Today is the 47th year memorial of Jonestown. Make sure you visit the interesting links below Bob Barney’s column that The Plain Truth has posted over the years regarding the truth of this travesty.
On November 18, 1978, at the direction of charismatic cult leader Jim Jones, 909 members of the People’s Temple died. Jones organized what was deemed a “revolutionary suicide” ordering his members to their death by an apparent cyanide poisoning…all but two people lost their lives.
That single event holds a great deal of memories for me.
In 1978, after studying the Bible for 4 years and trying with all of my heart to prove that the Bible was not the word of God, I would come to find the opposite was in fact true. It would be events in my life coupled with reading the words on the pages of the Bible that brought me to the conclusion that I just could not prove the Bible wrong. I could, however, prove most of Christianity wrong quite easily as after these important years of study, I came to the realization that Christianity for the most part, simply does not follow the teachings of God! I am talking about the very teachings that are plain as day and found in His Holy Book! Consequently, I did not come to the belief structure that I follow to this day without hardship. I did not want to accept everything the Bible made clear to me, and even worse for me yet, history, science, archeology and common sense all proved the Bible to be an accurate source of knowledge that came from the mind of God. Like I just stated, it was not an easy process or time for me!
In October of 1978, I finally knew that the God of the Bible was real. I could deny that fact no longer.
I am a graduate of the University of Connecticut, so on November 17, 1978, I decided to drive back there from another part of Connecticut where I was living, rent a hotel room, and purposely read the Bible from cover to cover over those next few days. On November 18th, the news broke on the hotel room’s TV that Jim Jones shot and killed a congressman and had some 900 followers murdered by instructing them to drink a cyanide-laced Kool Aid. I was shocked to see firsthand how misusing the word of God could lead to death, especially at this particular time in my life.
The sad thing that I came away with was that most Americans falsely believe that what Jim Jones did has nothing to do with mainstream religion. They are partly right but also are historically wrong.
All one has to do is search the Spanish Inquisition, or the murders by BURNING of those Godly men who decided to print the Bible in English. Yes, mainstream Christianity has its own Jonestown tragedies, and the reason why is so clear to me…
When we allow men to tell us what is in the Bible and we do not read the Bible for ourselves, we open up our minds to Satan and false Christianity.
After many years, I published a Bible and Commentary (5 Volumes worth), which is now available on Amazon. The Plain Truth Study Bible comes in two forms, in paperback volumes and on Kindle. I will say that the volume form is expensive, I admit, but that is Amazon’s pricing that they require for the actual printing. I make very little on a purchase and then donate back any profits by giving away free volumes for people in need. There is a Kindle version, here, for $9.99.
You don’t have to buy the Bible I am offering, but you do need to read the Bible!
You will be shocked to see that what you thought were on the pages of the Bible actually are not there. Equally so, you will find that things you have been told are not in the Bible, actually are in the Bible!
Back to this unnecessary tragedy of Jonestown, most probably are not aware that some actually survived! A number of Jonestown survivors have spoken out about the mass suicide and murders that killed the only life they ever knew and how they have managed to build new lives in the four decades since the fateful day.
More than 900 members of the Peoples Temple had lived on the agricultural mission in the distant jungle of Guyana, South America, led by the cult leader Rev. Jim Jones. It was Jones who dreamed up Jonestown and Jones who willed it into being; it was also by his hand that it was brought down. Everything started with the first calamity of the assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four others by temple members on a nearby airstrip on November 18, 1978. Things escalated with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds of people which to this day is a horror in itself and an event that is unimaginable even 40 years later.
In the midst of the horror, some survived as dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or just so happened to be away that day. As a result, those that live to tell about it were plunged into a new world outside of the cult as those raised in the temple or who joined as teens lost the only life they knew; church, jobs, housing – and most of all, family and friends.
I will always remember this tragedy as it happened during a very important part of my journey in coming to know the true God of the Bible.
Read More about JONESTOWN HERE
A look back at Leo Ryan’s heroism at Jonestown (wnd.com)
How TV networks distorted coverage of Jim Jones story – The Plain Truth
Does anyone remember Angela Davis? – The Plain Truth
The Unanswerable Questions of Jonestown 37 Years Later – The Plain Truth