Responsible Journalism In Cult Related Comparisons by Debra Van Neste, Thinking Agenda, LLC
Professionally edited by Cathleen Mann, PhD
January, 2018
When one reads about a cult leader being compared to Jim Jones, it often captures everyone’s attention. Spending many hours interviewing survivors of Jonestown, as well as understanding cult dynamics by talking to experts, I found that understanding such comparisons can be a challenge. This needs to be addressed as an unbiased comparison between the two movements and personalities. The latest "journalist" to compare a cult leader to Jim Jones Is now Be Scofield. She had an article go briefly viral on Medium, on infiltrating alleged cult leader “Bentinho Massaro” and she spent two weeks with him and his crew undercover using a pseudonym.
Read her article here.
Please allow a brief introduction to spiritual leader Bentinho Massaro. He certainty appears unique in several ways. His outrageous antics and statements should be addressed and examined. Be Scofield, successfully elevated him, kicking and screaming, for the world to see through her articles. However, what I noticed the most in her articles, is the prevalent attack on his beliefs, followed weakly by his practices and behavior. He is not convicted of any crimes. There is no proof presented that he has raped, killed, assaulted, defrauded, plagiarized, has any record or direct contact with child abuse, drugs or other criminal activities. There are no interviews with former victims of Bentinho. Nor are there even multiple websites against him, detailing alleged crimes. There was only an email exchange with “Gaby Petris" an anonymous moniker, whose experience with Bentinho was solely online. She got very disturbed by it and has not stopped writing about Bentinho, yet she will not tell her whole story even after several years. Bentinho believing he can control the weather is a red flag of a possible delusion, which is not criminal.
Be Scofield clearly did not uncover any crimes that would be reported to law enforcement. What we read instead are a large trove of pictures of restaurants, mountains, and food in her expose. However, what was uncovered in Be’s article was mainly an attack on his beliefs and personality with no real investigation indicating that Bentinho Massaro would ever be another Jim Jones. Should Bentinho be exposed? Certainly! My focus here, however, is the comparison to Jim Jones, as now we are moving towards an illogical conclusion with no evidence. This is the purpose of history. Therefore we have the history of the tragedy of the Peoples Temple to compare with this new, lesser known, upstart Guru. Bentinho’s followers are his sole means of survival. He has managed fixed ways of attracting a large amount of passive income.
One disturbing element is a fundraiser being promoted with the statement from Be Scofield that she prevented another "Jonestown" by interfering in the activities of this cult. But did she? Can she? There is no evidence of this provided. It appears to be mere speculation from an over-imaginative journalist, wanting to seek fame and maintain attention on her superficial expose of this group. To her credit, she has written two articles that were informative on this subject. There is no need to jump into a sensationalistic venue and exploit a completely different situation for money. When confronted publicly about this from a cult expert, Dr. Cathleen Mann, she deleted all of Dr. Mann’s statements. What ensued were private messages between Dr. Mann and Be, in which the latter still insisted on using an imaginary connection, and refusing to listen to an expert, who studied Jonestown for over 30 years. In between, she bragged to Dr. Mann, a court-qualified cult expert, how she (Be) is a “populizer.” It seems clear that Be Scofield is acting voluntarily, and is looking for prominence in the anti-cult community. Experts are needed to examine the potential harmfulness of new cult like movements and leaders. This is another trend, however, in which people seek to expose cult leaders. It may be a sense of personal satisfaction, yet their expertise is not confirmed. Experts are needed to weigh in and clarify, as otherwise, we have mere sensationalism, which may wind up hurting the cause rather than aiding it.
Jim Jones early life and influences
(taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones)
Jones was born on May 13, 1931 in a rural area of Crete, Indiana, to James Thurman Jones (1887–1951), a World War I veteran, and Lynetta Putnam (1902–1977). Jones was of Irish and Welsh descent; he later claimed partial Cherokee ancestry through his mother, but his maternal second cousin later stated this was likely untrue. Economic difficulties during the Great Depression necessitated that Jones' family move to the town of Lynn in 1934, where he grew up in a shack without plumbing. “As a child, Jones was a voracious reader who studied Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler carefully, noting the strengths and weaknesses of each. Jones also developed an intense interest in religion, primarily because he found making friends difficult. Childhood acquaintances later recalled Jones as being a "really weird kid" who was "obsessed with religion ... obsessed with death." They alleged that he frequently held funerals for small animals on his parents' property and had stabbed a cat to death. “Jones and a childhood friend both claimed that his father, who was an alcoholic, was associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Jones, however, came to sympathize with the country's repressed African-American community due to his own experiences as a social outcast. Jones later recounted how he and his father clashed on the issue of race, and how he did not speak with his father for "many, many years" after he refused to allow one of Jones' black friends into the house. After Jones' parents separated, Jones moved with his mother to Richmond, Indiana. He graduated from Richmond High School early and with honors in December 1948.
