Earlier this year, I reviewed the beginning of the “Raven” by Tim Reiterman with John Jacobs (copyright ©1982 Tim Reiterman, Introduction copyright 2008 by Tim Reiterman, ISBN 978-1-58542-678-2); the authors tell “The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People”. “Tim Reiterman is a prizewinning journalist who extensively covered Jonestown for the San Francisco Examiner. He was wounded in the jungle airstrip attack that killed a U.S. Congressman, plus three reporters, and a Peoples Temple defector.” (from the back cover)  The link to the previous post is here… http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=2778 .  Recently, I started reading this book again and found a few points that caught my attention.

     The title of the book comes from Jim Jones’ own description of his hair color- “raven hair, as he would say later”- (page 15) Reiterman goes into great detail in telling the early years of the life of Jim Jones. This was very interesting as he outlined several episodes from Jim Jones’ childhood and younger years that seemed troubling. Jim learned to manipulate others at an early age to do his chores such as cleaning up after his many pets. “Like Tom Sawyer, he convinced them that feeding and cleaning were just another form of play. If the kids tired of this “fun”, he scolded them impatiently.” (page 16)

   Also, because of his unstable family life, he looked for family in church. “While most other children in Lynn worshipped with their parents, Jim began a solitary quest for a church that would embrace him…” (page 17) He visited several churches in town until he found the Gospel Tabernacle. “Gospel Tabernacle had started out as a storefront service for a few faithful, but the congregation had mushroomed. Now worshippers by the hundreds gathered in a solid-looking church made of glazed tan building blocks. …The Pentecostal church was considered radical; its members were called Holy Rollers for their gymnastic, almost orgiastic, services complete with boisterous healings and people babbling in tongues.”(page 17)  

    From these beginnings, around the age of ten, Jim was taken in by a Pentecostal woman minister and allowed to preach from the pulpit of the church. Reiterman writes, “So the cherub-faced boy who used to cuss for nickels was placed in the pulpit, where he addressed congregations in Lynn and in nearby towns. A handsome child who could read the Bible with aplomb and speak eloquently about God was — and always has been— a great crowd pleaser.” (page 18) His mother would later put a stop to this as she suspected his nightmares about serpents being tied to his involvement in this group. She severed the relationship with the Pentecostal woman minister. Later, Jim would begin holding his own church services in the loft of the barn. He would “preach” to several of his friends for an hour or two, “though he jotted things down, he never spoke from notes.” (page 19). On several occasions he held elaborate funerals for his pets.

    After living life at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) under the influence of Jane Whaley, I found all of this background on Jim Jones very interesting. Are there common patterns in the backgrounds of cult group leaders? My research and quest for answers continues. Please, keep reading.

    The author shares about the public development of Jim Jones’ ministry. “His truly public debut came in 1953 in Detroit. Hundreds of Protestant ministers assembled at Bethesda Missionary Temple for an interdenominational missionary seminar.” (page 45) In that meeting, Jim made an unscheduled appearance in the pulpit, at the encouragement of a woman organizer. “I’m a Methodist,” Jones opened. “And I’ve come into the realization of the Holy Spirit… He started calling out to those in the audience. He called out names of people. He called out their phone numbers. He called out items in their purses. He spoke about their past illnesses and present ailments, and prayed fervently, demonstratively, for them.” (page 45). After this meeting, Jim would be in contact with several people who would help him preach other meetings and eventually become a pastor of a church. “Unbeknownst even to Marceline (his wife), Jones had assured continuation of his “gift”—as he would admit later—by taking little notes and gathering bits of intelligence about the people he planned to call out. He had not openly avowed the philosophy “the ends justify the means,” but he practiced it. (page 46 emphasis added)  Jim Jones and his wife would face many family and marital problems but, she would stick with him even though in comparison to Jim’s ministerial duties “she was relegated to secondary status”. (page 47)

      In order to gain more exposure and public recognition, Jim Jones arranged to do a meeting alongside William Branham. During this time, “Rev. William Branham, (was) a healing evangelist and religious author as highly revered by some as Oral Roberts or Billy Graham.” (page 50). Jones would benefit greatly from this meeting of several thousand people. Jones’ ministry would begin to be an attraction among many black folks. During this meeting, he met a black man named Archie Ijames that “could help bring them into the fold.” (page 52)

   In reference to Jim Jones building his church, Reiterman writes, “Step by step, he demanded more of his people than most Christian churches… As part of a systematic binding process, he attempted to keep his members with the Temple “family” on Christmas and Thanksgiving, rather than with blood relatives. It was the earliest signs that someday he would ask members to forsake their families. He wanted his congregation to look upon him and the Temple as the most important part of their lives; … Total commitment, he realized, would maximize the contribution of each individual member.  And total dependency would ensure continued commitment.” (page 56)   

    When I read this paragraph, it sent chills down my spine. Jane Whaley requires of those in WOFF what Jim Jones required of his members in the 1950’s. These similarities cannot be denied. If as a member of WOFF, you attempt to continue celebrating Christmas, Thanksgiving or ANY OTHER non-WOFF approved day, you will be corrected in the most “loving” way. This could include public correction, shunning, humiliation or expulsion from WOFF. If you did not know before you committed, tough. You follow WOFF doctrine or you lose the privilege of WOFF membership. I know; I have seen the results and gave up the celebrations to keep my “place” at WOFF. Does this make things clearer as to the reason Jane would require such “total commitment”. Does this common fact about the two groups shock anyone? This information on People’s Temple is not one I noticed in other sources.

    One more point for this post. Reiterman writes of Mr. Ijames and his wife that because of their daily commitment to Temple work in the ministry restaurant; “This was the beginning: the distinction between their lives and church life was disappearing.” And in the next paragraph, “The home life and church life of the Joneses already had merged beyond separation.” (page 56) This passage also made me shudder. There was a series of messages preached in the Greenville church about “living segmented lives”.  We were taught that living a life at home and a separate church life was not God’s plan. We were told to not “segment” our lives.  At first, I agreed with the message and attempted to live by it. Now, as I look back, it was a trap, even if unintended at the time. When we moved to WOFF, it became clear that WOFF-life was by definition — all consuming. Family-life became church life and in turn church-life was “family” life. I am beginning to understand that the desire to be pleasing to God should be paramount and not the desire to keep the rules and dictates of a particular church or church leader; especially when those dictates destroy personal freedoms found in the most intimate relationship of all- to your God.  We will learn more from “The Raven” in future posts.  

       Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog.  Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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      (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. ) Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 203.