By Pastor Bob Rasmussen
I have traveled this world a little bit in my lifetime. I have been to Germany twice, once when I was relatively young and again as an adult. When I was in the military, I served with the 7th Infantry Division in Fort Ord, California. I lived there for two years, except for a month in Arizona doing desert training, and then 6 months in Taba, Egypt.
I know the term of the 3rd world country is not politically correct. But when I was there that was the best way to describe it. When we were on rotation working with the UN as observers, we would see mountains on both sides of us – one was the border of Egypt and the other was the border of Israel. During our 3 week rotation we would observe and report, and sometimes we would patrol.
The conditions of some of the villages were quite astounding with the poverty. Children are coming up and begging for food, money, and candy. I remember one time we got a puppy from a village and we brought it back. Until the CO found out and we had to return it. When we went back out and tried to give it back, we found the mother coming out and through an interpreter, said she did not have enough money to feed her children, let alone a dog. That really stuck with me as I thought about how we lived here in the United States.
We have such an abundance of everything and so much opportunity in this country we call the United States of America, amen?
I thought about why we were there, to enforce peace between two nations. I did not understand the importance of Israel as I do now, but I took great pride in serving.
I thought about how much more refined we were as a nation. How we had free speech. How we had elections, and in general how great this nation was.
We did not have all of the war, the political assassinations, and general violence as they seem to experience.
Until this week.
If you did not know, Charlie Kirk was assassinated at the Utah campus. I will not name the pathetic excuse of a human who shot him. I am just glad they have him in custody. My heart grieves for his wife and two children, who, according to the BBC, were there with him.
I did not know this man other than he was a Christ-centered conservative, who had a passion for this country, was very smart, wanted discourse, and knew the Lord.On his Instagram: “I believe in the Bible, and I believe that Christ rose from the dead on the third day. This is the foundation of my faith and guides my actions.” He communicated principles that were rooted in faith, in the Word, and many did not like him.
We have had many shootings as well, mass shootings taking place all over the country. The most recent was at the Annunciation Catholic Church, where two children were killed and 21 were injured before the gunman killed himself. The Capital Jewish Museum, Boulder, Colorado, and a planned attack at a church in Michigan, all this year.
Things like murdering Christians, as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where 89 were murdered, are now happening here.
Some things that have been even more disconcerting is after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, some people were celebrating his death. The darkness in the hearts of people, the people that Jesus came to save, is shocking. The anger of people that drives them to do some of the most horrible things that used to happen in other places, is now normal.
The regard for human life has become pathetic. We see it in the news, most recently a stabbing on the subway of Iryna Zarutska, who moved from war-torn Ukraine, only to be murdered for no reason.
And of course, abortion here in the United States. An estimated 1,038,000 abortions were provided by clinicians in states without total bans in 2024, a less than 1% increase from 2023 and an increase of 12% from 2020.
I never thought I would say this, but it seems to me that this country is headed to be a third-world country.
Does anyone remember that we have something called a Doomsday clock that is indicative of how close to humanity is to self-destruction? It began in 1947 as a warning to the world about the worsening state of affairs. The initial setting was 7 minutes until midnight.
In 2025, it was moved up one second to where it is now, 89 seconds to midnight. They factor in many things like biological hazards, nuclear threats, climate change, wars, and other criteria. Theoretically, when that clock hits zero, it is the end of the line for all of us.
There is another clock that is running, one that is unstoppable and will come no matter what mankind does or does not do. God has placed a time clock that will count down backwards to the end of the age. It doesn’t matter if you believe; it will keep running down. No theological argument will change the absoluteness of God’s clock. Ignorance will not stop that clock. Nothing that men do or do not do will impact what Jesus has prophesied in His Word.
So, where am I going with all this? This is not what I had planned, but with all the turmoil this week, here we are. There is a time coming when we are going to have to stand. I do not know when, and anyone that claims to know the hour and time is most likely a liar.
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
No one, not anyone that says they know when He will return, can be believed, because He said so.I wish I could tell you. I would like to know. I used to ask Him. And Jesus, being Jesus, would bring me to this verse, so what are we supposed to do?
