| The surroundings of Horten are
historic, dating back to the times of the Viking kings. Through the centuries, many
well-known families have settled in this district. Throughout its history, this idyllic
Navy town on the edge of the Oslo fjord has nurtured many well-known men and women, and a
number have climbed to the very heights of Norwegian society. Regardless of the field,
whether politics, the Navy, business, culture, church or communications, there are plenty
of "names" to be found among them all. Some became internationally famous. Sam
Eyde who created the gigantic concern, Norwegian Hydro, and polar explorer and Navy man,
Oscar Wisting, are two such well-known names. Apparently, less well-known is Eyde’s
and Wistings’s contemporary, Johan Oscar Smith, though he may well have left a
greater trail behind him than the other two. For
those who wish to write about great deeds and famous people, there are obviously enough
names to choose from. So it is strange that so little has been written about the people
who have left their distinct mark on this town, which was also my birthplace. However, J.
O. Smith has left his mark behind him in many parts of the world, and the name of the town
Horten is familiar almost anywhere in the world.
Smith also left behind him a wealth of letters and
writings, of which a large number have already been published by the publishing house he
founded in Horten in 1912. For this reason, the period after 1905 is not so difficult to
map out for those who are searching for information about him. Prior to 1905, however, it
has almost been like searching for water in a desert. The obvious reason for this is that
both Smith himself, and the church that bears his name, have not been particularly
occupied with their history, nor been interested in preserving material things for the
benefit of those who succeeded them. I suppose this is to their honor, spiritually
speaking, but it has certainly made difficult the task of digging up the details required
to put together a biography.
I played around with the title of the book for a long time,
and tried to find something that had a ‘spiritual smell’ about it. But,
actually, the book gave itself its name because all his life Johan O. Smith was a sailor,
both in a worldly and in a spiritual sense. After having sailed the oceans of the world
for many years, he then, after his conversion in 1898, set his course in a straight line
towards a heavenly coast. He never deviated from this course, even though the boat that
brought him there reeled and tossed, and the sea he sailed upon churned violently on the
way.
Smith was born in Fredrikstad in 1871. Farmers and
tradesmen were on his father’s side of the family, while on his mother’s side
were farmers and artists. The artistic traits that marked both J. O. Smith and his
descendants are readily seen.
In his childhood and youth, he lived in three different
towns, namely, Fredrikstad, a Navy garrison, Kristiansand, and Kristiania, the old name
for Oslo. Following school and an apprenticeship as a watchmaker, the 15 year old boy went
to sea in a sailing ship. He sailed the seas around Europe, Africa, North and South
America, and sailed around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean and north to San Francisco.
In those days, to go to sea meant an extremely hard life,
and he chose to leave the merchant vessel on which he sailed in favor of an education in
the Norwegian Navy. At age 17 he returned to Horten, applied to join the Navy, and was
accepted in the Naval Military Corps as a student petty officer. He graduated after six
years as top of his class. For nine years, he alternated between school and service at a
Navy station in Horten, and voyages to foreign lands.
It was a harsh life and loaded with dangers for any young
man, no matter how much ballast he had brought with him from his parental home of
diligence, frugality, attentiveness, and Christian faith. But though it was a rough and
hard life, it was also a rich life, in the light of all the experiences and career
opportunities.
When he had almost turned 27, his whole life changed. In
1898, on board the monitor Thor, he was converted. Two years after that he was
baptized with the Holy Spirit, and after another two years he married his Pauline. During
this period, Smith, this man of faith and family man, matured and grew at an almost
furious pace. This Smith, who believed he had received light over the mystery of
godliness, and who as time went on gained friends with the same understanding of the
gospel, quickly became a central figure in the development within the free-church movement
that bubbled with revival and renewal at the beginning of this century. Together with his
brother Aksel, Johan O. Smith was definitely someone to be reckoned with where there were
souls to be won for Christ. Respected men within the churches and fellowships of that time
invited the Smith brothers and their ever growing flock of friends to join them,
regardless of their various emphases of faith. That did not work. J.O. Smith stuck to the
understanding he had of the Scriptures, and often came in conflict with both priests and
preachers. For periods of time, he engaged in hard spiritual battles with his own
"friends." However, the church – "the fellowship of friends"
– grew and prospered through the conflicts, and capable men and women grew forth.
Several of them would eventually become leaders in the church which is most known by the
name "Smith’s Friends." First in line was Elias Aslaksen, the star cadet
and Navy officer who became Johan O. Smith’s closest co-worker until the
latter’s death in 1943, and who afterwards led the church until 1976. Sigurd Bratlie
and Aksel J. Smith were also early co-workers and evangelists. These two together, first
alongside Aslaksen, and then after his death, had a kind of worldwide responsibility for
the church right up to the middle of the 1990’s.
There were, however, many other outstanding men and women
who were also close co-workers with Smith in the building up of the church. This book is
partly an account of these friends – and a few enemies. But first and foremost, it is
the story of Johan O. Smith, in both good report and bad. The man, the person, and the
disciple of Jesus that he became.
Skjulte Skatters Forlag, Norway.
ISBN: 82-91305-32-3 |
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