Episode 20: Leave Room for the Holy Ghost

(Q622): John Maher [Delancey Street Foundation]: “—quite frankly, Jim when I first heard Peoples Temple, I said, oh, goddamn, another fucking preacher, right? (Laughs)”

Jones: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the feeling.”

Maher: “It was a real shot in the arm to see some people out on the street actually doing some things for some real causes in a disciplined and adult fashion, instead of just a bedlam. I mean, it’s uh—"

Jones: “Well, I’m really heart and mind with you. I’m uh, you know, an agnostic. We have some emphasis on the terms of paranorma, because it brings results. There is something to therapeutic healing, all medical science has proven, but we don’t link that with any kind of causative factor of a loving God. Off the record, I don’t believe in any loving God. Our people, I would say, are ninety percent atheist. We think Jesus Christ was a swinger. He taught some pretty damn good things, and we state in the church— I would’ve loved to have been in the foundation. For some years, I’ve been talking to our attorneys to try to get in a foundation, but we have such an influence in the denomination— I don’t know whether you’re familiar with the denomination, it’s called the Disciples of Christ. It includes the FBI Director [Clarence Kelley], [Former President] Lyndon Baines Johnson, I think, Senator Monsdale [Sen. Walter Mondale] to give you some background of it—And see, we’re linked, not only as Peoples Temple have— I have my own bishopry of the churches I’ve founded, of about 70,000 members altogether, but (stumbles over words), I’m in official capacity, assistant DA [Tim Stoen] who’s a member is also in official capacity, in the regional denomination of two million. Giving up the church meant giving up that kind of influence, our whole denomination comes out with the most radical kinds of postures”

Maher: “Right.”

Jones: “—So— Otherwise, I would have left the church. I-“

Maher: “I think you’re in the right place because I think it’s exactly right, because, you know, a lot of these folks have, through their education and their background has made them bigots and fools, — I think that’s essential, because an awful lot of these little Christian people around, too. You know, they vote wrong all the time, and all this stuff, but fundamentally, they’ve got some good ideas about principles, and if we could just reach them, and I think you’re doing it right, I think that’s the only way to reach them, is from positions where they— where they can hear it, instead of demanding that they listen to us on the street.”

Jones: “Well, thank you for the feedback, ‘cause, I must say, I felt somewhat hypocritical for the last years as I became an atheist...”

 This is Transmissions from Jonestown, Episode 20: Sunday Service- Leave Room for the Holy Ghost.

I recently watched some black-and-white footage from a Peoples Temple service in Redwood Valley. Jim Jones took the podium leading the audience with a song, an old Father Divine spiritual. As he sang, Jones raised his fist in a familiar gesture of solidarity and pride. I couldn’t help but notice an expensive looking watch wrapped around his wrist, juxtaposing the imagery of the selfless prophet in his holy hand me down robes. Even in this fifty-year-old grainy black and white footage, the gold watch glimmered like a freshly waxed Cadillac. Suddenly, as if he had read my mind, Jim Jones removed the watch, casting it off to a nearby attendant as if disgusted by it. It was as though he could feel my judgment from another plane. For a tiny fraction of a second, I felt that suspension of disbelief, that in Jim Jones’ presence, all things are possible. Maybe a tiny fraction of a second is all it takes to build faith- or lose it.  

Mike Wood: “I suspect that it's my watch. It must have been 1968, 1969. and I was ashamedly fashion conscious, because in the church that was not a good thing. It was a gold Bulova wristwatch, I mean it wasn’t gold; it was gold-filled. It was just a standard issue wristwatch in those days. I think Jim borrowed it from me- I think that's my old wristwatch. I don't think Jim ever wore a wristwatch apart from that. What it shows is Jim’s consciousness of his appearance, because he always liked to brag about how inexpensive the clothes that he wore were, and if they weren't inexpensive, they'd been given to him. For example, he had this, oh my God, country music singer white suit. As I say, I was fashion conscious, but I was also conscious of inconsistencies [chuckles] in the message. I remember looking at him with that white suit on and my gaze sort of caught his attention, he said, “Hey listen, I know this looks like it's something that I wouldn't ordinarily wear, but I didn't buy this, some woman whose car was stuck on the side of the road and she needed help changing a flat tire, and so I of course helped her.” Jim would never, he might send somebody else to do it, but he would never do that. Jim said, “She was so grateful because she waited there for so long and nobody had helped her out, that she decided to buy me this suit or gave me this suit,” or something, and I thought that that was just a goofy ass story. At the time Jim always wore those heavy-soled black shoes. You would have the impression that he only had one pair of shoes, but that's not true, he had like six, or seven, or eight pairs of that same shoe. I know that because I'm the one who had to polish the damn things [chuckles]. So goes to show you that he was very conscious of his appearance and what he was wearing, and how it made him look, and he was also very hypocritical because his purpose in doing that wasn't to show his good taste but to show how little concerned he was about money and personal possessions. People love money for more than sybaritic reasons, they love more than it will buy them a bigger house or a better watch, or a nicer car; they love it because of its connection to power, and that was what Jim was all about: money and power.”

Mike Wood remembers how the paranormal aspects of their ministry set them apart from other churches. 

Wood: “It was the glue that held us together. I mean, there are a lot of progressive organizations in California, but the thing that distinguished us from them was Jim's ability– his paranormal abilities, and he was genuinely believed to be- to have these paranormal gifts by people who weren't aware of what he was really doing. And this is how he started out, as a faith healer, don't forget.”

Did Jim believe he had paranormal abilities?

Wood: “Oh no, no.” 

In a recent poll, 72 percent of Americans say they believe that praying to God can cure diseases, even terminal ones. Science dismisses faith healing as a pseudoscience. Theoretically, faith healing might work like a placebo, healing the body through the power of the mind. Historically faith healing predates religion and is still widely practiced. But can belief actually manifest physically?

Mike Wood: “Faith healing is a long-standing and respected element of evangelical Christianity. I was raised in evangelical Christianity, and I’ve seen faith healings since I was just a little kid. So, I always had a predisposition to believe in them just because I was raised with them as a child. I was not at all surprised, or particularly impressed when Jim did them, it was just kind of an expectation. That’s not to suggest I didn’t think they were real, it’s just that it seemed to be part of most of the services I’d attended. Jim came obviously from a faith-healing background in evangelical Christianity, and of course, for the first years of his ministry it was very much in the tradition of the faith healers, and his only addition to that was the paranormal part of it. In most faith healing meetings, there will be an altar call, and people will come up and want to be prayed for. They'll have some ailment or physical disfigurement, or some sort of disability they want to have someone to pray over. That was just pretty typical. Where Jim differed, as I say, was his application of his so-called paranormal powers. Here is how that would work: It was fairly well established and the whole process was pretty much the same in the early days as in the later days, except it grew in terms of the number of people who were supposedly healed, just as every part of Jim’s other stories grew, on reflection and retelling. So, the way it worked was this: during the meeting, usually, it was the last part of the meeting, after Jim had given the sermon, he would raise his arms, and close his eyes, and ask us to close our eyes or empty our minds and think on him or Jesus, or whatever at the time we were supposed to think about, and then he would begin to call people out.”

(Q923) Jones: “Taylor. Taylor. Taylor on Muscat Street. Quickly, quickly respond where–“

Announcer: “The microphone is being taken to her. She is standing on the far side of the auditorium.”

Jones: “Sister, you have a bottle of Rain Barrel softener on a ledge in your kitchen?”

Taylor: “Not as I knows of.”

Jones: “Are you– is your name Taylor?”

Taylor: “Yes, it is.”

