This wasn't so long ago in History, as we usually think of historical events. But I do remember when this happened. This is one of the serious dangers of getting involved in a cult. What happened here sounds similar to what happens in ritual abuse. More reason why the Gospel needs to be preached everywhere, as commanded.
People's Temple leader Jim Jones leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in remote northwestern Guyana. The few cult members who refused to take the cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction were either forced to do so at gunpoint or shot as they fled. The final death toll was 913, including 276 children.
Jim Jones was a charismatic churchman who founded the People's Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis in the 1950s. He preached against racism, and his integrated congregation attracted mostly African Americans. In 1965, he moved the group to northern California, settling in Ukiah and after 1971 in San Francisco. In the 1970s, his church was accused by the press of financial fraud, physical abuse of its members, and mistreatment of children. In response to the mounting criticism, Jones led several hundred of his followers to South America in 1977 and set up a utopian agricultural settlement called Jonestown in the jungle of Guyana.
A year later, a group of ex-members convinced U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat of California, to travel to Jonestown and investigate the commune.
Read more at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mass-suicide-at-jonestown
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