The Ernie Dig Dirt Hunting Journey

HOW THE MINISTRY OF PRECIOUS TESTIMONIES BEGAN

By: Norm Rasmussen 

It's interesting how God brought about the ministry of Precious Testimonies. It was in March of 1980 that God became real to me and I committed my life to Him. At that time, I had written the first of a possible ten-book series about a fictitious character named Dirty Ernie. The main theme of the book series was that Dirty Ernie had spent a lifetime digging secret tunnels all over the world and no one knew why. Only I did. If people bought all ten books of my series, then perhaps I would let the secret finally out, and then again, maybe I wouldn't. We would see what happened once I started writing the tenth book of the series.  

The first book of the series was titled: The Dirty Ernie Dig Dirt Hunting Journey. I went by the pen name of Rimrock Rye Lee (Longgggggggggggggggggg story about how that name came about!). This first book of the Dirty Ernie book series was short stories centered on hunting, trying to make readers laugh, and wonder just who this little Ernie guy was and why was he digging those secret tunnels all over the earth. Neither Ernie nor the book was pornographic, as the title might imply. Ernie simply was dirty because he had dug tunnels his whole life  - as you and I would be if we dug tunnels.

I was able to come up with a publisher I was comfortable working with, so to get the book published, I borrowed the money and had a local Grand Rapids book publisher publish it for me. I borrowed nearly $10,000 to have 2,500 copies of the book published, using a little extra for advertising and promotion. I was in the process of learning how to market books while writing on the second book of the series: The Dirty Ernie Dig Dirt Fishing Journey, when my little world of 'Dirty Ernie' came crashing down. I say 'crashing down,' because God invaded my life and now my interests began to drastically change from writing 'Ernie' books to learn how to grow in God and seek His will for my life from that point on, something I had never thought about doing before. 

What was frustrating at the time was my 'assumption' that now that I had turned my life over to the Lord and was determined to be serious about it, I assumed God would now show me favor and book sales would begin to soar. Just the opposite happened. Book sales began to dry up even more. When I asked other Christians what I thought I should do about the book series, some thought I should continue with it, and others thought I should seriously seek the Lord on the matter and perhaps move in other directions. 

Dirty Ernie On The Altar

In early 1981 I decided I was going to go on a seven day water fast only in hopes that God would honor it and make His perfect will known to me. I wanted all doubt removed about Dirty Ernie one way or the other. Four evenings into the fast, when I was sleeping, God appeared to me in a dream of sorts. I had been in and out of sleep, and somewhere in that state of half-sleep, I found myself sitting in a movie theater all by myself. Nothing was showing on the screen, and I didn't know why I was sitting there in the theater when no one else was. It wasn't long when God spoke very clearly out of the theater speakers up front. He said,  'You can ask Me anything you want, and I'll answer you.'  

The purpose I had been seeking Him for was to find out about the Ernie project, so the first question that came to mind was, 'Lord, what is your perfect will for me regarding the Dirty Ernie book series project?' 

The Lord answered back, "If you want to continue with the Ernie project that is fine.  You might want to change certain things the way future writings get written, such as having Ernie digging secret tunnels all over the world for the glory of God. And if you choose to go that direction, I'll honor what you do, and I will use it to touch lives. But if you want to know my perfect will for your life, then I would rather you publish born again testimonies of my people. You know enough about marketing from the professionals that fact attracts much larger audiences than fiction in most cases. Why not win as many souls as you can during your lifetime? Testimonies will touch a lot more lives than what Ernie will. Publishing born again testimonies, and testimonies of all kinds will glorify Me a whole lot more than Ernie will." Then the dream-like vision ended and I woke up. I knew God had spoken to me. I ended the fast the next morning. 

Three days later, I was assailed by doubt from Satan, and I wrestled between Dirty Ernie and publishing born again testimonies for nearly nine months after that. The devil wanted me continuing with Dirty Ernie much worse than what I did, though I was so young in the Lord that I didn't recognize his tempting, manipulating ways like I do now. Eventually I was able to get to the place where I placed Ernie on 'the altar,' and told God that if He wanted me to pick Ernie back up, then He was going to have to prosper book sales unlike anything I had seen before. Book sales dried up even more after that.  

