People from the cult weren’t exactly following Jim Jones
What’s the main point of a religious organization? To help people find afterward redemption and create a community that’s supposed to help each other. And that was Jim Jones’s main goal. Being a super charismatic and dedicated person to his church and people, he was able to attract and engage young people who wanted to belong to a community that was more like a family.
In one of his interviews, Jones said that “they were motivated to help others, not to worship him!” Hmm…hard to believe most because he was a self-proclaimed deity, as he admitted plenty of times throughout his life.
He always recruited vulnerable and easy-to-manipulate people
After various psychological research studies about cults, one thing is definitely clear: most of them were formed by vulnerable and naive people who believed in a better life promised by the leader. Unfortunately, in most cases, they have lately discovered that the “father figure” wasn’t exactly for the community but more for themselves to achieve their mischievous goals.
This is also the case with Jim Jones, who thought that recruiting people in need would extend the community and help achieve a better future. Little did they know that their ending would be tragic, contrary to their expectations. One survivor of the Jonestown cult, named Teri Buford, told the reporters that this is how Jones “recruited” her. She was homeless, hungry, and in desperate need of care and a warm place to spend her days.
Although the majority of them were of African American heritage, there were also some white people, Jews, and individuals of Mexican ancestry. There were communists and devout Christians. He was available to offer counsel on both politics and religion, so you could ask him anyway. He consistently focused on your needs and was able to emotionally engage you.
