Chapter 8

Karl Meets Signild

There was never any question in anyone's mind about the preparedness of Elisa and Salme for marriage to Stan. The betrothal went ahead the next day as planned. It was agreed that Salme would be betrothed first and Elisa fully married first so that he could be fair to the two women who wished to marry him at the same time. This was the very first "double" marriage in the Królewiec family, an exigency they had often wondered about should it ever present itself. They were both fully married three-and-a-half months later, in the spring. What this meant was that they went through the ceremonies of betrothal and full marriage at the same time but had their betrothal and full-marriage honeymoons separately, in the order that had been agreed between the three.

Hilda hit it off with the Nilsson's from the day she moved in with them and soon became the object of attention of Bente's two sons and daughter. A week after Silvia's dedication, and the day before they were to return to Tartu, Hilda was dedicated to Lars in the presence of the whole community. It was one of the happiest wintertime events that we had ever celebrated, with Kadesh-Naphtali being filled with so much spiritual light and joy. There are no annual festivals during the winter season making this ordinarily a quiet time of the year, spring, sunmmer and autumn being the preferred seasons for dediation, betrothal and full marriage. So it was with heavy hearts that the two women left their fiancées behind for Estonia again.

Björn and Lars seemed lost without them. For that matter, so did Misha, Sonja and Bente, and the three Nilsson children. Many hearts were stretched as love's mettle was tested and revealed. Stan always thought that absences like this were healthy spiritually even if they did hurt so that the parties concerned could seriously examine themselves and make sure they were doing the right thing. Affairs of the heart were tricky things to pin down when it came to knowing what the Lord's will was though in both Silvia's and Hilda's cases there didn't seem to be much doubt.

What should now happen to Elisa's house in Tartu? It would only be briefly occupied by the returning Estonians and then become vacant. Should she sell it or rent it out again to someone else?

"My advice is that you rent it to someone in the Tartu Fellowship, giving the Pastorate the power of attorney to look after your interests for you now that you're living here," suggested Stan. "We may have a need for it in the future, say, for visiting missionaries, or even ourselves. Earning a little rent off it would also help us economically, for you know how tight we are for money even in a place as large and productive as Kadesh-Naphtali. But why don't you ask the Lord about it, and then get back to me?"

Though she prayed for more guidance, Elisa could not think of a better alternative, and in the end contacted Pastor Andrus Kuusberg and asked for his advice. Aino Hurt, Elisa's second counsellor as Pastress, but now first counsellor to the new Pastress, Elgi Kuusberg, was in need of a home and Andrus suggested that she rent the house to her. This seemed the best solution, Elisa thought, and with Stan's agreement, wrote letters authorising Andrus to be her representative which Hilda took back with her. It was also agreeed that the house should be available for visitors coming from Kadesh-Naphtali.

Maria and Karl remained in an impasse, and she would not choose which way to go in spite of being made dumb. The Lord did not speak to her again, seemingly waiting for her response. Whenever the two were together, there was inevitably an argument, with Maria storming out both because she couldn't get her own way and also because having to write everything down was frustratingly slow. In the end Karl said that until she made her mind up one way or the other it was pointless discussing it further.

To get away from her for two weeks he obtained his father's permission to go and visit Karin and Bertil Högström who were living in the Engström's rented home in Jönköping. Maria knew knew that the Seventh Day Adventist couple had a pretty 20 year-old daughter called Signild and was justifiably worried that it was with a view to finding alternative female company to her own, and possibly even a wife.

Stan thought that this might be the best way of getting Maria to end her delaying tactics and supported Karl completely. And when Maria got to know that her father was behind him, she deeply resented what she considered to be an intrustion into her private life.

"It's none of your business getting involved in this," she had rudely written on a piece of paper, and was curtly reminded of the covenant she had made to speak respectfully to her father.

"I do not interfere in the private lives of anyone living in this community," Stan had sternly replied, "unless they are in contravention of the commandments and the covenants they made which permit them to be here in the first place. My involvement is purely with Karl who has asked me for advice, and I have only ever counselled you when you have asked for it. It is none of your affair to interfere with someone else's free agency. You are not his ruler either now or in the future. And the sooner you repent and come off that mountain of stubborn pride the easier it will be for you and for everyone else."

