Meet the new global Christian Missionary Enterprise : Power to Change

[Note : This article is written by Shri. Sandeep B, editor of IndiaFacts website. It is an eye-opener and must read by all Hindus]

There are three things you can’t accuse the global Evangelical Enterprise of lacking:

• Innovation
• Persuasion
• Reinvention

Innovation works in the realm of presenting all/several facets of Christianity in newer and newer packages, persuasion in the realm of relentless propagation of the Christian Faith, and reinvention, in the realm of spreading the same Christian Faith in garbs hitherto before unseen.

With centuries’ worth of experience across the remotest corners of the earth, the global evangelical enterprise puts the greatest of marketing gurus and MNCs to shame.

But it is the last strategy, reinvention, which is the most dangerous of all because by the time the targets of conversion have realized that the beast is not new but is only wearing new clothes, the evangelicals have already made rapid inroads. And this is what poses the greatest threat to non-proselytizing, dharmic religions like Sanatana Dharma: they are essentially fighting a perpetually defensive battle, and with a powerful tool like reinvention which the global missionary enterprise puts to such trenchant use, Hindus are always forced to play catch-up—in the process, losing more and more numbers.

In recent memory, it took quite some time for Hindus to realize that messages, websites, pamphlets, banners etc proclaiming “Good News” was actually a front for evangelism. Indeed, one doesn’t need to look very far. Christian indoctrination subtly occurs in India right from childhood in the form of “moral science” lessons in schools both private and Government-run. Once Hindus woke up to the reality of “Good News,” reinvention was quick in the offing in the form of social service projects—girl child, education of poor children, orphanages, and so on. The decade-long rule-by-NGO project under the UPA saw an explosion of evangelism in forms and on a scale hitherto unseen in India. Indeed, the data-rich VIGIL book on NGOs contains extensive references to the modus operandi and the nexus of these networks—both Indian and foreign.

And now, enter : Power to Change.

This and similar hoardings and full-page colour ads in newspapers greeted Bangaloreans one fine morning about a month ago.

There are many variants of this picture but I’ve singled this out because it prominently displays the faces of two well-known film stars and one journalist—Nagma, Johnny Lever and Anand Mahadevan. The messaging is subtle, neutral, and the “feel good” factor is a great way to arouse interest. There is nothing that indicates anything to do with religion in all of these pictures.

But to those who are familiar with evangelical tactics, the subtle giveaway of sorts begins at the mentions of:

• Call for free book
• The toll-free number
• The SMS wording and number

And so my research revealed that Power to Change (PTC) represents a Networked Evangelical Enterprise. The whois record of www.powertochangeindia.com reveals that the Registrant organization is Good News Television based in Royapettah, Chennai, and that the Registrant name is one Mr. Ashvin Dhyriam. The following is the screenshot of PTC’s Whois record:

Now, a cursory visit to the Good News Television website reveals the fact that one Mrs. Priscilla Dhyriam is one of the hosts on the channel spreading the message of Christ. A slightly deeper investigation of the website reveals the fact that—no surprises here—Priscilla Dhyriam is the wife of Dr. Nehru Dhyriam. Their biological son is Mr. Ashvin Dhyriam. The three of them are listed as the founders (“prime movers” in their own words) of Good News Television. Nehru Dhyriam served “on the advisory board of the UPSC for selecting media related candidates for Doordharshan and other Govt. of India departments.”

But the Dhyriams are merely cogs–important cogs–in a global wheel as we shall see.

The creation and expiration date of the PTC website reveals a hint to another important story. We need to return to the Whois record again, which shows the creation date as 10 January 2011 and the expiration date as 10 January 2015. Now we don’t know the exact date on which the website went live but the updated date on the Whois record shows 01 November 2014. And the Power to Change blitzkrieg on the ground was launched sometime early in November 2014. It is therefore definitely not a stretch to deduce that this is purely coincidental. What is undeniable is this: a minimum of three years of elaborate planning has gone behind this latest campaign to convert Hindus to Christianity as we shall see.

