January 25th
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/25franc.htm
Cry, my beloved India by Francois Gautier
January 21, 2005
I am a Westerner and a born Christian, but even I am ashamed at what
is happening in India since Sonia Gandhi, a Westerner and Christian,
became the de facto ruler of this ancient and extraordinary country of
850 million Hindus and 125 million Muslims.
Something terrible is happening here. On the one hand, you have the
Shankaracharya, one of the most respected Hindu leaders, arrested like
a criminal on one of Hinduism's most sacred days, even as politicians
who have more corruption cases against them than anybody else and
others who may even have blood on their hands are made ministers and
strut around with security guards in tow.
The tarnishing of the Kanchi mutt's image is nearly complete. Will it
ever be able to recover its sanctity, even if the shankacharya is
found not guilty?
On the other hand you see a quack like Benny Hinn, who has no standing
even in the United States, come openly to India, a country with an
overwhelming Hindu majority, to deride idol worship and paganism and
convert the poor and the gullible. We see ministers, ex-prime
ministers even -- many of them Hindus at that -- coming to the Benny
Hinn show, with heads bowed and hands folded like beggars asking for
the white man's grace. We see the entire state machinery of Karnataka
put at the evangelist's service and laws subverted so he can conduct
his fake show.
We see how when 36 innocent women and children were burnt alive in the
most horrible manner in Godhra, for no reason other than being Hindus,
there is no respect for their memory even, for the truth is now
twisted for political purposes with the help of India's Marxists who
want Hinduism's death. What a shame!
ALSO READ: Hinduism is not fragile
Hindus are always accused of all the ills and intolerance, but where
in the world will you find a Christian supreme leader in a country
where there are only 3 per cent Christians, a Sikh prime minister
where there are only 2 per cent Sikhs and a Muslim President with only
10 per cent Muslims? Poor Hindus.
This is an insult to India's culture, greatness and intelligence What
is even more saddening is the passivity of Indians in the face of what
is happening. Only a few voices have been raised in these moments of
insanity. India's curse is the disunity among Hindus, their
infighting. One is surprised at the lack of reaction even from India's
top Hindu spiritual leaders Satya Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi and
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Together they hold sway over at least 400
million Hindus. Why don't they form a Supreme Spiritual Conclave along
with the shankaracharya? They only have to utter the word and it will
be done. But there is disunity even among them.
We are not ashamed of the Christian culture in France; even the
American president is sworn in on the Bible. Nor, certainly, is the
Congress, which is incapable of finding a worthy Indian leader among
its own members, many of whom are intelligent and sincere. By stooping
to Sonia Gandhi, they repeated the same old story of India's princes
and maharajas betraying each other and bowing before a foreign ruler,
be it Aurangzeb or His Majesty's Viceroy. Who betrayed the mighty
Vijayanagar empire, the last great Hindu kingdom, to the Muslims? Who
betrayed India to the British? Who is betraying India today?
But at least the Congress is true to its ideals. The biggest culprit
must be Mr A B Vajpayee who in five years of power did nothing but
project a Gandhian image, rather than having India's interests at
heart. He and his advisers should stand trial when history is written.
Holy man in a controversy
The beauty of it all is that Sonia Gandhi does not have to say or do
anything. She does not have to instruct the Tamil Nadu police to
arrest the shankaracharya or tell Chief Minister Dharam Singh of
Karnataka to attend Benny Hinn's show. Just being where she is, at the
top of India's political hierarchy, is enough to ensure that her
silent wishes are fulfilled. Everybody is bending over backwards to
please her, even anticipating her wishes!
The Benny Hinn show points to not only a renewed effort at
Christianization of India -- something which even the British and the
Portuguese could not do -- and a targeting of Hindu spiritual leaders,
but also the westernisation of the subcontinent.
It would mean the loss of India's ancient culture, the loss of its
unique identity, with India becoming just another nation cloning the
West. Even the Muslims and Christians of India, who are like no other
Christians and Muslims in the world, would lose something.
Today I feel sad, sad for India, sad for the world. For India is in
mortal danger, its eternal Sanatana Dharma is under threat. And if
India dies spiritually, the world will also die.
Cry O my beloved India, look what thy children have done to thee.Also
See: A Prayer For India
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Fwd: Sri Lanka: Mix of Quake Aid and Preaching Stirs Concern
January 23rd
forwarded by a reader from Sri Lanka. this mixing of religion and
charity is endemic, and quite frankly, disgusting.
New York Times
Mix of Quake Aid and Preaching Stirs Concern
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: January 22, 2005
MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 19 -A dozen Americans
walked into a relief camp here, showering bereft
parents and traumatized children with gifts, attention
and affection. They also quietly offered camp
residents something else: Jesus.
The Americans, who all come from one church in Texas,
have staged plays detailing the life of Jesus and had
children draw pictures of him, camp residents said.
They have told parents who lost children that they
should still believe in God, and held group prayers
where they tried to heal a partly paralyzed man and a
deaf 12year-old girl.
The attempts at proselytizing are angering local
Christian leaders, who worry that they could provoke a
violent backlash against Christians in Sri Lanka, a
predominantly Buddhist country that is already a
religious tinderbox.
Last year, Buddhist hard-liners attacked the offices
of the World Vision Christian aid group and vandalized
or threatened churches and pastors 75 times. They
accuse Christians of using money and social programs
to cajole and coerce conversions.
Most American groups, including those affiliated with
religious organizations, strictly avoid mixing aid and
missionary work. But scattered reports of
proselytizing in Sri Lanka; Indonesia, which is
predominantly Muslim; and India, with large Hindu and
Muslim populations, are arousing concerns that the
good will spread by the American relief efforts may be
undermined by resentment.
The Rev. Sarangika Fernando, a local Methodist
minister, witnessed one of the prayer sessions in Sri
Lanka and accused the Americans of acting unethically
with traumatized people. "They said, 'In the name of
Jesus, she must be cured!' " he said. "As a priest, I
was really upset."
The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch
Community Church, an evangelical church based in Waco,
Tex. Two members of the church were arrested, and
accused of proselytizing, by the Taliban in
Afghanistan in August 2001. When the United States
invaded the country several months later, pro-American
Northern Alliance forces freed the women, who church
officials say did speak with Afghans about their
personal "relationship with Jesus."
The Antioch Community Church is one of a growing
number of evangelical groups that believe in mixing
aidgiving with discussing religion, an approach that
older, more established Christian aid groups like
Catholic Relief Services call unethical.
In Sri Lanka, alarmed local Christian leaders say
proselytizing at such a sensitive time could reverse
the grass-roots interfaith cooperation that has
emerged since the tsunami and endanger Christians, who
make up 7 percent of the population. The country also
has sizable Hindu and Muslim minorities.
The Rev. Duleep Fernando, a Methodist minister based
in Colombo, the capital, brought the Americans to the
camp here. Mr. Fernando said they had described
themselves as humanitarian aid workers. He and other
Sri Lankan Christian leaders say raising religion with
traumatized refugees is unethical.
"We have told them this is not right, but now we don't
have any control over them," said Mr. Fernando, who
called the group's Web site postings "unnecessarily
explosive."
"This is a dangerous situation," he said.
In Indonesia last week, reports that a missionary
group named WorldHelp planned to raise 300 Muslim
tsunami orphans in a Christian children's home in
Jakarta brought an outcry from Muslims. The group
later said it had never had custody of the children.
Sri Lankan refugees, camp administrators and church
officials said the Americans here had identified
themselves only as a humanitarian aid group. In an
interview here on Wednesday, Pat Murphy, 49, a leader
of the team, said the group was a nongovernmental
organization, and not a church group. "It's an NGO,"
Mr. Murphy said. "Just your plain vanilla NGO that
does aid work."
But the church's Web site says the Americans are one
of four teams - for a total of 75 people - dispatched
to Sri Lanka and Indonesia who have persuaded dozens
of people to "come to Christ."
When the group's postings were read to Mr. Murphy, he
confirmed that the Americans were from the Antioch
Community Church, but said the group would never use
relief goods and gifts to entice or pressure people
into becoming Christians. He denied that the team,
which sent about half its 24 members to work in the
eastern town of Kalmunai, was trying to convert
people. The church has 2,000 members.
"We simply provide people with information," he said,
"and they do with that what they like."
A Jan. 18 posting from the team in Indonesia says the
country's devastated Aceh Province is "ripe for
Jesus!!"
"What an opportunity," it adds. "It has been closed
for five years, and the missionaries in Indonesia
consider it the most militant and difficult place for
ministry. The door is wide open and the people are
hungry."
The Rev. Jimmy Seibert, the senior pastor of the Waco
church, said in a telephone interview that the church
would evaluate whether the group's members should
identify themselves as aid workers. But he said the
church believes missionary work and aid work "is one
thing, not two separate things."
"My hope is that as a follower of Jesus they would
bring who they are into the workplace," he said,
"whether they are in a workplace in America or a
workplace in Sri Lanka."
Older Christian aid groups like Catholic Relief
Services, Lutheran World Relief and others with
religious affiliations say they do not proselytize,
abiding by Red Cross guidelines that humanitarian aid
not be used to further political or religious
purposes. Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief
Services, said that in the last 20 years there had
been an increase of smaller Christian evangelical
groups providing relief aid in the wake of disaster.
"I think there are new groups that are driven by
missionary zeal," Mr. Hackett said. In the last
several weeks, Mr. Hackett said, his group has
received anecdotal reports of proselytizing in
countries devastated by the tsunami.
"From our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia
we've heard that there have been instances when
American and other Christian groups have been
proselytizing and casting aspersions on the faith of
people there," he said. "Some of these groups raise
questions about other faiths, saying that people would
be better off if they converted to Christianity
immediately."
Several American evangelical aid groups have arrived
in Sri Lanka, but no reports of proselytizing by those
groups have emerged, according to Sri Lankan church
officials. The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the
evangelist Billy Graham, visited Sri Lanka this week
to encourage the workers of his evangelical aid
organization, Samaritan's Purse, who plan to work in
Sri Lanka for the next five years.
Other American evangelical aid groups, including
Gospel for Asia and World Relief, are active on the
country's devastated east coast, according to Sri
Lankan and American aid workers.
Members of Mr. Graham's group said they did not engage
in proselytizing, but said if local Christians wanted
to build a church they would help them. Officials from
World Relief, the aid wing of the National Association
of Evangelicals, have said in interviews that they try
to first build trust with local people and then look
for opportunities for conversions, in some cases years
later.
More evangelical groups are apparently on their way. A
message posted on the Web site of the Moral Majority
leader Jerry Falwell says the school he founded,
Liberty University, is preparing to send a team to Sri
Lanka, India and other countries battered by the
tsunami.
"Distribution of food and medical supplies along with
the dissemination of thousands of Gospel tracts in the
language of the people will keep the L.U. team very
busy," the Web site says. "Mission trips to the Asian
region by many L.U. students will follow in the
months, and perhaps years, to come."
Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries,
confirmed that the Liberty Foundation was organizing a
shipment of rice, medication and Scriptural excerpts,
but said the primary goal of the effort was relief,
not proselytizing. "Everything we do is in the name of
Christ," he said. "But we try to be sensitive in areas
where it may be politically sensitive, and we have no
litmus test for those we give rice to."
According to the Waco church group's Web site, its
teams in Sri Lanka and Indonesia are performing
"children's ministry," seeing "many people saved" and
continuing to "minister to families and children
through prayer and evangelism."
According to its Web site, the congregation uses small
groups called "cell churches" to attract new members.
The reports from Indonesia and Sri Lanka refer to
"cells" and "lifegroups" in both countries.
Residents of the camp here reported no healings as a
result of the group's prayers. But they said they
appreciated the aid and activities for children that
the group provided and did not want to see them end.
Organizers in a nearby camp have declared the
Americans missionaries and barred them from entering.
Camp organizers here said they believed that the group
was trying to convert people, but did not want to
further upset the tsunami victims by cutting off the
aid.
W. L. P. Wilson, 38, a disabled fisherman with a
sixth-grade education, said he allowed the Americans
to pray three times for the healing of his paralyzed
lower leg because he was desperate to provide for his
wife and three children again. Mr. Wilson, a Buddhist,
said that he believed that the Americans were trying
to convert him to Christianity but that he was in "a
helpless situation now" and needed aid.
"They told me to always think about God and about
Jesus and you will be healed," he said. "Whenever I
ask for help they always mention God, but they do not
give any money for treatment."
Neela Banerjee contributed reporting from Washington
for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/22/international/worldspecial4/22preach.html?oref=regi
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more.
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forwarded by a reader from Sri Lanka. this mixing of religion and
charity is endemic, and quite frankly, disgusting.
New York Times
Mix of Quake Aid and Preaching Stirs Concern
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: January 22, 2005
MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 19 -A dozen Americans
walked into a relief camp here, showering bereft
parents and traumatized children with gifts, attention
and affection. They also quietly offered camp
residents something else: Jesus.
The Americans, who all come from one church in Texas,
have staged plays detailing the life of Jesus and had
children draw pictures of him, camp residents said.
They have told parents who lost children that they
should still believe in God, and held group prayers
where they tried to heal a partly paralyzed man and a
deaf 12year-old girl.
The attempts at proselytizing are angering local
Christian leaders, who worry that they could provoke a
violent backlash against Christians in Sri Lanka, a
predominantly Buddhist country that is already a
religious tinderbox.
Last year, Buddhist hard-liners attacked the offices
of the World Vision Christian aid group and vandalized
or threatened churches and pastors 75 times. They
accuse Christians of using money and social programs
to cajole and coerce conversions.
Most American groups, including those affiliated with
religious organizations, strictly avoid mixing aid and
missionary work. But scattered reports of
proselytizing in Sri Lanka; Indonesia, which is
predominantly Muslim; and India, with large Hindu and
Muslim populations, are arousing concerns that the
good will spread by the American relief efforts may be
undermined by resentment.
The Rev. Sarangika Fernando, a local Methodist
minister, witnessed one of the prayer sessions in Sri
Lanka and accused the Americans of acting unethically
with traumatized people. "They said, 'In the name of
Jesus, she must be cured!' " he said. "As a priest, I
was really upset."
The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch
Community Church, an evangelical church based in Waco,
Tex. Two members of the church were arrested, and
accused of proselytizing, by the Taliban in
Afghanistan in August 2001. When the United States
invaded the country several months later, pro-American
Northern Alliance forces freed the women, who church
officials say did speak with Afghans about their
personal "relationship with Jesus."
The Antioch Community Church is one of a growing
number of evangelical groups that believe in mixing
aidgiving with discussing religion, an approach that
older, more established Christian aid groups like
Catholic Relief Services call unethical.
In Sri Lanka, alarmed local Christian leaders say
proselytizing at such a sensitive time could reverse
the grass-roots interfaith cooperation that has
emerged since the tsunami and endanger Christians, who
make up 7 percent of the population. The country also
has sizable Hindu and Muslim minorities.
The Rev. Duleep Fernando, a Methodist minister based
in Colombo, the capital, brought the Americans to the
camp here. Mr. Fernando said they had described
themselves as humanitarian aid workers. He and other
Sri Lankan Christian leaders say raising religion with
traumatized refugees is unethical.
"We have told them this is not right, but now we don't
have any control over them," said Mr. Fernando, who
called the group's Web site postings "unnecessarily
explosive."
"This is a dangerous situation," he said.
In Indonesia last week, reports that a missionary
group named WorldHelp planned to raise 300 Muslim
tsunami orphans in a Christian children's home in
Jakarta brought an outcry from Muslims. The group
later said it had never had custody of the children.
Sri Lankan refugees, camp administrators and church
officials said the Americans here had identified
themselves only as a humanitarian aid group. In an
interview here on Wednesday, Pat Murphy, 49, a leader
of the team, said the group was a nongovernmental
organization, and not a church group. "It's an NGO,"
Mr. Murphy said. "Just your plain vanilla NGO that
does aid work."
But the church's Web site says the Americans are one
of four teams - for a total of 75 people - dispatched
to Sri Lanka and Indonesia who have persuaded dozens
of people to "come to Christ."
When the group's postings were read to Mr. Murphy, he
confirmed that the Americans were from the Antioch
Community Church, but said the group would never use
relief goods and gifts to entice or pressure people
into becoming Christians. He denied that the team,
which sent about half its 24 members to work in the
eastern town of Kalmunai, was trying to convert
people. The church has 2,000 members.
"We simply provide people with information," he said,
"and they do with that what they like."
A Jan. 18 posting from the team in Indonesia says the
country's devastated Aceh Province is "ripe for
Jesus!!"
"What an opportunity," it adds. "It has been closed
for five years, and the missionaries in Indonesia
consider it the most militant and difficult place for
ministry. The door is wide open and the people are
hungry."
The Rev. Jimmy Seibert, the senior pastor of the Waco
church, said in a telephone interview that the church
would evaluate whether the group's members should
identify themselves as aid workers. But he said the
church believes missionary work and aid work "is one
thing, not two separate things."
"My hope is that as a follower of Jesus they would
bring who they are into the workplace," he said,
"whether they are in a workplace in America or a
workplace in Sri Lanka."
Older Christian aid groups like Catholic Relief
Services, Lutheran World Relief and others with
religious affiliations say they do not proselytize,
abiding by Red Cross guidelines that humanitarian aid
not be used to further political or religious
purposes. Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief
Services, said that in the last 20 years there had
been an increase of smaller Christian evangelical
groups providing relief aid in the wake of disaster.
"I think there are new groups that are driven by
missionary zeal," Mr. Hackett said. In the last
several weeks, Mr. Hackett said, his group has
received anecdotal reports of proselytizing in
countries devastated by the tsunami.
"From our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia
we've heard that there have been instances when
American and other Christian groups have been
proselytizing and casting aspersions on the faith of
people there," he said. "Some of these groups raise
questions about other faiths, saying that people would
be better off if they converted to Christianity
immediately."
Several American evangelical aid groups have arrived
in Sri Lanka, but no reports of proselytizing by those
groups have emerged, according to Sri Lankan church
officials. The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the
evangelist Billy Graham, visited Sri Lanka this week
to encourage the workers of his evangelical aid
organization, Samaritan's Purse, who plan to work in
Sri Lanka for the next five years.
Other American evangelical aid groups, including
Gospel for Asia and World Relief, are active on the
country's devastated east coast, according to Sri
Lankan and American aid workers.
Members of Mr. Graham's group said they did not engage
in proselytizing, but said if local Christians wanted
to build a church they would help them. Officials from
World Relief, the aid wing of the National Association
of Evangelicals, have said in interviews that they try
to first build trust with local people and then look
for opportunities for conversions, in some cases years
later.
More evangelical groups are apparently on their way. A
message posted on the Web site of the Moral Majority
leader Jerry Falwell says the school he founded,
Liberty University, is preparing to send a team to Sri
Lanka, India and other countries battered by the
tsunami.
"Distribution of food and medical supplies along with
the dissemination of thousands of Gospel tracts in the
language of the people will keep the L.U. team very
busy," the Web site says. "Mission trips to the Asian
region by many L.U. students will follow in the
months, and perhaps years, to come."
Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries,
confirmed that the Liberty Foundation was organizing a
shipment of rice, medication and Scriptural excerpts,
but said the primary goal of the effort was relief,
not proselytizing. "Everything we do is in the name of
Christ," he said. "But we try to be sensitive in areas
where it may be politically sensitive, and we have no
litmus test for those we give rice to."
According to the Waco church group's Web site, its
teams in Sri Lanka and Indonesia are performing
"children's ministry," seeing "many people saved" and
continuing to "minister to families and children
through prayer and evangelism."
According to its Web site, the congregation uses small
groups called "cell churches" to attract new members.
The reports from Indonesia and Sri Lanka refer to
"cells" and "lifegroups" in both countries.
Residents of the camp here reported no healings as a
result of the group's prayers. But they said they
appreciated the aid and activities for children that
the group provided and did not want to see them end.
Organizers in a nearby camp have declared the
Americans missionaries and barred them from entering.
Camp organizers here said they believed that the group
was trying to convert people, but did not want to
further upset the tsunami victims by cutting off the
aid.
W. L. P. Wilson, 38, a disabled fisherman with a
sixth-grade education, said he allowed the Americans
to pray three times for the healing of his paralyzed
lower leg because he was desperate to provide for his
wife and three children again. Mr. Wilson, a Buddhist,
said that he believed that the Americans were trying
to convert him to Christianity but that he was in "a
helpless situation now" and needed aid.
"They told me to always think about God and about
Jesus and you will be healed," he said. "Whenever I
ask for help they always mention God, but they do not
give any money for treatment."
Neela Banerjee contributed reporting from Washington
for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/22/international/worldspecial4/22preach.html?oref=regi
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
The China we do not hear about
January 23rd
rather alarming story of economic and social problems. the other
stories in this series are much more positive.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GA22Ad01.html
rather alarming story of economic and social problems. the other
stories in this series are much more positive.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GA22Ad01.html
Saturday, January 22, 2005
more on the Benny Hill(nn) Show
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
Date: 22 Jan 2005 09:26:37 -0000
Subject: [ConversionWatch] Digest Number 306
To: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers.
At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/hjtSRD/3MnJAA/i1hLAA/wpWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
There are 5 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
From:
2. Hinn\'s meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
From:
3. Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
From:
4. 'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
From:
5. Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
From:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:07:57 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/shocking_facts_about_benny_hin.html
deceptioninthechurch.com
Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
Benny Hinn is a Roman Catholic mystic, who is taking the Pentecostal
and Charismatic Church down the ecumenical road towards Rome. This has
been known for some time. For example the Italian Assemblies of God
refused to endorse his crusade in Rome (1996), sponsored by the
independent Pentecostals, who themselves were shocked when Mr Hinn
failed to once open his Bible on the first night of the Crusade. On
the second night the interpreter refused to interpret Hinn's
favourable comments about the Pope and the Catholic Church and the
music group refused to sing. The up-shot was that the organisers
signed a document of "non-association" with Benny Hinn, and promised
never to invite him to Italy again. Despite this he was invited as
guest speaker to the Australian Assemblies of God Conference in May
1997, where once more he spoke favourably of the Pope and the Roman
Catholic Church. At that Conference he told how he had met with
Cardinal Sin of the Philippines, with whom he formed a
n agreement to encourage people who attended his crusade not to leave
the Roman Catholic Church. The Cardinal in turn promised to encourage
Roman Catholics to attend the Hinn Crusade. (Things have become worse
since then! We have documented evidence that Hinn is into necromancy -
please see below.)
