| Rev. Dr. James F. Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 24, 1907 Birmingham, Alabama, USA |
| Died | August 12, 1971 (aged 63) Detroit, Michigan |
| Cause of death | suffered a heart attack |
| Residence | 75 Arden Park and LaSalle Blvd., Detroit |
| Other names | Prophet Jones, Dr. Sterling |
| Occupation | evangelist/faith healer/pastor/recording artist |
| Salary | claimed less than 5,000 yearly, unknown |
| Height | over 6 feet |
| Title | Dominion Ruler, Head of the Dominion of God,Inc. |
| Term | 1938-1971 |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | Rev. Lord James Schaffer |
| Board member of | presider of General Assembly |
| Religion | Pentecostal |
| Partner | Elder James Walton (?-1951), male secretary, longtime companion |
| Children | Foster son Joshua Jones(1938-?), David Jones(1943-?), another claimed as well. |
| Parents | Rev. James W. Jones and Mother Lady Catherine L. Jones |
Rev. Dr. James F. Jones Prophet Jones (born James Francis Marion Jones; November 24, 1907 — February 12, 1971) was an African American religious leader, televangelist, faith healer, self-proclaimed prophet and pastor who led the Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God, Inc. from 1938 until his death in 1971. Jones was a contemporary of other religious leaders at that time such as Daddy Grace, Father Divine, C.L. Franklin, Rev. James F. Lofton; and Charles Harrison Mason. He reached his peak as a religious leader during the 40's and 50's. When he came to Detroit, he had been a missionary for the southern based Pentecostal sect, Triumph the Church Kingdom of God in Christ. He led two of the largest Pentecostal churches in Detroit in the 40s and 50s. He broadcasted live weekly sermons over Canadian stations CKLW reaching the Midwest. In 1955 he began hosting Sunday night programs on WXYZ-TV, making him the first African American preacher in Detroit to host a weekly television program. He was well known for his late night services, which were broadcasted in Detroit. He resided in a stately mansion called the "French Castle", in the fashionable Arden Park-East Boston district of Detroit. Later in his ministry he commuted from Detroit and Chicago frequently. Prophet Jones died at 63 and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
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Jones was born in Birmingham, Alabama on November 24, 1907.His father a railroad brakeman named James W. Jones married a schoolteacher named Catherine Lewis and he was their only child.At the early age of six Jones (1912) joined and began preaching sermons in Triumph the Holy Righteous Church.The Triumph the Holy Righteous Church was a Black Nationalist/Pentecostal church founded by Father Elias Dempsey Smith in 1902 that the young Jones parents,former members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, had converted to. Young Jones preached in the tents,convocations and other venues of the early Triumph Church as a child prodigy.When the young evangelist Jones was 9 years (1915) old Triumph the Holy Righteous Church changed its name to Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ.Also at this time its charismatic leader,Father Smith,was anointed Holy Apostle,Priest and King of the Church and kingdom of God.Father Smith claimed,and his followers believed,that he was divinely inspired to found and lead the Triumph Church and that God spoke directly to him.Jones,as an adult would later found,in 1944 Detroit,a similar church/Kingdom of his own:Universal Triumph the Dominion Of God,wherein he and his teachings would emulate and supplant those of Father Smith amongst his followers.At age 11 Jones quit school to devote his life to full time preaching the Triumph gospel.He was to spend his whole life evangelizing, preaching, prophesying and pasturing in the Triumph cause,as he understood and eventually reinterpreted it.As an adult Jones said when he was a little boy God spoke to him and told him he was destined to “distil” great and good thoughts in the minds of men.
The devoted young evangelist Jones,popularly called "sonny" and "son" became an officially ordained minister at age 18 (1924) in the southern based Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ sect.
