Sorry Mr John Thomas, you cannot flee from reality!

"A very much concerned elderly lady in Australia wanted to know why John Thomas holding such a key position with the United Church of Christ is unable to help build bridges between the two groups in Jaffna. She was thunderstruck that a man of his stature should behave in such a manner."

by Victor Karunairajan

(November, 26, Sydney, Australia, Sri Lanka Guardian) Following my feature Slander says United Church of Christ head, John Thomas, that appeared in a few websites and shared by many via the internet, I have been inundated with reactions from several sources scattered around the world.

Many of them disagreed with my decision to take the name of John Thomas off my mailing list. As long as he is the Minister President of the Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ (WCM-UCC) he cannot run away from problems that were consequential to their action, and in this case even more, via Dr Cally Rogers-Witte who heads the WCM.

“In fact, John Thomas is a coward to run away from this issue,” commented a JDCSI member now living in the UK. He added: “Why did he not talk directly all these months with Bishop Daniel Thiagarajah with a view to reach a resolution and instead continue to offer support to a group that was bent on harming the church and plundering funds provided for orphans?”

“Pompous pronouncements and calling for prayers are often the escape routes used by hypocrites and pretenders to vamoose and this is what John Thomas has revealed about himself in his letter,” wrote a retired parson from Sri Lanka. “In the name of missionary work, they are in comfortable positions experiencing a lot of luxury for themselves.”

A JDCSI parishioner from Chavakacheri now a US citizen observed thus:

“I understand Dr Cally Rogers-Witte travels all over the world and is hardly in the WCM office in Cleveland, Ohio. Why couldn’t she have gone to Jaffna and found out for herself as to what was happening there?”

A very much concerned elderly lady in Australia wanted to know why John Thomas holding such a key position with the United Church of Christ is unable to help build bridges between the two groups in Jaffna. She was thunderstruck that a man of his stature should behave in such a manner. “I have known such wonderful people as Dr and Mrs Holmes, the Bunkers, even Sister Elizabeth Baker and the great lady from Karuna Nilayam Miss Hutchins but what I note of John Thomas makes my stomach sick.”

Spurting poison on bishop’s integrity

A Colombo Church member who insisted his name should never be revealed fearing violence from the Jeyanesan cabal wrote that he is concerned by the kind of violence his men are capable of and how they are continuing to treat Bishop Thiagarajah spurting poison on his integrity and even resorting to low down violent means to discredit him.

“How many more court cases are they going to file all financed by American dollars meant for orphans and the vulnerable and retaining lawyers for whom a guinea is one hundred thousand rupees and the standard fee, 21 guineas?”

Their leading lawyer, a Muslim gentleman has certainly got the magic words for the cave of the forty thieves in the Alibaba story. Jeyanesan appears to have stated that he can easily outpace Bishop Thiagarajah because he has an endless flow of dollars from his American, Dutch and Jewish godfathers. Naturally this guy has not reckoned on whose side God would be! Hasn’t he still understood it or does he think God’s angels are employed with the Wider Church Ministries and the United Church of Christ under the direction of John Thomas, the Minister President?

Let me also quote from another letter I received from Colombo:

“John Thomas has informed you to take his name off your list. It is patently clear he does not want to face reality and instead hide from being exposed by his association with frauds and liars. He has to face reality. He invokes prayer which certainly is the correct way for a good priest and the right approach for true Christians. But he must be reminded that it was his assistant Dr Cally Rogers-Witte instigated by James Vijeyekumar who instead of resorting to prayers, rode the high horse of sending an arrogant and unauthorized message that started all the rift encouraging dissidents to pursue unlawful actions that disrupted the beautiful fabric of a united church, thereby destroying all norms of civilized human conduct let alone Christian charity and conscience.

“Even now it is not too late for them to start with penitent prayers to Our Lord to guide the errant dissidents and advise them to reconcile and return to the church, follow protocol, avoid interfering into our internal affairs and administration that is destroying our administrative infrastructure. They should not desecrate and destroy but strive to build. Let them be reminded of the American missionaries who were God-fearing and dedicated and who sacrificed their lives in God’s service to build the two great institutions, Jaffna College and Uduvil Girls’ College. Let them remember our own principals at Uduvil especially those who maintained the rich traditions despite the traumatic travails of civil strife.

Jeyarajan has swindled millions; Vijeyekumar aided and abetted

“They must be reminded of the massive frauds perpetrated by the former treasurer of the JDCSI Annappah Jeyarajan now fled to the ACM who has swindled millions of funds entrusted in his charge by giving loans to his brothers, relations and friends running into millions of rupees, releasing over nine millions at the request of James Vijeyekumar without any authority. Further, retaining with him fixed deposit certificates totaling to 27.6 million rupees; mismanagement of funds and not providing accounts of the Green Memorial Hospital and playing out Tsunami funds kept under his care sent by Christian Aid where Shiranee Mills was the second signatory. It is strange that this man is referred to as the” trusted agent” by Eric Gass and co.”

Such lavishing of diocesan funds is one of the reasons why a number of priests and others are hanging on with Jeyanesan induced no doubt by blackmail should that be necessary. As long as Jeyanesan has the Gang of Four Swindlers headed by an amorously-addicted ex-principal, ex-works manager, ex-mahogany feller, and ex-lay preacher, he seems comfortable to operate from the background and also urge some stupid young priests to involve in violence against the JDCSI. Hands out that can at times amount to as much as Rs.25,000 each and chicken briyani are just additional Jeyanesan incentives. These, to anyone may sound incredible and even untrue but sadly Jeyanesan has this compulsive habit and it is this guy who tried to bribe the CSI Secretary General with liquor, chocolates, perfume and US $500.00. Some say he is smart but in my view he is a clever manipulator but a coward who will never fight from the front and is a shoddy calculator. God has I am sure, ingrained into him the Babel mind; whatever that is, it will not deliver and eventually or even sooner end in disaster.

UCC’s Links with a cabal of swindlers

In view of what has been expressed here and the many feedbacks I have received, I am going to send this to John Thomas respectfully stating that as long as he is the Minister President of the UCC, he is obliged not only to receive such petitions but also act on them. If need be, this matter will be stirred up to such a degree that the whole of the United States will be told how a bunch of American missionary bureaucrats are in liaison with a cabal of swindlers and cheats in Sri Lanka and perhaps in India too and that they are obviously a party to probably one of the major swindler operations in the annals of missionary activities from the US, worse than even that of the disgraced television evangelist Jim Bakkar. There were many others in the US and some are still misleading thousands in the name of God and we surely do not want these in Sri Lanka nor in India.

One major observation in the responses I have received is that these American missionary bureaucrats are ignorant and arrogant. Rufus Anderson was one such and we know the kind of damage he did to us.

As far as the JDCSI is concerned, the right step now, having been patient for too long a time is to ensure criminal charges are brought against such individuals who have swindled public funds. These individuals are capable of violence of the worst kind as such the sooner they are dealt with, the better it is for the church and the community. As for Dr James Vijeyekumar, the Church of South India must recall him and lay charges against him for misconduct and corrupt behaviour.