PRECIOUS TESTIMONIES MINISTRY UPDATE
(Summer 2002)

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! This year seems to be going by so quickly for us. How about for you? We hope that this update finds you rejoicing in your Salvation, and any trials you may have gone through recently (or are going through now) have or are giving you a greater revelation of God’s grace and truth through the difficulty of those trials. God continues to extend His grace on us to be used of Him through this outreach, and we thank God often for it. We are continuing our outreach through the Public Access stations with videotaped testimonies throughout the USA, as well as the Internet with many many God-glorifying testimonies throughout the world and praise reports of lives being touched through this outreach that comes in via email most of the time, keeps us encouraged and yet very humbled. We realize that it is only by God’s grace that He would choose to use this ministry to touch others … and we hope and pray that it is glorifying Him greatly.

As Director of this outreach, there has been something on my heart for a long time that I feel to make mention of. Many of you who have been fortunate enough to have money invested for retirement in the stock market (“shock” market?) have probably found your profits of yesteryear dwindling smaller than what you care to think about for very long. Future plans are being altered for many, due to a reduction of retirement funds.

Early in my walk with the Lord I came across a book written by David Wilkerson. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he is the person God used to start Teen Challenge Ministries that has touched innumerable lives all around the world. David Wilkerson has been used of God to be a prophetic voice for those who have read his books and his monthly newsletters, and through his words God has ministered to untold numbers by the call God has placed upon him.

I’ll be bluntly honest in saying that I have not always agreed with some of the things Mr. Wilkerson has written, especially regarding future events to come to America that he has spoken of. Nevertheless, I’ve come to learn that every modern-day Christian voice speaking about the future will be wrong at times, which makes it very difficult to know what to believe.

Having said this, David Wilkerson wrote a book that was first copyrighted around 1973.  The title of it was: THE VISION. To my knowledge, the book is no longer in print, and is very difficult to get a hold of. (You might be able to obtain a good used copy by using HALF.COM, which can be accessed by going to the lower left front page of our website)

For every sale made thru this link below, 
$5.00 will be donated to Precious Testimonies...

I always felt God wanted me to keep a copy of the book, which I’ve done. I’ll type about half of the Introduction page of the book for you, and that will speak for itself as to what the book is about:

I have had but two visions in my lifetime. The first came to me in 1958, when a vision of God took me from a little town in Pennsylvania to New York City to work with teen gangs and drug addicts. That was not a false vision. [The beginning of Teen Challenge, insertion mine]. Now, years later, its reality is shown by the youth centers spread all around the world. Gangs and addicts have not only been converted, but many are even preaching the gospel as ministers and missionaries.

A second vision came to me this summer (1973). It is a vision of five tragic calamities coming upon the earth. I saw no blinding lights, I heard no audible voices, nor did I hear from an angel. While I was in prayer late one night, these visions of world calamities came over me with such impact that I could do nothing but kneel, transfixed, and take it all in.

At first I did not want to believe what I saw and heard. The message of the vision was too frightening, too apocalyptic, too discomforting to my materialist mind. But the vision came back to me, night after night. I couldn’t shake it off. Deep in my heart I am convinced that this vision is from God, that it is true, and that it will come to pass.

Who wants to listen to a message of economic confusion in a time of great affluence? Who wants to be told judgment is coming when so many can’t even cope with life as it is? Who will ever believe that the religious freedom we now enjoy will soon be threatened and that a Jesus revolution will turn into a Jesus revulsion movement?

Parts of this vision will come to pass in the very near future. Some of the events are more distant. But I believe all the events mentioned will happen in this generation!

Chapter 1 then begins addressing the first of the “five calamities.” For sake of space, I’m only going to share certain key sentences to give you a “taste” of this book. The first sentence of Chapter 1 starts out with:

There is worldwide economic confusion just ahead. In my vision, this is the clearest thing I have seen. Not only is the American dollar headed for deep trouble, but so are all other world currencies. It is not really a depression I see coming – but a recession of such magnitude that it will affect the lifestyle of nearly every wage earner in America and around the world. Countries that now control huge amounts of Western currency are going to be in very deep trouble also. Arab countries will especially be hurt. The world’s greatest economists will be at a loss to explain the confusion, and an international crisis of fear will develop.

I believe we are going to witness the bankruptcies of some of this nation’s major and most popular corporations. I see tremendous difficulty arising for credit corporations. There are going to be many people unable to pay off their heavy obligations to major credit card companies, causing near-chaos. Thousands of small businesses will also be forced into bankruptcies. Three, and possibly four of the major religious denominations will be forced to operate with a skeleton organization due to a lack of funds. More than a few churches are going to go bankrupt and a number of independent missionary societies and church organizations are going to have to pull back. All but a few of the radio and television ministries will have to be abandoned. Tight money will trigger a wave of uncertainty and fear. Those who have money will hold it in reserve.

The United States government is going to “overreact” to the confused economical developments. I see a flurry of near-panic decisions being made by various government agencies – but these hasty efforts to shore up the economy will backfire. Almost every economic indicator will be gloomy. It will be spotty at first, but will eventually affect nearly all industry.