I was at the First Assembly of God Church on 44th Street in Wyoming, Michigan one Sunday morning worshiping with nearly three thousand saints, my home church at the time (my first also). Wayne Benson was senior Pastor. There was awesome praise and worship going on, and I was deep in thought about testimonies. I was a bit upset at God at that particular moment, and I rather angrily said to God: 'Well, if you want me to publish born again testimonies, when are you going to give me some to publish? I don't know where to find them if you don't bring them to me, you know.' Thank God for his patience with hard-heads like me. The Holy Spirit said not much later, 'Look around you.  Nearly every person in this church sanctuary has a born again testimony.  Here's three thousand testimonies for you to start with.' 

I was rather dumbfounded. Why of course, why hadn't I seen it before? All I had to do was ask Christians to provide me with their testimonies! Sounds simple and easy, doesn't it? Not quite. Warfare began at a much higher level than what I had experienced before. For every Christian interested in sharing their testimony for publication, it seemed like there was a hundred or more who wasn't interested. I was ready to start publishing: what was their problem in not standing in line to let me publish their stories?

[As a quick sidebar ... after publishing testimonies now for over 35 years, nothing has CHANGED, and it's getting worse! Satan has a demonic principality (or more) of apathy (as in ... "Who CARES?") over Christians to STOP THEM FROM LETTING GOD USE THEIR TESTIMONIES TO MINISTER TO OTHERS - especially on the Internet - that is nothing short of MIND BOGGLING! -- Please read:  Let God Use Your Salvation Testimony!]

By the end of December, 1982, we had our first testimony published. We put it in little booklet form. We had enough money to publish 550 copies. It was a testimony of Ron Scott. (The Bullet Miracle). Ron had been shot point blank in the head, and the bullet was lodged near his brain. The doctors said it was so close to critical areas of the brain that it would probably be safer to leave it in there rather than trying to remove it. It was an incredible story of how God spared his life so he could tell others about the goodness of God, on the football field of all places. Once Ron had healed up from the gunshot, he began playing semi-professional football. Guys on the field called him 'The Bullet'. Other players were afraid of hitting him too hard because they didn't want to be the one responsible for causing the bullet to dislodge and cause his death, as the doctors said was most likely going to happen if Ron kept playing football. Ron played like everyone else and is still alive as of this writing, over 20 years later, unaffected by the bullet in his skull.  

We placed the little booklets in high-traffic restaurants, laundromats, and along the highways and byways and in prisons. While in the woods, my family and I would place the little booklets in obscure places where people would eventually find them, and of course, be curious as to how it got there, and would certainly glance through the testimony to see what it was about. My daughter, Shawna, (most precious daughter God could have ever given me) was the boldest of all in this endeavor, bless her heart (she's gutsy for God!) We threw little booklets out the windows of cars driving through little communities across the country, knowing full well some people would pick them up and read them. People could subscribe to them if they wanted, and we would send them the latest editions through the mail. We called the ministry: Miracles Of God. 

After about three years of pioneering that outreach with my new wife, Kathleen, God had us lay the testimony ministry on 'the altar.' That was one of the most trying and painful things I had ever had to do up until that time. I wasn't sure whether the devil was trying to talk me out of the ministry, or if God was really the one leading me to put the ministry down. Through much prayer and fasting and grumbling and groaning, I figured that whatever was the case, if God wanted us to continue with Miracles Of God, God knew I didn't want to lay the ministry down, and because of that, He would have us pick it back up again in the future if that was His will. I'll take a brief moment to share that the reason God had us lay that ministry down (and it WAS God, not the devil's leading), was to teach me at least three things: 

The MINISTRY had me instead of GOD having me

One was -- the ministry had me instead of God having me. I wanted out of my job at the phone company so bad that I was bent on seeing that ministry prosper at any and all costs. [You have to realize, Ernie was my ticket out of  the company I struggled working at: Michigan Bell Telephone Company] Ernie was to be my own business, and a means of providing financially for my family and I. Now that I wasn't doing the Dirty Ernie series any longer, surely God was going to prosper me with the testimonial publishing ministry, right? Wrong! God was now telling me to lay the ministry down. Gulp. I still can feel a twinge of pain from those years long ago over the issue.  