And now we can briefly examine the kind of success stories that are featured in PTC’s free book. It is the usual stories that are narrated at the typical “healing” and “prayer” meetings that occur on the ground across India. According to accounts given by people who have ordered the book, the moment you call and order a copy of the book, a member from PTC visits your home with the book and begins to talk to you about the message of Christ. The actual “success stories” in the book are along predictable lines: sentimental stories about bereavement, death of close ones due to suicide, alcoholic and/or drug addiction, financial problems, health issues, marital problems, depression and so on. What is also a major surprise are the tales of how some were victims of black magic! The solution is the same—Jesus Christ touched me and changed my life for the better.

And now a closer look at the planning involved behind this latest bout of evangelical onslaught. We can revisit the words, a minimum of three years that I mentioned earlier because an October 2008 article in Outlook written by Outlook Business editor Anand Mahadevan is typical of the kind of stories written by neo-converts who discover Jesus Christ and cannot stop gushing about their experiences of Christ as an “amazing friend, guide, leader, saviour and God,” and like neo-converts, cannot stop themselves from “not tell[ing] all my friends about Him.” Now, this selfsame Anand Mahadevan’s picture is prominently splashed all over the PTC posters and hoardings. The same more or less applies to faded stars like Nagma and Johnny Lever. And former Bangalore police commissioner and former BJP Member of Parliament, H.T. Sangliana too, figures in the list. The message and the bait that this conveys is unmistakable.

The long-term incubation and planning angle also acquires another dimension when one learns the fact that the Power to Change blitzkrieg is a phased multi-city launch. A 5 January 2014 report in DNA is tellingly titled “A god blitz takes Mumbai by storm.” Detailed excerpts from that report makes things explicit:

A multimedia, multi-crore campaign, spread across newspapers, hoardings and in railway stations, masquerading as testimonials, turns out to be a Christian mission at conversion… The ad, under the heading Power To Change, has people from different walks of life and different communities sharing what changed their lives. The advertisement urges readers to call for a free book of these ‘exciting stories’, which will then be delivered by volunteers who will also talk about Christianity.

The campaign, described by organisers as counselling, has also put Railways in trouble.

The entire campaign, experts feel, would have cost approximately Rs20 crore, and has been running in Mumbai for around six months. The hidden aim of the Power to Change campaign is to show ‘the path of Jesus’ to Mumbaiites, urging them to convert to Christianity.

[…]

A media planner told dna that the Mumbai campaign alone would have cost close to Rs5 crore. “Unless you have an ad spend of at least Rs1 crore, it’s futile to even venture into such an activity,” said a media buyer of a leading national ad agency.

“High-visibility campaigns like this would involve an ad spend of Rs4-5 crore at least,” he said.

This leaves out its earlier campaigns in other cities like Hyderabad.

[Emphasis added]

So that makes it three cities including Bangalore. And then we have information about the organization behind this:

The Power to Change campaign in India is being funded by its parent organisation based in Canada, whose prime aim is to spread Christianity, in collaboration with Christian ministries and local church leaders.

This campaign has been to 60 cities across the world in the past 10 years, including two Indian cities Hyderabad and Mumbai since the organisation’s launch in India in 2011.

[Emphasis added]

And so when we tally DNA’s mention of the organization’s launch in India in 2011, we are on surer ground:  recall the creation date of PTC’s website—January 2011. And the same report quotes the intent of the Canadian Evangelical organization, straight from the horse’s mouth:

In an interview to the US-based Christian Broadcasting Network, Hannu Haukka, president of Great Commission Media Ministries, who helped develop the campaigns in India, said “it’s an effective way to saturate the unreached, urban populations”.

“We are not bringing people into a stadium. We are actually with the churches going out and targeting whole cities,” Haukka said, adding such testimonies, dramatised through the PTC campaign, gave local churches a powerful new way to reach out to their city and increase the fold.

