Do you understand what's at stake?

[Rick C. Hodgin]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 5:26:49 PM UTC-4, Evgeny Filatov wrote:

On 26.04.2016 0:15, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

(skip)

The reason there's so much evil, greed, fighting, hate, lust, etc., in the
world is because of sin, and the natural man's inability to discern things
of the spirit. Without that discernment, without the "eyes to see spiritual
things," man is left knowing only what he can know by his natural senses.

The truth is the evil spirits play off of those senses, exuding thoughts,
feelings, emotions, into the flesh, tempting men and women in various
ways to do harmful things to themselves and people.

For the born again Christian, when these attacks come, they still affect
our flesh, but we are able to identify the attacks and then pray and cast
the evil spirits away. Because of this, born again Christians will not
be influenced to do the same things non-born again people will do, though
that temptation is always there.

It requires discipline, focus, a conscious effort to overcome. But, it
is possible, and it does require all of the Ephesians 6:10+ armor of God.


Rick, there's also a scientific way to view (and address) that problem.
Have you read Kelly McGonigal's "The Willpower Instinct"?

"Some neuroscientists go so far as to say that we have one brain but two
minds--or even, two people living inside our mind. There's the version of
us that acts on impulse and seeks immediate gratification, and the
version of us that controls our impulses and delays gratification to
protect our long-term goals. They're both us, but we switch back and
forth between these two selves. Sometimes we identify with the person
who wants to lose weight, and sometimes we identify with the person who
just wants the cookie. This is what defines a willpower challenge: Part
of you wants one thing, and another part of you wants something else. Or
your present self wants one thing, but your future self would be better
off if you did something else. When these two selves disagree, one
version of us has to override the other. The part of you that wants to
give in isn't bad--it simply has a different point of view about what
matters most."

Gene

The natural man can only understanding things in natural forms. They
call it "two minds," but in reality there is the one man, and the sin
nature, through which the evil spirits can influence the person to be
tempted into sin.

Jesus saves people who seek the truth. If a person doesn't even know
what that truth will hold, where it will take them, and yet they are
intent on knowing it, God knows this as He sees straight through all
the outward facade, and into the heart, and He then begins to arrange
things in a person's life so they will be led here in the natural
world to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (of recognizing sin, of
recognizing our own personal sin, of our need for repentance, and our
inner drive and desire to ask forgiveness, to which Jesus forgives us,
and then gives us the born again nature in that selfsame hour).

Jesus is everything we need. He created the universe, and everything
that exists (including us) was created by Him. He is well aware of
our problem, and for all those who seek the truth, He is there, ready,
willing, and able to save.

The natural man will never understand spiritual things. But the one
seeking the truth is supernaturally augmented by God so that that man
or woman can know the truth, even though the flesh by itself cannot
know it.

God is active in our lives. He leads us and guides us. It's as the
wind blows. We don't know where it comes from, or where it's going,
but we are able to hear the sound, and see the effects. So it is also
for everyone born of the spirit, or in pursuit of truth before the day
they are born again.

God sees outside of time, and knows our beginning, and our ending. He
is always there for those who will be saved.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Evgeny Filatov]

On 25.04.2016 21:45, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10:10:55 AM UTC-4, Anssi Saari wrote:
"Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> writes:

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 1:29:56 PM UTC-4, Les Cargill wrote:
Welcome to my bozo bin. This ain't the place fer it.

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?

http://biblehub.com/matthew/28-19.htm
"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.

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):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa

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

 

[Tim Wescott]

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 11:45:57 -0700, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10:10:55 AM UTC-4, Anssi Saari wrote:
"Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> writes:

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 1:29:56 PM UTC-4, Les Cargill wrote:
Welcome to my bozo bin. This ain't the place fer it.

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?

http://biblehub.com/matthew/28-19.htm "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.

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.

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

 

[rickman]

On 4/25/2016 4:35 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:

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.

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.

--

Rick C

 

[Evgeny Filatov]

On 25.04.2016 23:40, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

(snip)

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.

I started reading the New Testament a few years ago. Technically I'm
still halfway through it.

I do love Christian rock music, however. It's sincere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeteXVSWz5o

(snip)

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.

That's why I'm an atheist. Because believing in God implies believing in
the evil spirits.

Gene

 

[Evgeny Filatov]

On 26.04.2016 0:15, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

(skip)

The reason there's so much evil, greed, fighting, hate, lust, etc., in the
world is because of sin, and the natural man's inability to discern things
of the spirit. Without that discernment, without the "eyes to see spiritual
things," man is left knowing only what he can know by his natural senses.

The truth is the evil spirits play off of those senses, exuding thoughts,
feelings, emotions, into the flesh, tempting men and women in various
ways to do harmful things to themselves and people.