The most disturbing feature was that no one at the Australian
Assemblies of God Conference raised public objection to Hinn's
comments. Now Benny Hinn has been invited to conduct a Healing Crusade
in Auckland on June 13, 1998. Those endorsing the Crusade include
Wayne Hughes, Senior Pastor of the Takapuna Assembly of God, Ian
Bilby, Senior Pastor of the Auckland City Elim Church, Paul de Jong,
Senior Pastor of the Christian Life Centre, Auckland, Hamish Divett,
Senior Minister of the Christian City Church, Auckland and Peter
Mortlock, Senior Pastor of the Bays Christian Fellowship, New Life
Churches of New Zealand. (Letter dated 4th March, 1998 issued by the
New Zealand branch of the Benny Hinn Ministries (PO Box 24377, Royal
Oak, Auckland - phone 09 521 0133; fax 09 528 7185; mobile 025 285
1311 - coordinator Averil E Quertier).)
Wayne Hughes is the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God in New
Zealand and was one of the Church leaders who, together with Ian
Bilby, former President of the New Zealand Elim denomination, endorsed
the visit of Rodney Howard-Browne whose "laughing revival" has caused
so much division among Churches and Christian families in New Zealand
and Australia. The New Zealand Apostolic Superintendent also endorsed
Rodney Howard-Browne, BUT is not listed as endorsing Benny Hinn.
CWM alerted Wayne Hughes to the fact of Benny Hinn's documented
necromancy in late January or early February '98. Despite this he has
continued to endorse Hinn and his ministry, although it is rumoured
that he is concerned that he might be doing the wrong thing. For the
record we have published a copy of the relevant email. Our strong
recommendation to all Christians is that you do not participate in any
supportive way - by means of donations or otherwise - in the Benny
Hinn Crusade or to the Benny Hinn Ministries.
John the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ wrote: - "Whoever
transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not
have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father
and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine,
do not receive him into your house nor greet him (bid him God speed -
AV) for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds (biddeth him God
speed is partaker of his evil deeds - AV)" - 2 John 9-11. This is THE
WORD OF THE LORD.
Evidence that Benny Hinn practices necromancy...
Further documented proof is supplied in the book - "THE CONFUSING
WORLD OF BENNY HINN" obtainable from your nearest CWM Office at $25
each including post. (This book has been enlarged to include a chapter
on Hinn's necromancy. Authors include a USA, AOG pastor. Increased
price mainly due to the need to get more books from USA by air mail.
We also recommend the two videos"THE SIGNS & WONDERS MOVEMENT EXPOSED"
- Part 1 - MIRACLES and Part 2 - MONEY - at $30 each including post.)
The following was supplied by Michael Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason
Ministries, HAWAII on Philip Powell's request following a report that
Benny Hinn had caused a great deal of trouble in the islands following
his Honolulu Crusade in March, 1998.
Taken from a Benny Hinn programme - "THIS IS YOUR DAY" - June 11, 1997
- also repeated at a recent Benny Hinn PARTNER CONFERENCE in Atlanta.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you something right now. The
Lord showed me a vision about - goodness it's almost been a year now.
And - (I) can tell you I sense now the time has come when this vision
is gonna be fulfilled. I had a vision of the night. What I saw, myself
walk into a room. I've shared this before but just in case you -
you've not heard it I want you to hear it. I saw myself walk into a
room and there stood Kathryn Khulman.
And I've not seen Kathryn in a dream or a vision [in] years. Uh, when
she died, the day she died, the morning she died, I had a dream what I
- what I saw in a - in a - in a - in a casket with a white dress. And
when I woke up in - in the morning, I knew she had died and it was on
the news that same morning. And so it's been many years.
And there she was standing in this room and she said to me-of course
this was a dream, but really more of a vision. A lot of times! dreams
are really visions of the night, and the Bible calls them that. When -
when God gives to you in the fashion it really came with me.
When I was a little boy, I saw the Lord in this dream. It was really
so real, it was really a vision because when - when He appeared to me
my body became electric just like electricity went through me and when
I awoke that electricity was still on my body." (Benny Hinn, This Is
Your Day, June 11, 1997)
"Well, anyway, in this one, in this vision that-that I saw-saw Miss
Khulman. And she said, 'Follow me.' That's all she said. And I
followed her to a second room. In that second room stood the Lord.
When the Lord, uh-when-when I saw the lord, Kathryn disappeared. She
was just gone [Hinn snaps fingers]. And now the Lord looked at me and
said, 'Follow me.' And I followed him to a third room. In the third
room sat a gentleman - I still remember his face. I can tell you, I
still remember the man's face. And the man sat in this wheelchair in
that third room. There was a big hole in his neck. A tube down his
throat. He was crippled on that wheelchair. And he had tubes down his
body. Totally crippled, totally para-totally, of course, paralyzed.
The Lord laid His hands on this man and as He did the tubes
disappeared, the hole closed, he was completely healed and got up off
the wheelchair. It was a creative miracle. Now I'm standing watching
the Lord in this vision heal this man. And n
ow as the man wasealed, the Lord looked at me with piercing eyes -
I'll not forget that one I'll tell you. (He) looked at me with
piercing eyes and said, 'DO IT!' And the [Hinn snaps fingers] - and
the dream and the vision came to an end." (Benny Hinn, This Is Your
Day, June 11, 1997)
Interpretation of the "vision":
"When I woke, when I got up, when I came out of the vision, I was
trembling and perspiring from head to toes. I know exactly what that
vision means. It was Kathryn Khulman who took me, who introduced me to
the Holy Spirit. That is the meaning of that first room when she said,
'Follow me.' But when Kathryn was gone, Jesus was there. Kathryn did
her job and was gone and the Lord said, 'Follow me' into a third room.
And there was this man. I believe I'm about to enter that third room.
[Audience applause.] I'm telling you I feel it. I sense it. I believe
that room speaks of a dimension, a new dimension in the Spirit. I
believe I've been in that second room now for the last seven years.
What is amazing to me, what's amazing to me is God works or has worked
in my life in seven year cycles. I'm now in the seventh year -
beginning the eighth of the ministry of these crusades. 1990 we
started - March. This is what? '97. And just now I feel another
platform, another dimension, another
level is really coming. ell, saints you're going to be a part of it.
God- God has sent you as partners to be a part of it. So how many are
ready to see greater things for the glory of God?" (Benny Hinn, This
Is Your Day, June 11, 1997)
"Can I tell you something? I've never shared this. Never! I was in
prayer one day and a man appeared in front of me. Happened for two
days in a row, twice one day and the next day. The same man appeared.
I've never told this, never. ... This is recently. I'm not talking
about a long time ago. He was about six feet two. Old man. Had a
beard. ... Glistening white beard. His face was somewhat thin, but
very bold! Eyes - crystal blue. He had on a white garment, whiter than
my shirt could ever get. On his head was a shawl, like a - like a
covering. He looked like a priest. Every part of him glistened like
crystal. And I spoke out and I said, 'Lord, who is this man I see?'
I know you may - you may think I lost my mind, but the lord said,
'ELIJAH the prophet" ...Seven and half years ago, just before the
ministry started, before these crusades began, suddenly in front of me
I saw a group of people. I couldn't even tell you who they were. I
recognized only one of them. It was Miss Khulman. And every one of
them seemed to be urging me to pray. Now I know this sounds crazy, but
it's all right. I don't mind if you call me crazy, because I liked
what I saw. And this - this group was saying, now I couldn't hear
them. I'd been in prayer at least, uh, hours. And suddenly, just -
just this flash came in front of me. I can not describe it to you
except to tell you it was more real than you sitting right in front of
me right here. It was not a mental thing. It was so alive, pastor.
It's so alive. It was like a flash of lightening hit me and all I saw
was these people's faces. I will tell you, when I get to heaven. I
will recognize them (at least fifty to s
eventy of them were sittingn a group), and they were saying to me,
"Pray! Ask God to give you a healing ministry that will touch the
world!" And suddenly, I heard Kathryn's voice, [Hinn snaps fingers]
and out of the blue, suddenly there - there she was, it's crystal
clear. And she in her beautiful smile, the way she said, "Ask! We're
waiting for you to ask! We're praying with you to ask " And the vision
disappeared. And suddenly I said, "Lord!" and I asked. A week later
the anointing hit my life. I believe the saints in heaven urge us to
pray. Urge us to do it! Do you know why I believe it?
'Cause it's in the Bible! You say, "Show it to me." Jesus saw Moses
and Elijah who came to talk to Him about His passion on the cross!
Ladies and gentlemen, there's way more than you know about God! And
the reason I'm telling you all this? The Lord said to me only a few
days ago, He said, "You're - you're about to come into a new level.
Get ready!" And I'm already feeling the rumblings in the heavenlies.
Somebody is about to talk to me again. Something is about to happen
again. I don't know what it is. But I - I'm so excited, I feel
butterflies in my tummy. I feel something. I've had three prophets
lately, absolute people that know the voice of God, that have said to
me, "You're about to walk into a new inheritance in the Spirit." I
don't know what it is, when it is, but it's coming. And tonight, the
Lord is putting upon my heart to pray for you, that you should walk
into a new inheritance in the Holy Ghost. Stand up, I want to pray for
you. Come on. Hallelujah! ...
You're about to have experiences that people may call you crazy if you
tell them. But lift your hands and ask that God give you revelations.
Come on. Blessed Jesus, I give you praise. I give you praise. And I
ask you to bring those people into a new inheritance in the Spirit.
We've lived so long on this side of the fence. We're so accustomed to
this world of ours and we're so tired of it and its pain. Oh, Lord,
take us beyond the veil. Take us into a new inheritance. Trust us to
keep it sacred. Trust us to be faithful in the blessed name. Ask Him
to give that to you. Ask Him to give that to you. (Recording and
original transcript by: Michael Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries,
Honolulu Crusade, February 28, 1997
"One of the strangest experiences I had a few years ago [was]
visiting Aimee's tomb in California. This Thursday I'm on TBN. Friday
I am gonna go and visit Kathryn Khulman's tomb. It's close by Aimee's
in Forest Lawn Cemetery. I've been there once already and every so
often I like to go and pay my respects 'cause this great woman of God
has touched my life. And that grave, uh, where she's buried is closed,
they built walls around it. You can't get in without a key and I'm one
of the very few people who can get in. But I'll never forget when I
saw Aimee's tomb. It's incredibly dramatic. She was such a lady that
her tomb has seven-foot angels bowing on each side of her tomb with a
gold chain around it. As-as incredible as it is that someone would die
with angels bowing on each side of her grave, I felt a terrific
anointing when I was there. I actually, I - I, hear this,' I trembled
when I visited Aimee's tomb. I was shaking all over. God's power came
all over me. ... I believe
the anointing has linged over Aimee's body. I know this may be
shocking to you.
... And I'm going to take David (Psalmquist) and Kent (Mattox and
Sheryl Psalmquist) this week. They're gonna come with me. You-you-you
gonna feel the anointing at Aimee's tomb. It's incredible. And
Kathryn's. It's amazing. I've heard of people healed when they visited
that tomb. They were totally healed by God's power. You say, 'What a
crazy thing.' Brother, there's things we'll never understand. Are you
all hearing me?"
(Benny Hinn sermon, Double Portion Anointing, Part #3, Orlando
Christian Center, Orlando, Fla April 7, 1991. From the series, Holy
Ghost Invasion. TV# 309,)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 21:32:23 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Hinn\'s meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
Hinn's meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/21bang1.htm
K Ramakrishna in Bangalore
January 21, 2005 15:56 IST
Rediff
The Catholic Church in Karnataka has disassociated itself from the
controversial prayer and healing session organised by American
evangelist Benny Hinn in Bangalore on Friday.
Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore said the Church is not "directly
or indirectly involved" in the Festival of Blessings programme by
Binn, which has invited criticism from a number of Hindu groups in
Karnataka.
"Everybody has the right to preach about Christ, but that does not
mean it should have fanfare and hype. Even Jesus Christ went about
preaching the good news and doing good and he worked awesome miracles.
But he did it all with admirable humility," Archbishop Moras told
reporters.
He said the Festival of Blessings by Hinn is attracting unnecessary publicity.
The archbishop rejected Hinn's oft repeated allegation in his meetings
that the Roman Catholic Church worship idols.
"External symbols are necessary for a religion. Catholicism is not
idolatrous. We do not have idols. We only have statues and we
'venerate', not 'worship' saints. Worship belongs to God and God
alone. The images of saints we have and venerate help strengthen our
relationship with God," Archbishop Moras said.
He said the Catholic Church in India does not encourage its followers
to attend the Hinn prayer meetings.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 21:34:50 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/21bang.htm
K Ramakrishna in Bangalore | January 21, 2005 11:50 IST
Last Updated: January 21, 2005 19:28 IST
Rediff
Amidst protests from Hindu priests and the Bharatiya Janata Party in
Karnataka, renowned American evangelist Benny Hinn is slated to hold
his prayer meet -- Festival of Blessing -- at Jakkur, on the outskirts
of Bangalore, on Friday evening.
Stray violence marred the bandh called by 'Hindu Jagaran Vedike'
against Hinn's programme. However, normal life largely remained
unaffected.
About 15 BJP legislators, led by party national general secretary
Ananthkumar, courted arrest as part of their protest against the
meeting.
Many pro-Hindu organisations led protest marches to the venue on
Friday, disrupting traffic and forcing the Bangalore police to boost
security for the prayer meeting.
Nearly 10,000 policemen have been deployed at the venue.
Swami Raghunath Guruji, a representative of Hindu priests in
Karnataka, said that Hindus were not against Hinn's prayer sessions
but were concerned about conversions.
"We fear that this prayer meeting will be used to convert poor Hindus
into Christianity. We want the government to ensure that no conversion
takes place during the Festival of Blessings," Swami Raghunath told
rediff.com.
He alleged that Hinn's Festival of Blessings programme was an
international conspiracy sponsored by US agencies to invest Rs.1.4
billion for conversions in Asia.
In fact, Hindu priests in Karnataka had announced that they have
called off protests against Hinn's programme after the state
government assured them that there would not be any conversions during
the healing sessions.
The state government has refused to ban the Festival of Blessings,
saying that the Indian Constitution permits prayer meetings.
Karnataka Revenue Minister M P Prakash, who met with a group of Hindu
priests, said that the government would ensure that would be no
conversions or healing sessions during the event.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:35:25 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: 'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan222005/i2.asp
BANGALORE
Deccan Herald
Saturday, January 22, 2005
While the gullible were mesmerised by Benny Hinn's deft use of
histrionic skills, others dimissed the evangelist as an 'ineffectual
messenger of Jesus'.
A night of makebelieve miracles, one could clearly see as the
self-proclaimed "miracle healer" and evangelist Benny Hinn went about
"healing" people in the name of Jesus Christ at the Jakkur airfield.
While several people who had gathered on the stage with different
illnesses and complaints claimed that they were "completely healed",
there were many others who said they could not feel any difference in
their condition.
"I don't feel any difference. My legs don't move. I tried to stand up
but I could not," said 30-year-old Vasanth Shetty while looking at his
crippled legs with disdain. Vasanth, along with his brother had come
to get "healed". Asha Mary, while walking back with her 11-year-old
hearing-impaired daughter, said she was not sure as to when her
daughter would start hearing. "We had come thinking that she will be
blessed but nothing really happened. She cannot hear anything," she
added.
And there was Kenchaiah, a 60-year-old man from Belgaum who was
brought to the event by his son Mahesh. "He had a stroke and is
paralysed. We were told that he (Benny Hinn) will cure my father, but
I see no change in him," said a disappointed Mahesh as he lugged his
father on his back. Rohit Kumar from Yelahanka, afflicted with polio,
said he prayed but did not feel any difference.
On the stage, the evangelist went about "healing" people as they fell
on the ground and were picked up by his men and led them off the
stage.
He, however, began the evening by saying that Jesus Christ was the
healer and not him. He promised that "God will heal three times more
tomorrow than today."
'The miracles'
Among the "miracles" performed: a young girl who could not walk for
years began jumping on the stage hysterically, a visually impaired
girl vouched that her vision was back and that she could see things
around her, a mother whose daughter had a hole in her heart claimed
that the child had been healed, a cancer patient said the tumour had
disappeared, a doctor who had met with an accident four years ago
threw his crutches and walked away briskly.
But, a little distance from the stage, the healer had a convoy of
doctors waiting upon him for any emergency.
Benny Hinn captured the attention of the audience by his "histrionics"
as he admonished the "demon epilepsy to go and never come back again."
The pitch in his voice rose to a crescendo as he called people to
raise their hands and praise the Lord. "Rise and be healed in the name
of Jesus. Pray for yourself, pray for those around you. Feel His
presence... there are miracles happening all around you tonight...
Jesus, the son of God is alive. Tonight, He will heal you."
Bangalore City Police Commissioner S Mariswamy, when asked by
reporters to comment on the veracity of Benny Hinn's claims, answered:
"Even if it was hypnotism, there is nothing wrong. Hypnotism is not an
offence."
Union Minister Oscar Fernandes was more guarded: "We must talk to the
patients and find out what they really felt afterwards. Everything
works on the basis of faith in America. Different people have
different perceptions of God."
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 02:00:28 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5023
Star Of Mysore
Date: January 17, 2005
After a long gap, a man who claims to have the power to heal the sick
and dying has surfaced on the Indian shores. The man is none other
than a controversial Pastor Benny Hinn. This 51-year-old Arab-Israeli
who became a Canadian and then an American and the Founder of World
Outreach Centre, Florida in the United States of America.
But this self-styled Godman's claims, though never proved, have always
kicked up a row and this time he is in a centre of controversy because
his new stop in the name of evangelism is India. He is organising a
massive programme 'Pray for India' in Bangalore on Jan. 21 to 23.
Even the Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has ruled out any ban on
Hinn's meet in Bangalore on Jan. 15 saying the Government has no right
to intervene in religious affairs.
Religion and politics
Whatever it is, now it is certain that, afterall, religion cannot be
separated from politics. This can be further confirmed as the Congress
Supremo Sonia Gandhi, has allowed six Chief Ministers from
Congress-ruled States to attend Benny Hinn's programme.
Noted litterateur Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa came down heavily on the proposed
"Pray for India" meet of Benny Hinn while supporting the stand taken
by Bhajrang Dal in opposing such a controversial meet.
He was speaking at the function held here yesterday in a workshop of his works.
When the reporters asked him about the Government being soft on Benny
Hinn, Dr. Bhyrappa said, "When the Chief Ministers of six
Congress-ruled States are attending at the behest of their 'madam,' it
is confirmed that Sonia Gandhi is behind this move."
"Christian missionaries have billions of dollars, donated by rich
Christian nations, to be used for the conversion of the gullible into
Christianity. They believe that conversion is their religion and
whenever they open a school or even a hospital, their only intention
is conversion. I have experienced this when I wrote the novel
Dharmashree about how Christians use their religion to convert saying
Jesus Christ is responsible for everything," Dr. Bhyrappa regretted.
Wholesale curer!
Continuing his assault on the alleged conversion programmes of
Christians, Dr. Bhyrappa said 'Missionaries go house-to-house in the
beginning, then bring gullible and poor housewives to show miracles.
They may treat one in a million, which is nothing but pure luck. May
be those missionaries did miracles on few individuals but this Benny
Hinn is a 'wholesale curer'!"
When asked why the people's representatives should recognise
themselves with these controversial religious figures, Dr. Bhyrappa
shot back, "When the 'madam' herself is supporting this idea, how can
her confidantes stay behind? That is the very reason how Benny Hinn is
given such a high standing and has the audacity to pray for India.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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From: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
Date: 22 Jan 2005 09:26:37 -0000
Subject: [ConversionWatch] Digest Number 306
To: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
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There are 5 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
From:
2. Hinn\'s meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
From:
3. Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
From:
4. 'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
From:
5. Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
From:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:07:57 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/shocking_facts_about_benny_hin.html
deceptioninthechurch.com
Shocking facts about Benny Hinn...
Benny Hinn is a Roman Catholic mystic, who is taking the Pentecostal
and Charismatic Church down the ecumenical road towards Rome. This has
been known for some time. For example the Italian Assemblies of God
refused to endorse his crusade in Rome (1996), sponsored by the
independent Pentecostals, who themselves were shocked when Mr Hinn
failed to once open his Bible on the first night of the Crusade. On
the second night the interpreter refused to interpret Hinn's
favourable comments about the Pope and the Catholic Church and the
music group refused to sing. The up-shot was that the organisers
signed a document of "non-association" with Benny Hinn, and promised
never to invite him to Italy again. Despite this he was invited as
guest speaker to the Australian Assemblies of God Conference in May
1997, where once more he spoke favourably of the Pope and the Roman
Catholic Church. At that Conference he told how he had met with
Cardinal Sin of the Philippines, with whom he formed a
n agreement to encourage people who attended his crusade not to leave
the Roman Catholic Church. The Cardinal in turn promised to encourage
Roman Catholics to attend the Hinn Crusade. (Things have become worse
since then! We have documented evidence that Hinn is into necromancy -
please see below.)
The most disturbing feature was that no one at the Australian
Assemblies of God Conference raised public objection to Hinn's
comments. Now Benny Hinn has been invited to conduct a Healing Crusade
in Auckland on June 13, 1998. Those endorsing the Crusade include
Wayne Hughes, Senior Pastor of the Takapuna Assembly of God, Ian
Bilby, Senior Pastor of the Auckland City Elim Church, Paul de Jong,
Senior Pastor of the Christian Life Centre, Auckland, Hamish Divett,
Senior Minister of the Christian City Church, Auckland and Peter
Mortlock, Senior Pastor of the Bays Christian Fellowship, New Life
Churches of New Zealand. (Letter dated 4th March, 1998 issued by the
New Zealand branch of the Benny Hinn Ministries (PO Box 24377, Royal
Oak, Auckland - phone 09 521 0133; fax 09 528 7185; mobile 025 285
1311 - coordinator Averil E Quertier).)
Wayne Hughes is the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God in New
Zealand and was one of the Church leaders who, together with Ian
Bilby, former President of the New Zealand Elim denomination, endorsed
the visit of Rodney Howard-Browne whose "laughing revival" has caused
so much division among Churches and Christian families in New Zealand
and Australia. The New Zealand Apostolic Superintendent also endorsed
Rodney Howard-Browne, BUT is not listed as endorsing Benny Hinn.
CWM alerted Wayne Hughes to the fact of Benny Hinn's documented
necromancy in late January or early February '98. Despite this he has
continued to endorse Hinn and his ministry, although it is rumoured
that he is concerned that he might be doing the wrong thing. For the
record we have published a copy of the relevant email. Our strong
recommendation to all Christians is that you do not participate in any
supportive way - by means of donations or otherwise - in the Benny
Hinn Crusade or to the Benny Hinn Ministries.
