What Could Society Have Been Spared?

If religious leaders had listened to brothers like Johan O. Smith and Elias Aslaksen and done as they preached, then Christian Norway wouldn’t be floundering as it is today be­cause of their powerless message. They have no one but themselves to thank for the plight they are in, needing to sell off church buildings and chapels because they are not being used. They have rejected the Word of God as their authority and have thereby lost the foundation for their faith.

In many places, the friends are well respected, and they live good lives. We are known for our faith in life and for our family life. And though we are mocked because we have many children, as time passes we are often envied for our family life and unity. What is a human being’s greatest wish? I wonder if a harmonious, peaceful home with children and grandchildren, security, respect, closeness, care and good­ness aren’t near the top of the list? Faithfulness and love, home and family relationships that don’t break up—who wouldn’t want that? Today the world lacks this more and more.

Many Christians in Norway today certainly sorrow over the condition of their assemblies. But for many believers, coming to us who are so evil spoken of and rejected is not an alternative. The day you realize how bad it is in your local assembly and your heart longs for truth and godliness may be the day you will have to come to the contemptible Smith’s Friends, whether you like it or not, and there you will find true Christianity!

People love depicting us as a group of strange people who keep to themselves and don’t want to have anything to do with others. Where have they heard this? If it is true, then why don’t we create private schools, for example? We send them to public schools because we don’t believe it is best for our children to grow up in a spiritual greenhouse. We believe they should live in the environment they are placed in, and there get power to live as children of the light. Just as a mountain birch tree can grow in a harsh environment, clinging on tightly in order to grow, each one who stands firm in his call­ing will also grow and develop by the Word of God.

Of course we don’t want our children to get involved in many things that go on in society. We keep them away from things we know will damage them, as any responsible parent would do. We have a better fellowship to offer them, and a greater chance of preserving them ourselves. We thank God for that. As a result, there are many others who would also like their children to be along in our work. We have been open for that as long as we have had space and ability.

Our own capital city is rife with violence and drugs—worse than most other places in Europe. The authorities do little about it, apart from recording it in the statistics. Despite being few in number, we run an extensive program for our children and youth for precisely this reason: to save the upcoming gen­eration from all the wretchedness that is becoming so ram­pant in society.

On the whole, the way people in this country treat various minority groups is a great shame. Who do they think they are, simply because they belong to the majority? Does that give them the right to drag others’ names through the mud be­cause there are only a few of them? If something like this oc­curred in another sphere of society, action would be taken immediately.

What if a person has a faith other than what is commonly accepted to be “the right doctrine”? Perhaps they belong to a completely different religion. Many people belonging to vari­ous minorities at least believe in something and have a greater ballast of moral values than many of today’s secular Lutherans.

Our faith has always proved to be right! We can say this with boldness! The truths that have come to light in our midst since the beginning of the previous century, through both the spoken and printed word, have stood the test. Even though we haven’t sought to compete with the theological arguments of religious leaders in every single context, we have still been right. After all, their arguments have been of little benefit to them, producing very little godliness and love of the truth. And the result is that those who govern and administer reli­gious affairs from their “seat of spiritual authority” are often the most Antichrist-like of all! It is all simply a work of man, and it is great deceit.

Despite the fact that the religious leaders have done noth­ing for us, it has pleased God to give us all we need in the way of meeting halls and conference centers over the years. Our leaders have been portrayed with nearly as great a contempt as possible. An unbelievably false portrayal! To be a leader among us means hard work and total wholehearted commit­ment. I would like to know how many idle and lazy people in our country today would really envy us if they realized how much we work.

“So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and chil­dren and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.’” Mark 10:29-30.