Thank you very much for the postcard and the picture I received today. In order to plow straight, we must look straight ahead; and in order to walk straight on the narrow way, we must look straight ahead. In order to walk straight ahead in Christ, we must look straight ahead and see through the flesh. We must look right through the decreed destruction and the determined end. Isa. 10:23. Since our anchor is cast within the veil (i.e., His flesh), we see the way clearly before us. We know the way. The Lord’s people are a fearless people; their strength is the strength of the Lord. They do not push one another; they march straight ahead, each one in his own column. They leap onto the walls and lunge between the weapons. Everything is consumed before them, and in their wake is death and destruction.

We no longer know anyone according to the flesh. If someone comes to the meeting in fine apparel with a ring on their finger, we don’t offer them a seat of honor, for in Christ Jesus only a new creation is of any value. Every hill must be brought low and every valley exalted, for the way is clear and straight. Our weapons are not carnal but spiritual, mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Though we may be untrained in speech, we are not untrained in knowledge.

The battle is taken up in the Spirit, through the Spirit, by those who have the Spirit. If you honor wisdom, wisdom will honor you. It will enable you to understand dark sayings and riddles. Wisdom contains the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Isa. 11:2. Christ is the wisdom of God. We have to see that all these attributes of the Spirit relate to us, we who are subject to God’s work through the Mediator.

God’s ways are amazing, also here in Horten. God has been teaching me things recently which I had never even thought of before; namely, “to make predictions.” I have made predictions to Ellefsen several times which, to his great amazement, were fulfilled to a “T.” A girl was going to leave Horten, and without consulting us, they decided to have a feast. We had just had one, and I told Ellefsen that it was wrong to feast in this way. The feast came, and we all sat there looking at one another. It was cold and dead. God placed the fate of the whole feast in my hands, so I could leave it cold and dead or make it edifying, since the basis for having the feast was rotten. Therefore a good part of the evening was dead, but then I prayed and told God that this had happened because of ignorance, and I asked Him to bless it anyway. Immediately there came Spirit, life, and warmth over the feast, and over us.

A Methodist brother, who had worked much among us, wanted to have a meeting somewhere else. I accompanied Ellefsen out and pointed out to him what was wrong with going to meetings where there wasn’t complete and total freedom. He, in turn, reproved me sharply for being too insular and narrow-minded. He went on ahead to the meeting, and I went home. The same evening Firing was at the meeting, and during the meeting there was conflict, so Kristoffersen spoke in tongues and interpreted against Firing. The whole event was terrible. The Methodist brother supported Firing, and the women ran home and are still talking about how bad everything was, and is. I had known these opposers for a long time; they had never dared to stand up and wage an honest warfare. But now that they had Kristoffersen and Ellefsen alone, they really let them have it. Both Kristoffersen and Ellefsen had felt for a long time that I was being too harsh and radical, but when they had the enemy at their own throats, they began to understand something of the struggles and battles I have had in keeping these people bound so that they (Kristoffersen and Ellefsen) might not sense that a struggle was going on. But since they didn’t understand this, God permitted these forces to assault them. Now they are more appreciative of the ministry God has given me in Christ Jesus for their sakes. That same evening Kristoffersen said: “Now I understand Smith better than before. He’s been harsh, but now I understand why.” God had shown me in the Spirit that I should stay away from that meeting. If it had progressed like a normal meeting, I would have been put to shame. But from that evening on, God exalted me in their eyes, because they fought almost beyond their ability—and still didn’t win the victory.

Br. Ellefsen and his wife were invited to a gathering with the friends, which is something that had been taking place too often—time and again. They were to go out on Monday, and I sighed to God in my Spirit that He would disrupt it. By Sunday evening, Mrs. Ellefsen was sick in bed and was sick the whole week. She herself came to the understanding that this was a warning against such gatherings.

So God’s ways are amazing. At the last meeting I told the friends that God had given me the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him right from the time I received the Spirit in 1900, and that I found it necessary to say this in order to strengthen their confidence; because Paul also says: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” In other words, he had to preach himself as a servant for their sakes. I added that I was not saying this to praise myself, but that if anyone wanted to interpret it as praise, I stood there naked before the eyes of God and all men; they could take it however they wanted to.

If we endeavor to seek only God’s honor in everything, then each and every thing will turn out just as we wanted it to. God has now strengthened me so much in faith—God does not allow me to say more since there are things that should be revealed and there are things that should remain hidden. However, God does allow me to say that I am happy beyond measure and strengthened in faith—praise and honor be to His name.

My wish for all of you is John 17:17. My exhortation to those who are young in Christ: 1 Thess. 4:3-6 (new translation). To those who have a desire to travel: 1 Thess. 4:11-12. To those with an unbridled tongue: Prov. 17:27. To those who are rich in this world: Prov. 18:11. And for you personally to take to heart: Isa. 26:10.

Greet everyone at home; Helga, and the friends, if they can be reached, and to the extent that they can be reached, in zeal for the truth, during the destruction of the flesh and the quickening of the spirit in the same body—in the Mediator through the Spirit of Christ by the Father.

Your brother,