{"id":70743,"date":"2017-10-26T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T21:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70743"},"modified":"2021-12-30T15:06:20","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T23:06:20","slug":"jim-jones-and-the-malachi-4-prophecy-of-elijah","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70743","title":{"rendered":"Jim Jones and the Malachi 4 Prophecy of Elijah"},"content":{"rendered":"

(John Collins is a regular contributor to the jonestown report. His collections of articles for this site may be found <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. His most recent book is<\/em> Jim Jones – The Malachi 4 Elijah Prophecy<\/a>, available on Amazon.com, upon which this article is based. More information about Rev. Branham prepared by John Collins may be found at the informational website,<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/william-branham.org<\/em><\/a>. Additional information is also available at the<\/em>\u00a0Freedom of Mind<\/em><\/a>\u00a0website at The Message<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During a Peoples Temple service in late 1973 or early 1974, an unknown woman approached Reverend Jim Jones to receive her healing. Suffering from back trouble and kidney pain, she came earnestly seeking a special touch from the \u201chealer.\u201d The pain was so intense that she had been confined to her home, unable to work. She knew that her prayers had been answered when Jones called her out of the audience by name. With just a simple touch of his hand, she accepted her healing by faith, and went home rejoicing. For three months, her faith was stronger than her pain. She went back to work, believing that she was fully cured. Later, when the back pain returned, she attended the healing meetings once more, seeking another \u201ccure\u201d from her special access to divine healing power.<\/p>\n

As she approached Jones, she explained to him what had happened. But she wasn\u2019t speaking to Reverend Jim Jones, she was speaking to a divine spirit, a \u201cdeity\u201d made manifest in the human vessel that the world knew as the leader of Peoples Temple. She called him by name: \u201cElijah.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

To anyone familiar with Jim Jones and his theology, her usage of this name would not have seemed strange. During Jones\u2019 early years as a \u201cLatter Rain\u201d minister in the post-WWII Healing Revival, the name \u201cElijah\u201d carried great significance. Elijah was their healer; Elijah was their leader; Elijah was the prophet for their day; Elijah was the Messiah, who came with the \u201cSpoken Word.\u201d No longer were their King James Bibles necessary. They had direct access to the \u201cLiving Word,\u201d which they believed was made manifest in Jones.<\/p>\n

But did this strange theology originate with him?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 1911, on a cold October night off the coast of Portland, Maine, a crippled yacht made its way into port. As it docked, men quickly scrambled to aid the vessel. To their surprise, they found fifty men, women, and children in critical condition, suffering from sickness and starvation. Death had already entered the vessel; scurvy had started to claim the lives of the malnourished. Deck hands once strong and capable were reduced to skin and bone. The crew and passengers were so exhausted and weak that they could barely stand. Had the ship not made port that night, it was doubtful they could have kept the craft afloat for even a day longer. Rescuers were shocked when they found mere skeletons working the pumps, alternating between three shifts.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

