A Personal Testimony from R.K. Ulrich
On September 11 at 9:50 am—at that moment when the second terrorist plane hit the second tower in New York 19 years ago—I stood with 19 other foreigners in the local US Immigration Office Hall and cited the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America. I became a naturalized U.S. citizen after living as a legal alien in this country for 47 years! It was an awesome moment, one I had seriously contemplated for a long time. What stood out from the Oath, was the sentence, “that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The timing, down to the date, hour and the minutes was historic, as I could sense God by His sovereignty guiding me through the decades of life to that precise moment in time. I was watching Ephesians 2:10 unfold, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” An added, unexpected blessing was that last year, the Norwegian Parliament ratified a new law, allowing Norwegians to obtain dual citizenship–I am now a citizen of both USA and Norway!
“Why did you wait so long? Why now?” many of my perplexed friends are asking, “just as this country is descending into chaos, with the burning of cities, riots, hate, and violence becoming the daily state of affairs in many parts of the country?” My answer is, “Precisely now!” To help you understand, please allow me to take you with me on a brief journey through a few of the main highlights in my life which have shaped me, and given me perspective on the current events in this country.
Norwegian flag.
Hitler’s Nazi Army invaded and occupied Norway for the duration of World War II (1940-45). At that time my parents lived near Trondheim, the 3rd largest city in the country, where three of their four children were born. I was the last one born before the end of the war.
The war had left Norway in ruins, and to provide for his growing family, my father found a secure job as the pulp factory’s Financial Director in Follafoss, a remote, picturesque industrial village, nestled between mountains at a fjord with a population of a little more than 600. A paradise for children, my siblings and I freely and carefree roamed and played in the vast expanse of pristine nature, but the life of my parents was difficult, as it was for all families, due to the scars of war and scarcity of all things which marred everyday life.
In early nineteen hundreds, Follafoss was industrialized with a pulp factory and a hydro-electric power plant built by a rough tumble group of itinerant construction workers from Sweden called «Rallare». They were known for their hard work, hard living, heavy drinking, and a strong belief in Communism’s Marxist ideology, which included the denial of God’s existence. I am told that when the Bolshevik Revolution took place in Russia in 1917, several of the men left Follafoss and fought side by side with the Russian proletarians in overthrowing their government, ushering in the “utopian New World Order.”
My parents were well educated, independent thinkers (my father was also an accomplished pianist) who probably today would have been considered Libertarians. They believed in individual freedom with responsibility, the value of education and the Christian faith and ethics were foundational in our home. Having suffered through the war, they were nationalists, knowing all too well the cost and value of freedom and love for our country. We were different, and my parents made it crystal clear to us children that we were NOT Atheists, Communists, nor Socialists!
At sixteen, as was customary for rural children pursuing higher education, I left home and became a pre-college high-school student in the city of Trondheim. There, I was introduced to the seemingly glittering brave new world, beckoning with its secular humanism and fascinating philosophies. I fully embraced them, and declared myself an atheist. Four years later my world view bubble burst when I was drawn into occultism and encountered a dark, very different spiritual world, far different from the Christian faith from which I had come.
At twenty, I finally “woke up” while in college, and decided to give God a chance by reading the Bible as an adult, which brought me face to face with the risen Jesus Christ. I embraced Him, which forever changed the course of my own pre-planned future. God, the awesome Creator of the Universe, was also my Father who knew me—He had a plan for my life! He had enlisted me into His vast eternal Kingdom without borders, and He would guide and protect me on my journey of life! The whole world was open before me—I was ready to go out, follow His call, and do great things for God! My heart was set on mission work in Africa!
Well, life did not quite happen that way! I was learning, to be a Christ follower requires obedience by accepting the unexpected, even if it defies one’s own desires and at times, common sense. In 1967, a few months before graduation, my father suddenly died.
Cont. below….
…cont. from above
Grudgingly, I returned to Follafoss to care for my widowed mother, and accepted a teaching position at the local school. Determined to be content, I settled in, assuming this was to be my future. The postwar village of my childhood had faded for a much gentler community of prosperous middle class families, but it was practically void of any active Christian believers. I loved teaching, became active in our community, entered into the world of politics as a publicly elected official to the Municipal Council. I loved it, especially that I could be a light for Jesus and effectuate positive changes for our community.
After six years, in 1973, an unexpected Fulbright Scholarship included me in a team of 12 European educators to study in the States for an 18 months post graduate research program of Dewey’s educational philosophy at the University of Hartford, CT. Upon completion, we were all to return to our respective homelands and resume our jobs. But surprisingly—by what can only be described again as a supernatural intervention by God—my life took yet another turn.
The Fulbright Foundation granted me an unprecedented one year extension to remain in the States. I helped establish a grade school in Upstate New York for the children of a group of former hippies of the Woodstock, Kent University riots, Vietnam antiwar generation—turned passionately committed Jesus people. Emanating from the same secular ideologies that had swept through Europe and influenced me in the sixties, they were like me, seeking to understand God’s Kingdom and embrace practically the Biblical way of life. 46 years since the school was founded, it is today still in operation… a pearl in Upstate New York – http://www.clcschool.org/wp/ When, as a community we sensed God’s leading for me to remain more permanently, I applied for immigration visa. It was denied. An appeal was made to the highest Immigration Court in the land—and we won! Remaining a Norwegian citizen, I became a legal Alien Resident with a “Greencard”! To our astonishment, my case became a Precedent, which is referred to in the law books. The argument centered on Christian education and on being a believer in Christ — see https://casetext.com/admin-law/in-the-matter-of-kjeldaas and https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2017/02/ It was an obvious clash between two Kingdoms with a strong testimony about the Christian faith!
After six years in New York, I was thrust overseas into the nations to not only watch but experience and participate in serving peoples oppressed by Marxist, Muslim, and Tribal totalitarianism on many continents, and see them transformed and set free by the power and faith in the Risen Christ: a youth revival in the 1990’s among the atheist, communist youth of Russia and Eastern Europe; Muslims in Central Asia and Middle East; Tribal dictators in Africa. Traveling on my Norwegian passport gave me more open doors to countries hostile toward the United States as superpower.
I am celebrating, as I am stepping onto a new, exciting road—as an American citizen! 
INTRODUCTION
To the human eye, there was nothing impressive or outstanding about Berntine Kjeldaas. Born in 1867 in Røra, a village in the Viking fjord (ocean inlet) near the city of Trondheim, she did, however, distinguish herself as one of the very few women of her day who attended college. While there, she encountered a spiritual awakening through the Pietist movement of lay revivalist and community transformer, Hans Nielsen Hauge. She came to faith in the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, and the Bible became her guide to life!
Then, a few days before Christmas 1913, tragedy struck. My grandfather suddenly died of a heart attack while waiting on the train at the nearby town on his way home, his backpack heavy with gifts and goodies for his family’s Christmas celebration. Joyous anticipation suddenly turned to grief. Berntine was left with five children under the age of fourteen still at home. Managing life alone and caring for her children’s needs was strenuous, but she worked the farm for 10 years before she decided to sell it. With the proceeds, she moved into the center of a larger town, Stjørdal. There, she built a multi-family home from which she started a small business selling milk from the farmers to her neighbors and students of the nearby elementary school. This enabled her to continue following her children’s growth into adulthood and see them married with families of their own. Her focus was hard work, a frugal lifestyle, and her trust in her Heavenly Father’s loving care and provision.
HAPPY EASTER TO FAMILY, FRIENDS AND PARTNERS FROM THE BRIDGE TEAM!
