During the last few weeks, I have been considering some further questions about Peoples Temple and Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF).  Did Jim Jones, leader of Peoples Temple, participate in the recruitment of church members from other congregations? How do we know? (This is commonly referred to as “sheep stealing”.)  Did/does Jane Whaley, leader of WOFF participate in recruitment of church members from other congregations? How do we know? If both leaders did recruit other church members, were the techniques similar or different?    

    From 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 of several attempts of Jim Jones to recruit members from other churches. Let’s look at a few examples.

    “Jones’s expansion attempts were those of an impatient and aggressive man. While on a quest for new organizational techniques in the late 1950s, he had read extensively about Father Divine, spiritual father of the gigantic Peace Mission movement. In typically direct fashion, Jim Jones drove to Philadelphia to meet the black cult leader in person.” (page 59) Father Divine has been mentioned previously on this blog. Here is another link to read about the sharecropper turned “self-proclaimed “Dean of the Universe,”..(page 58)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_Father_Divine

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