{"id":30222,"date":"2013-07-25T15:43:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T15:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=30222"},"modified":"2023-11-24T15:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:10:38","slug":"black1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=30222","title":{"rendered":"“Ever Faithful”: The contest between Mother Divine, Jim Jones and their followers for supremacy in faithfulness to the Cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

(E. Black is a frequent contributor to <\/i>the jonestown report. Her other article in this edition is I’d Like to Thank Father<\/a>. Her previous writings can be found here<\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n

On November 18, 1978, the largest mass death of a group of US citizens to that date occurred at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Settlement, better known as Jonestown. Almost 1,000 men, women and children lay dead in and around the settlement\u2019s central pavilion. About six miles away at the grassy airstrip of tiny Port Kaituma, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan lay dead, along with several members of the media and a Peoples Temple defector, assassinated by members of Peoples Temple. From the beginning \u2013 and to this day \u2013 news articles, then books, then movies, dramas and documentaries, and now websites have probed into the questions of how it could have happened and what the causes of the mass deaths were.<\/p>\n

\"08-11a-mother<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the multitude of early responses, one from suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania interests us here. The December 9, 1978 issue of the Peace Mission\u2019s periodical The New Day <\/i>carried a compilation of articles by Mother Divine, the then-53-year-old white widow of Father Divine and his successor as leader of the Peace Mission Movement, along with a copy of a letter she wrote to a former Peace Mission official, turned Peoples Temple member and advocate. In this compilation \u2013 the Peace Mission\u2019s \u201cofficial\u201d response to the Jonestown, tragedy \u2013 Mother Divine summarized her association with Rev. Jim Jones of Peoples Temple which had spanned more than 20 years. She recounted Jones\u2019 \u201cbrazen\u201d overtures at attempted \u201ctakeover\u201d of the Peace Mission starting in the 1950\u2019s, the long-suffering resistance to such overtures from her husband and \u2013 after his death \u2013 herself, culminating with her \u201cexcommunicating\u201d and \u201cdisassociating\u201d Jones and his followers from the Peace Mission. Because of his continued \u201caffrontery [effrontery]\u201d to and \u201cmockery\u201d of God (i.e. her late husband) and his \u201cmisuse\u201d of \u201cthe Power of the Universe,\u201d Jones and his followers were \u201cdestroyed.\u201d This, in her view, was the cause of the Guyana tragedy. [1] <\/a><\/p>\n

There is a note of \u201ccautionary triumphalism\u201d \u2013 a sort of \u201cI told you so\u201d \u2013 in Mother Divine\u2019s account. Jones and Mother Divine were bitter rivals for the legacy of the utopian progressive social mission of Father Divine, i.e., the cause. As such, missing from her account, but implied, was Jones\u2019 very real success in luring some of Father Divine\u2019s followers away from the Peace Mission and into Peoples Temple. [2] <\/a> But why did some leave the familiar certainty of a secure life in the Peace Mission under Mother Divine for a \u201cnew\u201d life as members of Peoples Temple? What were the similarities and differences in life at the Mission and in the Temple? How were these former Divinites received once they accepted Jones as leader? And did all stay faithful to their \u201cnew Father,\u201d Jim Jones? What role may questions or critiques of Mother Divine\u2019s leadership of the Peace Mission itself have played in the decision of some Divinites to see Jim Jones as Father Divine\u2019s \u201ctrue\u201d successor in the \u201ccause\u201d? The quest for answers to these and other questions are the theme of this paper.<\/p>\n

Father Divine, Jim Jones and Black Women <\/b><\/p>\n

In attempting to approach some informed answers to these questions, we need to begin with a brief assessment of the gender dynamics of both the Peace Mission and Peoples Temple. While each was led and organized by a man, and each had men as members at all levels, the membership in both was overwhelmingly Black and female, and indeed, the original First Lady of the Peace Mission, Peninnah Divine, was a black woman. In many ways, both the Peace Mission and Peoples Temple were Black women\u2019s movements, structured around and addressing the needs, hopes, fears, and societal disparities and deprivations of middle-aged and elderly Black females in 20th-century inner city America. [3] <\/a> Although beyond the scope of this paper, this dynamic is an important backdrop to understand what is discussed here. And as far as this researcher has ascertained, although one Black male and possibly more than one white female were among them the majority of former Divinites turned People Temple members were Black women.<\/p>\n

