Jim Jones vs. Warren Jeffs: The Dark Parallels of Jonestown and Zion Ranch -Manipulation and Control

[@EasternDreamer615]

It makes me happy that you both have far more followers than Warren Jeffs and you're actually helping people with what you do as opposed to harming people like Jeffs. It's emotionally heavy work to analyze difficult content, especially when you're both such kind people. This work that you're doing is helping to educate the public on how to avoid these high control groups. Thank you both.

[@nicolepeterson723]

Beautifully said and completely agree! ❤

[@schs1977]

I have elderly neighbors who are originally from the area where Jonestown once stood. The gentleman shared with me that about a year or so after the Guyana and US governments completed all of their investigations, the local men burned everything that remained on the property and brought in bulldozers and truck loads of dirt to cover everything. He said the Guyanese government didn't want it to become a memorial sight attracting outsiders who would be profiting from a tragedy. He said trees once again covered the area, and you would never it was there, just as they intended it to be.

[@whitney2042]

Thank you both for being so vulnerable. It is clear that you not only want to help people but try to be a safe place for and FLDS people who may want to leave. Keep up the good fight. You are making a difference.

[@phillisob]

Sam, your compassion is absolutely remarkable. I don't know how you handle watching and reviewing shows that bring up such terrifying feelings, thoughts, and memories for you. Melissa, your empathy and emotional intelligence are so beyond the average that it feels as if you grew up in the FLDS at times because you have such a big place in your heart for your husband's former community. It's amazing that you both approach every review, every discussion, every interview, etc. with unmatched care and love. Thank you for what you do. One of the first things I do each morning is put on one of your videos. I think of your mother and the rest of the family and just hope they someday show up at your door, even though I know in many cases it's next to impossible. There is always a bit of hope, I believe. In the meantime, remember that you both are literally changing the world for good, and you are wonderful people with pure and kind hearts. And this single mama in New York would consider my parenting to be a success if my kiddos turned out anything like you. ❤

[@GrowingUpinPolygamy]

Thank you so so much! ❤️

[@thekidcomn5938]

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian group. It’s hard at times to look back, but it’s also somewhat easy to be jaded and unemotional towards these things.

[@marip0sa3833]

I really appreciate you guys not editing out that last part, it was very emotional to watch but I think it is so important we don't get desensitized to these things so thank you both for being vulnerable with your emotions!

[@China-Clay]

Oh my. I hadn’t really thought about how good it was that Warren was behind bars at that point, you all are rocking this, been here from the start!♥️

[@China-Clay]

Sam, just finishing this, hang in there my friend, your hard work is going far

[@cathyrawlins702]

David Koresh and the Branch Davidians who perished at Waco also comes to mind when speaking of murderous cults.

[@coldwar45]

And Heavens Gate. Those are sort of the big three of death/suicide cults

[@bostonpicker7947]

Related to Sam’s curiosity about whether Jones intended from the beginning to kill his followers: At the time of the massacre of Jim Jones’ followers, right afterward we started hearing reports that Jones had been abusing cocaine, taking more and more in the weeks right before and, because of it, experiencing severe mental illness. So not only was he coked out and drunk on the power of his spiritual position, but severely deteriorating mental health (brought on by his own actions) may have caused him to murder his followers.

[@Jakori1977]

You both won the marriage lottery finding each other ❤ thankyou for such a wonderful real eye opening vlog 😢

[@bryonyvaughn2427]

Thank you for your sensitive handling of this topic. I was forced to watch the Jonestown documentary for a class with no content warning being given. It wrecked me. I was raised in the IBLP cult and so many of Jones’ tactics paralleled the testing my ex would do to me. It made me realize our marriage counselor was right to tell me I was in far greater danger than I imagined. Your empathy for and defense of those people who were killed in transformative. It honors their memories and living, breathing, loving people, not cultists who chose that end. I appreciate that you both center the humanity of people you feature. You help me be more grounded in love in my consideration of people. I hope to grow to be more like you both in modeling for those around me how to habitually speak grounded in love. Lofty goals, they may be but you’ve given me a vision. Thank you.

