Jim Jones - Mosque Maryam: Peoples Temple Revival: Ukiah Daily Journal, October 15, 1976

Ukiah Daily Journal, Ukiah, Calif.  Friday, October 15, 1976. Page 10

Temple revival services prove successful  

 

Capacity audiences hear Rev. Jones speak

Rev. Jim Jones, pastor of Peoples Temple, recently embarked on a series of remarkable revival services that have been highly successful and heavily attended.  The tour began with an interfaith meeting that featured ministers of several denominations (including the Nation of Islam, and a representative of the Jewish community) as well as government and civic officials, in Kansas City.

In subsequent meetings held in St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit, capacity audiences heard Rev. Jones stress the importance of humanitarian service.  Referring to examples from the life and teaching of Jesus with regard to care for the people in need, Rev, Jones emphasized the spirit of ecumenical unity as a vehicle for achieving these goals.

The revivals were held in Disciples of Christ, Methodist, and A.M.E. denominational churches.  

In every service, people with problems in the area of drug usage and alcoholism were ministered to, and many of these joined the Peoples Temple, choosing to relocate in California in order to receive more extended help from the rehabilitation outreach of the Temple.  These people boarded the bus caravan that was carrying many hundreds of Temple members traveling with Rev. Jones on this series of meetings, designed to spread the message of Christian human service and interfaith unity.

Rev. Jones has also been calling attention to the need for people of conscious to be concerned about the dangers facing our freedoms, especially freedom of the press.

Rev. Jones will be returning to California after paying a visit to the church’s agricultural mission project in South America, where great quantities of food have been harvested in efforts to help relieve world hunger.  

 

The project has received the plaudits of many government officials there and in the United States, and is demonstrating the kind of dramatic results that can be achieved when people work together with the spirit of service to mankind which, Rev. Jones emphasizes, is “the highest service to God.”

 

Jim Jones - Muhammad Mosque No. 30: Kansas City Times, October 4, 1976

The Kansas City Times. Monday, October 4, 1976.  Page 42

Jubilee Unites Faiths for ‘Human Service’
By Richard A. Serrano a member of the staff.

Jubilee For Unity.  Black and White Christians, Jews and Muslims attended a (Spiritual) Life Jubilee yesterday afternoon at the Muhammad Mosque No. 30, 2715 Swope Parkway, where speakers such as the Rev. Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple Church, urged that God, in whatever form, can best be found in the good works of man to man.  

(Staff photos by William H. Batson)

About 2,000 persons, members of different religions with different view points, joined forces yesterday afternoon for prayer, a barrage of talks and a display of camaraderie.  

The speakers, from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths meeting for the (spiritual) Life Jubilee at Muhammad Mosque No. 30, 2715 Swope Parkway, agreed that in whatever way man envisions God, brotherly love is the way to seek that vision.  

“Human service itself is the highest worship to God,” said the Rev. Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple Church.  In fact, his church, based in San Francisco, is made up of persons- the poor, the rich, minorities- who have different religious beliefs but who seek God in man’s compassion for man.

About 1,200 members of the church arrived in Kansas City yesterday morning for the jubilee, traveling here by bus caravan.  They later are to attend meetings in St. Louis and Detroit before returning to their homes in Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and California.

As Michael Prokes, a church spokesman, said, many of the church members are lawyers, teachers, and medical workers.  Prokes was a CBS bureau chief who four years ago, while producing a documentary on the church, resigned and joined.  And as another spokesman said, “People must work together, regardless of religion.  This takes preference over anything else, so we all must choose programs to benefit the good of man.”

Mr. Jones echoed those views, calling for better drug reform programs, fewer politicians and more statesmen and defense of the freedom of the press.  

“It’s sad that even after Watergate, the press is not loved,” he said.

Wallace D. Muhammad, chief minister of the Nation of Islam, who was unable to attend the jubilee, told the group in a telephone conversation from Chicago that he was “very, very encouraged” at the meeting of minds in Kansas City yesterday.  