In 1938 The expanding Triumph sect sent their 31 year old hard working minister/evangelist Jones,accompanied by his teen aged male personal secretary James Walton,to Detroit as a missionary.Jones,who had traveled extensively on Triumph Church business for many years without 'purse or scrip' in Missouri,Tennessee and Georgia encountered success and enthusiastic converts in Detroit that soon pressed expensive gifts upon him.Jones also began what was to become a highly effective and successful radio ministry.This new outreach greatly enhanced his public profile.Eventually,as WW2 started,Jones notoriety and the attendance at his Detroit Triumph Church and his birthday celebrations and social gatherings increased as did the gifts and offerings to his ministry.The numerous gifts that Jones ministry in Detroit had accumulated the national Triumph Church claimed were rightfully the property of the Triumph Church.Jones disagreed and soon thereafter broke away from the Triumph Church to embark on forming his own group,Universal Triumph the Dominion of God.Jones proclaimed that the split with Triumph was purely for spiritual reasons as around this time he received word from God to manifest the Kingdom with himself as Prophet and Ruler preaching the "true gospel". Thus according to the Universal Triumph the Dominion of God website the command to form the organization was revealed to Jones, September 24, 1944, by the God of the universe. (Rev. 11:15;18:1-4;21:1-5; Matthew 6:8,10;Amos 3:7)
Right Rev Dr. James F. Jones in 1944 formed his new corporation,the Universal Triumph the Dominion of God, Inc. in Detroit. After breaking with the Triumph Church and Kingdom of God in Christ the Universal Triumph the Dominion of God,Inc started very modestly in the Black Bottom area of Detroit. From a small frame church building his growing following was soon headquartered at the old Oriole Theater at 8450 Linwood Ave., now New Bethel Baptist Church,once pastured by C.L. Franklin and Jones ex-friend and later rival.In a religious sub-culture of competing claims Prophet Jones declared that almighty God spoke solely to him and that he was the second coming of Christ and thus he was the world's 'one and only true prophet' and savior. As such he was God's 'Holiness' and sole 'Messenger' on earth 'in these last days' with the divine powers to forecast,heal,bless and condemn.His teachings revolved around him heralding God's incoming New World of perfect bliss,in which the wicked would be destroyed but the faithful would live forever in incorruptible physical bodies.He claimed those that are faithful now could have heaven right here on earth.As the Universal Dominion Ruler Prophet Jones presided over the Dominion services from a throne inside a raised,canopied,dais on an elevated stage in front of the people.He was a regal and messianic figure to his followers.He gave his inner circle royal titles such as sir, prince, princess, lord, and lady. He called his flock the “citizens”of his dominion.He taught them his 'true gospel' from the Holy Bible in light of his 'divine revelations'. Much of these teachings are found in the Dominion publications: The Ritual, The Inexhaustible Vein of Supply,The Mind Awakener, and the Dominion Constitution. In return the citizens,singing of Jones "Here Comes Our Savior",obeyed his Dominion rules,attended his weekly all night ecstatic worship services,publicly testified to his divine healing powers,celebrated his birthday,called Philamethyu,in lieu of Christmas and lavished him with gifts,small and large,as tokens of their thanks and love,faith and devotion to him. The Dominion consisted of numerous churches called “thankful centers” around the United States and abroad.About 35 churches and six million followers eventually belonged to or 'registered into' his Dominion Jones once claimed. Detroit’s membership was about 1,500. Jones also claimed in Hue magazine that he named his church "Universal Triumph the Dominion of God" because "God told me to take the first word from three boats that came down the river and add God."
Prophet Jones lived the life of a millionaire.His home was claimed to be opulent, Aretha Franklin recalled as a child loving his Detroit mansion,which the Prophet painted a different color throughout the year.He called his mansion the “French Castle”. It was also known as the “Dominion Residence”. According to Hue magazine the Dominion parsanage was previously a 54 room former gambling casino, which Prophet Jones purchased from gambler Danny Sullivan. According to Ebony magazine the house, was purchased by his flock at reported cost at that time, $ 30,000. The house had been previously built in 1917 by General Motors Corp. executive Edmund A. Vier, at the cost $100,000. The house was styled after an 18th century French chateau. The interior of the home was grand boasting hand-carved woodwork, gold-painted ceilings, ornate brocade drapes and wall-to-wall carpeting with pile as deep as an English lawn. The home was also furnished with various exquisite furnishings,many of which were gifts from congregants & well wishers.Some of these gifts, such as a $7,000 grand piano, $8,000 worth of silver plate, a stained glass window installed at a cost of $1,200 and other rooms of expensive furniture,were so opulent that reports stated that 'they awed visitors'. A massive double door guarded the entrance to the mansion, and Lady Burton, the Dominion receptionist, inspected visitors carefully through a glass panel before she unlocked it. But of all of Prophet Jones' possessions, it was said that he cherished his expansive wardrobe of almost 500 suits and ensembles the most. Jones received visitors in a small paneled study, dominated by a life-size portrait of him in a white robe. The room was stifling because a gas fire burned in the fireplace 24 hours a day. Jones told visitors that God had told him never to let it go out. Reports also state that children's toys were aligned along the fireplace.Jones stated,when asked,that they were meant to symbolize "the lack of toys" in his own "impoverished boyhood".
