Do you understand what's at stake?

I trust that when I die my soul will be taken up by His Noodely Appendage, and set down next to a beer volcano amidst friendly pirates.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

May the sauce be with you.

\|/ :=( )< /|\

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Rick

Rick-

How is this crap relevant to FPGAs?

Your reputation is now that of a flake.

JJS

Yes, it is so different from before...

I suspect this is what Rick H does when he is disturbed by something or someone. I don't begrudge him his beliefs just because I don't share them. If he is hurting in some way and his response is to post religious stuff here, I'm not going to ask him to stop. I see groups that have a much worse signal to noise ratio.

Better to make a single relevant post than to curse the irrelevant.

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Rick

It's a good question. It has nothing to do with FPGAs. However, this is part of my field of interest, so I am here.

I am a Christian, and there is a judgment coming for all who do not repent and are not saved. I would prevent anyone from being judged by giving them the knowledge and opportunity to repent of their sin, to learn of Jesus Christ, and to avoid that fiery end in Hell.

I care about people too much to ignore the needs of their eternal soul just because people will call me "a flake."

That's fine. I am also a sinner. But I differ from other sinners in this world in that I have received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I have been saved. It is the same for all Christians who are born again. And you will know them by their fruit: If they teach about Jesus Christ, and of salvation. Those are the ones who are His disciples, who are in pursuit of His Holy Spirit, doing as He commands us to do in this world, which is simply this: To teach others of Him, so that they too can hear the truth and be given the opportunity to come out from the deception, from the sin, from judgment, and repent and be saved.

Jesus will save everybody no matter their sin, no matter their past. He asks us to come to Him and ask for forgiveness, and then to take up our cross and follow Him. All who do are secure in eternity. The rest will perish in Hell.

There is an urgency in the air about this. As the many attacks of the enemy spirits are gaining strength in this world, so is the urgent call of the Lord upon the hearts of His faithful. More and more will reach out as I have done. Listen to them. They are leading you to the ONLY path of salvation against what's coming.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

I have interest in this area in my life. Because I am here, I raise my voice to those around me. I do the same in all areas of my life. You happen to see this one here, but if you follow me online you will see the common theme.

I am a Christian. I have been saved by Jesus Christ, and I am born again. I have His Holy Spirit guiding me in my life, which is why I behave in a notably different fashion than other people in this world. His Spirit guides me to truth and life. The enemy's spirit leads people to sin and death.

I urge you to seek the truth, Rick. Learn of Jesus Christ. Look closely at why He went to that cross. He could've ended it at any time, and summoned legions of angels ... but He remained there on purpose.

Nails didn't hold Jesus to the cross. Love did.

Learn of that love, and learn who Jesus Christ is first-hand, without the clutter of other people's influence. Taste for yourself and see that the Lord is good.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

Welcome to my bozo bin. This ain't the place fer it.

--
Les Cargill

Shall I go to the churches and preach the message of salvation to the lost? Or shall I go to where the people are? What does the Lord ask us to do?

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Teach all nations. He remains with us in this labor. It is a labor of love for those who are lost. And it is to be spoken of in all places. It is only the enemy who steps forward and says, "You must separate the 'religion' from the other stuff." The truth is God needs to be at the head of all things in our life. We have the world we do today because God has been taken out. But for those who will seek God, He will save them and restore them to His purposes, which is why born again Christians behave so differently from the rest of the world. It is the witness of His Holy Spirit living inside of their hearts that they labor for Him, and for the lost's souls, that some of those who are lost will be saved.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

How do you know I have not been saved? Your perspective on life and religion is not the only one. Many who have been saved don't feel the need to climb on every soapbox they find to announce it to the world.

Your presence here is not so much about the Lord as it is your ego.

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Rick

I'm not going to kill file you as others will be doing. But I am going to mark this thread as to be ignored, so I it is unlikely I will be seeing your replies.

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Rick

Frankly, Rick, you should take it where it's welcome. We're happy to talk FPGAs, electronics, and all things related with you. But pure religious proseltyzing is spam, the same as the folks telling us about the evils of Islam, or ranting about specific Italian professors, or promising to enlarge our penises while shrinking our mortgages. And if you keep it up, folks will simply add you to their block list, which doesn't discriminate based on topic.

--
Rob Gaddi, Highland Technology -- www.highlandtechnology.com
 
Email address domain is currently out of order.  See above to fix.