Everything that I brought up earlier, the shootings, the assassination, the hatred, the anger, the apathy for life, there is a solution. And His name is Jesus. But Bob, that is so simplistic, so old school – excuse me? When has He never been enough?
The problem starts, I think, with the education system and how they took God out of schools. It has gotten so bad that many Christians have to come up with a whole new ministry – the flagpole ministry, because prayer and the word of God are not welcome in the school.
Instead of the Word of God, it is the word of men that is brought in to teach that the lifestyle, sexuality, and corruption of marriage are the norm. They have books that talk about LGBTQ:
These are the books that are recommended by the NEA – the people who teach our children, our grandchildren, and even some of our great-grandchildren. Shame on them.
Maybe if we had teaching material more like this book.
By Dr. Ben Carson – “A children’s book about the Judeo-Christian values of America and its founding, and the importance of the Four Pillars of the American Cornerstone Institute: Faith, Liberty, Community, Life.”
What I have learned this week is that although the time we have before Jesus comes is limited, it is time for us to stand!
Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Noah preached while He was building the Ark. It took many years to complete, Answers in Genesis has a good post on this so let’s call it 75 years.Noah, building the ark, for 75 years, is that all he did?
2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
He preached while he was building, he preached while he was waiting, he preached because he believed.Who was he preaching to?
Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And perhaps just like in the days of Noah, it is like that now. All the evil and violence that I have talked about sounds the same as it was back then. We see perversion and a loss of righteousness in all of mankind. The profane is acceptable. God and His people are openly mocked. There is no value given to the lord as He deserves. And just as back then, many did not heed Noah’s warning until it was too late.
And perhaps we are a little like him today. We gather together weekly. We pray together and for others. We try to live for God and not the world. We try to let people know that they have a Savior and that there is a time coming of judgment.
I heard someone say this recently. The Lord didn’t call you to be understood, He called you to be obedient. Our friends and family may not understand what has changed in our lives, even though we have told them. They may call us weird or introverted. They may think we are losing our minds based on their views. But the Lord calls us to be obedient, not understood.
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
And just like in the days of Noah, when the flood came, the people will be running and knocking on the door of salvation like they did on the ark. Let us in, let us in – but it will be too late.
But we have more to do until that time. And unfortunately, things that cut the life of Charlie Kirk and others may happen to us, so we must be ready for the return of Jesus.
When Jesus says Take up his cross, the time when He said it is essential. The cross, back then, was an instrument of death, a path to execution. It wasn’t about religion or spirituality as it is more now. The disciples knew what He meant. And they just found out that Jesus was going to die, and then He wants them to do the same thing? And we are to do the same thing!
How do we stay ready?
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
We are not the same as we were before Jesus in our lives and our lives should reflect that. As we grow closer to Him, He will always reveal what needs to change in our lives or our behavior. He is the Potter and we are the clay as one of our songs says. Sometimes those changes come easily, sometimes they are harder, and we fail – but keep going, keep changing into who He called you to be.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We are not the same, praise the Lord. And what He makes is beautiful and has value; it has purpose. He did not just save us from something, He saved us for a purpose, His purpose in His Kingdom. His Kingdom is not in this building; it is the whole world. Some of us may be called here or there, and we all have different gifts of the Spirit, but it will all work together for His purpose and His glory, amen?
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We have seen how the world is trying to suppress the word of God. We have seen in some countries the bible is banned – why? Because there is power in the Word of God. There is healing in the Word of God. There is hope in the Word of God. There is freedom in the Word of God. So it makes sense that for the enemy to rise, they would suppress the powerful Word of God.
Read it, study it – bury deep in your heart because there may be a time, even in this country, that we may not have access to it.We do not seek the approval of men, but of God. Our faithfulness to Jesus is our goal.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
I do not hear a lot of messages when I am listening to other sermons say this, but we are to strive to be holy – that is what sets us apart. We are bombarded with hypersexual content in media of all forms. They push lifestyles that go against God’s Word all the time. Same sex relationships are portrayed as normal and acceptable. Sexual activity and sex outside of marriage is common on our screens. We are called old -fashioned, so what?
