Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We hope this update finds you rejoicing in your Salvation, and that through all the trials life has visited you with in 2004 thus far, you are purposing in your heart to not allow “feelings” of betrayal to gain a permanent foothold in your mind.  We will be sharing some of the things God is doing through this ministry near the end, but I first want to address an ever increasing tactic (yet age old tactic) the devil is using to bombard the minds of Christians with the intention to rob them of the joy of their salvation and their confidence in God and His Word:  Let’s call this weapon: The “feeling” that God has betrayed you weapon.

Satan is relentlessly bombarding Christians in the “feeling” realm to try to get them to believe that God has betrayed them, or will betray them, sooner or later.  God warns us in Proverbs 3:5-6 that when we start “leaning unto our OWN understanding” … our own limited understanding invariably concludes that what I’m “feeling” MUST be reality.  Not!

“Feelings” are 99.99% the exact opposite measurement in which we are to relate and respond to God.  Had God not given us His written Word, and preserved its accuracy to this very day, I daresay there would not be one true Christian found today on this planet!  Why?  Because our whole belief system would be firmly entrenched in the emotional cesspool of “feelings.”  In condensed version:  God’s Word is the ONLY source to build and maintain one’s belief system.  Any “feeling” I’m being tempted with that contradicts the clearly written Word of God must be silenced as quickly as possible, because it is such a deadly and affective weapon of Satan, and God hates this weapon being used against His people, yet He leaves much of the responsibility up to us to do something about it.   

Think about it...How many of us have trusted God that something would happen the way we were trusting God to allow it to happen – expecting God to make it happen in fact --only to see it not happen that way?  How many of us have been obedient to God’s will as best as we know it to be (which can be one of the most trying experiences of the Christian walk), only to see our hopes crumble around us that there would be joy at the end of our obedience faith journey in the here and now?  Whenever we believe God is going to do something we are hoping and expecting Him to do, and it doesn’t work out the way we wanted it to…we open ourselves up – if we are not wisely careful – to being bombarded with the spiritually and emotionally poisoned darts that attempts to brainwash us into thinking that God is either:  

1) A liar. 

2) God cannot be trusted after all. 

3) God enjoys playing cruel mind-games with us.

4) Maybe this whole “faith thing with God” is just a bunch of nonsense that      always ends up in self-inflicted pain that has no earthly value whatsoever, let alone in eternity.

We here in America are being subtly and oftentimes blatantly influenced by a voice coming out of various Christian circles that God delights in giving us the desires of our heart … and that is the beginning and the ending of the matter.  To believe this as one’s SOLE foundation of how a believer is to relate to God is a setup for letdown, if you haven’t learned this the hard way yet.  Feel free to take issue with me, but here’s the wisdom I’ve chosen to listen to from every seasoned Christian I’ve ever questioned about this matter:  “God will give you the desires of HIS heart, and if your desire doesn’t line up with His…guess whose desire doesn’t get fulfilled and guess Who’s does – if you remain a faithful and active believer in Jesus Christ?” 

The wise I chose to listen to agrees on these matters:

1)  God gives us what suits Him in light of eternity.  What suits Him will ultimately be good for us … in light of eternity -- not always here on earth.

2)  God makes NO mistakes.  None … as in zero.

3)  God is NEVER wrong.  Ever.

4)God delights in giving us the desires of our heart that make us MORE CHRISTLIKE.  That almost always involves trials  (suffering to one degree or another).  If attaining “Christlikeness” could be accomplished through everyone never getting sick (forget everyone getting healed), everyone having at least a billion dollars in their savings account, and no one would ever be allowed to hurt or harm us in any way…the whole world would convert to being Christians in a few short time periods.  Having a hotline to God to get anything we want, whenever we want it with no strings attached…would NOT make us like the Christ who was crucified for our sins.  It would, however, make us like the “Christ” we would love Him to be in our carnal human understanding.

              YOUR JOY IS UNDER ATTACK! 

