as though they were their own. Many have opened up foster homes especially to meet the needs of these displaced young ones.

Just as the children are our treasure, so too are those in their golden years. On either side of the Temple building stand our two senior citizens’ homes: Friendship House and Fellowship House. We provide these homes for those of our older members who desire to live apostolically. These precious ones contribute much to us all by their joy in living, their wisdom and good works. We have several other beautiful senior residences, some in the neighboring community of Ukiah, others in the country setting of Redwood Valley.

We also own and operate a fifteen-bed convalescent geriatric home. To date none of our Temple members have had need of it due to the extraordinary good health of those in our congregation. We are comforted, however, by the knowledge that should any of us have need of such a facility, a place is available to us where we know we can go and convalesce in the atmosphere of our family love.

On our 39-acre ranch and children’s home the cattle and horses graze in lush pasture. Above the pasture lie orchards and vineyards where grapes and fruits of the earth are maturing. Below, an organic farm stretches along the banks of the Russian River. This and the other farms and gardens of our Temple family, including one on the Temple grounds, provide fresh vegetables for all to enjoy.

Not even the little animals are forgotten. Seeing the face and handiwork of the Almighty in every living creature, our Pastor long ago set up an animal shelter behind the parsonage where he takes in and cares for sick and abandoned animals.

We believe that everyone should have the right to continue his or her education and to expand their intellectual horizons by learning a trade or profession. Therefore, the congregation has established an educational program, open to anyone in the church family, whatever their age, who wishes to participate. Sixty-one of our people are training for careers of human service at the University of California (Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco campuses), Hastings School of Law, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State College, Sonoma State College, and Santa Rosa Junior College. Many of our younger students were addicted to hard-line drugs until they came under the ministry of Pastor Jones and were saved for the service of Christ. They live and study in church-sponsored dormitories, two for men and two for women. Several are studying to become lawyers who will practice among the poor; eight are preparing to be missionary doctors. Already a number have finished their training and are now in service to the community, thanks to the Temple program.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Pastor Jones travels far and wide across the country, accompanied by hundreds of members of his Temple family, over the highways and hedges, into the ghettos and barrios. He goes to all places where people are suffering both in body and spirit, everywhere extending his helping, healing hand. Last spring Pastor Jones personally invited every child attending his San Francisco meeting to accompany him on our missionary venture to the east. Our Temple family provides transportation, carrying hundreds every week to meetings at the Mother Church in Redwood Valley, as well as to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Fresno – some of the places where Pastor Jones ministers to the people. On all evangelical journeys our Pastor, who owns no private vehicle, travels with his people in the same buses. Our pastor knows no barriers of color, creed, race, or social position; people from all walks of life and from all corners of the country who come to us on short visits are housed by members of the congregation. He teaches us to entertain strangers with love and concern. We well remember the injunction that many have entertained angels unawares.

God’s works are here displayed for all to see. Love and charity are demonstrated in the homes, schools, and residences which are supported by our Christian endeavor. We praise God that all who come are received in brotherhood and can know that His Divine Love may be manifest among men.

 

Photo captions (35): Upper Right: Pastor and Mrs. Jones with three of their seven adopted children and their natural-born son.

Center Right: People’s Temple family and friends gather together. A full-course communion banquet is served at the special praise and healing service held each Wednesday at the Mother Church in Redwood Valley.

Lower Right: People’s Temple Christian Church and Youth Center designed and built by the people of the congregation under the inspiration of Pastor Jones.

Photo captions (36): Upper Left: Children learn to love and care for all living things at the Temple Animal Shelter.

Middle Left: The Temple’s Childrens’ Home, located on our 39-acre ranch, where the residents can grow and mature in a country setting.

Bottom Left: Friendship House, one of the Temple’s two senior citizens’ homes, located on the Temple grounds.

 

(Inside back cover)

We invite you to attend our services throughout the land and join us in praising the True Spirit of Christ!

June 23-25	Los Angeles	Embassy Auditorium 9th & Grand St.	Fri. Sat. Sun.	7PM 2PM & 7PM 11AM, 2PM, 4PM
June 30-July 2	Los Angeles	Embassy Auditorium 9th & Grand St.	Fri. Sat. Sun.	7PM 2PM & 7PM 11AM, 2PM, 4PM
July 8-9	Los Angeles	Embassy Auditorium 9th & Grand St.	Sat. Sun.	2PM & 7PM 11AM, 2PM, 4PM
July 15-16	San Francisco	Benjamin Franklin Jr. High Scott & Geary St. (Boatride, Sat. July 15)	Sat. Sun.	2PM & 7PM 11AM, 2PM, 4PM

PEOPLE’S TEMPLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH has extensions in many cities, and provides transportation to and from all its meetings. Call your local secretaries for information about meetings and transportation. They are:

Redwood Valley	Mrs. Edith Bogue	(707) 485-7765
San Francisco	Miss Jane Mutschman Mrs. Leona Collier	(415) 863-3290 (415) 626-3365
East Bay	Mrs. Mattie Wimberly	(415) 654-3829
Richmond	Mrs. Mary Green	(415) 235-3209
San Rafael	Mrs. Bea Morton	(415) 457-3530
San Mateo	Mrs. Margaret Elsey	(415) 343-0722
Palo Alto	Mrs. Mary Lendo	(415) 325-2589
San Jose	Rev. Mabel Davis	(415) 272-0871
Fresno	Mrs. Melvina Green	(209) 266-7854
Sacramento	Mr. & Mrs. Louis Tennerson	(916) 383-8735
Los Angeles	Mrs. Corine Liggins Mrs. Tish Leroy Mrs. Wilma McCloud	(213) 232-1749 (213) 849-1651 (213) 232-0397
Seattle	Mr. & Mrs. Harold Flowers Sister Davis	(206) 323-5836 (206) 325-4661
Vancouver	Mrs. Frank Darnell	(206) 323-8222

(Back cover)

PEOPLE’S TEMPLE RADIO BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Don’t miss the Living Word spoken on the air!

Bring the Divinely Inspired words of Pastor Jim Jones in to your home. Let the Voice of People’s Temple bring blessings to you as it has to so many!

San Francisco, CA	KFAX	1100 KC	Mon.-Fri. Saturday	5:30 AM 11:00 AM
Seattle, WA	KBLE KBLE-FM	1050 KC 93.3 MC	Saturday Mon.-Fri.	10:30 AM 5:45 PM
Blaine, WA	KARI	550 KC	Saturday	7:30 AM
Middletown, OH	WPFB	910 KC	Sunday	8:00 AM

Mailer

People’s Temple

P. 0. Box 214

Redwood Valley, CA 95470

Nonprofit Organization

U. S. Postage

1.7¢ PAID

San Francisco, CA

Permit No. 9729