As soon as news of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Asia was learnt by the outside world, aid agencies, governments, and just ordinary individuals mobilised efforts to provide for the victims of this, the worst natural catastrophe in modern history. Among them were religious organisations, seeing it as part of their sacred duty to help those unfortunates who had lost everything, whose lived were irreparably turned upside down. The psychological state of these thousands of people cannot even be imagined. From the UK, this list included Christian Aid, Islamic World Relief and Sewa International. The money, necessary supplies of food and fresh drinking water, and an army of selfless volunteers poured into Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India to at least alleviate the suffering of the thousands who had survived this unprecedented calamity.
However, there were others who swarmed to the region and whose behaviour can only be described as being similar to a plague of ravenous locusts. Prominent among these was the hardline Christian fundamentalist American outfit, Gospel for Asia, or GFA. This rather unpleasant organisation is run from Dallas by Indian born Christian evangelist, Dr. KP Yohannan. Here is a report from their very own website at:
http://www.gfa.org/gfa/latestnewsarticle?wid=2579
"It is to people like this that Gospel for Asia workers and volunteers are reaching out with the comfort of God's love. Even as they bind up physical wounds in medical camps staffed by volunteer doctors-and distribute food and clean clothes to survivors-they are committed to providing each family with a New Testament and literature pointing them to hope in Jesus."
Exploiting mental trauma in the wake of the tragedy is a common theme among GFA, and from Pastor Yohannan himself:
http://www.gfa.org/gfa/latestnewsarticle?wid=2557
"Brothers and sisters, I am confident that the Lord will use this tragedy to bring people to Him. This is one of the finest opportunities for the entire Body of Christ to demonstrate His love. Please pray that the Lord will give our leaders wisdom in ministering to the survivors."
The Gospel for Asia website brings up that old bogey of caste discrimination, with a whole section dedicated to Dalit uplift. This would be commendable if done for reasons of social justice. Yet even this campaign for is a sham just to find easy pickings. Why can GFA not do something similar in their very own USA, where thousands of African-Americans have left either Christianity, nominal belief or no belief to become converts to the Nation of Islam or orthodox Islam because of centuries of racism and discriminations at the hands of their white Christian brethren. But then Hindus have always been easy targets for uncompromising missionaries.
How Yohannan views the Hindus with whom he grew up with in India can best be realised from his writings, and they will come as a shock to many who think we live in a universally enlightened age. However much he couches his language in terms of the love of Lord Jesus, is clear that he wants to annihilate Hindus by all means necessary, save naked violence - and judging by how American Baptist funded secessionists ban Hindu festivals and beliefs in Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram on pain of death, perhaps this day is not too far off. Indeed his language degenerates many times into candid rawness in is superiority complex that smacks of the Catholic Inquisition which so terrorised the Hindus of Goa under the Portuguese. This guy clearly belongs in the Middle Ages when ghosts and demonic possessions were as real to everyday life as MTV is nowadays, where ignorance ruled over rational enquiry and scientific experimentation, and where human rights counted for little if one happened to be outside the select club known as "believers".
Once again as with previous articles, this is not meant to be an attack on Christianity, or to offend Christian belief. While Hindus may have a great many differences with the Christian concept of spirituality, HHR will be the first to admit that the Christian aid and refugee relief agencies worked round the clock to provide food, medication and shelter to all tsunami victims, irrespective of ethnicity, religious affiliation, age or gender. If the service to a god can be best manifest in service to humanity, then one should not get into petty issues over belief when there are more important issues at hand. In daily work, there are many Christian churches in Britain who actively work for greater community and cultural understanding in a pluralist society, where there are a diverse range of beliefs. Nevertheless the infantile anti-Hindu rants of Yohannan create the climate which ignores the very real fear under which Hindus live in areas such as north-east India. GFA plays a major role in desensitising the wider world to Hindu suffering and the genocide which they are suffering, conveniently unnoticed by Yohannan's adopted country of America, when President Bush claims to be fighting tyranny and wanting freedom to be enjoyed by all - once again Hindus seem to be firmly off that list of chosen people. Hindus serve but one purpose, that of proselytisation fodder. To depict them in the worst colours is part of this grand strategy. So we cannot avoid countering the venomous theology which GFA is using against Hindus as pagans, and devil worshippers. Now Dr. Yohannan has been questioned on how his extremist organisation has exploited the victims of the tsunami like leeches just to make more converts. An examination of his writings will help us to understand the psychotic illness this pathetic individual suffers from.