The prophet also employed a personal staff of 12 domestics who were financed by the Dominion and served as his butlers,maids,cooks,valets and the chauffeurs of his armada of 5 expensive cadillacs. His cooks went everywhere with him. “A great person preaching unadulterated gospel has to be careful.” He said.(The founder of the Triumph Church,Father Smith,had died in 1920 after being poisoned by adversaries,it had been rumored)Later Prophet Jones sold his "French Castle" to rival Daddy Grace. He still retained another large residence,however, at 8311 La Salle Blvd,Detroit,which now serves as the current Dominion parsonage.
At his Arden Park home Jones hosted lavish 8 day long birthday banquets,called Philamethyu and Hushdomcalama in his honor and other events in his Sky Room. His Birthday celebrations proved to be 'the place to be' for many on the social scene in Detroit.Michigan governor G. Mennon Williams and Detroit Mayor Albert Cobo sent him birthday greetings in 1954.Prominent African Americans from the elites of politics,business,sports,entertainment and music such as Lionel Hampton and his wife Gladys Hampton attended the birthday banquets and other gatherings held in his Sky Room. He became a mutual friend to Father Divine, he visited Divine's home Woodmont, and played golf with him. He also was friendly with C.L. Franklin for some time. He was even interviewed once by Burt Lancaster a local Detroit TV reporter. A former aide of his Princess Ophelia Kemp was the mother of Hollywood actress Freda Rentie. He even attended Dinah Washington's funeral, and was classified as a mourner in the Jet 1964 issue.
Right Rev. Dr. James F. Jones died of a heart attack at age 63 on August 12, 1971, at the Dominion parsonage on LaSalle Blvd in Detroit under the care of a church “prince”,“Lord” Claude Haley. At the time of his death church leaders where trying to design a crypt to place his body near his mother‘s at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. Prophet Jones feared being buried,an intimate once stated,so that the church board would have to decide on a design not whether it would have one built or not. This was according to JET magazine at the time. Nevertheless, Jones had 15,000 people pay their last respects to him, and more than 2,000 people came to his funeral which was held at the Adlai Stevenson Building Auditorium on Grand River. Which is now the Straightgate International Church, Bishop Andrew Merritt, pastor. Followers from the US, Canada, and the West Indies converged on Detroit to attend the event.At the three hour long service over 20 ministers came from 36 states and the West Indies to take part in and officiate at the services.Black community leaders and dignitaries of Detroit filled the rostrum.The Rev. John Smettler,once an altar boy for Jones, was a speaker at the service. He ended with Jones iconic phrase: “All is well”, “All is well”, “and All is well.” The prophet was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in his silver embroider robe, in a bronze coffin which had had his distinctive white mink coat placed on it during the services.
Following Jones death the church was contemplative if everything would be okay in the domain of 36 churches with a following of about 100,000 to 200,000 members. They wondered who would succeed Jones. ‘’’Rev. Lord James Schaffer’’’, 61 at the time and administrator of the local Universal Missionary Church and assistant to Jones was seemingly the logical successor. Boykins, a press representative of the church stated, “He has all the reins of power”. Some observers claimed at the time Schaffer didn’t have the charisma, showmanship or strong personality Jones had which they felt held together the strongly-independent local churches. The churches were like Baptist churches that comprised the domain. ‘’’Rev. John Smettler’’, at the time was claimed as a candidate outside of the domain to elect for succession. He was also a flamboyant person on the Jones order who pastored a church, Wings of Truth Gospel Church. He already had his own radio show and some followers draped him in a mink coat as his former pastor Jones.After a vote of the Dominion Council and Board of Trustees Rev. Lord James Schaffer was successfully installed as 'Dominion ruler' and successor to Prophet Jones as leader of Universal Triumph the Dominion of God.
