Jim Jones - The Man Of God Sent From Hell

Jim Jones was a popular American preacher in the 1970's best known for leading over 900 members of his church to commit mass suicide by drinking poison.

James Warren "Jim" Jones was born on May 13, 1931, in Crete, Indiana to James Thurman Jones, a disabled World War I veteran, and Lynetta Jones (nee Putnam) who became the bread winner of the Jones household.

Jones grew up in a typical church setting - always taken to church by a neighbour. As he grew older, he grew more curious, began to preach the gospel at an early age and was noticeably different from his teenage peers. He considered games like sports sinful and had very few friends.

Jim Jones fully entered the ministry in 1952 after he got married to Marceline Baldwin whom he met while working as an orderly at a hospital in Richmond, Indiana where his mother relocated to after his parents split.

Jones started as a student pastor in Indianapolis, gaining reputation as an 'evangelist and healer' with a mixed race congregation. He later broke out and founded his own church called Peoples Temple which will later gain reputation for being run in a cult-like manner by its founder.

According to history, Jones' preachings were centered on discouraging sex and romantic relationships, whereas he was known as a serial adulterer who had children outside wedlock. His church increasingly grew with over 1000 followers.

Trouble started when the preacher bought a mass of land in Gyuana which he named 'Jonestown' to serveas a home for himself and his Peoples Temple followers whom he had convinced to move. It was said he ran Jonestown like a prison camp, giving his followers little food and water, preventing them from leaving the grounds, stationing guards around the perimeter. He became paranoid, frequently carrying out 'loyalty tests' on his followers by giving them fake poison to drink.

On November 18, 1978, Jones launched his mass suicide campaign after he had killed a congressman, Leo Ryan who had come to investigate Jonestown. Cyanide and Valium which he had mixed were put into a batch of powdered drink mix to make a toxic punch, distributing it to his members who drank the mixture. Those who refused to drink were forced by armed guards.

Out of over 900 people who died that day in Jonestown, 276 of them were children.

Jim Jones in turn committed suicide in a different manner - either shot himself in the head with a gun or he was shot by someone. He was later found on the floor of Jonestown pavilion, the camp's main gathering area, with his wife Marceline and some top members of the church.