His 1998 book, Revolution in World Missions outlined how the conversion process should be handed over to indigenous missionaries in India and Nepal. He couched this in anti-racist language, saying as an Indian he wanted to save his heathen countrymen from hell, by freeing them of devil worship, his definition of Hindu Dharma. But of course it was cheaper to use native workers then send the usual white missionaries form America and Europe. One thing has to be admitted, Yohannan took the ideas of deception via indigenisation, which had been pioneered in the seventeenth century by Catholic missionary Robert de Nobili, and revamped them with an American business plan that actually blazed a path before the call centre, service, and information technology industries realised what a fantastic labour saving cost effective idea it was. He urged that missionary work be effectively outsourced to India itself.
On page 23 he describes the impressions that a missionary had in the eastern state of Orissa:
"There, working in the intense heat among people whose lifestyle is so primitive that it can only be described as animalistic, he saw hundreds converted. Throughout the journey, demons were cast out and miraculous physical healings took place daily. Thousands of the tribals - who were enslaved to idols and spirit-worship - heard the Gospel eagerly."
Now up this point it might sound almost believable. But now we have a scene from the Exorcist:
"The native missionary was horrified when he first visited one village and found no believers there. The people were all worshipping hundreds of different gods, and four pagan priests controlled them through their witchcraft."
It seems the interfering psychotic posing as a man of religion was just a little bit annoyed when he found none of his like minded degenerates existed and so had to add some flavour to the story by parading a story about the occult:
"Stories were told of how these priests could kill people's cattle with witchcraft and destroy their crops. People were suddenly taken ill and died without explanation. The destruction and bondage the villagers were living in is hard to imagine. Scars, decay and death marked their faces, because they were totally controlled by the powers of darkness."
It is clear that when you are trying to annihilate a culture and ancient civilisation, which can all too easily cross from ideological to actual physical attacks by groups such as the Baptist secessionists in Mizoram and Nagaland, you have to convince sensible people in the West that your potential victims are in league with Lucifer. No mean task when anyone doing this runs the risk of being committed to a psychiatric hospital if they were in the USA or United Kingdom.
Now seeing the poverty and degradation in India, Yohannan might have resolved to do something practical about it. Examples would include urging reform of the Stalinist model of state control imposed on the country by Nehru, by studying successful economic models that had worked in other parts of Asia. He could even have followed the path of many Christian charities which set up village workshops, co-operatives, educational institutions, and campaign for fair trade so that Third Wold manufactures have access to the more lucrative markets of developed countries. Throughout his book Yohannan deplores all these attempts, because they do not make converts to Christ. As far as he is concerned the poverty stricken individuals can go to hell, and he really does mean exactly that. No, Yohannan sees something else behind the poverty of India:
"As I travelled, viewing the effects of pagan religions on India, I realised that the masses of India are starving because they are slaves to sin. The battle against hunger and poverty is really a spiritual battle, not a physical or social one as secularists would have us believe.
The only weapon that will ever effectively win the war against disease, hunger, injustice and poverty in Asia is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To look into the sad eyes of a hungry child or see the wasted life of a drug addict is to see only the evidence of Satan's hold on this world. All bad things are his handiwork."