Jones: “Then you’ve got a bottle of Rain Barrel water softener in your kitchen.”

Taylor: “Soften– yes.”

Announcer: (Chuckles) “She now remembers.”

Jones: “And I don’t know you, never been in your home, but I know what I know, because I am what I know I am. “

Jones: “In the dining room, I see a large round decoration with flowers in it– “

Taylor: “Yes.”

Jones: “–and two unlitted candelabras on each side of it.”

Taylor: “Yes.”

Jones: “And we’ve got to move that. Have a little child in your home?”

Taylor: “Yes.”

Jones: “The one that plays choo choo with the little thing with red wheels.”

Taylor: “Yes.”

Jones: “Saved that child’s life, you see. I don’t know you, but the Spirit knows you. (Pause) You have a statue of Siamese cats.”

Taylor: “Yes.”

Jones: “Another room. I go from room to room. I always do that, so somebody can’t say I’m looking in the window. I just go from (calls out) room to room.”

Congregation: Cheers and applause.

Jones: (Voice climbs to ministerial fervor) “I go from your toilet into your freezer, like I did up there. I will look in the unlocked uh, places and the locked places. I’ll go in. There’s nothing hid that shall not be revealed, there’s nothing covered– “

Congregation: Boisterous cheers and applause.

Jones: “–that shall not be uncovered, for the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”

Wood: “It was very much like you would expect from any kind of psychic, or anyone doing a cold reading or warm reading, they start out saying “Is there anyone in here who just had strawberry pancakes?” Then someone will say, “Yeah, that was me.” And they would say, “Yeah, I’m getting something about this,” - they would go on from there, and totally unrelated to pancakes- but that would just be the teaser to get the person to raise his or her hand, and then Jim would ask them other questions. He was a very clever cold reader, and so he would bring them along in terms of what they were acknowledging, and towards the end of each interview he would say you are also suffering from XYZ- whatever it might be, pick your disease. Frequently, often as not, he would say now you haven’t been diagnosed with this but this is what I see and this is my concern. You may be getting food poisoning from those bad strawberries, so please come on up and everyone have a good thought and pray, blah, blah, blah, blah. To alleviate the problem. Of course, as you know, one of the easiest things to do is cure someone from an undiagnosed, unknown disease. For example, I'm curing you right now of your brain cancer, OK, see? Bam! And, by the way, you can go to your doctor anytime you want, and he will tell you that you no longer have brain cancer. [laughs] You know, that’s how ridiculous this stuff is.” 

(Q920) Jones: “Good you came to the house of God today! Praise his name.”

Congregation: (Cheers and applause)

Jones: “Spirit of God! It’s good you came! (sings)

Oh, you can’t make me doubt him,

You can’t make me doubt him,

You can’t make me doubt him

If you try–“

Jones: “Do you believe that God works through me in a mighty way?”

Hill: “Yes, I do.”

Jones: “That’s what it takes.”

Hill: “Yes, I– oh, I (unintelligible)”

Jones: “Just that. Just that. Just that. (glossolalia)”

Hill: (moans) “Hallelujah!”

Jones: (glossolalia) “You go to a doctor in Sunnyvale, do you?”

Hill: “Yes.”

Jones: “You once had some great difficulty in your body.”

Hill: “Yes.”

Jones: “Terrible tumor.”

Hill: “Yes.”

Jones: (glossolalia) “I see something forming in your bowels and your back. I see some difficulty that you have in your back and your side.”

Hill: “Correct.”

Jones: (glossolalia) “Sister, you go to the bathroom, and you’ll be free of the most horrible fate that anybody can free you of. I’ll take the growth away.”

By September 1977, Jim Jones moved to Jonestown permanently. As he sat on his throne, wrapped in a blanket, he spoke late into the night, sharing stories about his life. Per usual, someone was transcribing as he spoke. Jones said that his healing ministry was the best recruitment tool a church could have. In the beginning, he would close his eyes and visions would come into his mind, and he would call people out. Over time he started taking notes about people in the crowds to help him make his discernments. As his church grew and the pressure to perform became paramount, it all got to be too much. The divine gifts physically drained him. He could feel people’s sickness and pain as he healed them. 

(Q1057) Jones: “People talk about arthritis. I have more of it than any of you. I just force myself, but every joint is filled with it, every joint because it’s built up, built up, built up. It’s got to come out of you into me. Don’t know no other way to do it. If you know some other way, you let me know. And then you see if anybody’s done as much as I’ve done. No, you don’t know any better way to do it, but I have to take in my body, and I also know that when I cannot keep my body looking just like it ought to look, I’ve got to know exactly when to lay it down. And I have planned just exactly when. And how. And who I’ll put in my place. And there’ll be no funeral. You won’t look at my body- oh no, you won’t look at this body.”

He began using sleight of hand when removing cancers. This seemed to cause a chain reaction amongst churchgoers and trigger actual healings. It was the catalyst to build faith. The more people believed the better it worked. Jim Jones shouldered his burden and the knowledge of his deception alone, not even telling his wife. He claimed that if he had kept going without helpers, he would have eventually died, drained by the growing throngs of needy parishioners. Jim Jones said he didn’t understand how his powers worked, or where they came from. Despite having help in the later years, he claimed that at its source his powers were real.

(Q353) Jones: “Some of you have never cried for anyone. You only cried for yourself. You’ve only cried, you’re here tonight, you want me to heal you, you’re crying over your aches and pain. When I walk down the aisles, and I will, and I’ll call out the sick, and I will, and I’ll take growths away, and I always do, but there’ll be those that’ll pass me and say, (crotchety voice) “My nose. My toes. My knee. My aching back.” (Voice rises) You won’t ever get any help from me, because you cannot come here with that consciousness. It’s not to mourn over yourself. It’s not to mourn over your own stomach pain. I have borne all your pains from the beginning. I’m in constant pain from the top of my fingertips — to the top of my head to the bottom of my toes. When I enter into a congregation, I take your infirmities into my body. If anybody should be sick, it should be I. If anybody should die, it should be me. Because I’m dying a thousand deaths for all of you.”

Mike Wood: “One of the questions I have is who else is involved at this point? Because he didn’t simply do cold readings like that. Sometimes he would have very specific information. So how did he get the specific information because obviously, his psychic powers were complete bullshit- as they are with anybody that claims to have them. I am not denying that unusual things happened, but it’s a helluva long way from saying that unusual things happened to saying this person told me something that no one could have possibly known. I mean, obviously someone knew it because this person is saying it. We don’t realize how easy it is for people to get information from us. You don’t realize how much information you give to people without really thinking you're giving them information. You can strike up a conversation and say “Hey, is there a good place for dinner?” and without even realizing they’re being interviewed they say “Sure, yeah, I just had some great strawberries and pancakes”; you just inadvertently say things, it might not even be on that particular topic. It’s easy to develop information that way because we give it out so easily, that’s why hackers are so successful. I think that people like Marcie [Marceline Jones] for example, and Jack Beam, and possibly even Archie Ijames would be greeting people before the meetings and sit and chat with them and sounded friendly and interesting and very open to the Temple experience certainly, and open to learning about what was going on in this person's life. Then they’d give this information back to Jim. Jim could then use it in his so-called healing ministry. The person who is being called out, even if they remembered they had a conversation with someone before the service would have no idea that that conversation had led to Jim’s psychic revelations, and wouldn’t have even recalled revealing anything particularly specific. This kinda thing happens all the time, and that’s why this kind of fraud works.”

(Q920) Jones: “Your left hand’s crippled.”

Arlington: “That’s right.”

Jones: “You had some connection with a Doctor Clarence C. Woods?”

Jones: “Yes, I know.”

