We've all heard the old adage, "Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." Last night as I was surfing the channels, I came across a PBS documentary on Jim Jones and the People's Temple. I was a college student when the mass suicide took place in Guyana back on November 18, 1978, and although I watched the news coverage at the time, I never knew much about Jim Jones and the People's Temple movement. The documentary did a good job of showing the "rise and fall" of Jim Jones, including some early history from his childhood years (he was a weird kid!), the beginning of the People's Temple in Indiana, and the moves to California, then Guyana.
What I noticed as I watched the film of Congressman Ryan's discussion with the folks in Guyana on the night of November 17, 1978 (the night before he was murdered and Jones and his followers committed "suicide"), was a hand painted sign, which hung from the rafters in the background. It read, "Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." Whoa! What if the People's Temple members had taken that message to heart. Jim Jones' failures as a leader were obvious and evident throughout his "ministry." The list includes sexual immorality, physical abuse, pride, and false teaching--he actually told folks that the Bible was the "black book" that had held black people down for 200 years. He threw the Bible down and said that if the people wanted him to be their father, their savior or their god that he would be. Jim Jones offered "love" and "acceptance." He offered "integration," and a world where "the races live in harmony." Did he? On the surface. So have many others down through the millennia. What he really offered was control. It was his way or no way. He started out serving others in the name of Jesus, and ended by controlling others in his own name.
Jesus is the only one who has ever offered true love and acceptance to the world, without any ulterior motivation whatsoever. He has a plan for the races to live in harmony, as the Bible clearly teaches that in heaven there will be people from every nation, people, tribe and language. If only the People's Temple members had gotten "off the bus" when Jones departed from Jesus' truth and went the way of so many others. Thank God that Jesus re-directed history! May we be among those who continue to learn from Him.
