Jonestown: Largest Murder Suicide - Movie Review Example

The church essentially stressed on helping the unfortunate and the unprivileged in the society. People’s Temple enjoyed the undisputed leadership of Reverend Jim Jones. The church integrated interracial individuals in its congregation and most notably was the inclusion of an African American pastor known as Archie Ijames as one of its Pastors (Greenberg & Watts 186). The development of People’s Church began around the year 1955, at this time Reverend Jim Jones came up with a church, which he named Wings of Deliverance.

The church at that time based in Indianapolis, Indiana had a little over 20 members. Later on, the church changed its name to the People’s Church since it fostered interracial members and healed individuals resulting to an attraction of new members. However, the healing of individuals in the People’s Church, was an orchestrated act designed to attract more people to the church. To maintain the members in the church, the People’s Temple began a social service program. The church embedded itself with the community by spreading social gospel and putting up institution such as orphanages, which adopted interracial children.

Reverend Jones introduced the principle of members being fully committed to the church’s undertakings in the expense of their own families (Greenberg & Watts 186). Do the events in the video have applications today and why? All around the world, there are churches which operate in a cultic manner, it is critical to note that the church members are obscure of that fact till it becomes too late to turn away from the influence. Although, members of cultic churches do not go to the extent of drinking poison, or they do not become victims of mass suicide or murder, events such as those of people’s churches still occur.

Some churches, in most cases Pentecostal churches have followers who are ready to do anything for their leaders. They are ready to sacrifice their own daily lives, and dedicate all their time and resources to their cultic churches. Members of the People’s Temple called their leader Jim Jones their dad, still today there are churches in which members call their leaders dad or father. Groups of people performing confused acts as if they are not able to think for themselves these people act like automatons, and worship their church leaders (Greenberg & Watts 171).

It is evident that activities related to those that happened to the members of People’s Temple are applicable today. Reverend Jones recruited new members to his church on the basis of their social status. Today there are churches, which seek to recruit people to be their members from the community who are less privileged. People, who join such groups, are driven by the urge of becoming part of something through which they will have the sense of belonging. Today, there are groups, which isolate its members from the rest of the community and their families, and in the process brainwash them.

The Jonestown event, is also applied today by people as a forewarning, guiding in the identification of groups and people who are in the verge of falling victims of cultism (Greenberg & Watts 173). What are some of your personal perceptions or insight after viewing the video? After viewing the video on Jonestown, I came with the opinion that one person’