By Rob Pue
After working in full time ministry for the past 22 years, I’m still amazed at the impact this work has had on so many people, and at how God has expanded this mission from what I had originally envisioned in ways I never imagined would be possible. Our printed newspaper, Wisconsin Christian News, is now distributed not just here in Wisconsin, but nationally and even internationally.
Several years ago, the founder of the VCY America radio network invited me to do a twice-weekly radio commentary, and that program now airs coast-to-coast every Tuesday and Saturday afternoon. In 2019, I began doing an internet TV program once a week, where I interview well known Christian leaders from around the world. This program is also available world-wide on the internet.
All of this began more than two decades ago, working from a plastic folding table in my living room. Following the call the Lord placed on my life, and being obedient to His leading, He has grown the work beyond anything I ever expected. We have literally gone from reaching hundreds of people with God’s Word and truth to reaching millions, world-wide now.
When God called me to start our Christian newspaper for Wisconsin, I thought there would be a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for it — from the churches, from Christian bookstores, from Christian radio stations and Christian-owned businesses. So I stepped out in faith, sold my profitable business and began Wisconsin Christian News with a lot of faith — faith much larger than a “mustard seed!” In fact, faith so great that most people thought I was crazy. That faith was quickly tested.
There was no support for our work from any Christian organizations anywhere. Churches would have nothing to do with us. I was told by a local Christian radio station that they would not support us because they considered us “competing media.” I was told by Christian bookstores that they could not allow the newspaper to be distributed there, because their stores had no space for anything that was given away for free. They couldn’t “waste” valuable space in their store for anything they were not making money on.
So it’s been a long, difficult journey and it continues to be difficult in many ways. I was much younger when we began, raising a family with small children. We lived one day at a time, by faith, and we truly didn’t know how we were going to make it from one day to the next. There were many evenings when I sat down with my family at the dinner table, with only a few meager morsels to eat and each meal was our “last meal,” because we had no income at all, so I had no idea where the money would come from for another one. That’s a lot of pressure on a young father with three small children and a wife to provide for. But God provided, one day at a time, as my faith was put through some serious testing.
We still live by faith, every day. It’s only by the grace of God that we’ve been able to continue. When we began, there were about 120 Christian newspapers in North America. Today we are one of only about a dozen or so left — and even fewer are actual printed newspapers; most are “online only.” But God has blessed this ministry. While so many others have given up, we have persevered, through the toughest of times, and today, not only are we still here, but we are now reaching more people than ever before — as I said, literally world-wide.
One lesson I’ve learned over the years, and which was recently very well stated by a wonderful ministry friend is this: “God doesn’t expect you to feed the 5,000, but He does expect you to show up with the five loaves and the two fish!” He’ll do the rest. As long as we’re obedient to His calling, no matter how impossible the task before of us may seem — as long as we’re willing to step out in faith and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, He will do the heavy lifting for us. Knowing that if God is for us, none can stand against us should alleviate a lot of the unnecessary stress and anxiety we go through in our Christian walk. But I know from experience, “not worrying” is often easier said than done. I have great faith in God, but my “flesh” is often weak, causing me to worry and fret and wonder about the many challenges and obstacles that come upon me every day.
Jesus said, “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Now, I know I need not worry, but oftentimes I still do. I know that God can meet my every need if He wants to; but I also know that there are many times I need to suffer and struggle through things before I can see His mighty hand in everything. Hardship keeps us humble, and helps us understand and appreciate that everything we are blessed with comes from Him. Paul told the Corinthians that three times he pleaded with the Lord regarding his “thorn in the flesh,” but still the “thorn” remained, and Paul explained that he learned to rejoice in it, because it served to keep him humble and to rely on God. Paul wanted God to remove the thorn, but God said, “My grace is sufficient for you; My power is made perfect in weakness.” And so it is, for all of us.
I’ve shared some of my story with you because we all need to understand, the Christian life is not one of ease, comfort and luxury. Simply because we have faith and are obedient to our Lord, that doesn’t mean we will not have trouble in this world. This world is filled with trouble. Jesus warned His disciples of all the suffering they would endure for His names’ sake. In John 16, He said, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” Later, He added, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We must overcome the world as well.
We can take great comfort in knowing that the Holy Scriptures are absolutely true, and the God we serve is the same yesterday, today and forever. The promises He makes to us, He will keep. But again: in this world, we WILL have tribulation, and it’s not always easy to be joyful. There are many great servants of God in Scripture that were very sad and sorrowful. Jeremiah was known as “the weeping prophet” because the people would not listen to his warnings from God. Jesus was sorrowful for the lost and perishing, and for those who loved darkness rather than light. We can have great faith, and we can absolutely know that our Father in heaven will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Yet we can still be sad, anxious and depressed.