Dissension in the ranks of the Peace Mission as Mother goes from Elderly and Black to Young and White<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Throughout its history, the Peace Mission suffered dissension. The movement\u2019s difficulties of 1937 and 1938 get particular attention from scholars. [4] <\/a> Another defining one \u2013 one for an understanding the disaffection of some of its members \u2013 were the circumstances and scandal surrounding the unheralded death of Peninnah Divine [5] <\/a> in 1943 and Father Divine\u2019s secret remarriage to his young blonde secretary in 1946.<\/p>\n

These two related events \u2013 once made public and taking place at the historic beginning of the Peace Mission\u2019s slow decline \u2013 had a disastrous effect on the public face of the Divine movement as well as a defining effect inside it. [6] <\/a> In some ways, the pre- and post-1940\u2019s Peace Missions were different organizations in terms of scope, influence, reach and intent. [7] <\/a> The reverberations from Father Divine\u2019s remarriage to Edna Rose Ritchings, forever after known as Mother Divine, and her subsequent assumption of the helm of the Peace Mission, serve as important issues for those who decided to leave the Peace Mission for Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

By raising the public contradiction of the death of a high profile Divinite \u2013 i.e., the original Mother Divine \u2013 and recasting it as a purposeful reincarnation, Father Divine laid not only a reconsideration for the future interpretations of deaths among his followers as \u201creincarnations,\u201d but also he unwittingly laid the groundwork and conceptual ideological\/theological rational that Jim Jones would later use and some Divinites would accept, as he began his quest to succeed Father Divine. [8] <\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Jones critiques Father Divine and the Temple Critiques the Peace Mission under Mother Divine in the name of the cause<\/b> [9] <\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Jones began his critique of Father Divine shortly after he encountered the Peace Mission in the mid 1950\u2019s. As Mother Divine noted later, Jim Jones let it be known from the very beginning that he intended to \u201ctake Father\u2019s place.\u201d [10] <\/a><\/p>\n

This is not as odd or confrontational as it may appear at first glances. Father Divine\u2019s stated goal was to have those who were \u201ctrue followers\u201d to be like him, independent as \u201cGod\u201d in their own right. He also taught on the \u201creincarnation\u201d of \u201cGod.\u201d Upon Father Divine\u2019s death (called his \u201csacrifice\u201d or his voluntarily \u201claying his body down\u201d), Peace Mission members expected him to \u201crise again.\u201d They still do. [11] <\/a> It was Jim Jones\u2019 subsequent life long quest to show and prove that he was the reincarnation\/continuation of the \u201cGod\u201d that Father Divine had been. [12] <\/a><\/p>\n

As such, Jim Jones was referred to as \u201cGod,\u201d \u201cFather,\u201d and \u201cDad,\u201d and with him as the \u201ctrue\u201d Father Divine the \u201ctrue\u201d Mother Divine was Marceline Jones, aka \u201cGod\u2019s Wife.\u201d Accordingly he referred to his Peace Mission converts, mostly middle-aged and elderly black women, as his \u201cchildren.\u201d [13] <\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cfalse\u201d Mother Divine and her leadership came under criticism by Jones and his lieutenants. Chief complaints were over her alleged \u201carrogance,\u201d \u201chaughtiness,\u201d and \u201cracism\u201d as illustrated by her life as a \u201cwhite mistress\u201d in a \u201ccastle,\u201d exploiting the labor of unpaid toiling Blacks. In the eyes of the Temple faithful, though, her most fundamental sin was that she selfishly clung to her \u201cprivileged life\u201d and refused to humbly step aside and recognize Jim Jones as the \u201ctrue\u201d leader of the cause. [14] <\/a><\/p>\n

Mary Love, Ever Rejoicing, Love Joy, Heavenly Love and other Divinites Join Peoples Temple<\/b> [15] <\/a><\/p>\n

Of the dozen or more known former followers of Mother Divine to recognize Jim Jones as the reincarnation of Father Divine, the most prominent was Amanda Poindexter, aka Ever Rejoicing, or \u2013 as she was affectionately known to her new brothers and sisters in Peoples Temple \u2013 Sister (or Mother) Ever.<\/p>\n