(Page 28)
So like fellow American David Duke, who saw his observations as being examples of racial degeneracy, Yohannan does not even attempt to make a cogent analysis of the situation. He just resorts to his own myths that serve his own personal purpose and for him to grind his axe against the passive Hindus:
"Clearly, the agony we see in the faces of those starving children and beggars is actually caused by centuries of religious slavery. . . The real culprit is not a person, lack of natural resources or a system of government. It is spiritual darkness. It thwarts every effort to make progress. It dooms our people to misery - both in this world and in the world to come. The single most important social reform that can be brought to Asia is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Over 300 million of my people have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. They need the hope and truth that only the Lord Jesus can provide."
(Page 129)
"Because Oriental culture and religion are a mystery, many people in the West are fascinated by it without knowing the power of these demons to blind and enslave their followers. What routinely follows the mystery religions of Babylon is degradation, humiliation, poverty and suffering - even death."
(Page 127)
Indeed this is what the Hindu civilisation, the product of thousands of years, means to him, the religion of Babylon, of demons and devils, of ultimate evil:
"In Asia the religion of Babylon is woven into every waking minute of the day. Without Christ, people live to serve demon spirits. Religion relates to everything including your name, birth, education, marriage, business deals, contracts, travel and death."
(Page 126)
Some of his statements are so incredibly stupid, like his laughable analysis on the issue of starvation among India's poor:
"But what causes the hunger? Asian Christians know these horrible conditions are only symptoms of the real problem - spiritual bondage to satanic philosophies. The key factor - and the most neglected - in understanding India's hunger problem is the Hindu belief system and its effect on food production. Most people know of the "sacred cows" that roam free, eating tons of grain while nearby people starve. But a lesser-known and more sinister culprit is another animal protected by religious belief - the rat. . . The devastating effects of the rat in India should make it an object of scorn. Instead, because of the spiritual blindness of the people, the rat is protected and in some places, like a temple thirty miles south of Bikaner in north India, even worshipped."
(Page 128)
Well ancient India was actually able to produce two or three harvests a year. If it became impoverished it was due to centuries of Turkish, Afghan, Mughal and then British colonialism which squeezed the country's vitality until the pips squeaked, then that would explain the scenario which our rather mentally imbalanced pastor describes as being spiritual deficiency. It is his land of birth but he is so blatantly alienated form its deeper Vedic ethos. There are plenty of nations where there is poverty, but no respect for animals as sacred. Indeed poverty and degradation of the environment would be much worse in India is it was not for the fact that these animals were sacred, as this is linked to the Vedic philosophy of vegetarianism, which means less need for large bovine animals like cattle to be reared on large pastures for their meat. But then Yohannan is hardly a model student of agricultural economics. Look at this statement from page 34 on Punjab:
"It remains one of the least evangelized and most neglected areas of the world."
One suspects that it is neglected as he calls it because it is not evangelised to Jesus, as opposed to it being economically neglected. Punjab is in fact the breadbasket of India, supplying food to the rest of the country, and the most developed state. This situation has not been affected by information technology taking off as a major industry in India, because it must be born in mind that the IT hotspots are just that, localised areas which do not as yet have much impact on the rural masses. This is not just conjecture. It is confirmed by our paranoid author on the same page:
"The intensely nationalistic Sikhs stubbornly refused to consider Christianity, since they closely associated it with British colonialism."
Now just read this statement. Yohannan shows his true colours here, a dictatorial figure who serves a jealous god who brooks no rivals, and spits phlegm at any alternative point of view. The Sikhs are stubborn because they refuse to convert. Well the Mughals felt the same way about them in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. One only has to visit the museum at Harimandir Sahib to see the artistic portrayal of Sikh martyrs who refused to embrace Islam under the Mughals: Bhai Matti Das being sworn in half head down, Guru Tegh Bahadur being beheaded, Bhai Taru Singh having his scalp removed for not cutting his hair, Bhai Mani Singh being killed by having a his body chopped up piece by piece, as well as the countless who were killed by being sliced between giant wheels like sharpened gears. Would Yohannan re-enact these atrocities if he had the power? His words certainly do not look like someone who would want to debate the issue. His actions to date have been to avoid debate, as he goes back to the same old monologue which simple cannot convince any intelligent person.