“And we’re talking about Hindus and Muslims; something that churches have never seen,” he told CBN.

Haukka’s mention about networked churches is bang on the target. As a simple, sample exercise, visit http://www.powertochangeindia.com/stories/ and click on the thumbnail of any person at random and follow the link. Each link leads to a different website, and—no surprise, all of these websites are evangelical websites. Depending on which thumbnail you click, it opens a video of the person who narrates his/her personal story of how embracing Christ solved his/her problems and changed his/her life. For example, Anand Mahadevan’s video-story can be found at http://truetransformation.in/. And http://www.no2blackmagic.in/ narrates the story of one Kiran Sabnani, a victim of (Hindu) black magic. The number of people’s stories featured on the PTC website is quite substantial, and the number of websites they lead us to is equally mind-boggling, an operation of gargantuan proportions, enough to put the most accomplished financial criminals who establish impenetrable networks of shell companies to shame.

And as DNA report and my own findings uncovered, the PTC operation is undoubtedly backed by organizations and people with really deep pockets, and endowed with incredible determination. Consider the costs of placing full page colour advertisements in multiple newspapers in multiple languages continuously, for more than a week and buying huge hoarding space in prominent places in metro cities for weeks. And the cost of giving out free books to literally the entire country. And running a dedicated call centre. And the manpower to physically send their evangelists to the homes of those who ordered the free books….this is the scale of the PTC operation. And it is why the Government should undertake a serious and thorough probe into their funding and other activities, which are hidden from public view.

PTC once again proves how Hindus are far, far, far behind in this ugly game—the first alert should have been sounded when PTC launched its Hyderabad campaign, and then the Mumbai campaign. And now, Bangalore is the latest target. We don’t know which city is next.

For centuries, India has been a prime target for Evangelicals of all hues across the world. However, post-Independence India has especially made it easy for missionaries to prey on large numbers of unsuspecting Hindus because of a steady—and in some cases, planned—de-Hinduization of India. In the preceding decade, the two-term UPA rule threw open India’s gates for evangelism on an unprecedented scale. Indeed, it is impossible for us to even estimate the kind of damage the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party and the UPA-led Government has done to the social fabric of India.

Postscript: To get an idea of how Power to Change works, it is instructive to read the transcript of my friend Chiranjeevi Bhat’s phone conversation with Mr. Krishnan, an evangelist at the PTC call centre.

The original audio clip of the phone conversation is in Kannada. The English transcript follows.

BEGIN PHONE TRANSCRIPT

Chiranjeevi: Good evening…Namaste…I saw many ads in banners and posters that because of your work, many people’s lives have been changed…

PTC Evangelist: “that’s true”

“I read a lot of books…I called because I want to read your book…now, tell me on what is this book based on? “

“The book is about how their lives have changed..about the difficulties they faced…how they got correction…they have narrated that..these are free books”

“sir, but how can you give everybody these books for free?”

“yes! ya yea..more than 1 lakh books are being given…”

“1 lakh books…only in Bangalore or all over India?”

“No no…throughout Karnataka…”

“throughout Karnataka…”

“But…”

“they call and book it…and then we take their phone number, contact, name…”

“when they call…their life changes…”

“my question is this: how can you give these books for free? now..even if I have to buy a book about God, I have to pay at least 10 rupees…so..”

“No…no…it is God’s will…these books have to reach everybody…he likes to give it free”

“No no…it is ok…everybody’s lives have to change no? if life changes…”

“I saw a few stories like by Benny Prasad…I saw it on YouTube…they say that I was in trouble and that Christ changed me…so, does this book tell us about Christ?”

“umm…maybe…some stories may be like that”

“You haven’t read them?”

“I haven’t read them.”

“You haven’t read the book?!”

“We are all from call centre. We only work in the call centre.”

“Your name sir?”

“My name is Krishna.”

“Krishna or Christa?”

“Krishnan”

“Sir but you don’t know anything about the book so how do you think you can do your job effectively?”

