The destroyer Valkyrjen, Haugsholmen, March 16, 1916

A Greeting From Ålesund

When you read the reports in a number of religious papers about the work the Lord has done recently in Ålesund, you could almost believe that it’s Satan who has pulled off a masterpiece up there. People who are completely ignorant of the true situation run around gossiping and spreading stories about what has supposedly been taught and said. Based on these stories, they form their opinions and pass their judgments.

I am the one who has been in Ålesund, and what I have taught and spoken during the times I have had shore leave there is known before the face of God and men. If something wrong has taken place, then let those who feel they need to get involved in the matter come to me, and by the grace of God—which has never failed up until today—I will seek to provide answers. It’s easy to spread a distorted picture of the doctrine which accords with godliness and thereby cause naive people to believe that something dangerous is going on. However, up until today, these good papers and their writers have been unable to refute what has been taught and spoken, in an unbiased manner, using wisdom and insight. Neither will lies and envy be able to make up for their ignorance and incompetence in the work of ministry.

I can share good news with our many precious friends: God has done great things in Ålesund. The congregation in Ystenæs has split. Sr. Gunda Willersund, who has worked among that group for six years, has now been expelled, together with a large number of young people, because they would not allow themselves to be dominated or controlled by people who have probably never had even the slightest understanding of the things of the Spirit. The remaining members of the group have more or less endorsed the teachings from Korsets Seier and Det Gode Budskap. However, since these two papers—in spite of the fact that they profess the same doctrine—use two different songbooks and are edited by people who are unable to work together, the poor people remaining in that group are in just as precarious a state as they were before.

After the split, we have had many blessed meetings. The friends have learned to love one another in the Spirit and to build one another up in their most holy faith. We don’t have a meeting hall, but God has prompted a brother named Brune, who is a diver by trade, to help out by providing a place for the Sunday meetings. In the same way, the friends have proved themselves to be very rich in their ability to help in every way, in spite of their poverty. Therefore, we are looking to the future with hope in the God who has said: “They will put you out of the synagogues,” and “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”

Det Gode Budskap printed a statement reporting that in Ålesund we supposedly said that when Jesus’ blood flowed, then sin also flowed out. I have asked the friends up there if any of them have ever heard such an expression, but they have never heard anything like that. During the many Bible studies that have been held in Ålesund, there is no doubt that many expressions have been used which some eager opposer could make use of to cause a reaction. But the fact that people who dedicate themselves to traveling and writing travelogues about their ventures, in order to promote “the good tidings,”[7] could also swallow and trumpet such blatant lies is to their shame.

With regard to our teachings, and the fact that they are supposedly extremely dangerous, I would simply refer you to the paper Skjulte Skatter, which speaks for itself. People like to scare little children with the boogeyman, but those who think for themselves and refuse to be forcefully dragged around by the ear with all kinds of superficiality are not scared by warnings that they should be cautious, precisely where they should be searching things out.

The ignorance found within their own congregations is a clear reflection of the condition of their shepherds. The truth of the matter is that most have no knowledge of God.