From: MG (Britain)
To: Editor
Subject: Re. Gospel for Asia - K.P.Yohannan
Date: Aug 30, 2009
Dear Mr Adachi
Last Thursday, 27 Aug.09 I attempted to send you an e-mail regarding your article and letter from 'Sarah' in 2004. I expressed my concern and said in effect that I had been in touch with the Chapel here in Britain who first introduced me to Gospel for Asia who have said it is all completely untrue (in which case it is slander); that I am a 75 year old pensioner and have been sending them money for their work for quite some time, and that in view of the seriousness of the allegation(s), I requested an update and that you would either confirm or deny these reports which have been on the internet for five years and do not appear to have been refuted on line or otherwise.
From M.G.
***
Subject: Gospel for Asia
From: MG
Date: Wed, August 26, 2009
To: Ken Adachi
Dear Mr Adachi,
I have recently come across your website and am deeply concerned about the article on
K.P.Yohannan and Gospel for Asia, particularly the letter from 'Sarah' the Indian lady in 2004 (were there any others?), and your remark that this is an Illuminati mind control cult organisation.
I am a 75 year old pensioner living in Britain, and because of my concern I contacted the Christian Chapel through whom about 2 years ago I was introduced to Gospel for Asia, and to whom I have been sending money for their work ever since, and have been advised by them that what has been alleged about K.P. Yohannan and his daughter is completely untrue. Perhaps you would be good enough to bring me up to date and either confirm or deny these serious allegations.
Yours sincerely, MG
***
Hello MG,
It should be obvious to anyone of normal intelligence that the person who I dubbed 'Sarah" would not have gone through the trouble of sending me an e-mail from Kerala, India describing in great detail the electronic torment and harassment she was enduing just because she felt like being mischievous one day, and decided to make up the whole story in order to cast "completely untrue" aspersions against an otherwise lilly white, corruption-free "Christian" organization called Gospel for Asia, Inc, its smiling leader, and its leader's daughter.
People speak out when they are victimized and none of the expected avenues of protection or relief are made available to them. You would do the same thing if you were in her situation. People in Sarah's position are caught between a rock and a hard place. They can't turn to official avenues of law enforcement or government authorities because in almost all cases, those official avenues of police protection or justice are in bed with the very power group under investigation.
So what else can this lady do other than write an e-mail to someone like me who has articles that describe cult operations, psychotronic torture, mind control, satanism, and the infiltration of these influences into a very large number of so-called non-denominational 'Christian' organizations? What Sarah described in her letter fits an all too familiar pattern of coercion, psychotronic harassment, and "street theater" which these hapless victims are forced to endure 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You would not want to experience even one hour of the sort of invasive mental torment these people are subjected to daily. If you read the
six part series by Nicholas Kirkland on Electronic Torture and Mind Control in America, you will see just how widespread and sinister these electronic harassment operations have become.
(http://educate-yourself.org/mc/kirklandsilventmasaccre1part14mar09.shtml)
Naturally, the Chapel group in Britain who introduced you to the Gospel for Asia is going to issue blanket denials of anything as scandalous and damning as Sarah's statements. What else would you expect? They need caring people like you to keep the money rolling in and they're not going to say anything to upset the apple cart, even if they were aware of the facts surrounding Sarah's abuse, which, of course, in this case they weren't. Does any organization which depends on donations from trusting souls ever admit to wrongdoing to their sponsors or congregants?
I did a quick search on Google and found a few web sites with articles that are less than flattering in their assessment of who K.P. Yahonnan is and what the true mission of his organization may be One article was titled
The author of this article adroitly unmasks the rank exploitation, manipulation, hypocrisy, racism, and cowardice demonstrated by KP Yahonnan and uses his own words to do it. Here's a brief quote from that article:
"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."
By From: Reverend D'souza <catholicunion@eml.cc>
Date: June 9, 2008
Bishop KP Yohannan is being investigated, He heads the Believers Church, a soul harvesting business and also runs the Asian wing of the US-based Gospel for Asia, an evangelical organisation.
The Church owns vast properties, including schools, theological colleges and even rubber plantations. According to the Home Ministry's annual report on organisations receiving foreign contributions, Yohannan's organisation received more than Rs 130 crores in 2005-06, for Religious Conversion work.
Activists of the Hindu Aikyavedi protested at the office of the evangelical channel Powervision after they were stopped by police from proceeding to the church headquarters Believers Church. They were demanding the arrest of the Believers' Church head Bishop K P Yohannan, as he has amassed huge wealth through donations for soul harvesting from different parts of the world.
