MINISTRY UPDATE
(Winter 99)

What an exciting time to be alive! God is generously reaching out with His Word to a lost and dying world, and it is not coming back to Him void. Praise His holy name! We are so thankful to be a part of what God is doing in the final days of this millennium. Through the technology of video and Internet, we are able to reach into the homes of the unsaved and the hurting with the good News of the Gospel that God wants the whole world to hear.

Many of you are receiving this Ministry Update for the first time. Our purpose for this quarterly Newsletter is not just to update you on what God is doing, but to ask you to pray regularly for this outreach as well. It is the prayers of people like you that enable this outreach to continue to function. The vision God has given us to carry out for Him is truly awesome, and we're confident that the only way we will continue to fruitfully move forward to fulfill it is God breaking through satanic opposition . . . which is initiated by the prayers of his people.

Much continued to happen in 1998 that we can only thank God and you for. Financial support continued to increase, as did doors that God opened for our testimonial videos to play. A steady increase of tape requests came in, as was requests for some of the books we offer.

The ministry Web Site continues to be an exciting journey. Several other reputable Christian Web Sites have asked to link their Web Sites to ours, which are always a blessing and an honor. The Body of Christ works more closely hand-in-hand when this happens, which greatly glorifies our heavenly Father.

Over the last few months, we have received 14 awards from other Christian Web Sites, commending us for excellency and viableness on the Internet. Such accolades are greatly appreciated, because it lets us know that God's hand is guiding all that we are doing . . . as you partner with us in spirit in advancing the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him goes all the glory!

Those of you who received our last Update were informed that we ran an ad in November's issue of Charisma magazine, letting Christians know that they can submit their born again testimonies for publication on our Website. We want to thank each of you sincerely for your prayers regarding this matter. Much fruit came from the ad. A number of quality testimonies came from it, along with some other Christian Web Sites requesting to be linked to ours. As God provides ongoing finances, we'll run the same ad at least once a year to keep the opportunity presented to those who desire to let God use their testimonies, and the anointed Word they include in them, (especially to prisoners) to help reach the lost.

Those of you in prison who sent us so many cards and letters over the 1998 Holiday Season . . . from the bottom of our hearts -- thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity. We are always so humbled to receive mail from you -- especially when we are always running behind in getting mail back to you to help encourage you. We truly are looking for God to provide someone who has the time and the call to devote more time to those who are incarcerated through this outreach. With what little time I get once I'm off my regular, daytime job, it seems like more and more of my time is spent editing, duplicating and getting tapes out to Public Access stations to play fresh tapes. Editing video tapes requires a great deal of time, though I know that one quality edited tape can reach multitudes for God's purposes, so I'm truly thankful to have the equipment, aptitude, and what time I have to do so. It is just that my heart goes out to the lonely behind prison walls, because I know that a personal letter from the outside is few and far between for many prisoners. That's why we can't encourage prisoners enough to send us their written born again testimonies, with permission to give their names and addresses so people who desire to contact them may.

Many prisoners "think" that we expect them to write about why they are in prison, when writing their testimonies, which keeps many of them from writing them. That is a wrong assumption. One can share how God influenced their life with the truth of Jesus Christ and not even mention the things that involve prison -- if there is a fear of doing so.

In being called to utilize born again testimonies to help reach the lost for a number of years now . . . one thing I am 100% totally convinced of. Satan does NOT want Christians taking the time to write out their full-length born again testimonies. Anointed born again testimonies are dangerous to his stranglehold over the minds of the blinded and deceived.

. . . Which is WHY God has called ministries like Precious Testimonies to provide a platform for people to have their testimonies published and made available for the world to hear. Our ongoing prayer is that as God raises up more and more Christians with a burning desire to help plant and water into the lives of the unsaved . . . they will start WebPages of their OWN. They will have their born again testimony on their Web Site . . . and whatever else the Holy Spirit leads them to have. In so doing, we can link to their web sites, and they can link to ours if they so desire. Our prayer is that Christians will purpose to utilize this incredible door of opportunity God has provided the Body of Christ to reach to the four corners of the earth with the Good News of God's Truth.

In conjunction with using the Internet for outreach, we also are ever-asking God to speak to the hearts of Christians to USE FREE TELEVISION to reach the lost in their communities. Cable TV Public Access is an incredible gift from God! And until ONE Christian in each community is willing to utilize their camcorder to film other born again Christians sharing their testimonies, those other Christians probably will have no place in their communities to let God use their testimonies to the magnitude that television provides. We cannot encourage EVERY Christian enough to contact their Cable TV provider and ask WHERE their Public Access Station is located. Please take the time to go visit it, and become knowledgeable enough about it so you can exhort other Christians who have a burning desire to be used in Evangelistic outreach. They could then explore it as a possible avenue God would point them down to reach the lost, even if God may not be leading you to begin videotaping.

Until our time is done . . . we'll continue to exhort those who read our Ministry Updates to take the time to send us your written born again testimony, if you already haven't.

Remember . . . each of us can be assured of this ONE fact: God will NOT use our born again testimonies to help reach the lost until we GIVE it to Him for that purpose. Why? Because He cannot use something He doesn't have at His disposal.

