Peoples temple cult

by jacethespace 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  jacethespace

  I just watched a documentary about the peoples temple cult and was suprised to find there is some intresting similarites between there attitude beliefs and the watchtower society.

  They began as an ordinary group intrested in morals and god and jim jones gradually manipulated them to the point of murder and suicide.

  He would reprimand people in front of the whole congregation playing on peoples fears and guilt to the point where sometimes he would encourage others to hit a " wrongdoer".As he got more control over the people they feared to leave and anyone that spoke about leaving was turned in by there own family, hmm that sounds familar.

  Jim jones feared some that got out and tried to shield the congregation from bad press which is why around 900 were " encouraged " to leave america and go to guyana to what they called jonestown.He told his members that they couldnt leave and that the world would harm them if they ever left.

  At one time he passed around a cup to drink and then told the congregation they had drank poison then after they panicked he told them it wasnt true he was just " testing to see how loyal they would be to him".

  When they moved to jonestown they set up there own paradise.They grew there own food and made themselves completly independant from the outside world.They built there own homes and would have no outside information except a loudspeaker which jim jones spoke over and used recorded speechs on even throughout the night.He was telling them that the whole world was coming to turn on them and kill them and take away what they had.

  When they said they wanted to leave he would say they were committing " blasphemy" by leaving and they would change there mind.

  Sadly at the end they encouraged mass suicide and took with them a visiting congressman.

  Paradise quickly turned into chaos and a nightmare and it got me thinking about the wachtowers utopian dream of paradise on earth.If they watchtower cant get things right now how the hell are they going to be capable of governing the whole planet in " the new system.

  This isnt the same documentary but heres a link to one documentary about the peoples temple

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3625536419231928674&q=peoples+temple&total=2133&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

  Note the beggining of this docu it says " nobody joins a cult no one joins something they think is going to hurt them".
• 

  Maddie

  I watched it too and like you was struck by some of the similarities to the WT. All cults have the same mind control techniques and all are evil.

  Maddie
• 

  tijkmo

  i watched this too..very interesting stuff

  hadn't realised a senator had visited and was killed trying to leave on the day of the kool aid drinking.

  i recorded it and will use some clips in a vid to a song what i wrote (co-wrote)
• 

  strawberry cake

  Me and my husband watched it. The way Jim Jones become their God and their bible also the way the people stopped thinking for themselves highlighted for me how cults work....how the Watchtower works....Glad I got out, I hope my 2 sons will come soon.... strawberry cake
• 

  garybuss

  
  "When you meet the friendliest people you have ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you've ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you've ever met, and then you learn that the cause of the group is something you never dared hope could be accomplished, and all of this sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! Don't give up your education, your hope and ambitions to follow a rainbow."
  
  - Jeanne Mills, former member of the People's Temple and subsequent victim of assassination a year following the Nov. 18, 1978 Jonestown suicides/murders of 911 adults and children.
  
  ***
  
• 

  Atlantis

  (Credit goes to WTO) The following quotes were so
  much (alike), that I had to use
  an identifying letter at the end
  of each quote, so that I could
  tell the difference!
  
  
  
  
  ("space ship") would need to devote more time to
  disciplined training. Learning to serve was the
  ("path") to ridding oneself of the ways of this world
  and one's earthly body. (O).
  
  
  2. Guidance also is needed by man's ( "spaceships").
  In many of these vehicles, this need is met by a
  guidance system consisting of a computer, observation
  transducers, an inertial navigator and steering actuators.
  In fact, these very things may be used to illustrate
  mankind's need for divine guidance. (E).
  
  
  3. The ( "spaceship's "brain") is the computer. Into it a
  programmer feeds a mathematical trajectory, or
  reference ("path"). (E).
  
  
  4. The Heavenly Kingdom to tell of was not simply
  spiritual, but literal. The method of transportation to
  this Kingdom was a ("spacecraft"). (O).
  
  
  5. This connects the starting position with the destination.
  The reference ("path") may also take into account obstacles
  and forbidden regions to be avoided. (E).
  
  
  6. Those who wanted to be aboard the heavenly
  ("space ship") would need to devote more time to
  disciplined training. Learning to serve was the
  ("path") to ridding oneself of the ways of this
  world and one's earthly body. (O).
  
  
  7. For example, one way that position is determined
  is by a star tracker that makes use of stars and planets
  to fix the ("ship's position") in space. (E).
  
  
  8. After 1,260 days of bearing witness to the truth,
  their enemies would kill them. This event would be
  followed by their ascension to heaven in a cloud.
  The cloud, he believed, was a ("spacecraft"). (O).
  
  
  9. Then the computer uses this information to estimate
  the ("spaceship's") present position and velocity, compares
  this with the reference ("path") originally programmed into
  it to reach its destination, and determines the corrections
  necessary to put itself back on this course. (E).
  
  
  10. . After launching, the ("spaceship") strays from its
  course frequently and is corrected many times. (E).
  
  
  11. Despite the fact that it often strays off course, the
  ("ship") finally reaches its destination because it is always
  correcting itself while progressing toward its target. (E).
  
  
  12. It might be said that, when he accepts God's way, in
  his mind the Christian programs a ("reference path") `that
  has baptism as its starting point and eternal life as its final
  destination. (E).
  