For the born again Christian, when these attacks come, they still affect
our flesh, but we are able to identify the attacks and then pray and cast
the evil spirits away. Because of this, born again Christians will not
be influenced to do the same things non-born again people will do, though
that temptation is always there.

It requires discipline, focus, a conscious effort to overcome. But, it
is possible, and it does require all of the Ephesians 6:10+ armor of God.

Rick, there's also a scientific way to view (and address) that problem.
Have you read Kelly McGonigal's "The Willpower Instinct"?

"Some neuroscientists go so far as to say that we have one brain but two
minds—or even, two people living inside our mind. There’s the version of
us that acts on impulse and seeks immediate gratification, and the
version of us that controls our impulses and delays gratification to
protect our long-term goals. They’re both us, but we switch back and
forth between these two selves. Sometimes we identify with the person
who wants to lose weight, and sometimes we identify with the person who
just wants the cookie. This is what defines a willpower challenge: Part
of you wants one thing, and another part of you wants something else. Or
your present self wants one thing, but your future self would be better
off if you did something else. When these two selves disagree, one
version of us has to override the other. The part of you that wants to
give in isn’t bad—it simply has a different point of view about what
matters most."

Gene

 

[Tim Wescott]

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 13:50:19 -0700, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 4:35:03 PM UTC-4, Tim Wescott wrote:
On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 11:45:57 -0700, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10:10:55 AM UTC-4, Anssi Saari wrote:
"Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> writes:

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 1:29:56 PM UTC-4, Les Cargill wrote:
Welcome to my bozo bin. This ain't the place fer it.

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?

http://biblehub.com/matthew/28-19.htm "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.

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.

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

Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life.

If you think about it logically, Tim, how many ways do you need? Is one
insufficient?

How many true truths are there, for example? There is only one. "How
old are you, Rick?" There's only one correct answer to that: "46".
Anything else and I'll be either in a different frame of accounting (n
units instead of 46 years, in which case my original answer is still
true, even though they are other true answers as they all fundamentally
relate back to the save answer), or I'll be lying. There is only one
truth.

And how many sources of life are there? Is one insufficient to do the
job?

And then when you read the Bible and look at the life of Jesus Christ,
you conclude something along the lines of what Napoleon concluded:

http://www.stempublishing.com/magazines/bt/
BT17/1889_319_Napoleons_Testimony.html
"I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man.
Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders
of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does
not exist. There is between Christianity and every other religion
the distance of infinity.

"We can say to the authors of every other religion, You are
neither gods nor the agents of Deity. You are but missionaries of
falsehood, moulded from the same clay with the rest of mortals. You
are made with all the passions and vices inseparable from them.
Your temples and your priests proclaim your origin. Such will be
the judgment, the cry of conscience, of whoever examines the gods
and the temples of paganism..."

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.

Seek after Jesus Christ, Tim. Not men. Men are in sin. Men will do
sinful things. Jesus is not a man that He should lie, but He is God and
is THE truth. He can only tell the truth, do the truth, for He is
literal truth through and through. Anyone who hears truth, hears His
voice. And anyone who pursues truth, pursues Him, and Him alone.

This is the message born again Christians give people: Follow Jesus
Christ.

It is personal, between Him and you. It does not go through a church,
through a spouse, through a pastor, through a believing co-worker. It
is in your heart, and you are known to Him by your heart condition.

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.

Seek after Jesus Christ, Tim. He will show you the way. And if you do
come to know Him, you will know why He commands His followers to teach
others about Him:

Hell lasts forever.
But so does Heaven.

For those who do not hear His call, and do not believe, the message is
not for them. They will find out soon enough the reality of who He is,
though it will be too late for them at that time.

For those who can hear His call in their heart, this message is for you.
It is Him reaching out to save your eternal soul from damnation in Hell
fire. He is rescuing you because you will hear and follow the truth.

Listen to Him, and ask Him to help you. If you set your sights on this,
He will do the rest for you. He'll do the things for you that you alone
cannot do.

Jesus is amazing like that.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

Thinking about it logically, you're just the kind of religious nutter who
will tie innocent people to stakes and burn them in public.

Don't bother replying -- plonk-a-doodle-you.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

 

[KJ]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 4:51:09 PM UTC-4, Rick C. Hodgin wrote:

I do not debate people. I teach them. There's a difference.

There's also a difference between 'preach' and 'teach', perhaps you should try to better understand that difference. You earlier said that you don't preach. But by the Merriam-Webster simple definitions of the words 'preach' (1) and 'teach' (2), your writings here fall under the label of 'preach' much more than 'teach'.

While many people here I suspect are open to those who 'teach', they are also much against those who 'preach'. If you do indeed 'teach', then you should be able to identify at least one person who has learned at least one lesson in this forum from what you've written in this thread. If you do identify such a lesson, then maybe you should curtail your future writings to focus on the little bit of writing that would result in the actual teaching and learning of a lesson and stop the long-winded sermons and preaching that do not contribute to any teaching.