\"08-11a-ever\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A follower of Father Divine for 30 years before she recognized Jim Jones as his reincarnation, she was the Peoples Temple female member whom Jones proudly referred to as the centenarian among them (although she was only 97 when she died in Jonestown in November 1978, according to her passport). Nearly six feet tall, she is described in the words of one former Temple member as cutting \u201can unforgettable profile \u2026 spunky and gorgeous \u2026 as thin as could be \u2013 and always topped by a champagne-blond Dutch boy wig\u2026 [who could] entertain her listeners for hours on end.\u201d [16] <\/a> She is shown prominently in several Peoples Temple videos, singing and clapping her hands, praising Father Jim Jones, almost as the quintessential \u201cBlack grandmother\u201d and \u201csenior.\u201d In another video, she lights up as \u201cFather\u201d visits her in her Redwood valley dorm and kisses her on the cheek while discussing an upcoming Temple excursion to Mexico. [17] <\/a><\/p>\n

In 1974, she made front page news in the Temples publication entitled Family Good News <\/i>as she celebrated what was billed as her 99th birthday. Along with publishing part of her autobiography, the paper thanks her \u201cfor the tremendous inspiration that she has been since she came to the family from Philadelphia over two years ago.\u201d [18] <\/a><\/p>\n

She continued to be of note, even after the migration to Jonestown. Though not specified in the literature, it is assumed by this researcher that her Jonestown residence was in the female seniors\u2019 dorm. [19] <\/a> Whether she made it to the White Night at the pavilion or sat it out in the dorm is unknown. But given her energy and spryness even at her advanced age and her devotion to \u201cFather\u201d and \u201cthe cause\u201d were well noted, it seems reasonable to assume that she was at the pavilion on the last day, \u201cever rejoicing\u201d right up to the end.<\/p>\n

Mary Love, later Mary Black, was the next most prominent former Divinite mentioned in the literature by name. She was the only former Peace Mission \u201cofficial\u201d or former \u201cAngel\u201d of both Father and Mother Divine to defect to the Temple after having served as such possibly as early as the late 1950\u2019s or early 1960\u2019s. [20] <\/a> In the Temple she became a roommate of white Temple stalwart Laurie Kahalas, and worked with other higher ups, playing the part of \u201chousemother\u201d or shepherd to the elderly women, including Ever Rejoicing and others in her charge, who followed her into Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

Utterly and unshakably devoted to Jim Jones, she made public her decision to join Peoples Temple in writings to Mother Divine and the secretaries, and appealed to the leaders of the Peace Mission to accept the obvious \u201ctruth\u201d: That Father Divine had indeed returned as Jim Jones. A photo shows her helping her new \u201cGod in a body\u201d in a Peoples Temple baptism, held in the swimming pool in the Redwood Temples Headquarters. [21] <\/a> Rumored to have believed that she had been Jones\u2019 wife in a previous life, she lived out her time in the Temple as she had in the Peace Mission before it, in devoted love for and service to \u201cFather.\u201d Mary Black, like the others that she helped lead there, sealed her loyalty to \u201cthe cause\u201d with her death in the mass suicides at Jonestown, Guyana.<\/p>\n

Other senior former Divinite faithful turned Temple-ites known from the literature are Love Joy, Heavenly Love, Love Life, Truth Heart (Hart) and others. [22] <\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

In 1978, Jim Jones and Mother Divine headed movements that both harmonized and competed with aspects of the life, teachings and cause of Father Divine throughout his public career of more than 40 years. They shared the same conceptual worldview, though wording it at times quite differently. [23] <\/a> Their rivalry was bitter, and their respective followers were partisan, and tensions were exacerbated by defections from each camp to the other. [24] <\/a> Thus while more similar than not, the two groups radically differed about the meaning of the end of Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

Mother Divine and her followers interpreted the tragic ending as a form of supreme \u201cretribution\u201d against Jones for (mis)using his acknowledged powers to \u201cmock\u201d and challenge her position as head of the Peace Mission Movement and, by doing so, led others into challenging her as well. Jim Jones, on the other hand, used similar language on the last day in Jonestown that Mother Divine had used while summing up the meaning of the death of God, Father Divine, in 1965, i.e. the \u201claying down\u201d of \u201cthe body\u201d as a supreme act of \u201csacrifice\u201d on behalf of \u201cJustice\u201d and \u201crighteousness\u201d and against \u201cinhumanity.\u201d [25] <\/a><\/p>\n

