Any 'friend of mine' is someone I got to know who has shared some part
of my life with me whether they are failures or victories. In failures,
they have shared my sorrow and defeat and in victories they have shared
my exuberance and joy.
Through this political season, I have come to see who are really my
friends. I am glad that facebook has served as a testing ground for that
to reveal my real friends out of the many on facebook. I have rarely added anyone
to be my friend on facebook that I did not know in some capacity as a
friend.
Any true friend of mine knows where my allegiance in all issues stands
and that is with Christ and I have never been one to shy away from my
convictions and state what I believe in.
I have always tried to look to Scripture for examples of how God’s people
handled situations and seen the aftermath. The aftermath was negative at
times but it did not stop God’s people from speaking out against
immorality.
So, I told myself since I belong to Christ who am I to stop speaking out
against immorality even if it meant speaking out against someone who
could become the most powerful person in the world.
For me the issues of abortion and gay marriage have always been the most
important issues to make my judgment upon whether I wrote for the Pitt
News or Pittsburgh Standard (http://www.pittsburghstandard.com)
But those two issues are also predicated on a person’s own character
issues.
Every article I have written or our PS Board has approved was meant to
show how wrong Obama would be for America when it comes to ‘abortion’
and ‘gay marriage’
“So God created human beings in his own image. In
the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then
God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and
govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all
the animals that scurry along the ground.” (Genesis 1:27-28, NLT)
A man and woman cannot be obedient to Genesis 1:27-28 when they approve
of abortion and gay marriage. Obama has approved both of them and
becoming president-elect does not change that. He promised to sign the
Freedom of Choice Act and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Even the people of California, the most liberal state in the nation have
voted to ban Gay Marriage! Praise the Lord!
So, anytime I felt I should write an article exposing any person for
their deeds that I have perceived as evil, I have done that. Pittsburgh
Standard would not have even been born if it were not for the work I did
with the Pitt News.
To many of my friends that became a sign of respect and integrity
because they knew no matter what hateful comments, letters, columns, etc
they saw that I received in the Pitt News, it did not sway me from
standing up to what I believed to be the Truth when tested with
Scripture.
To others who had considered me as a friend but my views did not line up
with their worldview or political view, I became an enemy. Since to them
I became an enemy, they felt free to attack me and bash me which went
out to about 30,000 readership.
The Pitt News had allowed anti-Ramesh columns to be published instead
of ‘letters to the editor’ until one day they had to put a moratorium on
anti-Ramesh columns. I continued to write until they received pressure
and I was removed as a columnist but the Pittsburgh Standard took me in.
I still have a lot of gratitude for the Pitt News for giving me a start.
To some who believe Pittsburgh Standard exists to promote bigotry,
racism, intolerance, etc they are ashamed of me and the PS. But I
request anyone to read the paper and test it through the years and see
when the paper is tested with Scripture if those words truly describe
the paper.
Their view of me being a Christian is someone who should love at all
times which meant I could not attack any person who was seen as doing
immoral things but I should continue to write DEVOTIONALS which are
mostly about Jesus’ love.
As I publicly criticized Obama with columns, I became a bigot, racist,
and intolerant person. Yet, speaking out against a person can be the
right thing to do at times.
John the Baptist spoke out against Herod Antipas who was the ruler of
Galilee.
“John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the
ruler of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for
many other wrongs he had done. So Herod put John in prison, adding this
sin to his many others.” (Luke 3:19-20, NLT)
Imagine if this happened today and a preacher spoke out against the
president-elect for approving the holocaust of the unborn
or gay-marriage!
The preacher would be called intolerant and bigoted who had no love for
his fellowman and how dare he be self-righteous to criticize another. If
anything, they would have expected the preacher to stick with preaching
instead of interfering with the affairs of the state.
John the Baptist was put in prison for speaking out against immorality
by interfering in the affairs of the state when his original mission was
to prepare the Way for the Lord Jesus. Once in prison he felt tormented
but Jesus knew what he was going through and sent back encouraging news
to John the Baptist.
“Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John
and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and
the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, ‘God blesses
those who do not turn away because of me.’” (Luke 7:22-23, NLT)
Friends share things with friends because they care for them. Sometimes
friends do not share things with friends because they care for them.
When I tagged you all in my notes, it was because I cared for you all. I
did not want you to vote for someone who supported abortion and gay
marriage.
Many of 'your love for Obama' and what he stands for overshadowed our own
friendship. It made me see that to many I was a friend only as long as I
did not shake your political view and replace it with a biblical
worldview.
I have also realized those who were planning to vote for Obama were the
ones that attacked me the harshest. I don’t add friends to facebook to
have a lot of friends. I add friends because I know them and want to use
facebook as a means to ministry which also means giving out the truth
and exposing lies.