John the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ wrote: - "Whoever
transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not
have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father
and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine,
do not receive him into your house nor greet him (bid him God speed -
AV) for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds (biddeth him God
speed is partaker of his evil deeds - AV)" - 2 John 9-11. This is THE
WORD OF THE LORD.
Evidence that Benny Hinn practices necromancy...
Further documented proof is supplied in the book - "THE CONFUSING
WORLD OF BENNY HINN" obtainable from your nearest CWM Office at $25
each including post. (This book has been enlarged to include a chapter
on Hinn's necromancy. Authors include a USA, AOG pastor. Increased
price mainly due to the need to get more books from USA by air mail.
We also recommend the two videos"THE SIGNS & WONDERS MOVEMENT EXPOSED"
- Part 1 - MIRACLES and Part 2 - MONEY - at $30 each including post.)
The following was supplied by Michael Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason
Ministries, HAWAII on Philip Powell's request following a report that
Benny Hinn had caused a great deal of trouble in the islands following
his Honolulu Crusade in March, 1998.
Taken from a Benny Hinn programme - "THIS IS YOUR DAY" - June 11, 1997
- also repeated at a recent Benny Hinn PARTNER CONFERENCE in Atlanta.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you something right now. The
Lord showed me a vision about - goodness it's almost been a year now.
And - (I) can tell you I sense now the time has come when this vision
is gonna be fulfilled. I had a vision of the night. What I saw, myself
walk into a room. I've shared this before but just in case you -
you've not heard it I want you to hear it. I saw myself walk into a
room and there stood Kathryn Khulman.
And I've not seen Kathryn in a dream or a vision [in] years. Uh, when
she died, the day she died, the morning she died, I had a dream what I
- what I saw in a - in a - in a - in a casket with a white dress. And
when I woke up in - in the morning, I knew she had died and it was on
the news that same morning. And so it's been many years.
And there she was standing in this room and she said to me-of course
this was a dream, but really more of a vision. A lot of times! dreams
are really visions of the night, and the Bible calls them that. When -
when God gives to you in the fashion it really came with me.
When I was a little boy, I saw the Lord in this dream. It was really
so real, it was really a vision because when - when He appeared to me
my body became electric just like electricity went through me and when
I awoke that electricity was still on my body." (Benny Hinn, This Is
Your Day, June 11, 1997)
"Well, anyway, in this one, in this vision that-that I saw-saw Miss
Khulman. And she said, 'Follow me.' That's all she said. And I
followed her to a second room. In that second room stood the Lord.
When the Lord, uh-when-when I saw the lord, Kathryn disappeared. She
was just gone [Hinn snaps fingers]. And now the Lord looked at me and
said, 'Follow me.' And I followed him to a third room. In the third
room sat a gentleman - I still remember his face. I can tell you, I
still remember the man's face. And the man sat in this wheelchair in
that third room. There was a big hole in his neck. A tube down his
throat. He was crippled on that wheelchair. And he had tubes down his
body. Totally crippled, totally para-totally, of course, paralyzed.
The Lord laid His hands on this man and as He did the tubes
disappeared, the hole closed, he was completely healed and got up off
the wheelchair. It was a creative miracle. Now I'm standing watching
the Lord in this vision heal this man. And n
ow as the man wasealed, the Lord looked at me with piercing eyes -
I'll not forget that one I'll tell you. (He) looked at me with
piercing eyes and said, 'DO IT!' And the [Hinn snaps fingers] - and
the dream and the vision came to an end." (Benny Hinn, This Is Your
Day, June 11, 1997)
Interpretation of the "vision":
"When I woke, when I got up, when I came out of the vision, I was
trembling and perspiring from head to toes. I know exactly what that
vision means. It was Kathryn Khulman who took me, who introduced me to
the Holy Spirit. That is the meaning of that first room when she said,
'Follow me.' But when Kathryn was gone, Jesus was there. Kathryn did
her job and was gone and the Lord said, 'Follow me' into a third room.
And there was this man. I believe I'm about to enter that third room.
[Audience applause.] I'm telling you I feel it. I sense it. I believe
that room speaks of a dimension, a new dimension in the Spirit. I
believe I've been in that second room now for the last seven years.
What is amazing to me, what's amazing to me is God works or has worked
in my life in seven year cycles. I'm now in the seventh year -
beginning the eighth of the ministry of these crusades. 1990 we
started - March. This is what? '97. And just now I feel another
platform, another dimension, another
level is really coming. ell, saints you're going to be a part of it.
God- God has sent you as partners to be a part of it. So how many are
ready to see greater things for the glory of God?" (Benny Hinn, This
Is Your Day, June 11, 1997)
"Can I tell you something? I've never shared this. Never! I was in
prayer one day and a man appeared in front of me. Happened for two
days in a row, twice one day and the next day. The same man appeared.
I've never told this, never. ... This is recently. I'm not talking
about a long time ago. He was about six feet two. Old man. Had a
beard. ... Glistening white beard. His face was somewhat thin, but
very bold! Eyes - crystal blue. He had on a white garment, whiter than
my shirt could ever get. On his head was a shawl, like a - like a
covering. He looked like a priest. Every part of him glistened like
crystal. And I spoke out and I said, 'Lord, who is this man I see?'
I know you may - you may think I lost my mind, but the lord said,
'ELIJAH the prophet" ...Seven and half years ago, just before the
ministry started, before these crusades began, suddenly in front of me
I saw a group of people. I couldn't even tell you who they were. I
recognized only one of them. It was Miss Khulman. And every one of
them seemed to be urging me to pray. Now I know this sounds crazy, but
it's all right. I don't mind if you call me crazy, because I liked
what I saw. And this - this group was saying, now I couldn't hear
them. I'd been in prayer at least, uh, hours. And suddenly, just -
just this flash came in front of me. I can not describe it to you
except to tell you it was more real than you sitting right in front of
me right here. It was not a mental thing. It was so alive, pastor.
It's so alive. It was like a flash of lightening hit me and all I saw
was these people's faces. I will tell you, when I get to heaven. I
will recognize them (at least fifty to s
eventy of them were sittingn a group), and they were saying to me,
"Pray! Ask God to give you a healing ministry that will touch the
world!" And suddenly, I heard Kathryn's voice, [Hinn snaps fingers]
and out of the blue, suddenly there - there she was, it's crystal
clear. And she in her beautiful smile, the way she said, "Ask! We're
waiting for you to ask! We're praying with you to ask " And the vision
disappeared. And suddenly I said, "Lord!" and I asked. A week later
the anointing hit my life. I believe the saints in heaven urge us to
pray. Urge us to do it! Do you know why I believe it?
'Cause it's in the Bible! You say, "Show it to me." Jesus saw Moses
and Elijah who came to talk to Him about His passion on the cross!
Ladies and gentlemen, there's way more than you know about God! And
the reason I'm telling you all this? The Lord said to me only a few
days ago, He said, "You're - you're about to come into a new level.
Get ready!" And I'm already feeling the rumblings in the heavenlies.
Somebody is about to talk to me again. Something is about to happen
again. I don't know what it is. But I - I'm so excited, I feel
butterflies in my tummy. I feel something. I've had three prophets
lately, absolute people that know the voice of God, that have said to
me, "You're about to walk into a new inheritance in the Spirit." I
don't know what it is, when it is, but it's coming. And tonight, the
Lord is putting upon my heart to pray for you, that you should walk
into a new inheritance in the Holy Ghost. Stand up, I want to pray for
you. Come on. Hallelujah! ...
You're about to have experiences that people may call you crazy if you
tell them. But lift your hands and ask that God give you revelations.
Come on. Blessed Jesus, I give you praise. I give you praise. And I
ask you to bring those people into a new inheritance in the Spirit.
We've lived so long on this side of the fence. We're so accustomed to
this world of ours and we're so tired of it and its pain. Oh, Lord,
take us beyond the veil. Take us into a new inheritance. Trust us to
keep it sacred. Trust us to be faithful in the blessed name. Ask Him
to give that to you. Ask Him to give that to you. (Recording and
original transcript by: Michael Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries,
Honolulu Crusade, February 28, 1997
"One of the strangest experiences I had a few years ago [was]
visiting Aimee's tomb in California. This Thursday I'm on TBN. Friday
I am gonna go and visit Kathryn Khulman's tomb. It's close by Aimee's
in Forest Lawn Cemetery. I've been there once already and every so
often I like to go and pay my respects 'cause this great woman of God
has touched my life. And that grave, uh, where she's buried is closed,
they built walls around it. You can't get in without a key and I'm one
of the very few people who can get in. But I'll never forget when I
saw Aimee's tomb. It's incredibly dramatic. She was such a lady that
her tomb has seven-foot angels bowing on each side of her tomb with a
gold chain around it. As-as incredible as it is that someone would die
with angels bowing on each side of her grave, I felt a terrific
anointing when I was there. I actually, I - I, hear this,' I trembled
when I visited Aimee's tomb. I was shaking all over. God's power came
all over me. ... I believe
the anointing has linged over Aimee's body. I know this may be
shocking to you.
... And I'm going to take David (Psalmquist) and Kent (Mattox and
Sheryl Psalmquist) this week. They're gonna come with me. You-you-you
gonna feel the anointing at Aimee's tomb. It's incredible. And
Kathryn's. It's amazing. I've heard of people healed when they visited
that tomb. They were totally healed by God's power. You say, 'What a
crazy thing.' Brother, there's things we'll never understand. Are you
all hearing me?"
(Benny Hinn sermon, Double Portion Anointing, Part #3, Orlando
Christian Center, Orlando, Fla April 7, 1991. From the series, Holy
Ghost Invasion. TV# 309,)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 21:32:23 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Hinn\'s meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
Hinn's meet getting undue publicity: Catholics
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/21bang1.htm
K Ramakrishna in Bangalore
January 21, 2005 15:56 IST
Rediff
The Catholic Church in Karnataka has disassociated itself from the
controversial prayer and healing session organised by American
evangelist Benny Hinn in Bangalore on Friday.
Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore said the Church is not "directly
or indirectly involved" in the Festival of Blessings programme by
Binn, which has invited criticism from a number of Hindu groups in
Karnataka.
"Everybody has the right to preach about Christ, but that does not
mean it should have fanfare and hype. Even Jesus Christ went about
preaching the good news and doing good and he worked awesome miracles.
But he did it all with admirable humility," Archbishop Moras told
reporters.
He said the Festival of Blessings by Hinn is attracting unnecessary publicity.
The archbishop rejected Hinn's oft repeated allegation in his meetings
that the Roman Catholic Church worship idols.
"External symbols are necessary for a religion. Catholicism is not
idolatrous. We do not have idols. We only have statues and we
'venerate', not 'worship' saints. Worship belongs to God and God
alone. The images of saints we have and venerate help strengthen our
relationship with God," Archbishop Moras said.
He said the Catholic Church in India does not encourage its followers
to attend the Hinn prayer meetings.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 21:34:50 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
Violence Mars Bandh Against Evangelist Meet
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/21bang.htm
K Ramakrishna in Bangalore | January 21, 2005 11:50 IST
Last Updated: January 21, 2005 19:28 IST
Rediff
Amidst protests from Hindu priests and the Bharatiya Janata Party in
Karnataka, renowned American evangelist Benny Hinn is slated to hold
his prayer meet -- Festival of Blessing -- at Jakkur, on the outskirts
of Bangalore, on Friday evening.
Stray violence marred the bandh called by 'Hindu Jagaran Vedike'
against Hinn's programme. However, normal life largely remained
unaffected.
About 15 BJP legislators, led by party national general secretary
Ananthkumar, courted arrest as part of their protest against the
meeting.
Many pro-Hindu organisations led protest marches to the venue on
Friday, disrupting traffic and forcing the Bangalore police to boost
security for the prayer meeting.
Nearly 10,000 policemen have been deployed at the venue.
Swami Raghunath Guruji, a representative of Hindu priests in
Karnataka, said that Hindus were not against Hinn's prayer sessions
but were concerned about conversions.
"We fear that this prayer meeting will be used to convert poor Hindus
into Christianity. We want the government to ensure that no conversion
takes place during the Festival of Blessings," Swami Raghunath told
rediff.com.
He alleged that Hinn's Festival of Blessings programme was an
international conspiracy sponsored by US agencies to invest Rs.1.4
billion for conversions in Asia.
In fact, Hindu priests in Karnataka had announced that they have
called off protests against Hinn's programme after the state
government assured them that there would not be any conversions during
the healing sessions.
The state government has refused to ban the Festival of Blessings,
saying that the Indian Constitution permits prayer meetings.
Karnataka Revenue Minister M P Prakash, who met with a group of Hindu
priests, said that the government would ensure that would be no
conversions or healing sessions during the event.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:35:25 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: 'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
'We thought we'd be blessed but nothing really happened'
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan222005/i2.asp
BANGALORE
Deccan Herald
Saturday, January 22, 2005
While the gullible were mesmerised by Benny Hinn's deft use of
histrionic skills, others dimissed the evangelist as an 'ineffectual
messenger of Jesus'.
A night of makebelieve miracles, one could clearly see as the
self-proclaimed "miracle healer" and evangelist Benny Hinn went about
"healing" people in the name of Jesus Christ at the Jakkur airfield.
While several people who had gathered on the stage with different
illnesses and complaints claimed that they were "completely healed",
there were many others who said they could not feel any difference in
their condition.
"I don't feel any difference. My legs don't move. I tried to stand up
but I could not," said 30-year-old Vasanth Shetty while looking at his
crippled legs with disdain. Vasanth, along with his brother had come
to get "healed". Asha Mary, while walking back with her 11-year-old
hearing-impaired daughter, said she was not sure as to when her
daughter would start hearing. "We had come thinking that she will be
blessed but nothing really happened. She cannot hear anything," she
added.
And there was Kenchaiah, a 60-year-old man from Belgaum who was
brought to the event by his son Mahesh. "He had a stroke and is
paralysed. We were told that he (Benny Hinn) will cure my father, but
I see no change in him," said a disappointed Mahesh as he lugged his
father on his back. Rohit Kumar from Yelahanka, afflicted with polio,
said he prayed but did not feel any difference.
On the stage, the evangelist went about "healing" people as they fell
on the ground and were picked up by his men and led them off the
stage.
He, however, began the evening by saying that Jesus Christ was the
healer and not him. He promised that "God will heal three times more
tomorrow than today."
'The miracles'
Among the "miracles" performed: a young girl who could not walk for
years began jumping on the stage hysterically, a visually impaired
girl vouched that her vision was back and that she could see things
around her, a mother whose daughter had a hole in her heart claimed
that the child had been healed, a cancer patient said the tumour had
disappeared, a doctor who had met with an accident four years ago
threw his crutches and walked away briskly.
But, a little distance from the stage, the healer had a convoy of
doctors waiting upon him for any emergency.
Benny Hinn captured the attention of the audience by his "histrionics"
as he admonished the "demon epilepsy to go and never come back again."
The pitch in his voice rose to a crescendo as he called people to
raise their hands and praise the Lord. "Rise and be healed in the name
of Jesus. Pray for yourself, pray for those around you. Feel His
presence... there are miracles happening all around you tonight...
Jesus, the son of God is alive. Tonight, He will heal you."
Bangalore City Police Commissioner S Mariswamy, when asked by
reporters to comment on the veracity of Benny Hinn's claims, answered:
"Even if it was hypnotism, there is nothing wrong. Hypnotism is not an
offence."
Union Minister Oscar Fernandes was more guarded: "We must talk to the
patients and find out what they really felt afterwards. Everything
works on the basis of faith in America. Different people have
different perceptions of God."
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 02:00:28 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
Dr. Bhyrappa Sees Sonia's Role Behind Benny Hinn Concert
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5023
Star Of Mysore
Date: January 17, 2005
After a long gap, a man who claims to have the power to heal the sick
and dying has surfaced on the Indian shores. The man is none other
than a controversial Pastor Benny Hinn. This 51-year-old Arab-Israeli
who became a Canadian and then an American and the Founder of World
Outreach Centre, Florida in the United States of America.
But this self-styled Godman's claims, though never proved, have always
kicked up a row and this time he is in a centre of controversy because
his new stop in the name of evangelism is India. He is organising a
massive programme 'Pray for India' in Bangalore on Jan. 21 to 23.
Even the Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has ruled out any ban on
Hinn's meet in Bangalore on Jan. 15 saying the Government has no right
to intervene in religious affairs.
Religion and politics
Whatever it is, now it is certain that, afterall, religion cannot be
separated from politics. This can be further confirmed as the Congress
Supremo Sonia Gandhi, has allowed six Chief Ministers from
Congress-ruled States to attend Benny Hinn's programme.
Noted litterateur Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa came down heavily on the proposed
"Pray for India" meet of Benny Hinn while supporting the stand taken
by Bhajrang Dal in opposing such a controversial meet.
He was speaking at the function held here yesterday in a workshop of his works.
When the reporters asked him about the Government being soft on Benny
Hinn, Dr. Bhyrappa said, "When the Chief Ministers of six
Congress-ruled States are attending at the behest of their 'madam,' it
is confirmed that Sonia Gandhi is behind this move."
"Christian missionaries have billions of dollars, donated by rich
Christian nations, to be used for the conversion of the gullible into
Christianity. They believe that conversion is their religion and
whenever they open a school or even a hospital, their only intention
is conversion. I have experienced this when I wrote the novel
Dharmashree about how Christians use their religion to convert saying
Jesus Christ is responsible for everything," Dr. Bhyrappa regretted.
Wholesale curer!
Continuing his assault on the alleged conversion programmes of
Christians, Dr. Bhyrappa said 'Missionaries go house-to-house in the
beginning, then bring gullible and poor housewives to show miracles.
They may treat one in a million, which is nothing but pure luck. May
be those missionaries did miracles on few individuals but this Benny
Hinn is a 'wholesale curer'!"
When asked why the people's representatives should recognise
themselves with these controversial religious figures, Dr. Bhyrappa
shot back, "When the 'madam' herself is supporting this idea, how can
her confidantes stay behind? That is the very reason how Benny Hinn is
given such a high standing and has the audacity to pray for India.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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HindustanTimes/Maoists threaten India's internal security
January 22nd
HindustanTimes.com » Nation » Story
Maoists threaten India's internal security
Kanchan Gupta (IANS)
New Delhi, January 21, 2005|16:18 IST
Rapidly and insidiously, a new internal security
threat, posed by Left extremists, popularly referred
to as Naxalites, is taking shape in India.
Unlike secessionist movements fuelled by communal,
ethnic and linguistic identity politics that have
severely tested - and continue to test - the resolve
of the Indian state, the newly emerging threat will
challenge India's democratic polity and rule of law as
never before.
While other threats to India's internal security have
been region- or state- specific, the threat posed by
Naxalites is not contained within a particular area.
It casts a sinister shadow from Andhra Pradesh in the
south to Bihar in the east. Naxalites have already
created a 'Compact Red Zone', a corridor across India
where Left extremists run a parallel administration
with the help of brute force and terror.
Starting from the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh,
the 'Compact Red Zone' runs through eastern
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Orissa, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
It links what the Naxalites describe as the "liberated
zones" of India with the Maoist-held territories of
Nepal; a 'Red Corridor' that has united far-Left
comrades in these two neighbouring countries.
The magnitude of the threat posed by Left extremists
in India is underscored by the fact that as many as
156 districts in 13 States have been officially listed
as "affected by Naxalite violence". In 2003, the
threat existed in 55 districts in nine states.
In Nepal, which is in the grip of a rapidly
snowballing Maoist insurgency, almost all the 75
districts of that country are now under the control of
Left extremists.
With the geographical spread of the area of their
violent political activity expanding by leaps and
bounds, Naxalites in India, armed with weaponry and
communication systems far more sophisticated than
those provided to state police forces (in Andhra
Pradesh they are using wireless scanners that can tap
into any frequency of police communications), are
targeting civil administrators, policemen and
politicians with increasing impunity and chilling
brutality.
By killing representatives of the state, especially
policemen posted in remote rural areas, they are able
to instil fear among villagers, most of them
impoverished landless farmers, as well as ill-equipped
policemen. Thus they are able to establish a parallel
system of "administration" of forcibly collecting
"taxes" that fund their activities, meting out
"justice" through kangaroo courts to eliminate "class
enemies", and recruiting fresh cadre through a process
of forced and aggressive indoctrination.
The ferocity of Left extremism can be gauged by two
recent incidents: In Bihar, seven policemen, including
a superintendent of police, were killed in a landmine
explosion executed by Naxalites January 5. In Uttar
Pradesh, a police convoy was ambushed and 17 policemen
were shot dead.
The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh that came to
power in the summer of 2004 tried to reason peace with
Left extremists belonging to the Communist Party of
India (Maoist) and Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist), the two umbrella organisations
under which Naxalites have now organised themselves.
It also lifted the ban on these groups. Strategically,
that was a disastrous move. The previous Telugu Desam
Party government had launched a massive offensive
against the Left extremists and was able to bring the
situation in many areas under control. That advantage
has now been lost.
On the eve of the peace talks in October last year, a
senior Naxalite leader was quoted as saying: "By going
to the talks, we are not declaring any ceasefire...
Talks are a part of our tactical line. Naxalism is not
a problem, it is a solution."
Using the ruse of peace talks and the unilateral
ceasefire imposed by the Congress government in the
state and the placatory attitude of the Congress-led
government in New Delhi, the Left extremists have
regrouped, re-armed and launched a vicious
counter-offensive, forcing the police to respond. The
Naxalites, having forced the police to act, are now
using it as a convenient excuse to call off the peace
process and return to the path of armed violence.
From Andhra Pradesh to Bihar, the situation is equally
alarming. Not only are lives periled but development
is affected. As K.P.S. Gill, who has battled many
insurgencies, recently commented, it does not make
sense to build roads and bridges that cannot be used
for fear of death at the hands of Naxalites.
Nor does it make sense to pretend that Naxalites pose
a "law and order problem". The threat from Naxalites
is much more than that - they pose a totalitarian
challenge to India's democratic polity and rule of
law; they pose an ideological threat that questions
the legitimacy of the Indian state.
Seen from the perspective of internal security, the
Naxalites are fast turning into India's 'Fifth
Columnists', more than willing to join hands with
external forces that have been trying to undermine
India's territorial integrity and rend its social
fabric. From arms running to narco-terrorism, they are
involved in every possible act of subversion.
The Naxalite movement that we see today is a far cry
and far removed from the movement that was born in
1967 at Naxalbari, a village of West Bengal. What we
saw then was the splintering of the communists into
radicals and moderates; what we are seeing now is
abusing the barrel of the gun for furthering negative
power politics.