Bentinho Massaro's early life and influences
There only are snippets from a few defunct articles floating around the net, nor is there a Wikipedia entry on Bentinho Massaro. He avoids talking about his early years and gives little or no disclosure. What can be stitched together, is that he is Dutch, and his parents live and work in the Netherlands. His father’s name is maybe Arturo, and is now a coach. They were not poor, but rather a middle-class family, and his father has a background in the city council.
There is one childhood mention, as to how Bentinho recounts an incident in which he tortured a kitten.
Bentinho’s own comments on his past definitely set off red flags
(taken from http://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/07/02/biography-of-bentinho-massaro/)
“My lack of involvement in ‘my past’ shows me so clearly, yet again, that identity does not carry over from one flicker of creation to the next. It is this experience of timelessness, and many other joyful and enlightening facets of a life lived in freedom, that I wish to share with you all by example; by simply being myself in everything I do and decide to be. And I can gratefully tell you that I wholeheartedly desire for you to end up like me, albeit in your own unique and beautifully owned way.”
A noteworthy and succinct synopsis of Bentinho’s teachings and worldview was captured in this article written by Jason Calavito who states the following in his blog:
“For our purposes, the most salient feature of Massaro’s New Age movement, and his Trinfinity Corporation’s plans to construct a city for his followers, is its utilization of the same stew of conspiracy theories that Ancient Aliens star David Wilcock uses in his “spiritual” teachings, which he terms the “ascension mysteries.” Like Wilcock, Massaro embraced the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and like Wilcock, he has made disturbingly positive noises about Nazi Germany, and connected it all to a cosmic alien conspiracy. And worst of all, both men also fantasize the movies are a secret source of conspiratorial information about space aliens.”
Here is Massaro, as quoted in the same article:
“We have bases on the moon, a bunch of slave colonies on Mars that have been mining the asteroid belt, we have been colonizing galaxies of our solar system, we haven’t needed fossil fuels for the last 80 years because we have anti-gravitic mechanisms…The Nazi’s won the war. The US government gave up their control, their governance so we would not be exposed to free energy devices. If free energy gets released, and we’re [Trinfinity corp] working on it, it changes everything. We’ve had free energy for 80 fucking years."
Don’t be surprised that the aliens we’ll meet — and we will meet them — look like the things you see in the movies. Don’t be like ‘oh this story of this guy is nonsense because I’ve seen that in the movies. He just got it from the movies.’ Well, did he get it from the movies or did the movies get it from them?"
“The vision statement of Trinfinity is: to have an enlightened civilization by 2035 that’s ready for interstellar absorption. It means that we reach a level of maturity to where we as a collective are able to be contacted openly without us freaking us out anymore, without it needing to be kept secret anymore, we have become are own government. Many of you are directly connected to ET consciousnesses.
We’re going to be absorbed initially into different confederations or alliances of civilizations that are 4th density or higher. We will be taught a lot. There will be a new type of education.”
Laura Johnston Kohl, a Jonestown survivor and scholar, who teaches about The Peoples Temple to universities had this to say about Jim Jones. (taken from Ethics and the Modern Guru – Peoples Temple Edition)
“Jim would speak in lines with heroes of our day. Jim was in contact with the “new heroes” of our age, like Angela Davis, and so he would bring these conversations in our meetings."
“We had this picture he was a wonderful person for several years, and we did not really change our image of who he was”
"Jim Jones was very controlling, and had a public and private persona" according to Laura Johnston Kohl.
Also according to Laura Johnston Kohl, Jim Jones, was so controlling, he trusted no one. Everything was for Jim, and no one got in his inner circle easily, let alone someone new
Bentinho Massaro, on the other hand, openly displays his narcissistic tendencies and even shouts “fuck you” in an open forum. Bentinho sat with Be Scofield, who was new in his circle, and talked with her till 3 am according to her report.
