beginning and the numerous interactions
between Jesus and the needy or oppressed found
in the gospels. In another 1972 sermon, Jones
listed the forms that some of these interactions
took: “he loved without respect of race or creed,
he fed the hungry and clothed the naked, he took
in the stranger, and he went into the prison when
someone was standing up for their rights” (Q
1054, part 3). In addition to those who were poor
or hungry, Jones understood Jesus as seeking out
those who were otherwise untouchable or
politically incorrect. According to Jones, Jesus
was “out with the drunks, out with the harlots,
out in the red light district in the back alleys,”
locales that caused his opponents to label him
with demeaning titles, such as a drunkard (Q
1058, part 2). In another recording, Jones set the
drunks and harlots against established
government, claiming he would rather “be an
outright harlot and drunk” than be part of a
government that tried to substitute itself for the
socialistic message surrounding Jesus and the
principle of socialism (Q 1058, part 4). With this
interpretation, Jones drew or implied parallels
between Jesus’s origins and key demographics
and his own life. Jones often portrayed his father
as a negative or absent figure in his childhood,
and the fringe of society was in large part the
target audience of Jones’s message.15
Jones understood these forays by Jesus onto the
“wrong side of the tracks” as building the
Kingdom of God on earth. The Kingdom was
not something to be realized fully after death or
in some future scenario, but rather something
that could be present within everybody and
embodied upon the earth in the present. This
placement of the Kingdom—on earth, in this life
—is crucial to understanding much of Jones’s
other teachings on Jesus and his apparent
conception of the Temple’s purpose.16 Jones
15 Moore (2009, p. 10) gives a succinct and standard definition of
Jones’s father. Descriptions of James Thurman Jones usually touch
on his disability as the result of being wounded in World War I, his
inability to hold down a job, and his emotional distance from his
wife and son. Jones referred to his father as “a Ku Klux Klan
bandit” in Q 1057, part 2, and describes the illness and cynicism of
his father in Q 134.
16 Note that Willey (2013) attributes the Jonestown mass
murder/suicides partially to the Temple’s “religious belief in the
afterlife” (p. 56). As I go on to show, Jones was far more interested
in criticizing the myth of a heaven or an afterlife than in promising
once stated that Christians told people, “you’ve
gotta go to heaven to be perfect…. And that’s
the biggest cop-out in the world” (Q 932). Jesus
himself chastised those who looked to another
world or life for the Kingdom: “[Jesus said,]
‘I’ve had enough of your praying.’ He said, ‘I’ve
had enough of looking up.’ He said, ‘Look
within.’ The Kingdom of revolution, the
Kingdom of your hope is within” (Q 1057, part
5). Temple members could realize the perfection
of the Kingdom of God fully in the present, and
Jesus’s acts pointed to this immanence. To prove
this point, Jones quoted the Lord’s Prayer,
explaining that Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done [o]n earth” (Q 932 also
Q 1057, part 5). In another sermon, Jones asked
his congregation, “When are we gonna wake up
and get our mind off of… heavenly slippers or
the pearly white city—when are we gonna get
our mind off that stuff and start building our
heaven down here?” (Q 1057, part 4). A sharp
dichotomy between true believers (Temple
members who worked hard to build heaven on
earth) and capitalists, Christians, defectors, or
racists (who hampered the Temple’s efforts or
saw divine intervention as the only catalyst to
cause change) sprang up with this notion of the
Kingdom of God. Eventually these defectors and
other opponents would threaten the existence of
Jonestown itself, signaling that not even in the
present—much less in life after death—could
Temple members find respite from racism and
political oppression. Jones had long before
his followers otherworldly rewards or respite from persecution. A
good summary of Jones’s dismissal of an otherworldly solution to
the problems of humans occurs in Q 953. After asking a series of
rhetorical questions about heaven (“You been there lately? ...
Anybody seen heaven? ...Anybody seen Gabriel? ...Anybody seen
mother Mary?”), he explains that “heaven is within you,” and later
states that “heaven is on earth. That’s the only heaven you’ll find.”
During the mass murder/suicides, Jones does refer to another, or a
next “plane” of existence beyond the present one but these
references occur in the context of his trying to placate hysterical
members (Q 042). Rather than an exposition of doctrine, Jones
invokes the concept of planes to show the Temple members that
“death is not a fearful thing” and “there’s nothing to death” (Q
042). The most interesting comment by Jones regarding life after
death during the mass murder/suicides is a comment he makes
about reincarnation—answering Christine Miller with “maybe the
next time [in a subsequent life] you’ll get to go to Russia. The next
time ‘round” (Q 042). Jones touched on the topic of reincarnation
with some frequency in his preaching although space prohibits
dealing with it in this article, a discussion of reincarnation would
be important to further attempts to piece together Jones’s
(religiously oriented) teachings.
