5.4 ‛Apostolic links‛

2. They ‚constitute great risks and dangers to the only organization the New Testament knows, namely the Church of God and Jesus

Christ.‛ 3. ‚They call the board and the leading of God's work together and put it in the hands of a few men who, as a consequence of this become, in most cases, inflated and lose their spiritual power.‛ (Compare Pethrus: ‛The modern denominational organization serves as a stepping stone for greediness of power and a stronghold for ingratiating qualities, ambition and self love.‛66) 4. Or ‚if they are not inflated, the Church members in general look up to them far too much and in many cases simply adore them.‛ 5. God does not want any of His servants or witnesses to be elevated above that of His brethren; on the contrary He wants all of them to stand before Him and the people on the same level.‛67 6. Denominational organizations and creeds give rise to divisions.

68

5.4 ‛Apostolic links‛

That which joins the individual Churches are, according to Pethrus, partly ‚uniting spiritual powers‛ : 1. The same spiritual experiences through faith in Jesus 2. The same Gospel commission 3. ‛The written revelation we have in the Holy Scriptures‛ 4. ‛Our goal is heaven‛ , partly ‚the visible apostolic links‛ : 1. In Eph. 4:11 enumerated services referring to all the local Churches (compare the elders above who are elders in the various local Churches!) 2. ‚The Lords chosen vessels, who travelled from place to place, would be a natural bond between the Churches‛ 3. ‚Circular letters‛ – journals and literature work 4. Collections of loving gifts a/ For specific needs for the building of Churches

_________________ 66 Evangelii Härold 21.6.17, Lewi Pethrus, ‛Nytt samfund?‛ . 67 Evangelii Härold 20.1.16, W.H. Durham, ‛Samfundsorganisationer I‛ . – Evangelii

Härold, 10.8.16, W.H. Durham, ‛Samfundsorganisationer II‛ . 68 Pethrus 1919, p. 13 ff. – Compare Ordet och tron, nr 1 1968, p. 38-40, Willis Säwe,

‛Organiserad och/eller oorganiserad pingstväckelse‛ .

b/ For the home and foreign missions c/ for social work69 5. The mother Church (=the Church at Jerusalem Acts. ch. 15 = the

Philadelphia Church in Stockholm).70

How the ‚apostolic links‛ are thought to be realized in practice is neither expressed explicitly nor indicated. In the next chapter we will see how the processes of organization and decision-making in ‚the common enterprises for the Swedish Pentecostal Churches‛ have developed.

_________________ 69 Pethrus 1919, p. 26 ff. 70 Pethrus 1919, p. 54-57. – Dagen 14.2.73, Lewi Pethrus, ‛Karl Erik Heinerborg till

Stockholm‛ . – Compare Svenska Morgonbladet 2.4.49, Oscar Löfgren, ‛Pingströrelsens likriktning‛ . – Historisk översikt: Kyrkobegrepp, 1964.