In the east, India's Naxalites have teamed up with
Nepal's Maoists to create disaffection among people of
Nepalese origin who have been living for generations
in Darjeeling and Dooars in West Bengal and in lower
Sikkim. The purpose is to engineer a movement for
'self-determination' which could unleash violence on a
wide scale and much worse than what was witnessed
during the Gorkhaland agitation.
India's intelligence agencies have evidence to prove
that Naxalites are being used by Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for drug trafficking
and pumping fake currency notes. In return, ISI is
providing the Naxalites with sophisticated weaponry
and the know-how for making and using improvised
explosive devices. Seized weapons and ammunition bear
witness to this evidence.
Impossible and illogical as it may appear, there is
also the very real possibility of the Islamic
fundamentalist right and the Marxist-Leninist
fundamentalist Left joining hands, united by the
purpose of subverting the Indian state. Soon after the
arrest of Maulana Naseeruddin, one of the prime
accused in the murder of Gujarat's former home
minister Haren Pandya, Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh
came out in support of the
Dasargah-e-Jehad-e-Shahadat's demand for the
unconditional release of the accused.
Naxal leader Ramakrishna circulated a letter among
media, demanding the suspension of police officers who
permitted the arrest, filing of a criminal case
against the Gujarat police and a public apology. He
also wanted the Naxalite-friendly Congress state
government to issue a blanket order banning the police
from entering Muslim houses or areas without
permission.
Ironically, most states where Naxalite violence is on
the rise are ruled by parties or alliances that are
members or supporters of the coalition government in
New Delhi. And unlike the Congress government in
Andhra Pradesh, which now increasingly appears to be
repaying a debt of gratitude for electoral support to
the Naxalites, the other state governments are
unwilling to seek accommodation with the far Left, but
are unable to move in tandem in the absence of any
clear central policy.
This is not the first time that the Indian state has
slept while a deadly threat has taken shape and form.
If left alone, today's Naxalite menace could become no
less dangerous than the war the Maoists are waging in
Nepal with stunning success.
HindustanTimes.com » Nation » Story
Maoists threaten India's internal security
Kanchan Gupta (IANS)
New Delhi, January 21, 2005|16:18 IST
Rapidly and insidiously, a new internal security
threat, posed by Left extremists, popularly referred
to as Naxalites, is taking shape in India.
Unlike secessionist movements fuelled by communal,
ethnic and linguistic identity politics that have
severely tested - and continue to test - the resolve
of the Indian state, the newly emerging threat will
challenge India's democratic polity and rule of law as
never before.
While other threats to India's internal security have
been region- or state- specific, the threat posed by
Naxalites is not contained within a particular area.
It casts a sinister shadow from Andhra Pradesh in the
south to Bihar in the east. Naxalites have already
created a 'Compact Red Zone', a corridor across India
where Left extremists run a parallel administration
with the help of brute force and terror.
Starting from the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh,
the 'Compact Red Zone' runs through eastern
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Orissa, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
It links what the Naxalites describe as the "liberated
zones" of India with the Maoist-held territories of
Nepal; a 'Red Corridor' that has united far-Left
comrades in these two neighbouring countries.
The magnitude of the threat posed by Left extremists
in India is underscored by the fact that as many as
156 districts in 13 States have been officially listed
as "affected by Naxalite violence". In 2003, the
threat existed in 55 districts in nine states.
In Nepal, which is in the grip of a rapidly
snowballing Maoist insurgency, almost all the 75
districts of that country are now under the control of
Left extremists.
With the geographical spread of the area of their
violent political activity expanding by leaps and
bounds, Naxalites in India, armed with weaponry and
communication systems far more sophisticated than
those provided to state police forces (in Andhra
Pradesh they are using wireless scanners that can tap
into any frequency of police communications), are
targeting civil administrators, policemen and
politicians with increasing impunity and chilling
brutality.
By killing representatives of the state, especially
policemen posted in remote rural areas, they are able
to instil fear among villagers, most of them
impoverished landless farmers, as well as ill-equipped
policemen. Thus they are able to establish a parallel
system of "administration" of forcibly collecting
"taxes" that fund their activities, meting out
"justice" through kangaroo courts to eliminate "class
enemies", and recruiting fresh cadre through a process
of forced and aggressive indoctrination.
The ferocity of Left extremism can be gauged by two
recent incidents: In Bihar, seven policemen, including
a superintendent of police, were killed in a landmine
explosion executed by Naxalites January 5. In Uttar
Pradesh, a police convoy was ambushed and 17 policemen
were shot dead.
The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh that came to
power in the summer of 2004 tried to reason peace with
Left extremists belonging to the Communist Party of
India (Maoist) and Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist), the two umbrella organisations
under which Naxalites have now organised themselves.
It also lifted the ban on these groups. Strategically,
that was a disastrous move. The previous Telugu Desam
Party government had launched a massive offensive
against the Left extremists and was able to bring the
situation in many areas under control. That advantage
has now been lost.
On the eve of the peace talks in October last year, a
senior Naxalite leader was quoted as saying: "By going
to the talks, we are not declaring any ceasefire...
Talks are a part of our tactical line. Naxalism is not
a problem, it is a solution."
Using the ruse of peace talks and the unilateral
ceasefire imposed by the Congress government in the
state and the placatory attitude of the Congress-led
government in New Delhi, the Left extremists have
regrouped, re-armed and launched a vicious
counter-offensive, forcing the police to respond. The
Naxalites, having forced the police to act, are now
using it as a convenient excuse to call off the peace
process and return to the path of armed violence.
From Andhra Pradesh to Bihar, the situation is equally
alarming. Not only are lives periled but development
is affected. As K.P.S. Gill, who has battled many
insurgencies, recently commented, it does not make
sense to build roads and bridges that cannot be used
for fear of death at the hands of Naxalites.
Nor does it make sense to pretend that Naxalites pose
a "law and order problem". The threat from Naxalites
is much more than that - they pose a totalitarian
challenge to India's democratic polity and rule of
law; they pose an ideological threat that questions
the legitimacy of the Indian state.
Seen from the perspective of internal security, the
Naxalites are fast turning into India's 'Fifth
Columnists', more than willing to join hands with
external forces that have been trying to undermine
India's territorial integrity and rend its social
fabric. From arms running to narco-terrorism, they are
involved in every possible act of subversion.
The Naxalite movement that we see today is a far cry
and far removed from the movement that was born in
1967 at Naxalbari, a village of West Bengal. What we
saw then was the splintering of the communists into
radicals and moderates; what we are seeing now is
abusing the barrel of the gun for furthering negative
power politics.
In the east, India's Naxalites have teamed up with
Nepal's Maoists to create disaffection among people of
Nepalese origin who have been living for generations
in Darjeeling and Dooars in West Bengal and in lower
Sikkim. The purpose is to engineer a movement for
'self-determination' which could unleash violence on a
wide scale and much worse than what was witnessed
during the Gorkhaland agitation.
India's intelligence agencies have evidence to prove
that Naxalites are being used by Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for drug trafficking
and pumping fake currency notes. In return, ISI is
providing the Naxalites with sophisticated weaponry
and the know-how for making and using improvised
explosive devices. Seized weapons and ammunition bear
witness to this evidence.
Impossible and illogical as it may appear, there is
also the very real possibility of the Islamic
fundamentalist right and the Marxist-Leninist
fundamentalist Left joining hands, united by the
purpose of subverting the Indian state. Soon after the
arrest of Maulana Naseeruddin, one of the prime
accused in the murder of Gujarat's former home
minister Haren Pandya, Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh
came out in support of the
Dasargah-e-Jehad-e-Shahadat's demand for the
unconditional release of the accused.
Naxal leader Ramakrishna circulated a letter among
media, demanding the suspension of police officers who
permitted the arrest, filing of a criminal case
against the Gujarat police and a public apology. He
also wanted the Naxalite-friendly Congress state
government to issue a blanket order banning the police
from entering Muslim houses or areas without
permission.
Ironically, most states where Naxalite violence is on
the rise are ruled by parties or alliances that are
members or supporters of the coalition government in
New Delhi. And unlike the Congress government in
Andhra Pradesh, which now increasingly appears to be
repaying a debt of gratitude for electoral support to
the Naxalites, the other state governments are
unwilling to seek accommodation with the far Left, but
are unable to move in tandem in the absence of any
clear central policy.
This is not the first time that the Indian state has
slept while a deadly threat has taken shape and form.
If left alone, today's Naxalite menace could become no
less dangerous than the war the Maoists are waging in
Nepal with stunning success.
Friday, January 21, 2005
a christian prof talks about the depradations of christianity in india
My religion takes you to heaven,
yours to hell. Can God be so partial?
Author: Dr C.I. Issac
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 9, 2005
An eleventh commandment is the need of the hour, so far as
Christianity as well as other Semitic religions are concerned. Their
God had failed to make such a command in the past. It has prompted the
Gods to safeguard their endurance because in an era of a competition
of Gods for survival, the existence of a particular God was being
challenged by other Gods. So the Gods of the Semitics were forced to
limit their commandments to ten. That is why He hath issued some harsh
ordinances like, "Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any
God except to me, the Lord" [See Exodus Ch. 22, Aphorism 20]. But in
India, it has been much different to the Semitic situation. Here, for
thousands of years, one type of worship or way of realisation of God
never infringed upon other Gods. It was because of this reason that
the Indian mindset was moulded/shaped by the rishis [great teachers]
who presented a worldview of lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu and
proclaimed the unity and oneness of God. That is why there are four
authoritative texts of the Hindus—Vedas, adhering to the message of
monism/Advaitam/unitarianism or the strong foundation of monotheism.
Hence, each Veda proclaimed the message of monotheism of first degree
without any obscurity : Rig Veda proclaims pranjanam Brahma; Yajur
Veda highlights aham Brahmasmi; Sama Veda announces tatvamasi; and
Atharva Veda confirms ayammathma Brahma. Above all, the Rig Veda
mantra of aekam sat vipra bahuta vadanti became the basis of the Hindu
approach to other faiths. Thus, in the light of this Hindu approach,
let us examine the recent controversies on the question of
proselytism.
On November 6, 1999 Pope John Paul II in his sermon at the Sacred
Heart Cathedral of New Delhi, openly stated, "Just as in the first
millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the
second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the
third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in
this vast and vital continent [Asia]".
We should take this call on its face value as the Pope is the head of
a big Christian faction. No doubt this call was an open challenge upon
the sovereignty of a democratic country and its people, while
considering the political statuesque of the Pope, i.e. the head of
another sovereign country [even though its area is below 250 acres],
the Vatican city. No doubt it was part of a conspiracy going on in
Christendom all over. On the basis of the sermon of Pope, we should
see the American President George Bush's Asian Christianisation
project worth one thousand crore dollars. The World Christian
Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, 2nd edition, 2001, p. 366 of OUP, New York
reads on India as follows : "Christians and Muslims will probably both
find room to grow in the mosaic of India's peoples so that, by 2025,
Christians account for 7.4 per cent and Muslims for 12.2 per cent,
while Hindus decline under 73 per cent [down from 80 per cent in
1900]... With sustained growth over the next few decades, Christianity
could grow to nearly 10 per cent of India's population by a.d. 2050.
Hindus will potentially decline as a percentage of India's population
as other religions continue to win adherents over the next few
decades." In the light of all these, we must try to see the question
of conversion going on amongst the Hindus of India in general and
particularly of the Hindu jatis in Kerala.
The society of Kerala is highly literate and that is why the
Christian/Islamic stratagems on proselytism are entirely different
from the rest of India and are multi-faceted. In the light of this
insight, one should see the Hindu antipathy over the minority approach
of en masse dismemberment of a community/culture. No doubt this
proselytisation process is suicidal insofar as a civilisation is
concerned. Under the guise of charitable service, a Kenyan national,
Brother Bernard, on a visiting visa and some nuns of the above
missionary organisation in an economically backward Hindu settlement,
were opposed and blockaded at the entrance of the hamlet by some youth
hailing from all non-communal political parties. This piece of news is
being vocally debated upon in the mainstream newspapers of Kerala. One
year back another US citizen, named Rev. Joseph Cooper, with a
visiting visa, publicly ridiculed and belittled Hindu Gods and
Goddesses in a Christian convention at Kilimannoor, near Trivandrum.
The public however managed to control the situation and the state
government along with the ruling and opposition front paved the escape
route for the Missionary, who violated visa norms from the eyes of law
as had happened in the case of Brother Bernard recently. Both were
engaged in conversion of Hindus, but those who are responsible to
bring them before law, closed their eyes wilfully.
Kerala, no doubt in the case of suicides number one in the world. In
this suicidal cape, more than three dozen farmers opted for the path
of suicide on account of their mounting insolvency. A good number of
them were Christians and belonged to the cash crop rich area of
Wyanadu, a place near the nuns of Missionaries of Charity who are
labouring in the Hindu hamlet near Calicut. They could find no time to
console the families of the ill-fated Christians or extend any relief
to the kith and kin of the unfortunate victims. Possibly the 'messiahs
of service and charity' bypassed the sorrows of the poor, traditional,
Christians because they have already been granted rooms in heaven. No,
diluting the grief of the traditional Christians is never a profitable
business as far as the agents of conversion/ proselytism are
concerned. So they are now at the doors of the needy Hindus with their
'charity'.
Sister Nirmala, the Mother Superior of the Missionaries of Charity,
who pretends to respect secularist values, clearly explained their
approach towards other religions in the following words :
"Christianity is the only religion which is totally true; the other
religions are true only partially." The CMI, the monastic order of the
Catholic church, in their document relating to their education policy
published in 1991 for private circulation, states that the ultimate
aim of their education service in India is "to grant acquaintance with
the persona of Jesus Christ and His Gospel" to the Hindu boys. It is
interesting to see that Francis Xavier, who was responsible for the
establishment of the 'Holy Inquisition of Goa', in which Hindu women
were raped and immolated alive and Hindu places of worship were
desecrated, has been elevated to sainthood, and Christian educational
institutions in India are being established in his name. The same
Francis Xavier wrote to his monastic authorities at Portugal about his
'heroic deeds' in India in the following words: "I order everywhere
the temples to be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to
describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down
and destroying the idols." [Kanayalal M. Talreja: Holy Vedas and Holy
Bible, p. 18].
Jawaharlal Nehru pictures the vulgar face of the 'Holy Inquisition' in
his work Glimpses of World History, p. 191 as follows: "About this
time, the Inquisition, that terrible weapon which Roman Church forged
to crush all who did not bow down to it, was established in Spain.
Jews, who had prospered under the Saracens, were now forced to change
their religion, and many were burnt to death. Women and children were
not spared." See how cruel the Christianity was as practiced by the
'angels of service'.
The first Dalit conversion in Kerala took place on September 6, 1854,
that is exactly 150 years back, and one Daivathan was converted to
Christianity and christened as Habel. Now, the Christian, source
certify that there are three million Dalits converted to Christians,
who reside in Kerala. Their social as well as economic status is very
pathetic and they are destined to the savarna Christian's ostracism.
Their journey to paradise was no doubt like the old saying that goes
'from the frying pan to the burning fire'. Now their social position
is between the devil and the deep sea. That is why the progenies of
the first converted Dalit [Daivathan/ Habel] returned to poorva
dharma, i.e. Hinduism. Let us quote an Anglo-Indian novelist of
contemporary Kerala, Nirmala Aravind: "Their church had started out by
encouraging converts from low castes, but after some time the Syrian
Christians [savarna Christians] could not stomach the former
untouchables sitting side by side with them on the same pews, and
there had been a cleavage. Now there are separate churches in some
places, though converts are still admitted." The plight of the poor
Dalits, once converted to Christianity, is horrendous. Father Chavara,
the blessed, a CMI padre, was a pioneer in the field of Dalit
conversion to Catholic faith in the 19th century. Large number of
Dalits was converted to the Catholic church through him and he
constructed a church and a school for them. In the deluge of time they
were kicked out from the church and the school, worth one hundred
million rupees, by the savarna Catholic Christians and the poor
converts now satisfy themselves with 25 cents of cemetery meant
exclusively for the converted Christians. It is relevant to quote J.C.
Kumarappa (an Indian Christian) that "before these Christian
missionaries landed in Africa, the Africans had their land with them,
but not the Bible. Now they have their Bible with them, not their
land." [The Hindu, March 13, 2001, Open Page, Kochi edition]. Prof.
Joseph Pulikunnel, a veteran Syrian Catholic social reformer,
comments, "There are about 150 Christian colleges in Kerala [now its
number is double], but you will not find any Dalit working there."
[Organiser, April 29, 2001].
Secular Hindus and the progressive media usually raise the question
that why do we fear the conversion. Particularly when even after the
conversion, the same person leads a life without any difference from
the earlier one. Now that the Hindus are more than 85 per cent, why do
we worry about the majority status of Hindus? These all are positive
questions immediately generating positive answers. But actually what
happened in the yesteryears of the republic of India? It is
interesting to see that the Muslims of India during the days of
Bengal's Partition in 1905 were Muslim nationals who fought against
the divisive attempts of the British Raj. The Muslims fought this
battle shoulder to shoulder with their Hindu brethren and uttered the
same slogan of Hindus, 'Bharata Mata ki jai' without the fear of loss
of their religion. Again they never forgot to celebrate the holy
Deepavali, Raksha Bandhan, and other national festivals and tie rakhee
on their wrist with a feeling/sense of nationalism. But what happened
in the year 1947? The number of Muslims in 1901 was 2,91,02,000, i.e.
12.209 per cent of the total population and thereafter in 1941, this
population rose by 68.24 per cent and reached 4,26,45,000, i.e. 13.380
per cent of the total population, so they demanded a separate nation
for the Muslims. There are several factors which led to the division
of India and, amongst these several factors, the population factor was
very vital. On the basis of the population factor, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
raised the same question to justify the 'two-nation' theory that he
placed it before the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. At present,
several regions in India have begun to stomach such an abnormal level
of Muslim/Christian population growth and all these places are
becoming the epicentres for divisive as well as subversive activities.
Islam has now begun to show its true face. But the Muslims of India
are nowadays reluctant to stomach a non-Islamic faith. Let us quote M.
Riaz Hasan, a UK-based Muslim NRI, who has worked and travelled widely
in Muslim countries. In his own words: "Islam is now a religion of
paradoxes and its practice is totally inconsistent with its preaching.
The Indian Muslims, including the Kashmiri Muslims, are perhaps the
most fortunate religious minority in the world today, because they
live in a truly secular, pluralistic democracy in the world.'' [The
Hindu, Kochi, Open Page, dated November 27, 2001]. While disseminating
their intolerance, they are not properly accounting for the reality
revealed by M. Riaz Hasan. Muslims, wherever they be, are still under
the old Arab psyche. Let us quote Will Durant : "The immigration of
two hundred Meccan families created a food shortage in Medina.
Mohammed solved the problem as a starving people do by taking food
from where it could be had. In commissioning his lieutenants to raid
the caravans that passed Medina, he was adopting the morals of most
Arab tribes in his time. When the raid succeeded, four-fifths of the
spoils went to the raiders, one-fifth to the Prophet..." [The Story of
Civilisation—The Age of Faith, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1950, Book
II, Chapter VIII, p. 168.]
Just think what happens in Nagaland? The brave Nagas fought a
consistent war against the British Raj. Nobody can question the
genuineness of their national commitment and their fight for the cause
of our national freedom. But what happened in the subsequent days? The
British used their Missionaries and converted one person after another
and gradually the national spirit was extinguished amongst them all.
By 1951 the Christian share of the total population of Nagaland was
46.04 per cent. It gradually enhanced and reached 52.97 per cent in
1961 and thereupon the progenies of the same old Nagas of 1900s who
stood for the national cause turned against us and now treat the rest
of Indians as foreigners [not reproducing the obscene phrase that is
used by the Naga separatist mentality to identify we Indians]. Now the
Christian population comes to 85 per cent. The case of Mizoram is not
much different from the situation in Nagaland. The Missionaries of
'charity and service' altogether dismembered the Hindu population and
now its Christian population is 85 per cent. In 1951, Meghalaya's
Christian share was only 22.66 per cent and at present it is 55 per
cent. [Population data other than for 2001 is reproduced from Arun
Shourie's Missionaries in India.] All the Christian-dominated states
of north-east are labouring for the cause of our national
disintegration. What a paradox it is ! In short, one thing is clear,
that wherever in India minority religious groups secure a decisive
role, they turn against the national interest.
On taking into consideration all the above-mentioned facts, one thing
is clear that the minorities' chief priority is not the nation but
their religion, paradise and a worldly State exclusively their own.
They cannot digest other faiths. Their religion and God is not for
peaceful coexistence. Let me quote the Bible: "Think not that I came
to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I
am come to set a man at variance against his father; and the daughter
against her mother; and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
[Mathew, Ch. X, Aphorisms 34, 35]. Christianity is looking too smart
with its concealed biting teeth, posing a potential threat, seemingly
different from that of Islam. They are not ready to reread their
theology on the basis of time and space. This means they are not ready
for any compromise on the question of conversion. This is also very
clear from the words of the Pope. Now the Christians have a 31 per
cent share in the world population, Muslims have 19.6 per cent and the
Hindus have 14 per cent. Both of them are targeting the Hindus—the
most unorganised religious/ethnic section in the world.
It is better to quote Samuel P. Huntington, who says, "Muslim
nationalism is becoming more extreme. It now takes no account of other
national sensibilities; it is the property, privilege and political
instrument of the newly predominant nation... The main result of this
new Muslim nationalism is a movement towards national
homogenisation... Increasingly, Islamic religious fundamentalism is
also gaining dominance in determining Muslim national interests... In
the emerging era, clashes of civilisations are the greatest threat to
world peace, and an international order based on civilisations is the
surest safeguard against world war." [The Clash of Civilisations and
the Remaking of World Order, 1997, p. 270.].
For an international order that guarantees peace and tranquillity to
the world, Semitic religions must add one more commandment to its
didactics, that is, an eleventh one which must ensure world peace and
teach its faithfuls to respect other Gods and religions. In an age
when Gods were in competition for survival, they limited the
commandments to ten, including "worship no God but me". [Exodus, Ch.
20, Aphorism. 3]. But now the same Semitic Gods need not worry because
they have got a sufficient number of Christians [31 per cent] and
Muslims [19.6 per cent] in the world population. The most liberal
Hindu Gods are now destined to remain satisfied with only 14 per cent
of Hindus.
(The author is Head of the PG Department of History, CMS College,
Kottayam, Kerala and can be contacted at Chavanickamannil,
Vadavathoor, P.O. Kottayam, Kerala-686 101; e-mail:
ciissac@sancharnet.in; visit: www.christiansofkerala.com)
yours to hell. Can God be so partial?
