“And because unrighteousness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matt. 24:12-13. The kingdom of Christ consists of love, but the kingdom of Satan consists of hatred. If you abide in love, you are of God and belong to Christ’s kingdom. If your love grows cold, you will end up outside Christ’s kingdom and in Satan’s kingdom. We know that the entire world is under the sway of the wicked one, so we cannot expect anything good to come from there. 1 John 5:19. The Beast and the Antichrist will gain power over the nations—that will be the time of the lawless one. All of this has been foretold, and we shouldn’t be amazed at it; but he who endures to the end will be saved. What does it mean to endure? It means that we have to keep our love warm in spite of all unrighteousness. That is the only way in which to be saved. You can be a professing Christian without having love. You can also profess that Jesus died for our sins on Calvary, and have no love. These are the people who have a form of godliness, of whom there will be many in the last days, but they deny its power. Many people have had a warm love, but it has cooled off because of what they have been exposed to by their fellow men. Their reasoning is that the people who are so evil don’t deserve any goodness. They should reap what they have sown; they shouldn’t expect to be loved by anyone. But you who think like this and even act on it—don’t you understand that you need to save your own soul? By letting your love grow cold, you are losing your own soul! It is not enough that the unrighteous person is lost, but you are also dragged down with him. It is the person who endures—who keeps his love warm until the end—who will be saved. It is not our business to judge and requite the unrighteous. Jesus committed these matters to Him who judges righteously, and so He kept His love warm. He had more than enough goodness to show toward Judas so He could say to him, “Friend”! Our concern is to keep ourselves in love—in Christ’s kingdom—so that no one and nothing can drag us away from it. We must first and foremost make sure to save ourselves, which is also the only way by which we can save others. Here we can learn from David when he was the object of Saul’s unrighteousness and jealousy. He left it up to God who had other instruments to avenge him. David was a vessel of honor and would not be used for this purpose. “Wickedness proceeds from the wicked. But my hand shall not be against you.” 1 Sam. 24:13-14. Remember this, brother and sister; you are a vessel of honor. God wants to use you to let His goodness flow out to people; He has others for the purpose of letting them feel His wrath if that is what He chooses to do. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us . . . .” 1 John 4:10. “We love Him because He first loved us.” V. 19. The fact that we are good to those who are good to us does not prove that we love, but our love is manifested if we love people regardless of how they are. If you want to be saved at all, you will have to seek God fervently so that you keep your love warm until the end regardless of what you have to endure. It is good to have light and clarity in this matter so we can find the narrow way that leads to life. And if the sufferings are so intense that they are difficult to endure, they are, nevertheless, to be reckoned as nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18.Sigurd Bratlie

In Hebrews, Chapter 6, we read about a doctrine of laying on of hands and that it belongs to the elementary principles which we are exhorted to leave behind. This obviously means that it is not wrong, but that we are not to dwell on it endlessly. However, let us take a look at it. By the laying on of hands something good from God, the Giver of all good things, is imparted (given), such as the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17 and 19:6); the gifts of the Spirit (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6); healing (Mark 16:18; Acts 28:8); grace and power for a certain ministry (Acts 6:3-6, 13:1-3); the Spirit of wisdom (Deut. 34:9); authority (Num. 27:16-23). The Lord’s good pleasure is over the person who has hands laid on him (see Lev. 1:4); therefore we must not lay hands on just anyone, and even less for just any reason or for any gift. Acts 8:21. For this very reason we have the exhortation in 1 Timothy 5:22 not to lay hands on anyone hastily. In Numbers 27:21 we see that he who comes to the laying on of hands comes to judgment; therefore the person who is to lay his hands on him must have his Urim and Thummim (light and judgment) in order and use them. The doctrine is this: The person who lays his hands on someone is a kind of intermediary between God and the recipient. He is in contact with the heavenly powers, goods, gifts, and blessings and is a kind of entrusted deputy. When he lays his hands on the individual, it is certain that the benefits in question will be imparted to him. The person who desires to receive something by the laying on of hands does so in faith toward God and in confidence toward the person who lays his hands on him. The condition for it to succeed must necessarily be that the recipient of the benefit must be in the state in which he ought to be in order to receive the benefit (or benefits) concerned. This, in turn, presupposes that the intermediary has judged the person and has assessed him correctly, that he has followed the exhortation: “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily.” Deuteronomy 34:9 is one of the clearest and most powerful words that shows that by the laying on of hands the person actually leaves the blessing behind. This blessing is imparted with the utmost certainty as truly as everything is done properly!!! In this connection it is appropriate to consider this word: “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matt. 18:18. These “you” to whom this is addressed are God’s fellow workers with Urim and Thummim.Elias Aslaksen

People usually quote reliable sources such as someone in whom they have confidence and look up to. Therefore it is ironic, mildly put, when God’s children quote Satan, as is so often done by saying something like this: “And then Satan says this, and then he says that.” Never repeat what he says, for it is all untrustworthy and in every single case invalid. This also applies to what ungodly people say. Do not repeat it, for it is unreliable and invalid, and is therefore of no interest whatsoever. It is a waste of time and effort and utter foolishness to repeat such things apart from using them for the purpose of enlightenment and teaching. It is absolutely of no importance to us what all these people say and think, except when it applies to our earthly work at our place of employment. Rather be more diligent to quote God’s Word all the more often: It is written, and it is written again and again. Quote the words of Christ and the apostles’ and the prophets’ words at length. You can quote the people in whom you have reason to have full confidence. You can safely go by Sirach’s words when it concerns all the others: “Do not repeat what another person has said.” As far as that goes, this also includes the sinful and unreliable things that converted people (unfortunately) may have said—things they ought not to have said. Of what interest should that be to us? All of it is invalid! It neither decides nor makes a difference to anything at all. It belongs only on the junk pile! Do not let it into your heart! Do not pay attention to it, not even as much as half a second. What the Lord says and does is important, not what Satan and sinners say. Blessed is everyone who has learned this simple lesson. The background for all our words ought to be: “Thus says the Lord!” What He says decides everything! That is something we can build on when it concerns ourselves and others! It is reliable! It is a rock-solid foundation!Elias Aslaksen