claimed that enemies of the Temple—
particularly the CIA—waited in the jungle to
attack the commune and cast the visit of
Congressman Ryan in terms of animosity and
persecution.17
Jones’s interpretations of Jesus in a messianic
and apocalyptic context were based largely on
stories of Jesus in the Gospels. Such stories
would have been familiar to at least a portion of
Jones’s audience. In this way, Jones used his
interpretation of Jesus as a messiah to connect
with those people in Peoples Temple who joined
the movement as Christians. By interpreting
Jesus through his own socialistic goals, and by
backing his socialist agenda with biblical
preaching, Jones sought to acclimate his
audience. Jones referred to certain events facing
the Temple, such as newspaper smear
campaigns, in the context of Jesus’s own
suffering for his annunciation of the Kingdom of
God.18 Thus, Jones said, “the next time
newspapers [reporters] come, I’m going to make
such a stir—I’ll be selling newspapers for three
months…. Naturally, naturally they’re gonna try
to get us” (Q 1035). Here he connected the stir
his own message caused with the stir that Jesus’s
Kingdom-building message caused. The
persecuting newspaper reporters were
“naturally” attacking the Temple because
Jones’s message was really the message that
Jesus had preached in the New Testament. Just
like in the New Testament, persecution followed
revolutionary socialist teachings. This
interpretation cast the world in a dualistic light
and called for determination—even to the point
of causing anguish or suffering harm—to follow
the Temple’s socialist principle.
17 Q 175, for instance, casts Ryan’s visit as an “invasion” and
labels the Ryan delegation as the “enemy.” On one occasion, Jones
placed the entire community on alert for 6 days to defend against
an impending invasion. One description of this “six-day siege” can
be found in Reiterman and Jacobs, (2008 [1982], pp. 360–372).
18 In 1972, editors at the San Francisco Examiner assigned reporter
Lester Kinsolving to investigate Peoples Temple for the
newspaper’s religion section. The 8-part series he wrote represents
the first major media attempt to explore—and expose—the inner
workings of the Temple. Kinsolving’s articles (some of which
were originally unpublished) are available on the Jonestown
Apologists Alert blog at http://jonestownapologistsarticlearchive.
blogspot.ca/2007/11/dont-miss-all-eight-of-les-kinsolvings.html
Jones also understood Jesus in a much more
abstract way. In this abstract interpretation of
Jesus as a messiah, Jones described Jesus to be
either a representation of divine socialism or the
divine principle itself that people in the present
could attain. To understand how Jones
interpreted the Jesus of the New Testament, it is
necessary to look at how Jesus pointed to or
embodied divine socialism, and divine socialism
as a source of messianic power. In particular,
Jones repeatedly cited two verses from the
Gospel of John that served to highlight the fact
that Jesus’s power was not necessarily due to
any of his own innate characteristics or qualities.
Specifically, Jones cited John 14:12, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me,
the works that I do shall he do also and greater
works than these shall he do because I go unto
my Father” and John 10:34, “Jesus answered
them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, ‘Ye
are gods?’”
Jones understood Jesus’s words in John 14:12 to
be a promise that those who believed in Jesus’s
message would be able to do the same
revolutionary sort of miracles that the New
Testament portrayed Jesus as enacting.
Immediately noticeable is the fact that this
passage attributed miraculous power to the
Skygod—in John 14:12 the Father—that Jones
derided. In some sermons, however, where Jones
dealt with this passage he seems to have
conveniently avoided the final “because I go
unto my Father” clause. With an interest in the
divine principle of socialism and a dislike for the
Skygod, Jones worked to reinterpret the source
of Jesus’s works and explain his own miraculous
claims.
In Jones’s exposition of John 14:12, Jesus the
messiah functioned more as a paradigm than a
supreme being. In a way, Jesus represented the
beginning rather than the ultimate end of
pursuing the knowledge and practice of divine
socialism. In this sense, Jesus’s words and
actions pointed toward the principle of socialism
that would enable its followers to do greater
things than Jesus did in the New Testament.