Congregation: (murmurs)

Arlington: (laughs)

Jones: “You told this to no one here.”

Arlington: “No, sir.”

Jones: “Come down now, your hand’s going to be completely healed. I’m going to take all that– all that crippling out of the hand and– (tape edit) –I got to get a growth out of your body that’s causing the difficulty in your back.

Announcer: She’s coming forward now.

Jones: me your left hand.

Announcer: The pastor’s come to the front to take her hand. He takes her hand now lovingly in his. (More excited) She opens and closes– she opens and closes it–)

Jones: God Almighty! God Almighty.” 

Announcer: “Amazed”

Wood: “In those days there were no physical manifestations of whatever the hell the disease would have been. In other words, no one walked around with what was supposedly an exposed cancer or anything like that. Just like I cured you of brain cancer, you know [chuckles], it just happened, right? But as time went on everything got bigger, and more dramatic, and theatrical. You would see, what was her name, I think it was Rose Shelton, I think that was her name, she was an older lady, and whenever someone would be cured of whatever it was, Jim got in the habit of curing people with cancer, because it was his schtick. He would produce the so-called evidence. The person would be told to go into the bathroom and either throw up or poop, or whatever they did, I never went. I never did any of that, so I don’t quite know how Rose did it, but she would come out with this substance, and it was always carried around in aluminum foil. It was a new substance, I hope, for each individual [chuckles]. But I’ve heard it was chicken guts or something disgusting, and of course, it would have to be to mimic what people’s idea of what a cancerous tumor or blob was supposed to be. And that would be carried around, and there would be guards in front and in back of Rose as she would carry it around, and that would be the evidence for the healing. There would be three or four of those each meeting.

There were times when individuals were put in casts, for example, leg casts and arm casts. They would be called up to the front, and Jim would have it cut off and they would run around the auditorium. Since they had no broken bones, that wasn’t exactly hard to run around [chuckles]. But people didn’t know they didn’t actually have any fractures that were being repaired, that they had been placed in casts. I didn’t figure that out until towards the end when I saw Dorothy Worley, who had been perfectly healthy, and three days later she was in a wheelchair and had a leg cast on. I was really concerned about her. I didn’t realize that it was just an act. I thought she had really been hurt, so I went to talk to her to see what had happened and she had some story for it, so she went up to the front, and sure enough, Jim cut off the cast and she jumped up and ran around the church and I thought ah, this is just another party trick.”

(Q920) Announcer: “The cancer’s returned. The cancer’s been returned. She kisses the hand of the prophet, in gratitude. In gratitude for the healing of her hand–”

Jones: “All gone. It’s all gone. The pain’s all gone. Thank God.”

Announcer: “In gratitude for the healing of her hand, she kisses the hand of the prophet. As the nurse now comes down with her, bringing the cancer which was passed from her body. Taken now to the congregation to inspect, to help build their faith, in the delivering power of the love brought by this prophet of God.”

Wood: “So that’s how the healings worked pretty much, and they pretty much worked that way, certainly right up until the time I was leaving. Jim would use that psychic authority to bring people up and put them back on the correct path. [chuckles] My grades fell apart pretty badly one semester and Jim called me up after one of the meetings and said, “Mike, your grades are such and such and blah, blah, blah”, and I thought, wow, I didn’t realize they were that bad, because I hadn’t even seen my grades come in through the mail. Turns out my mother had gotten them, and opened them, and given them to Jim. That’s how I found that out, and I found that out because I lived in the parsonage for a while, and I never searched through Jim’s room, or anything like that, I would never have been that presumptuous, but I did happen to see some things just lying around. He was kind of sloppy, and there were my grades! I thought what the fuck?! People would give him information, even if they thought it would be fake, and I know that was the case with my mother because they thought this person really needed to be straightened out about this. Since Jim had such overwhelming authority in the Church, in large part because of his apparent psychic healing ability, if he called you up and said something, you were damn well going to believe it and deal with it. So that’s how it all worked.

People would be interviewed before they were allowed into the Church, and many times we would go to the places we had been before, and without knowing, the individual would have been interviewed, even in their own home by somebody from the Temple. They might not have even realized it was someone from the Temple. They might have thought it was somebody who was selling apples or something. But the purpose of the interview, of course, was it gives us as much information as possible. My mother, for example, was arrested in Los Angeles for going through someone’s garbage trying to find information like that. Even though we would be in unusual places- let’s say we would be in Seattle for the first time, Jim could call us out, and without our even thinking it was fraud, he had some previous information about us. It’s like I told you with my mom with my grades, he was very strategic in how he would bring you up and talk to you about these things. Remember, this was all a show. It was all just like the movies- all fake, and he was a good showman.”

(Q1021) Jones: “Well, we’ve had enough healings. You can tell him about enough healings. You can tell him you were healed of cancer. Tell the Father— The Father believes in healing. The thing to do, if somebody believes in healings, say, yes, that’s uh, true, I— he can heal you, and you’ll need him someday. Patty’s [Patty Cartmell] got a good one. When they start talking about me, she says, “You look just like somebody I knew the day before they died.”

Mike’s mom Patty had experience performing on stage and a flair for drama. Jim Jones claimed she was the first to help him fake healings. She went above and beyond to recruit new members. Patty had an amazing memory which Jones put to good use. She only had to spy into your medicine cabinet once to accurately report her findings to Jones for future discernments.

(Q964) Jones: (Sings, “Getting to know you,” from The Sound of Music) “Getting to know you, getting to know more about you. Getting to know you, getting to know more about you. [Jones and another man singing] Getting to hope you like me.”

Mike Wood: “See my mother’s part of staff. That was the 7 or 8 women that Jim really trusted, right? That would also include Archie Ijames and Jack Beam, Sr., but they were sort of secondary. So, here’s the way that Jim would, this was typical faith healing bullshit- he’d either send somebody out to talk to people who were new to the organization or hope to hear things that people were doing, and that person would come back and report things to Jim. That process became formalized over the years and became more aggressive. So if you wanted to be a member, you just didn’t walk in, you would walk in and be greeted by people like Laura [Johnston Kohl], and they would sit there and take a bunch of information from you and you would told to come back next week. Well, during that week they would send somebody out under some pretext or other to speak with you. Either they would pretend to be an insurance salesman or this or that or something, and they would come in and they would bring someone with them, and the somebody would say “May I use your bathroom please?” So, while this person is talking to you, whoever their partner was would go through the house and write down information and come back and that would all be transcribed onto the blue cards.  Then if you came back the next week that information would be immediately relayed to Jim, and he would have it and he would then use that in order to perform his paranormal miracles. So, you didn’t just look through people’s houses, you would look through their trash cans and garbage cans.

My mother, I don’t know whether she was assigned or volunteered– she had some crazy ideas, so I could see her volunteering for it. So there was a Black neighborhood [chuckles], my mother is this very heavy woman, she’s about 250 lbs., and very obviously white. So she puts on this afro and paints her face black, and wears this kind of weird ass dress. She’s going through this poor bastard’s garbage can [laughs], and this in Los Angeles, and it’s in a Black neighborhood, and so I guess the guy and his wife notice this crazy-looking woman in blackface going through their garbage can, so they are frightened and they call the police. Police show up and bust my mom [laughs], so they take her down to the Ramparts Police station, and she says “Well, I got one call, right?” They said yes, and she calls Jim, and she says “Hey, get me out of here or I'll tell them everything I know.” Because my mother had terrible claustrophobia, I mean she was just, she could hardly be able to stand to be in a room with the door closed, that was not her thing at all. So, they had to call Tim Stoen, who was a DA at the time, I think it was Mendocino County, So Tim then calls the police department and police chief, and they talk. Jim makes a special contribution to the police activities league or something and they release her. Jim called me in that night and said “Your mother’s a traitor, I hate to say this to you Mike, but she’s just a traitor. You have no idea the crazy stuff she’s been saying,” and so I then found out what had happened [laughs]. Well, but what’s he gonna do? Is he gonna bring it up publicly and say, “Well, you blew our whole scam,”? No, he just didn’t like the fact that he had to shell out some dough for it and use some of his political capital.” 