Police had recently searched the premises of the church based on complaints that he had been receiving huge amounts from various sources
Another religious group under investigation by the Income Tax Department is the Heavenly Feast group, high-profile evangelists who offer divine healing to devotees suffering from terminal diseases.
A district medical officer who had publicly ‘confirmed’ that some cancer patients were cured after attending the Heavenly Feast function has since been suspended from service.
The two Pastors—the Thanku brothers—have stopped making personal appearances on the Heavenly Feast show since.
Reverend D'souza
catholicunion@eml.cc
#3. Quote from another Indian blog about KP Yahonnan, titled:
"The official drive against godmen, hitherto restricted to Hindu swamis, is now providing sleepless nights to certain self-appointed evangelists as well. A high-profile evangelist in Thiruvalla in south Kerala is currently under pressure to explain an “unaccounted” amount of Rs 900 crore his trust received from the US. Bishop KP Yohannan has been under the watch of police for having received funds from the Texas-based Gospel for Asia for the past 12 years. The police claim that a trust closely held by Yohannan and his relatives had received Rs 1,044 crore for charity from a Texas body since 1995, but spent only Rs 144 crore on such purposes.
“I am not against spiritual leaders. But I cannot accept a situation where only the small fish are caught and the big sharks are allowed to roam free. There should be an inquiry into the backgrounds of these leaders and their sources of income,” says writer-activist Dr Sukumar Azhikode."
#4.Another Indian article quoted:
In God's name
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/content_mail.php?option=com_content&name=print&id=9003
by M.G. Radhakrishnan
May 29, 2008
"Both Yohannan and the Amritanandamayi Mutt have come out with statements saying their dealings have been above board. “Fake godmen and women have to be booked. But all the spiritual organisations should not be painted with the same brush,” says Swami Amritananda Puri, second in command of Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt.
Also being investigated is Bishop KP Yohannan, who heads the Believers Church and also runs the Asian wing of the US-based Gospel for Asia, an evangelical organisation.
The Church owns vast properties, including schools, theological colleges and even rubber plantations. According to the Home Ministry's annual report on organisations receiving foreign contributions, Yohannan's organisation received more than Rs 130 crores in 2005-06, ostensibly for charitable work."
#5. In an article written by the Christian Telegraph, KP Yahonnan himself describes the animosity and resentment he is engendering among Hindu and Buddist communities. He characterizes the conflict as "anti-Christian" and says that a local official threatened "to kill our students and rape our female students...". Right. I have no problem accepting that description of what happened at his Bible college in Sri Lanka. I'm sure Bishop Yahonnan would never embellish, exaggerate, or use inflammatory rhetoric to present his side of the story in a sympathetic light. .
March 19, 2008
The volatile situation at Gospel for Asia's Sri Lanka Bible College is escalating as a local elected official and a small group of Buddhist monks are falsely accusing the school of being a front for a Sri Lankan terrorist group, the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers are fighting to divide Sri Lanka along ethnic lines, reports MNN.
Founder and President of Gospel for Asia KP Yohannan describes what happened over the weekend. "One of the elected political officials who is very much anti-Christian came (to our campus) with a loaded gun, and a whole bunch of people with him threatened to kill our students and rape our female students, and they demanded our school be closed down."
Yohannan says GFA workers contacted authorities, and police intervened.
Earlier in the day, this man and the monks staged a protest at the school carrying banners and placards. The Sri Lankan media covered the protest.
After the midnight attack, the elected official filed a police complaint against the security guard, but the police arrested the official instead. The politician told police that he was acting out of patriotic concern for his country.
On March 2, a group of students from the Bible college were attacked while on their way to worship at a nearby GFA-related church. The militants responsible for that attack say their ultimate goal is to close down the Bible college.
Yohannan says the Gospel message that Christ is the only way to salvation is what's triggering these attacks. "They simply see this as a threat to their community. It's a threat to their religion, and they rise up to oppose the Gospel and those who do it."
He says while many of their pastors, evangelists and missionaries have been attacked and churches destroyed, "this kind of attack on a Bible College is a first for us in Sri Lanka."
Yohannan says this continues to be a dangerous situation, but believers aren't losing heart. "We are taking all the precautions to make sure that our students are protected. But our leaders are believing that in the midst of difficulties they should not run away but continue the ministry and teach our students, trusting the Lord to overrule the situation.