The second thing God wanted to teach Kathleen and I was that attacks from the devil do not go away just because we are doing the ministry God has called us to. In fact, they typically increase. Both of us had very little wisdom in how to wage effective spiritual warfare against the devil at the time. (We're still learning, by the way! This writing: Why The Need For 'The Armor Of God'? is some fruit from our learning).  

The third thing God wanted to teach us was the awesome value and potential to God there is with testimonies to work in conjunction with teaching and preaching God's Word and helping fulfill the Great Commission. Well-written - well-spoken Jesus-glorifying testimonies are one of Satan's greatest threats when it comes to evangelism as well as providing hope and encouragement to new Christians. When I would least suspect it, and when I never wanted to hear the word 'testimony' ever spoken to my ears again, God would reveal things to me about testimonies I had never realized before. I had simply been doing testimonies out of obedience; nothing more. I had always loved a good hunting or fishing story, but now I loved hearing a good 'God story,' and that was about as far as things went. But in a two-year time period, when we were not doing a thing with testimonies, God was revealing so much to me about the untapped value and God-glorifying potential of testimonies, especially as tools to help reach the lost, that it was driving me bonkers.  'Why, Lord, do you keep revealing these things to me about the priceless value and potential of testimonies to win the lost and minister hope and encouragement to Your people [now get this], and to let testimonies of deliverance and healing be used to create a more conducive atmosphere for others to be delivered and healed [whoever this is for, allow God to reveal Matthew 13:58 and Mark 6:5-6 to you], when I'm not even doing testimonies anymore?'  

Thank God, the day came when God spoke to me to begin doing testimonies again, although I dragged my feet wanting to do so. By this time a new vision to execute testimonies had been birthed in faith in my spirit. I say in faith, because I was the only one getting the vision. Pastors I was under at the time weren't getting it the way I hoped they would, and this became a painful cross for me to bear. The initial vision was simply to allow Christians to share their born again testimonies on Saturday evenings somewhere the public could hear them. A local church would be fine, or wherever. After much frustration and exasperation on my part, God eventually opened up doors for us to use the Salvation Army post in Grand Haven, Michigan. In was a quaint little building tucked away in the middle of a lower-class neighborhood; just right for what we were looking for. Captain Jim McDowell was running the post at the time, a very special brother indeed. 

We began conducting Saturday Night Testimonies Live! - in January of 1992. Kathleen and I showed up there every Saturday night. Upwards of 50 people showed up on any given Saturday, and we had the opportunity to lead a number of people to Christ, and to minister afterwards to hurting Christians. It was a great experience for us, though growth in numbers was certainly not happening the way I was hoping.  

No One Showed Up

As we moved into summer of 1993, attendance on Saturday nights began to drop off drastically. During mid-summer of that year, the only people who showed up for three Saturdays in a row were Kathleen and I. Those three weeks in succession - even the person scheduled to testify each evening didn't show up, and never was able to even contact us and tell us they weren't able to make it. Kathleen had been so diligent in fasting and prayer for growth up until that third fateful Saturday, but on that last night, Kathleen was ready to drive back to Grand Rapids for good and never come back. Grace had completely run out for her. As for myself, I too was ready to close up shop, but I knew I needed God's approval first. 

We had the building to ourselves, so I knelt at the altar up front and began to have a real serious heart-to-heart talk with the Lord. This was the conversation that unfolded. 'Lord, you see us here. We have been faithful to what we believe has been your call for us, and for the last three Saturday's, nobody has showed up except us. We're tired of this. We could be out at Lake Michigan enjoying the lake and the sun and sand like everyone else is right now, or home watching a video together and enjoying each other instead of showing up here and feeling rejected, which we really are, you know. So, I'm not getting up off my knees until I hear something from you. In fact, I'm staying right here until tomorrow morning and they will have to pry me away from this altar before Sunday school starts if that is what it takes to hear what you have to say about this matter. Just tell me plainly if I willed this Saturday night outreach to take place instead of your leading, or whatever else I may have done, or may be doing wrong that I don't realize.' 