38 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015
between Jesus and the needy or oppressed found
in the gospels. In another 1972 sermon, Jones
listed the forms that some of these interactions
took: “he loved without respect of race or creed,
he fed the hungry and clothed the naked, he took
in the stranger, and he went into the prison when
someone was standing up for their rights” (Q
1054, part 3). In addition to those who were poor
or hungry, Jones understood Jesus as seeking out
those who were otherwise untouchable or
politically incorrect. According to Jones, Jesus
was “out with the drunks, out with the harlots,
out in the red light district in the back alleys,”
locales that caused his opponents to label him
with demeaning titles, such as a drunkard (Q
1058, part 2). In another recording, Jones set the
drunks and harlots against established
government, claiming he would rather “be an
outright harlot and drunk” than be part of a
government that tried to substitute itself for the
socialistic message surrounding Jesus and the
principle of socialism (Q 1058, part 4). With this
interpretation, Jones drew or implied parallels
between Jesus’s origins and key demographics
and his own life. Jones often portrayed his father
as a negative or absent figure in his childhood,
and the fringe of society was in large part the
target audience of Jones’s message.15
Jones understood these forays by Jesus onto the
“wrong side of the tracks” as building the
Kingdom of God on earth. The Kingdom was
not something to be realized fully after death or
in some future scenario, but rather something
that could be present within everybody and
embodied upon the earth in the present. This
placement of the Kingdom—on earth, in this life
—is crucial to understanding much of Jones’s
other teachings on Jesus and his apparent
conception of the Temple’s purpose.16 Jones
15 Moore (2009, p. 10) gives a succinct and standard definition of
Jones’s father. Descriptions of James Thurman Jones usually touch
on his disability as the result of being wounded in World War I, his
inability to hold down a job, and his emotional distance from his
wife and son. Jones referred to his father as “a Ku Klux Klan
bandit” in Q 1057, part 2, and describes the illness and cynicism of
his father in Q 134.
16 Note that Willey (2013) attributes the Jonestown mass
murder/suicides partially to the Temple’s “religious belief in the
afterlife” (p. 56). As I go on to show, Jones was far more interested
in criticizing the myth of a heaven or an afterlife than in promising
once stated that Christians told people, “you’ve
gotta go to heaven to be perfect…. And that’s
the biggest cop-out in the world” (Q 932). Jesus
himself chastised those who looked to another
world or life for the Kingdom: “[Jesus said,]
‘I’ve had enough of your praying.’ He said, ‘I’ve
had enough of looking up.’ He said, ‘Look
within.’ The Kingdom of revolution, the
Kingdom of your hope is within” (Q 1057, part
5). Temple members could realize the perfection
of the Kingdom of God fully in the present, and
Jesus’s acts pointed to this immanence. To prove
this point, Jones quoted the Lord’s Prayer,
explaining that Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done [o]n earth” (Q 932 also
Q 1057, part 5). In another sermon, Jones asked
his congregation, “When are we gonna wake up
and get our mind off of… heavenly slippers or
the pearly white city—when are we gonna get
our mind off that stuff and start building our
heaven down here?” (Q 1057, part 4). A sharp
dichotomy between true believers (Temple
members who worked hard to build heaven on
earth) and capitalists, Christians, defectors, or
racists (who hampered the Temple’s efforts or
saw divine intervention as the only catalyst to
cause change) sprang up with this notion of the
Kingdom of God. Eventually these defectors and
other opponents would threaten the existence of
Jonestown itself, signaling that not even in the
present—much less in life after death—could
Temple members find respite from racism and
political oppression. Jones had long before
his followers otherworldly rewards or respite from persecution. A
good summary of Jones’s dismissal of an otherworldly solution to
the problems of humans occurs in Q 953. After asking a series of
rhetorical questions about heaven (“You been there lately? ...
Anybody seen heaven? ...Anybody seen Gabriel? ...Anybody seen
mother Mary?”), he explains that “heaven is within you,” and later
states that “heaven is on earth. That’s the only heaven you’ll find.”
During the mass murder/suicides, Jones does refer to another, or a
next “plane” of existence beyond the present one but these
references occur in the context of his trying to placate hysterical
members (Q 042). Rather than an exposition of doctrine, Jones
invokes the concept of planes to show the Temple members that
“death is not a fearful thing” and “there’s nothing to death” (Q
042). The most interesting comment by Jones regarding life after
death during the mass murder/suicides is a comment he makes
about reincarnation—answering Christine Miller with “maybe the
next time [in a subsequent life] you’ll get to go to Russia. The next
time ‘round” (Q 042). Jones touched on the topic of reincarnation
with some frequency in his preaching although space prohibits
dealing with it in this article, a discussion of reincarnation would
be important to further attempts to piece together Jones’s
(religiously oriented) teachings.
38 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015