Maria stormed out, absolutely furious. She did not like anyone to stand up to her, least of all her father whom she subconsciously was trying to compete with in terms of authority and status. She knew she had broken her covenants once again but was was fuming so much that she did not think the consequences through and marched off to the Åkerstedt farm.

"If you have anything to do with that Signild girl it's off between us," said Maria scathingly on a piece of paper which she thrust under Karl's nose. He remained non-plussed.

"Since when was there anything "on" between us," came Karl's unapologetic reply. "I am under no covenants to you except to treat you as a sister in the Lord, and that I have tried to do. So please don't come making any threats to me. I shall do as I please. And if I wish to go and visit a hundred women I shall feel free to do so."

And with that he closed the front door, not wishing to lose any more heat from the house, for he had not invited Maria in.

The last of her defiance was beginning to give way as she progressively ran out of excuses to defend her intransigence. Not being able to shout seemed to somehow take the wind out of what could be otherwise pretty strong speech, and instead she was forced to rely on the moving power of her own written words alone. And there was precious little in those.

Defeated, though still indignant, she returned home, still wearing only indoor clothes in the freezing cold winter weather outside, for she had not even paused to throw a coat over herself. She clearly understood that if she threatened to find another boy that it would not wear with Karl because he knew only too well how previous young men had been completely turned off by her aggressive and rude behaviour. She could try manipulating her father and mother by leaving home but she knew that would not bend Karl to her will either, so she abandoned that idea as quickly as she had concocted it. The last resort was suicide which she knew would solve nothing at all and was a base, selfish motive that just hurt people making everyone lose including herself.

She returned to her room to write depressing poetry about lost love in her diary. Growing tired of that after a while, she then went in search of a radio she could secretly listen to but found none. The TV room was locked, being only opened for the family to see approved programs, and she knew it would be futile trying to ask any of her father's wives for the key, for they had all been forewarned. She wandered into the kitchen hoping to find something sweet to console herself with but Kasia and Andreea were busy at work there. No chance of raiding the 'fridge. She put on her coat and boots and went to the hen house to talk with them, but remembered she couldn't speak, and anyway they wouldn't understand her, so she came back indoors again. It was -12°C outside and hardly conducive to a walk. She wished that Władysław was at home but he had returned to Gävle the day before. It was a miserable Monday.

Karl was glad to be away and went to great efforts to shower his attention on lovely Signild. There were others in her SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) congregation who were interested in her and she had an unofficial "boyfriend" of sorts but Karl was not deterred. The problem was that the Högströms knew nothing about his beliefs and were they to get a whiff of their plural marriage practices would almost certainly send him packing. That would then cause problems for the Engströms who depended on the rent from the Högströms to survive. He didn't want to provoke them to leave and so land Björn with the problem of finding new tenants. But there were ways, and these he explored to the full.

If she was truthful with herself, Signild liked Karl a lot, and probably more so if she honestly examined her heart. She was every bit as sharp as Maria and even more pugnacious. She was readily disposed to fight for what she felt was right. She would not be easy to win over to patriarchy but once she had become it's ally would, he knew, defend it to the death. She was a loyal Adventist and accepted the teachings of her Church's founder, Ellen White, almost without questioning. Whilst Karl certainly considered it his duty to correct some of the errors of her religion, he was not above using this as a means to simultaneously achieve his matriominal aims. He wasn't sure whether his father or Stan would approve of his method but felt no guilt about his approach. He wasn't 100 per cent sure that his motives were pure but trusted the Lord enough to lead him in the right way. He saw nothing wrong with trying to kill more than one bird with one stone. He had two weeks and a lot to do. And as he sympathised with many SDA doctrines, it was not hard to win the approval of her parents for his obvious interest in their daughter. They supposed it would be a simple matter to make him into an active Adventist like themselves again.

