TESTIMONY OF MORTEN RIISE-HANSSEN

Oslo, 07.03.2023

My Testimony. 

By Morten Riise-Hanssen. 

I was asked to write down in a few words, my gospel conversion; how the Lord Jesus Christ changed my heart, and how I experienced it. I was honored by the request and happily complied. 

All the children of God have different testimonies, but they all share the same Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer and hope is that my feeble words might give God all the glory, who graciously drew me to himself and translated me into the kingdom of his beloved Son, where I found rest for my soul and a satisfied heart. Blessed be his precious holy name, whereby this wretched sinner was saved; God only wise, the Omnipotent, the great I AM. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) I remember it dawned on me one day, on my way to work, that I had no purpose in life. I started to blame everyone around me for my misery and had evil thoughts against them. I thought to myself I deserved a better life than this. My life as a 35-year-old, in Oslo, Norway was booze and women, and I had no desire to «settle down». 

My goal was to sleep around as much as I could and have a good time with my buddies. During this period, I met a girl that liked me. She had just started working in the café across from where I worked as a frame maker. She had cut her finger and came into the shop, and asked for a band-aid. I found her one and we got along. Just a few months later I moved into her place. But my heart was not yet satisfied; and seeking to fulfill its selfish desires, I quit my job at the workshop to pursue my long last ambitions to become an artist (I have an MA degree in Fine Arts). 

I rented a studio where I could produce my paintings and only had a part-time job to cover my expenses. I set myself up for a financial ruin. I went «all in», looking to get that one break that could bring me to the glorious heights of fine arts in Oslo, and spent the money that was set aside for the taxes. After a few exhibitions, it became obvious that I could not sell enough paintings to cover my expenses, including the taxes I owed, and I started working full-time for a painting company, in a desperate attempt to earn enough to get my head above the water. I hid these things from my girlfriend, my family, and everyone else. The job which was meant to help me get back on track financially, became a curse instead. I continued to spend the tax money, and I dug myself into an even deeper hole of debt until I could no longer see the light of day. 

After a year I quit the job at the painting company. At this point, I had given up on trying to pay the taxes on time. During this time, I made once again an effort to become an artist and received help from an art mediator, whose job was to promote and sell my artwork. She was going over to London to land a deal there on my behalf, but they pulled out, and the deal failed. Later she gathered art dealers at my studio. A few came, but none of them wanted to invest in my art. I could not seem to get that break I was so desperately looking for. Although I sold paintings from time to time, they never really amounted to anything, and I found myself still in a rut. 

But little did I know that I was in far worse shape than I could ever imagine. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6) Moving in with my girlfriend, made everything worse, and my inner turmoils were intensified. My selfish desires were made manifest, as I now had to consider another person. Making decisions about mundane things, became unbearable; I never had to think of these things before in relation to another person; what to eat? when to eat? what to drink? what to wear? when to meet? where to go? when to go? My mind was already preoccupied with my financial situation, and how I was going to turn it around without anyone finding out. And whenever she talked about buying a car or getting our own house, I shrunk into a little bird, panting in the corner of a room for the fear of getting caught, unable to find the window, and escaping. 

Therefore, in order to keep things a secret, and keep up appearances, I had to lie many times. My conscience was now pricking my heart, and my different routes of escape turned out to be dead ends. The addictions I already had before I met my girlfriend, intensified. I hit more golf balls on the range than I ever did before; I was watching pornography, whenever I had the opportunity. I also started to read new-age self-help books, and I was spending a lot of time on YouTube, searching for the truth. I remember telling myself one day in front of the computer, «I don’t care how crazy it might be, but if it’s the truth, I am going to believe it.» One video clip led me to another and then another. I believed in many different strange things, and the list was endless; I even thought that a lady, claiming to be from the planet Venus, could be telling the truth. I even believed and preached that this world was run by lizards, and got deep into all sorts of conspiracy theories. But by the grace of God, a common theme started to appear in this confusing mess: there was an organized evil in this world, and some people were actually worshiping the devil. Then I began to click on videos explaining the things I saw from a Christian perspective, and they were making more sense than the others. 

The videos that made the most impression on me, were the talks and the debates with Kent Hovind, who very convincingly refuted the evolution theory. Something was different about this man. He was a well-dressed man, and an eloquent speaker with a clear mind, who destroyed Darwinism with his wit and great authority. He presented irrefutable evidence for creation. Through reason and natural science, and most importantly, with the word of God (King James AV), this Christian man convinced me that the evolution theory was a big fat lie and that the bible, therefore, must be the word of God. Only later Iater did I see, that through all this time, it was the Spirit of God who drew me to himself. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, (Psalm 110:3a) I and my girlfriend struggled to get along. We were fighting almost every day until finally she said, that he was going to her late father’s cabin to clear her head. I did not object, and she packed some of her stuff and went. 

For the first time, in a long while, I felt like I finally had some breathing space, and could go on with my things unhindered. I continued to watch videos, most of them Christian. I also went to the bookstore and bought my first bible, because I knew it had to be the word of God. But I also continued with my sin. But I was no longer comfortable doing it, and one day it really dawned on me that the same God who wrote the bible, and created the heavens and the earth, was also watching everything I did. It was a terrifying thought. I felt ashamed of what I did, and I knew I sinned against God. The fear of the Lord then came heavy upon me, and I quit doing my sin. Then I stared out the kitchen window, and a thought came into my mind: «You shall not die, but live». It was a peaceful thought and it gave me great comfort. However, the Lord was not yet finished with me. During these days, my art mediator suggested that I could exhibit my art in my apartment, and invite people over from my circle of friends, and she would likewise invite people over from hers. I thought that was a good idea, and we set a date for the exhibition in the coming weekend. 