Let’s go in a little different direction. Christians are increasingly being bombarded with demonic attacks to rob them of their joy and peace.  Because of this, I suspect this will be one of the greatest contributors to “the great falling away” that is referenced for us in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.  So many Christians are essentially blind to the effects of demonic activity being launched against them.  Rather than wage spiritual warfare to fight for joy and peace, they are becoming casualties that are finding it more and more difficult to enjoy their relationship with God, if they are not wise by digging in with God to have Him reveal the source of most of their conflicts. 

If you look at Jesus in the scriptures, His times of walking with “joy filled to the brim” were few and far between.  Jesus was so bombarded with demonic attacks that He seldom was afforded the privilege of walking in “perpetual joy” without great sorrow, grief and pain stealing it from him. 

Does any one of us today think that Satan’s constant attacks on our joy are any less than what they were against Jesus?  The way I read the Word of God, your and my joy is going to become so assailed as we moved closer to the end times that if we are not diligent in fighting to get joy and keep joy…it will grow more and more difficult to walk or maintain much joy for very long.  

Joy that transcends “feelings” of betrayal comes by knowing that when we “cast all our daily cares on Him”…He will sustain our faith in Him until our time here on earth is done.  When we daily affirm this statement to Him:  “Lord, though you allow [big difference between God doing it verses God allowing Satan being the one behind it] me to be betrayed; though you allow me to be wronged; though you allow my hopes and dreams to be shattered; though you allow me to walk in physical and emotional suffering and financial poverty; though you allow me to be imprisoned and maybe even tortured and killed for my faith…by Your grace yet will I continue to believe to the very end you are allowing your VERY BEST to happen in my life that will turn out for good in light of eternity.” 

       UNDERSTANDING TACTICS OF THE ENEMY

A few weeks ago a special lady from Russia came across the Precious Testimonies website and we’ve been blessed of the Lord to minister some to her.  She is a born again Christian who grew from having a joyous walk with the Lord eventually believing that God had essentially betrayed her.  She not only moved into a backslidden state, but grew to hate God, and made no bones about it.  Yet God in his love and mercy did not allow her to stay in that hellish state of mind.  All glory to God, He has given us the opportunity to help her understand the tactics of her enemy, and now that her eyes are opening wide to the fact that just because Jesus defeated Satan on the cross is not to be misconstrued that Satan was stripped of all ability to effect the belief systems of people – Christians fully included!  The last we communicated with this saint, she was diligently seeking the scriptures and God in prayer to learn a side of Christianity that she somehow missed the first time around: Why and how to wage effective spiritual warfare to keep the devil from devouring one’s relationship and joy and peace with God.

In the prison ministry setting, we find ourselves constantly trying to alert prisoners in how to cooperate with God in keeping their hope and joy alive.  Satan is so relentless at seeking to get prisoners “feeling” like God has betrayed them, or will betray them in the future, that many of them become blinded to the fact that they are nothing more than victims of Satan’s relentless attacks upon their minds.

Ephesians 6:17 admonishes us to put on the helmet of salvation to protect our thought life.  You can have all the other pieces of spiritual armor in place mentioned in that portion of God’s Word, but if you have holes in your helmet to keep it “air conditioned” because of the heat of the battle, the devil will begin gaining ground.  Don’t allow that to happen to yourself.  If you see it happening in another, do everything you know to do to help that person realize they have some holes in their spiritual helmet, or have taken it off completely and aren’t even aware of it.

On a final note: If you haven’t scanned the Precious Testimonies website lately, we would like to encourage you to do so.  We became aware this spring that the ministry can receive a small percentage of finances from most of the things you would buy at Meijer stores, if you have one in your area to shop at.  Instructions in how you can take advantage of this blessed opportunity are there on the website.  You can easily sign up by following the simple instructions given on our website.   We’ll send an application form to anyone who does not have Internet capability.  You can easily pick one up at any Meijer store as well. If you shop at Meijer, and you are not yet taking advantage of allowing a percentage of your purchases to be used to help ministries such as this one share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we graciously ask you to strongly pray about doing so.  It’s totally free.  You can click here to learn more about it:    http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Index/comsupport.htm.