Noted for his ardent USA patriotism, Prophet Jones opened his religious radio broadcast with the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance to the flag. A supporter of the Republican Party,Prophet Jones created a secular medal award, the Crispus Attucks, and presented it to Michigan's Republican senator Homes S.Ferguson and Secretary of Defense Charles E.Wilson.In 1951 Prophet Jones delivered the invocation at the opening session of the Michigan State Legislature in Lansing. In 1952 Prophet Jones prophesied that General Dwight Eisenhower would win the 1952 presidential election. After Eisenhower's election victory Prophet Jones received an invitation to the inauguration.His attendance there was noted in the press. Many of his supporters now looked at him as a prophet to the White House, adding to his mystique.
Prophet Jones in an issue of Hue claimed that he lived a rather peculiar life. He said that he never slept more than one hour and thirty minutes a day and only ate one meal a day. Which would be partaken after 9:30 p.m. He also rigidly keep his promise not to 'ever have a romance with a woman'. He also stated that he would often pray near the Detroit River.
Famous Harlem politician,pastor Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,drew conclusions from innuendo in a 1951 Ebony magazine article in which he told a story about an unidentified pastor's grief over the death of his young,handsome and talented personal male assistant.Powell described the funeral of the assistant as a "scene out of Arabian nights" with a lavish spread of flowers and a very expensive coffin. But what Powell found very disturbing,he reported,was the preacher’s "quavering voice,tear soaked eyes and shaking body"."The pastor even tried to leap into the casket",Rev.Powell alleged. He went on to write that the minister’s broken sobs were those of someone who had "lost his lover". "Actually",Powell continued,"the two had been sharing an unnatural relationship for a number of years" and that "the entire congregation" and "the whole community knew about it". "Today this minister is one of the most powerful and respected African American pastors in all America" exclaimed Powell writing in disapproval.The 'preacher and his male lover' Powell was referring to was Detroit's Prophet Jones (James Francis Jones) and his longtime companion James Walton.Walton had died suddenly at the age of 29 of a kidney ailment.Prophet Jones had anticipated scrutiny at Walton's funeral.According to contemporary reports in the Detroit Tribune,Jones said "Many people came(to the funeral) to see how i would act..You see I'm acting like a human being." Prophet Jones later built a shrine to his longtime male companion in the Arden Park Mansion parsonage that they had shared together along with the Prophets' mother.
With homosexual allegations rumored about his personal life Prophet Jones,a confirmed bachelor, became the focus of an undercover vice sting by the Detroit police in 1955 and was subsequently jailed in 1956 on a morals charge for gross indecency, after the assigned undercover police officer alleged Jones tried to perform fellatio on him. Jones was later acquitted by the jury at trail,since the officer's participation in the alleged act rendered it a case of induced entrapment. The spectacle around the nature of the arrest,the charges and the trail made it hard for Prophet Jones,a high profile,if unorthodox,religious leader,to make a successful comeback in the media.His celebrity status declined as a result.Despite the suspicions and others issues associated with his strict adherence to his 'no sexual intercourse with a woman' pledge,Jones never shied away or backed down from it.He would publicly answer his critics with assertions of his own 'holy and clean life' while excoriating them for being " filthy whore masters with wives". Prophet Jones promoted and advocated 'no sex with women' for both himself and his closest male followers in the Dominion to the end of his career based on his reading of Rev 14:4 and other Biblical scriptures. Although now largely dismissed by the main stream media after the 1956 scandals and marginalized or ignored by the larger African American press and communities outside of Detroit,Prophet Jones faithful followers stuck by him,interpreting all of the troubles as religious persecution by the unrighteous against a true Prophet of God.