Author: Dr C.I. Issac
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 9, 2005
An eleventh commandment is the need of the hour, so far as
Christianity as well as other Semitic religions are concerned. Their
God had failed to make such a command in the past. It has prompted the
Gods to safeguard their endurance because in an era of a competition
of Gods for survival, the existence of a particular God was being
challenged by other Gods. So the Gods of the Semitics were forced to
limit their commandments to ten. That is why He hath issued some harsh
ordinances like, "Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any
God except to me, the Lord" [See Exodus Ch. 22, Aphorism 20]. But in
India, it has been much different to the Semitic situation. Here, for
thousands of years, one type of worship or way of realisation of God
never infringed upon other Gods. It was because of this reason that
the Indian mindset was moulded/shaped by the rishis [great teachers]
who presented a worldview of lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu and
proclaimed the unity and oneness of God. That is why there are four
authoritative texts of the Hindus—Vedas, adhering to the message of
monism/Advaitam/unitarianism or the strong foundation of monotheism.
Hence, each Veda proclaimed the message of monotheism of first degree
without any obscurity : Rig Veda proclaims pranjanam Brahma; Yajur
Veda highlights aham Brahmasmi; Sama Veda announces tatvamasi; and
Atharva Veda confirms ayammathma Brahma. Above all, the Rig Veda
mantra of aekam sat vipra bahuta vadanti became the basis of the Hindu
approach to other faiths. Thus, in the light of this Hindu approach,
let us examine the recent controversies on the question of
proselytism.
On November 6, 1999 Pope John Paul II in his sermon at the Sacred
Heart Cathedral of New Delhi, openly stated, "Just as in the first
millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the
second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the
third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in
this vast and vital continent [Asia]".
We should take this call on its face value as the Pope is the head of
a big Christian faction. No doubt this call was an open challenge upon
the sovereignty of a democratic country and its people, while
considering the political statuesque of the Pope, i.e. the head of
another sovereign country [even though its area is below 250 acres],
the Vatican city. No doubt it was part of a conspiracy going on in
Christendom all over. On the basis of the sermon of Pope, we should
see the American President George Bush's Asian Christianisation
project worth one thousand crore dollars. The World Christian
Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, 2nd edition, 2001, p. 366 of OUP, New York
reads on India as follows : "Christians and Muslims will probably both
find room to grow in the mosaic of India's peoples so that, by 2025,
Christians account for 7.4 per cent and Muslims for 12.2 per cent,
while Hindus decline under 73 per cent [down from 80 per cent in
1900]... With sustained growth over the next few decades, Christianity
could grow to nearly 10 per cent of India's population by a.d. 2050.
Hindus will potentially decline as a percentage of India's population
as other religions continue to win adherents over the next few
decades." In the light of all these, we must try to see the question
of conversion going on amongst the Hindus of India in general and
particularly of the Hindu jatis in Kerala.
The society of Kerala is highly literate and that is why the
Christian/Islamic stratagems on proselytism are entirely different
from the rest of India and are multi-faceted. In the light of this
insight, one should see the Hindu antipathy over the minority approach
of en masse dismemberment of a community/culture. No doubt this
proselytisation process is suicidal insofar as a civilisation is
concerned. Under the guise of charitable service, a Kenyan national,
Brother Bernard, on a visiting visa and some nuns of the above
missionary organisation in an economically backward Hindu settlement,
were opposed and blockaded at the entrance of the hamlet by some youth
hailing from all non-communal political parties. This piece of news is
being vocally debated upon in the mainstream newspapers of Kerala. One
year back another US citizen, named Rev. Joseph Cooper, with a
visiting visa, publicly ridiculed and belittled Hindu Gods and
Goddesses in a Christian convention at Kilimannoor, near Trivandrum.
The public however managed to control the situation and the state
government along with the ruling and opposition front paved the escape
route for the Missionary, who violated visa norms from the eyes of law
as had happened in the case of Brother Bernard recently. Both were
engaged in conversion of Hindus, but those who are responsible to
bring them before law, closed their eyes wilfully.
Kerala, no doubt in the case of suicides number one in the world. In
this suicidal cape, more than three dozen farmers opted for the path
of suicide on account of their mounting insolvency. A good number of
them were Christians and belonged to the cash crop rich area of
Wyanadu, a place near the nuns of Missionaries of Charity who are
labouring in the Hindu hamlet near Calicut. They could find no time to
console the families of the ill-fated Christians or extend any relief
to the kith and kin of the unfortunate victims. Possibly the 'messiahs
of service and charity' bypassed the sorrows of the poor, traditional,
Christians because they have already been granted rooms in heaven. No,
diluting the grief of the traditional Christians is never a profitable
business as far as the agents of conversion/ proselytism are
concerned. So they are now at the doors of the needy Hindus with their
'charity'.
Sister Nirmala, the Mother Superior of the Missionaries of Charity,
who pretends to respect secularist values, clearly explained their
approach towards other religions in the following words :
"Christianity is the only religion which is totally true; the other
religions are true only partially." The CMI, the monastic order of the
Catholic church, in their document relating to their education policy
published in 1991 for private circulation, states that the ultimate
aim of their education service in India is "to grant acquaintance with
the persona of Jesus Christ and His Gospel" to the Hindu boys. It is
interesting to see that Francis Xavier, who was responsible for the
establishment of the 'Holy Inquisition of Goa', in which Hindu women
were raped and immolated alive and Hindu places of worship were
desecrated, has been elevated to sainthood, and Christian educational
institutions in India are being established in his name. The same
Francis Xavier wrote to his monastic authorities at Portugal about his
'heroic deeds' in India in the following words: "I order everywhere
the temples to be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to
describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down
and destroying the idols." [Kanayalal M. Talreja: Holy Vedas and Holy
Bible, p. 18].
Jawaharlal Nehru pictures the vulgar face of the 'Holy Inquisition' in
his work Glimpses of World History, p. 191 as follows: "About this
time, the Inquisition, that terrible weapon which Roman Church forged
to crush all who did not bow down to it, was established in Spain.
Jews, who had prospered under the Saracens, were now forced to change
their religion, and many were burnt to death. Women and children were
not spared." See how cruel the Christianity was as practiced by the
'angels of service'.
The first Dalit conversion in Kerala took place on September 6, 1854,
that is exactly 150 years back, and one Daivathan was converted to
Christianity and christened as Habel. Now, the Christian, source
certify that there are three million Dalits converted to Christians,
who reside in Kerala. Their social as well as economic status is very
pathetic and they are destined to the savarna Christian's ostracism.
Their journey to paradise was no doubt like the old saying that goes
'from the frying pan to the burning fire'. Now their social position
is between the devil and the deep sea. That is why the progenies of
the first converted Dalit [Daivathan/ Habel] returned to poorva
dharma, i.e. Hinduism. Let us quote an Anglo-Indian novelist of
contemporary Kerala, Nirmala Aravind: "Their church had started out by
encouraging converts from low castes, but after some time the Syrian
Christians [savarna Christians] could not stomach the former
untouchables sitting side by side with them on the same pews, and
there had been a cleavage. Now there are separate churches in some
places, though converts are still admitted." The plight of the poor
Dalits, once converted to Christianity, is horrendous. Father Chavara,
the blessed, a CMI padre, was a pioneer in the field of Dalit
conversion to Catholic faith in the 19th century. Large number of
Dalits was converted to the Catholic church through him and he
constructed a church and a school for them. In the deluge of time they
were kicked out from the church and the school, worth one hundred
million rupees, by the savarna Catholic Christians and the poor
converts now satisfy themselves with 25 cents of cemetery meant
exclusively for the converted Christians. It is relevant to quote J.C.
Kumarappa (an Indian Christian) that "before these Christian
missionaries landed in Africa, the Africans had their land with them,
but not the Bible. Now they have their Bible with them, not their
land." [The Hindu, March 13, 2001, Open Page, Kochi edition]. Prof.
Joseph Pulikunnel, a veteran Syrian Catholic social reformer,
comments, "There are about 150 Christian colleges in Kerala [now its
number is double], but you will not find any Dalit working there."
[Organiser, April 29, 2001].
Secular Hindus and the progressive media usually raise the question
that why do we fear the conversion. Particularly when even after the
conversion, the same person leads a life without any difference from
the earlier one. Now that the Hindus are more than 85 per cent, why do
we worry about the majority status of Hindus? These all are positive
questions immediately generating positive answers. But actually what
happened in the yesteryears of the republic of India? It is
interesting to see that the Muslims of India during the days of
Bengal's Partition in 1905 were Muslim nationals who fought against
the divisive attempts of the British Raj. The Muslims fought this
battle shoulder to shoulder with their Hindu brethren and uttered the
same slogan of Hindus, 'Bharata Mata ki jai' without the fear of loss
of their religion. Again they never forgot to celebrate the holy
Deepavali, Raksha Bandhan, and other national festivals and tie rakhee
on their wrist with a feeling/sense of nationalism. But what happened
in the year 1947? The number of Muslims in 1901 was 2,91,02,000, i.e.
12.209 per cent of the total population and thereafter in 1941, this
population rose by 68.24 per cent and reached 4,26,45,000, i.e. 13.380
per cent of the total population, so they demanded a separate nation
for the Muslims. There are several factors which led to the division
of India and, amongst these several factors, the population factor was
very vital. On the basis of the population factor, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
raised the same question to justify the 'two-nation' theory that he
placed it before the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. At present,
several regions in India have begun to stomach such an abnormal level
of Muslim/Christian population growth and all these places are
becoming the epicentres for divisive as well as subversive activities.
Islam has now begun to show its true face. But the Muslims of India
are nowadays reluctant to stomach a non-Islamic faith. Let us quote M.
Riaz Hasan, a UK-based Muslim NRI, who has worked and travelled widely
in Muslim countries. In his own words: "Islam is now a religion of
paradoxes and its practice is totally inconsistent with its preaching.
The Indian Muslims, including the Kashmiri Muslims, are perhaps the
most fortunate religious minority in the world today, because they
live in a truly secular, pluralistic democracy in the world.'' [The
Hindu, Kochi, Open Page, dated November 27, 2001]. While disseminating
their intolerance, they are not properly accounting for the reality
revealed by M. Riaz Hasan. Muslims, wherever they be, are still under
the old Arab psyche. Let us quote Will Durant : "The immigration of
two hundred Meccan families created a food shortage in Medina.
Mohammed solved the problem as a starving people do by taking food
from where it could be had. In commissioning his lieutenants to raid
the caravans that passed Medina, he was adopting the morals of most
Arab tribes in his time. When the raid succeeded, four-fifths of the
spoils went to the raiders, one-fifth to the Prophet..." [The Story of
Civilisation—The Age of Faith, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1950, Book
II, Chapter VIII, p. 168.]
Just think what happens in Nagaland? The brave Nagas fought a
consistent war against the British Raj. Nobody can question the
genuineness of their national commitment and their fight for the cause
of our national freedom. But what happened in the subsequent days? The
British used their Missionaries and converted one person after another
and gradually the national spirit was extinguished amongst them all.
By 1951 the Christian share of the total population of Nagaland was
46.04 per cent. It gradually enhanced and reached 52.97 per cent in
1961 and thereupon the progenies of the same old Nagas of 1900s who
stood for the national cause turned against us and now treat the rest
of Indians as foreigners [not reproducing the obscene phrase that is
used by the Naga separatist mentality to identify we Indians]. Now the
Christian population comes to 85 per cent. The case of Mizoram is not
much different from the situation in Nagaland. The Missionaries of
'charity and service' altogether dismembered the Hindu population and
now its Christian population is 85 per cent. In 1951, Meghalaya's
Christian share was only 22.66 per cent and at present it is 55 per
cent. [Population data other than for 2001 is reproduced from Arun
Shourie's Missionaries in India.] All the Christian-dominated states
of north-east are labouring for the cause of our national
disintegration. What a paradox it is ! In short, one thing is clear,
that wherever in India minority religious groups secure a decisive
role, they turn against the national interest.
On taking into consideration all the above-mentioned facts, one thing
is clear that the minorities' chief priority is not the nation but
their religion, paradise and a worldly State exclusively their own.
They cannot digest other faiths. Their religion and God is not for
peaceful coexistence. Let me quote the Bible: "Think not that I came
to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I
am come to set a man at variance against his father; and the daughter
against her mother; and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
[Mathew, Ch. X, Aphorisms 34, 35]. Christianity is looking too smart
with its concealed biting teeth, posing a potential threat, seemingly
different from that of Islam. They are not ready to reread their
theology on the basis of time and space. This means they are not ready
for any compromise on the question of conversion. This is also very
clear from the words of the Pope. Now the Christians have a 31 per
cent share in the world population, Muslims have 19.6 per cent and the
Hindus have 14 per cent. Both of them are targeting the Hindus—the
most unorganised religious/ethnic section in the world.
It is better to quote Samuel P. Huntington, who says, "Muslim
nationalism is becoming more extreme. It now takes no account of other
national sensibilities; it is the property, privilege and political
instrument of the newly predominant nation... The main result of this
new Muslim nationalism is a movement towards national
homogenisation... Increasingly, Islamic religious fundamentalism is
also gaining dominance in determining Muslim national interests... In
the emerging era, clashes of civilisations are the greatest threat to
world peace, and an international order based on civilisations is the
surest safeguard against world war." [The Clash of Civilisations and
the Remaking of World Order, 1997, p. 270.].
For an international order that guarantees peace and tranquillity to
the world, Semitic religions must add one more commandment to its
didactics, that is, an eleventh one which must ensure world peace and
teach its faithfuls to respect other Gods and religions. In an age
when Gods were in competition for survival, they limited the
commandments to ten, including "worship no God but me". [Exodus, Ch.
20, Aphorism. 3]. But now the same Semitic Gods need not worry because
they have got a sufficient number of Christians [31 per cent] and
Muslims [19.6 per cent] in the world population. The most liberal
Hindu Gods are now destined to remain satisfied with only 14 per cent
of Hindus.
(The author is Head of the PG Department of History, CMS College,
Kottayam, Kerala and can be contacted at Chavanickamannil,
Vadavathoor, P.O. Kottayam, Kerala-686 101; e-mail:
ciissac@sancharnet.in; visit: www.christiansofkerala.com)
19/01/90: When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror
January 21st
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/19kanch.htm
rediff.com
Home > News > Columnists > Kanchan Gupta
19/01/90: When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror
January 19, 2005
Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu
newspaper, publishes a press release issued by Hizb-ul
Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to
wage jihad for Jammu and Kashmir's secession from
India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to
pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa,
repeats this expulsion order.
In the following days, there is near chaos in the
Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and
his National Conference government abdicating all
responsibilities of the State. Masked men run amok,
waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting
anti-India slogans.
Reports of killing of Hindus, invariably Kashmiri
Pandits, begin to trickle in; there are explosions;
inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of
mosques, using public address systems meant for
calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear
psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.
Walls are plastered with posters and handbills,
summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow
the Islamic dress code, prohibiting the sale and
consumption of alcoholic drinks and imposing a ban on
video parlours and cinemas. The masked men with
Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and
clocks to Pakistan Standard Time.
Shops, business establishments and homes of Kashmiri
Pandits, the original inhabitants of the Kashmir
valley with a recorded cultural and civilisational
history dating back 5,000 years, are marked out.
Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses,
peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir
within 24 hours or face death and worse. Some are more
lucid: "Be one with us, run, or die!"
* * *
Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Jagmohan arrives to take
charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq
Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling
government has all but ceased to exist and has gone
into hiding, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is
imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance
of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent
effect.
Throughout the day, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front
and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists use public address
systems at mosques to exhort people to defy curfew and
take to the streets. Masked men, firing from their
Kalashnikovs, march up and down, terrorising cowering
Pandits who, by then, have locked themselves in their
homes.
As evening falls, the exhortations become louder and
shriller. Three taped slogans are repeatedly played
the whole night from mosques: 'Kashmir mei agar rehna
hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai' (If you want to stay in
Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar); 'Yahan kya
chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa' (What do we want here? Rule
of Shariah); 'Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te
Batanev san' (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women
but without their men).
In the preceding months, 300 Hindu men and women,
nearly all of them Kashmiri Pandits, had been
slaughtered ever since the brutal murder of Pandit
Tika Lal Taploo, noted lawyer and BJP national
executive member, by the JKLF in Srinagar on September
14, 1989. Soon after that, Justice N K Ganju of the
Srinagar high court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand
Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped,
tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death.
A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical
College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then
beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and
sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.
In villages and towns across the Kashmir valley,
terrorist hit lists have been floating about. All the
names are of Kashmiri Pandits. With no government
worth its name, the administration having collapsed
and disappeared, the police nowhere to be seen,
despondency sets in. As the night of January 19, 1990,
wears itself out, despondency gives way to
desperation.
And tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the
valley take a painful decision: to flee their homeland
to save their lives from rabid jihadis. Thus takes
place a 20th century Exodus.
* * *
Srinagar, January 19, 2005. There are no Kashmiri
Pandits in Srinagar, or, for that matter, anywhere
else in the Kashmir valley; they don't live here
anymore. You can find them in squalid refugee camps in
Jammu and Delhi. As many as 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits
have fled their home and hearth and been reduced to
living the lives of refugees in their own country.
Two-thirds of them are camping in Jammu. The rest are
in Delhi and in other Indian cities. Many of them,
once prosperous and proud of their rich heritage, now
live in grovelling poverty, dependent on government
dole and charity. In these 15 years, an entire
generation of exiled Kashmiri Pandits has grown up,
without seeing the land from where their parents fled
to escape the brutalities of Islamic terrorism, a land
they dare not return to, although that land still
remains a part of their country.
A large number of them are suffering from a variety of
stress and depression related diseases. A group of
doctors who surveyed the mental and physical health of
the Kashmiri Pandits living in refugee camps, found
high incidence of 'economic distress, stress induced
diabetes, partial lunacy, hypertension and mental
retardation.' Statistics reflect high death rate and
low birth rate among the Kashmiri Pandit refugees.
And thereby hangs a tragic tale that has been all but
wiped out from public memory.
An entire people have been uprooted from the land of
their ancestors and left to fend for themselves as a
weak-kneed Indian state shamelessly panders to Islamic
terrorists and separatists who claim they are the
final arbiters of Jammu and Kashmir's destiny. A part
of India's cultural heritage has been destroyed; a
chapter of India's civilisational history has been
erased.
Had this tragedy occurred elsewhere in Hindu majority
India, and had the victims been Muslims, we would have
described it as 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide.' We
would have made films with horror-inducing titles. We
would have filed cases in the Supreme Court of India.
Our media would have marshalled remarkable rage in
reporting the smallest detail.
But, this tragedy has occurred in Muslim majority
Kashmir valley, and the victims are all Hindus, that
too Pandits. What has been lost is part of India's
Hindu culture, what has been erased is integral to
India's Hindu civilisation.
Therefore, the government makes bold to record that
the Kashmiri Pandits have 'migrated on their own' and
their 'displacement (is) self-imposed;' the National
Human Rights Commission, after a perfunctory inquiry,
refuses to concede that what has happened is
'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing,' though facts add up
to no less than that, never mind that 300,000 lives
have been destroyed.
And, our jhola-wallah brigade of secular activists
rudely turn up their noses to the plight of Kashmiri
Pandits: Hindu sorrow, inflicted by Islamic terror,
stinks.
Today, on January 19, the 15th anniversary of the
forced flight of Kashmiri Pandits, look back at
India's wretched history of secular politics and
consider the terrible price the nation has paid at the
altar of appeasement because the Indian State has all
along toed, and continues to toe, the line of least
resistance.
Reflect. Resolve. React.
Next week: The Kashmiri Pandits' living nightmare.
________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online
Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/19kanch.htm
rediff.com
Home > News > Columnists > Kanchan Gupta
19/01/90: When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror
January 19, 2005
Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu
newspaper, publishes a press release issued by Hizb-ul
Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to
wage jihad for Jammu and Kashmir's secession from
India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to
pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa,
repeats this expulsion order.
In the following days, there is near chaos in the
Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and
his National Conference government abdicating all
responsibilities of the State. Masked men run amok,
waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting
anti-India slogans.
Reports of killing of Hindus, invariably Kashmiri
Pandits, begin to trickle in; there are explosions;
inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of
mosques, using public address systems meant for
calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear
psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.
Walls are plastered with posters and handbills,
summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow
the Islamic dress code, prohibiting the sale and
consumption of alcoholic drinks and imposing a ban on
video parlours and cinemas. The masked men with
Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and
clocks to Pakistan Standard Time.
Shops, business establishments and homes of Kashmiri
Pandits, the original inhabitants of the Kashmir
valley with a recorded cultural and civilisational
history dating back 5,000 years, are marked out.
Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses,
peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir
within 24 hours or face death and worse. Some are more
lucid: "Be one with us, run, or die!"
* * *
Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Jagmohan arrives to take
charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq
Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling
government has all but ceased to exist and has gone
into hiding, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is
imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance
of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent
effect.
Throughout the day, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front
and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists use public address
systems at mosques to exhort people to defy curfew and
take to the streets. Masked men, firing from their
Kalashnikovs, march up and down, terrorising cowering
Pandits who, by then, have locked themselves in their
homes.
As evening falls, the exhortations become louder and
shriller. Three taped slogans are repeatedly played
the whole night from mosques: 'Kashmir mei agar rehna
hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai' (If you want to stay in
Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar); 'Yahan kya
chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa' (What do we want here? Rule
of Shariah); 'Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te
Batanev san' (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women
but without their men).
In the preceding months, 300 Hindu men and women,
nearly all of them Kashmiri Pandits, had been
slaughtered ever since the brutal murder of Pandit
Tika Lal Taploo, noted lawyer and BJP national
executive member, by the JKLF in Srinagar on September
14, 1989. Soon after that, Justice N K Ganju of the
Srinagar high court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand
Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped,
tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death.
A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical
College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then
beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and
sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.
In villages and towns across the Kashmir valley,
terrorist hit lists have been floating about. All the
names are of Kashmiri Pandits. With no government
worth its name, the administration having collapsed
and disappeared, the police nowhere to be seen,
despondency sets in. As the night of January 19, 1990,
wears itself out, despondency gives way to
desperation.
And tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the
valley take a painful decision: to flee their homeland
to save their lives from rabid jihadis. Thus takes
place a 20th century Exodus.
* * *
Srinagar, January 19, 2005. There are no Kashmiri
Pandits in Srinagar, or, for that matter, anywhere
else in the Kashmir valley; they don't live here
anymore. You can find them in squalid refugee camps in
Jammu and Delhi. As many as 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits
have fled their home and hearth and been reduced to
living the lives of refugees in their own country.
