Striking Similarities. A Must Read! (ARCHIVES from December 9, 2016)
Jim Jones was the American cult leader responsible for the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana November 18th, 1978. This was the incident that the infamous “Drinking the Kool-Aid” term came from that is so commonly used when speaking of a cult. Under the direction of this cult leader, 918 people took their own lives by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. The first to die were the small children who were given the deadly Kool-Aid at the hands of their own parents. So as crazy as that might seem, one might ask, how do 918 people choose to take their own life just because their Pastor told them to? This type of obedience wasn’t gained overnight. Surly out of 918 people, at least some of these people had to be normal enough to know this was wrong, 918 people? The scary truth is that most of those people were normal and smart enough to know something was wrong. They were normal-thinking people just like you and me. They were brainwashed a little at a time over the years.
Jim Jones was a Pentecostal preacher, who preached salvation, and pushed for the supernatural in his services. Many times, there were accounts of his services of divine healing, and miracles. David Parker Wise, an insider who was handpicked by Jim Jones to be trained as a pastor by him, and to head his biggest church in L.A, left the Jim Jones Cult when he realized Jones was losing his mind. He has many articles online about the things that took place and are warning the world to not fall into the same trap. This man acknowledging that Jim Jones was a fraud had this to say about his public healing services. “With revolutionary, dedicated, uncompromising enthusiasm, members of the Temple’s inner staff had helped create healings for the cause. (Not all healings were fake, though. When the whole church worked together on healings many of them ended up being real.)” By looking at this, we can see how over time he gained the loyalty, trust, and even obedience to the death of his members. He was a man of power, and according to the eyewitness mentioned above some of the miracles did come to pass. Such a personality caused people to really believe that this man had the “One true church” and that he alone could get them to heaven.
If one would study famous cult leaders through time such as Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Joseph Smith, Heaven’s Gate, House of Prayer Christian Church in Hinesville (or its many churches), and the list goes on, one common fact remains the same about all of these cults and their leaders. They all claim to be the one and only key to their follower’s salvation, and that without them, they would be doomed. It makes it easy to keep people in your cult if you could somehow convince them that your cult is the “One true church, and the only way to heaven”. This is called “Elitism”. It means us vs. them, we are right, the rest of the world, (including the church world) is wrong. It breeds secret pride in the hearts of the followers as they begin to believe the lie that “Only they are saved, and others must not be saved else they would be a part of our group.” This spirit is anti-Christ to the core, for Christ himself said of the disciples that were preaching in his name, yet not following with him and his disciples “Forbid them not, for whoever is not against us is for us”. Now If anyone had the right to believe that only they held the key to peoples salvation it would be our Lord, yet he didn’t demonize others, just because they weren’t in His congregation. This is one more place were the lives of these cult leaders, to include RONY DENIS, the leader of HOUSE OF PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH in HINESVILLE, just doesn’t line up with the life of Jesus.
Now, though there are similarities between many of these cult leaders and RONY DENIS, we are going to focus on the similarities between RONY DENIS of HOUSE PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH in HINESVILLE, and JIM JONES of THE PEOPLES TEMPLE.
Claims of Being Supernatural
JIM JONES– He claimed himself to be the human manifestation of God and would regularly attempt to prove this by staging rehearsed acts of clairvoyance and miraculous healings. He used the idea of miracles to make believers out of doubters. Jim Jones learned to use these tricks to fool people into believing in the possibility of literally everything he said.
RONY DENIS- Rony Denis would often say “Do you know the voice that is speaking to you? It is the voice of God ALMIGHTY” he would say this over the PA system at the church in Hinesville, or on conference calls. This was done many times publicly. He also said in a ministers' meeting at his house once “I am Deity” and “I am the savior of the world” Rony Denis would also often call the church in Hinesville, and other churches on the PA system during prayer meetings, and church services, and command the church to go outside to see the wonders of God. He would often tell people to ask God to show them an airplane in the sky, and suddenly, there was an airplane. He would do this many times, and would often follow up with the question, does this prove to you that I am a Man of God?
So, in this setting we have both Jim Jones and Rony Denis, claiming to perform miracles, and claiming to be God.
Marxist at Heart
A Marxist is one who believes in equality for all except for the leaders on top, who always seem to benefit from the sacrifices others make to bring forth this equality.