The portrait of Jim Jones as recounted by survivors presents a more sinister view, than the one evidenced with Bentinho’s behaviors.
Another quote from Laura Johnston Kohl (taken from Ethics and the Modern Guru – Peoples Temple Edition)
“The inner circle of secretaries and mistresses they had to give everything, Everything! They were not allowed to voice their ideas, the position to Jim was precarious.”
David Parker Wise, former close friend of Jim Jones, also states in an interview with (taken from Ethics and The Modern Guru Magazine - Peoples Temple Edition)
"Jim Jones said that whatever he can get you to do was, okay. The end justifies the means."
Be Scofield claims she easily invaded Bentinho’s inner circle, and that he was sympathetic and listened to her, not making any demands. She claimed she was a “dark scorpio” and that “dark scorpios always win.” There was no evidence of undue influence towards the journalist or even recruitment. Be Scofield starts her article stating an anonymous quote comparing Bentinho to setting up a “Jonestown” to incite fear.
Reasonable facts and conclusions
Though Bentinho Massaro is highly influenced by new age teachers and the possibility of alleged mixing of various plagiarized theories, he does not share the ideology or influences that motivated Jim Jones in starting and maintaining his movement. Jim Jones was about tangible realities and started his movement based on social injustice. It appears Bentinho just layers his teachings up to gain new followers and popularity. He is not as, Be writes, “imagine Jim Jones on social media.” More than anything, Bentinho is just another typical new age charlatan, setting up shop with wild and outlandish teachings. Just because someone suggests a commune does not mean there will be a mass killing. Is it a red flag? Perhaps, but communes have also been around since forever. Bentinho is not isolated and there were no reports from Be Scofield’s articles that anyone was held against their will. There is a focus and idealization in Bentinho, that puts him in the possible cult leader category, and people such as he should be on the radar by experts and cult watchers. However, as mentioned already, sensationalism does not help, but rather hinders.
The crimes of Jim Jones vs the alleged crimes of Bentinho Massaro
The best source for academic studies and research, as well as being the largest and most comprehensive site on The Peoples Temple, can be found at http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/. You can spend an hour a day on that site, for several months, and still not get through it all. You can also look and read various reports on the official FBI site at https://vault.fbi.gov/jonestown.
Jim Jones was responsible for the murder of over 900 people, including 300 children, by forcing them to drink flavor-aid laced with cyanide. This took place at his Guyana compound, on November of 1978, and there is tape evidence showing it was a forced murder at gun point, rather than a voluntary suicide. If you didn’t do what he said, you were shot or forced at gunpoint, no one was getting out alive. You gave everything over to Jim Jones, and belonged entirely to him.
California Representative Leo Ryan flew to Guyana, in order to investigate claims that members of The Peoples Temple were being held against their will. He arrived with a delegation of staff, journalists and worried relatives of Jonestown residents, and during his visit to the compound, met several people who sought his help in returning to the United States.
When he left, Ryan angered Jones by taking a large group of defectors with him. While waiting to board their charter plane at a nearby jungle airstrip, his group was ambushed by gunmen sent by Jones. Ryan was killed, along with four others: a reporter and cameraman from NBC, a photographer from the San Francisco Examiner, and a female defector.
(see: https://www.today.com/news/under-spell-jim-jones-inside-tragedy-jonestown-massacre-t109982)
As related by David Parker Wise, there also was a lot of sexual intimidation with Jim Jones.
"Jim Jones also sexually abused his followers, and especially when he felt threatened by someone, he developed a need to compromise them sexually or otherwise humiliate them in public. I believe that public humiliation was reserved for those he could not compromise sexually. Many former members have memories of bad experiences, and—not surprisingly, given Jim’s approach to and use of sex—many of these bad experiences are directly or indirectly connected with sex. The hesitation to speak on the subject has lingered over all these years. Not long after the formation of the LA church, Jim ran into a serious legal problem, as he was arrested in the restroom of a late-night movie theater where a lot of gay men hung out. Apparently, he approached an undercover agent with an erect penis in a provocative way. This incident threatened to bring down Peoples Temple, and those who knew about it teamed up to prepare for the possible backlash. While the lawyers worked to get the arrest sealed, Jim became more and more threatened and paranoid, convinced that he would still be exposed. To reduce the fallout, we were told to invite people from a local “homosexual church”, but members of the church did not return after their first visit. Jim still needed some homosexuals. He was determined to make Peoples Temple a more openly homosexual church to stop insiders and outsiders from turning against him in case his own homosexual arrest became public."