Because our ministry is now so far-reaching, many people know me from all over the world, and often times I am contacted by those who are very troubled, dealing with some very tough issues in their lives. They contact me seeking answers and seeking counsel and prayer. I’m honored that they would come to me and I’m always blessed to help when I’m able.
In recent years, as we’ve watched the world grow so dark and so demonic, I’m getting more and more such calls. So many people in this world — even, and maybe especially, Christians — are dealing with some very, very hard things. Troubled marriages, wayward children, broken families, serious illness and always spiritual warfare. And as we see the New World Order come into being now, with America so wounded, being destroyed by our enemies — both foreign and especially domestic — people are fearful of what the future might hold — for themselves, their children and grandchildren. The world and all we’ve grown up with and known our whole lives has suddenly been flipped upside down.
The evil ones are encouraged to run wild and free — absolute lawlessness abounds, while God’s people are specifically targeted for intense persecution. It’s clear now that the “Great Reset” they have planned for the world is not going to be good for Christians. It’s also very clear that we now live in a country that no longer knows God nor fears Him. Instead, the people mock Him and conspire against His people. And whether we like it or not, many — myself included — see no way to stop the communist takeover of America and the world.
Those who contact me are frightened. And after more than a year of ever-increasing measures by the government to ensure obedience and blind compliance with just about any orders handed down by the Almighty State, those who contact me are suffering from not only fear and anxiety, but depression, great sadness and intense loneliness. Of course, they look forward to our Savior’s second coming, when He will set everything right again. But in the meantime, so many are suffering emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically.
They long for the days before all the nonsense began. But it began long ago, and came so gradually that no one seemed to notice or care. Until now. Now, it’s hitting home, but now, I’m afraid, it’s too late to stop. I was one who did my utmost to sound the warning to God’s people, for over twenty years. Many heeded my warnings, and the warnings of so many others, and have prepared for this. But for the most part, the modern American Church could not have cared less. Indeed, even with clear evidence of extreme evil reigning in our land, many so-called “Christian churches” and church leaders are continuing on as they always have, not realizing that they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Some, that claim to be “Christian churches” are even helping the devil and his demons as they advocate for sodomy, abortion, all manner of sexual perversion, while eagerly complying with an evil government that shutters true houses of worship, muzzles the citizenry with masks that do nothing at all but enforce submission and perpetuate fear, mandates experimental drug injections and forces people to obey “Caesar” or face harsh punishments. The modern American Church is complicit in all this, and it has been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. The one institution in our land that could have prevented all this evil by simply being obedient to God and His Word, chose instead to bow to the false gods of “easy believism,” “convenience,” and “entertainment.”
Most of these professing Christian leaders are still blind, still deceiving their people by refusing to preach the whole counsel of God and they lack the courage to stand up against the tyranny and oppression of the devil. They’d rather remain deaf and dumb, and they’d rather their people remain that way too. “Business as usual” as the world burns.
Those who truly do have the Holy Spirit inside them can clearly see that what Jesus said was true as they study and meditate on His words from Matthew 16: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
As they saying goes, “everyone wants to follow Jesus, until they find out where He’s going.” When our Lord was arrested and crucified by the government and religious leaders, all but one of His disciples abandoned Him — they fled in fear. Those 11 all later suffered horrendous deaths as martyrs, all except John, who remained by His side through all of it — but even John was boiled in oil and later exiled to the island of Patmos. Not exactly “Your Best Life Now,” is it?
No, friends, the Christian life in this world is hard. We’re not immune from the tribulations of this world. Like the thousands of faithful followers of God before us, we will continue to struggle in this world. It’s ok to deal with times of sadness, depression, loneliness and even despair. But when these times come, recognize them for what they are: spiritual attacks from the enemy. The key is to stand strong in our faith, no matter what. And we need to understand this now, more than ever, because things are only going to get worse for those who truly follow Christ. Remember the words of Revelation 12: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
This world is not our home and we only get one life here in which to prove our faith, win souls and oppose the enemy. Always know that God is with us — indeed His Holy Spirit is even inside us — if we are truly His. And He can and will “do exceedingly more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” So fear not.
Let us use these lifetimes wisely, and through it all, always remember what Paul told the Corinthians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I pray that you have that peace that passes all understanding today.
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E-Mail Rob Pue: Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com
Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at Wisconsin Christian News, (715) 486-8066 or email: Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com. Ask for message number 326.
