By Frank Benjamin Horn Hartvedt
From Religious Chains in Barkaleitet to Maksima
An autobiographical philosophical manifesto in five parts inspired by the Damien Thorn character (The Antichrist) from the Omen series – created by screenwriter David Seltzer and film director Richard Donner.
The Backdrop
Son of the pastor Frank August and the angel Eva Louise. The man behind a butt-empire and a football empire. Now possibly the Antichrist.
The Antichrist will have a «humble and modest beginning,» says former pastor Per Braaten, a man well-versed in the Bible, in a Bible lesson he delivered from the pulpit to his congregation in Western Norway in 2004. I now find myself in a situation where I’m seriously starting to wonder if I really am the Antichrist.
«Already in the Old Testament, there is the idea that the end-time resistance to the Messiah will be concentrated in one person,» says the Store Norske Leksikon («Great Norwegian Encyclopedia»). «The Antichrist is said to emanate from Satan, but without being identical to him.»
My former colleague in the Scandinavian futsal movement IFS, Erik Alfred Tesaker, seriously wondered for a while if I might be the Antichrist. Let me say a few words about Mr. Tesaker. He was the leader of the Kristiansand branch of IFS for several years. That’s when I got to know him. I poke a bit of fun at him, but it must also be said that he knows more than his multiplication tables. The TV show Oppfinneren («The Inventor») on the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), which he initiated and starred in, was very well-received. The show was also broadcast in Sweden and Denmark.
Okay, are you ready? I will now present a few points that may indicate I am the Antichrist himself, and then, to the best of my ability, refute that I am him. Because of course I have to. I can’t have it said that I am a being who has, throughout history, been portrayed as a «Bond villain» of all «Bond villains.» A Keyser Söze and Tyler Durden 2.0.
The Antichrist will as mentioned have a «humble and modest beginning.» So far, it doesn’t look so good. Per Braaten further states that the Antichrist will be «richly endowed,» he will be «a demonic universal genius» – a «multi-faceted genius,» and he will be «lightning-quick intelligent.» In his 2020 book Oppfinneren – boka om Erik Alfred («The Inventor – the book about Erik Alfred»), Mr. Tesaker goes so far as to call me «extremely intelligent.» Not just «lightning-quick intelligent,» mind you, but extremely intelligent. The word «extremely»? That’s «upper echelon.»
The Antichrist will be an «extreme, fanatical rebel in relation to Christ,» according to Per Braaten. Erik Tesaker describes me as «completely without limits.» He saw me as «incredibly radical and brave.» I was «a free soul with a good intellect, who went completely (my) own way.»
Braaten also states that the Antichrist will speak in «great words,» he will have an «oratorical giftedness,» he is «a master of language,» and he «will dazzle an entire world» «with his brilliant eloquence.» In his 2022 book Gjenfortrylle verden («Re-enchant the World»), Tesaker refers to me as nothing less than an «orator by the grace of God.» I could «put anyone in their place with lightning-fast reasoning,» he says. Braaten makes it clear that the Antichrist «will be able to speak with great authority.» Apparently, I have that quality too, if we are to believe Erik Tesaker. He says I have «an authority based on my own, free thoughts.»
The Antichrist will have a «sharp power of observation, insight (and) clairvoyance,» according to Per Braaten. He has «great knowledge.» Erik Tesaker confirms that I have a «sharp eye» and that I have taught him a lot about life.
«I learned a lot of exciting things from Frank, but I probably learned first and foremost that the world can actually be different,» says Erik Tesaker in a 2024 podcast. «I would have been a completely different person today if it hadn’t been for Frank and the years we had in IFS,» he asserts.
«In many ways, it was he who helped me shed the religious ponderings I was stuck in, and who made me dare to question established truths,» says Tesaker in the book Oppfinneren – boka om Erik Alfred («The Inventor – the book about Erik Alfred»).