The reader should also mark how he does not mention starvation and hunger with connection to Punjab. He cannot use this silly excuse, so he has to just say that the Sikhs need Jesus because he believes in it, nothing else. Indeed the economic argument being based in lack of acceptance of Christianity is flawed with amazing clarity. The Philippines has been intensely Christian since the Spanish introduced the Roman Catholic faith nearly 500 years ago. It is by far the most intensely and fervent Christian nation in Asia, if not the world. Yet has this belief in Jesus lifted it out of poverty? Has the Christian faith stopped Manila being a paradise for sex tourists who engage in activities with pre-adolescents of both genders that would have them imprisoned in their home countries, and ostracised mercilessly in their own communities? But Yohannan remains unrepentant on page 125:
" Few Westerners, when they see news reports of the poverty, suffering and violence in Asia, take time to stop and ask why the East is bound into an endless cycle of suffering while the Western nations are so blessed.
Secular humanists are quick to reel out many historic and pseudo-scientific reasons for the disparity, because they are unwilling to face the truth. But the real reason is simple: the Judeo-Christian heritage of Europe has brought the favour of God, while false religions have brought the curse of Babylon on all the nations of Asia."
Well is our highly intelligent friend ready to recognise the great anomaly to his great theory, that of Japan, which after 1945 forged ahead to become the leading economic power in Asia. If one looks before that period, Japan had also been a military power of some note, and one that could negotiate on an equal level with European nations during the era of imperialism. However it has never needed Christianity for this, and despite heavy westernisation, has retained its traditional culture based upon Shintoism and Buddhism, belief systems which Yohannan would certainly put in the Babylon compartment. On the other hand, like the Philippines, the nations of Latin America have been staunchly Roman Catholic for almost 500 years, have been a sorry tale of military repression, great poverty, racism and lost opportunities. The Judeo-Christian heritage certainly has not helped these nations to develop, while the absence of it did not hinder Japan in the least.
Also what does he mean by the favour of god? Nobody can deny that western societies are the most developed, and this is not just due to past slavery and colonialism. But then we will need to look at the whole picture. The same reductionist argument which Yohanenn uses to say that Hinduism is just one sorry tale of devil worship, Satanism, evil, and caste oppression could be used to demonstrate that the West is nothing more than the Ku Klux Klan, hardcore pornography, alcoholism, drug addiction, ubiquitous teenage pregnancy, frequent divorce, high levels of crime, unspeakably cruel treatment of the elderly, and other sordid features one could easily find if they looked hard enough. Looking at the history of his own religion, Yohannan would find some pretty evil things and much cause for embarrassment there as well, not least what was done to the indigenous inhabitants in the name of his deity, on the very same continent where he now so comfortably resides.
His understanding of the origins of Hindu Dharma are probably worse than the racist Aryan Invasion Theory subscribed to by David Duke. Americans are often stereotyped as having no knowledge of the outside world. But for Yohannan who was born in India, and Duke who visited the country, indeed both of them who are educated to a not insubstantial level, there is no excuse. But there is not even the attempt at historical accuracy in their respective theories. Here is his view of how Hindu beliefs came about, on page 125:
"Mature Christians realize the Bible teaches there are only two religions in the world. There is the worship of the one true God, and there is a false system of demonic alternative invented in ancient Iran. From there, Persian armies and priests spread their faith to India where it took root. Hindu missionaries in turn spread it throughout the rest of Asia. Animism, Buddhism and all other Asian religions have common heritage in this one religious system."