I emptied my frustration to Him and then just quit praying. I waited in silence. Kathleen was not at all that enthused about my determination to stay there at the altar until the Resurrection Day, if need be, which I couldn't blame her.  

It wasn't long and God spoke to my spirit very loudly. He said, 'Why are you here doing what you are doing every Saturday night?' 

God asked: "Why are you doing what you are doing?"

Boy, I thought to myself, what a dumb question that is! But you don't tell God He asks dumb questions, do you? Yet I half-flippantly answered Him right back: 'You know why we're here. To reach lost souls for Jesus.' 

'No you're not,' He replied very quickly and very matter of factly. 'You're here because you believe it's My will for you to be here.' 

'Yeah, well of course. That only stands to reason, but the end purpose is to attempt to reach lost souls. You know that as well as I do.' I was still edgy yet now slightly squirmy inside. 

Next came this from Him. 'If you absolutely knew that you knew that you knew that you would receive maximized rewards throughout all eternity by showing up here every Saturday night the rest of your life without one other person showing up, or one person testifying, or one person getting saved . . .  would that be good enough for you?'  

Oooooh, now I was really beginning to squirm. I knew what my answer had better be. 'Well yeah, I guess so Lord, if that is what you would want.' 

He next said this. 'Do you realize that I don't need you or any other person helping me win lost souls? Do you realize that if I wanted, all I would have to do is fly one angel around the earth 24 hours a day like a satellite, yelling for all earth to hear, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved -- otherwise you're going to hell!'?"

Hmmm, what could He be getting at, I'm wondering at that moment. Maybe I'm not needed as much as I thought I was.

Then He said this: 'You know what, Norm. You have a pretty big audience every Saturday night watching what you and Kathleen are doing even though you can't see them. Jesus and I and the Holy Spirit watch what you're doing very closely every Saturday night since you started. There are angels watching you. There are saints in heaven watching you. And there are even devils showing up and hindering what you're doing. You actually have a very large audience showing up in the unseen realm, so keep doing what you're doing. We here in the spirit realm are pleased with what you're doing, all except the demons, of course.'  

And that was it. He said no more. I got directly up off my knees and shared with Kathleen what He had said. She looked at me with eyebrows raised and said, 'You SURE that's what God said to you? To keep doing this?' 

'Yep,' I said. 

Thus we kept on. But a few days later, God spoke something else very clearly to me. He told me to trust Him for a camcorder, and begin filming the people testifying. Now you've got to try to understand how difficult that was for me to receive. I had been of the persuasion that we already had too many TV ministries, and if people wanted God bad enough that was what the local street-corner church was for. We didn't need another TV ministry making it easy for couch potatoes to get ministry from a TV when the church stayed half empty on Sundays, was my cynical attitude about TV ministries at the time, unfortunately. 

'Well, God, if you want us to start videotaping, then you'll have to provide us with a video camera. I only have $400 dollars for ministry purposes, and that's not enough for a new camera.' 

The Holy Spirit put it on my heart to visit a pawnshop not many days later, and wouldn't you know, there was a very good used camera for exactly $400 dollars, which I ended up buying. Thus we began videotaping testimonies, with hardly any crowd to hinder us, which enabled me to get quality videos in the setting we were at. However, I didn't know what I was to do with the videos. In due time, God made us aware of Cable TV Public Access (free video), and we began playing the tapes in Holland and in Grand Haven, Michigan.  

I worked at the telephone company at that time, and several people began telling me that they had seen the broadcasts, and really enjoyed them. There was such an overwhelming response to them, that in due season I felt the Lord wanted us to make a transition in the outreach. We would NOT have to show up at the Salvation Army building every Saturday night, but we would be 'Have Camera Will Travel.' In other words, we would film wherever it was convenient to film for the testifier.  

I have to backtrack a little to bring things together. My love for writing had been stuffed under a mattress, and God knew that bothered me greatly. So in late 1993 God was allowing us to transcribe from tape people's testimonies like the little booklets we had done a few years earlier, but put the born again testimonies now on a single page 8.5"x11", both sides. God opened restaurants for us to place the testimonials in, and people could also subscribe to them if they wanted. We tried to publish a new one every month. That ministry we called: Precious Testimonies. 

