Jonestown Audiotape
Primary Project : Summaries
Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee, III. If you
use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
Tape Number : Q 932
To read the Tape Transcript, click here. MP3 is available.
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FBI Catalogue: Jones speaking
Date cues on tape: 1972 (Nixon/McGovern election coming up)
People named:
Public figures/National and international names:
"God showed him Nineveh was going to be destroyed, and then God decided not
to, and Jonah got mad Ocause he didn't get the prophecy carried out, supposedly.
Jonah ... wasn't happy that his own prophecy hadn't been carried out." (Jonah
3:1-4:11)
"Jesus said, be ye perfect, even as I and the heavenly father are perfect."
(Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect.")
"Jesus told you to do, build a heaven here. He said, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done in earth." (Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:10-15, Luke 11:2-4)
"You better get about doing what Jesus told you to do, build a heaven here."
"[Jesus] said the word is nigh you, the kingdom is within you." (Luke 17:21,
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of
God is within you.")
Summary:
This 1972 sermon in Redwood Valley touches on many familiar themes in Jim Jones'
speeches -- racism in American society, the evils of capitalism and the use of
wealth to suppress blacks, war as a tool of the rich to make money for themselves
and to subjugate lower classes -- but it includes several overtly partisan remarks.
At one point, Jones urges his congregation to vote for George McGovern, the
nominee of the Democratic Party, as the lesser of two devils; soon afterwards,
though, he says that the country would've been better off with the Democrat's
1968 nominee Hubert Humphrey, and that it's a "realistic" choice to side with
McGovern. Hereturns to the theme later, when he says: "We have to get involved
with politics. It's your duty."
Nevertheless, he criticized those on the right who use God in defense of Nixon.
"If God is for Mr. Nixon, why can't we be for him," he quotes one as saying.
That makes Jones nervous, he confesses. That's the kind of thinking that led
to the death of seven to nine million Jews in Europe during World War II.
The talk begins in mid-sermon, as many of the tapes do, with Jones' statement
that he's proven "you cannot base your faith upon the Bible." Nevertheless,
he uses the Bible throughout his speech, quoting Scripture in defending his
call to build heaven on earth, rather than to wait for after people die. He
also says that to trust your judgment of the Bible, you have to be socialist.
"The only ethic by which we can lift mankind today is some form of socialism.
There's a smattering of it in the New Testament." He continues that what others
say is Marxist or socialist, in fact, goes back to the Bible or even earlier,
and that the "dialectic of history" demonstrates that humans are capable of
perfection.
Returning to the theme later, he says if you operate from a socialistic or
humanistic ethic and if you recognize the errors of the Bible, then you'll also
see its truths and the good you can do with it. "I'm not an atheist, but I behave
as an atheist. I do good for good's sake, with no thought of compensation... I
just want to see a better world."
He links socialism and the Bible again later. "Socialist consciousness means
that you believe in these days that ... government must come whereby the means
of production and distribution are owned by the people. That's what the New
Testament spoke about." In conclusion, he says that's why he calls capitalism
the devil and socialism as God. "That's what we're saying. The perfection of
man. Christians say it, but they don't believe. [Karl] Marx said it. He said
man is capable of perfection. Christians say, that you must be perfect like
God is, [but] it won't work."
He criticizes U.S. involvement in Vietnam, saying that our involvement there
was for exploitation of the people and resources in the country, not to save
them from communism. The same motivations apply in American society as well,
and those in the audience who think they have it so good, "if you have to go
to an intensive ward of a hospital... the special care [is] based on how important
[you] are in the capitalist structure." He adds though, that because of his
work, there has not been a single death in the Temple for five years.
He also characterizes the American system as an oligarchy or a plutocracy,
not a democracy. Citing the examples of the Kennedy family and Nelson Rockefeller,
he says, "You have a right to vote for the few that have the most money to buy
the nomination of their particular office."
His fatalism returns as he discusses the approaching nuclear war. "I have given
the date, the month and the year where nuclear war will take place." He says
he hopes to be wrong, but he hasn't been so far, and that 11 of the 14 cycles
of prophecy have come to pass.
At one point, he runs out of breath and pauses to reflect. He recognizes, he
says, that people are there for healings or singing. That saddens him, when
they're all "a stroke of the pen" away from concentration camps. for those who
say it can't happen, he cites the Japanese in California. He admits there are
more blacks than there were Japanese, but they had money and property, and we
don't. "We have throwed our money down ratholes. For churches. For cars. For
clothes." But it doesn't make any difference, because when the white man sees
us niggers -- for he expresses his pride again in considering himself a nigger
too -- "Whitey" doesn't see the clothes, he only sees our race.
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 7/9/79
In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into
the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South
America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording
was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S.
Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.
On June 21, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B110-9.
This tape was found to contain the following:
A sermon to the congregation by JONES consisting of some 13 minutes of tape.
The sermon is believed to have taken place in the United States. The remaining
portions of the tape are blank and appear to contain no items of evidentiary
nature.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate -- with the exception that it lasts closer to 30 minutes,
rather than 13 -- and meets the FBI's purposes.