If our dear ignorant self-centred friend desired to remove his head from the sand, he would be able to research the issue and find that the Vedic religion and culture originated in India along the now dried river known as Saraswati. From there it spread to Iran where the pre-Islamic religion of Zarathustra, complete with fire worship and its belief in Ahura Mazda, developed. Religion may be nebulous in its aspects, but Yohannan's theory does not even stand up to elementary historical analysis and is based on the same sort of mythology as the Anglo-Israelite theory and a rather more well known one of the earth being rules by an alien race of giant lizards.
Despite all his protestations that he only wants to use GFA to spread the message of Jesus through peace, his intolerance of other faiths demonstrates itself again on page 122:
"In 1983, 40 Indian villages, once considered Christian, turned back to Hinduism. Could it be that whole villages which had experienced the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ would turn back into the bondage of Satan."
Now is this not really childish and two-faced? Voluntary conversion to Hinduism is blamed on Satan. Forcible, fraudulent or pressured conversion to fundamentalist Christianity is called voluntary. I guess it would be voluntary if one was given the choice of conversion or eating the lead from an AK-47, being refused essential relief supplies when faced with starvation, or losing out on education or medical treatment. But for Yohannan it is clear that the end justifies the means. Hindu attempts to retain their ancient culture are turned militant as he looks for pretexts to accuse his victims of extremism, and Indian version of Roman Emperor Nero in their persecution of Christians. In fact if Hindus were so intolerant they would not have been innocent of anti-Semitism throughout the 2000 years of Jewish presence in India, something which Yohannan's one and true faith can certainly not lay claim to. They would not have been host to the very ancient Syrian Christian sect and the Parsis who fled persecution in their respective homelands. India has the largest variety of Muslim sects out of any country in the world. It even has Communist parties which still think they have a future and political relevance. Rather than respecting it, Yohannan resorts to spitting on such tolerance. Hindus are targeted not because they are militant, but because they are so passive and have practiced live and let live to minority communities for thousands of years.
It would be interesting to see what a narrow minded bigot like him would think if Hindus decided to be active fervent missionaries in America. Well we do not have to guess because Yohannan has told us clearly how he regards even subtle Oriental influences in lands where Christianity is still at least nominally predominant, on page 125:
"While settling in, I flipped on the big TV set that dominated the room. What burst on the screen shocked me more than anything I have ever seen in America. There in beautiful colour was an attractive woman seated in the lotus position teaching yoga. I watched in horror and amazement as she praised the health benefits of the breathing techniques and other exercises of this Eastern religious practice. What her viewers did not know is that yoga is designed for one purpose only - to open up the mind and body to receive visitation from demon spirits.
Because this American yogi was dressed in a chic Danskin body suit, claimed a Ph.D. degree and was on educational TV, I assume many of the viewers were deceived into believing this was just another harmless exercise show. But those of us born and raised in nations dominated by the power of darkness know that hundreds of Eastern religions are marketing themselves in the United States and Canada under innocuous - even scientific-sounding - brand names. . . .
Because many Westerners are unaware of this fact, demonic influences now are able to spread Eastern mysticism in the West through pop culture, rock bands, singers and even university professors. The media has become the new vehicle for the spread of demon worship and idolatry by American gurus. . . .
It is hard to blame the average Christians for misunderstanding what is happening to them and the Judeo-Christian heritage which has brought such blessings on their land. Most have never taken the time to study and discern the real situation in the Orient. Few pastors or prophets are sounding the alarm."
So even something as beneficial to health as yoga should be resisted as "Eastern", but then something as "Western" as fundamentalist Christianity should be forced down the throats of innocent Hindus. So we should not be surprised when in this climate of anti-Hindu hate, certain militant groups take it upon themselves to give god a helping hand with the use of the machine gun, rifle and grenade, to persuade those stubborn Hindus to discard their evil pagan beliefs. If you view your prey as subhuman demonically possessed idol worshippers, then you will not find it sinful to turn a blind eye if they happen to be the victims of your more zealous disciples and theological fellow travellers. Unlike Gidoomal, Yohannan does to even attempt to understand the culture of his Hindu victims. But ultimately the way they view this most ancient system of belief and civilisation, and the ultimate ambition with respect to it, is the same.