Jim Jones– Jim Jones was a Marxist, but he preached his version of socialism with the flair and conviction of a devoted Pentecostal – a religion which, among many other things, believes in the literal manifestation of God. Jones took this belief and used it to create a powerful sense of love and faith within his congregation, as well as a terrible sense of fear. He would have local governments involved in his operations and would often make sure that congregants that didn’t have would be given proper housing, and groceries, while others who were able to contribute more, gave most of what they had to the cause and could not have their own financial identity.
Rony Denis- Rony Denis would often be asking to know the budgets and finances of different members. If he thought one brother had more money than he needed, he would make that brother take over a ridiculously upside-down car payment that another brother had. He would often make certain people move in with other people if he thought that they had too big of a house for themselves and didn’t need that much space. Now if someone is doing this to help another person out, that is fine and is Christian as long as they are free to do so out of the goodness of their heart, but these people many times were not given an option, and if any protested, they would be railed on either publicly or face to face. It has become an unspoken rule to agree with whatever financial idea Rony Denis gives you or else. The worse part of this is that at times, Rony Denis would have two couples share a house. He would tell one couple they are paying the full rent to help. He would then have the other couple pay rent as well. By him doing this, he could almost double the income above the normal going market value that any legitimate landlord could charge.
Unquestionable Authority
Jim Jones- Peoples Temple was not actually religious, but it was a religion. It was a religion because of its affirmation of faith, its ritualistic practices, and its paternal hierarchy which seated Jim Jones at the very pinnacle of unquestioned authority. He used the idea of a church to disguise his socialistic agenda and to give credibility to his ideas. The walls of a church are sacred to society, and anything taught within them is looked upon with a similar purity.
Rony Denis- HOUSE of PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN HINESVILLE, like the People’s Temple, is more of a religion in and of itself than it is religious. They believe that they are the only true church left. They believe that Rony Denis is the only spiritual leader that can take them to heaven. They also believe that he knows the date of the rapture and that their making it in the rapture is contingent on their relationship with him. Because of this belief, Rony Denis has taken supreme authority over the entire church organization. It has been stated from the beginning of HOUSE of PRAYER that there would not be a general board because the Trinity is the board, yet Rony Denis proclaims himself to be the one in charge “Under God”. From the start, he made it seem like a good-willed intention to not have a general board to do away with politics when in reality he secured the true powers of a board, which would spread the powers that be among many board members for a system of checks and balances, accountability, and transparency, all to himself. No one to question him, not one to be accountable to, claiming that he answers to God, and if you question or challenge him then you are challenging God. He even went as far as to say that you cannot even have the slightest remote thought against anything that he says because everything he tells you is biblical. This is another anti-biblical statement. The Bible says that the disciples of Berea were nobler than those in Thessalonica, because they searched the scriptures daily, whether the things which Paul and Silas preached were so, Acts 17:11 This kind of authority abuse is not permitted by the bible, we are to use the word of God to try the spirits, and judge prophecies. Rony Denis has HOUSE of PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH thinking that he is above all of this.
Total Control of Children
JIM JONES- Children were generally surrendered to communal care, addressed Jones as “Dad,” and at times were only allowed to see their real parents briefly at night. Jones was called “Father” or “Dad” by the adults as well. The community had a nursery at which 33 infants were born.
RONY DENIS- HOUSE OF PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN HINESVILLE has a day school. If someone is a faithful member, their children must be in the day school. One child told their parents that their teacher at school was teaching the kids that if they overhear their parents speak of leaving the church, they are to run away to another church member's house and that the church would help them become emancipated. Rony Denis also has a private school at his house for a select group of girls that are there to entertain his daughter. He believes that his daughter is better than the normal church kids, so he has created a fake society for his daughter to live in. She will never know what it’s like to make her own friends because her friends are assigned to her. These girls that come to “be in school” with her, are also there all day, just about every day to play with her. Whenever she wants these friends, Rony Denis calls the parents and tells them to bring their kids to his house at such and such time. They are not even given an option. Many times, the parents of these girls will only see their own kids late at night when they get the call to come to pick up their kids. One child has it even worse. Rony Denis always goes out of town to his beach homes for about two weeks, before coming back to HINESVILLE for two weeks. While He is gone, this one girl always goes with him, and her parents just have a type of shared custody situation with her. This has gone on for years, just so that he can create the perfect and controlled utopia for his daughter at the expense of others.
Intercom/Polycom
JIM JONES- When Jim Jones had created his compound in the Jungles of Guyana with just under 1000 people under his rule there, he would have these big intercom systems that would go throughout the community. As people worked or ate, at any time the voice of Jim Jones would come over these intercoms to keep people brainwashed with Jim Jones Doctrine.