Two-thirds of them are camping in Jammu. The rest are
in Delhi and in other Indian cities. Many of them,
once prosperous and proud of their rich heritage, now
live in grovelling poverty, dependent on government
dole and charity. In these 15 years, an entire
generation of exiled Kashmiri Pandits has grown up,
without seeing the land from where their parents fled
to escape the brutalities of Islamic terrorism, a land
they dare not return to, although that land still
remains a part of their country.
A large number of them are suffering from a variety of
stress and depression related diseases. A group of
doctors who surveyed the mental and physical health of
the Kashmiri Pandits living in refugee camps, found
high incidence of 'economic distress, stress induced
diabetes, partial lunacy, hypertension and mental
retardation.' Statistics reflect high death rate and
low birth rate among the Kashmiri Pandit refugees.
And thereby hangs a tragic tale that has been all but
wiped out from public memory.
An entire people have been uprooted from the land of
their ancestors and left to fend for themselves as a
weak-kneed Indian state shamelessly panders to Islamic
terrorists and separatists who claim they are the
final arbiters of Jammu and Kashmir's destiny. A part
of India's cultural heritage has been destroyed; a
chapter of India's civilisational history has been
erased.
Had this tragedy occurred elsewhere in Hindu majority
India, and had the victims been Muslims, we would have
described it as 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide.' We
would have made films with horror-inducing titles. We
would have filed cases in the Supreme Court of India.
Our media would have marshalled remarkable rage in
reporting the smallest detail.
But, this tragedy has occurred in Muslim majority
Kashmir valley, and the victims are all Hindus, that
too Pandits. What has been lost is part of India's
Hindu culture, what has been erased is integral to
India's Hindu civilisation.
Therefore, the government makes bold to record that
the Kashmiri Pandits have 'migrated on their own' and
their 'displacement (is) self-imposed;' the National
Human Rights Commission, after a perfunctory inquiry,
refuses to concede that what has happened is
'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing,' though facts add up
to no less than that, never mind that 300,000 lives
have been destroyed.
And, our jhola-wallah brigade of secular activists
rudely turn up their noses to the plight of Kashmiri
Pandits: Hindu sorrow, inflicted by Islamic terror,
stinks.
Today, on January 19, the 15th anniversary of the
forced flight of Kashmiri Pandits, look back at
India's wretched history of secular politics and
consider the terrible price the nation has paid at the
altar of appeasement because the Indian State has all
along toed, and continues to toe, the line of least
resistance.
Reflect. Resolve. React.
Next week: The Kashmiri Pandits' living nightmare.
________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online
Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony
The Benny Hill Show
21st January
folks,
many are familiar with the vulgar show on american TV called 'the
Benny Hill Show'.
this 'Benny Hinn Show' is even more obscene.
aren't there laws about hate speech? i suppose 'hate speech' only
applies if the target is semitic religionists.
rajeev
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
Date: 20 Jan 2005 09:31:51 -0000
Subject: [ConversionWatch] Digest Number 304
To: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/wpWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
There are 14 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
From:
2. Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
From:
3. Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
From:
4. Court orders probe into Hinn show
From:
5. Protesting Hinn\'s Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
From:
6. Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
From:
7. My Brush with Evangelists
From:
8. Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
From:
9. Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
From:
10. Opus Dei: Vatican\'s Mafia
From:
11. Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
From:
12. Faith healing?
From:
13. `Festival of Blessings\' can\'t be banned, says Govt.
From:
14. Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
From:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:05:58 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
http://www.kentaxrecords.com/iaca/php/item_display.php?id=1106165157&type=articles
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue(BIRD)
186 Wheeler Road Extn.
Bangalore 560 084
Benny Hinn is a false prophet and a ferocious wolf. The Holy Bible
says, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
The doctrines he preaches, his misquotations and misinterpretations of
the Bible, his false prophecies, his alleged visions of angels and
contact with the
dead, and his emphasis on the prosperity of the Gospel and physical
healings are controversial and exaggerated. Three centuries ago, he
probably would have been burned as a heretic!
The Chief minister has said that every one has the right to preach his
religion. But, what the CM has forgotten is that the right to profess,
practise and
propagate one's faith is given ONLY to the citizens of this country
and NOT to a foreigner like Benny Hinn.
The massive build up for Benny Hinn's Festival of Blessings, supported
by vast sums of money from abroad, using expensive advertising
techniques, claiming the participation of 30 lakh people in Bangalore
has already created tension among the peace loving citizens. They
justifiably apprehend violent eruptions in the City.
I am filled with fears about the impending disaster the Festival will
cause to communal peace and harmony in the City and elsewhere. I feel
like a paralytic
watching a rising flood. The portents are clear and you keep trying to
alert everyone you can reach to the coming danger. Few listen. And
none act in time.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:18:12 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119013055&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The organisers of Benny Hinn's ''Festival of Blessings'' are sparing
no effort in the run-up to one of the most spectacular mega meets
Bangalore has witnessed.
Jakkur aerodrome, the venue for the three-day festival beginning
January 21, has turned into a virtual fortress with over 100 policemen
and the festival's own security guards patrolling every entrance and
exit point round the clock.
Says an observer, ''With such security, one wonders if the venue is
being readied for a prayer meeting or a rock concert.'' Entry into the
venue is possible only by identity passes issued by the organisers.
Two platoons - of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and the
City Armed Reserve (CAR) - have been stationed there, apart from 20
other officers and men drawn from various city police stations.
When questioned about the high security levels, a festival official
sporting an identity badge, said: ''We have been receiving threat
calls, some even threatening to burn the place down. We have to be
careful.''
Several Hindu organisations have been holding demonstrations in the
city against the meet.
''We have engaged around 2,500 men from private security agencies,''
says former DGP F.T.R. Colaso who is heading the festival's security
committee.
The sprawling Jakkur airfield is undergoing a metamorphosis. The
arrangements for Bryan Adam's rock concert in 2001-02 pales before
what is on at Jakkur. Within the cordon, a gigantic stage with
state-of-the-art lighting is being erected near the runway for Hinn.
While the he will remain unseen to the sick and the disabled cramped
in the many bamboo enclosures, his image will be blown up on the giant
screen right before them (one of 67) powered by 1,50,000 Watts of
sound. A large plot adjoining the airfield periphery belonging to the
State Bank of Mysore has been appropriated by the organisers, cleared
of debris and turned into a massive parking lot. Nearly 100 lighting
poles have been installed.
Police sources said that an estimated Rs. 40 crore was being spent on
the programme.
Residents of surrounding Jakkur Layout, Amruthahalli and Judge's
Colony are worried. ''We have been witnessing the work going on for
the last one month. On enquiring we were told the airfield is being
readied for an American who is going to bring dead people to life,''
said Raghu, a resident and tailor by profession.
As you approach the venue on Bellary Road, you encounter dozens of
banners shrill with slogans against the pastor. Even the police admit
that public sentiment against the pastor is strong. ''Over 5,000 men
and officers will be stationed at the venue because we anticipate
trouble,'' a police officer remarked.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:19:42 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119012708&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005 11:48 IST
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The Bangalore Doctor's Forum has expressed their ire against US
evangelist Benny Hinn's Festival of Lights and said there is high risk
involved for patients suffering from chronic diseases like brain
tumour, cancer, crippled leg and other ailments.
Members of the Forum are also conducting a public awareness programme
regarding the risks involved in getting healed by Hinn.
They have also requested the State Government to restrict his
programme to prayers, for which the organisers have taken permission.
The Forum is organising an awareness campaign, and will protest on
Wednesday at 2.30 pm near Mahatma Gandhi Statue on MG Road.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:20:45 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Court orders probe into Hinn show
Court orders probe into Hinn show
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119013950&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005 12:01 IST
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Tuesday passed an order on a
private complaint against evangelist Benny Hinn, directing the Hebbal
police to investigate and report.
The private complaint was filed by V Shashidhar, a social activist,
under Section 153 A, 295 and 420 of IPC. The magistrate has directed
the police to submit a report before Jan 25.
On Tuesday, the magistrate directed the JC Nagar ACP to submit a
report before Jan 20. The court had passed the order on Jan 13 on a
private complaint lodged by Manjunath Swamy.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:22:30 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Protesting Hinn\'s Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
Protesting Hinn's Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
http://www.vijaytimes.com/news/subsection.aspx?articleid=17625&colno=4
Vijay Times
Channapatna
20 January 2005
The Hindu Jagrana Vedike unit here along with BJP activists blocked
the busy Bangalore-Mysore highway for an hour near the Spun Silk Mill
in protest against the Benny Hinn show scheduled to be held in
Bangalore from Friday.
The agitators threatened of bloodbath at the event venue if the
Government failed to stop the show. The pamphletes distributed by the
organisors of the show have hurt Hindu sentiments. The main intention
of the event is to convert Hindus to Christainity.
They also came down heavily on the `so called' secular politicians,
who had barred Hindus from staging the Shoba Yatra in Bababudangiri
hill shrine.
In Sidlaghatta, BJP leaders led by Baluvanahalli Lokesh and Janata
Party leader Muthur Rajendra urged the Government to cancel the Benny
Hinn show. Addressing a joint press meet, they said the organisers had
hurt Hindu sentiments.
They saw a conspiracy to convert people into christainity. They said
if he had divine healing powers let him cure the illness of his people
and then pray for India.
In Srinivaspur, local Bajrang Dal activists led by taluk convenor G S
Chandrashekar took out a procession through the main thoroughfares of
the town demanding cancellation of the show.
Addressing the protestors, he said Benny Hinn was raking in crores of
rupees from the show. They submitted a memorandum to Governor through
the tahsildar to cancel the show.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:24:06 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
http://www.vijaytimes.com/news/subsection.aspx?articleid=17633&colno=%204
Vijay Times
Bangalore
20 January 2005
American evangelist Benny Hinn continued to draw reactions for and
against his discourses with constitutional expert Raviverma Kumar
supporting his scheduled rally while historian M Chidananda Murthy
terming it as a secret mission to encourage mass conversions in the
country.
Citing provisions laid down by the Constitution, Raviverma Kumar told
reporters on Wednesday that Article 25 provided an individual a right
for freedom of conscience, profession and religion. "Hinn is a
preacher and has the right to propagate Christianity, irrespective of
his nationality," he observed.
However, brushing aside the claim that Hinn could cure the incurable
diseases with supernatural powers, Kumar called it "a hoax and a
blatant lie," adding that however Hinn was free to conduct mass
prayer.
Branding Hinn "a liar and a fraud", noted historian M Chidananda
Murthy said "his secret intention is to encourage mass conversion
under the garb of praying for India."
Reacting sharply to leaflets denouncing idol worship which were
distributed by the organisers of the event, Murthy said, "It is like
telling indirectly that accept Jesus as God."
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Catholic Christara Kannada Sangha has
demanded a ban on the event to be held from Jan 21 to 23. President of
the Sangha, J R Perara called upon the Catholics not to attend the
mass prayer. The Sangha would stage a 'go-back' protest against Hinn,
he added.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 19:12:40 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: My Brush with Evangelists
My Brush with Evangelists
http://news.hinduworld.com/click_frameset.php?ref_url=%2Findex.php%3F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiacurrents.com%2Fnews%2Fview_article.html%3Farticle_id%3D7d12d93692d8b932958add7a799a0e17
My Brush with Evangelists
SARITA SARVATE, Jan 17, 2005
indiacurrents.com
When I first came to America, people would ask me why my native
country couldn't get along with its neighbor. After all, memories of
India's three wars with Pakistan were still fresh in American minds
then. I would try to explain a millennium of history, but my audience
would soon lose interest, saying instead, "Well, what's the big deal
about religion anyway; Hinduism, Islam, they are all the same, right?"
I wanted to ask them, "How do you explain the abundance of churches
around the Berkeley campus then?"
"Haven't you heard of the missionaries in Africa who persecuted the
natives until they converted to Christianity?" I wanted to say.
But looking askance at people's hypocrisy, even among the elite in
Berkeley, where I was then a student, I would shut up.
That summer—my first in America—I drove across the country with a
Jewish friend. I got a lesson in geography, history, and civics along
the way. What I discovered was that Berkeley was an anomaly; that
elsewhere in this country people eyed me as if I was a native from the
reservation, avoiding addressing me directly.
In Georgia, another surprise awaited me. My relative, who was studying
at Georgia Tech, experienced overt racism at the university, so much
so that the student lounge in his department was only used by white
students. The campus had few non-white students then, and the only
people he could make friends with were Southern Baptists out to
recruit pagans.
I remember vividly a Sunday morning when two white men and two white
women arrived at his studio apartment near campus to escort us to an
outing. Before I had a chance to protest, I was huddled into the front
pew of a brick church, dressed in a fine sari, facing a pale priest
clad in scarlet robes. The reverend looked us straight in the eyes
that morning, and spoke of "foreign guests" he hoped to enlighten with
Christ's message.
I have not felt more embarrassed in my entire life. Afterwards, the
congregation posed for pictures, marveling at my gold-bordered sari,
my red kunku, my glittering earrings.
That was my first taste of American Christian fundamentalism. The
Southern Baptists, it turned out, were innocuous compared with their
mutations to follow; like Billy Graham and the evangelists, Newt
Gingrich and his Family Values crusaders, the Christian Coalition, and
now George Bush's Faith-based Initiative.
We are told today that it was the religious fundamentalists and their
passion over issues like creationism, abortion, and gay marriage that
defeated Kerry.
So I want to ask all Americans a question: What is the difference
between your fundamentalists and ours? What is the difference between
a Christian zealot who fights over the ownership of a woman's uterus
and an Islamic fundamentalist who fights over his land in the Gaza?
The way I see it, at least the Palestinian in the Gaza is fighting for
something far more crucial, namely the very survival of his people who
have been relegated to the confines of a concentration camp called a
refugee settlement. At least the insurgents in Kashmir are fighting
over a magical valley where they have lived for hundreds of years. At
least the Taliban, born in a land ravaged by Russians and Americans,
are incited by a passion for a lost culture.
On the other hand, it is hard to understand the passion of a
Budweiser-swilling, Walmart-shopping Joe Blow, who argues that the
world was created in seven days just because some ignoramus dressed in
a robe tells him so from the pulpit.
Perhaps human beings need something to be passionate about, be it the
rites of marriage or a piece of land. But what I don't understand is
why Americans, elite or otherwise, fail to understand the religious
fundamentalism of a Muslim or a Jew or a Hindu or a Sikh, while
practicing it themselves. It seems to me a classic case of "Do as I
say, not as I do."
Half a century after my first visit there, I was back in the Bible
belt recently, to attend a convention in Nashville, Tenn. Flicking the
channels on television the first evening, I found what I thought was a
PBS documentary. My jet-lagged brain took a few minutes to realize
that this was no PBS, but a Christian fundamentalist program
discussing the evil effects of the Kinsey sex studies, complete with
made-up facts. There were in fact four evangelical channels and not
much else on television, I soon discovered, and the city's one
attraction was the Andrew Jackson Plantation where visitors were told
only about the seventh president's devotion to his wife and her
guitar, but not of his removal of "savage" Indians to the west of the
Mississippi, causing a "Trail of Tears." At the nearby Opry, one white
musician after another played the banjo, while not a single African
American appeared in the line-up, even though the instrument
originally came from Africa, and was introduced t
o America by slaves.
It dawned on me then that Christian fundamentalism had its roots in
greed, hunger for power, and cruelty towards those who are deemed
"different," and I experienced once again the panic I have felt ever
since Nov. 2.
Sarita Sarvate writes commentaries for Pacific News Service and KQED.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:56:42 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5035
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)
Stare of Mysore Online
Faith Healer turns Fake Healer as 18 agents including 16 from
Kanyakumari arrested in Kodagu village. Chair-bound paralytic patient
walks up to journalists and shakes hands!
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)- T.J.S. George, the noted journalist, in
his weekly column Point of View last Sunday in The New Sunday Express,
under a revealing headline 'How to abuse Gods with lies and boasts,'
had requested the readers to 'Pray for India' as follows with a play
on words from the Bible: "Father, do not forgive them, for they know
damn well what they are doing."
And what they are doing is now clearly revealed not by Benny Hinn but
by the Kushalnagar Police who arrested 18 of Benny Hinn agents 16 of
them from Kanyakumari at Virupakshapura JP Colony village, 13 km from
Kushalnagar a tiny village near Kushalnagar, at around 2.45 in the
early hours of today. The Police team was led by Circle Inspector
Girijesh.
Tension prevails in the premises of Kushalnagar Police Station as a
group of activists led by Kodagu District BJP President S.G. Madappa
began demonstration this morning demanding action against the Hinn's
agents for alleged conversion bid.
Police have also seized the Mini-bus (TN. 29 D 7102) of the agents
from Kanyakumari and another jeep belonging to Kempanna, the agent in
JP Colony.
The trouble started last night around 11.45 when about 20 youths from
the village went to the house of Kempanna to enquire about the
Kanyakumari team, who were staying in his house since two days as they
suspected something fishy about the team's activities.
Bharathi, wife of Kempanna, challenged their interference claiming
that it was her 'personal matter.' The situation was aggravated as
Bharathi threw chilli powder on the youth.
Talking to media persons, who rushed to the spot on receiving
information, Bharathi said that the Kanyakumari team had come to their
house to ferry five families, converted to Christianity, to Bangalore
to attend the 'Pray for India' congregation of Christian evangelist
Benny Hinn.
She told media persons that she along with her husband and
mother-in-law Gowramma had long back embraced Christianity. She said
she used to conduct prayers in the makeshift Church behind her house
every Sunday and invited some neighbours too. Five families were also
converted to Christianity on her advice as they believed in Jesus
Christ.
She, however, maintained that she did not force anyone to embrace Christianity.
Bharathi disclosed that she and her husband visit Tellycheri every
three months to attend congregation where she befriended the
Kanyakumari team.
Nagaraj, one of the youths, who protested near Bharathi's house last
night, made a startling disclosure before the media that Bharathi
tried to lure him into Christianity with an offer of Rs. 25,000.
The protesting youths included H.T. Sannaswamy, A.E. Kumar, B.S.
Suresh, H.S. Shekhar, Shankar, Krishna, Harish and Umesh apart from
Nagaraj.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:59:09 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5036
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)
Stare of Mysore Online
Nearly a thousand cops provided security to a dozen Swamijis who
staged a dharna near the Vidhana Soudha here this morning protesting
against the prayer meeting of US- based evangelist Benny Hinn from
Jan. 21.
Sri Vishveshathirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt, who was to lead the
rally, however, did not turn up.
The Swamijis, who came in a procession from the Basaveshwara Circle,
presented the memorandum to Revenue Minister M.P. Prakash in front of
Kengal Hanumanthaiah's statue.
The memorandum urged the Government to withdraw the permission granted
to Hinn to conduct a three-day prayer meeting.
Alleging that he is anti-Hindu, the memorandum said his activities
were not spiritual and that he was spreading ill-will against
Hinduism.
The memorandum said Henn was a hoax and his claims were false and misleading.
The Swamijis also urged the Government to subject the officers and the
retired judge of the High Court supporting Hinn's programme to public
enquiry.
The Swamijis withdrew their protest dharna following an assurance by
the Revenue Minister that the Government would not give way for
provocation and conversion.
Swami Harshanandaji of Ramakrishna Mutt, Swami Yogeshwaranandaji,
Shivapuri Swamiji, Vivekananda Sharana Swamiji, Shanthaveera Swamiji
of Kolada Mutt, Kumara Chandrashekara Swamiji and others participated
in the protest.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 10
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 22:04:52 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Opus Dei: Vatican\'s Mafia
Opus Dei: Vatican's Mafia
N.S. Rajaram
Hand behind the coup
Anyone following the brazen attack on the Kanchi Mutt and the
relentless witch hunt against its leaders and officials cannot be in
doubt that it must have a powerful organization directing its every
move. It is no coincidence that these attacks, which were little more
than pinpricks when the NDA government was in power, have become
suddenly bold and open once the UPA came to power with Sonia Gandhi
as the power behind the Government.
Two developments have brought a sense of urgency to the
conspiracy or campaign behind this assault on the nation: (1) the
rapidly eroding base of the Congress, especially in North India, with
the natural implication that the 'Dynasty' will have difficulty
holding on to power for any length of time by strictly constitutional
means; and (2) the growing fear in Europe, especially in Italy, that
Christendom is losing the civilizational war against Islam. The
survival of Christianity is at stake.
The first is dynastic while the second is geopolitical.
Rapid changes in national and international politics and a creeping
sense of fear bordering on paranoia have led to an unholy alliance
between anti-national forces in India and Christian organizations of
the world hoping to use India's vast resources in Europe's and
Christianity's desperate struggle for survival in the West. The
Vatican's mafia
The country most vulnerable to the Islamic invasion of
Europe is Italy. The institution that is at the greatest risk is the
Vatican, seen the world over as the seat of Christianity though in
religious matters, many Christians do not accept its leadership. But
financially and organizationally, it is unmatched by any other
Christian sect. Most importantly, the Vatican has an intelligence
apparatus and a network of agents all over the world that
non-Catholic denominations lack. Also, the Vatican's patronage of
this machinery ensures complete secrecy since the Vatican is probably
the world's most secretive organization and a sovereign state to
boot.
This intelligence organization is the sinister but little
known Opus Dei. The Time magazine recently had a feature on it, but
the Indian media, a good part of it under the influence of the Opus
Dei, has maintained complete silence over its activities and even its
very existence.
What is this mysterious organization that carries out operations that
would put the CIA to shame in the name of God and Christ? (Opus Dei in
Latin means the work of God.)
Opus Dei was founded shortly before the Spanish Civil War by a Spanish
adventurer and Christian fanatic by name Jose Maria Escriva de
Belaguer. Born in the sleepy town of Barbastro, he rose by the dint of
his determination, industry and ruthlessness to be the virtual
dictator of the Vatican, and came to be known as the 'Super Pope.'
This was no idle boast. In 1978, Albino Luciani was elected Pope as
John Paul I. He threatened to change the Vatican with his reforms, but
died within a month of assuming office under mysterious
circumstances— without an autopsy or even a death certificate. This
led to the election of the reactionary Karol Woztyla, better known as
Pope John Paul II. And he showed his gratitude by rushing the Opus
Die founder Excriva's nomination to sainthood in record time, though
Mother Teresa's name still languishes.
With more than 100,000 members worldwide and more than a million
activists, the Opus Die that Escriva founded now controls the Catholic
Church and many other Christian and secular organizations. The
Vatican regards Escriva as "God's gift to the Church in our time."
