To understand the true nature of Christians around the world, we should take a better look at Kerala. In the 4th Century A.D. Christianity became the dominant religion and later become the established religion of the Roman Empire. The Sassanian rulers of Iran who followed a philosophy which was a part of Hinduism, wisely foresaw that the Syrian Christians within their borders would develop into a fifth column of their powerful neighbours. Their aim was to persecute the Syrian Christians. Some of these Christians fled Iran in groups. In 345 A.D. around 400 odd persons from 72 families comprising men, women and children, reached Cragananore (Kodungalloore) Kerala, under the leadership of a merchant known as Thomas Cananeus. The Hindu kings out of their generosity, gave them refuge. What these treacherous Christians did in return was to invite Vasco da Gama to invade India. This information has recently came to light from Portugese documents.
Sanjay Subrahmaniam in Lisbon went through the Portuguese documents Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama and found that these Kerala Christians, known as Syrian Christians, were indeed a fifth column who were engaged in spying and were brought by Vasco da Gama to Kerala shores that began the colonisation of India. They had promised the Portugese, French and British their support to defeat and evict the local kings, the Zamorins, who gave them refuge. Vasco da Gama had bombarded Calicut in Kerala when the Zamorin ruler refused to be dictated by him. He plundered the Kerala ships bringing in rice to the city and cut off the ears, nose and hands of the crews. The Zamorin sent to him an envoy after getting safe passage from the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama chopped off the nose, ears and hands of the envoy and strung them around his neck together with a palm-leaf on which a message was conveyed to the Hindu king that he could cook and eat 'food' made from his envoy’s limbs.”
These facts came to light from the Dutch history of Travancore, and also through the French records. That the Syrian Christian refugees of Kerala wanted the Europeans to help them to finish the Hindu kings who gave them refuge is now the most shocking piece of information received that no Keralite can digest.
Now readers may wonder what has Kerala got to do with Punjab & Sikhism? Well, for several years under the British occupation of Punjab, Christian Missions were allowed to spring up in every corner of Punjab to convert the so called 'Heathens' ( Hindus & Sikhs ). Amritsar had at one point become the centre of such treacherous activities and Shri HariMandir Ji too had been closed off by the British to convert the temple into a centre of Christian propagation.
In a alarming trend, evangelism has begun to tread on the Sikh faith as well. I have for the past 3 years been keeping a close eye on the Church that has suddenly sprung up right next to Shri HariMandir temple at Amritsar. If any of you have noticed it, it never was there some 6 years back, but now with Easter around the corner, these Christian evangelists are busy with their agendas of brainwashing Sikh youth into accepting Jesus as their 'SatGuru'.
Every aspect of Punjabi society is being overwhelmed with this new wave of assertive Christianity. Besides nationwide programs in Hindi, Punjabi television channels have been deluged by Christian programs even though the Christian population of Punjab is less than 1%. Taking aim at Sikh youth, animated films and children’s books on Christianity are freely distributed by missionaries.
Because of the strong adherence to tradition by Sikhs, missionaries have attempted to repackage Christianity. Jesus is called 'Satguru', church is referred to as 'Satsang' and choir singing is called 'Kirtan'. Choir boys in Punjabi churches wear turbans to attempt to minimize the variation between Sikhism and Christianity. However, despite these attempts to disguise Christianity as a version of Sikhism, missionaries still cannot hide their intent: to destroy the Sikh as well as the Hindu faith.
While there have been some cases of genuine conversions, economically disadvantaged and illiterate Sikhs often complain that missionaries are using extortive practices such as bribing them with material possessions to change their religion.
A young boy whose friends had converted to Christianity explained, 'When I asked the boys as to why they have converted to Christianity, they said they had been given cash and free education. In our village alone, 5 to 6 people have converted and, of course, their generations to come would also be Christians.'
Gurbachan Singh Bachan, former Secretary of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee and a proud Sikh, says 'People who are converting from Hinduism and Sikhism to Christianity are those who have lost understanding of their own religion… Khalsa [Sikh] institutions and the Government need to educate the people about the values of a religion, and tell them that all religions are equal and no religion teaches us to fight with each other.'
Such provocative evangelism in Punjab does not always go unnoticed by the local community. The Open Door Church run by Pastor Harbhajan Singh, a landlord who converted to Christianity from Sikhism, has aggressively converted over 2,800 members of the Khojewala village community. In February of 2004, Singh made derogatory remarks against several Sikh gurus including Guru Granth Sahib. This led to several protests by Sikh youths in front Singh’s church. The conflict was ultimately resolved by police intervention and an unconditional apology by Harbhajan Singh. Meanwhile, Christian media painted this incident as an example of 'Christian persecution.'
Gurbachan Singh Bachan, former Secretary of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee and a proud Sikh, says 'People who are converting from Hinduism and Sikhism to Christianity are those who have lost understanding of their own religion… Khalsa [Sikh] institutions and the Government need to educate the people about the values of a religion, and tell them that all religions are equal and no religion teaches us to fight with each other.'
Such provocative evangelism in Punjab does not always go unnoticed by the local community. The Open Door Church run by Pastor Harbhajan Singh, a landlord who converted to Christianity from Sikhism, has aggressively converted over 2,800 members of the Khojewala village community. In February of 2004, Singh made derogatory remarks against several Sikh gurus including Guru Granth Sahib. This led to several protests by Sikh youths in front Singh’s church. The conflict was ultimately resolved by police intervention and an unconditional apology by Harbhajan Singh. Meanwhile, Christian media painted this incident as an example of 'Christian persecution.'
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