They were even more astonished when one single passenger emerged, well-nourished and well cared for. While everyone else had struggled to survive, this particular passenger, viewed by the rest as their leader, had lived sumptuously in his luxuriously furnished cabin.[3]<\/a> This leader was Reverend Frank Sandford, known to those in his religious cult as \u201cElijah the prophet.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the same time, just outside of Chicago, Illinois, people were flocking to a religious community known as \u201cZion City\u201d to hear the Reverend John Alexander Dowie as he ministered his \u201cgospel of divine healing.\u201d Dowie\u2019s religious sect had become so popular that in 1895, he had purchased $500,000 worth of grounds and developments towards a religious temple, \u201cDivine Healing Homes,\u201d a series of schools ranging from kindergarten to university prep, a printing and publishing house, library, and more. [5]<\/a> To many, Dowie became known as the \u201crichest man in the West.\u201d [6]<\/a> To his followers, however, Dowie became known as \u201cElijah the prophet.\u201d [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cElijah\u201d ministries of these men were not unique, and their claims to being the reincarnation of Biblical prophets were nothing new. Interpreting the ancient Hebrew scroll of the prophecy of Malachi with modern application, ministers such as Dowie and Sandford successfully convinced their listeners that the fourth chapter of Malachi predicted their rise to supernatural power. The doctrinally illiterate, captivated by the charismatic preaching of the ministers, became captives to fear through misuse of their own Bibles. Further amplifying this fear, the \u201cElijahs\u201d began announcing that the world was ending, and only they knew the hour. [8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles Fox Parham, one of the founders of the modern Pentecostal religion,[9]<\/a> found this phenomenon to be fascinating, so much so that he took a sabbatical from his own \u201cdivine healing\u201d ministry in Topeka, Kansas to study it. Parham was a supply pastor in the Methodist Church, but left the denomination in 1895 shortly after Dowie\u2019s rise to fame at his Zion establishment. In 1898, Parham visited Dowie\u2019s highly publicized \u201chealing homes\u201d and Sandford\u2019s land-based commune called the \u201cHoly Ghost and Us Society.\u201d [10]<\/a> Later, he returned to Topeka to create a faith healing home he called \u201cBethel,\u201d[11]<\/a> modeling it after the techniques he witnessed. Before long, he announced his own doomsday prediction, [12]<\/a> and made his own claim to be the reincarnation of Elijah. [13]<\/a> It was Parham\u2019s ministry that would inspire William Joseph Seymour, leader of the Azusa Street Revival which would later become known as the birth of the Pentecostal faith in 1906.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Years later, after the Pentecostal Revival had almost fizzled out, a young minister from Jeffersonville, Indiana would ignite the flame once more in a second revival. Reverend William Branham, also heavily influenced by the ministries of these \u201cElijah prophets,\u201d[14]<\/a> held a series of meetings in the United States and Canada from 1947 through 1948. These meetings would later become known as the catalyst for the \u201cLatter Rain\u201d Pentecostal movement, [15]<\/a> which claimed to be the answer to the \u201cformer rain\u201d at the Azusa Street revival. Like those who paved the way before him, Branham promoted himself as another \u201cElijah for this day.\u201d[16]<\/a> Though many ministers including William Branham[17]<\/a> later denied involvement with the \u201cLatter Rain\u201d sect, hundreds of ministers participated. Within only two years of its creation, the \u201cVoice of Healing\u201d business entity created for Branham to publish and advertise his campaigns became one of the primary vehicles for the Latter Rain movement itself. Through \u201cVoice of Healing,\u201d independent evangelists were suddenly united in the quickly growing Healing Revival of 1948. Because of this, the revival became known as the \u201cVoice of Healing Revival\u201d or the \u201cLatter Rain Revival.\u201d[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

It was within this movement[19]<\/a> that Jim Jones\u2019 \u201cElijah ministry\u201d was launched.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jones was ordained into Branham\u2019s \u201cLatter Rain\u201d movement through the Independent Assemblies of God by Reverend Joseph Mattsson-Boze of Chicago.[20]<\/a> Shortly before being ordained by Mattsson-Boze, Jones announced the upcoming 1956 healing revival meetings that he and Branham would hold in Indianapolis, Indiana. This revival would serve as an official induction into the ministry, with blessings of \u201cdivine prophecy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a series of \u201cLatter Rain\u201d sermons during June of 1956, William Branham lifted Jones into power by \u201cprophetically\u201d launching his ministry. As the sermons progressed throughout the week, Branham pleaded with men and women to leave what he called \u201ccold formal churches,\u201d[21]<\/a> comparing them to less-than-favorable passages from the Christian Bible. He went so far as to compare the Indianapolis churches to \u201cpigs,\u201d pleading with the people to separate themselves from their churches:<\/p>\n

You wouldn’t want to see a lamb go to dinner with a pig, would you? Be something strange, but it wouldn’t be strange for the pig be eating there. So where your nature is, there’s where you eat. What’s your diet? If you’re Abraham’s seed, you believe God and like heavenly things. You see it?\u2026 Separate yourself. Come out and be a pilgrim and a stranger.[22]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the very end of the week-long revival, in a sermon he titled \u201cAn Exodus,\u201d Branham claimed to have been struck by a vision describing this \u201cexodus\u201d to Jones\u2019 ministry as divinely inspired by the \u201cHoly Ghost.\u201d According to Branham, the audience seated before Jim Jones and himself were either going to break out into \u201cspontaneous healings,\u201d or there was going to be the \u201csending forth of a ministry.\u201d Those in the audience familiar with Jones\u2019 new leadership in the \u201cLatter Rain\u201d sect were well aware Branham was referring to the minister of Peoples Temple:<\/p>\n

I believe that God’s going pour out here in a few moments, something. I don’t whether it’s going to be a spontaneous healing, whether it’s going to be a filling with the Holy Ghost, whether it’s going to be a sending forth of a ministry. I don’t know, but something’s fixing to happen. Remember, I told you. I never felt this right in the prayer line. Ask anybody. Here’s men that’s been with me since I was early in the ministry. You never seen that. It picked up and I feel strong enough, look like, till run a mile (See?), run through a troop and leap over a wall. I never felt that way, never come back like that. Something started. Something’s happening. And I seen a vision of people swarming down the aisles with their hands up, and here they are, just exactly the way it was showed in the vision. Come on, friends. I feel someone else. \u2026 Do you feel strange? I’m not going by feelings, but I’m going by that vision, and something’s happened here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013William Branham, with Jim Jones[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