  
  13.The Christian must constantly refer to this Biblical
  ("pathway") to check whether he is keeping "on course"
  or not. (E).
  
  
  14. Just as the ("spacecraft") computer has
  programmed into it the avoidance of obstacles and
  forbidden regions, so Christians must have in mind
  dangers to be shunned. (E).
  
  
  15. As the ("spaceship's") observation transducers
  take sightings on stars and planets to tell where the
  craft is, so Christians must look to inspired,
  unchanging texts in the Bible to see whether they
  are "on course." (E).
  
  
  16. To have bias against a race or prejudice
  against a nationality, to show favoritism to some
  because they are rich, or to look down on others
  because they are poor—such things must be
  guarded against, just as a ("spaceship") computer
  has to make corrections for the distortions sometimes
  present in the signals it receives from the observation
  transducers. (E).
  
  
  17. Sometimes Christians are confronted with issues
  not covered by specific scriptures. This might be
  compared with the circumstances of the ("spaceship")when the observational transducers have no star
  sighting to offer. (E).
  
  
  18. " Indeed, the religious leaders studied the Scriptures,
  which revealed the ("pathway") to eternal life, but they
  did not follow them. (E).
  
  
  19. True Christians strive to follow that ("pathway")because they do love God. (E).
  
  
  20. Not only do they study God's Word, learn of the
  ("pathway") to life, compare their conduct with that
  course outlined in the Bible and see what corrections
  they need to make. (E).
  
  
  21. Compare this with our ("spaceship") illustration.
  The computer not only becomes aware of the
  corrections needed, but also sets the steering
  actuators into motion to make them. (E).
  
  
  22. Remember that after the ("spaceship") is
  launched it frequently strays from its course.
  Through its guidance system, however, the
  craft constantly is correcting itself. (E).
  
  
  23. Following a righteous ("pathway") will be
  difficult at times. But do not become discouraged.
  (E).
  
  
  24. At times, some feel beyond the reach of God's
  mercy. Like the ("spaceship"), they stray off course
  so often. (E).
  
  
  25. The Christian must constantly refer to this
  Biblical ("pathway") to check whether he is keeping
  `on course' or not." (E).
  
  
  26. He left his body behind, transported to Earth
  in a ("space-ship"), and incarnated (moved into)
  a human body, that of Jesus Christ. (O).
  
  ---------------------------------------
  
  QUOTES WITH THE LETTER (O) LISTED
  AT THE END CAME FROM HEAVENS GATE literature.
  
  QUOTES WITH THE LETTER (E) LISTED
  AT THE END CAME FROM THE WATCH-
  TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY literature.
  Watchtower (Spaceship) references:
  
  Good News To Make You Happy/
  Chapter/8/page-66/
  
  Good News To Make You Happy/
  Chapter/21/page-187/
  
  Awake/1971/Nov/22nd/page-6/
  Awake/1989/Aug/8th/page-6/
  Awake/1990/Nov/8th/page-5/
  Awake/1990/April/8th/page-6/
  Awake/1984/March/22nd/page-18/
  Awake/1984/Feb/22nd/page-20/
  Awake/1983/Aug/8th/page-28/
  Awake/1983/June/22nd/page-8/
  Awake/1981/June/22nd/page-24/
  Awake/1979/April/8th/page-21/
  Awake/1979/Feb/8th/page-18/
  Awake/1971/Jan/8th/page-5/
  Awake/1973/Oct/8th/page-16/
  Awake/1973/May/22nd/page-15/
  Awake/1971/Jan/8th/page-9/
  Awake/1970/Aug/8th/page-30/
  Awake/1970/Feb/8th/page-7/
  Awake/1974/Aug/22nd/pages 15-16/
  Awake/1976/Sept/22nd/page-16/
  Awake/1983/Aug/8th/page-4/
  Watchtower/1976/April/15th/page-232/
  Watchtower/1963/Sept/15th/page-556/
  Watchtower/1974/May/1st/page-273/
  Watchtower/1976/Nov/15th/page-681/
  Watchtower/1971/Sept/15th/page-555/
  Watchtower/1971/June/1st/page-350/
  Watchtower/1976/June/15th/page-360/
  Watchtower/1975/April/15th/page-233/
  Preservation/Chapter-2/page-8/
  
  Mankind's Search For God/Chapter/6/
  page-151/
  
  Life How Did (It Get Here By Evolution
  Or By Creation/Chapter 9/page-124/
  
  Reasoning From The Scriptures/page-84/
  Life Does Have A Purpose/Chapter 7/page-77/
  Your Youth Getting The Best Out Of It/Chapter 2/page-12/ N.
• 

  Crumpet

  I saw Storyville on Jonestown last night too. Jim Jones was one creepy guy.

  Please somebody remind me of this if I start trying to convince you at some later date to come join my commune. Seriously.

  Why do these commune things never work out in fiction (The Beach) or in reality (Waco/Jonestown) or does anyone know of one that has lasted without mishap or indeed continues on today?
• 

  B_Deserter

  Scientology is also quite similar to the Witnesses. I think the tendency among some of us is to think that all these cults got the idea from JWs, but I think these cult control techniques are universal and far older than the late 1800's. It's called manipulation, and there are certain people who have a natural talent for it, some of them become cult leaders.