God is never lost. In the midst of great evil, God is there. I have long wondered how Jonestown fits into such ideas. In the 1970s, Rev. Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple founded the settlement in the jungles of Guyana. After a few years of communal living, Jones led his followers to commit a mass suicide/murder that left over 900 people dead. The last words the community ever heard were recorded. Jones’ words are beyond disturbing. Evil resonates with every syllable. Even in the midst of such, I refuse to believe that God was absent during such terror. Lent is a time to look for God in death. To honor the victims of Jonestown, I’ve decided to seek God in the last words they heard in the order that they would have heard them. In those evil words of death, may there also be something for us. These devotions should never be mistaken for an apologetic for Jim Jones or anything he stood for. This is a search for God.
“Yes, Christine …” -Jim Jones
In those final moments of death, there was only one person who spoke up in dissent. Christine Miller was known as someone willing to challenge Jim Jones. As everyone offered their final praise of Jones, Miller wanted to know if there were any other options. If there was a saint in those moments, it was Christine Miller. She stood up when nobody else would. Jesus was in her. May we have the courage to be just like her.
Amen.
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