Thus, far from being a result of some type of \u201cretribution\u201d for the Temple faithful, the end was, in their view, an act of supreme faithfulness to \u201cthe cause,\u201d the very same \u201ccause\u201d that Father Divine had \u201claid his body down\u201d for. This was especially true for the former Peace Mission members among them. For them, Father Divine may have started it, but Jim Jones had perfected it, and then finished it. [26] <\/a><\/p>\n

Sources <\/b><\/p>\n

Books and articles <\/b><\/p>\n

\n

Ashcraft, Michael and Dereck Daschke. New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader<\/i>. New York: NYU Press, 2005.<\/p>\n

Black, E. The Three Virtual Intentional Communities Of God In A Body In Real Time (1868-2008)<\/a>, 2009.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013, The Reincarnations Of God: George Baker Jr. and Jim Jones as Fathers Divine<\/a>, 2010.<\/p>\n

Chidester, David. Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and Jonestown<\/i>. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1991.<\/p>\n

Divine, Mother. The Peace Mission Movement<\/i>. New York: Anno Domini Father Divine Publications, 1982.<\/p>\n

Hall, John R. Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History<\/i>. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1987.<\/p>\n

Harris, Sara. Father Divine: Holy Husband<\/i>. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1971.<\/p>\n

Kahalas, Laurie Efrein. Snake Dance: Unraveling the Mysteries of Jonestown<\/i>. New York: Red Robin Press, 1998.<\/p>\n

Klineman, George. The Cult that Died: The Tragedy of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple<\/i><\/a>. New York: Putnam, 1980.<\/p>\n

Mabee, Carleton. Promised Land: <\/i>Father Divine\u2019s Interracial Communities in Ulster County, New York<\/i>. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 2008.<\/p>\n

Meiers, Michael. Was Jonestown a CIA Medical Experiment? A Review of the Evidence<\/a>. <\/i>Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988.<\/p>\n

Miller, Timothy. America\u2019s Alternative Religions<\/i>. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

Mills, Jeannie. Six Years with God: Life Inside Reverend Jim Jones\u2019s Peoples Temple<\/i><\/a>. New York: A&W Publishers, 1979.<\/p>\n

Moore, Rebecca and Anthony B. Pinn, Mary R. Sawyer, eds. Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America<\/a><\/i>. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2004.<\/p>\n

Parker, Robert Allerton. The Incredible Messiah: The Deification of Father Divine<\/i>. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1937.<\/p>\n

Reiterman, Tim with John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People<\/i>. New York: Dutton, 1982.<\/p>\n

Rose, Stephen C. Jesus and Jim Jones<\/a><\/i>. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1979.<\/p>\n

Stephenson, Denice, ed. Dear People: Remembering Jonestown<\/a><\/i>. San Francisco: California Historical Society Press, 2005.<\/p>\n

Thielmann, Bonnie with Dean Merrill. The Broken God<\/a><\/i>. Elgin, IL: David C. Cook, 1979.<\/p>\n

Watts, Jill. God, Harlem, U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story<\/i>. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

Weisbrot, Robert. Father Divine<\/i>. Boston: Beacon Press, 1984.<\/p>\n

—–. Father Divine: Religious Leader<\/i>. New York: Chelsea House, 1992.<\/p>\n

West, Cornel and Eddie S. Glaude Jr. African American Religious Thought: <\/i>An Anthology<\/i>. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Periodicals <\/b><\/p>\n

\n

The Afro-American<\/i>, November 5, 1960<\/p>\n

The Living Word<\/a><\/i>, Peoples Temple<\/p>\n

The New Day<\/i>, International Peace Mission Movement<\/p>\n

The New Day<\/i>, December 9, 1978.<\/p>\n

Pirro, J.F., From the Archives: The 80-Year Saga of Gladwyne\u2019s Peace Mission<\/a> (originally published as Prodigal Son (Part 1)<\/em>, Mainline Today<\/i>).<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Websites<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/<\/a>
\nLetter to God\u2019s Wife<\/a>, RYMUR 89-4286-EE-3-LL<\/span>
\nQ 162<\/a><\/span>
\nQ 955<\/a><\/span>
\nRichard Tropp\u2019s Last Letter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Wikipedia entries
\nFather Divine<\/a><\/span>
\nInternational Peace Mission Movement<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Endnotes<\/b><\/p>\n