“I can’t help but feel good,” he said.  “We can forget about our religious labors and accept each other as brothers whenever people come together for the common good.”  

His brother, Nathaniel Muhammad, minister of the mosque here, which has about 600 members, said he was delighted at the success of the jubilee and said the mosque had not been so crowded in a long time.   
“Why the life?” he asked the congregation, referring to the title of the jubilee.  “Life is to be alive.  Let us come together and give the body a shot of truth and put it back on the right path.  Let us then wake up this community with the spirit of truth.”

He said he never dreamed this meeting would happen, “especially here in Kansas City.”

Another speaker was the Rev. James Leffingwell, executive director of the Metropolitan Inter-Church Agency, who said, “I’m for a world where liberty and justice for all means liberty and justice for all.”

Lorie Newhouse, executive director of the Religion and Culture United for Peace, said that he hoped that Muhammad(1) “will be treated in all fairness and decency in the days ahead” in his appeal of a drug conviction(2).  Newhouse also introduced his daughters, one an orthodox Jew, and the other a Moslem. 

City Councilman Bruce Watkins, speaking on behalf of the mayor, proclaimed yesterday Life Jubilee Day in Kansas City, saying “I am proud to be part of a city that recognizes all of its people.”  

A dinner was held after the meeting at the Salaam Cuisine Restaurant.  
 

1.  Nathaniel Muhammad - police informant:  https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=1597009&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjU1ODc0NjU1LCJpYXQiOjE2MTA4MTk0NTgsImV4cCI6MTYxMDkwNTg1OH0.u1VBJ3sW1EPZET9OYmA8GMF5V_vh0-Tafq7k7_3ePkM

2.  https://www.nytimes.com/1976/01/25/archives/islamic-leader-sentenced-to-8-years-on-drug-charge.html

Farrakhan meets Peoples Temple in Ukiah, CA: Ukiah Daily Journal, September 3, 1976

 Ukiah Daily Journal, Ukiah Calif.  Friday, September 3,1976.  Page 8

Spiritual Jubilee and national tour

Eventful summer for Peoples Temple

A wide variety of programs and special events have highlighted this Bicentennial summer season for members of  Peoples Temple.

In late May, the Temple cosponsored a Spiritual Jubilee with the Nation of Islam. attended by 20,000 people, that received nation-wide publicity, bringing together people, from all faiths, and emphasizing the need for brotherhood.  Dignitaries and leaders in religious, civic, and governmental spheres attended, and heard speeches by Rev. Jim Jones, and the Muslim’s chief minister, Wallace Muhammad. 

In June, over 750 members of the Temple took a 10,000 mile national tour, covering 22 states, bringing the message of brotherhood to many major metropolitan centers, and visiting scenes of historic and cultural interest.  The trip culminated with a Fourth of July celebration on Redwood Valley attended by several thousand members and guests of the congregation.

The summer months saw the implementation of educational and recreational programs, featuring field trips to many areas of interest, special film programs, trade and technical training programs, as well as religious, historical and cultural enrichment courses and seminars for young and old.  Many guest speakers from the community addressed the congregation, and expressed the need for more churches and community groups to follow the model of Peoples Temple in its outreach of concern and practical help.

One of the church’s most successful projects that was brought to fruition during the summer has been the establishment of a Bay Area Community News Service, the Peoples Forum, reaching hundreds of thousands of homes.  

Over the weekend, representatives from the congregation met with Minister Abdul Farrakhan, international representative of the Muslim Mosques, at a press conference attended by Channel 5‘s Belva Davis, and other news persons.  

Jonestown Massacre: Nation of Islam Joins First Interfaith Rally. L.A. Times. May 24, 1976

 

The Los Angeles Times.  Monday, May 24, 1976. Main Edition.  Page 24.