After the arrest, Jim told Karen Layton, “No more sex with strangers.” He was forced to find outlets for his sexuality within the church to avoid being destroyed from without. He used the preposterous notion that he had to “relate” to other men’s homosexuality, to reach them on their level, or he would propose to introduce men to their inner homosexuality.
Concerning the alleged crimes of Bentinho Massaro, we googled him in every search engine and the dark web, we scoured for blogs, and testimonies on abuse, drugs, rape, corruption, laundering, or past crimes in his youth. All we could find is Gaby Petris (a presumed name), who has a well written blog, and a handful of YouTube videos which quote him and criticize his beliefs. We welcome any stories and documentation, and will insert them in this article. Bentinho makes many claims that clearly show a disturbance and lacking a proper grip on reality. His arrogance and narcissism are clearly evident as well and are troubling. However, until people speak up, we have nothing to report on, except that he acts highly unstable and believes a lot of fantasy and speculative insights.
We are looking for evidence of crimes. We know he believes he can levitate and change the weather, but that is a belief, not a crime. We might as well arrest every new age teacher out there, because many make the same claims, even worse. Because of news stories, we imagine we know exactly what a cult is, but in reality, we are fooling ourselves, because we only look at some exterior facets. In order to understand these things, our focus should not only be on what constitutes a cult, but rather on the essence of cultism. One should ask the question: why are these new age leaders so apparent when it has all the obvious signs of being a cult? Why does it continue to draw? In this case, we do not have enough information over time that Massaro is a cult leader of large significance. We should diminish embellishments and fear mongering. Responsible journalists report facts, fact check their productions, and do not make irresponsible statements and comparisons designed to engender fear, rather than inform.
Read her article here.
Please allow a brief introduction to spiritual leader Bentinho Massaro. He certainty appears unique in several ways. His outrageous antics and statements should be addressed and examined. Be Scofield, successfully elevated him, kicking and screaming, for the world to see through her articles. However, what I noticed the most in her articles, is the prevalent attack on his beliefs, followed weakly by his practices and behavior. He is not convicted of any crimes. There is no proof presented that he has raped, killed, assaulted, defrauded, plagiarized, has any record or direct contact with child abuse, drugs or other criminal activities. There are no interviews with former victims of Bentinho. Nor are there even multiple websites against him, detailing alleged crimes. There was only an email exchange with “Gaby Petris" an anonymous moniker, whose experience with Bentinho was solely online. She got very disturbed by it and has not stopped writing about Bentinho, yet she will not tell her whole story even after several years. Bentinho believing he can control the weather is a red flag of a possible delusion, which is not criminal.
Be Scofield clearly did not uncover any crimes that would be reported to law enforcement. What we read instead are a large trove of pictures of restaurants, mountains, and food in her expose. However, what was uncovered in Be’s article was mainly an attack on his beliefs and personality with no real investigation indicating that Bentinho Massaro would ever be another Jim Jones. Should Bentinho be exposed? Certainly! My focus here, however, is the comparison to Jim Jones, as now we are moving towards an illogical conclusion with no evidence. This is the purpose of history. Therefore we have the history of the tragedy of the Peoples Temple to compare with this new, lesser known, upstart Guru. Bentinho’s followers are his sole means of survival. He has managed fixed ways of attracting a large amount of passive income.
One disturbing element is a fundraiser being promoted with the statement from Be Scofield that she prevented another "Jonestown" by interfering in the activities of this cult. But did she? Can she? There is no evidence of this provided. It appears to be mere speculation from an over-imaginative journalist, wanting to seek fame and maintain attention on her superficial expose of this group. To her credit, she has written two articles that were informative on this subject. There is no need to jump into a sensationalistic venue and exploit a completely different situation for money. When confronted publicly about this from a cult expert, Dr. Cathleen Mann, she deleted all of Dr. Mann’s statements. What ensued were private messages between Dr. Mann and Be, in which the latter still insisted on using an imaginary connection, and refusing to listen to an expert, who studied Jonestown for over 30 years. In between, she bragged to Dr. Mann, a court-qualified cult expert, how she (Be) is a “populizer.” It seems clear that Be Scofield is acting voluntarily, and is looking for prominence in the anti-cult community. Experts are needed to examine the potential harmfulness of new cult like movements and leaders. This is another trend, however, in which people seek to expose cult leaders. It may be a sense of personal satisfaction, yet their expertise is not confirmed. Experts are needed to weigh in and clarify, as otherwise, we have mere sensationalism, which may wind up hurting the cause rather than aiding it.