If trying to please God gets me called names and cast out, I welcome it because He is the One we are trying to please. Not the world. We try to be Holy because He is Holy.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
I have not been called to go to another nation, thank the Lord. But whenever we can, wherever we have the chance, however we have the opportunity, we are to share the gospel. I have been pushing myself on this, and so far, I can say I have not seen great reactions to the few folks I tried. I got an eyeroll, a no thanks, and a that’s not for me, and a look of anger.
And I do want to say this. For the folks who went to a church and got hurt – I know, that happened to us. That was not God; that was not Jesus, that was people, and people are messy. Imperfect, flawed, opinionated people. So do not the actions of man deny the power of Jesus in your life. Pick yourself up, dust it off, and seek Him with all of your heart. That is part of the “it won’t be easy” that Jesus talks about.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
In my walk, I have been around some pretty depressing Christians who have no joy in their life. I think sometimes they forget that joy they had when they were saved. The freedom that it brought, the forgiveness that washed over them. I remind myself of these things daily. I didn’t earn it, I did not get what I deserved. Instead, I received forgiveness and grace.
So in this life, I want to encourage others in the faith. When someone falls, I always want to be there with a hand to help them back up. The thing about being saved is that when we fail, I think we are a lot harder on ourselves than anyone else, because of the Spirit that lives in us. If someone messes up, I will not be the one who beats them up some more. I want to be the one who raises them back up to Jesus. Then I can let Jesus help them in ways I can’t.
That word edify in Lartin is “adificAre” which means to build. Therefore, we should help rebuild someone’s life by sharing the Word, praying for them, following up with them, and maintaining a relationship with them.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
While we wait, we will serve the Lord, however He sees fit. It may look different for each of us, but when we are all serving Him, He makes it work all together for His good, amen. Not everyone will be on a platform or a worship team, but there are so many areas where He needs us.
And when we are dedicated to a prayer life, He will reveal those things to us, the places He needs us to be, or what we need to do. All throughout His Word it tells us to pray. Pray for our enemies, pray for each other, pray in the Spirit so that is what I choose to do.
“Abhor that which is evil.” I really thought about this and what happened with all the news I shared, and I really think it is time for Christians to put their money where their mouth is – literally.
I do not have kids that are in school, but if I did, they would be home-schooled. For their own safety and growth, and to take away money from the schools. Stop feeding the beast with our tax dollars.
I will not buy products or services from companies that support the things that I do not believe in. If we all did that, I am sure that they would figure out why their sales are down. We do not want to support those who profane the Lord.
A lot of people in church say you need to leave politics out. Actually, that is incorrect. Every Christian should be registered to vote and should be voting according to their conscience – and honestly, it should be against any liberal. The liberal policy makers are destroying this nation, pushing every weird and unrighteous thing down our throats. It has to stop, but if you do not go and vote, you need to start.
More Christians should be running for office. That is not something the Lord has told me to do, but if we get leaders who actually have a moral compass, imagine how great this nation could be. We, as followers of Jesus, have some power and authority that we need to use when it comes to standing up to the atrocities around us.
Brother Kim has a blog, The Cellar Dweller, and often writes op-ed letters to the Gazette. Honestly, some of them are so on point that when I submit them, I am like, “nah, they are not publishing that one”. Why, because they cannot handle the truth. But keep writing, brother!
My wife Diana has a blog with over a million hits – Prayers and Promises. And, we just got a check, hallelujah. However, she shares about her struggles and how Jesus, her Savior, has helped her through many difficult times, encouraging others in their own walk.
Brother Dave uses Facebook and sometimes finds himself in Facebook jail – does that stop him? Nope. It even cost him a job because the values he had did not mesh with the company’s. Their loss, if you ask me. And has that stopped him? No, it hasn’t! Keep posting, brother!
The assassination of Charlie Kirk should be a wake-up call for all of us. They do not want the truth and values that we hold dear. They cannot talk about it or debate it. They will call you hateful things and attack you. They may even kill you.
Brother Aaron texted me this – “I don’t think that I could pray any harder for the Lord to heal this great country.” Amen!
How do we heal this nation? How do we stop mass shootings? How do we lower the murder rates? How do we get away from so much hate and anger? It’s simple and not so simple – a return to Jesus and repentance. A changing of the guard in politics and standing against what is evil and standing for what is good.
Janesville Apostolic Ministries 
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