As the videos continued to play on Public Access, and God moved us to trust Him to open even more Public Access doors, the vision of Saturday Night Testimonies Live! was put on the back-burner, and Precious Testimonies brought more joy and made the most sense to us. I say the 'most sense to us' in that with one two-hour video tape that cost less than $2 to purchase, we could get into the homes of thousands and thousands of unsaved people, not to mention being able to minister hope and encouragement to the saved who might be hurting. As a matter of fact, I remember the moment well when the Lord spoke this to my spirit: 'Think of what you're doing. Every Saturday you are videotaping someone's full-length born again testimony that is glorifying Me. All it costs is $2 to put that testimony on a two-hour tape. If you film every Saturday of the year, at the end of that year you will have filmed 52 born again testimonies that are sowing truths of My Word and are bringing glory to Me. The average cost of making one Hollywood film a year runs into the millions of dollars, and no souls are getting saved from them. What do you think of this ministry now that I have led you into?'  

Oh wow! - I thought to myself. This is too much  Saturday Night died for us [though not necessarily for someone else, and the video ministry sprung forth. The printed testimonies began to die as our interest lay with the videos, because that's where we were seeing the most response for the money and time spent.  

Precious Testimonies Website Is Born

Then enters a special brother by the name of Calvin Bergsma from the Jenison, Michigan area (A community on the  southwest of Grand Rapids). When finances were slim as they always seemed to be, (we had been a tent making ministry since inception of doing testimonies; something I struggled much with over the years, to be honest), I would ask brother Calvin to print up something for us on his computer/printer. Calvin was a computer web designer/specialist at the time (www.digistat.com) having his own computer consultant/Internet website design and maintenance business, and when I would ask him to do some cheap printing for the ministry, Calvin would constantly attempt to convince me that Kathleen and I needed a computer of our own to facilitate the outreach ministry. Now you got to know this about me while he's trying to get me to see the wisdom of having our own computer, computers to me at that time were a device the devil had come up with to destroy the minds of Christians; never mind non-Christians. As TV's should be taken out back and destroyed with a shotgun, computers should be nuked! Computers and the Internet would be the downfall of the world - in my mind!  

One day God spoke to me about my hang-up with computers and the Internet. 'Computers and the Internet are like television and radio, Norm. They are useful mediums for communicating. If God's people don't use them for My glory, guess who is left to use them for his purposes, ultimately for greed and evil.' Ooooooh...there He went again, nailing me for being so blinded to the outreach potential media offers  to go into the highways and byways seeking the lost as God has commanded ministries like Precious Testimonies to do. 

Thus we got one of those 'beasts' called a computer in June of 1997 and found an altar to place it on in our humble little home. Calvin took on the daunting task of teaching Kathleen to feed and nurture the 'beast', and low and behold, a light bulb went on inside my brain. We had many written testimonies that were very anointed from times past that were now just doing nothing. If we were to get a website and put those written testimonies on the Internet for the entire world to see, wouldn't that make a lot of sense? Sure would!  

Thus we've evolved into what we're doing together today (2017). Giving born again - Jesus loving Christians a place to have their testimonies published on the Internet, both written and video. However, if I could have my heart's desire fulfilled, it would be for others to start testimony outreaches in their own communities by utilizing Cable TV Public Access resources (FREE television- no charge, hint-hint!) and on YouTube as God calls and enables them - to tap into the untapped potential of the testimonies that God has written in the lives of followers of Jesus Christ (See: Psalms 96:3 KJV). Other testimony website ministries are popping up on the Internet all the time, praise God, so we are truly blessed by that, though they TOO have difficulty getting testimonies to publish. (Many start-ups ask US if they can use testimonies off the Precious Testimonies website, which we almost always give permission for them to do if they are ministries we believe are worthy).