(Q964) Jones: “I– I sense there’s someone in the atmosphere with the name of Templeton, that has great difficulty, crippling condition in your back. Cecil Templeton?”

Cry from congregation

Jones: “Why don’t you just move out in the aisles and try your back now. Way at the back. Try it, try it, try it. You’re a stranger to me, as these people have not told me anything about their lives. You have told me nothing about your life, is that correct?”

Voice too soft

Jones: “Now bend down. Bend down. Bend down. Bend down, sir. Touch your toes. Go down. Touch your toes. Go on down.”

Congregation: Cheers.

Jones: “Up, up, up, up– Move each side– Move each side. Has the pain left?”

Voice too soft

Jones: “Has the pain left your back?”

Templeton: “It’s gone.”

Congregation: Cheers.

Jones: “Thank you, bless you” (Sings “Getting to know you”) 

Patty was the first of many who would play a vital role in Jim Jones’ otherworldly performances. The healings and miracles had to not only impress newcomers but long-time members who believed they had been healed.  Over time, a system was developed that ran like a well-oiled machine. Not every cog in the machine knew that the healings were fake, adding to the mystique.

(Q1059) Jones: “That’ll be fine. Laura Johnston, you be up here to receive this. (Pause) In the future, I’m– I want someone to be responsible for testimonies. I would take volunteers. Some of you want to work? I want somebody to stand over their testimonies, to tell people how to build faith.”

 Laurie Efrein (Kahalas): Henry Mercer was a man, I think he was already in his 70s when he came to us, and as a younger man he was on a picket line with a union and he had acid thrown in his face and he was blinded, and his sight was restored. I saw a lot of things, little Dov Lundquist, he was maybe 8 years old at the time, and he was in a car accident with his mother and his younger brother, and I don’t know- he went through a shattered windshield and he had Jim’s picture on him and the picture just showed a blood stain or something where he should have been killed. I never, and I handled the testimonies, so I was getting people writing from all over the country, people who had never even met him personally. He wasn’t like a televangelist, or anything like that, they didn’t have that kind of outreach then. But, I never, ever doubted that he had those phenomenal skills, healing skills, and phenomenal metaphysical skills, but at the same time, and I was really shocked, why would someone crap in their own nest if they’re- Sandy Bradshaw who worked in this little group called staff, which I guess they kept records on everybody backstage, she said,” No, he sometimes- he did that to warm up a new crowd or a hostile crowd, or he was in a new location.” She said, “Once he got going on his own he was phenomenal, and we weren’t needed.” That was her take on it, and she was like right in the middle of that. He definitely had gifts, and the way I was brought in was, I don’t know if I’d call it miraculous but I literally had a voice or spirit come tell me the date I was gonna come in. Then a few days later I found out about this meeting, and I came on that date. I knew my life would be transformed on that date. There were forces at work, and I’d always recoiled from the word cult, but I totally understand why people characterize it that way. He did have fantastic metaphysical gifts.” 

Vera Washington: “I don’t even believe in his shit. I didn’t believe that he knew nothing, I didn’t believe that he healed, because I was one of them people that went around to take the healing down, and 90% of that shit was fake. I knew they weren’t real cause Ava Cobb and I were the ones that collected the hea..., for example, you came to the church you got caught up in the fervor- when you checked in at the door you’d probably say I'm from Indiana, I'm from Ohio, and so he’ll call you out as if he got a discernment from you, and then he'll tell you something and you’ll get caught up in it. He would make you believe somehow or another that he knows all about you. After you're all caught up in that, and he holds you for whatever you have wrong with you, then we would go to you and say “OK, Jim just healed you, how do you feel about us using this in, like for example, a pamphlet?” and you would have to sign a paper saying that, yes, you would or you could decline it. And so, we knew that you weren't really healed of anything [laughs]. We knew that 90% of that stuff was not real.”

Tommy Washington: “For example, I’m in the audience, I got my crutches, this was his way of reassuring everyone that he was God, that he had powers, right? So, he would just call someone, “I see that you are crippled, you can’t walk, had an injury.” He would start breaking down things like that, and then the person would stand up with their crutches and he would start talking to them in these healing words and would come down, he had these red cloths that he would use. So, he would come down and he would place his hand upon the person and push them in the forehead and they would start shaking and stuff, and then all of a sudden they would get up with their crutches and then they’ll let their crutches go and then they’d run around the church, and people would be “Hallelujah! Praise Him!”  

Jack Arnold Beam: “I was around so much of it I just kind of took it for granted that he was helping people to be healed. I think early on there might have been some shenanigans going on that I didn’t know about, because I was a kid I really wasn’t focused on all of that. They used to have people in the Planning Commission dress up like older people and do all kinds of stuff and act like they got healed in the meetings- and it was more than a joke that he wanted to be God. It was a way of life, him manipulating people, and the more that he got into drugs, you lose total control of your emotional state. I mean it’s like an ego-driven situation. The more power that you gain, the more he’s trying to use. The more power that he got with nobody pushing back against him, I’m talking about major pushing back against him, the more he got away with, the more he tried. This is the crazy part- he had a lot people that were really decent, educated people; it wasn’t that they were a bunch of dumb butts. And them not being in on the inside of stuff, of what’s really going on, that they believed that that’s what was happening. I can remember a conversation one time where they were discussing- now this was with Jim, and he was discussing with one of the other guys- we had a swimming pool in the Redwood Valley church, how could we put polyurethane plastic underneath the surface of the swimming pool so that he could walk on water.”

(Q1057) Jones: “You’ve seen me walk on water, you’ve seen me go through buildings, you’ve seen me lift up a car off a body and save them, you’ve seen me restore sight to the blind, you’ve seen me walk, as I’ve said, through fire in Ukiah, and save a child and a little dog. How long we gonna play church?!”

God works in mysterious ways. Former Associate Pastor Hue Fortson Jr. knows this all too well. When he first joined the Temple, he was determined to poke holes in Jim Jones' bullet-proof façade. But Hue found himself so impressed with Jim Jones’ ministry and the social outreach programs he ignored his skepticism, for a time. It wasn’t until Hue had given everything to the Temple and had a congregation of his own that he realized what was going on behind the scenes. 

Hue Fortson: “Ignorance is… wow I like to say ignorance is the mother of a lot of inventions. But ignorance of me being ignorant to the fact that Jones was a very paranoid individual. I don't know if it was because of his manhood, or maybe some things happened in his life as a child that caused him, it’s kind of like, and I don't know if this will make sense, but it's kind of like when you meet a woman and you're trying to feel her out, and as you talk to her you find that she has a really a poor image of herself; maybe there's been some rejection those type things happened in her life, and she still trying to portray this. Yet still there's something she's hiding. Well in the public meetings, he’s real strong and he’s damning everything that is not like God, and showing how we should be, how we should live, how we should take care of one another, how we meet, unite with one another; power of the people, always the power of the people, and he was always saying these words that just ring in my head even today: we poor Black and white people need to join our resources together that we can build something. So, in two ways we’re beating ourselves up: one way we’re continually calling ourselves poor, and sure we can build things together 'cause he was still trying to etch in the new socialistic twist that he wanted to get in our spirits, yet we being poor.

