CHRISTIAN TESTIMONIES

(By: Norm Rasmussen, Founder)

The BEST Christian testimony website - which is it? 

Or maybe the question should be, 'Where can I find the BEST Christian testimonies on the Internet?'

The answer is:  All Christian testimony websites are the 'best,' if they glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, and they line up with the balanced (accurately translated - wisely understood - wisely applied) Word of God (Holy Bible). Whether a testimony website only has a few testimonies, or thousands, it makes little difference to God. He is blessed that someone took the time to first share the testimony, and secondly, that someone took the time to put the testimony where the world can read it, or hear it.

Psalms 96:3 reads in the King James version: 'Declare His glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.'  When was the last time you heard network television glorifying God (Jesus Christ specifically)? When was the last time you read on the front page in any national newspaper about the glory of God? The 'glory of God' doesn't sell to the masses, publishers have discovered. Yet if there was some kind of formula that God would give to make the masses financially wealthy, or miraculously heal them of terminal diseases, that would get a lot of coverage, providing it didn't require mentioning that making Jesus Christ one's Savior and Lord was a prerequisite. 

Who then, is going to declare God's glory among the heathen if the major media won't? Born again Christians testifying of what God has done in their life. Individual Christians who are in tune with God's heart to help reach lost souls while there is still time because they have made advancement of the Kingdom of God in the lives of people their first priority for living, and all else secondary. The Bible indicates that we are rapidly moving toward a time where gross spiritual darkness - gross spiritual deception - will cover the earth, and born again Christians will essentially be silenced publicly, one must surmise. If you are a student of God's Word, you know I'm not talking nonsense. 

The Internet is one of the most efficient and cost effective ways to 'declare God's glory among the heathen' humanity has ever had. Statisticians say that about one and a half million people are gaining access to the Internet every month. In 2006 alone, it was stated that over 1,000,000,000 globally have access to the Internet. Those numbers continue to increase year after year, especially with cellphone capability.

Precious Testimonies is utilizing the Internet for this very thing: 

• Precious Testimonies YouTube Videos and Many More!

• GodTube Precious Testimonies Videos

• Vimeo Precious Testimonies Videos

Other than declaring God's glory to the masses, what other value do Christian testimonies have? The Holy Spirit uses them to impart HOPE, FAITH, ENCOURAGEMENT and often-times SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS to others, and that is no small thing. Jesus-glorifying testimonies shared by inspiration of the Holy Spirit are divine spiritual seeds God the Father plants in those who are being drawn to Jesus Christ, and spiritual nutrients to help disciples of Jesus Christ grow in their relationship with Him after they have been saved - born again - by Jesus.   

Testimonies can also be likened to signs along the freeway -- they point you to where you want (need) to go. They are like the golden arches outside of McDonald's, telling you from a distance where you can buy some delicious hot fries or a yummy Egg McMuffin. Holy Spirit anointed testimonies are like appetizers before the main course meal, stimulating your taste buds. They wet your appetite to make you want more of God -- greater intimacy with Him - deliverance and healing in Him - greater growth in Him.

Born Again testimonies - Salvation Testimonies, when shared wisely, point people away from religious entrapments, and communicate clearly that a personal relationship with God is God's highest will for everyone. "Religion" will suck the very spiritual life out of a person, which is exactly what the devil wants. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is what imparts the attributes of spiritual life to people, and the devil does not want people knowing that.

Born Again testimonies communicate what life used to be like for the person sharing it, and how life-giving meaning and purpose of an eternal nature has been discovered. Spiritual and emotional barriers get removed; addictions are overcome; hope, encouragement and spiritual insights - spiritual priorities - can be greatly and effectively imparted ... by the Holy Spirit using them and working through them, of course.

The Bible says that a born again Christian is a new creation in God (See: 2 Cor. 5:17; Galatians 6:15). One's born again testimony shared in depth with humility and heart-felt appreciation and thanksgiving helps communicate to seekers of God the Truth of what God can also do for them, if they truly want to be transformed into a new spiritual creation as well ... where real living starts!

Healing testimonies can impart hope and faith to others who need a healing, especially if they are written solely for the purpose of glorifying God, and not for the purpose of trying to reinforce one's doctrinal position(s) regarding healing, though with the balance of God's Word and communicated with wisdom, what can be wrong with doing so?