Dirty Ernie Needed To Die

As I look back on where we started  from, and where God has brought us to as this is being written, it staggers my imagination to think how empty Dirty Ernie would have been had I stayed with that project and not pursued testimonies (And now distributing JESUS DID IT! Best News Flyers around the globe). Yes, maybe Ernie would have made us financially blessed by now, who but God can say. But this we both know, of the lives God has allowed us to come in contact with since we started on the other path, the testimony path, we're both so thankful we were able to follow the path we're on. It has allowed us to meet some of the finest people God has reconciled back to Himself, and it has given us opportunities to present the truth of God's Word to multitudes that Dirty Ernie never would have. God has used, ... and continues to use ... the ministry to plant and water a lot of seeds of the Gospel, and to minister to a lot of hurting people -- all to His glory.

If I was to learn that I was about to soon die, I would now be at peace that I had a chance to pursue my God-given dream of pioneering something from nothing. That has always been a main motivator in me: pioneering something from scratch. Furthermore, the joy of watching God take two insecure people like my wife and I and giving us the confidence and ability to speak on a video camera and minister literally astounds us.  

When I went through a time of seeking God for a Biblical foundation on which to base Precious Testimonies on, I thought it would probably be Revelation 12:11. (Years later, I came to understand WHY). Not so however. Rather, God communicated to me that He wanted it based on Psalms 96:3 ["Declare God's glory among the heathen": KJV translation]. Publishing stories about changed lives that He had brought about meant more to Him than how He uses testimonies against Satan's devices. Over the years, God has revealed time after time that the one thing He cannot do that only you and I can do is give Him glory. Joyous and priceless glory never comes when you have the power to give it to yourself like God has. Only when a created being like you and I purpose to give God glory, especially at times when we really don't even want to, is when God is most delighted. In hell where Satan resides, his slaves give him glory whether they want to or not. They had better or else! The Lord is not that way with saved, lost souls. It will always be our highest privilege, (yet perhaps our greatest challenge at times), in choosing to glorify God throughout eternity if we have a proper revelation of our relationship with Him, and His expectations of us. We will never have to glorify God because we have to.  God isn't looking for robots. We will glorify Him because we are privileged to; we desire to -- not so much that we have to. There is a huge difference between the two motives. 

To anyone starting out in their Christian walk reading this, identifying with the zeal to want to impact this world with their time and energies for the cause of Christ, I'd like to say this to you. No matter how confusing and frustrating things might be for you right now, if your purpose is to be used of God to win lost souls, and you're not in it for the money or the prestige, God will surely not let your efforts go in vain. Not one person will ever have to stand before God when we give an account for our lives and have to apologize for giving ourselves during our lifetime to help reach lost souls. It's the one thing God has always been for, and always will be for until there will no longer be a need to reach lost souls. No matter how unorthodox your vision might be in reaching lost souls, don't let fuddy-duddy Christians persuade you that your method of reaching those lost souls just can't be something God is telling you to do. Do it anyway the best way you know how, and try to work with the rest of the Body of Christ as well as you're able, because once those souls get saved, somebody other than you will will most likely be responsible for nurturing and discipling them, so they will grow up spiritually to be used of God to carry on the process.  

Don't let anyone steal your vision for reaching lost souls!

God is creative personified. If God leads you to stand on your head at midnight on the beach and yodel in tongues, do it, if your heart is to reach lost souls. Maybe no one else will understand your vision, but if your purpose is to reach the lost, God might just turn the world right side up just for you to be the only one standing up right and the rest of the world will end up standing on their heads while you yodel to them. God has ways He will use to reach lost souls that we pinheaded Christians haven't dreamed of. After all, God likes to have fun too. Stifling His creativity surely can't be all that much fun for Him, even though many of us would like to help Him stifle it, wouldn't we? 

Thus we end this chapter. What have I learned through all this? God doesn't need me or Kathleen or anyone else to reach lost souls. Yet He chooses to use people like us. (Here's the BIGGEST reason I believe WHY). Not one person has saved another person. Only God saves. Yet God gives you and I the high privilege to be involved in the process of planting and watering seeds to accomplish salvation in others, doesn't He? Thus ministry is not something we have to do, but get to do.  

The final thing we have learned through all this is that God will not reward us on how many souls were saved through this outreach. God rewards faithfulness to the call He places on us.

Thank you Father, for letting us share in the eternal work that you have for us to do before our time is done on earth and we enter heaven's gates! Please always help us to remain obedient to what pleases You.

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)