It is not a time to go into debt. It is a time to prepare, a time to get clear and out from under heavy financial burdens.

Gold prices are soaring, but those who are investing in this commodity, hoping to find security, are in for a tragic surprise. The price of gold is going to rise astronomically, but it will not be sustained over a long period of time. Silver will also become a very precious metal, and its price will go wild. But neither silver nor gold will offer real security. The fluctuation and uncertain value of gold and silver will be a part of the total picture of economic confusion that grips the world.

Believe it or not – even gold will not hold its value. Gold hoarders are going to get hurt – badly. This is one of the most significant predictions in this book.

There will develop a call for revamping all world monetary systems into one uniform system. And even though the dollar will appear to be gaining strength just before the coming major recession, a new crisis will develop that will shake the entire financial world. It will be years before faith in the American dollar will be restored.

I believe a revived Roman Empire will eventually become the power base for a super world leader who will arise to restore economic order. He will no doubt institute a worldwide “walking credit card” system. Invisible numbers will be implanted on the forehead and forearm, and only photo scope scanners will be able to detect the numbers. The numbers could be assigned in three stacks of six digits each. This “mark” would be required by all and no one could buy or sell without this invisibly tattooed number.

Some kind of a world credit system will develop and nations will be able to utilize blocks of credit. Although a universal money system may be far off in the future, a world credit system between nations will soon develop, setting the framework for the future world monetary and trade system.

Be prepared to hear of world trade agreements “policed” by an international governing committee. Strict guidelines for international trade will develop and a “world market” will be closely monitored by big power interests.

To put it plainly – we will soon witness the development of a world trade policy, supervised by a super secretary invested with unprecedented powers by all nations involved in international trade.

I seem to see a picture of a partial and almost complete recovery from the coming recession – but the world economy will continue in confusion until the time of the Antichrist. From this day on, there will hang over the entire world a sense of fear and uncertainty about future economic conditions. Never again in the history of the world will there be a time of complete confidence and trust in world economies.

Men and women prophesy in part. They hear in part (See 1 Cor. 13:9). Yet I’ve learned not to throw the prophetic baby out with the bath water with someone like David Wilkerson. I may be a bit out in left field on this one, but don’t you get an eerie feeling that much of what David wrote in his book regarding financial affairs over 27 years ago seems to be happening right before our eyes – or the potential for it to happen has never been more ripe – if you’re keeping up with in-depth financial news at all? In the other four parts of his five-part vision written in the book, many of the things he claimed he saw in the vision would happen, have already come to pass.

There are some very angry people who have lost years of hard earned money in this stock market downturn. They’ve felt betrayed and lied to by much of the corporate financial establishment. Could it be that God is allowing (notice I didn’t say “causing”) the “financial carpet” to be pulled from underneath America before our very eyes, and we can’t quite see or believe it yet? God has told us that every thing that can be shaken is going to shake before Jesus returns (Hebrews 12:26-27). It sure appears to be like a whole lot of shakin’ is going on in the financial and economic arena, and it’s not very pleasant.

We’ve been through times like this before in our nation. Perhaps before long this economic downturn will be over and “the good times will roll once again.” Yet what if we are entering a time that David wrote about in The Vision? I think we would do well to be prepared for such a possibility, so as not to be caught by surprise.

Scripture says that our sins will find us out (Numbers 32:23 ). Is God exposing the corporate lying and deceit and greed that has been going on much too long in America? History has recorded that every nation that has become as prosperous as America was eventually humbled by God because of arrogance and the false sense of security it’s citizens placed in their government. God is a jealous God. History has proven that He will not allow citizens of a prosperous nation to place more trust in their government than they place in Him for very long. For many years now a number of highly respected Christians have stated that one of the greatest trials Christians might ever have to face in this nation is to see their finances dissolve before them, and have little hope that they will be replaced the rest of their lives.

Because lack of space in this Update does not allow me to say much more, we would like to bring to attention a writing we’ve recently put on our website under the Exhortation section that dovetails with what is being addressed here. The title of the writing is: “Feel” like God has let you down? We would encourage you to take the time to read it. It addresses issues of temptation, trials and testings.

As born again Christians, God’s desire for each of us is to be determined overcomers. No matter what has happened to us in the past … or what will happen to us in the future, God desires that we let go of our anger and frustration, casting our cares on Him, so that we do not get overcome by the injustices of this world, but rather, overcome them through Christ who strengthens us.

We want to again thank each of you for your continued support of this outreach, and we can never thank you enough for it.  Your testimonial contributions, prayers and encouragement and financial giving go up to the Lord as a sweet fragrance before Him, and surely will not go unrewarded on the Judgment Day.  May God bless you as you continue to live for Him and serve Him in whatever areas of ministry He leads you to!

In His Love & Service,
Norm & Kathleen Rasmussen

NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you are questioning in your heart what this Christian life is all about and would like to know more about being reconciled to God, please click here to learn how you can do that.  Thank you and God bless you!