One way to quickly cut through the smoke of the cult phenomenon is to avoid trying to make sense of their beliefs and instead look squarely at their actions. When this is done a very clear pattern emerges. Long after the Jonestown headlines, investigators learned that many of the deaths in Guyana were murders, not suicides. The same is true in the notorious case of the Order of the Solar Temple. The answer is rather simple and straightforward.
Cults are about cash .
Make no mistake about it. Jim Jones was a nut, but he was a well-organized nut. After all, he was chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority in 1976 and building and operating a facility that could provide for the needs of over 1,000 people in a remote jungle is not easy or cheap. All money was turned over to the Messiah and everyone worked, in some cases very hard, for food and shelter and very little more. The Higher Source cult no doubt operated on similar principles.