November 18, 2013- 35 years ago today People Temple came to horrific end. The images of over 900 dead bodies bloated and rotting in the jungle were gruesome and unbelievable to say the least. Yes, lessons should have been learned in order to keep the same methods of control used by Jim Jones out of our society today. Like so many others in this country, I did not go beyond the images and learn the dangerous control dynamics used by Jones to bring that many people to a place of destruction. I had no inkling that one day my life would be turned upside down by many of the same mind control techniques used by Jim Jones. That understanding would not begin until after I left Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in July of 2008. In this post, we will continue to explore the similarities I see between Jim Jones and Jane Whaley – leader of Word of Faith Fellowship.
As a resource text, we will use some excerpts from the work by Tim Reiterman- “Raven”. Reiterman co-authored 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) We stopped at page 94 in our last post from this book. Let us pick up the drama….
Jim Jones moved many of his followers from Indiana to California in the summer of 1965. “The world conflagration would come July 15, 1967, he said, and only those in nuclear safe zones would be spared in that terrible blast and fallout.” (page 94-95) The Case family had known Jim Jones for years and had been in leadership in his church for a time. They also helped him become a part of the Disciples of Christ denomination. (page 67) The Case family did not move into the safe zone as Jones directed. This family moved further south. There was tension between Mr. Case and Jones which Jones tried to overcome.
Continue reading “People must learn to obey their spiritual leaders.” Jim Jones