When Joseph Jeffers rolled back into Jonesboro in the summer of 1931, the town should have known trouble was coming. He had left the year before in a storm of controversy, but now he was back with an even bigger tent, bolder sermons, and a prophecy that would terrify thousands.
The Preacher Who Knew the End
Jeffers announced that he possessed a special gift: prophecy. From the pulpit, he declared that the world would end in May of 1932.
The Bible clearly says no man knows the day or hour—but Jeffers claimed he did. For a town already reeling from floods, drought, and the Great Depression, his warnings struck a nerve. People packed the tent by the thousands. Some came seeking salvation, others came for the spectacle.
And Jeffers gave them both.
Accusations from the Pulpit
Jeffers didn’t just preach about the end of days. He began attacking Jonesboro’s leaders from the pulpit. He accused Pastor Dow Heard—the man who had replaced him—of fathering illegitimate children and having affairs. He claimed the mayor himself was corrupt and immoral.
In 1931, those accusations could ruin a man’s life. And that was exactly Jeffers’ goal.
What’s striking in hindsight is that many of the sins Jeffers railed about—gambling, immorality, and hypocrisy—would later be exposed in his own life. But at the time, the town was too divided to see it.
A Town at War with Itself
Jeffers’ fire-and-brimstone sermons split Jonesboro in two. Families stopped speaking to each other. Friends turned into enemies. The faithful were caught between the new pastor and the magnetic outsider who promised judgment day was near.
Things finally boiled over on September 9, 1931.
That night, after another one of Jeffers’ rants against Pastor Heard, a fight broke out between two prominent townsmen. Before long, others joined in, fists flew, and chaos spread through the crowd.
The story was so wild it landed in The New York Times.
From Fistfight to Riot
Within hours, the fight escalated into a riot. Over 500 Jeffers supporters crowded the courthouse lawn, demanding justice for one of their men who had been arrested.
Jeffers himself led a prayer—but instead of calming the crowd, he called on God to strike the mayor dead.
That was the spark. Jeffers’ mob attacked the mayor and the police chief. Panic spread. Violence erupted.
The situation was so dire that the Arkansas Governor called in the National Guard. Soldiers with machine guns marched into Jonesboro to restore order. Captain Harry Eldridge even sent a telegram to the governor warning:
“Thousands of lives are endangered. Declare martial law now, or shoot down 1,000 church members with machine guns.”
A Revival Becomes a Battlefield
It was unprecedented: armed soldiers surrounding a courthouse while church members screamed outside, ready to fight. Tear gas was thrown into Jeffers’ tent meetings. Families fled in terror. Neighbors feared one another.
A revival that was supposed to save souls had turned into open war.
And Joseph Jeffers? He didn’t back down. When ordered to stop his slanderous attacks, he arrogantly declared:
“I take no orders from anyone but God.”
Jonesboro was no longer just a divided town. It was a battleground.
👉 Next in the series: Part 3 – The Tent Burns & the Town Boils Over
As soldiers withdrew, Jeffers’ followers stayed loyal. Soon, a tear gas attack and a mysterious fire would push the town into even deeper chaos.
WATCH Chasing Justice Episode: Jonesboro Church Wars
Madman or Messiah? An Investigation into the Crimes & Charisma of Cult Leader Joseph D. Jeffers
From extreme fundamentalist ideologies to the paranormal and the occult, Joseph Jeffers’ message integrated with the times and incited a religious fervor amongst his followers. In the 1930s, he was causing war in Arkansas and inciting violence that would lead to the death of one man and the attempted murder of a local preacher. In the 1940s, he was making headlines in L.A. for his lewd house parties. In the ’50s, his third wife would be brutally murdered. Her homicide would go unsolved. In the ’60s, he would make headlines in Arizona when he gambled off all of the church funds at the race track. In the ’70s, he would prophesy great and mighty things to do with UFOs and the Bermuda triangle. By 1978, he would be building a pyramid to withstand the apocalypse in Missouri. And by 1988, he would die of old age. No one ever stopped this man from stealing millions of dollars, coercing innocent young women, or hiring a hitman to kill his wife. Read this book to find out more about the crimes, the chaos, and the injustice in the life of Dr. Joseph D. Jeffers.
How could this man have gotten away with all of these crimes, and how could he have flown under the radar? After making so many ludicrous headlines, how do we not know the name of Joseph Jeffers?
This episode is brought to you by BONES COFFEE COMPANY.
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