When Escriva died in 1975, its officials openly boasted: "In 20 or 30
years, all that remains of the Church will be Opus Dei." This has
proven remarkably prophetic.
The Opus Dei agenda at the time was to combine economic and political
control with thought control. It believes that the first two cannot be
achieved without the third. And here is where conversion, especially
in India comes into play. With Europeans unwilling to lay down their
lives to defend Christianity, much less the Vatican, Christian
organizations and nominally Christian nations of Europe have cast
their covetous eyes on India with its vast manpower and material
resources. This is now made all the more urgent by the Islamic
threat to Europe from within and without, and by the fact as the Pope
has himself admitted: "Christianity has lost the West." This
realization has made some non-Catholic churches (like the evangelical
outfits) to join in the rush for gaining converts in India.
Europe, especially the Vatican, would like nothing better than a
Musharraf-like puppet in India, willing to place India's resources,
especially its vast manpower, in the service of defending Europe
against Islam.
Crusade driven by paranoia
The vision of the Opus Dei founder Escriva was spelled out
by an internal document in the following words: "The labor of placing
Jesus [i.e., the Christianity] at the summit of human activity
throughout the world." This now sounds like a pipedream, with
Christianity itself struggling for survival in Europe, and with
Islamic warriors in Kosovo less than a hundred miles from Trieste on
the Italian border. By breaking up Yugoslavia, the Western powers
virtually cut their own throats, by destroying the buffer state that
had protected Europe for nearly a century.
The situation today is different. Christianity, much less
the Vatican no longer sees Christianity triumphing in the world. The
concern today is over survival. Here is Vatican's nightmare vision. In
the first millennium, Christianity lost Jerusalem to the Arabs. In
the second millennium, in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Islamic
warriors of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II; the Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) Empire disappeared from the map. Now, with Islamic
warriors poised in Kosovo, waiting to make the short leap to Italy,
Christianity may next lose Rome itself.
Probably this is what the Pope had in mind when he said that the third
millennium would see Christianity in Asia. It also may be read to
mean that he sees Christianity disappearing from Europe. This is not
helped by the fact that Italy is not known for the heroism of its
soldiers as many Indian veterans who fought against Mussolini's army
will attest. (Roman pickpockets are a greater menace than the Italian
army.) This nightmare scenario is reflected in Opus Dei sources.
Participants at an Opus Dei seminar in Barcelona concluded: "A
parallel exists between the present situation in the Occident [West]
and the fall of the Roman Empire." A leading Canadian expert on Opus
Dei observed: "Now this was an alarmist, not to say scare-mongering
conclusion. But it was perfectly in line with the Opus Dei's use of
the psychology of fear." The point is not whether this doomsday
scenario is valid, but the undeniable fact that the Opus Dei (and the
Vatican) is driven by this fea
r. To make matters worse, many Islamic leaders also believe that
Rome, and even Europe, is theirs for the taking and all they have to
do is mount a determined assault. They point out that they defeated
one superpower — the Soviet Union — and are now on the verge of
defeating America— or so they believe. Europe they feel will be a
pushover.
Cyber-crusade
In view of the Vatican's inability to mount a military
offensive against encroaching Islam, it has resorted to cunning and
subterfuge— something at which it has always excelled. Opus Dei is now
at the forefront of what it calls "cyber-crusade." The idea is to use
its propaganda muscle and subversion of state institutions in
countries like India to gain converts for defending Christianity. Its
principal assault is on higher education and the media.
Opus Dei has set up several universities and research
institutions with names like the Institution for Human Sciences in
Vienna, University of Human Rights in Geneva, the Weatherford
Foundation for African Students in New York and many others. It even
attempted to set up a college in Oxford but was thwarted. As early as
1979, an Opus Dei memorandum stated:
"Members of Opus Dei already work in the following
professional enterprises… 479 universities and institutes of higher
learning in five continents; 604 newspapers, magazines and scientific
publications; 52 radio and television stations; 38 news and publicity
agencies; 12 film production and distribution companies…"
Today, 25 years later, it is at least twice as extensive.
And the list does not include individuals journalists and scholars who
work for Opus Dei in institutions not owned by it (and also NGOs). It
is a virtual certainty that Opus Dei has significant presence in
India. As recently as 1993, Opus Dei opened a new center in India
headed by a Spanish wool merchant— or so he claimed. A decade before
him, the cultural attaché at the Italian Embassy in Delhi was rumored
to be in the pay of Opus Dei. (He was later removed for running an
antique smuggling racket under diplomatic cover.)
More than forty years ago, the Indian-Spanish theologian
Raimundo Panikkar came to India armed with a scholarship from the
National Science and Research Council (NSRC)— an Opus Dei front. Has
anyone looked at the possibility that some Indian foundations might
also be fronting for Opus Dei activities— like the Heritage
Foundation of Washington?
What has all this got to do with the assault on Kanchi
Mutt? Subramanian Swamy and several others have charged that it is
part of an international conspiracy and a threat to national
security. If such is the case, it cannot possibly be the handiwork of
just a few adventurers and politicians. Opus Dei is one of the few
organizations with the resources and the motive. Its plan calls for
fighting Islam to the last Indian.
This is what India is really up against. The Kanchi Mutt
case is just the tip of the iceberg.
Reference Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei
(1997) by Robert Hutchison. London: Corgi Books.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 11
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:12:50 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
http://www.kentaxrecords.com/iaca/php/item_display.php?id=1106197970&type=news
Indians Against Christian Aggression
The website of the International Mission Board (IMB), a branch of the
infamous Southern Baptist Convention, is calling for American Southern
Baptist missionaries to visit a prominent Hindu temple in India and
pray for its destruction.
The mission assignment entitled "Jericho Prayerwalk" calls for
missionaries to visit the temple "one of the holiest temples "temple
once a day (at differing times) to walk around the complex praying for
the people group. Pray specifically that the walls to the Gospel
message will collapse like the walls of Jericho in Joshua." In other
words, missionaries should pray that all the local Hindus convert to
Christianity and that their temple will be destroyed.
In the past, the Southern Baptist Convention distributed 30,000 copies
of a handbook just before the most important Hindu festival of 1999,
Diwali, stating that ''Hindus seek power and blessing through the
worship of gods and goddesses and the demonic powers that lay behind
them."
The missionary assignment can be viewed online at:
http://going.imb.org/vim/Step_1/Details.asp?JobID=74546
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 12
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:41:53 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Faith healing?
Faith healing?
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan192005/edit2.asp
Deccan Herald
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Dubious claims of the Hinn kind should not be encouraged
The miracle healer from God channel, Benny Hinn, is not going to have
an easy 'crusade' in Bangalore when he arrives on a three-day trip on
January 21. His "Prayer for India" has already attracted widespread
protests across the board, from fundamentalists, traditionalists and
rationalists. The protestors range from Hindu seers from various mutts
and groups like the Bajrang Dal to Christian groups to intellectuals
and others. Many suspect that the pastor's agenda is religious
conversion, especially as pamphlets criticising idol worship have
surfaced, forcing the organisers to go on the backfoot and issue an
apology. A petition in the Karnataka high court has also been filed
against him. Demands have been made that the state Chief Minister, Mr
N Dharam Singh, refrain from gracing the pastor's platform. The chief
minister of Kerala, Mr Oomen Chandy, has already announced that he
would not attend. However several other celebrities are likely to
grace the prayer meeting which is e
xpected to be attended by tens of thousands of people from India and
neighbouring countries.
But this is not the first time that the tele-evangelist is facing
opposition. He has faced criticism from the orthodox church and
rationalists for his alleged heretical theology, prophecies and
claims. The most public criticism of Hinn's teachings has come from
the Christian Research Institute and an HBO television special on
miracles, which investigated five persons for a year, names that were
produced by the Benny Hinn ministries from the 76 miracles performed
by him at a public programme. They found that his claims were not true
and rationalists found that Hinn resorted to mass hypnosis and worked
on auto suggestion, leading his patients to believe that they had been
cured, when they had not. Doctors have expressed the danger of people
believing themselves cured and refusing to take medicine any more.
India has its own share of quacks and godmen who constantly dupe the
gullible with stories of miracle cures, playing on their faith.
Rationalists have had an uphill task convincing people that these
claims by the godmen were not true, even explaining the methods
employed scientifically. Accepted that in a secular democracy,
everyone is welcome to expound his views and beliefs, but the state
should not be seen to be associating with a pastor with dubious claims
of miracle cures.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 13
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:43:45 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: `Festival of Blessings\' can\'t be banned, says Govt.
`Festival of Blessings' can't be banned, says Govt.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/20/stories/2005012005590400.htm
Staff Reporter
The Hindu
JAN. 19. 2005
BANGALORE
The State Government will file an affidavit in the Karnataka High
Court on Thursday stating its position on the "Festival of Blessings"
to be held in Bangalore for three days from Friday.
To be filed by the Commissioner of Police, S. Mariswamy, the affidavit
will be the Government's answer to the charges and allegations in the
three public interest litigation (PIL) petitions likely to come up
before a Division Bench on Thursday.
The Government advocate, V.Y. Kumar, said the affidavit will make
clear the Government stand on the issue. The Government is likely to
contend that there is no law to prevent conversions and as such it is
not possible to ban the event. Permission for the event will not
amount to encouraging communalism, it says. Article 25 (1) of the
Constitution guarantees every person and not merely to a citizen of
India, freedom of conscience and the right to preach, profess,
practice and propagate religion.
The affidavit states that Paul Thangaiah and T. Yeshwanth Kumar have
published a pamphlet in which idol worship is grouped with
prostitution, magic and alcoholism and those practising them are asked
to pray by accepting Jesus Christ. Four private complaints have been
lodged before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who had referred them
to the police for investigation. The affidavit states that steps have
been taken to ensure that the event passes off peacefully.
Letter
Meanwhile, a letter from the Government Flying Training School,
Jakkur, to the Chairman of the "Festival of Blessings" said Rs. 10
lakhs should be paid as fees to use the ground.
This amount should be deposited as caution money against any damage to
government property.
The letter said any damage to Government property in excess of Rs. 10
lakhs should be borne by the organisers and they have to give an
indemnity bond.
Any structure put up by the organisers that may be useful to the shool
will be retained.
Another letter by the Director of the Flying School said the airfield
belongs to the State Government and several events, festivals and
cinema shootings have been held there.
It said utmost care will be taken to ensure that the day-to-day events
are not affected when such functions are held. It says at least 14
films have been "shot" in the 210-acre airfield.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 14
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:45:05 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/20/stories/2005012005600400.htm
Staff Reporter
The Hindu
JAN. 19. 2005
BANGALORE
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the January 13 orders of
the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) directing the issue of search
warrants for seizure of publicity materials used by the organisers of
the "Festival of Blessings" to be held in Bangalore from Friday.
Justice N. Kumar admitted a writ petition by Gul Kirpalani, National
Chairman of the "Festival of Blessings" and stayed the magistrate's
order pending disposal of the writ petition. The judge ordered that
the interim order be confined to the complaint made under Section 153
A and 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The petitioner challenged the magistrate's order directing the police
to search and seize publicity materials and investigate the "Festival
of Blessings." He said the magistrate had no powers or jurisdiction to
order seizure and sought for quashing of the order.
He said the magistrate had issued the order on a private complaint by
Manjunatha Swamy of Sharada Nagar, Bangalore, without the mandatory
notification of forfeiture by the State Government.
The judge said in case of offences under Sections 153 A and 295 A
where public interest is involved it is for the Government to act in
accordance with Section 95 and issue a notification for seizure. The
provisions in the IPC empower the Government to issue such a
notification and not anybody else.
A search warrant can be issued only if the Government issues the
notification. Prima facie, an order passed by the magistrate ordering
seizure is without jurisdiction, he said. Mr. Justice Kumar said it is
open to the complainant to approach the magistrate for any order
required to be passed under Section 420 of the IPC.
In another order, Justice K. Ramanna on Wednesday stayed the operation
of the magistrate's order for two weeks.
The judge passed this order on a petition by Paul Thangaiah and
Yeshwanth Kumar questioning the January 13 order.
The petitioners said the magistrate has not held an inquiry before
passing the order. This apart there is neither a request for an
application for the issue of a search warrant as contemplated under
Section 94 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC). Therefore, the
order is not sustainable.
The magistrate has not ordered an investigation into the allegations
made by the complainant under Section 156 (3) of the Cr. PC. he had
not taken cognisance of the offences.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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folks,
many are familiar with the vulgar show on american TV called 'the
Benny Hill Show'.
this 'Benny Hinn Show' is even more obscene.
aren't there laws about hate speech? i suppose 'hate speech' only
applies if the target is semitic religionists.
rajeev
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
Date: 20 Jan 2005 09:31:51 -0000
Subject: [ConversionWatch] Digest Number 304
To: ConversionWatch@yahoogroups.com
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There are 14 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
From:
2. Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
From:
3. Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
From:
4. Court orders probe into Hinn show
From:
5. Protesting Hinn\'s Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
From:
6. Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
From:
7. My Brush with Evangelists
From:
8. Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
From:
9. Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
From:
10. Opus Dei: Vatican\'s Mafia
From:
11. Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
From:
12. Faith healing?
From:
13. `Festival of Blessings\' can\'t be banned, says Govt.
From:
14. Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
From:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:05:58 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
Benny Hinn is a False Prophet
http://www.kentaxrecords.com/iaca/php/item_display.php?id=1106165157&type=articles
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue(BIRD)
186 Wheeler Road Extn.
Bangalore 560 084
Benny Hinn is a false prophet and a ferocious wolf. The Holy Bible
says, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
The doctrines he preaches, his misquotations and misinterpretations of
the Bible, his false prophecies, his alleged visions of angels and
contact with the
dead, and his emphasis on the prosperity of the Gospel and physical
healings are controversial and exaggerated. Three centuries ago, he
probably would have been burned as a heretic!
The Chief minister has said that every one has the right to preach his
religion. But, what the CM has forgotten is that the right to profess,
practise and
propagate one's faith is given ONLY to the citizens of this country
and NOT to a foreigner like Benny Hinn.
The massive build up for Benny Hinn's Festival of Blessings, supported
by vast sums of money from abroad, using expensive advertising
techniques, claiming the participation of 30 lakh people in Bangalore
has already created tension among the peace loving citizens. They
justifiably apprehend violent eruptions in the City.
I am filled with fears about the impending disaster the Festival will
cause to communal peace and harmony in the City and elsewhere. I feel
like a paralytic
watching a rising flood. The portents are clear and you keep trying to
alert everyone you can reach to the coming danger. Few listen. And
none act in time.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:18:12 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
Jakkur airfield turns into virtual fortress
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119013055&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The organisers of Benny Hinn's ''Festival of Blessings'' are sparing
no effort in the run-up to one of the most spectacular mega meets
Bangalore has witnessed.
Jakkur aerodrome, the venue for the three-day festival beginning
January 21, has turned into a virtual fortress with over 100 policemen
and the festival's own security guards patrolling every entrance and
exit point round the clock.
Says an observer, ''With such security, one wonders if the venue is
being readied for a prayer meeting or a rock concert.'' Entry into the
venue is possible only by identity passes issued by the organisers.
Two platoons - of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and the
City Armed Reserve (CAR) - have been stationed there, apart from 20
other officers and men drawn from various city police stations.
When questioned about the high security levels, a festival official
sporting an identity badge, said: ''We have been receiving threat
calls, some even threatening to burn the place down. We have to be
careful.''
Several Hindu organisations have been holding demonstrations in the
city against the meet.
''We have engaged around 2,500 men from private security agencies,''
says former DGP F.T.R. Colaso who is heading the festival's security
committee.
The sprawling Jakkur airfield is undergoing a metamorphosis. The
arrangements for Bryan Adam's rock concert in 2001-02 pales before
what is on at Jakkur. Within the cordon, a gigantic stage with
state-of-the-art lighting is being erected near the runway for Hinn.
While the he will remain unseen to the sick and the disabled cramped
in the many bamboo enclosures, his image will be blown up on the giant
screen right before them (one of 67) powered by 1,50,000 Watts of
sound. A large plot adjoining the airfield periphery belonging to the
State Bank of Mysore has been appropriated by the organisers, cleared
of debris and turned into a massive parking lot. Nearly 100 lighting
poles have been installed.
Police sources said that an estimated Rs. 40 crore was being spent on
the programme.
Residents of surrounding Jakkur Layout, Amruthahalli and Judge's
Colony are worried. ''We have been witnessing the work going on for
the last one month. On enquiring we were told the airfield is being
readied for an American who is going to bring dead people to life,''
said Raghu, a resident and tailor by profession.
As you approach the venue on Bellary Road, you encounter dozens of
banners shrill with slogans against the pastor. Even the police admit
that public sentiment against the pastor is strong. ''Over 5,000 men
and officers will be stationed at the venue because we anticipate
trouble,'' a police officer remarked.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:19:42 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
Hinn's Festival of Lights: High risk for patients, says Doctors' forum
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119012708&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005 11:48 IST
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The Bangalore Doctor's Forum has expressed their ire against US
evangelist Benny Hinn's Festival of Lights and said there is high risk
involved for patients suffering from chronic diseases like brain
tumour, cancer, crippled leg and other ailments.
Members of the Forum are also conducting a public awareness programme
regarding the risks involved in getting healed by Hinn.
They have also requested the State Government to restrict his
programme to prayers, for which the organisers have taken permission.
The Forum is organising an awareness campaign, and will protest on
Wednesday at 2.30 pm near Mahatma Gandhi Statue on MG Road.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:20:45 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Court orders probe into Hinn show
Court orders probe into Hinn show
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20050119013950&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Wednesday January 19 2005 12:01 IST
BANGALORE
newindpress.com
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Tuesday passed an order on a
private complaint against evangelist Benny Hinn, directing the Hebbal
police to investigate and report.
The private complaint was filed by V Shashidhar, a social activist,
under Section 153 A, 295 and 420 of IPC. The magistrate has directed
the police to submit a report before Jan 25.
On Tuesday, the magistrate directed the JC Nagar ACP to submit a
report before Jan 20. The court had passed the order on Jan 13 on a
private complaint lodged by Manjunath Swamy.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:22:30 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Protesting Hinn\'s Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
Protesting Hinn's Show, BJP Activists Block Bangalore-Mysore Road
http://www.vijaytimes.com/news/subsection.aspx?articleid=17625&colno=4
Vijay Times
Channapatna
20 January 2005
The Hindu Jagrana Vedike unit here along with BJP activists blocked
the busy Bangalore-Mysore highway for an hour near the Spun Silk Mill
in protest against the Benny Hinn show scheduled to be held in
Bangalore from Friday.
The agitators threatened of bloodbath at the event venue if the
Government failed to stop the show. The pamphletes distributed by the
organisors of the show have hurt Hindu sentiments. The main intention
of the event is to convert Hindus to Christainity.
They also came down heavily on the `so called' secular politicians,
who had barred Hindus from staging the Shoba Yatra in Bababudangiri
hill shrine.
In Sidlaghatta, BJP leaders led by Baluvanahalli Lokesh and Janata
Party leader Muthur Rajendra urged the Government to cancel the Benny
Hinn show. Addressing a joint press meet, they said the organisers had
hurt Hindu sentiments.
They saw a conspiracy to convert people into christainity. They said
if he had divine healing powers let him cure the illness of his people
and then pray for India.
In Srinivaspur, local Bajrang Dal activists led by taluk convenor G S
Chandrashekar took out a procession through the main thoroughfares of
the town demanding cancellation of the show.
Addressing the protestors, he said Benny Hinn was raking in crores of
rupees from the show. They submitted a memorandum to Governor through
the tahsildar to cancel the show.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:24:06 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
Mixed reactions to Hinn show - Catholics Join Protest
http://www.vijaytimes.com/news/subsection.aspx?articleid=17633&colno=%204
Vijay Times
Bangalore
20 January 2005
American evangelist Benny Hinn continued to draw reactions for and
against his discourses with constitutional expert Raviverma Kumar
supporting his scheduled rally while historian M Chidananda Murthy
terming it as a secret mission to encourage mass conversions in the
country.
Citing provisions laid down by the Constitution, Raviverma Kumar told
reporters on Wednesday that Article 25 provided an individual a right
for freedom of conscience, profession and religion. "Hinn is a
preacher and has the right to propagate Christianity, irrespective of
his nationality," he observed.
However, brushing aside the claim that Hinn could cure the incurable
diseases with supernatural powers, Kumar called it "a hoax and a
blatant lie," adding that however Hinn was free to conduct mass
prayer.
Branding Hinn "a liar and a fraud", noted historian M Chidananda
Murthy said "his secret intention is to encourage mass conversion
under the garb of praying for India."
Reacting sharply to leaflets denouncing idol worship which were
distributed by the organisers of the event, Murthy said, "It is like
telling indirectly that accept Jesus as God."
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Catholic Christara Kannada Sangha has
demanded a ban on the event to be held from Jan 21 to 23. President of
the Sangha, J R Perara called upon the Catholics not to attend the
mass prayer. The Sangha would stage a 'go-back' protest against Hinn,
he added.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 19:12:40 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: My Brush with Evangelists
My Brush with Evangelists
http://news.hinduworld.com/click_frameset.php?ref_url=%2Findex.php%3F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiacurrents.com%2Fnews%2Fview_article.html%3Farticle_id%3D7d12d93692d8b932958add7a799a0e17
My Brush with Evangelists
SARITA SARVATE, Jan 17, 2005
indiacurrents.com
When I first came to America, people would ask me why my native
country couldn't get along with its neighbor. After all, memories of
India's three wars with Pakistan were still fresh in American minds
then. I would try to explain a millennium of history, but my audience
would soon lose interest, saying instead, "Well, what's the big deal
about religion anyway; Hinduism, Islam, they are all the same, right?"
I wanted to ask them, "How do you explain the abundance of churches
around the Berkeley campus then?"
"Haven't you heard of the missionaries in Africa who persecuted the
natives until they converted to Christianity?" I wanted to say.
But looking askance at people's hypocrisy, even among the elite in
Berkeley, where I was then a student, I would shut up.
That summer—my first in America—I drove across the country with a
Jewish friend. I got a lesson in geography, history, and civics along
the way. What I discovered was that Berkeley was an anomaly; that
elsewhere in this country people eyed me as if I was a native from the
reservation, avoiding addressing me directly.
In Georgia, another surprise awaited me. My relative, who was studying
at Georgia Tech, experienced overt racism at the university, so much
so that the student lounge in his department was only used by white
students. The campus had few non-white students then, and the only
people he could make friends with were Southern Baptists out to
recruit pagans.