Jim Jones early life and influences
(taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones)
Jones was born on May 13, 1931 in a rural area of Crete, Indiana, to James Thurman Jones (1887–1951), a World War I veteran, and Lynetta Putnam (1902–1977). Jones was of Irish and Welsh descent; he later claimed partial Cherokee ancestry through his mother, but his maternal second cousin later stated this was likely untrue. Economic difficulties during the Great Depression necessitated that Jones' family move to the town of Lynn in 1934, where he grew up in a shack without plumbing. “As a child, Jones was a voracious reader who studied Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler carefully, noting the strengths and weaknesses of each. Jones also developed an intense interest in religion, primarily because he found making friends difficult. Childhood acquaintances later recalled Jones as being a "really weird kid" who was "obsessed with religion ... obsessed with death." They alleged that he frequently held funerals for small animals on his parents' property and had stabbed a cat to death. “Jones and a childhood friend both claimed that his father, who was an alcoholic, was associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Jones, however, came to sympathize with the country's repressed African-American community due to his own experiences as a social outcast. Jones later recounted how he and his father clashed on the issue of race, and how he did not speak with his father for "many, many years" after he refused to allow one of Jones' black friends into the house. After Jones' parents separated, Jones moved with his mother to Richmond, Indiana. He graduated from Richmond High School early and with honors in December 1948.
Bentinho Massaro's early life and influences
There only are snippets from a few defunct articles floating around the net, nor is there a Wikipedia entry on Bentinho Massaro. He avoids talking about his early years and gives little or no disclosure. What can be stitched together, is that he is Dutch, and his parents live and work in the Netherlands. His father’s name is maybe Arturo, and is now a coach. They were not poor, but rather a middle-class family, and his father has a background in the city council.
There is one childhood mention, as to how Bentinho recounts an incident in which he tortured a kitten.
Bentinho’s own comments on his past definitely set off red flags
(taken from http://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/07/02/biography-of-bentinho-massaro/)
“My lack of involvement in ‘my past’ shows me so clearly, yet again, that identity does not carry over from one flicker of creation to the next. It is this experience of timelessness, and many other joyful and enlightening facets of a life lived in freedom, that I wish to share with you all by example; by simply being myself in everything I do and decide to be. And I can gratefully tell you that I wholeheartedly desire for you to end up like me, albeit in your own unique and beautifully owned way.”
A noteworthy and succinct synopsis of Bentinho’s teachings and worldview was captured in this article written by Jason Calavito who states the following in his blog:
“For our purposes, the most salient feature of Massaro’s New Age movement, and his Trinfinity Corporation’s plans to construct a city for his followers, is its utilization of the same stew of conspiracy theories that Ancient Aliens star David Wilcock uses in his “spiritual” teachings, which he terms the “ascension mysteries.” Like Wilcock, Massaro embraced the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and like Wilcock, he has made disturbingly positive noises about Nazi Germany, and connected it all to a cosmic alien conspiracy. And worst of all, both men also fantasize the movies are a secret source of conspiratorial information about space aliens.”
Here is Massaro, as quoted in the same article:
“We have bases on the moon, a bunch of slave colonies on Mars that have been mining the asteroid belt, we have been colonizing galaxies of our solar system, we haven’t needed fossil fuels for the last 80 years because we have anti-gravitic mechanisms…The Nazi’s won the war. The US government gave up their control, their governance so we would not be exposed to free energy devices. If free energy gets released, and we’re [Trinfinity corp] working on it, it changes everything. We’ve had free energy for 80 fucking years."
Don’t be surprised that the aliens we’ll meet — and we will meet them — look like the things you see in the movies. Don’t be like ‘oh this story of this guy is nonsense because I’ve seen that in the movies. He just got it from the movies.’ Well, did he get it from the movies or did the movies get it from them?"
