Founding pastor of Church of the Highlands, Chris Hodges
Christian organisations continue to allege ‘persecution’ in India and the United States, in its multiple reports on human rights, has criticised India on the rights of minorities. Meanwhile, India has denied these allegations and responded back in kind.
Recently, pastor Chris Hodges’s ten-month-old YouTube video went viral wherein he said that India is the prime destination for conversion. He further said that they have been successful in reaching their goals despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s best efforts. He further claimed that missionaries associated with his organisation converted more than 1 lakh Hindus in a single week.
Chris Hodges is the founding and senior pastor of the Alabama-based ‘Church of the Highlands.’ As per the church’s website, it is known for its “life-giving culture and focus on leading people to an intimate relationship with God.”
The website’s ‘About’ page reads, “Whether you’re new to church, have been a Christian for many years, or are looking for a fresh start, you’re welcome here. Our hope is to give you a place where you experience a fresh, enjoyable connection to God and a community of people.”
Nefarious Conversion Agenda
Chris Hodges referred to the Hindu population of India as “lost people” in his video titled ‘Sign of the Times’ uploaded on the church’s official account on August 22, 2022. He claimed that one of his missionaries told him, “One of the places on the planet where it’s the largest concentration of lost people that are both unengaged and unreached.” He added, And it’s the northern India area. Even though the southern area was largely Christianised. India has taken a pretty bad turn over the last ten years.”
Notably, the BJP-led NDA has been in power at the national level since 2014. The Government of India has revoked the licenses of numerous organisations, including Christian groups for their breach of the 2010 Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The missionary organisations, often funded by foreign entities, masquerade as NGOs claiming to work for the welfare of the underprivileged and marginalised segments of society, hiding their true goal to convert individuals.
Frustrated with the hindrances created since the BJP-led NDA came into power, Chris Hodges said, “Their Prime Minister has literally kicked out a lot of Christian agencies, and there’s whole organisation is set on making India 100% Hindu. And it’s so really gotten very dark there.” However, he failed to provide evidence to support his contentions.
He further made unfounded allegations against the RSS, urging his viewers to pray for the Christians in India and claiming that they are going through “great persecution.” He added, “And honestly you need to pray for the Christians in India and around the world. They are going through great persecution, losing their lives every single day. It’s happening.” He further said, “There’s a group called the RSS that basically operates just to destroy you and persecute Christians, and it’s just terrible.”
However, he remarked that a missionary informed him about a group in North India without going into details. He said, “But they are in that northern India area, and they are in 21 days of prayer. They are in prayers and fasting right now. And they had a word from God happen in their prayer service, where they felt like God would anoint them if they would go and do outreach projects, right now. They are doing it right now.”
He further claimed that this group divided itself into 3,931 teams and spread across 15 northern states of India to convert people. He further claimed that these people laid hands on sick, ordinary Christians and they were healed instantly. He said, “And they organised themselves into 3,931 outreach teams, and they dispersed into 15 of the northern states of India to go do evangelism, and God showed up. So, like, they would go lay their hand on the sick, ordinary Christians, and sick people were getting healed instantly.”
He further remarked on how missionaries use superstitions of demon possession to convert people. He said, “And they had people there that were demon-possessed, I mean, like notoriously demon-possessed, tormenting the whole village, get radically delivered. And it was so radical, and they were so thrilled that this demonic person was freed.” He further clarified that the missionaries deploy ‘demon-possessed’ people in villages and then they appear in those villages like messiahs to release them from possession, thus bringing peace to the village.
He said, “Now, one case, this woman who got delivered, that they were so thrilled that she was now a woman of peace, that 150 families gave their lives to Jesus on the spot. Whenever that happened, it was just amazing, just amazing.”
Chris Hodges then revealed the number of Hindus converted to Christianity within a week. He said, “This is what you need to celebrate: 112,124 Hindus converted to Christ just last week. Come on, give God praise together, everybody.”
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