Leading up to this, the IRS was sending me e-mails, saying I owed them taxes and that they were long overdue. For over three years now I had not paid any taxes, and the money I owed had grown into a big mountain that was about to fall on me. I was completely done. I had nothing, and I had no property of any value that I could sell. I certainly could not ask my parents for help. They had bailed me out many times before in the past, and I was too ashamed to even consider it a possibility to ask for their help once again. The surrounding walls were now moving in on me, and they were without any doors or windows. When they were right up against me, I crumbled and fell down on the floor, and cried out to the Lord Jesus Christ: «Please, Lord Jesus, help me, I cannot do this anymore. I only mess up». Up to this point in my life, I had blamed everyone around me for my misery. I had blamed my father and my mother, my job; I had blamed society, politicians, and the media; in short, I had blamed the whole world, but I was the man. I was the one to be blamed. I was bulging my eyes out, and saw that Jesus had truly died for me! He had taken all of my dreadful sins with him on the cross, and he was nailed to it in my stead, and he rose indeed from the dead. I saw it! Yes, I understood! 

The pieces of the puzzle fitted perfectly together, and all the things that I had heard from the many videos of these faithful Christians had now become a reality for me. I felt so relieved. A ton of burdens just fell off my shoulders and the Lord graciously comforted me there on the floor. The prodigal son had finally come home into the everlasting arms of his Father. What love! What mercy! What forgiveness! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. (John 14:6) I rose and went out of my room, and there on the kitchen table laid my bible. It was opened, and I looked inside, and read, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. I must have read these words before, yet, now I saw them with true understanding. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! Hallelujah! These wonderful words were so clear to me now, and they sharpened all my senses, and I was filled with exceeding joy and boldness. The Lord had broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. The Lord had delivered me from the captivity of sin and death, and I was free indeed. I was no longer afraid and was ready to come clean. 

I immediately went over to the computer and I sent an email to the IRS, wherein I explained how I was unable to pay the taxes, but willing to suffer the consequences of my poor decisions. I also shared my testimony, of how the Lord graciously saved me from my sins. Then I went over to the living room, gathered all my new age books, and my self-help books, and threw them into the bin outside. My regret to this day, is that I did not burn them up. Later, I drove out to my girlfriend, where she stayed at her father’s cabin, and there explained to her everything that had happened to me and also confessed that I had been lying to her about my financial situation. (Sometime after that, and after a few more talks, we parted as friends. By the grace of God, she did not hate me.) Then the weekend of my exhibition arrived. A few of my friends did show up and a couple of art dealers did, but I did not sell any of my art pieces. But I was not the slightest worried about that. My mind was preoccupied with the things of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I no longer desire to be an artist, and after the exhibition I, therefore, told my art mediator, that I thought it wise to end our partnership, seeing I was not engaged in it. She agreed. I told her how grateful I was for all the efforts she had made on my behalf, and I gave her one of my paintings, which was her favorite. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:3) Oftentimes in the evenings, after meeting my Lord and Saviour, I walked to the park which is close to where I live. There the pollution from artificial lights is less than in the streets, which allows me to get a much better view of the night sky with the moon and all the stars in it. I admired the glorious firmament of the Lord Almighty and was in awe of what had just transpired in my life. Never had I felt so loved. My entire being was saturated with the perfect peace from God, which passed all understanding. In truth, the Lord Jesus is the Prince of peace. 

Another evening I heard the most beautiful song of a black bird. He was singing from the top of a chestnut tree all by himself. I thought to myself that this fellow was glorifying his Maker, praising him with his song. I was filled with such joy and immediately wrote down a poem about this bird, who gave praises to the Lord Jesus Christ, who likewise is my Maker, but also my wonderful Saviour. I was so excited and I texted the poem immediately to all of my family members. It did not matter to me that they were all unbelievers and would think of me as a lunatic. The Lord had put a new song in my mouth and I had to share my experience with them to the glory of my heavenly Father. These things were written down to give the readers a little insight into what it was like to be yours truly in the days leading up to my conversion and the intense days following. May the Lord forgive me if I should have the order of events mixed up, as much happened in a short space of time. Some things I purposely left out, not because I had no desire to share them, but because I wished not to bore the readers with too many details, and keep my testimony relatively short. May the Lord be with you all. A sinner saved by the grace of God, 

Morten Riise-Hanssen. 

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

Note: Since this post was published, we were led to believe he believed in Absolute Predestination, when asked about this doctrine, only about a couple of weeks later, he told us that he USED to believe it.  So to be fair, we will let him quote his own Arminian/Conditionalist notions.  We will let the reader form his own conclusions:

"And Beebe is also creating a straw man, saying that we who do not believe in predestination of all things, also deny the absolute sovereignty of God. This is absolutely wrong. The more moderate position is that predestination concerns the election of God, and he did so before the fall, but he looked at mankind as fallen. Mankind has always been fallen in the eyes of God. Now the supralapsarian view is that God chooses some to hell and some to salvation (aka Calvinism) and he does so from a lump that has not yet sinned. This is heresy and a blasphemous position that makes God unrighteous. God cannot send innocent man to hell, because the wages of sin is death. Only grace can be given freely without a reward, but punishment is a reward for bad behavior. This is such an elementary thing that will go over minds that are too puffed up over some kind of knowledge. Yes, God predestinated me to rebuke those who hold such a preposterous position as supralapsarianism and command them to repent!

Romans 4:4 KJV — Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

Romans 6:23 KJV — For the wages of SIN is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Had we known about this "change of mind", we would have never posted this testimony.  Let his conditionalist brethren post it.  This website is for those who believe in Absolute Predestination. :)