If a friend wants to share with you something, “Is
it right to say that I don’t want to hear from you because I don’t like
your views so don’t ever tag me again?” or
“Is it better to try to understand where your friend is coming from and
why he/she did what they did?”
This election has shown me the hatred of those who love Obama toward’s
those who speak out against Obama. Those people are even willing to
sacrifice their friends for the sake of Obama.
Does that not sound scary?
It does to me!
Even followers of Christ have went as far as saying ‘you are not even
worthy to be called a brother-in-Christ or a friend’ because I have
spoken out against Obama.
Three days had passed and no friend of mine challenged his comment
except a stranger who had come to my defense who also happened to be a
brother in Christ.
Does that mean all my friends on facebook who
happen to be followers of Christ actually agree with this person that
anyone who speaks out against immorality does not deserve to be called a
brother-in-Christ or a sister-in-Christ?
Of course not as shown by the stranger's comments. I have never
shied away from standing up to my convictions and expressing them and
will never shy away as long as the Lord Jesus gives me the strength and
power to endure.
It is good to be loved but my mom once reminded me that many people
loved Jesus and became Jesus’ friend until Jesus challenged them. Once
Jesus talked about denying themselves and following Him, a lot of those
that were supposed to be his friends turned away. Jesus asked His
disciples if they wanted to turn away too.
Anyone will be your friend, if you don’t hit certain buttons in their
life and make them feel uncomfortable but then they are really not your
friends because they have not given you the opportunity to be open with
them. Even if they have given you the opportunity, they have not
reasoned with you but attacked you because other things became more
important to them than your friendship. This is what happened this
election season. I have not attacked any of my friends for supporting
Obama publicly as they have done to me.
I hope I am not wrong but I have felt people were more ready to attack
me for writing against Obama than someone who wrote against Jesus or
Christianity.
As a Christian, if you are expecting to be loved, you are in the wrong
profession. You will be loved by the world as long as you abide by its
rules and what it wants but that is not what Jesus has called you or I
too. We have been called to be a light in the darkness to expose the
things of evil.
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me
first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it,
but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the
world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not
greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will
persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the
One who sent me.” (John 15:18-21, NLT)
I don’t expect to be loved when I speak out against immoral issues from
Scripture. If anything, I expect to be hated and my former friends on facebook did not
disappoint.
You need to ask yourself, ‘Do you want to be a
friend of Ramesh who will write devotionals to show the love of God but
will also write articles that many will see as intolerant, hateful, and
bigoted?’
At least, those that removed me as a friend from facebook did more than
what Obama did. Once they felt I was speaking against Obama whom they
loved, they did not want to associate with me anymore but Obama stayed
in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years even though Wright spoke against
America.
Who was right here?
I would say my former friends because they at least had integrity to
disassociate themselves from me who they perceived to be spewing hate
speech.
That just shows if people are not comfortable whether friend or not with
what others are saying and they continue to say it, people are quick to
distance themselves as my former friends did.
Why did Obama not do that?
If Obama had done that with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Priest Michael
Flaegher, anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, corrupt financier Tony Rezko,
anti-Semite Rashid Khallidi, terrorist Bill Ayers, communist Frank
Marshall Davis, socialist Saul Allinsky, etc I would have had respect
for him and his character. The only one he distanced himself was Wright
after Wright personally attacked him, not America for 20 years.
To you who is right?
My former friends who removed me as friend or
Obama who continued his associations?
Please if I tag you in my notes and you do not want to be tagged, please
remind me because sometimes I do forget.
Please decide if you want to be a friend of mine or not. This political
season has shown me how many of those I thought as friends actually hate
my writings but the Lord never wants me to use that as an excuse for not
speaking out.
Why do you think Christians are hated when they
love Jesus?
It is because they give a message from Scripture that the world does not
like such as "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes
to the Father except through Him" or speak out against immorality and try
to move others to action.
Unfortunately, we have cheapened Christianity by not be willing to
expose immorality in the name of love and tolerance.
Yet, when you read all the comments on my account
which I have not deleted, how many of my former friends do you think
were tolerant towards my views?
It sounds like tolerance is going along with what people like and not
hurting them even if they are going against Scripture. Our Lord wants us
to speak out on issues that go against Bible, God's Word whether we are
perceived as tolerant or not.
The early Christians were thrown to the lions not because they hated
people but because they spoke the Truth and would not renounce Christ.
To others they were intolerant and deserved the arena because they were
not tolerant to the views of the emperors who believed they were gods.