Deliverance testimonies can impart hope, faith and insight to others who need deliverance from problems they have. Deliverance testimonies bring encouragement, as most all God-glorifying testimonies do, something battle-weary believers are always in need of from time to time. Though difficult to place a priority on ... they also offer hope to the unsaved who are shackled in bondage(s) ... and are willing to let the power of God set them free through Jesus Christ.

Dynamic Answers To Prayer testimonies encourage others in their prayer lives. The devil hates it when people have an exciting and vibrant, trusting prayer life with the heavenly Father. It's very difficult to have an exciting personal relationship with the Creator of the universe if the devil is allowed to shipwreck one's prayer life for very long. 

Church Testimonies (including Cardboard testimonies) are awesome ways to give God glory that is due Him. An extension of Church testimonies is publishing testimonies of those very same people into book/booklet form, and letting them go out into their respective community as evangelistic tracts. Evangelists Jim & Carla Barbarossa are doing this very thing: REAL LIFE STORIES TESTIMONY BOOKS. This REAL LIFE STORIES TESTIMONY BOOKS are going out around the world ... into the highways and byways across the land, planting and watering seeds of spiritual Truth -- imparting Hope and Encouragement to the readers - and being used of God to help reach lost souls! 

Utilizing Cable TV Public Access (where it is available). Most of the larger cities across the U.S. have a Cable TV Public Access Station where they will allow you to play videos for FREE, if you meet their simple requirements. Precious Testimonies has used this open door for years in playing weekly testimony broadcasts. The seeds of the Gospel Truth that have been planted in people by these TV broadcasts are beyond human comprehension ... all to the glory of our Lord and Savior. 

Savvy business people realize the value of testimonies of satisfied customers. They offer a degree of proof of the advertising claims of the business. Christian testimonies offer a degree of proof that God is real, that God has unlimited power to effect change in a person's life, that God is not removed from the affairs of mankind, no matter how much evil and sin seems to be on the increase.

The devil hates it when born again Christians share their testimonies. He hates even more individuals and ministries who create a website so Christian testimonies can be published for the entire world to read and hear. The devil absolutely detests when Christians purpose to 'declare God's glory among the heathen.' (Psalm 96:3). Why? Because part of God the Holy Spirit's function in this dispensation is to lift up Jesus Christ. When a born again Christian purposes to exalt the name and the work of Jesus Christ with pure motives ... The Holy Spirit will anoint the words spoken or written by the testifier. What the Holy Spirit anoints, it has the blessing of God on it to accomplish what God desires for it to accomplish.

Certainly the preaching and teaching of God's Word takes highest precedence regarding spiritual matters. Yet testimonies are like salt and pepper -- precious seasonings that make God's Kingdom food its very best. 

The devil has some common lies he likes to impart to Christian believers regarding the sharing of their testimonies:

1)  "You are just on an ego trip by sharing your testimony.  Humble Christians live out their testimony; they don't have to talk about it!"

2)  "God isn't done with your testimony, so wait until He is." (Of course, the devil would delight if you wait until you get to heaven before you start writing it out!)

3)  "You know you're going to fall back into sin once you share your testimony, and rather than risk the embarrassment of it, wait awhile" (and awhile, and awhile, and awhile . . .)

4)  "You're going to have to live a lot more holy if you share your testimony, I hope you realize? People will be watching you once you do. Don't share it, and you won't have to live so holy."

There is something else the devil hates. He hates it when people send a testimony website ministry a donation. Most testimony websites are started and maintained by one individual, maybe two (husband and wife) -- did you know that? Few if any local churches support them, and most people who read those testimonies on their website are non-Christians (praise God!) who have huge fears of giving any money to any ministry period.  If they do give to a ministry, they want it to have popular name recognition by the masses.  

Most Christian Testimony websites are operating in poverty status by most measurements. They are self-financed out of the pockets of those who oversee them. Please consider sending a Christian Testimony website one donation a year, just one. A donation of $5.00, one time a year, will go a long way of helping pay the costs of maintaining that website, not to mention the encouragement that will come to the individual(s) who keep that website in operation.    

If a one-time donation of $5.00 a year seems too extreme, please consider sending a donation of $1.00 a year to one testimony website. Too extreme? Too risky? Too costly? Would it be possible to tuck away one dime a month for 12 months to have $1.00 to send to a testimony ministry? 