Jones explained that those who believed in
Jesus’s message of divine socialism were
promised “not only the same things shall you do,
but the same things and greater” (Q 987). Such
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 41
particularly the CIA—waited in the jungle to
attack the commune and cast the visit of
Congressman Ryan in terms of animosity and
persecution.17
Jones’s interpretations of Jesus in a messianic
and apocalyptic context were based largely on
stories of Jesus in the Gospels. Such stories
would have been familiar to at least a portion of
Jones’s audience. In this way, Jones used his
interpretation of Jesus as a messiah to connect
with those people in Peoples Temple who joined
the movement as Christians. By interpreting
Jesus through his own socialistic goals, and by
backing his socialist agenda with biblical
preaching, Jones sought to acclimate his
audience. Jones referred to certain events facing
the Temple, such as newspaper smear
campaigns, in the context of Jesus’s own
suffering for his annunciation of the Kingdom of
God.18 Thus, Jones said, “the next time
newspapers [reporters] come, I’m going to make
such a stir—I’ll be selling newspapers for three
months…. Naturally, naturally they’re gonna try
to get us” (Q 1035). Here he connected the stir
his own message caused with the stir that Jesus’s
Kingdom-building message caused. The
persecuting newspaper reporters were
“naturally” attacking the Temple because
Jones’s message was really the message that
Jesus had preached in the New Testament. Just
like in the New Testament, persecution followed
revolutionary socialist teachings. This
interpretation cast the world in a dualistic light
and called for determination—even to the point
of causing anguish or suffering harm—to follow
the Temple’s socialist principle.
17 Q 175, for instance, casts Ryan’s visit as an “invasion” and
labels the Ryan delegation as the “enemy.” On one occasion, Jones
placed the entire community on alert for 6 days to defend against
an impending invasion. One description of this “six-day siege” can
be found in Reiterman and Jacobs, (2008 [1982], pp. 360–372).
18 In 1972, editors at the San Francisco Examiner assigned reporter
Lester Kinsolving to investigate Peoples Temple for the
newspaper’s religion section. The 8-part series he wrote represents
the first major media attempt to explore—and expose—the inner
workings of the Temple. Kinsolving’s articles (some of which
were originally unpublished) are available on the Jonestown
Apologists Alert blog at http://jonestownapologistsarticlearchive.
blogspot.ca/2007/11/dont-miss-all-eight-of-les-kinsolvings.html
Jones also understood Jesus in a much more
abstract way. In this abstract interpretation of
Jesus as a messiah, Jones described Jesus to be
either a representation of divine socialism or the
divine principle itself that people in the present
could attain. To understand how Jones
interpreted the Jesus of the New Testament, it is
necessary to look at how Jesus pointed to or
embodied divine socialism, and divine socialism
as a source of messianic power. In particular,
Jones repeatedly cited two verses from the
Gospel of John that served to highlight the fact
that Jesus’s power was not necessarily due to
any of his own innate characteristics or qualities.
Specifically, Jones cited John 14:12, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me,
the works that I do shall he do also and greater
works than these shall he do because I go unto
my Father” and John 10:34, “Jesus answered
them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, ‘Ye
are gods?’”
Jones understood Jesus’s words in John 14:12 to
be a promise that those who believed in Jesus’s
message would be able to do the same
revolutionary sort of miracles that the New
Testament portrayed Jesus as enacting.
Immediately noticeable is the fact that this
passage attributed miraculous power to the
Skygod—in John 14:12 the Father—that Jones
derided. In some sermons, however, where Jones
dealt with this passage he seems to have
conveniently avoided the final “because I go
unto my Father” clause. With an interest in the
divine principle of socialism and a dislike for the
Skygod, Jones worked to reinterpret the source
of Jesus’s works and explain his own miraculous
claims.
In Jones’s exposition of John 14:12, Jesus the
messiah functioned more as a paradigm than a
supreme being. In a way, Jesus represented the
beginning rather than the ultimate end of
pursuing the knowledge and practice of divine
socialism. In this sense, Jesus’s words and
actions pointed toward the principle of socialism
that would enable its followers to do greater
things than Jesus did in the New Testament.
Jones explained that those who believed in
Jesus’s message of divine socialism were
promised “not only the same things shall you do,
but the same things and greater” (Q 987). Such
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 41