Nation of Islam Joins First Interfaith Rally

Group Once Known as Black Muslims Convenes in L.A.
BY JOHN DART

Times Religious Writer

The Nation of Islam, once known commonly as the “Black Muslims,” joined Sunday in its first major interfaith rally and heard its reform minded leader refer as much to the Bible as to the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Wallace D. Muhammad of Chicago, chief minister of the Nation of Islam since his father’s death 15 months ago, spoke to an estimated 18,000 persons, all of whom had to pass through airport-type security checks to enter the Los Angeles Convention Center.  

Muhammad criticized world religious leadership to date for failing to end oppression or archive unity and he noted the traditional Islamic indebtedness to Moses and Jesus as predecessors of Mohammed.

“There is no division in the family of prophets,” he said, “but there is division in us.”

Under Wallace Muhammad’s leadership, whites have been admitted to membership and friendly relations have been established with Arabic Islamic representatives.  Sunday’s “Spiritual Jubilee” marked the sect’s first venture into interfaith cooperation.

Preceding Muhammad on the platform was Rev. Jim Jones, the white founder-minister of Peoples Temple, which claims more than 12,000 members in three California churches.  People Temple cosponsored the programs.

Jones, a Protestant minister, recalled several years ago tension was high between his San Francisco church and a neighboring Nation of Islam temple.

“But under Wallace Muhammad all those things have changed.”  Jones said “Peace has come.”

The People Temple churches, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), are relatively unorthodox under Jones’ leadership.  The emphasis is on community service and support to worthy secular causes.

Jones says that even atheists and agnostics are welcome to his church as long as they agree with the gospel messages to serve others.

Pointing to the fact that traditional Islam regards Jesus as a prophet, the preacher declared- to the cheers of the audience- “It’s high time Christianity gave honor to Mohammad.”

Representatives of the predominantly Arabic Islamic Foundation of Southern California and the Southern California Council of Churches also extended their congratulations from the platform.  

Some speakers began with an Arabic Islamic greeting of peace, including Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally.  The latter recalled that “it wasn’t safe” to give such a Muslim greeting 14 years ago, recalling the exchange of gunfire by police and Muslims at a Mosque in Los Angeles in 1962.

Greetings were also extended by activist-educator Angela Davis, Mayor Bradley and a young black woman member of the Sikh Dharma Brotherhood who wore white clothing and headgear similar similar to the attire of

Please turn to page 3 col 1.

Jim Jones & Peoples Temple @Muhammad Temple No. 26. 1974

Jonestown: Nation of Islam's Modernization Program. AZ Daily Star. May 23, 1976

 Arizona Daily Star.  Sunday, May 23, 1976. Main Edition. Page 37

The Nation of Islam, continuing its “modernization” program under Chief Minister Wallace D. Muhammad, will take a giant step forward in Los Angeles Sunday.  For the first time, the nation will join forces with another religious group, the Peoples Temple Church headed by Rev. Jim Jones, for a giant spiritual jubilee, which will include Christian and Jewish religious leaders.

Mayors Tom Bradley of Los Angeles and George Mascone of San Francisco also will participate...

Jonestown Massacre: Cheif Minister of Islam Nation to Speak: L.A. Times, May 22, 1976

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Saturday, May 22, 1976  Main edition page 31

Wallace D. Muhammad, the reform minded chief minister of the Nation of Islam, will join Rev. Jim Jones of Peoples Temple as the main speakers Sunday in an inter-faith program at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Officials of the Chicago-based sect, once commonly known as the Black Muslims, and they expect 30,000 persons to attend.  The Nation of Islam has changed many policies in the last year under Muhammad, including welcoming white members and moving toward increasing contacts with Arab Moslems.

Among those endorsing the “Spiritual Jubalee” Sunday was Dr. Muhsin El-Baili, director of the Islamic Foundation of Southern California.

Jones is pastor of three large Peoples Temple congregations in Redwood Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  

Other speakers include Angela Davis, L.A. Gov. Mervyn Dymally, County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, Mayor Tom Bradley, publisher Carlton Goodlett and the Rev. Priscilla Chaplin, director of the Southern California of Churches.  