[@GrowingUpinPolygamy]

❤️

[@tamibrantley7986]

Sam I’m praying for your family members and everyone else still following WJ. I’m hopeful for restoration of family relationships.

[@katwitanruna]

Break the silence. Break the cycle.

[@coldhibiscustea]

Watching both of you get emotional about it just hit so hard. People talk about the adults and what they do or don't do but for many people not enough thought goes towards the children and how vulnerable they are and what they endure. Children in the FLDS and other controlling groups are in constant danger, manipulation, coercion, and often abuse. I really hope the missing children are found and helped quickly.

[@Meganec3810]

I always appreciate how much you both respect the victims of religious abuse and how you center the victims first in your responses!

[@Jenniferalvarez19818]

And what makes it even more scary is that yeah Warren can have his followers do this same thing. Even when he is behind bars he has followers

[@limeparticle]

Also thank you teenage Sam for single-handedly preventing the Second Coming through your ”unrighteousness”, we salute you! 🫡😅

[@GrowingUpinPolygamy]

😂

[@pamelot9158]

Heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing your pain with us. I binge watched the Jim Jones story.... a lot of tears.

[@sherrita80548]

One of my friends lost a few of her family members there her parents were dead set on going but thank God a relative convinced them not to go beciase she was too young she wqs only six months old then

[@WilliamWallace-ki9wb]

Hopefully flds don't get to the Jim Jones level. If it does it would be a lot more then a few for me on the list.

[@piratesswoop725]

There was a family group from my hometown who went there, the Swaneys, two adult siblings with their kids and grandkids. The brother was named Nathaniel, and he, his daughter and granddaughter died at Jonestown. His sister and her family survived. They are the family you see in the video clips saying they wanted to leave. Edith Swaney Parks, her son Gerry, his wife Patty and their kids Dale, Brenda and Tracy, along with Brenda’s boyfriend Chris. Patty was the defector who was killed in the airstrip shooting sadly. She’s buried in the big cemetery in my hometown. Dale was also married and his wife survived too because she was in Venezuela on some order from Jones. Unfortunately their adopted son Warren died.

[@bluewingedchaoscat]

The thought alone that it already happened and can happen so easily to people you love, people who gave life to you, gave you happy childhood memories is unthinkable. And by watching this, you make your mind go there. Please take care of yourself. Both of you. ❤

[@bekahanneful]

It’s so hard to learn about these things- and to see similarities and echoes in the present… it is visceral and reverberates through me. The division and derision here in the US is palpable. I have not seen this show you are speaking about, but I listened to some of the Peoples Temple “Death Tape” and… words fail. Can’t un-hear that. And it reaches into today: I can’t un-hear the familiarity of tone and rhetoric style, we experience the charismatic lilt of politicians parading as leaders. Thank you for allowing for (and not editing out) your real-time reaction and offering the reverence it deserves.

[@user-bz4ug3lz3g]

I wish I give you both a hug

[@CANDIS...521]

All cults have parallels. It's very scary, I'm into documentaries, fdls, Waco, Jonestown, scientology are a few that all have similar outcomes

[@billyb9067]

Maga cult is the most dangerous

[@PJV-rf4ng]

aw Sam! you're gonna make me cry! you're compassion for the jonestown folks who have lived thru the same kind of control you did as a kid, is so wonderful. there are many of your patrons, like me, who absolutely love the education that you and Melissa are providing. thank you for your willingness to both share with us, and thank you for your compassion.

[@GrowingUpinPolygamy]

Thank you so much! ❤️

[@Jenniferalvarez19818]

Thanks for giving your take on this. It’s a very sad sad story. I can’t believe this actually happened.

[@melz6625]

What a powerful display of empathy! Being able to show empathy towards other people is the best thing to fight the “us vs. them”-thinking often used by cult leaders to control and instill fear. As someone brought up not to cry because “it’s annoying”, but being neurodivergent, I know first hand how detrimental suppressing emotions can be. It was only when I learned to embrace my emotions, that I was able to control them. I learned through therapy that it’s okay to feel strongly and then to work through the emotions to balance. Suppressing emotions only led to depression and outbursts of anger. That is probably why many ex cult-members report an atmosphere of anger. Like in Scientology where people allegedly yell and shout at each other a lot. Along with verbal and even physical abuse from the leaders.