Following William Branham\u2019s \u201cvision,\u201d Jim Jones\u2019 evangelistic ministry quickly began to grow. Carloads of his Peoples Temple congregation traveled with him as he kept the road hot from Indiana to Ohio to recruit new members[24]<\/a> to the \u201cLatter Rain\u201d faith \u2013 or as Branham\u2019s extremist sect of \u201cLatter Rain\u201d was called, \u201cThe Message.\u201d[25]<\/a> Jones would plead with those who thought of leaving the sect, telling them that \u201cThe Message\u201d \u201cis<\/em> God.\u201d[26]<\/a> Like Branham[27]<\/a> \u2013 and like John Alexander Dowie, Charles Fox Parham, and Frank Sandford \u2013 Jones began claiming to be the reincarnation of Elijah.[28]<\/a> Also like Branham (and possibly the others), Jones referred to himself as the \u201cSpoken Word,\u201d or the \u201cLiving Word.\u201d Branham had convinced his cult following that he was a \u201cVoice of God to [them],\u201d[29]<\/a> and Jones was intent on doing the same.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was this theology that eventually separated their ministries from the main trunk of the \u201cLatter Rain\u201d and, finally from each other. In Branham\u2019s version of the \u201creincarnation of Elijah,\u201d it was faith in the \u201chealer,\u201d or more specifically, the \u201cWord\u201d made \u201cmanifest\u201d in the \u201chealer,\u201d that brought salvation. [30]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> Jones decided to replicate this strategy, telling his own followers that the \u201cspoken word of God\u201d \u2013 that is, his own words \u2013 was the \u201cspirit of the life of God.\u201d [31]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> Eventually, doctrines surrounding this \u201cmanifestation\u201d labeled their splinter sect of \u201cLatter Rain\u201d as the \u201cManifest Sons of God.\u201d[32]<\/a><\/p>\n

Jones adopted many ideas and doctrines from the Pentecostal ministers of his time, some of which were quite popular. Ultimately, it would be Branham\u2019s Latter Rain \u201cManifest Sons of God\u201d[33]<\/a> theology that would stick with Jones from his days as a \u201cMessage\u201d and \u201cLatter Rain\u201d evangelist to the massacre at Jonestown. Both Branham[34]<\/a> and Jones[35]<\/a> taught their followers that the earth was waiting for them to be \u201cmanifested\u201d as gods to rule \u2013 and that they had already achieved this status.<\/p>\n

While it is clear that Jim Jones abandoned Christianity in its traditional form, it is also evident that he never abandoned \u201cThe Message.\u201d Jones believed he was a \u201cManifested Son,\u201d the \u201cSpoken Word\u201d that came to a \u201cprophet.\u201d As such, he believed that he had power to speak the \u201cWord for his day,\u201d rendering the Bible obsolete. \u201cThe Message\u201d had empowered Jones to rise as the destructive leader of a doomsday cult.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When the victims at Jonestown took their lives, they were fully devoted, not the mortal human named James Warren Jones, but the \u201cElijah\u201d spirit, or the \u201cdeity\u201d that was \u201cmanifested\u201d in Jim Jones. They were trusting the \u201cSpoken Word\u201d for their day, and believed that \u201cWord\u201d was in the beginning with God. As they drank the fatal dose, they were trusting and believing that this \u201cdeity\u201d could not only speak them back<\/em> into existence, but that he could speak an entire world<\/em> into existence. They believed that they were asked by God Himself to sacrifice their life, and that God would take care of them.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Branham\u2019s \u201cLatter Rain\u201d theology continued to resonate with Jones from the time they held their first \u201cLatter Rain\u201d meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, until his final breath on November 18, 1978. And there is no doubt that the \u201cMalachi 4 Elijah\u201d prophecy was the premise for this type of belief system. Jim Jones truly believed that he and over 900 victims at Jonestown could escape to a \u201chigher plane\u201d simply by faith. But Jones\u2019 god-like authority was the result of an ideology passed down through decades, and one that still continues today. The \u201cMessage\u201d that Jones once claimed to be \u201cGod\u201d[36]<\/a> is growing and spreading around the world, with millions of followers.[37]<\/a> Children are being taught to believe that the reincarnation of \u201cElijah\u201d is a reality[38]<\/a>, and are educated on the \u201cmanifestation of the spirit.\u201d[39]<\/a><\/p>\n