Abdul Karim Hasan of Los Angeles, the Nation of Islam western regional minister, said the purpose of the rally was to alleviate racial and religious tensions and draw
attention to the community improvement programs of the Nation of Islam and Peoples Temple.

The 1 p.m. program will be preceded by two hours of music.  

Nation of Islam - Peoples Temple: Senior Escort Program, Peoples Forum, April 1976 re: Jonestown Massacre

PEOPLES FORUM.  A Community News Service
Vol 1, No. 1. April 1976
Viet Nam Vets Aid Seniors 

Senior citizens in San Francisco’s tough Tenderloin district have been afforded the benefits on an excellent and very humane service in the North of Market Street “Senior Escort” program.  This highly successful interracial effort, in which eight young Vietnam war veterans serve as protective escorts, advisors, and advocates for the aged, recently faced extinction when funds from the State grant had been completely exhausted.

Jean Mellor, the program’s director, made an urgent appeal to all San Franciscans to keep this essential service alive.  Many people responded, the first being Peoples Temple, which donated the initial $6,000 needed to keep the program going.

In giving the donation, the Rev. Jim Jones of Peoples Temple said, “We along with the Nation of Islam, have been working to eliminate violence.  We feel if groups that are Christian and Muslim can cooperate, then certainly all of us ought to be able to get together to do something to eliminate the great degree of violence that threatens our communities.  And the Senior Escort program does that in a very significant way.”

Following the Temple’s donation, enough funds were assigned the program to keep it above water.  However, the Senior Escort service still needs your support and help.  We hope San Franciscans will be moved to keep this essential service alive.

(Our congratulations to Jean Mellor, the program’s Director, who was recently named one of the Bay Area’s “Most Distinguished Ten” citizens by the San Francisco Examiner.) 

Jonestown Massacre: Michael Prokes - Nation of Islam meetings. April 12, 1976

FBI preliminary tape identification note: One Tracs 90/ “Cecil Williams interviews JJ 4/12/76” 

Date cues on tape: 12 April 1976 (notation on tape box, confirmed in context) Part 7: 

Conversation between Mike Prokes and writer named Dick Prokes: 

Well, it uh, went really well. 

Dick: Good. 

Prokes: Uh, you weren’t uh– We had so many people here that it was unbelievable. And I– I think there was 4000 people. And uh, it uh, it was, it was really a, a moving service. 

 Dick: Oh. Prokes: It uh– We had uh, so many different people represented. I guess there was about 12 different ministers of various faiths, and uh, Dennis Banks came with uh, William Kunstler. 

Dick: Oh, good. 

Prokes: Nation of Islam was here. Willie Brown and uh, uh, oh gosh, I– Cecil Williams came, and (laughs) lot of people just dropped in unexpectedly. 

[EDIT] 

Prokes: ...it was just a, a really, a real feeling of uh, brotherhood with uh– 

Dick: Uh– We came by, but we were late. We got there by about– about one o’clock. 

Prokes: Oh, you did. Dick: Yeah. I had to get to another uh, thing, you know. 

Prokes: Oh, we were on the way over, I think, to the uh– 

Dick: Right. Right. 

Prokes: Oh, we were on the way over, I think, to the uh– 

Dick: Right. Right.  

Prokes: To the Nation of Islam. That’s really been a breakthrough, you know, Dick, uh– 

Dick: Well, that sounds good, really, I’m really, you know, happy about that. 

Prokes: It’s– It’s almost uh, unbelievable how they’ve– they’ve turned around with uh, slow cultivation and just, you know, working together and offering our services. It’s– It’s– They’re– They’re as uh, friendly as can be, I mean, we’re just uh, we’re really uh, on close terms now. And uh, I mean they– they don’t have any sort of uh, you know uh, rhetoric that’s hate-filled like you once heard it to be. And uh, they’re generally concerned with uh, you know, working within the system for, for change. 

