Greeting from Elias Aslaksen - Hidden Treasures - June/July 1976

On March 31, when Brother Aslaksen was very weak and bedridden, he sent a greeting via cassette tape to the friends:

“A sincere, warm greeting to you all, my beloved friends! I want to exhort every one in particular, with all of my heart, to be faithful to the utmost, to serve God with fervent zeal, and to have nothing else as a goal except this one thing. It is very rewarding and good to be zealous in the ministry, and always fervent, having only this one goal—which is the essential point, and everything else is just trivialities.

“May God powerfully bless and strengthen all of you, and a sincere ‘thank you’ for all good things throughout all the years. A hearty, sincere, warm thanks for everything.”

In 1965 Brother Aslaksen had a minor stroke, and on that occasion he sent some important exhortations to the friends. They are published in the December 1965 issue of Skjulte Skatter [Hidden Treasures], but are repeated here.

My precious, dearly beloved friends!

Some important exhortations to all of you:

1) Be very diligent in the fear of God in all areas. By it you depart from evil—far, far away!!! There can never be too much of fearing and loving God! Proclaim this powerfully!

2) Love one another without ceasing and without reservation! There is no danger in going too far in that respect! Be filled with extreme love, and never be sparing when it concerns deeds or words!

3) Abhor arguments and strife like the plague; avoid it like hell-fire! Suffer anything in order to avoid that kind of thing! Consider it as an appalling scandal! Prove that you do not belong to the sons of tumult, the ones whom God is going to destroy. Proclaim this with the utmost seriousness!

4) Everyone must do his utmost to enter into perfect rest in God, without exception! An essential part of rest in God arises through a living faith in scriptures such as: “God, His way is perfect.” “All things are God’s servants.” “God does everything that pleases Him in heaven and on earth.” “If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” “All things work together for the best to those who love God . . . .” Rom. 8:28. “Not one of them [sparrows] falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

5) Seek to be thoroughly grounded in lowly thoughts about yourself—with all your heart and very consciously! Adamantly deny all forms of exalted thoughts about yourself! Be on guard against conceit and obstinacy as if they were hell itself! Then you are truly wise!

6) Devote yourself completely to living for others! Vanish in this perfect contrast to everything that is called self-love, to everything that is called “my own.” First the others, then the others, and then the others without end! When you care for others, God cares especially well for you! Never forget that! In season and out of season!

7) You need power to act! Seek it! Be filled with it! Otherwise you will only become a well-intentioned “yes-man” and a windbag!

Your devoted
Elias Aslaksen