Unless we, as a society, help educate those who are easily taken captive by those who use this \u201cMalachi 4 Elijah\u201d theology, others will rise into power. The tragedy at Jonestown, though horrific, stands as a beacon that shines its light of warning throughout time. All who are willing to heed its warning can escape, if they are only willing to open their eyes.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Q1023 Transcript<\/a>. Accessed 2017, May 30, 2017. <\/em><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> 1911, Oct 22. \u201cEndure Privations On Religious Craft.\u201d Anaconda Standard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> 1911, December 20. \u201cThe Religious Grafter.\u201d Allentown Democrat<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> 1910, August 2. \u201c\u2019Holy Ghosters\u2019 All at Sea; No Place on Earth to Land!\u201d The Wichita Beacon. <\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> 1895, June 7. \u201cHe Will Call It Zion.\u201d The Inter Ocean.<\/em><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> 1901, January 6. \u201cA Prophet for Profit.\u201d Honolulu Adviser.<\/em><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> 1902, November 30. \u201cA Record $15,000,000 Profit Makes John Alexander Dowie, Alias Elijah III, The Merchant Prince of Faith Healers.\u201d Brooklyn Daily Eagle.<\/em><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> 1909, July 12. \u201cEnds In September.\u201d Arkansas City Daily Traveler.<\/em><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Healing and Pentecost<\/a>. Accessed 2017, April 17.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Nelson, Shirley. The Story of Shiloh<\/a>. Accessed 2017, April 17.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Healing and Pentecost<\/a>. Accessed 2017, April 17.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Charles Fox Parham Facts<\/a>. Accessed 2017, April 17.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> 1906, November 3. \u201cKansas Faith Cure Worker Loses Out.\u201d Topeka Daily Capital.<\/em><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Collins, John. 2017. Jim Jones \u2013 The Malachi 4 Prophecy<\/em>. Dark Mystery Publications.<\/em><\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Riss, Richard M. 1979. \u201cThe Latter Rain Movement of 1948 and the Mid-Twentieth Century Evangelical Awakening.\u201d Vancouver, BC: Regent College, MA Thesis.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Behold I Send You Elijah The Prophet<\/a>. Accessed 2017, June 30.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Example: Branham, William. 1953, June 14. \u201cI Perceive That Thou Art A Prophet.\u201d Accessed 2017, May 30 from http:\/\/table.branham.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Crowder, John. 2006. Miracle Workers, Reformers, and the New Mystics<\/em>. Destiny Image Publishers.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Reiterman, Tim and John Jacobs, Raven: The Untold Story of Jim Jones and His People<\/em>. (New York: Dutton, 1982).<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Certificate of Ordination<\/a>. 1956, February 5. Independent Assemblies of God.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Branham, William.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Branham, William.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> Branham, William. 1956, June 15. \u201cAn Exodus.\u201d<\/a> Accessed 2017.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> Reiterman.<\/em><\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> The Message<\/a>. Accessed 2017, June 13.<\/em><\/p>\n

[26]<\/a> Jones, James. Handwritten note to Earl Jackson<\/a>. RYMUR 89-4286-1099, pp. 6-7. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a> Elijah Has Already Come<\/a>. 2013, May 20. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a> Ex: Woman 7 in Jones\u2019 prayer line calls Jones \u201cElijah.\u201d Q1023 Transcript<\/a>. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a> Branham, William. 1951, May 5. \u201cMy Commission.\u201d Accessed 2017, April 29 from http:\/\/table.branham.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[30]<\/a> Branham, William. 1952, February 24. \u201cBelieving in God.\u201d Accessed 2017, May 30 from http:\/\/table.branham.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[31]<\/a> Jones, Jim. 2017, May 30. Annotated Transcript Q1053-6<\/a>. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[32]<\/a> Collins, John. 2017. Jim Jones \u2013 The Malachi 4 Prophecy<\/em>. Dark Mystery Publications.<\/p>\n

[33]<\/a> Collins, John. (Examples of theology at end of book in transcripts section.)<\/p>\n

[34]<\/a> Branham, William. 1961, April 16. \u201cAbraham and His Seed.\u201d Accessed 2017, May 30 from http:\/\/table.branham.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[35]<\/a> Jones, James. 2017, May 30. Annotated Transcript Q1057-5<\/a>. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[36]<\/a> Jones, James. Note to Earl Jackson<\/a>, RYMUR 89-4286-1099, pp. 6-7. Accessed 2017, May 30.<\/p>\n

[37]<\/a> According to Branham\u2019s \u201cMessage\u201d statistics, 2 million people believe the \u201cMessage.\u201d Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 2017, May 30 from http:\/\/branham.org\/en\/faq<\/a><\/p>\n

[38]<\/a> Example: YoungFoundations.org<\/a>. Accessed 2017, June 14.<\/em><\/p>\n

[39]<\/a> 51-0717 The Manifestation of the Spirit<\/a>. Accessed 2017, June 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(John Collins is a regular contributor to the jonestown report. His collections of articles for this site may be found here. His most recent book is Jim Jones – The Malachi 4 Elijah Prophecy, available on Amazon.com, upon which this article is based. More information about Rev. Branham prepared by John Collins may be found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":70228,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70743","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70743","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70743"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113055,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70743\/revisions\/113055"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}