In the podcast, he says that it was «incomprehensibly inspiring» to experience me, and that I «was an incredibly important force for (him) in his early years.» It was even «a life-altering experience to meet (me).» Experiencing me «fascinated him immensely.»
This is getting wild. But there’s more to come.
Per Braaten says that the Antichrist will be «a true human being,» that is, a human being of flesh and blood like Jesus Christ. He will «appear very cultured, charming, gentle, and friendly.»
Erik Tesaker says he is «eternally grateful for the job (I) did» with him many years ago. He describes our relationship back then as «a wonderful friendship.» Am I charming like the Antichrist? I think we can safely assume so when Tesaker states that I have a «powerful charisma.»
The former pastor Per Braaten is not very fond of the Antichrist. Especially since the Antichrist will be a «false Messiah.»
– He is not just an opponent of the Lord Jesus, he is a false Christ, a different Jesus from the one we meet in the New Testament, and he will convey a different spirit from the Holy Spirit, Braaten explains and adds: – He will preach a gospel that will be a completely different gospel from the good news.
It’s a good thing I don’t go around calling myself «The Real Jesus,» or call my hometowns Nazareth and Bethlehem.
Well, with a certain religious studies background, I simply have to admit that I have some knowledge of topics related to the occult.
The Antichrist will be an «extreme, fanatical rebel in relation to Christ,» according to Per Braaten. Erik Tesaker describes me as «completely without limits.» He saw me as «incredibly radical and brave.» I was «a free soul with a good intellect, who went completely (my) own way.»
The Antichrist will operate «with an enigmatic seductive power.» He will be a «mysterious leader figure» who will «far surpass previous leaders we know from history,» according to Braaten. He will be a «schemer who is false in his entire being,» and «because he is wise, his deceitful journey will succeed for him.»
It’s a good thing I haven’t seduced a number of people and institutions over the years.
Otherwise, the Antichrist will be «skilled in evil advice» – and «that has to do with occultism.» According to Braaten, the Antichrist knows a lot about «hidden knowledge» and has great knowledge not only of the material world.
Well, with a certain religious studies background, I simply have to admit that I have some knowledge of topics related to the occult.
Finally, Braaten says that the Antichrist will have «an outstanding political giftedness.»
– When the Antichrist emerges, the world is in a state of more or less chaos. People will cry out for the strong man who can create order and who will create peace. With his brilliant political acumen and endowment, he will be able to unite warring parties. He will master the difficult art of diplomacy and he will experience a fantastic success. The Antichrist almost supremely makes his way to the pinnacles of power in this world. He is the Devil’s masterpiece, an economic magician, and a brilliant military strategist who puts Alexander the Great (and others) in the shade, says Per Braaten and adds: – He will be a religious genius.
This is some powerful stuff. If I were to live up to that, I’d really have to put my back into it. Erik Tesaker’s words that I was «a burning soul» who was «incredibly good at being concrete in asking questions that dug deep into what one was really doing and wanted,» I would probably then have thought were good to have with me.
Now is actually the time to refute that I am the man who emanates from Satan. But I can’t think of anything.
However, I strongly deny that I am the Antichrist.
But that’s probably exactly what the Antichrist would do, because as we remember; «the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.»
So what can I say?
The Real Jesus
For a period of my life, during my studies after the football adventure, I lightheartedly called myself «The Real Jesus» in various contexts. As a former pastor’s son and a former Pentecostal, I have a fairly good overview of Jesus of Nazareth’s character – as described in the Bible. There are several things he preached that I do not agree with. Nevertheless, I can see that there was much goodness in him. First and foremost, we all know that he was a man of peace. As a libertarian, I naturally applaud that. He also helped the weak, the sick, the unfortunate, the hated. As a human, I applaud that. There is no doubt that Jesus showed concern for his fellow human beings. Up to a certain point, that is.
But Jesus says no. He says it is not permissible. Is that compassion? Is that goodness?
For Jesus had a problem. He was bound by the Word. By his own words. This meant he could not show full compassion.