“No..I haven’t seen the book…they don’t give it to everybody…only for those who book it and give their address…I haven’t got a chance to read those stories…we don’t have the books in our hands..we take their contacts and booking”

“I’m asking because I need to convince my friends…is this book…is this book something that takes people to Christianity?”

“No no..it is only about how people’s lives changed”

“I have heard 2 stories…both of the say that when there were troubles in my life, Christ came and saved me…does Christ come down like that and save everybody sir?”

“Definitely! There are so many instances, it is true…people’s lives can change like this.”

“But sir, how come only Christ comes down and saves everybody’s troubles? “

“That’s what sir it is…that is faith sir…he’s God, so he can do it…”

“Ohh…see…do you know what happens in my native place?….if someone is ill, they go to the temple…but these people say that I was ill and then Christ appeared in my dream and blessed me, and I was cured…so you must believe in Christ…so does the book say that you must leave your existing God and come to Christianity?”

“This is life sir…lifestyle…not religion…it says how we should live…principles…what God likes…according to that we have to live”

“Right right right…I read that too…I also read about…what’s that…virgin Mary….sir…how did she get a baby when she was a virgin sir?”

“That virgin mary….she…in her body…God…she came in contact with the Holy Spirit…”

“Right sir, but now, according to doctors, in order to have a baby, the hymen must break…”

“Your doubts are correct…God…now…God has a lot of capacity…what he wants…he will decide and do…like you said, God, anything he can do! God’s capacity is too much, we don’t know, that’s all…what all you see in front of you? Your friends are there, your children are there, that’s all you see, but behind you what happens you don’t know…only God knows it…God knows everything…any product we can see, three dimension….God has 10 dimension…you are in India or US, God knows it. “

“Oh. Got it…it’s like how our Vishnuvardhan in some movie says…I’m like Ravana, I have 10 heads…(laughter)….”

“(Laughs) I don’t know sir…I haven’t seen the movie…but your name is Krishna right?”

“Yes yes, my name is Krishna…”

“So, is this God like Ravana who had 10 heads? “

“It might be sir…I’m not saying no…”

“But sir, I’m still not clear about Virgin Mary…how she gave birth while still being a virgin? And then Benny Prasad says his life changed only because of Christ…he writes that his life changed after he embraced Christ. How is that possible sir? Some friends tell me that their lives changed after they embraced Hanuman? Now how’s it that Benny’s life changed after embracing Christ? Isn’t this soliciting on behalf of Christ sir? “

“You must try it out and see for yourself…it’s not tough…give me your number, we will send you the book…”

“I have read a lot about Christ…even in my 10th standard school books…I have also gone to Church a few times…the Father put his hand on my head, he played piano and lighted candles…I felt very happy…I wanted to join it…”

“oh really?”

“Yes…I could join but what is the benefit of joining?”

“see, lifestyle changes…lifestyle means…your…well, which church do you plan to go?”

“You mean, Roman or Catholic?”

“No no…not that…you go to temple right? Like that, in Christianity, different types are there…what the books say…follow accordingly…the book has contact numbers…call them, they will explain properly…”

“So if I contact them they will guide me how to convert to Christianity?”

“No no, not like that…they will reach out to everybody…they want everybody to be happy…that’s their goal…”

“You’re right sir…everybody says the same thing…when I embraced Christ, I felt very good and happy…so if I read such stories and embrace Christ, will I also be happy like them?”

“Maybe…I won’t say no…you must be sincere, that’s all…main thing is God’s blessing should be on you…then Yeverything will happen…”

“Have you embraced Christ sir? “

“Oh yes! I have…I do…”

“Do you go to Church everyday?”

“Not daily. Weekly…daily we practice…my life has changed.”

“So your life has changed because of Christianity?”

“Mm…yes, complete, complete, complete change…”

“Ooohh! Feels good to hear that….so your change is like the rest…like Jayasheela Gowda…”

“Yes, yes, all of them…ya ya ya”

“I am very eager to embrace Christ, but what do I do about this…I am poor…I don’t have money…so, will I get something like that…like…money…”

“No…no need for money…want heart…God sees your heart…”

“Heart…yes, correct…now if I have to take a candle for Christ, we need at least 2 rupees sir….”