RONY DENIS- With modern technology, Rony Denis has an intercom system that has global possibilities called a Polycom. HOUSE OF PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN HINESVILLE has the primary system. He will call from a remote location, and at a moment’s notice, during prayer meetings, or even in the middle of someone preaching his voice will come across the PA system, and many other churches of his choosing will hear the same thing. Once his voice comes across everyone stops what they are doing to hear the “Message from God”. He constantly does this to brainwash people, and to make the congregants believe that his voice is more important than the minister that was preaching. He becomes a type of god to the people.
All Men or People That Left are "Homosexual"
JIM JONES- Jim Jones would spread a new ideology: that all men were latently homosexual except for him. He would teach “Everybody is gay. All men are homosexual, and all women are lesbians. People wrapped up in heterosexual relationships are not mature enough to deal with this.” He would teach that all men were gay except him and that they needed to come to terms with this so that he could help them. He brainwashed many to think they really were gay when they were not in any form of a gay relationship.
Rony Denis- Throughout the years if anyone was ever to leave the church it was often said that the person was gay or would turn gay. He always was obsessed with demonizing people who either left the church or were questioning the church with this accusation. As the years would go on, he came up with this strange doctrine claiming that he was the only one who could clear you to go to heaven and that only if you confessed everything you have ever done even as a kid to him. Many have come forward with the truth that he had gotten very personal in these forced confessions, and would only aim at one thing, and that was people’s sexuality now, and in their past. We have audio recordings that have Rony Denis and his ministers interrogating people, asking them if they had ever put anything in their backside. He eventually came out with this teaching that all the men in HOUSE of PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH are gay, and that he is the only one that is not, and he is the only one that can help them. He would get people who had otherwise never been gay, and never believed they were gay to somehow start believing they are indeed gay and had been hiding from it. He would do this by asking about any strange thing they may have done as a kid or anything they had done with their spouse that was outside of what he considered normal sex. He would say that the reason they did something as a kid or did anything different with their own spouse is because they were gay. After days and weeks of drills, even the pastors would start confessing that they are gay, and never knew it.
Conspiracy Theory
Asking the question again, how one man could cause 918 people to commit suicide by just a simple command, including many children who were killed by their own parents at this command. Well, it all starts by slowly brainwashing people. As stated earlier, Jim Jones was a Pentecostal preacher, who had a massive presence and even had evidence of signs and wonders. This alone is enough to have some people given over, but how did he win the ones who he thought that this just might not have been enough? It was through a conspiracy theory. yes both JIM JONES and RONY DENIS fooled the masses with a simple conspiracy theory.
JIM JONES-The Sixties and Seventies made what seemed to be a visible failure of a free capitalistic society, and members of the counterculture as well as African Americans felt united in their persecution. Jim Jones welcomed these discriminated members of society into his church with open arms, giving them hope in the truly free and loving society that they longed for. He played upon their suffrage to make them loyal believers – for nothing makes us feel more human, more vulnerable, or more in need than suffering; and nothing takes these feelings away more quickly than hope. He had the message that it was an evil world of segregation, and he was the prophet to bring about the perfect utopia for all to dwell together in peace, and only he could protect them from the evils of the outside world.
RONY DENIS – Rony Denis started HOUSE OF PRAYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH by splitting off from another organization and bringing many of the ministers, and members with him. The other church organization had a strict standard of not having worldly entertainment, T.V., etc. This Church also preached about “Compromise” as being an unseen evil that has taken the rest of the church world down and that they were the only true church left on earth. They had the very cultish brainwashing platform Rony Denis would need to start his own cult. If he could gain a large number of already-brainwashed cult members, he could have his own empire. He could only do this if he could get many of those brainwashed ministers, and members to believe a conspiracy theory against the organization they had sworn allegiance to and believe that he was the one to rescue and protect them. It had started to be circulated that they had lessened some of the standards of entertainment saying that “a DVD player is not evil, but what you put into it” This was what Rony Denis used to say “Aha! They have compromised, I am still against all entertainment, and they are going the way of the world fast and will soon cease to be the one true church. Come with me and I will save you from the evil that will soon swallow them up and will swallow you up also if you don’t follow me.” It didn’t happen in those exact words, but this was the message he began conveying to others. As you can see in some of the audio recordings, this is still the conspiracy theory he is using to elevate himself and his church above the whole world claiming to be the only true holiness preacher left in the world.
So, there you have it. It is shocking how these two men are so much alike.
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