While writing the date, it occurred to me that our late sister Anna would have been 38 years old today. She’s been dead now for 23 years and 5 months. That’s how it goes with all of us: we’re here for a moment, and then we pass on from this earth.

I want to thank you for your good letter which I received today. I see that the law—the schoolmaster—has brought you to silence. It has brought you to see the hollowness and the emptiness, despite the fact that your sins have been forgiven. You are unable to live like a Christian. Again and again you fall short, and my sincere wish for you is that you will soon go bankrupt, because those who are bankrupt are the ones in need of grace. The “I” cannot live and keep the commandments; the law was given so that every mouth might be stopped and the whole world be found guilty before the judgment seat of God. The law chastens us to Christ, but once we are in Christ, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Through the death of Christ every man has received a “Certificate of Incompetence,” and all our best works are like filthy rags; for the Spirit testifies against everything that we can accomplish according to the flesh. Only after we have acknowledged that we really are what the Spirit testifies we are can the Spirit enter into our earthen vessel. If we are dead with Him, we believe that we shall also live with Him. We can’t just subsist on the forgiveness of sins, because we continue to sin again and again. Forgiveness of sins is only a cleansing from former sins. If we want to live a pure and undefiled life, we have to possess the Spirit, which you and your friends have been praying for. But neither you nor your friends will ever receive God’s Spirit if you don’t surrender yourselves completely and utterly to that same Spirit in order to be led by it. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God. The Spirit leads us in such a way that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled, for the Spirit is not in conflict with itself. You thought you had this anointing from the beginning, but you yourself say that you were mistaken. Nearly everyone declares that they have the Spirit, so then they can’t pray for what they believe they already have.

It’s only when we have become empty, reduced to nothing, and are dead with Christ that the Spirit comes. As long as we are under the law, we don’t possess faith. Gal. 3:12. The law has nothing to do with faith, but: “The man who does them shall live by them.” Some will say: “The law? We’ve never been under the law.” Yes, that’s exactly where they are, under the law; because all flesh is dead in the death of Christ, and the Spirit testifies against everything that people try to accomplish according to the flesh. This is the law written on the tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. Under this law we can slave away zealously. The work of Moses and the prophets continues in Christ, for He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.” Gal. 3:23.

The children of Israel were unable to enter the land because of unbelief. But we who believe enter into rest. The land was full of mighty giants from many tribes, yet all of them were to be conquered by faith in the power of God. Most people wander aimlessly in the wilderness all their lives. They subsist on the daily manna; they often murmur and long for the fleshpots of Egypt. But then they rejoice once again when they come upon an oasis in the wilderness. Up and down they go—back and forth. But the promised land is flowing with milk and honey, and in faith we can march around the walls of Jericho shouting hallelujah. Then the walls that the enemy had relied upon crumble, and they flee for their lives. In this way we can go from one city to another. However, there is one thing we must be on guard against: Never bury any Babylonian garments or treasures, because in the land our hearts must be circumcised from every kind of carnal lust. No retreating back across the Jordan; all our bridges are burnt behind us, and the Jordan is overflowing all its banks—only onward, onward.

“Though you strive and slave away,
Yet unchanged you stay;
Cross over the Jordan today.”

You’ve reached a joyful conclusion. You say you’ve clenched your fists in your pockets—a good sign. Personally, I’ve clenched my fists and beaten the air so many times that if anyone had seen me they surely would have thought I was out of my mind. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any value—only a new creation. As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God. Therefore, let us not walk according to any other rule.

I look forward to hearing soon that you have received the anointing. When it comes, you will receive instruction, and the Bible will become like a new book. But you will experience opposition too, because Christ has been given to us as a sign that shall be spoken against—a rock of offense and a stone of stumbling. From now on let us know no one according to the flesh. Those who do God’s will are our fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers. This is the new dispensation that has been established in the end times. Job was a God-fearing man, but he had to be crushed.

All the best from us here. My wish is that you might soon receive what you have been praying for. You will receive it the very moment you give up completely. David says: My all is on the altar; I’m waiting for the fire.

Greetings to everyone at home.

Your brother,

Nov. 20: There are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three agree as one. The water and the blood are the death, and the Spirit unites itself with death. He who believes has the witness in himself, John says.