Thanks for your letter inviting me to join you in Kristiansand for Easter. Thank you very much for suggesting it and for offering to pay for the trip, but I have no particular desire to travel there right now.

We certainly had a blessed afternoon at Br. Ellefsen’s place yesterday. Br. Aslaksen was in very good spirits, and he prayed with tremendous power to be filled with God’s Spirit and with the power required for the task that God has chosen him to do. Ellefsen’s sister-in-law has received more light from God about the liberation that is in Christ; she is a member of the meeting house group in Grimstad. Sr. Pedersen, who owns the house where Br. Ellefsen lives, is also beginning to see the light of the Lord, though dimly.

Of course, I am in full agreement with what you write about abiding in Christ Jesus and making progress in Him, while at the same time carrying out the work which God wants to accomplish with sinners.

It is not the work with sinners that causes division, but perhaps more that the religious leaders push us up to the pinnacles of honor when we come in contact with them, and we cannot bear this without being damaged.

That is why it is far better to completely avoid working together with carnal leaders and to work by oneself as unto God. If we are to be vessels of honor, we must be vessels that are set apart. Working in this way also supplies us with the most authority, since their carnal displays of honor are like a spider’s web and like Delilah’s scissors. If they succeeded in capturing us, they would laugh right in our faces and gleefully pluck out our eyes. The right eye is spiritual insight, Madame Guyon says. We must keep all kinds of people at arm’s length—especially religious leaders. We need to keep them at bay in order to have room to swing the sword of the Spirit. This ungodly consorting with all kinds of people is a true abomination. It takes seven days of cleansing outside the camp to be pure from their defilement. (Let them return to you, but you must not return to them.)

Br. Aslaksen is becoming a real warrior. It is a pleasure to hear him. I sense that he has a deep love for us in the Spirit. He has gotten engaged to a quite ordinary girl who has only attended public school, but she is converted. She is a sister of Gustav Wiik, who died during the Gjøa expedition. I hardly recognize Br. Ellefsen. All he talks about is walking in Jesus’ footsteps for the rest of his life.

Br. Torrey writes that often, in order to be able to work, you need a new baptism in the Holy Spirit—not one where you are born again, but one where you receive power to work. This is absolutely right. He says that those people who continue endlessly in their old power and experiences go astray. This is worth taking heed to. It was Br. Aslaksen who came across this and read it to us. Perhaps this is what Sr. Palme was lacking. I believe that we, too, need greater power for our work.

Brotherly greetings.

Yours,

You didn’t attend the feast, so I am returning your 25 øre in the form of stamps, which are enclosed.