 Dick: Are there going to be more meetings like that? 

Prokes: Yes. Yes, there will. We’ve done it quite a few times now. In fact, uh, Jim has been uh– I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but uh, their chief minister in Chicago, Wallace D. Muhammed, who uh, was a friend of uh, a close friend with Malcolm X, uh, he is going to be uh, having a joint meeting with us, and they want, you know, Jim to have equal billing. It’s really sort of a, a breakthrough, but uh, it’ll be taking place in May in uh, Los Angeles. And then, depending on how that works out, they may have one here too. But uh, they– they usually have it uh, run closed-circuit throughout the country, and uh, it’s uh, I don’t know– a lot– lot of good could come out of it, if it works. Dick: Sounds good. Prokes: Yeah. 

SOURCE: Q683 Transcript https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27537 

 Ex‐Aide to Tim Tones Kills Himself at News Briefing: https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/14/archives/exaide-to-jim-jones-kills-himself-at-news-briefing.html

Jonestown Massacre: Nation of Islam - Peoples Temple. Ukiah Daily Journal. April 9, 1976

Ukiah Daily Journal, Ukiah, Calif. Friday, April 9th, 1976. Page 12

Joint worship service for Temple and Islam SAN FRANCISCO - 

A large number of civic and religious leaders gathered at Peoples Temple in San Francisco last weekend and participated in a joint worship service between the leadership of the Nation of Islam and Pastor Jim Jones’ congregation. 

The service represented a breakthrough in relations with the Nation of Islam. They recently became inclusive in their membership and accepting of all races, and now frequently worship with the Peoples Temple. 

San Francisco District Attorney Joseph Freitas, legislators from both State Senate and Assembly, as well as 15 pastors of all different faiths, including the bishop of the nationwide Christian Church denomination, participated in the worship service. 

The Los Angeles extension of Peoples Temple,which Jim Jones also pastors, is participating in joint services with the Nation of Islam mosque in Southern California, where Temple officers met recently with the movement’s national leader and chief minister, Wallace D. Muhammad. 

News of the meeting was kept private until released in the Temple’s newspaper, the Peoples Forum. which is circulated to 600,000 people throughout they bay region and Northern California. 

The paper is designed to report good news that is taking place in America, as well as being a “defense for the defenseless.” 

In recent issues the Forum has had wide ranging articles, including appeals for support in opposing the continued killing of baby seals in Canada. 

The paper also encouraged readers to write the Soviet Union, urging a liberalization of ‘emigration policies to allow free movement of its citizens, including Soviet Jews, to any country they would choose. 

 

 

Also mentioned in the Forum was a call for support of the family of a policeman who died just two and a half months before his retirement, causing the forfeit of a pension that woo;d have gone to his wife and children. 

The Peoples Temple congregation voted in one of its recent services to accept a visit from the consul general of the present Chilean regime. 

The officials request was made in response to a letter from the Peoples Temple thanking the new regime for releasing political prisoners in Chile. 

Rev. Jones told the members and visitors in service, “Though we do not approve of militant regimes, we do believe in freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas, and thus want to allow the opportunity of hearing both sides of the Chilean issue.”

Nation of Islam - Peoples Temple Agricultural Project: San Francisco Examiner Apr 3, 1976

The San Francisco Examiner Sat, Apr 3, 1976. Page 26

Peoples Temple guests include Bishop Irwin Dr. Karl Irwin, Bishop of the Disciples of Christ for Northern California and Nevada, will be among the guests at the 11 a.m. service tomorrow at the Peoples Temple, Disciples of Christ, at 1859 Geary Blvd. Invited guests include Mayor George Mascone

and Indian leader Dennis Banks, 

 

leaders from the Nation of Islam's San Francisco Temple and many community leaders.

The Rev. Jim Jones, pastor, will conduct the service.

Jim Jones and crowd outside Muhammad's Temple Number 26, 1974