In public meetings, the more you worked, it was like the more you got recognized, and I think I was doing it more for I believed in what I thought was the cause, which was actually helping people to get on their feet, to be able to purchase a home, even though I was afraid to purchase a home back in the day. I was given assignment after assignment and one of the assignments that I was given was that they want you when Father, by this time we started calling him Father instead of Pastor Jim. When he would come down, 'cause at this time he was coming down on Thursdays, 'cause he was trying to see how he could build LA up.  LA was really a goldmine for him because of the number of people that would show up, 'cause they were always advertising healing, and so that drew people in, I mean we usually have 2,000-3,000 people at one gathering, where he had to put extra seats out. OK, this was the situation: I was procuring cars and so this coming Friday or Saturday, we need five cars. Can you donate one of your cars? We’ll make sure it gets filled up, if there's any accident, they will take care of everything. You don’t have to worry, plus they’ll fill it up with gas. So, people were readily doing it, especially when they found out, that every now and then Jones himself would take a car and go somewhere. We had no idea, I just got the car. Well, I had a VW 412 at that time, a little yellow one, and it was a lemon 'cause it just kept breaking down. However, two of his workers, he tried to use a, with a Biblical twist: “missionary workers” that was the words he used they do missionary work.

Well, lo and behold, as they say, hindsight’s better than foresight, I had no idea that they were visiting people off of the mailing list, that they would take the name list that they would take every service, they would go visit to see if they were home. If they weren't home, they would look through their trash can, look through their windows if they could get away with it, and see certain items and make a notation on a 3x5 card, so when that individual came to one of the meetings, once again the mailing list would be done- again they would take names and the name takers at the front door and the greeters. During the latter part of the meeting, one of his nurses would come and take a copy of what had been registered. In turn, they would go to the 3x5 cards, and that would be one of the persons that would be part of the healing and deliverance, if you will, 'cause naturally all he has to do is look down and say, “OK, you live on 88th St, your house is green, you’ve get a broken trash can in your backyard,” and when you start talking like that, “like, wow, how did he know that?” Then you get these people around you, “Wow, he knows, he knows, he knows.” so you got hooked, and then pretty much whatever he tells you, unless you’re really strong-willed, then you're gonna believe what this man is saying. So in the midst of all that, they used my car and when they brought it back, they gave me the keys, and it was full of gas and, I was just getting ready to take off: I always like to put this under my terminology of “God takes care children and fools.” I was just getting ready to pull out of the lot and I just had this thought to look in the glove box, for no other reason. So I pulled the glove drawer open, and here's a stack of 3x5 cards with people’s names on it. I didn't go into it 'cause I'm figuring, wow this is important stuff, so I backed up the car and stalled it out, so I went to the back of the church building there on Alvarado Street.

So, when I knocked on the door, who opens the door but Jim Jones himself. And he said, “Can I help you?” And I said, “Yeah,” I said, “I allowed some of the missionary workers to use my car and I found these in the glove box,” so as I handed it to him, he looks, and his eyes get big and he says, “Oh my God!” and I'm thinking, “Oh my God? I thought you was running around here hollering you God?” So, he says did anybody see these? I said no, I just found them, and so I figured while I was here, I’d make sure I get it back to them, he said, “Well, thank you. I really appreciate it,” he said, “You don't know how valuable these are to the ministry.” So, I said, “OK, it's cool.” So, I went and jumped in the car and went on about. About two days later I get a call from one of his missionary/special ladies, and they said “Well Father wants you and your wife to be part of the counseling group, to be a counselor, to help the people when they have problems.” So I'm grinning and like, “Yeah, cool, OK, wow sounds generous,” but that meant after those long meetings, you were sitting talking to somebody, or during the week you're talking to somebody and they’re trying to figure out their lives, and you haven't got yours figured out yet, but you're trying to help somebody else. And from that, I did not see that, because of the things that I was doing around the Temple and in and out of the Temple, folks kind of considered me to have some kind of power. But I had unrealized power, 'cause I didn't realize I had it, and so as it were, to keep an eye on me. Now mind you this is hindsight, I finally figured this out myself: he decided that he wanted to place myself and my wife on PC, or the Planning Commission, so that meant after we had two, three to four hours of stuff going on in the so-called meeting. Then after that meeting, after you grab something to eat you’re to go and sit in this side room and you waited until he came in. It was like a totally different man that you saw out on the stage.”

Once you had seen the man behind the curtain Jim Jones drew you into his inner circle. Secrets were traded amongst the inner circle like currency, making Jim Jones the richest man in Peoples Temple. David Wise was also a member of the Planning Commission.

David Parker Wise: “If I understand, you just asked me what the deepest darkest secret of Peoples Temple is. The followers, participants, workers, and believers in Peoples Temple by and large had no secrets. Jim continued to try to teach people to have a secret since he met them, for instance, pretend that all this religious foo-Farah is not to raise money.”

(Q1053): Jones: “Think about that. You never saw a man that could speak out to a woman eight years and say, bolt out of there. I think I said, bolt. I think I said, bolt out of there. Though she was paralyzed. (Quieter) You’ve never seen a man could do that? Then is it too much to ask from you to get out of those old churches? Stay out of them? You’re committing adultery when you do that to me. You’re breaking my heart, because they’ve crucified me. They’re the ones that would nail me to the cross. Don’t ever do it. Look at her, how beautiful, getting around. Look at that hand, straightened out now. That hand was all paralyzed too. Good God, good God, good God, good God, good God, good God”

David Parker Wise: “I would say the entire congregation was beckoned with the most emotional blackmail you could imagine, to go along with fake healings in the name of socialism. This gave Jim Jones an unfortunate license to be able to lie. I'm not in favor of building truth upon lies, or maybe some limited thing like Archie Ijames first said that you can stop the spread of the fire by burning a little piece of the forest out in a controlled manner, and it might stop the fire. OK, but after a while that excuse must run thin. When Patty Cartmell left some healing instructions that were partly written in black and partly in red on old school typewriters, you could get a ribbon that's half red and half black, and then suddenly they were so sloppy and disorganized that they left a page or two behind, here and there. I’ve never told this to anyone, I just realized now this is really some breakthrough kind of information. When they left a page or two behind, of the healing information Jim Jones had to wear his glasses and then look down with his eyes, where you couldn't see it 'cause he had glasses on, and he looked down and read off of the damn paper. So I took that paper each time they, about three times they left the paper behind, and I let them know later- … but he couldn't really get Patty Cartmell in trouble, and he couldn't get himself in trouble.

So they were just that disorganized that they came in, did this swashbuckling service that ran everybody’s vibes and emotions through the ceiling and counted their money on the way out the door. I took these pages when I realized this is part of the church that I'm in, and I'm a pastor, and I'm supposed to hold a service, and I said like, “Gloria Smith,” the way that Jim did, and I watched. She is out there, and I know I'm effing with people's minds, and then she's not gonna say jump out and say “Oh yeah, Oh yeah, thank you, Jesus!” Everything was dead quiet. I was letting her know that I knew something. 

And when he called you out, he told you about people in your family, and he proceeded to heal the cancer they would have taken you from that very family. So she said “yes,” so basically there was no great enthusiasm because they didn't know what they were getting involved in. They all confirmed what I understand now to be the method of carrying out the healing. It's like, you gotta step into it, you don't get healed by saying that you doubt something, you get healed by faith, that's why it's called a faith healing. I said on such and such date you were healed of cancer. Is that true? I looked at her, and she looked so iffy, because now it wasn't about jumping around in front of the crowd to show off, it was like I'd postured it in a way, it's sort of like a healing verification manner, and it was like “yeah, yeah, sure, yeah that's what happened, yep.” [Laughs] I thought what the eff!!?”