I won't be engaging any further. If I have enlightened you on how to understand the difference between 'preach' and 'teach', then I've succeeded in delivering my message. If I haven't, then I won't go on since I can't force one to learn.

There are thousands of other newsgroups out there that you can find out there as well. No need to focus your attention on this group (or others that I read), spread it around to other groups...please

Kevin

(1) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preach
Preach:
: to make a speech about religion in a church or other public place
: to deliver a sermon
: to write or speak about (something) in an approving way
: to say that (something) is good or necessary
: to write or speak in an annoying way about the right way to behave

(2) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teach
Teach:
: to cause or help (someone) to learn about a subject by giving lessons
: to give lessons about (a particular subject) to a person or group
: to cause or help (a person or animal) to learn how to do something by giving lessons, showing how it is done, etc.

 

[Rick C. Hodgin]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 6:14:27 PM UTC-4, Tim Wescott wrote:

Thinking about it logically, you're just the kind of religious nutter who
will tie innocent people to stakes and burn them in public.

As a general rule, Satan uses anything and everything at his disposal to
try to dissuade people from giving Jesus Christ serious consideration. Of
course this includes tempting people who claim to be Christians to do truly
heinous and awful things in "Christ's name."

Jesus Christ is not like that. The people who heinous things are not of
God, but are of this world, and are condemned.

Jesus Christ is different than the heinous things sinful men do. It's
why I point you to Him, and not to a particular church, or anything else.

The veil in the Jewish temple which separated the holy place from the
most holy place was torn in two from top to bottom when Jesus died on
the cross.

There now exists no barriers between us and God, through the blood of
Jesus Christ who, by His atoning sacrifice on the cross, made it possible
for us to directly commune with God.

-----
Do not let the actions of sinful men dissuade you from learning about
Jesus Christ. You will find that He is nothing like the actions of those
sinful men, but rather He is everything you've ever longed for in your
entire life.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Rick C. Hodgin]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10:19:36 PM UTC-4, KJ wrote:
> [snip]

The subject I'm teaching about is the Bible, Jesus Christ, and salvation.
It will come across as preachy to many people, but it is teaching in all
ways because there is an active enemy of this world who teaches falsely
about Jesus Christ, and even entices men to do sinful things under the
name and banner of being a servant of Jesus Christ.

That enemy is the enemy. Jesus is the cure. And those who will seek
the truth will know the difference.

-----
The message of the cross is not for everybody. It is only for those
people who will be saved. If you can hear His voice, His call in your
heart, listen to Him. He is calling out to you to save your eternal
soul.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Rick C. Hodgin]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10:19:36 PM UTC-4, KJ wrote:

There are thousands of other newsgroups out there that you can find
out there as well. No need to focus your attention on this group (or
others that I read), spread it around to other groups...please

(1) I do. Wherever I am in the various interests of my life, I am teaching
about these things. Jesus Christ is my Savior. He is my Redeemer. He
has forgiven my sins and given me eternal life and taught me that He is
willing to do the same for all people, giving all who come to Him eternal
life. It's why I reach out to others, so those which are around me will
have the opportunity to come to know the truth about who Jesus Christ is,
why we need Him, and how He saves us from judgment and condemnation.

(2) It is a teaching of Satan that we are not supposed to have God actively
as the foremost consideration in our lives. He is the author of the
entire universe. He made everything, and everyone. He knows better
than we do the plans He has for us, where we are going, what's up ahead
over the next hill, and so on.

He knows these things so much better than we do that we would literally
be fools to try to push Him away from the driver's seat in any endeavor
we're involved with.

-----
What Jesus Christ brings with Him to everything He's involved with is total
and completely victory and dominance. Not dominance as by force, but by
total knowledge, and total guidance into maximum return for all involved.

Jesus Christ is building eternal communities. He is building up, not tearing
down. The enemy, Satan and all his demon imps, are the ones tearing down,
hurting, hating, destroying. Jesus Christ is life, and He is giving, and He
is uplifting in all areas.

The enemy of God is formidable. He will destroy you if you're not careful.
You must pay close attention to his evil ploys, and the only way you can
know them is to know Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the only truth
there is. He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. Nobody comes to the
Father in Heaven, except through Him.

One is sufficient. And in Jesus Christ, One is beautifully amazingly
astoundingly glorious in hope, life, loving, and giving. Majesty knows
no equal, for He defines it.

-----
I pray you come to know Him, Kevin. He will change your life ... forever.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Nikolaos Kavvadias]

Rick C. Hodgin wrote

Do yo understand what's at stake?

Everything. Nothing.

Best regards,
Nikolaos Kavvadias