Jim Jones Cults: The Peoples Temple

Cults bring fear in the hearts and eyes of the public, but do citizens know how Jim Jones managed to seduce so many people to join his cult, the Peoples Temple? The Peoples Temple was previously loved in the public eye, as they aided anti-segregation groups and community work, but were eventually relocated in Jonestown, Guyana, under the paranoid eyes of Jim Jones, where they were found dead in a mass-suicide. The ways Jim Jones managed to bring in as many followers as he did are still widely debated to this day. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, manipulated his members to join his sadistic, sinister cult and blindly follow him until their eventual deaths by using threats, blackmail, and brutal punishments.
To understand how Jim Jones managed to seduce so many people to join his cult, one must know how the Peoples Temple started in the beginning. The mastermind behind the Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, was born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931 (Pick-Jones). He grew up as a knowledgeable and intensely spiritual man, often isolated by his peers because of it. He longed to be a minister in his Pentecostal church, but was exiled for his radical communist and interracial ideas. In retaliation, Jim Jones started his own congregation named Peoples Temple, secretly became atheist and communist, and subtly subjected his views on the church (Pick-Jones). His mental health started to decline as his family life became less than ideal. He developed alcoholism and a drug problem.