Erling Thu

Category: English posts

  • Farewell, King Harald — Welcome, King Haakon!

    King Harald the Generous

    1937–2026

    We thank you, our generous, inclusive and unifying King. And we thank our generous God for you, for your life and for your faithful service to our country and its people.

    Your reign helped to shape a warmer society, a more colourful people, a richer and more diverse culture, and a peaceful nation.

    You achieved all this simply by being generous.

    You were generous in your encounters with people from different backgrounds, facing many kinds of circumstances and challenges.

    You were generous when you told us who Norwegians are. Through your words and your attitude, you created a great and inclusive “we”.

    You were generous when you placed your large, warm, kingly hand upon children and young people who were struggling with difficult challenges in their lives.

    You were generous when you shared your broad smile and infectious laughter with us.

    You were generous when you welcomed joyful athletes returning with their medals and gave them your warm embraces. But you were even more generous when you embraced and comforted survivors of terror and tragedy. You became the comforting grandfather of the whole nation when you openly shared your tears with us in the face of suffering and death.

    You were generous when you put on your boots and everyday clothes to be close to your people and show compassion after the devastation caused by the forces of nature.

    You were generous when you travelled throughout the length and breadth of the country, visiting both central regions and remote villages. You journeyed to municipalities large and small to meet people—children and young people, the sick and the elderly. You were generous because you never treated one person as more important than another.

    You were generous when you shared wise words in your speeches and gave us wisdom and insight. You did not speak loudly about your personal faith in God, but you generously shared your Christian values without using religious language.

    You were generous when your gentle humour helped people relax and laugh with you—our wonderful and playful King.

    You were generous simply because you were such a fine human being. You were broad-minded, warm-hearted and good-natured, kind and gracious. You were a genuine and caring fellow human being.

    King Harald the Generous, we thank you for being yourself, for being who you were: a generous fellow human being by the grace of God!

    Dear King Haakon VIII!

    Now it is your turn!

    We welcome you with open arms and embrace you with all our hearts!

    You have already won our trust and our love.

    You have been through fire and water. You have been tested and have stood firm.

    You won our hearts long before you said, in the middle of the media storm, that the most important thing for you was to take care of your family—your flock. Now the whole nation has become part of your flock. We trust that you will be present among us, listen to us and care for us all.

    King Haakon VIII, we carry you with us into the future—in our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers—confident that God will bless and help you, and preserve our country!

    Erling Thu
    Randaberg, 2026

  • Farvel, Kong Harald, velkomen Kong Haakon!

    Kong Harald, Den Rause

    1937-2026

    Vi takkar deg, du rause, inkluderande og samlande Konge. Og vi takkar vår rause Gud for deg, livet ditt og den gode tenesta di for land og folk.

    Di kongsgjerning har vore med å forma eit varmare samfunn, eit meir fargerikt folk, ein rikare mangfaldig kultur og ein fredfull nasjon.

    Alt dette gjorde du berre ved å vera raus.

    Du var raus i møte med folk i ulike livsstoder, utfordringar og med ulik bakgrunn.

    Du var raus då du fortalte kven nordmenn er og skapte eit stort oss med orda og haldninga di.

    Du var raus då du la den store varme kongshanda di på barn og unge som sleit og hadde ulike vanskelege utfordringar i livet sitt.

    Du var raus då du delte det store smilet og den smittande låtten med oss.

    Du var raus då du tok i mot glade idrettsfolk som kom med medaljane sine og gav dei dine varme klemmar. Men du var endå rausare då du omfamna og trøysta dei overlevande etter terror og ulukke. Du vart heile nasjonens trøystande bestefar då du raust delt dine tårer med oss i møte med liding og død.

    Du var raus då du gjekk i støvlar og kvardagsklede for å vera nær folket ditt og visa medkjensle i møte med følgjene av øydeleggjande naturkrefter.

    Du var raus då du reiste land og strand, besøkte sentrale strøk og bortgøymde grender. Du ferdast landet rundt til små og store kommunar for å møta folk, barn og unge, sjuke og gamle. Du var raus fordi du aldri gjorde forskjell på folk.