What Karl wasn't sure about was whether he should focus on Signild or try to work on the whole family. Björn had tried before but met stiff resistance from Bertil. And as he was younger than Björn, he assumed that his word would carry even less authority. So he made up his mind to focus on Signild and witness to her parents as and when the Spirit led.

Knowing where to start was always the problem. He also knew that he lacked his father's and Stan's subtlety and had a tendency to launch straight into the thick of battle, betray his plans beforehand, and lose the advantage. He admired Stan's subtle ways of getting people to agree with him without them really knowing about it until it was too late. Then they would either embrace his teaching wholeheartedly or became avowed enemies. But here Karl would have to be diplomatic for he had to remember the Engströms' interests as landlords of the property the Högströms were renting.

He spent the first couple of days in the company of the whole family. It was the weekend so he attended the local Adventist Church in Jönköping with them and spoke only of things that the Order and the Adventists were agreed upon. Stan would have been proud of him, he thought to himself. He also openly criticised false doctrines that both were agreed upon also, such as the Toronto movement and some of the New Age-inspired charismatics, but kept well clear of soul-sleeping and White's belief in a false prophecy about the Second Coming. He actively participated in their Sabbath School meeting and made the boys who were pursuing Signild look weak and spiritually flaccid by comparison, though he never spoke ill of anyone. Signild's parents were delighted and in no time at all were beginning to see this bright and intelligent young man as a potential son-in-law.

But it had somehow never occurred to him that should he be successful in winning Signild over to both him and his belief system, that he might be laying open not just Björn's financial interests but also the integrity and safety of the community for whom keeping plural marriage on as low a profile as possible was absoltely essential. Bertil was a good man but to make him an enemy would not be prudent. Converting the whole family would probably be essential if he wished to win Signild's hand in marriage.

It must not be thought that Karl's motive for winning Signild was to spite Maria or even to help her make a decision about him. He had a genuine liking for the girl and sincerely wished to make her his wife. He liked and admired her. They had known each other for a number of years on and off through mutal membership in the SDA Church of which both the Nilssons and his family had once been members. Karl was serious about making this girl his wife.

He did not realise, or otherwise had not taken the possibility seriously, that the Högströms might be trying to win him and his family back to the Adventists. Bertil was a dynamic evangelist for his faith and well versed in both the Bible and SDA history. Karl knew he could not compete with such a vast storehouse of knowledge and so instead concentrated on being well-read in those few areas of doctrine which he knew would be difficult for Bertil to answer. He had spent a number of hours with Stan to be tutored in a number of areas, and most especially on the controversial soul-sleeping doctrine, the mortality of the soul, and the hidden history of the Adventists. In these three areas he had done his homework thoroughly and had come well armed with notes and photocopies made from documents in the community's library that would shake Bertil and certainly Signild. He didn't think so much about Carin Högström whom he knew would likely just follow her husband's lead.

He began by going directly to Bertil to ask for his advice, armed with the talk Stan had given to the Tartu ministers about the soul. He knew the best approach was to come as a pupil rather than as a teacher, respecting the older man's position as head of the household and as one to whom respect was due as an elder. And he made sure that Signild was in the room when he asked the question because he knew her sharp mind would brook no attempts to wriggle out of difficult arguments or to pull the wool over her eyes.

"Brother Högström," he politely asked, "I wonder if you could assist me with a difficult theological question?"

The elder Högström was delighted, of course.

Karl asked what he believed about the soul - how it was made up - and received the standard Adventist answer that the soul was the flesh of the body plus the breath of God which returns to Him when the soul dies.

"Then God is not a soul," said Karl.

"No, absolutely not," replied the elder Högström.

"Then why does God say that He is a soul?" asked Karl, and showed him the passage in Isaiah 1:14¹.

Bertil's mouth opened wide as he sat seemingly paralyzed staring at his Bible.

"It must be a faulty translation," he said and went off to the book case to look at some older Swedish versions and some English ones. He flipped each volume open to the passage in turn, snapped them shut, and started digging around for his lexicon. Karl grinned with satisfaction inside. Again the book snapped shut and the elder Högström stood staring at the shelf not knowing what to do for a moment before returning to his seat.