[1] <\/a> For Mother Divine\u2019s Peace Mission Movement\u2019s official view on the end of Jim Jones, Peoples Temple and Jonestown see Chapter 12, \u201cRev. Jones Cut Down by Retribution; Takes Hundreds with Him in Death Pact; Once Sought Control of Peace Mission Movement\u201d in Mother Divine, The Peace Mission Movement<\/i>. (New York: Anno Domini Father Divine Publications, 1982), 137-141.<\/p>\n

[2] <\/a> For a brief overview of the rivalry between Mother Divine and Jim Jones, its causes and outcome see E. Black, The Three Virtual Intentional Communities Of God In A Body In Real Time (1868-2008)<\/a>, 2009.<\/p>\n

[3] <\/a> For the Divine Movement as a black woman\u2019s movement, see the section, \u201cFather Divine\u2019s 1930s Peace mission movement\u201d in Beryl Satter, \u201cMarcus Garvey, Father Divine and the Gender Politics of Race Difference and Race Neutrality\u201d in Cornel West and Eddie S. Glaude Jr., eds., African American Religious Thought: <\/i>An Anthology<\/i> (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 581-587. For black female demographics in Peoples Temple, see Rebecca Moore, \u201cDemographics and the Black Religious Culture of Peoples Temple\u201d in Rebecca Moore, Anthony B. Pinn, Mary R. Sawyer, eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America<\/a><\/i>. (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2004), 57-80, esp. figure 2, page 62.<\/p>\n

On the first Mother Divine of the Peace Mission Movement, a black woman named Peninnah Divine, see Carleton Mabee, Promised Land: <\/i>Father Divine\u2019s Interracial Communities in Ulster County, New York<\/i> (Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 2008), 116. For Peninnah\u2019s central role in the developing of the signature Divinite ritual \u201cthe communion banquet\u201d as well as her leadership of the movement during Divine\u2019s incarceration, see Jill Watts, God, Harlem, U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story<\/i> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 45-46, 76, 98-99.<\/p>\n

[4] <\/a> On sexual and other scandals in the Divine movement of the 1930s, see Watts, 144-166; Mabee, 26-28, 123-133. See also Robert Parker, The Incredible Messiah: The Deification of Father Divine<\/i> (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1937), chapter 3, \u201cFaithful Mary,\u201d 60-77; and chapter 11, \u201cLegal Conflicts,\u201d 262-283. Sara Harris (Father Divine: Holy Husband<\/i>. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1971) deals throughout with scandals of the Peace Mission. The Wikipedia entry on The International Peace Mission Movement<\/a> deals with 1930\u2019s scandals as well.<\/p>\n

[5] <\/a> On the secrecy and mystery surrounding the death of Peninnah Divine and some reactions, see Mabee, 116-117; Watts, 167; and Harris, 243.<\/p>\n

[6] <\/a> On the impact of the elderly and ostensibly celibate marriage of Father Divine to his young white Canadian former secretary, \u201cSweet Angel,\u201d including internal dissent, membership turnovers and high level defections, see Harris, Chapter 17, \u201cGod Takes a Bride\u201d; Watts, 167-169; and Mabee, 117-120.<\/p>\n

[7] <\/a> Mabee is an excellent source for the documentation on the decline of the Peace Mission Movement. See section E, \u201cSlowing Down,\u201d 199-223 (especially note 41); \u201cDecline and Succession,\u201d 207- 214 (esp. chart and graph, 207). Mabee dates the beginning of the Peace Mission\u2019s \u201cdecline\u201d as 1941.<\/p>\n

[8] <\/a> On the lasting negative impact and dissension towards and resentment of Edna Rose Ritchings, first in 1946 as the new \u201cMother,\u201d then in 1965 as the new \u201cleader\u201d of the Peace Mission among some followers, see J.F. Pirro, From the Archives: The 80-Year Saga of Gladwyne\u2019s Peace Mission<\/a> (originally published as Prodigal Son (Part 1)<\/em>, Mainline Today<\/i>).<\/p>\n

On Father Divine\u2019s rationalizations and interpretation of Peninnah Divine\u2019s death and reincarnation, which serves as a core rationalization of the post-1965 leadership of the Peace Mission by Sweet Angel (Mother) Divine, see Harris, 243-246; Watts, 168-169; and Mabee, 118-119.<\/p>\n