***
I've reprinted a quote below from a Wikipedia entry that touches on the PRINCIPAL OBJECTION that people have with fundamentalist evangelicals everywhere, and mentions KP Yahonnan specifically in this regard. Christian fundamentalists have no business, no "duty", no "divine authority", no "God-given mandate" no perceived or implied "anointing" from the Bible, or God, or Jesus to stuff their beliefs down other people's throats, especially when it concerns cultures that already have an established religious or spiritual tradition such as Hindus, or Buddhists, etc. Yet this is the self righteous arrogance and presumed "duty" that you hear from most evangelicals to justify their uninvited imposition. If the shoe was on the other foot, and Hindus or Muslims attempted to impose themselves upon Bible Belt Christians in America in the same fashion that zealots like Yahonnan employ upon natives of Sri Lanka or Thailand, you would see a backlash and a fury that knew no equal.
In the quote printed below, Yahonnan actually BOASTS about the "opportunity" to "harvest souls" among the wretched victims of the Indonesia tsunami in 2004. This utterly crass, opportunistic, and self-serving attitude reveals, more than anything else, the MEASURE of the man.
Controversy and Christian missionaries
Objections to missionary work among isolated indigenous populations have been raised by governments, anthropologists and spiritual leaders, claiming consequences such as cultural assimilation, reduction of native language speakers, and loss of native culture. Christian missionaries have been criticised for a general lack of respect for native cultures, and even actively working to undermine the religious customs and beliefs of many non-Christian countries. This has been called ethnocide, cultural genocide and cultural imperialism.
The Christian missionary mindset is generally depicted as that of simple religious folk with a pure desire to peacefully spread their gospel and message of love. In reality, their methods of propagation are often anything but peaceful and usually leave behind a native population stripped of their culture and often decimated.... In the words of one resident of Thailand, "They [Christian missionaries] seemed that they did not show any interest for our culture. Why? They are just eager to build big churches in every village. It seems that they are having two faces; under the title of help they suppress us. To the world, they gained their reputations as benefactors of disappearing tribes. They built their reputations on us for many years. The way they behaved with us seemed as if we did not know about god before they arrived here. Why do missionaries think they are the only ones who can perceive God?"[2]
According to Mahatma Gandhi:
"This proselytization will mean no peace in the world. Conversions are harmful to India. If I had the power and could legislate I should certainly stop all proselytizing ... It pains me to have to say that the Christian missionaries as a body, with honorable exceptions, have actively supported a system which has impoverished, enervated and demoralized a people considered to be among the gentlest and most civilized on earth"[3]. ”
In India, Hindu organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh assert that most conversions undertaken by zealous evangelicals occur due to compulsion, inducement or fraud.[4]. In the Indian state of Tripura, the government has alleged financial and weapons-smuggling connections between Baptist missionaries and rebel groups such as the National Liberation Front of Tripura.[5] The accused Tripura Baptist Christian Union is a member body of the Baptist World Alliance. [6]
Says an editorial in the periodical, Christian Century:
"The American Baptist Churches/USA not only maintains close relations with the 2 million tribal population, but it even encourages the converts there 'to battle with India for their cultural and religious survival.' This is tantamount to urging the Nagas to view India as another country that is oppressing them. In his article 'Abuses in Nagaland' (Christian Century, July 15, 1998) the executive director of the ABC's international ministries, John Sundquist, even states that Nagas are a vital Christian nation facing severe pressure from the Indian government." [7]
The Vatican, of late, is taking a somewhat different view toward proselytizing.
"In mid-May, the Vatican was also co-sponsoring a meeting about how some religious groups abuse liberties by proselytizing, or by evangelizing in aggressive or deceptive ways. Iraq ... has become an open field for foreigners looking for fresh converts. Some Catholic Church leaders and aid organizations have expressed concern about new Christian groups coming in and luring Iraqis to their churches with offers of cash, clothing, food or jobs.... Reports of aggressive proselytism and reportedly forced conversions in mostly Hindu India have fueled religious tensions and violence there and have prompted some regional governments to pass laws banning proselytism or religious conversion.... Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya, a Hindu monk from southern India, told CNS that India's poor and uneducated are especially vulnerable to coercive or deceptive methods of evangelization.... Aid work must not hide any ulterior motives and avoid exploiting vulnerable people like children and the disabled, she said."[8]
In an interview with Outlook Magazine, Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya said "If the Vatican could understand that every religious and spiritual tradition is as sacred as Christianity, and that they have a right to exist without being denigrated or extinguished, it will greatly serve the interests of dialogue, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence."[9]
The meeting of religious leaders from the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Judaism and Yoruba faiths resulted in an agreement on ten points about proseltyzation, notably that if done, it be with respect for other cultures[10]
The fictional movie The Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford depicts this missionary mindset and the damage some feel it can wreak upon native peoples. Another movie, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which is factually based, tells of similar destruction brought upon the Inuit culture by missionaries. See also Siqqitiq and these reference works on the subject. See also [11] In contrast to Hollywood which of course has never damaged foreign culture with its ubiquitous advertising.
