Thank you for your good letter that I received at 11:00 p.m. yesterday. I have written a reply to your previous letter and sent it to Stavanger. Kleppe from Bergen has been traveling and recently went to Ålesund, where he visited the congregation which the friends left, or rather were expelled from. One or more of the opposers then told him that I had supposedly said at one of the Bible studies that when Jesus’ blood flowed, sin also flowed out.

I have already written a short article for Skjulte Skatter addressing this. You will find Kleppe’s article in the March 1 issue of Det Gode Budskap. I have asked the friends in Ålesund whether they remember me saying anything like that, but they don’t. In the many Bible studies that have been held in Ålesund, I’m sure a number of expressions have been used that eager opposers could twist and immediately take to people who were willing to exploit them and spread them further. Of course, we have spoken a lot about Jesus’ blood, about sin, the body, suffering, death, deliverance from sin, etc., but it isn’t true that I have ever spoken about Jesus’ blood in the spirit and the way that the opposers have portrayed. They will be held accountable for this, as well as for everything else they distort. They said about Jesus that He claimed He was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, and that He said that He was the king of the Jews, etc. They immediately took what He spoke in the Spirit and interpreted it according to the flesh. When He spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, even many of His disciples departed from Him. Jesus said most assuredly, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” I have always been very careful in Ålesund and every other place with what I’ve taught, and I’ve made sure it was always in the Holy Spirit. I have felt a sacred responsibility to do this. So no one has ever been able to refute one iota of what has been spoken or taught, despite the fact that Satan—even among the friends—has sought to sift both me and the doctrines like wheat. You know the whole story, right from the beginning, so it is unnecessary to explain it further; but when people publish falsifications of what has been said, that can sow doubt in those who are less aware of what is going on.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; it didn’t become blood. Through the blood He made an everlasting covenant. Heb. 13:20. This blood came forth according to the will of God, and it speaks on our behalf in the sanctuary of better things than the blood of Abel. If there was sin in the blood, it would not have been able to cleanse from sin; neither would it have been allowed in the sanctuary. But Jesus poured out His soul (the blood) unto death, and by this death He triumphed over sin. Sin was condemned in the flesh—not in the blood. That life which triumphed over sin was in the blood—in other words, the exact opposite of how the opposers construe things. But that life had to be sacrificed in order for sin to be destroyed. He offered Himself through the power of an eternal Spirit and was raised by the power of the blood of an everlasting covenant. The fact that God established a covenant by this blood, from eternity past, shows that the blood was holy, because the covenant was established before the fall of man. But then Jesus came in flesh—in the likeness of sinful flesh. Then in order to bring forth the blood by which He had made an everlasting covenant, Jesus had to submit to the Father’s will so that the Spirit could come in contact with the blood. As a result, sin in the flesh came under duress and had to die.

From this we can conclude that sin in the flesh receives its judgment and death to the same degree that the Spirit and the blood are able to bear witness. The more the blood bears witness, the more sin has died, and the more the Spirit and the water bear witness of purity and of righteousness.

We speak wisdom among those who are mature. Therefore, I have always made sure that I do not speak anything other than what the Spirit of God has prompted me to say in each situation. In Ålesund, there have been people who up to a certain point appeared to be with us, but who later became opposers. Furthermore, these opposers said almost nothing in the meetings; and yet they were quite active behind our backs and among themselves, as well as with Barratt, Kleppe, etc. However, the fact that they rise up against the truth is to them a proof of perdition. Now they are left there, usually about seven to ten people sitting in that large meeting hall that you saw. Barratt himself has visited them, speaking evil about the teachings that have been preached. But neither he nor any of the others have managed to do anything against the truth up until today. They have merely stumbled over it.

Greet Sr. Dannell and Br. Madsen, who is on board the steamship Finmarken, with what I have mentioned above. Or even better, send them this letter. I wrote this during my daytime watch. May God bless the friends so they remain steadfast and endure, because to the same degree that we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also partake of the glory. To us it has been granted not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His name’s sake.

I am returning the enclosed letters.

Warm greetings from your brother,

Kleppe has written an article in Missionæren about “The Second Adam.” This article needs to be refuted; in other words, someone should respond to it. Ideally, someone else should do this; I feel that I should avoid things that I am not directly involved in.

Greet Br. Lohne. Br. Risnes and the friends in Ålesund are making great strides and are daily becoming more and more isolated from the religious world. Br. Madsen ought to visit the friends in Ålesund. Br. Brune’s address is: 13 Bulls St. II (near the pier). N. Risnes’s address is: 1 Molo Road. Risnes works at Olsen’s machine shop in Brunholmen.

Can you put Br. Berg and Br. Birkeland in touch with Br. Johan Olsen in Bergen? Berg knows about Sr. Nagelsaker at Haukeland Hospital. We will have many different things to battle in the future. It is important to be vigilant when it concerns the will of God, in little things as well as big things, so that no one can gain the upperhand on us; no one will be too strong for us. God said to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage.” The same applies to us. The opposers lack knowledge, which is already a defeat for them. They don’t even know anything about the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. In the areas where they currently have no light, they will fight in the dark, and they will not receive any honor for a battle in the darkness.