
#Jackier spier shot 5 times guyanna free#
Jones claimed that he was constructing a socialist paradise free from the oppression of the United States government. Jones followers engaged in a communal lifestyle where they turned over all their income and property to Jones and Peoples Temple who directed all aspects of community life.įollowing a period of negative media publicity and reports of abuse at Peoples Temple, Jones began constructing Jonestown in Guyana during 1974 and gradually began convincing and compelling many of his followers to live there with him. Jones became progressively more controlling of the members of Peoples Temple, which at its peak had over 3,000 members. Beginning in the late 1960s, Jones became increasingly vocal in his rejection of traditional Christianity and began promoting his teachings as "Apostolic Socialism" and making claims of his own divinity. Jones developed connections with prominent California politicians and was appointed as chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission in 1975. In 1965, he moved the Temple to California, where the group established its headquarters in San Francisco and became heavily involved in political and charitable activity throughout the 1970s. In 1964, Jones joined and was ordained a minister by the Disciples of Christ his attraction to the Disciples was largely due to the autonomy and tolerance they granted to differing views within their denomination.Ĭlaiming Indianapolis would be destroyed by nuclear weapons, Jones traveled to South America and California in an effort to locate a suitable location to move Peoples Temple in 19. Jones distinguished himself through civil rights activism, founding the Temple as a fully integrated congregation, and promoting Christian Socialism. Jones founded the organization that would become the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1955. With their support, Jones took a leadership role in multiple international conventions where he recruited many new members for his church. Jones' initial popularity arose from his joint campaign appearances and endorsement by the movements' prominent leaders, William Branham and Joseph Mattsson-Boze.

He was ordained as a Christian minister in the Independent Assemblies of God and attracted his first followers while participating in the Pentecostal Latter Rain movement and the Healing Revival during the 1950s.

In what he claimed to be a "revolutionary suicide", Jones and his inner circle orchestrated a mass murder–suicide in his remote jungle commune at Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978.Īs a youth, Jones developed an affinity for pentecostalism and a desire to be a preacher. James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American cult leader, political activist, preacher, and faith healer who led the Peoples Temple, a new religious organization which existed between 19. "Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple".