I remember vividly a Sunday morning when two white men and two white
women arrived at his studio apartment near campus to escort us to an
outing. Before I had a chance to protest, I was huddled into the front
pew of a brick church, dressed in a fine sari, facing a pale priest
clad in scarlet robes. The reverend looked us straight in the eyes
that morning, and spoke of "foreign guests" he hoped to enlighten with
Christ's message.
I have not felt more embarrassed in my entire life. Afterwards, the
congregation posed for pictures, marveling at my gold-bordered sari,
my red kunku, my glittering earrings.
That was my first taste of American Christian fundamentalism. The
Southern Baptists, it turned out, were innocuous compared with their
mutations to follow; like Billy Graham and the evangelists, Newt
Gingrich and his Family Values crusaders, the Christian Coalition, and
now George Bush's Faith-based Initiative.
We are told today that it was the religious fundamentalists and their
passion over issues like creationism, abortion, and gay marriage that
defeated Kerry.
So I want to ask all Americans a question: What is the difference
between your fundamentalists and ours? What is the difference between
a Christian zealot who fights over the ownership of a woman's uterus
and an Islamic fundamentalist who fights over his land in the Gaza?
The way I see it, at least the Palestinian in the Gaza is fighting for
something far more crucial, namely the very survival of his people who
have been relegated to the confines of a concentration camp called a
refugee settlement. At least the insurgents in Kashmir are fighting
over a magical valley where they have lived for hundreds of years. At
least the Taliban, born in a land ravaged by Russians and Americans,
are incited by a passion for a lost culture.
On the other hand, it is hard to understand the passion of a
Budweiser-swilling, Walmart-shopping Joe Blow, who argues that the
world was created in seven days just because some ignoramus dressed in
a robe tells him so from the pulpit.
Perhaps human beings need something to be passionate about, be it the
rites of marriage or a piece of land. But what I don't understand is
why Americans, elite or otherwise, fail to understand the religious
fundamentalism of a Muslim or a Jew or a Hindu or a Sikh, while
practicing it themselves. It seems to me a classic case of "Do as I
say, not as I do."
Half a century after my first visit there, I was back in the Bible
belt recently, to attend a convention in Nashville, Tenn. Flicking the
channels on television the first evening, I found what I thought was a
PBS documentary. My jet-lagged brain took a few minutes to realize
that this was no PBS, but a Christian fundamentalist program
discussing the evil effects of the Kinsey sex studies, complete with
made-up facts. There were in fact four evangelical channels and not
much else on television, I soon discovered, and the city's one
attraction was the Andrew Jackson Plantation where visitors were told
only about the seventh president's devotion to his wife and her
guitar, but not of his removal of "savage" Indians to the west of the
Mississippi, causing a "Trail of Tears." At the nearby Opry, one white
musician after another played the banjo, while not a single African
American appeared in the line-up, even though the instrument
originally came from Africa, and was introduced t
o America by slaves.
It dawned on me then that Christian fundamentalism had its roots in
greed, hunger for power, and cruelty towards those who are deemed
"different," and I experienced once again the panic I have felt ever
since Nov. 2.
Sarita Sarvate writes commentaries for Pacific News Service and KQED.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:56:42 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
Benny Hinn Miracle Begins to Unfold
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5035
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)
Stare of Mysore Online
Faith Healer turns Fake Healer as 18 agents including 16 from
Kanyakumari arrested in Kodagu village. Chair-bound paralytic patient
walks up to journalists and shakes hands!
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)- T.J.S. George, the noted journalist, in
his weekly column Point of View last Sunday in The New Sunday Express,
under a revealing headline 'How to abuse Gods with lies and boasts,'
had requested the readers to 'Pray for India' as follows with a play
on words from the Bible: "Father, do not forgive them, for they know
damn well what they are doing."
And what they are doing is now clearly revealed not by Benny Hinn but
by the Kushalnagar Police who arrested 18 of Benny Hinn agents 16 of
them from Kanyakumari at Virupakshapura JP Colony village, 13 km from
Kushalnagar a tiny village near Kushalnagar, at around 2.45 in the
early hours of today. The Police team was led by Circle Inspector
Girijesh.
Tension prevails in the premises of Kushalnagar Police Station as a
group of activists led by Kodagu District BJP President S.G. Madappa
began demonstration this morning demanding action against the Hinn's
agents for alleged conversion bid.
Police have also seized the Mini-bus (TN. 29 D 7102) of the agents
from Kanyakumari and another jeep belonging to Kempanna, the agent in
JP Colony.
The trouble started last night around 11.45 when about 20 youths from
the village went to the house of Kempanna to enquire about the
Kanyakumari team, who were staying in his house since two days as they
suspected something fishy about the team's activities.
Bharathi, wife of Kempanna, challenged their interference claiming
that it was her 'personal matter.' The situation was aggravated as
Bharathi threw chilli powder on the youth.
Talking to media persons, who rushed to the spot on receiving
information, Bharathi said that the Kanyakumari team had come to their
house to ferry five families, converted to Christianity, to Bangalore
to attend the 'Pray for India' congregation of Christian evangelist
Benny Hinn.
She told media persons that she along with her husband and
mother-in-law Gowramma had long back embraced Christianity. She said
she used to conduct prayers in the makeshift Church behind her house
every Sunday and invited some neighbours too. Five families were also
converted to Christianity on her advice as they believed in Jesus
Christ.
She, however, maintained that she did not force anyone to embrace Christianity.
Bharathi disclosed that she and her husband visit Tellycheri every
three months to attend congregation where she befriended the
Kanyakumari team.
Nagaraj, one of the youths, who protested near Bharathi's house last
night, made a startling disclosure before the media that Bharathi
tried to lure him into Christianity with an offer of Rs. 25,000.
The protesting youths included H.T. Sannaswamy, A.E. Kumar, B.S.
Suresh, H.S. Shekhar, Shankar, Krishna, Harish and Umesh apart from
Nagaraj.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:59:09 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
Swamijis March to Vidhana Soudha, Stage Dharna
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=5036
Madikeri, Jan. 19 (KBM&MRS)
Stare of Mysore Online
Nearly a thousand cops provided security to a dozen Swamijis who
staged a dharna near the Vidhana Soudha here this morning protesting
against the prayer meeting of US- based evangelist Benny Hinn from
Jan. 21.
Sri Vishveshathirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt, who was to lead the
rally, however, did not turn up.
The Swamijis, who came in a procession from the Basaveshwara Circle,
presented the memorandum to Revenue Minister M.P. Prakash in front of
Kengal Hanumanthaiah's statue.
The memorandum urged the Government to withdraw the permission granted
to Hinn to conduct a three-day prayer meeting.
Alleging that he is anti-Hindu, the memorandum said his activities
were not spiritual and that he was spreading ill-will against
Hinduism.
The memorandum said Henn was a hoax and his claims were false and misleading.
The Swamijis also urged the Government to subject the officers and the
retired judge of the High Court supporting Hinn's programme to public
enquiry.
The Swamijis withdrew their protest dharna following an assurance by
the Revenue Minister that the Government would not give way for
provocation and conversion.
Swami Harshanandaji of Ramakrishna Mutt, Swami Yogeshwaranandaji,
Shivapuri Swamiji, Vivekananda Sharana Swamiji, Shanthaveera Swamiji
of Kolada Mutt, Kumara Chandrashekara Swamiji and others participated
in the protest.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 10
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 22:04:52 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Opus Dei: Vatican\'s Mafia
Opus Dei: Vatican's Mafia
N.S. Rajaram
Hand behind the coup
Anyone following the brazen attack on the Kanchi Mutt and the
relentless witch hunt against its leaders and officials cannot be in
doubt that it must have a powerful organization directing its every
move. It is no coincidence that these attacks, which were little more
than pinpricks when the NDA government was in power, have become
suddenly bold and open once the UPA came to power with Sonia Gandhi
as the power behind the Government.
Two developments have brought a sense of urgency to the
conspiracy or campaign behind this assault on the nation: (1) the
rapidly eroding base of the Congress, especially in North India, with
the natural implication that the 'Dynasty' will have difficulty
holding on to power for any length of time by strictly constitutional
means; and (2) the growing fear in Europe, especially in Italy, that
Christendom is losing the civilizational war against Islam. The
survival of Christianity is at stake.
The first is dynastic while the second is geopolitical.
Rapid changes in national and international politics and a creeping
sense of fear bordering on paranoia have led to an unholy alliance
between anti-national forces in India and Christian organizations of
the world hoping to use India's vast resources in Europe's and
Christianity's desperate struggle for survival in the West. The
Vatican's mafia
The country most vulnerable to the Islamic invasion of
Europe is Italy. The institution that is at the greatest risk is the
Vatican, seen the world over as the seat of Christianity though in
religious matters, many Christians do not accept its leadership. But
financially and organizationally, it is unmatched by any other
Christian sect. Most importantly, the Vatican has an intelligence
apparatus and a network of agents all over the world that
non-Catholic denominations lack. Also, the Vatican's patronage of
this machinery ensures complete secrecy since the Vatican is probably
the world's most secretive organization and a sovereign state to
boot.
This intelligence organization is the sinister but little
known Opus Dei. The Time magazine recently had a feature on it, but
the Indian media, a good part of it under the influence of the Opus
Dei, has maintained complete silence over its activities and even its
very existence.
What is this mysterious organization that carries out operations that
would put the CIA to shame in the name of God and Christ? (Opus Dei in
Latin means the work of God.)
Opus Dei was founded shortly before the Spanish Civil War by a Spanish
adventurer and Christian fanatic by name Jose Maria Escriva de
Belaguer. Born in the sleepy town of Barbastro, he rose by the dint of
his determination, industry and ruthlessness to be the virtual
dictator of the Vatican, and came to be known as the 'Super Pope.'
This was no idle boast. In 1978, Albino Luciani was elected Pope as
John Paul I. He threatened to change the Vatican with his reforms, but
died within a month of assuming office under mysterious
circumstances— without an autopsy or even a death certificate. This
led to the election of the reactionary Karol Woztyla, better known as
Pope John Paul II. And he showed his gratitude by rushing the Opus
Die founder Excriva's nomination to sainthood in record time, though
Mother Teresa's name still languishes.
With more than 100,000 members worldwide and more than a million
activists, the Opus Die that Escriva founded now controls the Catholic
Church and many other Christian and secular organizations. The
Vatican regards Escriva as "God's gift to the Church in our time."
When Escriva died in 1975, its officials openly boasted: "In 20 or 30
years, all that remains of the Church will be Opus Dei." This has
proven remarkably prophetic.
The Opus Dei agenda at the time was to combine economic and political
control with thought control. It believes that the first two cannot be
achieved without the third. And here is where conversion, especially
in India comes into play. With Europeans unwilling to lay down their
lives to defend Christianity, much less the Vatican, Christian
organizations and nominally Christian nations of Europe have cast
their covetous eyes on India with its vast manpower and material
resources. This is now made all the more urgent by the Islamic
threat to Europe from within and without, and by the fact as the Pope
has himself admitted: "Christianity has lost the West." This
realization has made some non-Catholic churches (like the evangelical
outfits) to join in the rush for gaining converts in India.
Europe, especially the Vatican, would like nothing better than a
Musharraf-like puppet in India, willing to place India's resources,
especially its vast manpower, in the service of defending Europe
against Islam.
Crusade driven by paranoia
The vision of the Opus Dei founder Escriva was spelled out
by an internal document in the following words: "The labor of placing
Jesus [i.e., the Christianity] at the summit of human activity
throughout the world." This now sounds like a pipedream, with
Christianity itself struggling for survival in Europe, and with
Islamic warriors in Kosovo less than a hundred miles from Trieste on
the Italian border. By breaking up Yugoslavia, the Western powers
virtually cut their own throats, by destroying the buffer state that
had protected Europe for nearly a century.
The situation today is different. Christianity, much less
the Vatican no longer sees Christianity triumphing in the world. The
concern today is over survival. Here is Vatican's nightmare vision. In
the first millennium, Christianity lost Jerusalem to the Arabs. In
the second millennium, in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Islamic
warriors of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II; the Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) Empire disappeared from the map. Now, with Islamic
warriors poised in Kosovo, waiting to make the short leap to Italy,
Christianity may next lose Rome itself.
Probably this is what the Pope had in mind when he said that the third
millennium would see Christianity in Asia. It also may be read to
mean that he sees Christianity disappearing from Europe. This is not
helped by the fact that Italy is not known for the heroism of its
soldiers as many Indian veterans who fought against Mussolini's army
will attest. (Roman pickpockets are a greater menace than the Italian
army.) This nightmare scenario is reflected in Opus Dei sources.
Participants at an Opus Dei seminar in Barcelona concluded: "A
parallel exists between the present situation in the Occident [West]
and the fall of the Roman Empire." A leading Canadian expert on Opus
Dei observed: "Now this was an alarmist, not to say scare-mongering
conclusion. But it was perfectly in line with the Opus Dei's use of
the psychology of fear." The point is not whether this doomsday
scenario is valid, but the undeniable fact that the Opus Dei (and the
Vatican) is driven by this fea
r. To make matters worse, many Islamic leaders also believe that
Rome, and even Europe, is theirs for the taking and all they have to
do is mount a determined assault. They point out that they defeated
one superpower — the Soviet Union — and are now on the verge of
defeating America— or so they believe. Europe they feel will be a
pushover.
Cyber-crusade
In view of the Vatican's inability to mount a military
offensive against encroaching Islam, it has resorted to cunning and
subterfuge— something at which it has always excelled. Opus Dei is now
at the forefront of what it calls "cyber-crusade." The idea is to use
its propaganda muscle and subversion of state institutions in
countries like India to gain converts for defending Christianity. Its
principal assault is on higher education and the media.
Opus Dei has set up several universities and research
institutions with names like the Institution for Human Sciences in
Vienna, University of Human Rights in Geneva, the Weatherford
Foundation for African Students in New York and many others. It even
attempted to set up a college in Oxford but was thwarted. As early as
1979, an Opus Dei memorandum stated:
"Members of Opus Dei already work in the following
professional enterprises… 479 universities and institutes of higher
learning in five continents; 604 newspapers, magazines and scientific
publications; 52 radio and television stations; 38 news and publicity
agencies; 12 film production and distribution companies…"
Today, 25 years later, it is at least twice as extensive.
And the list does not include individuals journalists and scholars who
work for Opus Dei in institutions not owned by it (and also NGOs). It
is a virtual certainty that Opus Dei has significant presence in
India. As recently as 1993, Opus Dei opened a new center in India
headed by a Spanish wool merchant— or so he claimed. A decade before
him, the cultural attaché at the Italian Embassy in Delhi was rumored
to be in the pay of Opus Dei. (He was later removed for running an
antique smuggling racket under diplomatic cover.)
More than forty years ago, the Indian-Spanish theologian
Raimundo Panikkar came to India armed with a scholarship from the
National Science and Research Council (NSRC)— an Opus Dei front. Has
anyone looked at the possibility that some Indian foundations might
also be fronting for Opus Dei activities— like the Heritage
Foundation of Washington?
What has all this got to do with the assault on Kanchi
Mutt? Subramanian Swamy and several others have charged that it is
part of an international conspiracy and a threat to national
security. If such is the case, it cannot possibly be the handiwork of
just a few adventurers and politicians. Opus Dei is one of the few
organizations with the resources and the motive. Its plan calls for
fighting Islam to the last Indian.
This is what India is really up against. The Kanchi Mutt
case is just the tip of the iceberg.
Reference Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei
(1997) by Robert Hutchison. London: Corgi Books.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 11
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:12:50 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
Southern Baptists Pray for Destruction of Hindu Temples
http://www.kentaxrecords.com/iaca/php/item_display.php?id=1106197970&type=news
Indians Against Christian Aggression
The website of the International Mission Board (IMB), a branch of the
infamous Southern Baptist Convention, is calling for American Southern
Baptist missionaries to visit a prominent Hindu temple in India and
pray for its destruction.
The mission assignment entitled "Jericho Prayerwalk" calls for
missionaries to visit the temple "one of the holiest temples "temple
once a day (at differing times) to walk around the complex praying for
the people group. Pray specifically that the walls to the Gospel
message will collapse like the walls of Jericho in Joshua." In other
words, missionaries should pray that all the local Hindus convert to
Christianity and that their temple will be destroyed.
In the past, the Southern Baptist Convention distributed 30,000 copies
of a handbook just before the most important Hindu festival of 1999,
Diwali, stating that ''Hindus seek power and blessing through the
worship of gods and goddesses and the demonic powers that lay behind
them."
The missionary assignment can be viewed online at:
http://going.imb.org/vim/Step_1/Details.asp?JobID=74546
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 12
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:41:53 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Faith healing?
Faith healing?
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan192005/edit2.asp
Deccan Herald
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Dubious claims of the Hinn kind should not be encouraged
The miracle healer from God channel, Benny Hinn, is not going to have
an easy 'crusade' in Bangalore when he arrives on a three-day trip on
January 21. His "Prayer for India" has already attracted widespread
protests across the board, from fundamentalists, traditionalists and
rationalists. The protestors range from Hindu seers from various mutts
and groups like the Bajrang Dal to Christian groups to intellectuals
and others. Many suspect that the pastor's agenda is religious
conversion, especially as pamphlets criticising idol worship have
surfaced, forcing the organisers to go on the backfoot and issue an
apology. A petition in the Karnataka high court has also been filed
against him. Demands have been made that the state Chief Minister, Mr
N Dharam Singh, refrain from gracing the pastor's platform. The chief
minister of Kerala, Mr Oomen Chandy, has already announced that he
would not attend. However several other celebrities are likely to
grace the prayer meeting which is e
xpected to be attended by tens of thousands of people from India and
neighbouring countries.
But this is not the first time that the tele-evangelist is facing
opposition. He has faced criticism from the orthodox church and
rationalists for his alleged heretical theology, prophecies and
claims. The most public criticism of Hinn's teachings has come from
the Christian Research Institute and an HBO television special on
miracles, which investigated five persons for a year, names that were
produced by the Benny Hinn ministries from the 76 miracles performed
by him at a public programme. They found that his claims were not true
and rationalists found that Hinn resorted to mass hypnosis and worked
on auto suggestion, leading his patients to believe that they had been
cured, when they had not. Doctors have expressed the danger of people
believing themselves cured and refusing to take medicine any more.
India has its own share of quacks and godmen who constantly dupe the
gullible with stories of miracle cures, playing on their faith.
Rationalists have had an uphill task convincing people that these
claims by the godmen were not true, even explaining the methods
employed scientifically. Accepted that in a secular democracy,
everyone is welcome to expound his views and beliefs, but the state
should not be seen to be associating with a pastor with dubious claims
of miracle cures.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 13
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:43:45 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: `Festival of Blessings\' can\'t be banned, says Govt.
`Festival of Blessings' can't be banned, says Govt.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/20/stories/2005012005590400.htm
Staff Reporter
The Hindu
JAN. 19. 2005
BANGALORE
The State Government will file an affidavit in the Karnataka High
Court on Thursday stating its position on the "Festival of Blessings"
to be held in Bangalore for three days from Friday.
To be filed by the Commissioner of Police, S. Mariswamy, the affidavit
will be the Government's answer to the charges and allegations in the
three public interest litigation (PIL) petitions likely to come up
before a Division Bench on Thursday.
The Government advocate, V.Y. Kumar, said the affidavit will make
clear the Government stand on the issue. The Government is likely to
contend that there is no law to prevent conversions and as such it is
not possible to ban the event. Permission for the event will not
amount to encouraging communalism, it says. Article 25 (1) of the
Constitution guarantees every person and not merely to a citizen of
India, freedom of conscience and the right to preach, profess,
practice and propagate religion.
The affidavit states that Paul Thangaiah and T. Yeshwanth Kumar have
published a pamphlet in which idol worship is grouped with
prostitution, magic and alcoholism and those practising them are asked
to pray by accepting Jesus Christ. Four private complaints have been
lodged before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who had referred them
to the police for investigation. The affidavit states that steps have
been taken to ensure that the event passes off peacefully.
Letter
Meanwhile, a letter from the Government Flying Training School,
Jakkur, to the Chairman of the "Festival of Blessings" said Rs. 10
lakhs should be paid as fees to use the ground.
This amount should be deposited as caution money against any damage to
government property.
The letter said any damage to Government property in excess of Rs. 10
lakhs should be borne by the organisers and they have to give an
indemnity bond.
Any structure put up by the organisers that may be useful to the shool
will be retained.
Another letter by the Director of the Flying School said the airfield
belongs to the State Government and several events, festivals and
cinema shootings have been held there.
It said utmost care will be taken to ensure that the day-to-day events
are not affected when such functions are held. It says at least 14
films have been "shot" in the 210-acre airfield.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 14
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:45:05 -0500 (EST)
From:
Subject: Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
Order on Seizure of Benny Hinn Publicity Material Stayed
http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/20/stories/2005012005600400.htm
Staff Reporter
The Hindu
JAN. 19. 2005
BANGALORE
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the January 13 orders of
the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) directing the issue of search
warrants for seizure of publicity materials used by the organisers of
the "Festival of Blessings" to be held in Bangalore from Friday.
Justice N. Kumar admitted a writ petition by Gul Kirpalani, National
Chairman of the "Festival of Blessings" and stayed the magistrate's
order pending disposal of the writ petition. The judge ordered that
the interim order be confined to the complaint made under Section 153
A and 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The petitioner challenged the magistrate's order directing the police
to search and seize publicity materials and investigate the "Festival
of Blessings." He said the magistrate had no powers or jurisdiction to
order seizure and sought for quashing of the order.
He said the magistrate had issued the order on a private complaint by
Manjunatha Swamy of Sharada Nagar, Bangalore, without the mandatory
notification of forfeiture by the State Government.
The judge said in case of offences under Sections 153 A and 295 A
where public interest is involved it is for the Government to act in
accordance with Section 95 and issue a notification for seizure. The
provisions in the IPC empower the Government to issue such a
notification and not anybody else.
A search warrant can be issued only if the Government issues the
notification. Prima facie, an order passed by the magistrate ordering
seizure is without jurisdiction, he said. Mr. Justice Kumar said it is
open to the complainant to approach the magistrate for any order
required to be passed under Section 420 of the IPC.
In another order, Justice K. Ramanna on Wednesday stayed the operation
of the magistrate's order for two weeks.
The judge passed this order on a petition by Paul Thangaiah and
Yeshwanth Kumar questioning the January 13 order.
The petitioners said the magistrate has not held an inquiry before
passing the order. This apart there is neither a request for an
application for the issue of a search warrant as contemplated under
Section 94 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC). Therefore, the
order is not sustainable.
The magistrate has not ordered an investigation into the allegations
made by the complainant under Section 156 (3) of the Cr. PC. he had
not taken cognisance of the offences.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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