In late 1990, a few months after Jim Myers' first grandson,
Ethan, was born, Jim was
sitting in his study flipping through a magazine when a picture of the people who
died at Jonestown appeared. His eyes immediately focused on the soles
of two little tennis shoes on the feet of a little dead child laying between two adults, which he assumed were its parents.
Click
Here To See Original Picture
As
he looked at those little feet, he wondered if that the little
child had a grandfather somewhere who cared as
much for him as he did for Ethan. Then, as he pondered how this could
have happened, this question came to him:
What was so powerful that it could cause a loving
mother
to place a glass of poison
to the lips of her baby,
look into its eyes, and tell it to drink?
Surely, he thought, I would never do that to my grandson! It was then
that knew the answer to the question above --
An unexamined religious belief system!
Even though he was the pastor of a church, he had never really
examined the origin of his religious beliefs. As he thought about how
powerful his religious beliefs were -- and how much they controlled his
life -- he thought how unbelievable it was that he had never
investigated them. His religious beliefs affected what he did with his
time, how he spent his money, his relationship with his wife &
children, what he was preaching from the pulpit -- and most of what he
did was done by "blind faith."
As he studied the origins of his beliefs, he also read a great deal
about Jim Jones and found that many of their beliefs were the same. Jim Jones was a Christian and
many of his messages included many of the same Bible verses that Jim
preached too. This was transformational experience that led him to
spend many months researching his personal and religious beliefs, where
they originated, and how he acquired them. He created a seminar and
workshop called -- The Power Within. It helped many people
discover the importance of investigating their beliefs. Jim truly felt
that any person who attended that seminar would never do what the child
in the picture above parents' did to him.
|
Jim really believed that this was
something he could do to honor and remember that child -- so his
life would not be forgotten. |
Remember those little shoes as you look through this website &
read the articles that Jim has written, because that little child's life
made much of this possible. If you think it is important to remember the
child that wore those little shoes, please like our Facebook Page to let
us know that you understand.
Click here to
return to Jim's story.
|