“The vision statement of Trinfinity is: to have an enlightened civilization by 2035 that’s ready for interstellar absorption. It means that we reach a level of maturity to where we as a collective are able to be contacted openly without us freaking us out anymore, without it needing to be kept secret anymore, we have become are own government. Many of you are directly connected to ET consciousnesses.
We’re going to be absorbed initially into different confederations or alliances of civilizations that are 4th density or higher. We will be taught a lot. There will be a new type of education.”
Laura Johnston Kohl, a Jonestown survivor and scholar, who teaches about The Peoples Temple to universities had this to say about Jim Jones. (taken from Ethics and the Modern Guru – Peoples Temple Edition)
“Jim would speak in lines with heroes of our day. Jim was in contact with the “new heroes” of our age, like Angela Davis, and so he would bring these conversations in our meetings."
“We had this picture he was a wonderful person for several years, and we did not really change our image of who he was”
"Jim Jones was very controlling, and had a public and private persona" according to Laura Johnston Kohl.
Also according to Laura Johnston Kohl, Jim Jones, was so controlling, he trusted no one. Everything was for Jim, and no one got in his inner circle easily, let alone someone new
Bentinho Massaro, on the other hand, openly displays his narcissistic tendencies and even shouts “fuck you” in an open forum. Bentinho sat with Be Scofield, who was new in his circle, and talked with her till 3 am according to her report.
The portrait of Jim Jones as recounted by survivors presents a more sinister view, than the one evidenced with Bentinho’s behaviors.
Another quote from Laura Johnston Kohl (taken from Ethics and the Modern Guru – Peoples Temple Edition)
“The inner circle of secretaries and mistresses they had to give everything, Everything! They were not allowed to voice their ideas, the position to Jim was precarious.”
David Parker Wise, former close friend of Jim Jones, also states in an interview with (taken from Ethics and The Modern Guru Magazine - Peoples Temple Edition)
"Jim Jones said that whatever he can get you to do was, okay. The end justifies the means."
Be Scofield claims she easily invaded Bentinho’s inner circle, and that he was sympathetic and listened to her, not making any demands. She claimed she was a “dark scorpio” and that “dark scorpios always win.” There was no evidence of undue influence towards the journalist or even recruitment. Be Scofield starts her article stating an anonymous quote comparing Bentinho to setting up a “Jonestown” to incite fear.
Reasonable facts and conclusions
Though Bentinho Massaro is highly influenced by new age teachers and the possibility of alleged mixing of various plagiarized theories, he does not share the ideology or influences that motivated Jim Jones in starting and maintaining his movement. Jim Jones was about tangible realities and started his movement based on social injustice. It appears Bentinho just layers his teachings up to gain new followers and popularity. He is not as, Be writes, “imagine Jim Jones on social media.” More than anything, Bentinho is just another typical new age charlatan, setting up shop with wild and outlandish teachings. Just because someone suggests a commune does not mean there will be a mass killing. Is it a red flag? Perhaps, but communes have also been around since forever. Bentinho is not isolated and there were no reports from Be Scofield’s articles that anyone was held against their will. There is a focus and idealization in Bentinho, that puts him in the possible cult leader category, and people such as he should be on the radar by experts and cult watchers. However, as mentioned already, sensationalism does not help, but rather hinders.
The crimes of Jim Jones vs the alleged crimes of Bentinho Massaro
The best source for academic studies and research, as well as being the largest and most comprehensive site on The Peoples Temple, can be found at http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/. You can spend an hour a day on that site, for several months, and still not get through it all. You can also look and read various reports on the official FBI site at https://vault.fbi.gov/jonestown.
Jim Jones was responsible for the murder of over 900 people, including 300 children, by forcing them to drink flavor-aid laced with cyanide. This took place at his Guyana compound, on November of 1978, and there is tape evidence showing it was a forced murder at gun point, rather than a voluntary suicide. If you didn’t do what he said, you were shot or forced at gunpoint, no one was getting out alive. You gave everything over to Jim Jones, and belonged entirely to him.
California Representative Leo Ryan flew to Guyana, in order to investigate claims that members of The Peoples Temple were being held against their will. He arrived with a delegation of staff, journalists and worried relatives of Jonestown residents, and during his visit to the compound, met several people who sought his help in returning to the United States.