I was talking to two sisters in Christ who told me that they saw the
heat I was taking for my writing. I told them I did not want to
implicate my PS Board for the incendiary remarks so I kept them out of it
and took the heat. I think their response was but ‘Ramesh you are hated’. My
response was “I have been the most hated person on campus and the most
loved“.
You cannot expect to take one and not the other.
Friends, I want to encourage you if you are standing up for what you
believe to be true from Scripture and are vilified, don’t stop the
vilification from preventing you from being a spokesman. You will be the
most dangerous voice to the masses because they cannot stop you unless
they kill you.
But remember if anything you do is out of selfish ambition and cannot be
supported from Scripture then the persecution or suffering you take is
well deserved and must be examined so you come back on the right path.
“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do
good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.
Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set
apart Christ as Lord. ” (1 Peter 3:13-14, NIV)
My duty should be to continually use
http://www.pittsburghstandard.com for the Truth and also love my
enemies at all times.
“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love
your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who hurt you.” (Luke 6:27-28, NLT)
“If you love only those who love you, why should
you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if
you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit?
Even sinners do that much!” (Luke 6:32-33, NLT)
“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them
without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be
very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High,
for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be
compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” (Luke 6:35-36, NLT)
“Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by
doing good.” (Romans 12:21, NLT)
Please pray for president elect-Obama that God, the Father, God, the
Son, and God, the Holy Spirit will be transforming and changing his
heart to become a man after God’s own heart as King David was so God’s
Kingdom will be proclaimed and lived out, for God can change anyone no
matter their views.
The last comment I read on facebook was this before I began to write
this article:
“Hi Ramesh, Are you still alive? Are you OK? I hope people
didn't murder you. I haven't seen your posts since the election
finished. Ramesh, don't worry, you are still our brother in
Christ. We'll always love you so much!!"
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is
born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17, NIV)
May my spoken words and
unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my
Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)
Friend, do you want to live for God
even if the world hates you?
Friend, are you willing to speak God's Word of Truth to the masses?
Will you be willing to lose all your friends for the sake of Jesus
Christ?
Know you will not be alone for there
are a remnant of followers of Christ even in this generation who will
continue to follow the Truth and fight for Truth depending on Jesus, the
Way, the Truth, and Life to give them God's Word as Elijah experienced
in his depression when he felt he was the only one fighting for God
until God revealed Himself to him. It started with rest and eating and
later with this promise:
"Yet I reserve
seven thousand in Israel— all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal
and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18, NLT)
If you would like to invite Jesus
Christ into your heart and make Him a daily part of your life, you can
this very moment. You will never be alone. You can claim God's promises
for you in the Bible and see them come true, before your eyes, in His
wonderful timing. You don't have to wait for a special time to come to
the Lord. You can come right now as you pray this prayer, meaning it in
your heart. You can invite the GREAT PHYSICIAN right now as you make this your prayer.
Dear Jesus,
thank you for healing the paralytic after forgiving his sins. You set him
free to go home. I want to be free. I don’t know
everything about you. I still have a lot of questions. What I do know is
that you died on the cross for my sins. When it comes to sin, I am a
paralytic Oh Lord. I am infected with this deadly disease known as sin.
I am not perfect but a sinner who needs your cleansing blood to clean me
of my sin. I confess to you my sin and repent of my sin. I know
you have forgiven me when you died on the cross. I want to accept that
forgiveness. Thank
you for shedding your cleansing precious blood for me. You were nailed
to the cross because of me. It is like I actually held the hammer and
pounded the nails so I could be free. Thank you for willingly dying for
me Jesus. Thank you for taking the shame and pain for me. Thank you for
doing that to set me free. I come to the cross and ask you for your
healing in my life. Thank you for the power of your Blood to redeem
humanity. Thank you for coming back to life to save us and give us
Eternal Life as we yield to you. Your blood can heal us where we are. I
love you Jesus. I want you Jesus. Even with my questions, I come to you now and accept you
into my heart. Please Jesus come into my heart and make my heart your
home. Give me a transfusion of change. Live in me Jesus and I will live
for you and serve you the rest of the days of my life. I thank you Jesus
for coming into my heart and making my heart your home. Thank you for
living in me Jesus. I acknowledge you now as my Lord and Personal
Savior. Please be the Lord and Savior of my life. Thank you for being my
Lord and Personal Savior Jesus and because of what you have done for me when
God looks at me, He now sees me covered in your blood and His judgment
passes over me. Thank you that you have heard my prayer and answered me.
Thank you for being with me Lord. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Thank you Jesus I now belong to you and never need to be alone! You will
always be with me and have given me Salvation. In Your Name I Pray
Jesus! Amen!
May my spoken words and
unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my
Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)