“No…candle not required…You…hmmmm….in your heart you must do prayer for him…you must praise him…that’s all…you don’t need to go here and there like to a temple…”

“So this is not like the Hindus…where you must go to a temple…”

“No no no not like that…”

“Hindus say you must bathe and do puja after bathing…”

“I don’t think that is wrong…it is good…you must be clean, that’s all.”

“Hindus have this practice…where you must roll on the plantain leaves which have leftover food..what’s all that sir?”

“All that I don’t know…practice…they’ve been doing for many generations…from father to grandfather…”

“All these actors who say good things that they converted to Christianity…were they paid money sir?”

“No no no…it’s not like that….tell me your name sir?”

“Chiranjeevi Bhat…I already told you…take my email id…”

“Give me your phone number…”

“Please clarify my doubts first sir..”

“Ok ok…”

“See, I don’t understand how you can give the books for free…see if I have to give you a bun for free, I must have at least one rupee…so if you are giving so many books for free, how is it possible?”

“um..see…they give…so…ok, tell me in which language you want the book…”

“We are Kannada sir…we are Kannada Mother’s children…”

“Ok we have a book in Kannada language…see that…”

“I still don’t know how you can give it for free…”

“You first read the book…”

“How can I without knowing what is there in the book…as it is there is a lot of talk about terrorism…if I buy the book, the police might think we are from ISIS and take us away!”

“[laughter] this book is not like that…”

“[laughs back] so what is it about…at least I must know a theme…so what is your story…”

“first you read the full story…then we can discuss…first give me your phone number, give me your address…”

“see..if you keep insisting me like this without answering my questions, then I’ll feel discouraged to order the book…tell me how you can give it for free?”

“see, suppose it costs ten rupees…”

“no no…my question is where do you get the funds for this…”

“Funds…fund…no fund…we give everything…funds…”

“funds come from foreign?”

“No…not foreign…all Indian…”

“that means our Indian churches have come together and they have done this?”

“this is service…”

“so the donations the churches get…they are used for this?”

“Yeah…it is like that…”

“Oh…then good…I’m very happy to hear that…”

“give me your email…mobile number…address…”

“you also haven’t told me clearly about virgin Mary…how did she deliver a baby?”

“this Virgin Mary…God in his capacity…Virgin Mary became a Mother…no physical contact…”

“So how did it happen?”

“that’s what…what God does, how he does…you must be clarified in detail…we can’t do it like this over phone….”

“So you mean to say babies are born without any bodily contact in Christianity?”

“What?…oh…no no…not like that…God himself came down…that happened long back…”

“So even if God himself came down and did it, doesn’t the virginity go away?”

“That can be done…you can’t prove otherwise…go and see history…see pictures, it’ll be clear.”

“I have seen the pictures sir, that’s why I like this Virgin Mary…no matter what, she is still called Virgin Mary…I don’t understand how…”

 “You must get faith…otherwise you will keep having such doubts…give me your number…Mr. Chiranjeevi Bhat…your number…”

“Wait a minute sir…I’ll feel disappointed if my doubt is not clarified sir…”

“On the phone…”

“I am a bhakta of Hanuman, so my name is Chiranjeevi…now how can I believe Christianity? In the book, Benny Prasad says suddenly one day I embraced Christ…so doesn’t it mean you are converting me to Christianity?”

“No no no no…that is not conversion at all! It is all left to their wishes…if you like you can practice…nobody is compelling you…”

“But why only in India? Because Hindus are easygoing and tolerant people believing in their own Gods…”

“No no Mr. Bhat…you must know the plan of God in full detail…you don’t know anything…that is why you are talking like this…”

“So what is the purpose behind giving these books?”