Did you ever believe that Jim Jones had any supernatural powers?

David Wise: “No, no.” 

(Q1059) Jones: “I was just about prepared to call out someone, and the spirit of Truth within me checked, and said no, they cannot be healed, even though I had deep flashes about their condition, and the reason was that they’re critical of me raising money. Now, that’s an awful reason to die.” [crowd stirs]

David Wise: “And of course, when I was in Los Angeles, I was in the perfect place where I could actually verify that things were pretty much staged and that nothing… no one’s disease had actually gone away, for the most part. We see that there's a self-imposed emotional extortion involved. If someone is part of a public healing, not only do they want attention from the person doing the healing, but they're inclined to cooperate, they actually want to be healed, and they have a name it and claim it, step into it Christian positioning where that's their philosophy, that's their attitude. So, what that means is, is that they're going to go along, and they're gonna say that they're healed, whether they're healed or not. They believe that in order to get healed they have to say they’re healed. Having to go along and say you're healed when you are not is kind of a self-imposed extortion. You've got to go along with this faith. You say if you're not healed, if the pain is coming back, I must be lacking in faith.”

(Q1019) Jones: “–You sit back there and you say (exhalation) show me another miracle. (exhalation) Show me another healing. (exhalation) But you never get the teachings. You’re just like a little bird in a nest. You got your mouth open; you want a fish worm all the time, but you never want to get your own wings out and help me get some of the fish worms. You want to sit in the nest from now on. You want to sit there and open your beak for me to put a fish worm in, and some of you’ll be sitting here for 50 years if I’d let you, and you’d never use your wings. You’d let me work my wings and my tail and my head off. I coulda said worse, but I didn’t. You will let me work myself to death, tryin’ to get the worms and you’ll sit here, doing nothing.”

 David Wise: “He began to lose his mind, and do things that I thought were cruel to people. I wanted to know all the secrets, anything that was going on around me. I called a locksmith and had him come and open the lock to a trunk that was kept in the upstairs area where I stayed, connected to sort of a larger area where the main staff members stayed when they would come down from San Francisco and Ukiah. I opened the trunk and looked in there, and it was a collection of stuff like rotting chicken livers and stuff like that for fake healings. Patty would type up a list of people that she got out of the trash cans, behind peoples’ houses, because the membership committee would greet people as they came in and get their addresses. Patty Cartmell would come down to Los Angeles a day or two in advance, and that gave her time to go to these people’s addresses and do a series of things- make a fake phone call, knock on their door and say that she ran out of gas or her car overheated.”

(Q1057) Jones: “I don’t know. You said you’re Christian. That’s all right, what’s your Christian? You like Christianity. I said I had to give people a little bit of truth, they’ve seen too many miracles, and they’re all up in seventh heaven, and they’re saying, oh, what Jesus is doing through him. What Jesus is doing through him. Nobody does a thing through me, honey. It’s ME that does it!”

David Wise [laughing]: “But she was willing to get inside of garbage cans, and she was really bold. She would knock on the door and say “I ran out of gas right down the street, and I need to use your telephone because I'm late, really late. Can you help me, please? I know I'm in like a Black neighborhood here, and I'm white and everything, and I'm afraid that somebody will just blame me for all the wrong that white people have done. Can I use your phone right now?” And then somebody says, “Sure come in and use the phone, but calm down, you know?” And so, then she comes in. Gets on the telephone and says, “Oh I'm stuck down here in blah blah blah, hold on a minute I'm gonna call you right back.” And then hangs up. “I have to go to the bathroom now, I gotta go to the bathroom now!” “OK, OK, right in here.” Goes to the bathroom, goes through all of their medications, and writes everything down on a piece of paper. Then suddenly now, we're on stage in the Peoples Temple, and that lady, whose name was first taken from the membership committee, and got on the list there, was chosen as what looked like a dedicated member. Suddenly, Jim is saying, “Betsey Johnson.” “Oh, Father, Father! Oh, God, thank you, Jesus!” I'm not making fun of nobody, I'm just telling you, that's the way it goes, OK?

 “God, in the form of my body, standing here today, is ready to intercede and change your situation. And I'm reaching down into your pancreas, moving into your pancreas with the glucagon from the blah blah. God says that's gone! That’s something in your past! You are healed in the name of the revolution!” Or something to throw in a little social change in there. Alright, let's throw in socialism about now, preferably at your high points and stuff like that. And then people think what did he mean? what did he mean? So he proceeds to tell the intellectual insiders, “Well, I'm going through religion to get rid of religion.”

When you first visit Peoples Temple, there are no warning signs. No evidence of an advanced system of espionage intended to manipulate and defraud you. You are welcomed to Redwood Valley by a friendly greeter who encourages you to fill out a prayer card with your name and address. Anything important gleaned from this initial conversation is written on the back of the card and placed in a stack to be organized later. During the service, a Temple member sits next to you making light conversation and sharing stories about how the Temple has changed their lives. Distracted by the razzle-dazzle of an amazing first day at the Temple you never noticed that throughout the day you were watched, and all the information collected about you added to an index card that already reads like a shallow biography. As you decide as to whether or not you’d like to visit again, the inner circle determines if you are worth pursuing as a valued member.  Between now and your next visit the Temple does its homework. Patty drives to your neighborhood and goes through your trash, discovering several medical bills, a report card, a letter from dear Aunt Agnes, and a grocery store receipt. From these items alone Patty is able to discern that you have heart problems and are no longer working, which is making it difficult for you to put food on the table and causing your children’s grades to slip. But thanks to old Aunt Agnes there might be a large inheritance in the not-too-distant future.

Your next visit to Peoples Temple is like a homecoming. People not only remember your name but the names of your children. The Temple offers free tutoring for your kids, they feed your hungry family and miraculously, Jim Jones does what medical science said was impossible: he heals your heart.

Many former members who participated in the fake healings, or knew about them, believed Jones was giving people the hope they needed to carry on through their hardships. Others believed it was a spiritual gateway to divine socialism. Atheists were told that if Jones had to manipulate people through their old mystical religious practices to bring them into the collective, their money was far better spent on Temple programs than some false prophet’s Cadillac.

(Q945) Jones: “I’m telling you; you can have life. Lots of you could have a great deal more if you’d just come and go with us. I can say a lot of things here tonight, but you come out and see how I live, you’ll see I practice what I preach. [You say,] I can’t go out there. I told you to get on there tonight. We’ll hold up the bus long enough for you to go home and get your little bit of things. You can take your wraps and put ‘em in a gunny sack and come on with us. Ahh. I’m talkin’ about a little bit of heaven on earth. Say, “I’m waitin’ on– I’m gonna die to go to heaven.” Okay. Each to their own.”

At one time, Mike Wood was Jim Jones’ designated successor. He got to experience firsthand the thrill and adulation of the crowd and a glimpse, however brief, of what Jones saw when he looked out from behind the pulpit.  

Mike Wood: “At that point, I really didn't believe in the healings anyway. I was a good socialist. I believed the ends justifies the means. Well, if we’re gonna keep these people by virtue of their belief in Jim as a healer, then that's what we have to do. So, we have to promote that because then they can believe in him. Then he can transfer that loyalty to the philosophy itself. That was my thinking. Whatever Jim is going to ask us to do to benefit the cause. If we have to raise our hands and pretend to get happy during a meeting, or if we have to work with somebody, or to perform a phony miracle, hey you know, it's worth it. That was my belief. I've never been called on to do anything like that before and I certainly wouldn’t have done it on my own, it would have been blasphemy.

