Pwer to Change", fascade for a US Cult

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Friday July 18, 2003 12:21

by James McKenna

Foremost among those who pushed the "Power to Change" is Dun Laoghaire man Paddy Monaghan. Paddy recently accompanied a group of Christian Zionists to the headquarters of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem , which was mentioned below. This is a right wing group who believes in a New World Order based in Israel.

Paddy lived in desperation in his northside bedsit with only a piece pf paper on the wall with "security, trust, confidence" written on it, until a visit to the University of York introduced him to some "charismatic" people. Some would say weak and ready for brainwashing Paddy, at a weekend in Limerick sponsored by the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship, finally realised his "mission" to "build up Jewish-Christian relations".

The Power to Change racket , which Paddy drives with fanatical zeal, is a front for the Campus Crusade for Christ, a cult based on a massive complex in Orlando Florida and led by Cult Leader Bill Bright. The organization has an annual budget of over $100,000,000, and thousands of "crusaders" who distribute tracts like the "Four Spiritual Laws" and "witness" on high school and college campuses. The Power to Change is also known as the Zion Trust , less publicly.

Bright also poured money into other groups such as the Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF) . Bright explained his bogus plan to one journalist:
Christian World Liberation Front was, in the beginning a front organization for Campus Crusade - Only about half a dozen of us were aware of what was happening and it was a test. There was a powerful radical movement among the students then, and we were trying to figure out which route to take, whether we as a movement should adopt a radical counter-culture approach on campus in order to be all things to all people that we might win them for Christ.
CWLF - the creation of Bill Bright - eventually split from Campus Crusade, but not before coalescing as an important element in the "Jesus People" or "Jesus Freak" movements in the 1970s, which in turn nurtured the cultish Vineyard churches and communities of that era.
Bright was present at the creation of the modern Christian fundamentalist right, as a participant in the little-known Third Century Movement. His group also poured over one billion dollars into evangelistic projects from 1974 through 1976, including a glitzy "Here's Life, America!" revival campaign funded with help from Texas billionaire Nelson Hunt. Today, Bill Bright is know for his involvement with groups such as Washington for Jesus, Christian Embassy. He is also given a million dollars for the "Templeton Prize in Religion", a gift established by financier Sir John Templeton.
Onward Christian soldiers! Perhaps Paddy would be better employed ousting one of the Mount Argus Cuckoo priests who has been secretly nesting in a family home in Foxrock for the past thirty years and more. Especially since the lady of the house is so keen on the Power to Change!