Karl pressed his point home.

"I've been studying the way the Old Testament uses the words for 'soul' and 'spirit' and I've noticed that they mean many different things. For instance, the Hebrew word 'nephesh' which translates to our 'spirit' is also used to refer to a dead body...."

"Impossible!" interrupted Bertil.

"No sir, it's perfectly true," replied Karl emphatically, and showed him Leviticus 19:28, and once again the elder Högström did his dance at the bookcase.

Signild listened intently, impressed both by Karl's scriptural knowledge and by the fact that he had stumped her father who was considered something of a scriptural genius in the local Adventist Church. What she didn't yet realise was that Karl was upsetting the whole Adventist doctrinal belief that the soul had no consciousness after death.

Bertil Högström remained silent, thinking deeply and desperately trying to find a way to salvage his Adventist doctrine, but the more the mental cogs turned, the more at a loss he became.

"That's just how my father and I felt when I was first shown these passages," said Karl sympathetically, seeing Bertil's dilemma. "And there are many more. One of our ministers in England wrote a detailed theological treatise on this subject called "Soul" many years ago. It's really interesting," and began to thumb through a copy which he had purposefully brought with him. "I think you would find it very interesting."

"I'd like to see that," said Signild, suddenly interested and always ready to take a challenge, but her father reacted reflexly, not wanting his daughter to be indoctrinated by anti-Adventist literature. "I don't approve of anti-Church literature in my home."

"Oh, you needn't worry, sir," replied Karl. "It was written against the Jehovah's Witnesses, and to a lesser extent the Christadelphians, but mostly it is just a study on what the Bible teaches. And as an Adventist I know you believe what the Bible teaches."

Karl handed over the pamphlet to the elder Högström who flipped the pages over nervously, frowning.

"I have an extra one if you'd like to see it," he continued looking at Signild.

"I'm sure Signild has better things to do that read that," said Bertil slightly impatiently, but Signild would not be bullied.

"I think I'm old enough to do my own studying now, father," she said politely but firmly, and reached out to take the pamphlet. The elder Högström was about to leap out of his chair to seize the offending literature but caught himself, figuring that he would sort the matter out. Karl knew that he must now pour healing oil on the now open wound.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about, sir," he said assuringly to Bertil. "And we certainly have nothing to fear from the truth. If there are any errors in this pamphlet, I'm sure you'll point them out and correct me. And if you're wrong, I'm sure that as a Bible-believer you'll correct yourself. Either way the truth wins and Satan loses, don't you agree?"

The elder Högström was both filled with admiration for this young New Covenant Christian as well as inflamed to anger at having his cherished beliefs seemingly turned over. He knew only too well what the consequences would be if Karl was right, because it would show that their beloved founder, Ellen White, was not a true prophet as Adventists fervently maintained. And then it would possibly lay open the ground for an attack on other Adventist teachings.

The following day the elder Högström mailed a copy of the pamphlet to the Church's headquarters in Stockholm and awaited a reply, fully expecting the matter to be happily resolved before Karl returned to Kadesh-Naphtali. After a week he grew nervous and 'phoned up headquarters. All he was told was that they were "working on it" and would get back to him when they had an answer.

That was all the time Karl needed to get to work on Signild who digested the pamphlet the following day and was convinced that it was true.

"Why can't Pappa see it?" she said. "It's so obvious. These words don't mean what our leaders have been telling us. They could mean almost anything!"

Karl didn't say anything.

"Well, I'm sure your leaders in Stockholm will come up with an answer," he said, baiting her a little. "If there are error's in the booklet, they'll be sure to contact your father within no more than a day or two."

But nothing happened. The following Sabbath arrived and the elder Högström still hadn't heard anything. By now he was getting nervous. He just prayed that there wouldn't be any discussion on the soul in Sabbath School as Karl would be bound to bring the subject up and cause great embarrassment for him. But Karl was the model of good behaviour and even though a passing reference was made to the soul he said nothing. Bertil was relieved and at the same time thankful.

