Thank you very much for the newspapers which I have read. I just want to write you a few lines to let you know that I have been granted some days off. The conscription evaluation in Mandal ends on the 20th, and I have applied for and been granted a leave of absence until the evening of the 25th. We will be in Grimstad on the 12th, Lillesand on the 13th, and Kristiansand on the 14th (a Saturday). We’ll travel from there to Egersund, and I have looked up in Norway’s Travel Schedule and see that there is a boat that leaves from Kristiansand every evening at 10:30 p.m., arriving at Egersund at 10:30 a.m. the next morning. Our next evaluation begins in Egersund on Monday the 16th at 11:30 a.m., so I imagine that they aren’t planning to leave Kristiansand until Sunday at 10:30 p.m. If that is the case, I’ll be free all day next Sunday in Kristiansand (otherwise I will have to accompany the team, which is made up of the registration chief, the medic, and an attendant). From Egersund we will travel by train to Flekkefjord. I leave from here on the 10th at 6:23 p.m., via Brevik to Grimstad.

I’m really looking forward to speaking together; so let us devote our hearts to understand what the Spirit has for us.

The congregation has split here. We wanted to get rid of the evil, and some people left with it. Now things are more pure than ever before because every single one who had suspicions and who tended to go off track have left as well. They had visions and saw the devil lying under my feet, in the form of a large dog that was growling and baring its teeth. Another saw the devil on the wall right above my head, laughing and nodding with a contented smile and looking down on me. And then they saw three of us with the tongues of devils sticking far out of our mouths.

We let them keep their visions, but Br. Ellefsen and I proved the evil gossip to be false, tracing it back to the woman who was the source, and it was revealed to be a pure and utter lie and a fabrication. Despite this, Berg continues to meet with these people, who even have a bad reputation in the world (borrowing and not paying back, etc.). What can we say about all this? Sigurd Kristoffersen and several women are on our side. That evening when I addressed the issue, intending to get to the bottom of the gossip, almost the whole flock was against me. It turned quite ugly, and it seemed like nearly all of them had forsaken me. But now things are looking brighter, and most of them are now on our side. I’m rather afraid that Berg will end up standing there preaching just to those who lied and gossiped. He has backed himself into a dark corner, which he won’t be able get out of without great humiliation. He was tired of being a slave (the fact was that he was often unwise, so we frequently had to correct him), and he even called the Ellefsens slaves; but now I’m afraid he will end up being even more enslaved. I have repeatedly and fervently attempted to entreat him, but since the time Olsen was here, he has been utterly impossible. Perhaps he also relies somewhat on his gifts and measures his spirituality based on them. All things come to an end, as is the case here as well.

I would have very much preferred to leave others to rule and guide things, if only they would lead in the right direction. But when they lead things off track, there is no other option than to speak up. I will now be leaving on the Tordenskjold as ship’s sergeant on May 1. Perhaps God will lay the responsibility for the flock on someone else, as He did once before when I sailed on the Ellida. That time the brother said that as soon as I went onboard, he felt the whole pressure and responsibility for everything. God also has a stewardship, and whoever strives against God’s stewardship also strives against God. (Read Col. 1:25, Ex. 31 from verse 1, and Ex. 32:25.)

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them. God saw us from eternity past in Christ Jesus; He foreknew us, and those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). The prophets who had the Spirit of Christ had the testimony in themselves of the sufferings and death of Christ and the glory to follow. From eternity past, God possessed this glory that was to follow; but since we are also included in this glory that was to follow, He also saw us and knew us. Therefore, whom He foreknew, these He also predestined; whom He predestined, He has called; whom He called, He has justified; and whom He justified, He has glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Heartfelt greetings in the cleansing blood of Christ, your brother pressing onward through the veil,

Greetings to those at home, to Helga, and to Gerrard.

Next Sunday, at around this time (11:30 a.m.), perhaps we’ll be sitting together at the Rasmussen’s.

I’m really looking forward to speaking together. However, in a spiritual conversation, only those who are spiritual, whose hearts have been devoted to understanding, can take part. The others only detract from it.