On Jim Jones\u2019 use of this rationale to be \u201cFather\u201d in the \u201csecond body\u201d and, thus, in effect having \u201cFather\u201d go from \u201celderly and Black\u201d to \u201cyoung and white\u201d in 1965, just as \u201cMother\u201d Divine had in 1943, see, E. Black, Three Virtual Intentional Communities<\/a>, and Tim Reiterman with John Jacobs, Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People<\/i> (New York: Dutton, 1982), 139.<\/p>\n

[9] <\/a> An example of the critique of Father Divine and Jones\u2019 attempt to show that his temple was the \u201ctrue\u201d embodiment of the movement comes from Jonestown Tape Q 955<\/a>, in which Jones has a dialogue with a former Peace Mission convert to Peoples Temple named \u201cValerie.\u201d From the summary<\/a> of the tape:<\/p>\n

The example of Father Divine \u2026arises several times as illustrating what Peoples Temple should not do. People should not try to cover up the weaknesses of those organizations as Father Divine\u2019s group does (and as contrasted to the Temple\u2019s openness and lack of anything to hide). When one woman talks about Father Divine taking her to bed with him, Jones admonishes her gently: \u2018Valerie, Valerie, Valerie? Listen. I think you\u2019re wonderful. I like you, but that point … [w]hen he put you in the bed… you should have at that moment said well, that\u2019s not the kind of God I want.\u2019 A moment later, in a broader context, Jones says, \u2018I don\u2019t understand how God would be privileged to do things that his people are not privileged to do.\u2019 These and other critiques were part of a reorientation to have members disinvest belief in the deceased Father Divine, so as to see, clearly who truly was the living \u2018God\u2019 of the movement: Jim Jones.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Jim Jones\u2019 critique of Father Divine as an eventually \u201cfailed leader\u201d of the cause that Divine had created but that he, Jim Jones, had to rescue, lead, and finish, see Jeannie Mills, Six Years with God: Life Inside Reverend Jim Jones\u2019s Peoples Temple<\/i><\/a> (New York: A&W Publishers, 1979), 176-177.<\/p>\n

[10] <\/a> Mother Divine, 137.<\/p>\n

[11] <\/a> On Father Divine\u2019s teaching on the \u201cindependence\u201d of his \u201ctrue\u201d followers, see Mother Divine, 21, 36, 40, 84-85 and 167-168.<\/p>\n

On Father Divine\u2019s teaching on reincarnation, see Mabee, 119; and Mother Divine, 51. On its origin in the Peace Mission due to the impact of the New Thought influence and teachings in the Movement early on, see Watts, 23.<\/p>\n

On Father Divine\u2019s expected reincarnation by his followers, see Mother Divine, 102-103; Watts, 173; Robert Weisbrot, Father Divine<\/i> (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984) and Weisbrot, Father Divine: Religious Leader<\/i> (New York: Chelsea House, 1992); and Chapter 27, \u201cAfrican-American Freedom movements\u201d in Michael Ashcraft and Dereck Daschke, eds., New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader<\/i> (New York, NYU Press, 2005), 289.<\/p>\n

[12] <\/a> On Jones\u2019 claims to be Father Divine reincarnated, see Mother Divine, 137-141; Mabee, 213-214; E. Black, Three Virtual Intentional Communities<\/a>; Reiterman, 139-141; and Wikipedia\u2019s entry on Father Divine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[13] <\/a> On Jim Jones being called Father, see C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya \u201cDaddy Jones and Father Divine: The Cult as Political Religion,\u201d in Moore, et al., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America<\/i>, 28-46.<\/p>\n