Another fact: Born again Christians who say that they are waiting for their testimonies to "be finished" are almost always fooling themselves ... or letting Satan fool them. Your born again testimony is Chapter One of your book. Chapter One is all God needs to begin planting and watering in the lives of others, but some Christians somehow think that they need to wait for God to finish Chapter 17 before they can tell Chapter One. Not true at all!

Of course, we encourage people sharing their Chapter One's to prayerfully seek God in HOW to share it most effectively. Sharing with PASSION and ENTHUSIASM is so wise. Asking God to replay in your mind just how blinded and in spiritual darkness you were before surrendering to Jesus Christ, and telling people about it, reveals HUMILITY, which is the fuel of the Holy Spirit.

Skilled communicators know that to get people interested in what you have to say, you have to give your audience "bait." Fishermen do not drop a bare hook in the water and expect a fish to be attracted to bite it. They will actually become afraid of it, in fact. Fish need to be "enticed." Likewise, it is wise to use words when you start out with your testimony that grab the attention of the hearer or reader. Words like: "I doubted God existed" -- "I hated God!" -- "I didn't think God could forgive me for all the wrong I've done" -- "God is not fair" -- "I hated Christians" -- "I couldn't trust the Bible" -- "I hated my 'supposed Christian parents' for treating me the way they did and I wanted nothing to do with Christianity as I got older" -- "Christianity is for people who needs a crutch and I didn't" -- "I became Saved and was mistreated in the local church so I lost interest in God" -- these are attention-getter themes that will "hook" the interest of people, because most unsaved people can identify with them. If you can't identify with the belief system they currently have, they have very little interest in biting your hook. Nevertheless, remember -- don't wait to become an expert communicator. Give God what you can today. (Tomorrow is a dangerous word for Christians). He will help you fine-tune your testimony and perfect it as time goes on.

We feel to let you know that a door is open for us to play our video tapes in Fort Worth, Texas, but to meet the standard requirement in doing so, we must FIRST come up with a local resident (sponsor) of the Forth Worth area willing to request on a standardized request form that Precious Testimonies begin playing on their local Public Access Channel. If you know anyone in the Forth Worth area you could contact that you think might be the one God might provide, please let us know. Prayer warriors ... we ask that you lift this matter up to God, so breakthrough can come.

We sense in the Spirit that God would have us minister encouragement to some of you reading this who is under major attack in your prayer life. What we share is nothing you probably have not already heard, but sometimes we just need to hear truth again to have an attack broken against us.

Facts about communicating with God [prayer]: God WANTS your prayers for protection around yourself and your family members on a regular basis . . . to provide you with maximized protection from Satan's attacks. Do not let Satan get you so discouraged and worn out that you neglect these types of prayer. God WANTS your prayers coming to Him on a regular basis . . . asking and trusting Him to increase your knowledge and wisdom of spiritual matters. God WANTS your prayers coming to Him on a regular basis to pray against strongholds in our communities -- strongholds such as racism, crime, gangs, pornography, poverty, drug dealing, and the like. Satan's influence in our families and communities and ministries increases when we as the Church cease praying. His influence decreases as we pray. God's angels are most victorious when the Church prays regularly and fervently.

How does Satan wear us down to where we cease to pray? He usually succeeds by getting us to DOUBT that our prayers are very important in the eternal scheme of things. On the other hand, by getting us to BELIEVE that enough prayers from other Christians are going up to God, so my prayers are not needed. Afterall . . . isn't God REALLY going to do what God wills to do . . . no matter how much or little I pray? WRONG! God would never have told us this in His Word, if it wasn't important to pray in combating spiritual forces of darkness:

Pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17); Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension (1 Tim. 2:8); Is anyone among you suffering [because of Satan's relentless attacks against you]? Let him pray (James 5:13);

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit ... (Ephesians 6:18); He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully (II Cor. 8:6). We ASSUME God is only referring to financial giving in this passage, but this spiritual truth carries over into ALL areas of spirituality. If we pray little, Satan will increase our discouragement and lack of confidence. If we pray much - WISELY -- Satan will have a much more difficult time rendering us powerless in influencing situations in our lives, and the lives of others.

IMPORTANT TIP: Learn to pray WISELY. Praying amiss can bring on discouragement of the lethal kind! Be SURE you are in tune with God's heart when you pray about a given matter. When too many prayers are not answered, one's prayer life soon begins to diminish. When you back your prayers with faith, be sure your faith is not wasted! Your faith needs to increase, not decrease.

Think on this as you go to sleep tonight: I will be rewarded for every unselfish prayer I ever prayed during this lifetime. Whether the prayer gets answered the way I would like it to be answered or not has no relevance to my reward. I will be rewarded simply because I prayed unselfishly. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Cor. 15:58)

If praying regularly is not "labor in the Lord" . . . then we don't know what is!

A word of encouragement for those of you who have been going through one difficulty after another.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Something INCREDIBLE is going to happen for our good in the next life, saints, as Satan inflicts his damage on us now. For those of you in prison; for those of you who are suffering illnesses; for those of you struggling with finances and family situations; for those of you who are being treated unfairly . . . God is going to do the "unimaginable!" God is going to use this suffering literally to somehow be part of our eternal REWARD! We might "think" we are losers now . . . but we're really the WINNERS!

Thank you for your prayers and support and may God richly bless you!

Norm & Kathleen Rasmussen
Directors