I hope you have received my letter dated the 8th of this month. Today I received a very good letter from Father. I’m also returning your letter from A. Thompson in which he invites you to be his intimate friend. With regard to this, I can only answer with Matt. 12:50: “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” I presume that the expression “intimate friend” is covered by this verse. If Thompson wants to have a friend according to the flesh, he should be made aware that we no longer know any man according to the flesh. In fact, a servant of the Lord should understand this, and it is a great shame for a person to write such a thing. For my own part, I am extremely happy that I am even allowed to live and that I haven’t been hanged—much less to have any such “intimate friend” according to the flesh. You shouldn’t let such nonsense go without a sharp reprimand.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the weaker sheep have not been adequately cared for in Kristiansand. Therefore, the Lord will now come and judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Ezek. 34:20. It is so easy to push with your side, shoulder, and horns and to shove the weak sheep aside so that they are driven out and scattered. Verse 21. We are to give greater honor to the more lowly members. I know quite well that this has not been done intentionally. It is due to ignorance and a lack of vigilance, and that is why we need to judge these transgressions very severely.

Concerning the position of the overseer: He who seeks this position should have demonstrated by his own individual labor in the church that he is able to gather brothers and sisters around him. He must have won their full confidence. Such a person must grow up on their own in a natural way. Don’t be too quick to arrange these things, so that the end result can be a spiritual church. Let judgment do its work, watch how the different individuals receive and apply the judgment, and then let life show which of the brothers is capable of such a task. I have confidence in Br. Gerrard, but first he has a great deal to learn. First of all, he has to admit that he acted wrong in that meeting where he tried to put the entire blame on the brothers and sisters who had felt neglected. The fact of the matter is: 1) When he exclusively spent time with Barratt, he was only thinking about himself. In such cases, people can easily use their side and shoulder to push away the weak. 2) After that, he wanted to force the sheep that had been pushed aside to acknowledge that they absolutely had behaved terribly by mentioning it. Here he really needs to swallow hard and acknowledge his mistakes. This devilish partiality and respect of persons according to the flesh has been the main culprit here. But the Lord will expose such things as being madness in front of everyone, in the midst of the assembly. 3) And this has caused all those who were neglected to lose confidence, so that only a thorough judgment will be able to bring things back into a healthy development.

Father mentioned that people are hindering the use of the spiritual gifts. On this point we have to be very careful, so that God’s kingdom can grow in every way. Dear brother, I have full confidence in you in Christ Jesus. You have a great task to carry out. Let everyone be vindicated who needs to be vindicated, and let everyone judge himself who needs to judge himself. Do nothing out of partiality, but rather do everything before God. Be like Moses who was faithful in all his house. Now is your hour. Carry out your task in the leading and power of the Spirit, and let things come upon you and to you before you take action. Let things go as they did with [Prime Minister] Michelsen in 1905 when he said that the situation had changed more rapidly than anyone could have imagined and that this necessitated action.

You must be very cautious and sensitive when taking action in the church of the living God, but it is a blessed task, when you are found to be pure in all your actions. Therefore, let the whole situation work itself out, and let time help in this process. May God bless the friends in Kristiansand. I have great confidence in their uprightness before God, but there are things that have defiled the church. God will now cleanse those things away by judgment. So don’t let anyone become despondent, but with boldness submit to the judgment, resulting in salvation and peace.

Hearty greetings. Write soon, because I am following these events with great interest, as are Br. Berg and Br. Ellefsen. I have confided in them regarding these matters, for the sake of their education.

Greet the brothers and sisters. Greet Father and everyone at home.

Your brother,