What so many people 'assume' is that others will send a donation to a Christian testimony website, so God doesn't need ME to. It is one of Satan's greatest lies!  Of course, right in line with that lie is another one that causes people to think to themselves, "Well ' if it is God's will for that testimony website to keep going, God will provide the finances, somehow, some way. Therefore, I don't need to give to it."  That kind of presumptive thinking runs pandemic, thanks to the devil's lies. 

Most all of us are familiar with the little boy throwing back starfish into the ocean. Thousands have washed up on the beach, stranded, and will die. A stranger sees the little boy throwing starfish back into the ocean, one at a time while more keep washing up on the beach, and asks the boy, "What good do you think you are accomplishing by throwing those starfish back into the ocean? Surely you don't think it's going to make any difference?"  And the little boy replies, "I'll bet you it makes a difference to this starfish," as he tosses it back into the water. 

What we can fail to realize is that the starfish that gets thrown back into the water might well be the starfish that God uses to create thousands and thousands of more starfish that will help repopulate the ocean's supply of starfish. The "principle of one" needs to be connected to Testimony websites in helping them to stay viable. 

It is easy for people to rationalize: What good is $1.00 a year going to make to a testimony website? ANSWER: If enough people each send a donation of $1.00 to a testimony website, it might just be enough to keep one person enthused about maintaining that website, and even keeping it on the Internet. Discouragement runs high for individuals who have Christian testimony websites. It is so difficult to get Christians to write up their testimonies and forward them to Christian Testimony websites. Unless you happen to be a big ministry with lots of laborers and plenty of finances to pay those laborers ... it is difficult to get quality testimonies to publish. 

Well, I think there are already too many Christian testimony websites as there is! Really? Some people think there are already too many porno sites on the web, but guess what? They just keep growing and growing. The devil doesn't think there are too many porno sites on the web, and he never will. The more porno sites there are, odds increase that youth will stumble across them easier, and the temptation for adults to view them will increase. Reverse the thinking:  That would be a nice problem for God to have, regarding Christian testimonies, wouldn't it -- so many Jesus-glorifying testimonies on the Internet that the youth and the heathen keep stumbling across them no matter which way they turn?

For those of you on the Net who are maintaining Christian testimony websites, God bless you! For those of you who have, or plan to submit your testimony to get published, God bless you! For those of you who print testimonies off testimony websites and pass them along to other, God bless you as well! You may be playing the most important part of all. 

Lastly, but probably foremost, those of you who are praying for Christian testimony websites, thank God for YOU!  The attacks of the enemy upon Christian testimony websites and those maintaining them are increasing, as this shouldn't surprise anyone (See: 2 Tim. 3:12). Thank you so much for your prayer coverage of testimony websites! Testimony websites are doing the work of evangelism, something that sends the devil into violent rage, because he knows how short his time is, and how effective well-written Christian testimonies are! (Especially born again testimonies, and deliverance testimonies).

It has been a prayer of mine for years that born again Christians would start sharing their Jesus glorifying testimonies on their camcorders and/or cellphones and upload them to YouTube or comparative sites like Vimeo. I'm seeing that happen more and more, thank you Father! Remember ... for all the reasons you might come up with to not put your born again testimony on the Internet, THIS I can promise you. God CAN'T use your testimony if you don't first give it to Him to use. It's that simple. 

Yet it's amazing how many Christians don't CARE whether God uses their testimonies or not. Those would be considered baby, selfish carnal Christians, only concerned about what God can do for THEM, rather than what they can do for GOD in helping reach lost souls for Him. We'll always have baby Christians coming into the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior up until the return of Jesus Christ, but God desires they grow UP and stop being so selfish - self focused - self consumed.

And for those of you who want to make a HUGE impact in this world for the cause of Jesus Christ during your life, and you know how to upload video footage onto video steaming sites? Look for other Christians you can videotape and put their salvation testimonies on the Internet for God to use. 

Not everyone will have the call of an Evangelist.  But, God desires that His people all desire to be used in the harvest field of doing the work of evangelism. Any way you can support a Christian testimony website that is glorifying Jesus Christ and pointing people to the Truths of the Bible ... especially the Truth of the Cross ... is helping do the work of evangelism (See: 2 Timothy 4:5), and God will reward you on the Judgment Day for it, you can be confident.

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)

Thank you for desiring to help reach souls for Jesus Christ!

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)