(snip)

TS's behavior is indicative of issues with recognizing one's own borders. If anybody is seeking for religious counseling, it is alright to give him/her appropriate advice. But talking about religion to people not willing to hear about it actually makes them LESS inclined to follow that religion. So, the TS does not serve the God, but his own ego.

The problem with border (ego) issues is that it's a huge "bug" which makes you vulnerable to some nasty issues (like various sorts of addiction, or people seeking to exploit your vulnerability). One should be humble to avoid such issues.

Gene

Consider your guidance, with God's guidance:

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

Jesus is giving everybody a chance. Even those who will reject Him. His desire is that none shall perish, so He waits through all of this for those last few who will be saved:

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Repentance. Asking forgiveness. All who do will be saved.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

I have been wondering. How is it possible that you seem to feel that preaching here, to the very few people left on Usenet, somehow fulfills your God-given duty to spread your faith? I seriously doubt God will think much of your efforts. You need to really go out there and teach the people. There is much work to be done in teaching the non-believers in Asia, Middle-East, Africa for example.

I don't come here to preach. This activity is part of my life. Where I am, I am speaking about Jesus so that those who have an ear to hear might hear, repent, ask forgiveness, and be saved.

My life is like this in all areas. I'm a servant, and a teacher, of Jesus Christ, because I speak what He spoke. My desires are to let people have the opportunity to hear that which He spoke, and to know why He came here to the Earth.

It's His calling for us in our lives (to do this in all walks of our lives).

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

Made me wonder. Is organized religion the adult form of an "imaginary friend" thing? There are creepy forum threads about people twisting their brains so that they lose a connection with reality and perceive their imaginary friend as a real one (or at least they claim to do so):

I thing that religion (of any kind) is a soft way to lose one's mind tolerated by the society. Just like alcohol is the soft drug which causes addiction but still is tolerated by the society.

Gene

Thereby implicitly calling into question the value of belief systems that don't think you need to follow your specific way.

And also, incidentally, using exactly the same language as just about all of the so-called-Christian right who use Christ's name to gain power over their fellow human beings, and then use that power to do a whole bunch of exceedingly un-Christian things.

So -- every time you get the urge to show us all what a all-around superior being you are by publicly praying, re-read Matthew 6. Then keep reading it until the urge to do EXACTLY WHAT JESUS TOLD YOU NOT TO DO passes.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

There are many forms of religion. Most of them are as you describe, a way to make a person feel better about their life, etc. It's little more than a social club to appease part of a conscience.

Christianity is different. You know it's different by reading the Bible and learning who Jesus Christ is. Because He is truly God, the words on the page are not like other words. They speak to you on the inside in a way no other book can or does.

People will either be aware of this, or not, when they begin to hear about Jesus Christ, and begin reading / studying the Bible. The words on the page will either speak to them or not.

The message of salvation is only for those who can hear the message. For the rest, it will never be understood because it requires a supernatural depositing of knowledge and understanding by God to move from the flesh- only understanding / reasoning to then also include spiritual things.

If you hear His voice in your inmost man, knowing that He is calling out to you, do not harden your heart. He is calling out to save you from the coming judgment, and Hell. He is calling out to restore you to eternal life, and welcome you into His Kingdom.

It's not about a man (pastor, preacher, evangelist, or otherwise). It's not about money. It's not about status. It's not about notoriety or fame. It's not about anything, except for one thing: it's about hearing the truth, and pursuing it. Him to us, and us to Him.

It is a personal relationship, not a religion, between us and Him. And for each person it is independent and unique, but all Christians who are born again experience the same general thing: knowledge of who He is, His presence continually in our lives, along with the negatives: that the people of this world who are not born again hate us, and criticize us, and make fun of us, etc. We are also the targets of evil spirits, who then rise up to do us harm in a multitude of astoundingly complex ways in our lives, using even our good intentions and desires to help people against us.

It's really quite amazing what happens to the born again Christian. It's a work of God, not of us. All we do is hear Him, go to Him, and obey Him (repent, ask forgiveness, and then live as He commands, because we are able to then hear Him from that point forward because of the born again nature).

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

Why are you trying to turn the group into a theological debating forum? Can you just ignore transgressors and let the group settle down to something more useful? Provoking a debate will just prolong the disruption.

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Rick C