We realize most Christians who attend a local church give what they are able to give there, and rightly so, because that is only right.  But for those who would like to give more than what they are already giving to the work of the Lord, or maybe aren’t giving much to the work of the Lord at all…being signed up under the Meijer Community Rewards program will enable them to do that without any financial burden or strain whatsoever.  Why not allow a few dollars of the hundreds you spend at Meijer over time to go toward helping reach lost souls, and ministering to hurting people?  It is a great way to partner with Precious Testimonies without ever writing out a check to us!

OBTAINING A MEIJER REWARDS CARD CAN GREATLY HELP US 

We’ve always sought to downplay our need for finances here at Precious Testimonies, but we also realize that much of the responsibility of being a missionary is “fund raising.”  Most missionaries would rather just be about their call and not have to deal with the burden of raising finances to enable them to fulfill their call…and we are no different.  We see ourselves here at Precious Testimonies as missionaries as well, albeit “media” missionaries primarily, because we are not just ministering in one part of the world – God is enabling us to minister in EVERY part of the world that has computer capability, which is only going to grow we can only assume.  We could be doing God’s call for us and this ministry’s long-range potential a disservice by indefinitely remaining silent about our need to have God provide adequate finances for us to continue to maintain this mission’s effectiveness…and we think that a generous portion of God’s financial provision can come into the ministry simply by people taking the time to sign up under the Meijer Community Rewards program – designate Precious Testimonies as their primary benefactor – and not forget to scan their Rewards Card everytime they make a qualifying purchase at Meijer. 

We believe sharing the gospel message of Christ dying for sinners is the most worthy cause on the face of this earth.  Most people have to hear it over and over, through various means, before they will respond favorably to it, which is why we constantly put it before people.  Secondly, we believe giving born again Christians an opportunity to be used to help others come to Christ, and grow in Christ, is also a very worthy cause. 

Thirdly, as resources allow, our reaching out to prisoners to help them understand and want to obey the Word of God will better equip them to be better spouses and parents, and make them more productive citizens upon their release from prison. 

A fourth purpose is also evolving through this ministry, and that is to be used of the Lord to try to motivate the Body of Christ to stretch themselves a little harder in making every attempt to help in the discipleship of prisoners.  It’s a huge undertaking, and to all those involved in prisoner discipleship in one form or another can vouch for...the harvest is truly great…but the labors and support for the laborers seem to be very, very few.

              PLEASE HELP ONE OTHER SIGN UP   

Many of you may already be signed up and designating the percentage Meijer allows to go to the charity of your choice, and if that is the case, we still would like to admonish you to ask God to help you sign up just one other person under the Precious Testimonies ministry.  The principle of being used of the Lord to “sign up just one other,” can be the greatest contribution you may ever make to this particular work of the Lord.  Thank you so much for any help you would be willing to give in this fund raising endeavor, and thanks to each of you who already have done so.

We hope something in this Update has ministered to you in some special way.  If so, to God be the glory! To go through the effort (and expense, because we often mail these to prisoners as we can afford to do so) of producing a Ministry Update every quarter and not give you something that God can use to help you in your walk with Him seems to be such a disservice.   Please keep us lifted up in prayer, and in praying for us, if anything comes to mind that you think will help us to be more effective in this outreach, and/or be more effective in motivating people to sign up under the Meijer Community Rewards program and designating Precious Testimonies as their charity of choice, by all means please let us know, okay?

Until next Update…please remember:  God does NOTHING wrong.  We can believe and accept that – or we can struggle with it until the day we die, which the devil will greatly assist us in if we allow him to.  Let’s not let him, what do you say?

Norm & Kathleen Rasmussen

Directors