On Marceline Jones as \u201cGod\u2019s Wife\u201d and the \u201ctrue\u201d Mother Divine, see Letter to God\u2019s Wife<\/a>, RYMUR 89-4286-EE-3-LL; and E. Black, Three Virtual Intentional Communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Jones referring to himself as the \u201cvery same\u201d Jesus and the \u201cvery same\u201d God and the Peace Mission converts as his \u201cchildren,\u201d see Jonestown Tape Q 162<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[14] <\/a> Laurie Efrein Kahalas, a long time Peoples Temple member and advocate who traveled to Philadelphia in 1971 on what she termed as a Peoples Temple \u201crescue mission\u201d of potential followers still \u201ctrapped\u201d and \u201cexploited\u201d inside the Peace Mission, characterized Mother Divine as an \u201carrogant, \u2026 willful\u201d and \u201cimperious creature\u201d who \u201clived high on the hog\u201d while the Peace Mission members lived in poverty (she included the late Father Divine in this criticism of the ostentatious life style at the Peace Mission headquarters at Woodmount as well). See chapter 11, \u201cFather is God,\u201d in Laurie Efrein Kahalas, Snake Dance: Unraveling the Mysteries of Jonestown<\/i> (New York: Red Robin Press, 1998), 87-90. Similar criticisms and negative reflections about the opulent lifestyle of Mother Divine continued to rankle members who stayed with the Mission, decades after the Jonestown tragedy of 1978. See Pirro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[15] <\/a>Some of the names of Peace Mission converts to Peoples Temple are Angel Child, Curtis Walker (Black Male), Florine, Ever Rejoicing, Grace Love Berry, Heavenly Love, Joshua Matthews (Male), Joy Sunshine, Life Everlasting, Love Joy, Love Life, Mary Love, Meekness Faith, Purity Lamb, Rose Of Sharon, Simon Peter (Female), Truth Heart, Valarie Saint John and Virgin Humble. As there may be as few as 20 or as many as 40 or more converts in this category (per the remarks of former Peace Mission followers who witnessed the 1971 Peace Mission \u201cdepatures\u201d), this should not be considered an exhaustive list.<\/p>\n

[16] <\/a> Description of Ever Rejoicing from Chapter 7, \u201cGod in a Body,\u201d in Bonnie Thielmann with Dean Merrill, The Broken God<\/a><\/i> (Elgin, IL: David C. Cook, 1979), 63-64. Two pictures of Ever Rejoicing appear here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[17] <\/a> Ever Rejoicing can also be seen in Peoples Temple<\/i>, a 1973 documentary by David Gottlieb.<\/p>\n

[18] <\/a> Excerpts from the autobiography of Amanda Poindexter appear in Denice Stephenson, ed., Dear People: Remembering Jonestown<\/i> (San Francisco: California Historical Society Press, 2005), 51-52.<\/p>\n

[19] <\/a> See arrival of Ever Rejoicing in Jonestown, Dec 30 1977 on Entry Dates Into Guyana<\/a>, as well as her living quarters assignment in Residences in Jonestown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[20] <\/a> Mary Love aka Blessed Mary Love aka Mary Black, is mentioned in George Klineman, The Cult that Died: The Tragedy of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple<\/i> (New York: Putnam, 1980); Michael Meiers, Was Jonestown a CIA Medical Experiment? A Review of the Evidence<\/i> (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988); and Weisbrot. She is referred to by inference by Mother Divine, 139. It is possible that she may be the \u201cMiss Love\u201d mentioned in the article about the death of a Divinite in The Afro-American<\/i>, November 5, 1960. But then again the name \u201cLove\u201d was ubiquitous among the followers of Father Divine in 1960, much as the name \u201cSmith\u201d is in the general population.<\/p>\n

[21] <\/a> On roommates, from a personal communication between the author and Ms. Kahalas.<\/p>\n

On role in Peoples Temple, see Klineman, 211. On the role of and duties of a Divinite \u201cAngel\u201d or \u201cco-worker,\u201d as Mary Love had been while in the Peace Mission, see Mother Divine, 2 -26.<\/p>\n

On Mary Love vs Mother Divine, see Mother Divine 139; Divinite publication The New Day<\/i>, December 9, 1978, 1, 12-18; and also Watts, who mistakenly suggests that only one follower left Mother Divine for Jim Jones. This work corrects that mistake, as only one \u201cAngel\u201d\/secretary, i.e., Mary Love, left the Peace Mission for Peoples Temple, but many rank and file members\/followers left with her.<\/p>\n

The picture of Mary Love assisting Father Jones in baptism of members in the Redwood Valley Temple Headquarters comes from Mills.<\/p>\n

