To the Friends

To the Friends

Now that our dear brother Aksel Smith has gone home to God, it is up to those of us who remain to fill the place he has left as well as we can. Now we must devote ourselves to the work, with one heart and one soul. Aksel left behind quite a number of unpublished articles, so he will be able to testify for a long time to come about the things he has seen and heard. Among other things, he has written about the four stages of salvation: 1) the forgiveness of sins; 2) the baptism of the Spirit; 3) the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings; and 4) the stage of authority.

God has blessed the work throughout the country, and He will continue to bless it if we remain lowly. People have a tendency to want to be great and to do great things. It must not be so among us. The power of the cross forbids that. Let us continue with instruction, exhortation, the breaking of bread, fellowship and prayer. If you discover something particularly good, write it down and send it to Skjulte Skatter; but don’t expect that everything you send in will be published. We work with a definite purpose toward a definite goal—the obedience of faith. Therefore, everything we print in Skjulte Skatter must work toward that one goal. Aksel implored us to embrace the teachings that pertain to godliness, saying, “They work.” We want to emphasize these last words of his as strongly as we can to the readers of the paper. If God’s Word is to become living, we must get revelation. Jesus’ Words were Spirit and life. They can become Spirit and life for us too, if we are obedient to the faith. We rejoice in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with the brothers. This fellowship is the direct result of the doctrine that pertains to godliness. When we walk in the light and are obedient to the form of doctrine to which we have been delivered, fellowship must grow stronger. Faithfulness in small things makes us firm and immovable. Everything that is great is a result of great faithfulness in little things. Do not try to create something great and impressive in a hurry, because the result of that has been and always will be hay, straw and stubble. On one of the last days of his life, Aksel said these wise words: “Make a man out of him, but do it slowly.” (We had been discussing how much to involve a brother in a certain task.) When it comes to working for the kingdom of God, we are slothful and sluggish, and that is why progress is so slow. All disputes must be put aside. He who wants to be the greatest must bow the deepest, so he can be raised up as a servant of all. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. You who are younger, be submissive to your elders in godly fear, to which the Scriptures also testify. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” John 13:3-5. Jesus had power to go down because inwardly He was great, and by going down, he became even greater. He rose from supper; in other words, He didn’t think about Himself as He served. He laid aside His garments. This shows us that He didn’t want to impress those He served by showing that He surpassed them in good works. On the contrary, He girded Himself with a towel, which He used to wipe the disciples’ feet. By this He demonstrated that He and all He had were at the disciples’ disposal. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet. It is essential that we receive the mindset, the will and the power to wash one another’s feet. This is done by willingly forgiving every complaint against another, by speaking well of others and by readily taking everything in a positive light and in honor giving preference to one another. Love that is manifested in spirit and truth covers a multitude of sins.

Let us be united in this mind, this humility, this faith, faithfulness and love. Then in the days to come, sinners will be saved and God’s glory will be revealed to His children.

Aksel began his work with Skjulte Skatter in January 1912, and he worked with it for exactly seven years, to the month. During that time, he was a faithful co-worker in interpreting the fundamental truths of salvation. We cannot replace him, but I know and am extremely thankful to God that there are men and women among us who, in the past years, have shown such an excellent attitude. The comfort they bring weighs heavily on the scales. I am convinced that these dearly beloved friends will now use their lives in the best possible way to God’s honor and to the benefit of the church. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, God will help all of us for His name’s sake.