We always took offerings at the bus– boy something we have to talk about is the flow of funds, we can do that next time because that's something that most people miss- most people didn't know how it worked. I think I was taking money or something at all the buses, and I came up to Jim, to bus 7, which was Jim’s bus. He said, “Hey Mike, come here, I need to talk to you. So I go, in and “Mike, this afternoon I'm going to use you with my healing services. Here's what I’m gonna do. I'm gonna call you up. I'm actually going to transfer- make it seem like I’m transferring my ability to heal to you.” Now here's one of the reasons I think he did this; we always had monthly birthday parties; they were a lot of fun. And we had a skit crew, and I was part of it, so we did a bunch of fun stuff. We would take Tom Lehrer or Stan Freberg vignettes and songs, and turn them into little stage plays, little humorous comedy vignettes. They were a lot of fun, and I was always, I was generally speaking the leading man, or I had some role. Since I was always doing that, Jim knew I had some experience acting if you will, minor to be sure, so I think that may have been going through his mind too. Mike is my designated successor, I need to show the community that I can, even if I'm not around, I can pass on my capability to anybody I choose, and since Mike’s the next guy, I gotta show that he's got it, and I can have some competition. Mike: a) because he’s loyal to me, and b) because he's got a little acting experience, and he’s not too fucking stupid. I think all that shit was going through his mind. So, I want you to do this, and I was like, “What are you talking about?” you know, “Do you really want to do something this wild?” He said, “Yeah, I really need to do it, I want you to do it.” So, I said, “I don't know what to do.” He said “Don’t worry about it, go talk to Carolyn, I said, “Jim, I don't have any psychic insight.” He just laughed at me and patted me on the back, and he said “Just go talk to Carolyn, OK? She'll tell you what to do. But don't worry about it.” So, I said, “OK” and so off I went to talk to Carolyn, and Carolyn says “Yeah Mike, here’s what you should do, here’s these three blue cards that have all the information you're going to need about these three individuals. Memorize it and give me these cards back. Now, when Jim calls you out this afternoon, here's how you're gonna play it,” and she was like a director, and so I said, “OK, I got, I’ll do it.”

So, the afternoon comes and I'm delivering, I have to deliver the offering counts up to Jim, so I walked through the audience, the congregation to get to the front. This is the LA church, it’s a really beautiful structure if you ever get to LA you have to take a look at it. It's a helluva neighborhood. So, anyway, I go to hand Jim the offering count, and he says “Stop right there stop. Stop right there, my son. Clear your mind.” and throws his arms around and stuff like that. He says “Now, I'm going to give you the names of three individuals. I'm going to tell you something about them, and then I’m going to describe these diseases they have, and on my command, you will heal those people of those various diseases.” You know, hey man, I’m playing along too like we're really doing a good job playing off each other. I'm acting really surprised, and I'm pretending to concentrate, cause you really had to concentrate because you had to remember this stuff like they had this pair of shoes in that part of their closet; this medication in this part of their medicine cabinet, that kind of stuff, really detailed shit. Or there's a bill that has to be paid, it was due in February, and it was that kind of stuff, I mean stuff that was really pretty damn personal. So, I had [laughs] holy moly, I'm telling you, you could feel the rafters shake in that old building. The whole assembly, it just came unglued, went nuts, ladies that we called out swooned, fell over or got happy, and shook and jumped, and I mean it was so incredible, I almost believed it myself because it was just fucking wild. People just were, it was extraordinary. I said, “Damn man, this is a good act, we could take this thing on the road.”

(Q958 Jones): “It was thrilling yesterday when I was able to use one of my men, in case this body have to be away for a while, it was beautiful how I just called him out and said, you’re gonna stand there, I’m gonna send my thoughts to you, ‘cause I felt some of my people gettin’ shaky, what’s gonna happen to me if Jim Jones isn’t here? What’s gonna happen? They got kinda shaky. And I stood him over there at that microphone, nice kid– nice young man, got part Indian in him, all races and alley dog like the rest of us. Studying to be a lawyer, halfway through law school, and I just says, stand up there, I’m gonna practice God through you. And I went through his mind and called out, you were called out and healed from him. I told him my thoughts, I wrote them down here as I do, and then I meditated on them, and they went right through to him, and he brought the healing. Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous. And that’s what I want. I’d like to have a man like Jim Jones so that there’d be more of me for you.”

In 1972 USC Film School students David Gottlieb and Jim Ruxin were given permission to make a documentary about Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. For several days they shot interviews with Jones and Temple members around Redwood Valley.

(Q964) Jones: “Our healing– Our healing services will go on throughout the day, but I think enough has been done now to give the authenticity to sane spiritual healing, and I think that it might be in order for questions to come from people who are here from this fine film production agency or from the floor. If you uh, have any quick questions you’d like to ask, so that people could get an idea of our– our thoughts. Anyone have any questions they’d like to– the lights make it a little (unintelligible word)– Yes?

We are not interested in any kind of oppressive systems. We want our liberty, or we want death.

Peace. (Pause) Peace. Peace. Peace. So people come to me for various reasons. I have reached people in my classroom where I’m a schoolteacher. I served as a schoolteacher for many years. I reached one of my members as a foreman of the grand jury. I reached one person because of the treatment that I gave in a riot, because I stood up for those that needed peace and needed justice. I received one lady here because I took in her stray cats. She had 30 and she came to me and found that I had 50, and I still took her extra cats. You see, I– we– uh, I’ve got people who see me on every kind of level, and whosoever loveth– if people are kind and gentle and they practice the great ethics of the Judeo-Christian tradition or the ethics of love general, they’re welcome in here. These doors are open to everyone that loves.

And I should say– I should say these doors are welcome to everyone who are trying to love, because most of us are just getting to know a little bit about love. In this church, there’s no class, creed, racial consciousness. (Cries out) We are one.”

 At first the film seemed like great PR for the Temple, but the project abruptly fell apart.

David Wise: “I was there at that meeting where you have the footage. I was up on stage, right beside Jim Jones, to his left, with Jack Beam over to his right. Jim Jones did something that was sort of typical of his personality and that's to start all this up, then say I want them out of here, get them out of here. Like filmmakers were going to find something wrong with little old ladies in church mode, and that someone was gonna find something wrong with them and mock them. But no one was trying to mock anyone at the time, but it was an opportunity for him to divide and conquer the idea systems involved. And, on the other hand, we must realize that he's right, in the end: the film footage was used to try to find things wrong. In the end, he was correct.”

The film begins with an introduction to Peoples Temple, at the time a relatively unknown church group with a paranormal ministry. We see a group of young church members in Redwood Valley giving testimonies about Jim Jones' divine gifts. Many of these faces are members of the inner circle, including Larry Schacht, Lee Ingram, Harriet Tropp, Teri Buford, and several others. Jim Jones gives a relaxed-on camera interview and shows off his parrot. The footage is incredibly unique because up until now, the Temple had avoided being scrutinized by the media. The filmmakers are treated warmly, and the Temple appears to be an open book. For most of the short film, Jim Jones appears without his sunglasses, proudly touring Temple properties and showing off their achievements. We see a senior citizen’s care home, the children’s choir, the vineyards, and finally a church service. During the faith healing portion of the service, Jack Beam is seen whispering something to Jones at the podium. Jim Jones stares directly into the camera with an accusatory, almost wrathful glare. Suddenly the glasses are on, and Jim makes an announcement:

Jones: “I really don’t feel comfortable with our worship being photographed. I really don't. I must go against the entire council; I don't feel good about it. I, I can, they can photograph me all they choose 'cause I do not care– I'm fearless. I come unafraid of anything, but I don't want the cameras focusing on others. I don't want them. Focus on me all you want. I owe something to my people, and that’s to be a good pastor, and that I am– the best pastor.”