[22] <\/a> Other former Divinites cum Peoples Temple faithful include Heavenly Love (Helen Love)<\/a>; Mary Love (Mary Emma Love Lewis Black)<\/a>; Love Life (Georgia Belle)<\/a>; and Love Joy (Olar Watts)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[23] <\/a> On the broad similarities between the Peace Mission Movement and Peoples Temple despite some obvious differences (partial list) see chapter 5, \u201cFather Divine,\u201d in Stephen C. Rose, Jesus and Jim Jones<\/a><\/i> (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1979), 75-85; John R. Hall, Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1987), 51-52, 69, 72-73, 79-78; David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and Jonestown<\/i> (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1991), 6,7 and 39; Reiterman, 58-59, 65-66; Lincoln and Mamiya in Moore,<\/i> 28-46; Part 5, \u201cAfrican-American Freedom Movements in Timothy Miller, America\u2019s Alternative Religions<\/i> (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 275; Mabee, 213-214; E. Black, Three Virtual Intentional Communities<\/a>; and E. Black, The Reincarnations Of God: George Baker Jr. and Jim Jones as Fathers Divine<\/a>, 2010.<\/p>\n

[24] <\/a> Though cordial until his \u201cexcommunication\u201d by Mother Divine in 1972, both Mother Divine and Father Jones bore much animosity towards each other. After the 1971 incident during which Father Jones, at the very spot where the deceased Father Divine had ruled from, declared that he was Father Divine reincarnated, backing it up with testimonials and miracles to that effect, the next encounters were particularly testy. One had Jim Jones accusing Father Divine\u2019s allegedly \u201cspotless\u201d and \u201cvirgin\u201d widow with making a most \u201cunholy\u201d proposal to him: If he wished to rule the Peace Mission Movement in Father Divine\u2019s place, then he, Jones, must have sex with her, Divine\u2019s widow, on the spot, in Divine\u2019s former office. Father Jones said he declined. Mother Divine says he was lying. Whatever the truth of the charges, it was downhill from there, with partisans on both sides almost coming to violence over the claims and counterclaims in further face-to-face encounters. See Reiterman and Klineman for details.<\/p>\n

Of the Peace Mission \u201cdefectors\u201d to Peoples Temple, some were \u201cplants,\u201d sent by Mother Divine to scout the opposition. After gathering first-hand information on Jones and the Temple (one even attempting to counter a former Divinit cum Temple member, who was exposing the late Father Divine\u2019s sexual improprieties to her new Temple comrades) these \u201cdefectors,\u201d after a time, \u201cre-defected\u201d back to the Peace Mission, filled with ammunition for the Divinit faithful against the Temple. The info provided from these returned Peace Mission agents, along with the continued Peace Mission-focused Temple writing campaign, culminated in Mother Divine\u2019s \u201cTemple excommunication\u201d order of July 16, 1972. See Mills, 177-178; Mother Divine, 139-140.<\/p>\n

But conversely Jim Jones\u2019 attacks against Mother Divine must have reverberated inside her Peace Mission among some, as even after she had issued the \u201cexcommunication order\u201d of Jones and his \u201cfollowers,\u201d an order that had emphatically included the instruction to her lieutenants not to \u201cextend to [the Temple-ites] any hospitality whatsoever!\u201d some Divinits hosted Jim Jones in one of their facilities in Philadelphia five years later! See Tape Q 162<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[25] <\/a> In a remarkable demonstration of this, see Mother Divine, 99-100. Though published in 1982, she uses words that she spoke in 1971 about the death of her husband, Father Divine, that are the exact same<\/i> phraseology that Jim Jones would later use when speaking to his followers about their impending collective death during the final \u201cWhite Night\u201d in Jonestown in 1978.<\/p>\n

[26] <\/a> On Jim Jones \u201cleading\u201d and \u201cfinishing\u201d the cause that Father Divine had started, but left undone, see Mills, 176; Kahalas, 87-89. On the collective death of Peoples Temple at Jonestown as a \u201cvictorious \u2026 finish\u201d to the \u201ccause,\u201d see the \u201cSuicide Note\u201d of Richard Tropp in Ashcraft and Daschke, 252-254. The note also appears here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(E. Black is a frequent contributor to the jonestown report. Her other article in this edition is I’d Like to Thank Father. Her previous writings can be found here.) On November 18, 1978, the largest mass death of a group of US citizens to that date occurred at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Settlement, better known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":30363,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30222","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30222"}],"version-history":[{"count":72,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125348,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30222\/revisions\/125348"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}