V. Cholan: Finding "the real truth" and Discovering God's Blessings

A Christian author wrote, “By living fully, recognising that all we do is by His power, we honor God; He in turn blesses us.” For brother in Christ and FCBC member V. Cholan, this quote rings loud and true for the 46-year-old polygraph examiner.

On September 2010, Cholan became the first non-American to be conferred the prestigious American Polygraph Association (APA) President’s Award at its annual conference in the United States. The award is the highest recognition given to polygraph examiners who have served both the profession and the Association, and who have helped advance the field of polygraphy. Established in 1966, the APA is the leading professional polygraph organisation in the world, representing over 3,000 polygraph examiners in private businesses, law enforcement and government.

Besides putting Singapore on the map, Cholan’s key contribution to the field was providing a framework to build a bridge between APA leadership and expert polygraph examiners in the United States and examiners in Asia, and contextualise the complex process of polygraph testing to an Asian context. This resulted in Cholan’s counterparts having a better understanding of the processes, methodologies and cultural issues of polygraph testing in Asia.

Glamorous as it sounds, receiving this prestigious award is just one part of Cholan’s testimony and personal encounter with of God’s unmerited favour. For Cholan, his story first began when he graduated from Singapore’s first basic polygraph school in 1996 and thereon was awarded a scholarship to pursue advanced polygraph related research in the USA. Upon returning to Singapore in 2002, God opened doors for Cholan to expand and excel in his field of work. Having realised his career dreams but feeling that he has not done enough for God in return, Cholan decided to enroll in Faith Community Bible School (FCBS) in 2009 as its pioneer batch of students to “fulfil God’s dream”. It was there at FCBS that the seed of spiritual maturity was planted and led Cholan to develop a desire to proclaim God’s kingdom at a professional and personal level. “FCBS ministered to me to minister to others,’ he says with a smile. ‘My classmates and I experienced the touch of God and we learned to say “I’m lovable and capable!” with conviction!’

From that point on, Cholan witnessed an outpouring of God’s works and blessings upon him and his family. God impressed upon Cholan to travel to India with his parents to connect with his heritage and roots – much to the delight and joy of his parents. Soon after coming back to Singapore, an unforgettable moment for Cholan was when his 77-year old father agreed to attend his FCBS graduation ceremony which was held during a church service. One visit led to another and soon thereafter, Cholan’s father opened his heart to God and accepted Christ during an FCBC worship service. No words could describe the moment as God reconciled the hearts of a father and son.

Cholan counts his wife Jennifer and three children, spiritual family in FCBC, mentors in APA/US and friends as God-sent, to inspire him and go beyond studying the Word of God to a deeper, more personal understanding of God’s purpose in his life. Looking back at his FCBS journey, the polygraph examiner joyfully sums up his discovery of the ‘real truth’, “I joined FCBS to make God’s dream come true. At the end of four months, I realised that in fact, I am God’s dream!”

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