But Signild was not. She was troubled as soon as the main speaker started preaching.

"I wonder if you have ever wondered what happens to you when someone you love dies?" he began, having in mind the several visitors who were in the Jönköping Church that day. "Maybe, you have thought to yourself, that he is alive somewhere. Maybe his happy spirit is somewhere in heaven, making the angels smile. Or maybe - and perish the thought - he is groaning in purgatory or hell!"

Bertil grew nervous but Karl continued to respectfully listen.

"Well, you can know the truth right here in your Bible," continued the minister. "The teaching about death is so clear in the Bible that you don't have to ever worry about it again. Just turn with me to Genesis 2:7 which tells us how we are made: 'The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.' Notice that the man was made of two parts: the dust of the ground and the breath of life. Together they formed 'a living soul'. In full harmony is David's statement concerning what happens at death: 'His breath goes forth, he returneth to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish' (Psalm 146:4). In other words, when his breath goes forth, when a person stops breathing, all consciousness ceases and the body returns to dust. Such is death."

Signild began shaking her head. She remembered how the booklet had clearly explained that passage.

"But does not the Bible teach that man has an immortal soul? No, it does not. Only once in all the Holy Scriptures is the word immortal used and that is in 1 Timothy 1:17, where it is applied to God: 'Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.'

The elder Högström began to blush a fierce red when he saw his daughter shaking her head and for the first time he began to regret ever agreeing to Karl's visit. The man was poisoning his daughter's mind! And yet, he had still received no word from Stockholm. He decided he would speak to the visiting minister from Göteborg (Gothenburg) and ask him afterwards.

The minister continued, quoting 1 Timothy 6:15-16 which said that God alone is immortal, and then, to seal his argument, quoted Romans 2:7 where Paul admonishes the good to seek "glory, honour and immortality".

The elder Högström went to the visiting minister and showed him Karl's two passages but he merely laughed them off, saying: "We all know the truth, don't we, Brother Högström?" and left the matter at that. He remembered his sermon and derived some consolation from its content.

"What did you think of Brother Wiberg's sermon, Karl?" asked Bertil in as calm and collected voice as he could muster.

"Oh, he put his case quite well," replied Karl, "but made some false assumptions along the way."

Bertil stiffened up and Carin looked at him nervously. Signild was enjoying herself tremendously for she had never seen her father so unseated before.

"In what way, young man?" came the terse reply.

"Well," replied Karl. "Nobody disputes that God is immortal, of course, or that in a special sense He is the only truly immortal Being in the Universe, since we are all creatures. The issue, as I see it, is what the Hebrew words for 'soul' and 'spirit' actually mean. And it's clear from the Scriptures that they can mean all sorts of different things. If God has a soul, then obviously there is such a thing as an immortal soul."

"But that's only one scripture, Karl dear," said Carin sweetly. "Surely you must consider what all the others say?"

"Well, Sister Högström," answered Karl respectfully, "I understand what you're saying. But if what you say is true, then it means that some scriptures aren't reliable. And I don't accept that. Once you question the inspiration of any Scripture, you can start challenging anything you want to. But since Jesus accepted the whole Old Testament unconditionally, I feel that I must follow His example and do the same, since He's my Saviour."

"Well said, Karl!" said Signild to herself, but dared not say it openly just yet. She would listen and hear what more this fantastic young man had to say.

Karl went on: "The Scriptures use these words very loosely and sometimes in only a poetic sense. For instance, if a soul is the dust of the earth plus the spirit or breath of God, how can Paul say that the Word of God can divide the soul and the spirit as though they were two separate things?"

"Where does he say that?" snapped Bertil.

"Right here in Hebrews 4:12, sir," answered Karl. "'For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart'. If Paul was making a description of the way we are composed, then he is saying that we are made of two separate things - soul and spirit. But according to the Old Testament, the soul is made up of dust and spirit. How can we be both made up of dust and spirit, and spirit?"

The elder Högström couldn't answer him.