One can appreciate that what is written here may be harsh. Well there are certain things to understand. One is that aggressive missionary efforts expect Hindus to be passive sheep. Any attempt to so much as dialogue with the religion of the angry and jealous god who brooks no rivals is labelled as Hindu militancy, extremism, fundamentalism, and hardline. When one realises just who exactly is spouting forth this pseudo-spiritual excreta, that does look a bit more than juts slightly ironic. If you go to another country with the express purpose of wiping out the way of life in favour of something which at best has no more empirical proof of acceptance, and more normally a history of violent treatment for those who refuse to be convinced of the "truth", then what reaction can be expected? Well let us look at what would happen if Hindus were to act like the Yohannan cult GFA. There are floods caused by hurricanes in Florida causing damage to property and loss of life. Instead of saffron clad Indian priests, smartly dressed young men, mainly white, turn up in nice designer suits. They say to the victims that they will help them, but they must accept Rama, Krishna or Shiva if they want that help. Or imagine a sustained campaign to replace the words "Fides Defensor" or "Defender of the Faith" inscribed on British coinage with the Gayatri Mantra. What if Hindus constantly referred to the Christian host community in UK or USA as devil worshippers, inherently sinful and followers of a demonic belief system? If this sounds strange and insulting, please remember that it only does so because it challenges the accepted stereotype of passive Hindus who will accept anything that is kicked in their face.
Yohannan can, it must be said by the rules of free speech, say whatever he wants. But it is a strange that a man who claims to be able to exorcise demonic possession and work miracles, cannot work a rather simple miracle of facing his ridiculous ideas head on. Why can he not debate the issue with his Hindu victims as equal Hindu beings? Does he fear that his imaginary spiritual power will desert him? Well it does seem a habit of demagogues such as Yohannan that they do have a real annoying habit of avoiding true interfaith debate. There will always be disagreement between different religions, and even between sects. But this does not have to mean conflict and violence, and the psychological exploitation of the needy. One should be able to debate these matters in a mature manner and not duck out of the way in the manner of cowards. So it remains to be seen whether GFA and its Fuhrer will bother to respond to HHR's concerns. Until then we will continue to highlight the utterly dishonest nature of Gospel for Asia's work, their exploitation of the tsunami victims' metal trauma, and the anti-Hindu climate they create which has been an essential foundation for the ethnic cleansing running rampant in Kashmir, Kerela and the north-east. If it is wrong for rogue traders to target pensioners for unscrupulous sales of overpriced services and products it not equally unethical to use the opportunity of a natural disaster to rub one's hands with glee to think how many infidels one can net by exploiting their loss of business, property, and above all close family members? Behind that seemingly benign smile which he shows on the back of his book, Yohannan has his vampire canines ready to be unsheathed for his net unsuspecting Hindu victims. The tsunami for him was just another opportunity to do on an even grater scale what he has been doing in India's villages. This is to create a climate of hate against Hindus, under the name of charity, compassion for our fellow human beings, and altruism. Before any reader condemns what is written here as extreme, they should bare this in mind. Please also note that it is a well known and accepted fact that church attendance is declining in the West, especially Europe, although America does remain more staunch in its belief. Hence the need to shift focus to Asia, and particularly to Hindus. Do Hindus therefore not have the right to ask one simple question in this regard? If Yohannan and his tribe are so convinced by the divine nature of their beliefs, then how come it is being rejected by vast numbers in his own country in favour of the Babylonian yoga and other forms of demonic Oriental spirituality which he so detests? Other than blaming Satan, it is obvious that this spiritually bankrupt demagogue has no answer, but then rational debate was never a strong characteristic of any dogmatic cult.