    Du var raus då du i talane dine delte kloke ord, gav oss visdom og innsikt. Du snakka ikkje høgt om di eiga gudstru, men du delte raust dine kristne verdiar utan å bruka eit religiøst språk.

    Du var raus då du med din lune humor fekk folk til å slappa av og le saman med deg, du fine og fjåge Konge.

    Du var raus, fordi du rett og slett var eit gildt menneske. Du var storsinna, gild og godlyndt, snill og hyggjeleg. Du var eit skikkeleg og ekte medmenneske.

    Kong Harald, Den Rause, vi takkar deg fordi du var deg sjølv, at du var den du var, eit raust medmenneske av Guds nåde!

    Kjære kong Haakon, Den Åttande!

    No er det din tur!

    Vi tek imot deg med opne armar og omfamnar deg av heile vårt hjarte!

    Du har alt vunne vår tillit og vår kjærleik.

    Du har vore gjennom både eld og vatn. Du har stått di prøve!

    Du vann våre hjarte lenge før du i mediestormen sa at det viktigaste for deg var å ta vare på flokken din. No er vi også, heile folket, vorte flokken din. Vi kjenner oss trygge på at du vil vera nærverande, lyttande og ta vare på oss alle.

    Kong Haakon, Den Åttande, vi ber deg med oss inn i framtida i våre hjarte, tanke og bønner, i trygg visse om at Gud vil velsigna og hjelpa deg, og bevara landet vårt!

    Erling Thu, Randaberg, 2026

  • The Kiss of God

    There was a season in my life when the world I had built collapsed.

    For years I had lived inside a Christian world filled with sermons, conferences, worship, prayer, and ministry. My days had been shaped by faith, vision, and expectation. Then, almost overnight, everything changed. Disappointments accumulated. Relationships broke down. Dreams dissolved. The future I had imagined disappeared.

    I left the ministry and found work in the construction industry. It felt as though I had landed on a different planet. The language was different. The values seemed different. Instead of worship and prayer, I heard swearing, complaints, and crude jokes. The sounds echoed in my head. I felt like a foreigner among people who spoke a language I barely understood. I carried my confusion with me to work each day and returned home with the same unanswered questions.

    Who was I now? What had become of the calling that once gave direction to my life? Had I misunderstood everything? At night the questions became louder. Sleep often stayed far away. Problems multiplied in the darkness. Old wounds reopened. The future felt uncertain, and I could see no clear path forward. I lay awake wrestling with fears and disappointments until, finally, one night, a quiet cry escaped my heart.

    “Lord, how is this going to work out?”

    The answer came unexpectedly. Not as a sermon. Not as an argument. Not as an explanation. Just a gentle whisper:

    “Do not be afraid. We will manage this together—you and I.”

    I smiled in the darkness. For the first time in many months, I felt hope. The questions did not disappear. The circumstances did not change. Yet somehow everything felt different. I was no longer carrying the burden alone.

    Looking back, I realise that God often came to me during those difficult years in simple ways. Sometimes he felt like a strong hand leading me through fog when I could not find my way. Sometimes he felt like a protective presence standing behind me when fear threatened to overwhelm me. Sometimes he came as a friend when loneliness became almost unbearable.

    And sometimes he came through his Word. There were mornings when I opened my Bible feeling exhausted, confused, and empty. I was not looking for theology. I was not searching for answers to difficult questions. I simply needed God. Then something beautiful would happen.

    A passage I had read many times before would suddenly come alive. A familiar verse would shine with unexpected warmth. The words on the page became more than words. They became a meeting place. It felt as though God himself had drawn near.

    I have often thought about the creation story. God formed Adam from the dust of the earth and then breathed into him the breath of life. That first breath awakened a living soul.

    In moments like these, I felt something similar. Whenever God’s voice reached my heart through his Word, it was as though he breathed on me again. His life touched my life. His heart touched my heart.

    The only image I can find for it is a kiss. A heavenly kiss.