"And," continued Karl, "elsewhere the apostle Paul says that we are made up of three different parts - spirit, soul and body. Listen to what he says: '..I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thessalonians 5:23)"

Karl paused, put his Bible down between him and Signild on the back seat and continued:

"If we are to understand 'spirit' and 'soul' literally, as you might describe different parts of the body in a Biology text book, then either the Old Testament is wrong or Paul is. Worse than that, the writer of Hebrews and Paul disagree. So either you must conclude that the Bible isn't very inspired or these words were not used in the scientific sense that some people make them out to be.

"If I accept what the preacher said this morning, then I must reject Paul. If I accept Paul, then I must reject the preacher," continued Karl. "I just don't think it's as simple as he says it is. Is there a hell? Well, Jesus taught there was. And if there's a hell, then there must be a heaven."

Carin Högström interjected: "Well, dear, you might be right, or you might be wrong. I don't suppose we can really know."

The elder Högström bolted upright in silent, violent protest when she said that but held his peace, not wishing to dishonour his wife in front of their guest or daughter.

"Well," said Karl respectfully, "if you're right, then we shouldn't be dogmatic about the subject and just leave it open-ended. But I think if you study everything the Bible says about the soul, it becomes pretty obvious to me that the Hebrews weren't too clear about life after death. When they saw a dead body, that's what they saw, and drew their own conclusions. The New Testament is a fuller revelation and talks much more about life after death than the Old. If the Old seems to contradict the New, then I will always turn to the New. But from what I've been learning so-called contradictions between Old and New are just a lack of data in the Old because Yahweh-God hadn't given His full revelation on the subject."

Karl stopped, realising that he had probably said enough, and they were soon home.

"By the way, sir," he added as the car drew up to the garage doors, "did your people in Stockholm ever give you an answer to the pamphlet?"

Bertil blushed. "No, not yet," he answered slightly embarrassed, "but I expect they're very busy."

"Yes, I suppose they are. When I get home to Kopparberg, I'll email them a copy of the pamphlet and put it on the Discussion Board on their Website and see what response we get. You have Internet, don't you, Brother Högström?"

He nodded and then got out the car to open up the garage.

"We can send it this evening after the Sabbath is over," suggested Signild, "and then we'll get a reply before you leave. Better still, we can put it up on their Discussion Board in the States if you've got it in English!"

"Yes, we could do that," said Karl as they climbed out of the car and made their way to the front door and into the warmth.

Karl downloaded both articles in Swedish and English from the New Covenant Website and put them up on the two Discussion Boards, but by the time Karl left to return home there had only been one very feeble answer on the American board and two diatribes on the Swedish one. Finally, the Swedish pamphlet was deleted from the Swedish Board!

Karl had now been with the Högströms for a week and a day and there was no doubt that a special bond was growing between the young couple which both of them were savouring with delight. After Bertil and Carin had retired to bed, they sat quietly talking in the living room.

"Is this soul-thing the only reason you left the Adventists?" asked Signild, with a slight hint of sorrow in her voice.

"No," he replied. "There are many other reasons too but I think I've probably made enough trouble already since I've been here. After all, I'm your guest."

Signild reached for Karl's hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you for being kind to Pappa. You've really shaken him, and I think Mamma is a bit disturbed too. But he loves the Church too much to change his membership, if that's what you're hoping he'll do."

It was now Karl's turn to be embarrassed.

"Brother Stan says that a Church is like a wine glass or a coffee mug. It doesn't matter too much what the shape is so long as it's clean. He feels the same way about church denominations. Some glasses are chipped, some are worn with age. What's important is what's in them. Still, he says drinking a glass of wine in a beautiful crystal cut glass is much better than in a dirty old chipped mug."

Signild grinned, appreciating the analogy.

"I feel the same way", said Karl. "No Church is perfect but some churches are more perfect than others. If I felt I could have continued to grow in grace and truth in the Adventist Church I would have stayed. But Pappa and Mamma felt they were dying from spiritual suffocation. They discovered so much more in the Bible and wanted to live the fullness of Christ's teachings. That's why we joined the Holy Order ..."