“Why? Don’t you want the information to reach you? How else do we give the information? How many people can we reach over the phone, tell me? “

“I am very poor. I did menial jobs and completed my degree. Now I want to study further and become a Company Secretary. So instead of giving me this sort of book, can you help me purchase those books?  Maybe then I’ll try to look at Christianity.”

“Don’t talk like that…the material what you want, God won’t give you that…you must like him…you must have faith…you must have love…”

“I have faith…but if I don’t have my exam study material, can I read this and pass exams? “

“See, I have two daughters…they have gone to foreign and there they completed MBA and all and they practice there…I didn’t have any money…”

“So how did you send them sir? Did God send them?”

“…aah? How?…well…see I can’t say all this over phone…in life I know, it is humanly impossible…but God…they had God’s blessing..”

“Whose blessing sir? Virgin Mary’s or Christ’s?”

“Don’t talk about Virgin Mary again…Virgin Mary is not related to us…”

“So you’re affiliated to Christ sir?”

“Haan…Christ…yes, it is him…”

“So Virgin Mary belongs to Catholics sir?”

“Ya…they are Catholic…”

“So…we got blessing…complete…almost to the extend of 50 lakhs…spending we had to do….I did not do…blessing came to them directly…so they got the foreign degree.”

“So if we do that, the Church will help no sir?”

“No no…if you physically come here and say you want money so you are coming to Church, everybody will say no…in the heart…”

“But I want to study sir, I am a poor person…I don’t have money. That’s why I am asking.”

“Ok. Do prayer. God will give. Who will he not give?”

“But 50 Lakhs sir, how did you get 50 Lakhs?”

“I wanted 50 lakhs…I tried a lot…tried to apply for bank loan…and I took the loan…but as blessing from God, my children, they completed their course through free scholarship and returned…”

“But you still haven’t answered how you are able to give these books for free?”

“Your doubt…your doubt…your doubt…sit with these children of God and talk to them…I can’t talk on the phone like this…”

“See sir, they have given a lot of money…your ads and photos come everywhere in the media…on banners, hoardings, posters…from where does money come for all this?”

“Don’t ask about money…it is left to them…the press will agree to run these ads for free…”

“Really?”

“oh yes! They give us space.”

“What about TV? Are they also like that?”

“Maybe there’s some nominal charges…”

“You said you sold 1 Lakh copies….how did you manage to sell so many sir?”

“We can do it sir…it’s not at all difficult…money is not at all an issue…we have money…you and I…we only look at it at our own convenience…”

“Ok…if we know where the funds come from, I can order your book and read it in peace sir…”

“Hmm…I’ll send someone to you…give me your number…I cannot answer all your questions, Mr. Bhat”

“Why sir…”

“My time is complete…I must go home…”

“Please go home after you answer my question sir…”

“No no no…I can’t answer that…”

“Why don’t you have the permission?”

“No no…I don’t know…I don’t know everything…we are all only workers.”

“I have a feeling you are trying to convert people to Christianity.”

“No no. It’s not like that. You order the book if you want. If you like it, you can contact us after reading that…”

“I have one book from your side…it keeps saying Christ in every page…it doesn’t seem right…I am a Hanuman bhakt. So you tell me, do you want me to come to Christianity?”

“Oh! In that case, don’t come.”

“But I am confused. That means, I shouldn’t believe in Christ?”

“Your mind is blocked. It is very difficult for you to do this…leave it. God will show you the way.”

“But you say that so many people’s life story has changed…so I want to try it…”

“Oh…you want the story, you want the life but you don’t want to change…then how do you think you will get it? you want to remain poor, so stay poor.”

“Ok, I got it…so if my life story must change, I must believe in Christ like the 15 people who narrated their stories in your book…”

“Yes, that possibility is there…possibility is there…try it…”

“So if I believe in Christ like these people say, will the change happen?”

“Definitely it will happen. Definitely it will happen. Anyway, I can’t tell you anything…leave it…”

END PHONE TRANSCRIPT

Source : India Facts