463. New Year’s Conference in Oslo 1933/34

Many friends from all directions were gathered, and there were many blessed testimonies. God’s wisdom penetrates everywhere. Several people also sorrowed in a godly manner and requested intercession, not publicly, but in quietness by themselves. May God give them what their hearts desire. Here we will just mention some of the thoughts that came out during the conference:

When a person has received forgiveness for their sins and is baptized with the Holy Spirit, he is fully equipped by God to start “digging” in the Body of Christ where all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. Note: they are “hidden.”

Let us draw an analogy. The Indians in America sat under their palm trees for centuries. They heard the Niagara Falls gushing out over the cliff. They lived off game and didn’t have any cares—except that the tribes were usually at war with each other.

All those who believe that they don’t need to do anything after they have come to Christ have it the same way. They are just like the Native American Indians. The oil well is in the ground, but the Indians don’t drill for oil. There is silver and gold in the mountains, but they don’t look for it. The earth has been commanded by God to produce all kinds of fruits and grains, but the Indians don’t cultivate the earth. They don’t need to do anything. God has done everything.

Most Christians today have exactly the same attitude. They don’t have to do anything because God has done everything. And in this way they deceive themselves. Just as all the glory in the earth and in the mountains in America are hidden, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.

When the Europeans came to America, they began to dig in the earth and in the mountains. They found the oil wells, the gold, and the silver. The waterfalls became the power for factories, and electric lights lit up the whole country. The old Indians had to move further and further into the country because the settlers bought their land. They decreased in number, and their lack of knowledge made them unable to compete.

The Indians in America didn’t understand the time of their visitation. And it is the same with Christians today. Laziness, the lack of a desire to get to work, the instruction of false teachers who teach that it is bondage to be active in Christ and to search for hidden treasures, cause them to perish in a land that flows with milk and honey. They spend their whole life sitting in their tent on the ground, where a few meters below they would find the richest oil field if only they took the trouble to put their spade in the ground. But ignorance keeps them in poverty.

We have heard so many times that we can do nothing. And yet Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.” Eph. 1:22. From this we understand that since Jesus is placed as Head over all things, He understands all things. We are to grow up to Him who is the Head of all things, so we will also receive understanding about everything. So, away with this stupidity that we should not understand anything and should not do anything. It is just as if Adam and Eve and all mankind should have been content in their ignorance. How would the earth and all its fullness then have been utilized? God’s will is that we should make use of everything He has placed on the earth and in the air, for by this God’s manifold wisdom is revealed, and He becomes great in our eyes. When we search in the Body of Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, then Christ becomes great; and God, who was able to place such a tremendous work of wisdom in Christ, becomes very great for us.

But Satan’s teaching still flourishes. “You must not do anything. That is bondage.” But Christ’s teaching is: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:12-13.

Then there were testimonies about salt.

For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Mark 9:49.

Salt means “everything.” Your offering shall be seasoned with salt; it shall be a complete sacrifice. We salt something that will be put aside. The heart must be free from the sacrifice; then it is seasoned.

When we season something with salt, we rub the salt in on all sides. After that we put it aside. The sacrifices we make according to God’s instructions are seasoned. They are preserved until the day that God and Christ are revealed, when each one will receive according to his works.

Everyone will be seasoned with fire. Salt will be rubbed into him in order to preserve him unto eternal life, and he will be seasoned with fire so that the last remnant of evil will be consumed.