[@cathyweisner2683]

Thank you guys for this. ❤

[@beckydexter4471]

You both are so thoughtful. I too find watching or reading anything about Jonestown so painful and heartbreaking that it can be unbearable. But thank you for allowing yourselves to cry, mourn and feel the devastating loss of those victims. The children…the poor children. Somehow your display of grief, the silence, the unspoken was like a memorial or tribute and your compassion was so heartfelt. I love your podcasts, wisdom, empathy and occasional outrage. Admire you greatly for your work. TY!

[@katwitanruna]

Liked. Shared. Commented. Up the algorithm!

[@mizotter]

Sending you BIG LOVE. Thank you for re-traumatizing yourselves to show us the 2 groups in comparison. You bring valuable perspectives to the Deconstruction conversation. The more we look at toxic, dehumanizing, high-control groups side by side, the more we can see that all of them are rooted in the very human desire for power & dominance, not some supernatural being's grand plan. Thank you for your service to educating The People. Be well.

[@limeparticle]

TW for this comment, it’s disturbing re. Jonestown. . . . I did a deep dive into Jim Jones a few years ago and listened to the last recording. To this day, it’s the most harrowing thing I’ve ever heard. It galls me that 45 years on, it’s still spoken of as a mass su1c1de, when in reality it was nothing of the sort. The children were unalived first, which may have made it easier to end the parents… they would have realized what they had just done to their children, and had nothing left to live for. A lot of people were also just sh0t.

[@sarahcunniffe4678]

You are bringing awareness. Much respect

[@laurenhelms1161]

“The greater good” will always remind me of the movie Hot Fuzz! If you haven’t watched it i highly recommend it after the kiddos go to bed.

[@coldwar45]

Sam and Melissa, you guys sure know how to rope in a viewer by a great intro. I imagine this is very tough thinking about what could’ve happened had Warren been on the compound. Thank the maker he wasn’t. Take care of yourselves ❤

[@bobbielynn5169]

❤ just sending you the biggest hug and all the hope in the world this doesn't repeat ever.

[@elainebryant1124]

You two put out such good and interesting content. You have such lovely souls too. I love tuning in!

[@jewelgazer]

Sam we all love you! 💜

[@rin-eri]

I've never seen Sam so choked up/emotional about anything on the channel before. (Very understandable and justified, of course!) Thank you Sam for your bravery to be vulnerable and share your emotions with us. And thank you Melissa for your strength to continue talking and narrating through when Sam didn't have the words to express himself. His tears spoke volumes, of course. That's why the two of you make such an amazing pair on this channel.

[@arobin1960]

You two are a delightful combination and you have alighted on something topical that you both have insight into. I am surprised that you haven't gone back to , Big Love . The show evoked all of the interest in polygamy and has lead to your brief window of opportunity. The Polygamy Story you recently featured is over ten years old. Are you going to branch out into travel features?

[@GShumway132]

You'd need a passport in order to go up to Bountiful, BC of course. Also any member with one American parent and one Canadian parent would have dual citizenship. Dual citizenship can also be obtained through (legal) marriage. There was at least one instance where Warren had an American woman legally marry her Canadian sister wife (lgbt marriage) in order to lawfully reside in Canada.

[@ashleydanielson3222]

I thought of Bountiful which is only a few hours away from me. You don’t hear as much about them though.

[@arleneblankenship2488]

Y’all have the most beautiful hearts. I love you guys.

[@kimkrebs451]

Thanks for sharing

[@FluffytheBearCat]

Sending you love for doing this and for being so open ❤❤

[@sanshiweinle]

Have you guys reached out to April Orgill from April and Davey? She has shared her story on their channel before. If I am remembering right she actually went to the Alta Academy when Warren Jeff's was running it.

[@heatherwilson9717]

Watching that and thinking how close members of your family have been /are to a similar situation is enough to choke anyone with a heart up. Sam still has family in that, and being scared for them is completely understandable.