Signild was still holding his hand as she gazed admiringly into Karl's eyes. She was slowly but surely falling in love but was too shy to say anything about it yet. She searched his eyes to see if he was feeling similar things. At first she thought he did but then seemed to detect a hesitation ... a pulling back. Karl sensed that he was being spiritually scanned.

"Why should I leave the Adventists and become a New Covenant Christian?" she suddenly asked.

Karl was a little taken aback as he hadn't actually asked her to change churches though that had certainly been a part of his agenda - not for the sake of changing churches but because he could never marry anyone who wasn't completely at one with him in doctrine and practice.

"I would't demand that anyone leave any church. Only God can do that. As a Christian all I want to do is preach the truth, be corrected when I'm wrong, and move on. In our Order we have that freedom, but many of the older Churches are walled in by dogma which you dare not challenge. In the Order anything goes - you can ask what you like, challenge anything you like, so long as you do it respectfully and lovingly. I love it. I can go to Pappa or Uncle Stan and ask them anything I want and I know I won't be met by a wall."

"So why else wouldn't you be an Adventist, if it isn't just the soul doctrine?" Signild asked persistently.

"If you want to know the brutal truth," said Karl, "it's because I don't think that Ellen White was always a true prophetess and that she taught more than one false doctrine. She propagated a prophesy of her husband on the return of Christ and got it wrong. She should never have done that because the Bible says that nobody knows except the Father. When someone prophesies a date for His return they are making themselves out to be God."

Signild looked shocked but didn't question him.

"Ellen White was also an admirer of the Book of Mormon written by another false prophet, Joseph Smith ... !"

"NO!" cried Signild. "That's not true!" But she was beginning to learn that Karl didn't say anything unless he could back himself up. "Can you prove that??"

"Yes," he replied soberly, "and I can prove that she was into a 19th century version of the Toronto Blessing, and a lot more."

Signild let go of his hand. She wasn't in a romantic mood any more, but she was determined not to run away from the problems like her father had done.

"Can you prove all of this to me now?" she asked, half hoping that he couldn't.

"Sure," replied Karl, "so long as you promise not to show the materials to your father or mother, and give them back to me before I leave. I've borrowed them from our library and have promised to return them."

"Can I see them now?" she asked, now getting really frightened.

"Sure," said Karl, and went up to his room, returning a minute later with two large booklets called, Ellen G. White: The Myth and the Truth by Åsmund Kaspersen². "They're in Norwegian but you shouldn't have too much trouble with them."

Signild hesitated. "I've read a lot of anti-Adventist literature and a lot of it is distorted," she said with a sceptical note in her voice.

"Åsmund Kaspersen is a Seventh Day Adventist himself, which is why I think you'll find him all the more interesting, because he's just interested in the truth. He's not one of your anti-sabbatarians. Anyway, pray before you read it and ask that the Lord protect you from any deceptive spirits. I guarantee you'll never look at your religion with the same eyes again."

Signild turned the booklets upside down in case one of her parents should wander in and see the title. She didn't want a row. She took his hand again, and then looked down at her feet.

"You know I've grown very fond of you, don't you, Karl?" she said in a very timid voice.

"Yes, I know, " answered. "And I feel the same about you too."

She looked up at him, hope kindled in her eyes.

"But I don't think we should let it go any further until you find out more about me and what I believe in. I wouldn't want you to get hurt," he said kindly.

She leaned forward to kiss him on his mouth but he drew back.

"Don't be offended," said Karl, "but I believe kissing is only for married people, and I want to come into my marriage clean."

She was at first slightly offended that he would reject her advance but upon hearing his explanation felt slightly ashamed.

"Thank you, Karl. I needed to hear that. I'll read your magazines and we'll talk again tomorrow. Then I want to ask you about all your beliefs, OK?"

"OK!" he said, and the two got up, hugged, and went to their rooms.

Signild jumped into bed and started reading the two Kaspersen books. She got the shock of her life.

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¹ For the full discourse, see Volume 2, chapter 17

² Ellen G. White: Myten og sannheten , OMEGA, Vivestad, N-3175 RAMNES, Norway

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