Kairos of Jonestown

Unfortunately for the followers of Jim Jones, the timing of Jones' final speech, the speech to convince his followers to drink poison, was timed perfectly. The kairos of the speech was affected by the fact that many people had "betrayed" the cult by running away and that a congressman investigating Jonestown was murdered. Jones had actually impacted his kairos in a positive way by ordering the shooting of Congressman Ryan and his crew, which had put everyone in Jonestown in danger. One instance of this can be seen when the speaker says "But it's too late. I can't control these people. They're out there. They've gone with the guns. And it's too late." Throughout the transcript, there were people doubting the plan of action, which was to suicide, and the only way that they were convinced was from the twisting of recent events. The kairos of the situation might've been Jones' most powerful tool and he had used it appropriately to benefit himself.