[@susanmcmurtry7834]

My brother was an investigative journalist and broke a huge story on this event. You should speak with him!

[@CherokeeJoy4308]

Morning 🌄 from.nsw Australia 🇦🇺

[@DemJonesDemJones]

Dude, it's 4 am.

[@IWantToRideMyBike]

I really appreciate your willingness to do this video even though it is clearly so so hard. Also, thank you for showing real emotion. Everyone makes jokes about this, but it’s not funny

[@stubbs3023]

Great video!

[@helenejordan3896]

I would love to see you guys react to the jubilee Mormons vs ex-Mormons it’s so interesting. I have absolutely loved watching you both and learning from you guys😊

[@sarahhaakenson5330]

Hug and love to both of you ❤

[@kimkrebs451]

I remember the the Jim Jones incident. I was really young when this happened. But I do remember it

[@enzomaidana5369]

hey hi from distant argentina. you guys are awesome.

[@tarabrighten1974]

I just watched Waco on Netflix and it’s almost exactly the same narrative

[@karismith5079]

HUGS to you sweet two.

[@vickijankowski2945]

Have either of you had to go to therapy because of growing up in the FLDS or LDS?

[@ashleyrussell830]

Spot on

[@monicamacneille3372]

Oh my goodness, I was just shown an ad for a polygamist dating site! That would be fascinating to look into!!! Maybe you could do a review of it? I'm so curious!

[@claudiaerickson4088]

💔💔💔 love you guys

[@geertsturm4182]

Life in the free world can be very complicated, confusing and full of risks. Living in such religious community can be very safe.

[@custisstandish1961]

In the beginning Jim Jones tried to emulate Father Divine and his Peace Mission movement. As most cults go Father Divine never saw outsiders as a threat. In fact in Philadelphia he had the Divine Lorraine Hotel where believers and non-believers alike could get a cheap room and a very cheap lunch. Many a college student in the 1950s and 1960s availed themselves of those cheap lunches. Father Divine is seen by some students of the Civil Rights movement as a promoter of Civil Rights. You two might find this interesting.

[@enzomaidana5369]

Two mormón mission boys visited me here home and I have two dogs that wanna play and jump on people wagging their tails and these two missionaries were so annoyed by them 😅😅😅 I thought that was weird because most people like dogs and specially mine that are clean and friendly, and then I saw your video with Peter and you mentioned that dogs were banned in the community I remembered those two boys that got so annoyed and disgusted by my dogs 😅😅😅

[@sunshineinarizona1726]

Sam, I'm sorry you're worried about your family that is still part of the cult. Both you and your wife are sweet people.🧡

[@karismith5079]

wow 913 people that is crazy! 😢

[@adriennenelson759]

There were testimonies from former members that Jim did practice rounds of the poisoned Flavor Aid to see who was loyal to him. He was ready to pop at any moment.

[@lesliesheppard6112]

Y’all need to review something funny or silly after this heavy stuff. Have you ever considered reviewing the Book of Mormon play? More LDS than FLDS I think( I’ve never seen it) but maybe it’ll give you something silly to talk about. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@Jeff-zs2pq]

But Jim Jones committed suicide at the end of the evening since he was deranged, but he was also suffering from severe paranoia.

[@sheilaburgos4052]

I love the both of u, ur such beautiful people ❤

[@mienafriggstad3360]

💔

[@ashleyrussell830]

Why do they let Jeffs still communicate with his followers? If something happens heaven forbid to the flds the authorities would be capable

[@R.KennethPope]

The followers of William Branham are very similar to the Jones and Jeffs cults. Although Branham is dead there exist factions of his followers that believe Branham's words above the very Bible the promote as the basis of their faith. Some teach that he coming back to kill a bear, others believe that he was/is the second coming of Christ, while others believe that if you don't follow the prophet that you will go to hell, and they all believe that his words were God's word. Churches have separated marriages, un-fellowshipped believers because they married another race, command that believers have no fellowship with "the world", they inhabit the private family's lives, and I'm sure they do a lot of other weird shit. I almost got sucked into this religion, but somehow I turned away from it.

[@kimsmart100]

😢🫂 ❤