Thank you very much for your good letter. It was a joy to receive it and read all the news. We are doing well here. Kristian is healthy and strong. Br. Berg and I broke bread together last Sunday for the first time alone. It was a valuable and precious time. God’s ways with us are so wonderful! His mercy endures forever. He surpasses all understanding and all knowledge, and a person can never reach Him through any of his individual attributes; yet a person can reach Him. However, just when you believe that you have reached Him, you realize just how much is lacking. He bestows upon us everything that is good and causes our souls to rejoice with His mercy; but when you try to hold on to His goodness, then He is not there, and when you try to cling to mercy, then He has long since disappeared from there. From this we understand that goodness and mercy are only His footsteps, which drip with abundance. We gain truth by acknowledging the truth, and when we have acknowledged the truth, a love for the truth is born. If someone acknowledges righteousness but does not do righteousness, then that shows that they do not love righteousness but only have the knowledge of it. If a person acknowledges righteousness and receives a love for righteousness, then they obtain wisdom. So it is with any other divine attribute. Love cannot be awakened without realities. Realities come into being through acknowledgment. When we love these realities, then they become our portion in life. Adam could not have loved Eve while Eve was only a rib in his side. But when Eve stood before him, he was able to love. But before we are capable of loving, God must show us “something” that we can love. From this we understand, yet again, that God loves us first, He who has revealed these things to us.

Christian Science is merely based on our senses and our natural understanding. We are freed from the law, they say, and great joy comes when the flesh is given full freedom. This joy must be clearly distinguished from the joy that is in God. This light is false and therefore cannot reach beyond the sensual realm. It is the very best and most far-reaching light in and of this world, but it belongs to this world. It mocks all who strive to serve God in Spirit and truth and regards itself to be above all else. As long as a person only reveres and honors this false light, which imagines itself to be God, then they can even be a thief or a murderer. It exalts itself above every form of law and admonition and presents itself as God in eternity and not as God in man. It portrays itself as Christ after the resurrection and thereby avoids all obedience, suffering, and tribulation. Because it does not love these things, it only knows how to emphasize the sweetest and best things in nature and in the world. For that reason, people who are enthralled by this spirit choose teachers for themselves who will tell them that the resurrection is already passed and that they are like God in eternity and not like God in man. As a result, they are callous and self-satisfied; they think they are the most advanced and enlightened people, and they believe everyone should revere them and learn from them, because they are perfect.

This false light is the devil.

The little book, which I spoke about, deals with this very issue, and it amazes me greatly that a priest in the 1400s could have had such light and was experiencing the same battle as we are. Det Gode Budskap10 won’t publish what I submitted, but I wish what I’ve written about Christian Science could be exposed to their readers, because this understanding is sorely needed. I cannot send you the book before I have permission to do so, but I will do my best.

It is good to get clarity in everything so that we can win greater victory. This false light is active among God’s elect so that the devil is able to capture those who have received the knowledge of Christ but are not born of Him. These are the ones of whom it can be said; “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” Satan offers something that is easier and more pleasant and that seems so much higher than the true light, so the soul who is not born again readily takes the bait. I have been fooled by this false light myself, so I know how horrible it is; but God’s foundation remained firm under my feet, so the false light didn’t manage to pull me up by the roots. I think that it will be very useful if you also tell the ones who are with Rasmussen about this. They can consider it and then decide for themselves whether or not that is the case.

This summer it looks like I’m being considered for a position as assistant accountant on the gunboat Sleipner. Sleipner is a cadet ship, so this is a tall order for a gunner, but I would also learn a lot. Godliness is useful both for this life and the life that is to come. Things have never gone as well for me, on land or sea, as now. God gives me answers for every matter, so I hardly know where they come from, because I would not be able to answer and speak like this on my own. Now I know that we mustn’t rejoice that the spirits are subject to us, but that our names are written in the Book of Life. This transfers our joy from the earthly to the heavenly, from the effects of the power to the power itself, from the works to the Person, etc. But without a doubt, such joy will come, for we are strengthened in faith when we, on account of the Word of faith, are able to overcome our adversaries. We will experience what Elijah experienced: that after the powerful works, there will arise an abundance of joy over the powerful work, and then we are drained of power, because, for a time, we cling to the work instead of to the Person. But when we again become truly hungry and poor in Spirit, we turn back to the Person; and then we are blessed because the kingdom of heaven is ours. And the riches of this heavenly kingdom fill us again with tremendous power to continue working in Christ.

Yours,

On the morning of December 17, we received Bergliot’s parcel pick-up notice for Kristian. We have not picked it up yet, but please greet Bergliot from Kristian in advance and thank her kindly. He likes new things, so it will make him happy. He is very clever and a handsome boy; so Pauline is proud of him, and her friends adore him and wish they had such a cute little boy.