 David Wise: “Like the late Archie Ijames said, “Jim Jones came to a fork in the road. He took the wrong direction.” At first, all the followers of the Peoples Temple had been made to believe that we were going to create an outreach program and spread our ideas far and wide. Part of that thinking led to the film crew coming to Los Angeles. But he interrupted it. He no longer wanted an outreach program. He didn't want people to know about the Church, about what was going on with the Church, or the ideas of the Church. He just went for personal power over the people in a closed environment where you shut the doors and rule over the people that you have underneath you. It's much different than an outreach program: it's a cult and not a culture. And so, Jim Jones made the decision, and he chose cult over culture and stopped the filming. And part of the other reasons behind stopping the filming was because the people he was using and micromanaging to be in the film were participating in fake healings, and he didn't want that kind of scrutiny, because he had a house built on sand, and a house built of cards, and he didn't want anybody to be able to pick this apart and to discover that he was a fake. At the bottom of it all was the end of even the pretense that there was going to be an outreach, that there was going to be speeches given, that there was going to be some way of going down in history as a great speaker, instead of just someone who's blowing up their ego like a balloon; which was only destined to pop.

So, Jim Jones looked over to me and looked over to Jack Beam and he said “I want them, I want them out of here, get them out of here. They don't wish us any good, they're not gonna do us any good. I want them out of here!” So, we went and we told them “Pack it up. It's over.” And there was not an example of the fulfillment of the dream. The worm had turned.”

I wonder what Jack Beam whispered to Jim Jones that caused him to put a stop to the film so abruptly?

(Q964) Jones: “You’re the only group I’ve ever allowed this, because I’ve seen some people, but they wanted to focus in on our people when they were enjoying themselves, and I’ve watched you, you’re very responsible people, and we appreciate that. One group came once, they had their cameras all set up and they focused in on a little black lady that didn’t happen to be dressed just as well as another, and she was dancing, and I said, get your cameras moving, and they moved in five minutes.”

The USC film was the first and last time the Temple opened itself up to the curious press. The footage is fascinating to watch, juxtaposing all we think we know about life in the Temple and Jim Jones’ temperament.

(Q973) Jones: “Because I wasn’t afraid to let somebody in and put the photographers on me. I just said, don’t put the photographers on my people when they’re dancing, don’t make fools of my people. Once a group came in, they wanted to heal, they said they wanted to see my healings, I said, fine. But they got in, and they photographed one of my Black sisters that was getting shout a blessing, and I said get out.”

Congregation: Stirs

Jones: “I kicked their fannies out in about two minutes flat. Reason they don’t have anything, these churches, they say they believe in Jesus, and they won’t– they’re afraid their faith’ll be interrupted if a camera is present. (chuckles) Let me tell you, they don’t have anything, if they’re afraid of a camera. I’m not afraid of a camera or a cannon. When I get ready to do my work, and it’s the right time to expose our work, I wouldn’t be afraid if they had a machine gun on me, I could still stop the machine gun, raise the dead, and heal fifteen people of cancer.”

The same week the USC students filmed inside the Temple; Lester Kinsolving published the first of several articles condemning Peoples Temple in The San Francisco Examiner. Accusations of brainwashing, violence, abuse, and fraud were exposed and the Temple's beliefs in the divine gifts scrutinized. It was the largest scandal the Temple had faced up to that point and just the beginning of their campaign to defend their reputation by micromanaging their public image. 

David Gottlieb and Jim Ruxin did not depict any of Jim’s divine gifts in the final version of the film. 

Jones: “Take care, Alight? With all due respect to people in the media, this is not, this is in no way a reflection on them. I just have found that media in a society such as ours isn't privileged really tell the truth. That's my feeling, it's just not privileged to tell the truth, so we, we have great respect for these young people, some of them are committed to their ideals, so serving their fellow man. I'm not so sure what happens as things go on up through the bureaus and through the agencies. I know that there's a terrible repression in this land, and I'm deeply concerned about it, but there's something so deeply sacred about worship; it's like romance between two people. It's our romance together in a higher plane, and I don't want it ever again, there'll never be a permission on my part to allow anyone to come in and photograph you, no.”

Jack Arnold Beam song “I Wanna Run”

The Attention Span Recovery Project would like to thank Jack Arnold Beam for contributing the song “I Wanna Run.” If you are participating in the Sunday Service immersive experience, shift your bodies and stick around for part 3. 

Jones: “I think now if you feel that you have what you need you may retire to go, where are you going to go for the other testimony and interviews? You said they wish to interview other people- the staff? Alright, alright. If you would, so that we can conduct, go on with the service then. We've been very thrilled having you. I've [unintelligible] for you and I understand that there are some guests with you, if you will step over they'll get ready to make some refreshments available to you, you've been very patient to set, we've got a long and enduring meeting to take place– oh, not so much longer. Are they going to where, is it going to take place? Claire, will you help here, get them to the place where they– turn the lights on. Give your neighbor a good kiss.” [Jones sings] 

END TRANSMISSION

(Q671) Mike Prokes: “One day my ear began hurting, and I didn't pay much attention to it until the pain got extremely intense and finally unbearable. It was really the worst pain I'd ever felt. So I, I did go to the doctor, and he gave me some antibiotics for it. And there was a service that weekend, but I, I had to miss it, I was in so much pain….and.”

Jones: “You’re saying too many “and uh’s,” Mike, if you can avoid the “and uh’s,” it’s a – it’s the only fault you have. (Unintelligible word) Back up, back up to where he’s uh – ’cause I interrupted, he didn’t know what was going on. Ah, I – I kinda fucked you up back there, but you didn’t – you didn’t do badly, you went right into it. Where’re – where’re we at? Let’s hear it, Donny [Casanova].”

[Prokes] “So I – I did go the doctor, and he gave me some antibiotics for it –“

Jones: “Stop. Stop.”

Prokes: “– and uh –“

Jones: – “for it.” – “for it.”

Engineer [Dick Tropp]: “He says, “antibiotics for it.” Right at that point.”

Donny: “Okay.”

Engineer: “Cue it to that – right after “it.”

Prokes: “– for it.”

Donny: “Okay.”

Prokes: “The doctor then told me to go home and get a lot of rest. And I was laying in bed, and the phone rang, and uh, I went –“

(Papers rustling)

Prokes: “Uh, take it back, take it back, because I – I want to –“

Jones: “Take it back to “and uh”, take it back. Take it back to “and uh”. He’s uh – just before “and uh”.”

Low voices. Several voices compete.

Jones: “And uh – ” Find, “and uh”.

Several voices compete.

Recording: [Prokes] “– to sleep, to escape the pain. And I was laying in bed, and the phone rang, and uh, I went –“

Jones: “Stop with, “and the phone rang.” Stop.”

Prokes: “– and uh, I went –and the phone rang.”

Jones: “That’s it. Uh, that shows my intuition, to uh, bring something to – to be aware of it. Ready.”

Prokes: “I should mention at this point that the pain – no only did the ear – but I could not hear out of the uh, out of the ear. And I answered the phone and forgot that I couldn’t hear in the one ear and put the phone to the deaf ear.” (Talks to self, too low)

Jones: “Take it back.”

Prokes: “Take it back to the phone.”

Engineer: “Okay.”

Prokes: “I don’t know how I can say hear and ear and –“

Engineer: “Okay.”

Jones: “All right, who was on that phone? Me?”

Prokes: “Yeah.”