    Not a kiss of romance, but a kiss of love, acceptance, and life. A kiss that healed wounds I could not heal myself. A kiss that awakened hope when hope seemed lost. A kiss that reminded me that I was still known, still loved, and still held by God.

    The greatest miracle was not that I gained new understanding. The greatest miracle was that I met him.

    Questions that had seemed impossible became less threatening. The tangled threads of life slowly began to loosen. What had appeared closed started to open. Not because I suddenly understood everything, but because love had entered the room.

    I discovered that God’s Word is more than information. It is encounter. More than instruction. It is communion. More than truth. It is the voice of the One who loves us.

    Even today I come to Scripture with that same longing. I open my Bible the way a thirsty traveller approaches a spring. I come hoping to hear his voice once more. I come longing for the touch of his grace.

    For once the soul has tasted the kiss of God, nothing else can fully satisfy it. We simply want more of him.

    His words become sweeter than honey. His love becomes better than wine. And deep within, the heart continues to pray: “Lord, I long for the kiss of your Word.”

  • God’s Church

    Which one of the many Christian denominations is God’s Church? Is it the Orthodox Church? Or could it be the Roman Catholic Church? What about the many protestant churches, could any of them be God’s Church?

    In the letter to the Corinthians the apostle Paul define God’s Church as those who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made us holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

    This apostolic definition tells me that the many different ways of organizing the church, whether new or traditional, is not the defining element of God’s Church. The apostle is saying that God’s Church is people who has been called by God to be his very own people. All those people who belong to God is His Church. All people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, have been made holy, and together they are God’s Church. God has called us and invited us into a living partnership and friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

    All people everywhere calling upon his name and living in this intimate friendship with Jesus Christ our Lord, are together God’s Church. Whenever or wherever any of the friends of Jesus Christ meet, two or three believers, or larger groups of people calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is God’s Church. Whether we meet in a park, in a restaurant, in a home or in a sacred building, we are God’s Church whenever we meet!

  • The Kingdom of God is life

    Romans 14:17 is saying that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

    The Kingdom of God is a matter of living a life in the Holy Spirit. It is not a matter of eating or drinking. The Kingdom of God is all about something much more important than food. It is more important than any human interests or activities. The Kingdom of God is all about a righteous life, a peaceful life, and a joyful life – produced by the Holy Spirit.

  • Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ!

    The apostle Paul gives us this admonition in Romans 13:14 as an antidote to participate in the deeds of darkness.

    In other words the apostle is saying that we must immerse ourselves into the Lord Jesus, the Anointed one. We should not even waste a moment’s thought on our former identity as children of darkness. Rather we have to clothe ourself with the shining armour of right living. Once and for all we will clothe ourselves with the radiance of light as our weapon.

    We are called to live honourable and decent lives surrounded by the light of this new day and not in the darkness of the world that is passing away.

    This a a new day. Let us clothe ourselves with the presence of the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!

  • Fosen Mission Update 6

    Our days at Fosen is coming to and end, but our mission will continue. God has led us in a wonderful way and we have met with some very precious people. We have names and telephone numbers and a lot of follow up work to do when we return home. We don’t know how this will turn out. The fruit of this mission trip is in the hands of God. But we know that his word will never return to him empty.

    Yesterday we went to Stokkøya. Actually, we didn’t know what to do in the morning. The day was kind of open as we had not made any specific plans. Early in the morning we had a message and a phone call from someone we never met before, inviting us for an evening meal. The we talked with Roald, a Christian leader in the Lutheran prayer house in Åfjord (NLM). He was very kind and helpful. In his understanding all the free churches and most of the Lutheran prayer houses in the coastal villages had been shut down and turned into ordinary houses for people to live in. Some had become summer houses. The only free church that was not closed down, according to Roald, was the Baptist Church at Stokkøya.