Aid and Evangelism
Another source of conflict regarding missionaries in the third world is the charge that the aid that comes in response to various world disasters comes with a condition: that assistance requires conversion. The phenomenon is quite old and Christians who convert due to material needs used to be known as rice Christians.
While there is a general agreement among most major aid organizations not to mix aid with proseltyzing, others see disasters as a useful opportunity to spread the word. Innovative Minds, a Muslim software company "specialising in the application of internet and multimedia technology for promoting a better understanding of Islam in the west" has written a report[12] about just such an occurrence, the tidal wave (tsunami) that devastated parts of Asia on December 26, 2004.
"This (disaster) is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people", said K.P. Yohannan, president of the Texas-based Gospel for Asia. In an interview, Yohannan said his 14,500 "native missionaries" in India, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands are giving survivors Bibles and booklets about "how to find hope in this time through the word of God."
In Krabi, Thailand, a Southern Baptist church had been "praying for a way to make inroads" with a particular ethnic group of fishermen, according to Southern Baptist relief coordinator Pat Julian. Then came the tsunami, "a phenomenal opportunity" to provide ministry and care, Julian told the Baptist Press news service.... Not all evangelicals agree with these tactics. "It's not appropriate in a crisis like this to take advantage of people who are hurting and suffering", said the Rev. Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan's Purse and son of evangelist Billy Graham.".[13]
The Christian Science Monitor echoes these concerns... "'I think evangelists do this out of the best intentions, but there is a responsibility to try to understand other faith groups and their culture,' says Vince Isner, director of FaithfulAmerica.org, a program of the National Council of Churches USA".[14]
Another Wikipedia entry describing the Gospel of Asia touches on the above proselytizing "church planting", 214 million in foreign donations, and the launching in 2008 of a criminal investigation of the Yahonnan family by the Kerala government for "fraud and unlawful activities"
Activities
GFA operates in 10 Asian Countries. They operate a native missionary program, and work to open churches in areas that have not previously been exposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
GFA operates many bible colleges with thousands of students. The course takes three years. During the first and second years students spend Friday evening to Sunday involved in church planting, personal evangelism and assisting pastors. During the third year students spend 75% of their time in the field planting churches and taking time in prayer. The colleges operate in the local or tribal languages.
GFA Radio airs evangelistic programs in 103 languages on the Indian subcontinent. Villages exposed to the Gospel through radio are more receptive to a native missionary when he visits their village. As a result, thousands have decided to make a commitment to Jesus Christ through the radio programs.
GFA produces a quarterly magazine called SEND!.
During the period between 1995 and 2008 GFA received a total of $213.94 million US dollars in foreign donations according to the Kerala government.[1]
Controversies
In 2008, GFA was brought under criminal investigation by the Kerala government's special investigations branch for allegations of fraud and unlawful activities pertaining to the acquisition of 2,800 acres of land of which 2,200 acres was a rubber estate. The land was bought by the Gospel For Asia trust which has 7 members most of whom were found to be members of GFA founder K.P Yohanan's family, the government of Kerala launched the investigation under the presumption that the land owned by the GFA trust was illegal since Kerala law states that a family can only own 15 acres of land. [2]
*****
I don't have the time to investigate KP Yahonnan and his organization, but you have to realize that very few victims of high tech abuse, such as Sarah's, are presented with an opportunity to tell their story. I haven't heard from her since that solitary e-mail. Something untoward may have happened to her as a result of sending me that e-mail. Don't assume that powerful and wealthy organizations like this group don't have the resources and the connections to intelligence agencies to figure out who she was and where she could be located. She said enough in that e-mail to make it very clear to Yahonnan and his daughter who she was.
I would think twice about supporting this organization.
Sincerely, Ken Adachi
http://educate-yourself.org/lte/kpyohannan30aug09.shtml
http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/files/2015/04/first-letter-to-board-redacted.pdf
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