Friday, September 10, 2010

Interview with Pastor Jones' Daughter


Spiegel Online

"...In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, she describes a man who became a victim of his own delusions.....

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why do you think your father sees Islam in such a hostile way?

Jones: It is relatively new. For years he led a church in Cologne that was, at first, merely Bible oriented, but later it began to have sect-like elements. Just before he left Cologne in 2008 and returned to the US, he began saying that Islam is getting the upper hand and that we can't allow it. But I didn't grow up with this radicalism.....

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Former members of his church have spoken of psychological cruelty, forced work, financial irregularities and calls to beat ones own children.

Jones: My mother, Lisa Jones, died in 1996 of a heart attack. Shortly thereafter, my father remarried and I left the church at age 17. In 2005, he offered me a job as a bookkeeper in a company belonging to the church, which sold donated furniture on eBay. I gained a new insight, and realized that my father preached things and did things that I didn't find to be in accordance with the Bible at all. He demanded that people completely obey him and his second wife, Sylvia. Both are extremely obsessed with power. I saw genuine religious delusion. A typical indication of a sect. Both of them wanted to control everything.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Did you confront your father at the time?

Jones: Yes. I didn't agree with those things which I saw as exploitation and psychological abuse. I repeatedly brought those things up. In the end, he called me into his office and said he received a message from God for me: God would take my children and then kill me. I stood up and left. Then I contacted members of the church and tried to open their eyes. And I was successful.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: It is true, then, that the church in Cologne ousted your father itself?

Jones: Yes.....

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is your father a megalomaniac?

Jones: I'm afraid he is. As his daughter, it is difficult for me to say that.....

SPIEGEL ONLINE: He has indicated that the final decision will be imparted to him by God. Does he see himself as someone who is in constant contact with God?

Jones: Yes. He was constantly comparing himself with Moses....."

COMMENT:
He sounds similar to Jim Jones. Remember Jonestown and the massacre?

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