    Therefore we decided to go to Stokkøya yesterday. On the way I called a Baptist preacher, a friend of mine, who was from Stokkøya and recently had moved back to his native place. He was not at home but told the amazing story of his greatgrandmother who became a baptist in 1890 and had been praying for revival. In 1930-1934 the revival came. 100 people out of the 600 inhabitants on the island repented and was baptised as believers. Almost every family on the island was touched by the revival and had some baptists among them. But today the church consists of mainly elderly people praying for a new revival.

    When we came to the centre of Stokkøya we went to the local Coop store and asked for direction. Then we had a very good conversation with the people at the store and was able to witness for them. They were very friendly and open. One of them had attended the Sunday school in the Baptist church.

    According to Wikipedia about 300 people live on the island today. That is only half as much as the number of people who lived here a hundred years ago. The same thing has happened to all the coastal villages of this area. The number of people has been drastically reduced as many families have moved away to sette in more central areas of Norway. But God loves the people in islands and distant coastlands. The precious people of these villages scattered along the coast are longing to hear the word of God. Who will bring them the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

  • A new person

    This morning I was reading Romans 12. This verse caught my attention: “Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of ths world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then yoiu will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

    Praise God, we don’t need to copy the behaviour of the world. We don’t have to follow the customs of the society in which we live. Christ has redeem us. He has set us free from slavery to the basic spiritual powers and principles of this world. Now we are free to bring our bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God. This is truly the way to worship him.

    Praise God, we are not even stuck with ourselves. We are not stuck with our old and stubborn personality. We can let God change us into new persons by letting him change the way we think. As a person thinks in his heart, so he is. Therefore we need to lear to think God’s thought about us. He will teach us his ways. We can learn to know God’s will for our lives. His will is good and pleasing and perfect.

    What a privilege! We can let God transform us into new persons by changing the way we think! Hallelujah! God is good!

  • Fosen Mission Update 5

    Again, we have had a wonderfulday in Åfjord. We have met some very good people who has given us valuable information. First we met with a believer at the same age as Solveig and myself. His name was Roald and he was from Roan. He had probably been to some of my meetings about 64 years ago. It was such a blessing to talk to him. He knew a lot about the Christian churches and activities in this area. He confirm what we had discovered, that many prayer houses and church buildings had been turned into family houses as the churches had been closed down and no longer existed.

    Actually, the spiritual situation in the coastal area is quite sad. The numbers of born again believers have been drastically reduced since the time I was ministering the Gospel in this area. Lots of people have moved away from the small villages scattered along the coast, in the fjords and on the islands. So naturally the numbers also have gone down, but is seems like the free churches and mission organisations have been more severely hit. Roald did not know of any living, born again believer at all in his home village of Roan. The pentecostal church no longer existed and their building was turned into an ordinary house.

    But he gave me names of some of the children and grandchildren of the families I stayed with long ago. Now I will be able to contact several of them. One of them is actually living not far from home. He was very helpful and helped us to a better understanding of the spiritual situation of the area which is in a desperate need of revival.

    We have spoken a lot of local people. They have all been very open ond friendly. As we have told about the goodness of God and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ, the people have been listening and open to our message. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. We feel a real burden for the people in this area. They are kind and friendly, they are longing but do not understand what they are longing for. We will pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers to the many villages in this area without any living Christian fellowship. Many of these places don notm even have a state church building. And in the few state church buildings there seemed to be only one service in every three weeks or even more seldom.

  • Intended for His glory

    Romans 11:36 is saying that everything comes from God and exists by his power, and is intended for his glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.

    I was reading this verse again this morning in my daily Bible reading/devotion. This verse kind of summarize our Christian faith and worldview. Everything comes from God. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He sustain the entire universe. Everything exists by his power. This truth gives me peace, security, stability and confidence. I am resting in God’s loving and caring hands.

    Everything is intended for his glory. This is the purpose of life. Knowing that I am created for his glory gives me the blessed assurance that I am part of a greater plan and purpose. We are all intended to bring glory to God. And he has purposed to bring us to glory through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his triumphal resurrection.

    So we keep praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honoured because of the way you live, and you will be honoured along with him. This is made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. 2 Tess 1:11-12