When he left, Ryan angered Jones by taking a large group of defectors with him. While waiting to board their charter plane at a nearby jungle airstrip, his group was ambushed by gunmen sent by Jones. Ryan was killed, along with four others: a reporter and cameraman from NBC, a photographer from the San Francisco Examiner, and a female defector.
(see: https://www.today.com/news/under-spell-jim-jones-inside-tragedy-jonestown-massacre-t109982)
As related by David Parker Wise, there also was a lot of sexual intimidation with Jim Jones.
"Jim Jones also sexually abused his followers, and especially when he felt threatened by someone, he developed a need to compromise them sexually or otherwise humiliate them in public. I believe that public humiliation was reserved for those he could not compromise sexually. Many former members have memories of bad experiences, and—not surprisingly, given Jim’s approach to and use of sex—many of these bad experiences are directly or indirectly connected with sex. The hesitation to speak on the subject has lingered over all these years. Not long after the formation of the LA church, Jim ran into a serious legal problem, as he was arrested in the restroom of a late-night movie theater where a lot of gay men hung out. Apparently, he approached an undercover agent with an erect penis in a provocative way. This incident threatened to bring down Peoples Temple, and those who knew about it teamed up to prepare for the possible backlash. While the lawyers worked to get the arrest sealed, Jim became more and more threatened and paranoid, convinced that he would still be exposed. To reduce the fallout, we were told to invite people from a local “homosexual church”, but members of the church did not return after their first visit. Jim still needed some homosexuals. He was determined to make Peoples Temple a more openly homosexual church to stop insiders and outsiders from turning against him in case his own homosexual arrest became public."
After the arrest, Jim told Karen Layton, “No more sex with strangers.” He was forced to find outlets for his sexuality within the church to avoid being destroyed from without. He used the preposterous notion that he had to “relate” to other men’s homosexuality, to reach them on their level, or he would propose to introduce men to their inner homosexuality.
Concerning the alleged crimes of Bentinho Massaro, we googled him in every search engine and the dark web, we scoured for blogs, and testimonies on abuse, drugs, rape, corruption, laundering, or past crimes in his youth. All we could find is Gaby Petris (a presumed name), who has a well written blog, and a handful of YouTube videos which quote him and criticize his beliefs. We welcome any stories and documentation, and will insert them in this article. Bentinho makes many claims that clearly show a disturbance and lacking a proper grip on reality. His arrogance and narcissism are clearly evident as well and are troubling. However, until people speak up, we have nothing to report on, except that he acts highly unstable and believes a lot of fantasy and speculative insights.
We are looking for evidence of crimes. We know he believes he can levitate and change the weather, but that is a belief, not a crime. We might as well arrest every new age teacher out there, because many make the same claims, even worse. Because of news stories, we imagine we know exactly what a cult is, but in reality, we are fooling ourselves, because we only look at some exterior facets. In order to understand these things, our focus should not only be on what constitutes a cult, but rather on the essence of cultism. One should ask the question: why are these new age leaders so apparent when it has all the obvious signs of being a cult? Why does it continue to draw? In this case, we do not have enough information over time that Massaro is a cult leader of large significance. We should diminish embellishments and fear mongering. Responsible journalists report facts, fact check their productions, and do not make irresponsible statements and comparisons designed to engender fear, rather than inform.
Thinking Agenda is an anti-cult advocacy group, based in Orlando, Florida. Founded by Steven and Debra Van Neste, we publish a magazine on critical thinking and cults since 2015, called "Ethics and The Modern Guru." We sell it on Kindle and Amazon. We are a legally registered LLC in the state of Florida, and we have a large social media reach. We are on every social platform.
This piece is a work in progress, check back for updates. We welcome all intelligent comments and insights.
Our websites
GuruEthics.com
CultsCults.com
For education on cults we highly recommend Dr. Cathleen Mann, cult psychology specialist/judicially qualified expert.
CultExpert.net.
This piece is a work in progress, check back for updates. We welcome all intelligent comments and insights.
Our websites
GuruEthics.com
CultsCults.com
For education on cults we highly recommend Dr. Cathleen Mann, cult psychology specialist/judicially qualified expert.
CultExpert.net.
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If you want to speak out and have had a direct personal experience with Bentinho Massaro, contact us. |