In the 1950s Prophet Jones embarked on being a recording artist.He cut at lest 3 records of song "He Helps His People","Can't Stay Here No More" and "All Is Well". During the early 1970s, Prophet Jones,while recuperating in Henry Ford Health System Detroit, released a recorded sermon for distribution by the Dominion in which he boldly declared his "holy,clean and sinless life" saying that "God wants a man who wont have sex with a woman at all". He further lashed out on the topic describing the ' wicked sinfulness' of women saying that it was "Eve who stole God's love(Man)away from him" and contrasted his own 'pure life before God' with that of the 'evil and lustful' lives of men 'who have sex with women'. The sermon,released on Ston-Roc LP, entitled Strong As Turpentine was bound to stir controversy and Jones planned to record a series of such albums live in Detroit. His bout with a stroke at the time caused an impairment of his controversial speech. Doctors stated however that he would be able to return to the pulpit and continue his duties on his national broadcast.
In 1955,at the dawn of the civil rights movement,Jones was a pioneering rarity in the age of segregation,a very popular African American religious broadcaster. He was accused of making a racial slur while broadcasting over the radio and became a target of public protest by the broader African American public. It was claimed that he used the degrading word during a sermon on common law marriage. The prophet had urged women listeners to get rid of their common-law mates,referring to such African American men with a racially offensive explicative.He was flooded with phone calls over his radio broadcast and at his home after the statement. He then made an on air apology and blamed the incident on a mysterious voice.He said "It was a voice. I believe it was the voice of a woman. It came to me while I was talking on the air. I don't like the word myself, I never use it".
Also in the same year Prophet Jones was barred from appearing on the nationally televised news variety show Today. Plans for him to appear on the show were canceled after prominent African American and Interracial organizations got wind of his scheduled TV appearance and protested.Alarmed at the prospects of a Jones television exposure they claimed that Jones,who flamboyantly officiating at all night services bejeweled and decked in glittery bright colored sequined robes and a white mink coat sitting atop a golden throne while frenzied followers hailed him as a faith healing 'savior',was not a "true representative" of the African American community.Announcement of Prophet Jones' appearance had been made from New York before the show's originator and star, Dave Garroway arrived in Detroit. As result of the protest WWJ-TV station officials decided not to feature the 'controversial' Jones on the show.
Prophet Jones,angered by the negative reactions of the Detroit ministers and the subsequent cancellation of his expected TV appearance in turn announced on his radio show that he had purchased time with the TV station for his own TV show.Undeterred by detractors Jones TV show went live and was aired one hour each Monday morning at 1 a.m. on WXYZ-TVThe weekly television program made Prophet Jones the first African American televangelist in Detroit history.
Prophet Jones was characterized by ‘’’dancer’’’ Eleo Pomare in a performance entitled Ode to Prophet Jones in Chicago 1969.
In 1972 Jones was named "Patron Saint of Prosperity" canonized by the Open Door Church of Holiness, Rev. Jesse Irwin, Jr., minister, Detroit, Michigan. The report claimed that the Open Door Church of Holiness burned down, and the minister called Prophet Jones name eight times-that was the prophet's number and the new location was soon found.
In the 1970s movie Carwash Richard Pryor portrays the fictitious character 'Daddy Rich', as a flamboyant, money loving preacher with The Pointer Sisters as his back up choir based largely on popular media representations of an urban minister with quintessentially Prophet Jones like persona and style.
Both of Jones parents were early converts to the Triumph Church.His father was the Rev. James W. Jones,(?-1944)who at the time of his death was a Triumph minister although he was estranged from both his wife and their increasingly popular and successful son.His mother was Catherine Lewis (?-1951)Mrs Catherine L. Jones eventually separated from her husband,moved to Detroit to live with her Triumph Church missionary son and his companion,James Walton.When Universal Triumph the Dominion of God was formed she became 'Her Grace,Rev Lady C.L.Jones',the founding 'First Dominion Lady'. She remained an ardent advocate & supporter of her sons Universal Dominion ministry and theology up to her death.In return Jones,after her death,lionized her memory to his followers,named his cathedral after her and draped his signature white mink coat on her empty chair that sat prominently adjacent to his throned dais during Dominion services. Prophet Jones had three foster children: Joshua (1938-?), David (1943-?), and a third son whose name was not listed in the extant information available.[1][2]