Foreword

Johan Oscar Smith was born on October 11, 1871, in Fredrikstad, Norway. His parents were civic-minded and socially active, both in politics and in Christian circles. As a 15-year-old, Johan Oscar went to sea, and two years later he enlisted in the Norwegian Navy, where he became a noncommissioned officer. He remained in the Navy until his retirement almost 40 years later.

On May 17, 1898, at the age of 26, Johan Oscar gave his life to God aboard the monitor Thor. Two years later, he was baptized with the Holy Spirit. Naval life required him to spend long periods of time away from family and friends. He lived most of his life in Horten, while his parents and siblings lived elsewhere in Norway. Consequently, he wrote many letters. In these letters he wrote about daily life and family life. Most of all, however, he wrote about what constantly occupied his thoughts: namely, the life with Christ in God that he had started living from the time of his conversion. First and foremost, it was his deep desire for growth in this life that characterized his writings.

Nothing in his letters indicates that Johan Oscar Smith was trying to formulate a new doctrine. The question that occupied him was how to apply what he read in God’s Word to his own life. He immersed himself in this with immense thoroughness and diligence. He once wrote to his brother, “I love God’s Word so much that I’m often completely oblivious to everything else for long periods of time.” The eternal riches found in his literature are written with honesty, directly out of a life that was completely devoted to God. Whoever wants to examine his writings must do so in light of the life that he led.

In the early 1900s, Johan Oscar wrote a number of articles in various Christian publications. In 1912 he and his brother Aksel Smith started their own publication, Skjulte Skatter (Hidden Treasures). Up until his death on May 1, 1943, he wrote approximately 440 articles, memorials, and songs for this publication, as well as numerous poems, proverbs, and summaries from meetings and conferences. While his letters naturally were personal and addressed to individuals, his articles were written with the intention of edifying everyone who desires to live a God-fearing life. Here, too, his focus was on the life.

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that we can now publish Johan Oscar Smith’s entire body of work, in its unabridged and original form, to the extent that it is currently available to us. It is with great delight that we now have the opportunity to become even better acquainted with him, both as an extraordinary man of God and as a quite ordinary person. We are grateful for these living treasures with which we have been entrusted, both in and through this literature. Now everyone has the possibility of becoming well-acquainted with Johan Oscar Smith and has the opportunity both to examine what he wrote and to evaluate it in relation to their own lives. My hope is that many people will take advantage of this opportunity.

Kåre J. Smith