In the history of mankind, many have defined bodily intimacy between people, sexual excitement between people, falling in love, and love between people, as the most supreme thing a human can experience in this existence. Maximum happiness. All these things can be experienced in a monogamous relationship. And Jesus Christ knew that. And he thought it was good. Bodily and sexual intimacy between people outside of a monogamous relationship, he did not think was good. He called it sin. But he had compassion for those who sinned, it is written in the Bible. He even spent time with them. But how compassionate was he really? He could put an arm around their shoulders, but not without telling them they had to go and sin no more. For if they sinned more, he and his father would punish them. Severely.
Jesus of Nazareth stood in the way of some people in this existence in their desire to experience the supreme – maximum happiness. That is not compassionate. That is not goodness.
Some people find it difficult to achieve a monogamous relationship with another person. This may be because they have a physique that does not appeal to other people, a physique that may even repel other people. This makes them shy. But they still want to experience the supreme. This is not difficult to understand. I applaud that. Maybe they try to create a monogamous relationship – maybe again and again and again. Wholeheartedly and bravely. Without success. Finally, they ask a person – a warm, good, and kind person – if they can be intimate with this person, lie close to their body and feel its warmth, perhaps even experience sexual closeness with this person. For a fee. This person gives a wholehearted yes, of their own free will. But Jesus says no. He says it is not permissible. Is that compassion? Is that goodness?
Some people find it easy to achieve a monogamous relationship with another person. They may have a physique that appeals to other people and they may have a good ability to communicate with people. Some of these people wish to experience the supreme with many people, preferably in different types of relationships, parallel to each other. They want to live life to the fullest – both for free and for a fee. They want maximum happiness at all times. But Jesus says no. He says it is not permissible. Is that goodness?
Or is it evil? Is it evil to stand in the way of the most supreme thing a human can experience?
Frank Benjamin I: Barkaleitet
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
Steeped in the Faith
I was born on October 14, 1977, in Bergen, Norway. Until I was about 15 years old, I lived with my family at Barkaleitet 13 on Rolland in the suburb of Åsane. Then I moved with my family to Rollandslia 100, a few stone’s throws from Barkaleitet 13. I lived there for about four years before moving out on my own.
From the time I was an infant, I was steeped – pickled – in the Christian faith. I grew up in a Pentecostal family, with a father and mother who were – in all their thinking and practical work – entirely dedicated to their faith in the Lord Jesus and his father in heaven. My father Frank August was active in various local congregations in Bergen until around 1987/1988. Then he founded his own congregation; Menigheten Milde Due (“The Gentle Dove Congregation”). The name of this congregation was “given to my mother by God,” as they say, while she was dusting in Barkaleitet on a perfectly normal weekday. The congregation, which had its base in a larger location in Åsane Senter, gained more and more members in the years after its startup, and I would stipulate that the number of members was between 50 and 100 people – or souls – at any given time. Menigheten Milde Due became very central to my upbringing until a couple of years into the 1990s.
There are countless things and events that help give a total picture of the pickling of Frank Benjamin in Barkaleitet. I will now highlight some of these.
“Brita Gloppen” might sound like a regular woman’s name to you. To me, it also became a monument in my upbringing. While other parents talked about the Friday night detective show on NRK and dinner, my parents talked about “Brita Gloppen.” Incessantly. Brita Gloppen was an elderly woman who had been healed at a local Christian congregation meeting of a paralysis in her body that allowed her to park her wheelchair once and for all. We all saw it, including when she visited our family in Barkaleitet. The very proof of God’s existence – the monument “Brita Gloppen” – was treated like an archangel around the dinner table, with Gammon ham and Béarnaise sauce; we simply had stars in our eyes. But Brita was, of course, never paralyzed in the way one normally understands that word. It was a matter of some diffuse back problems, I learned in later years. Regardless, whether God could heal the sick was not up for discussion in the Hartvedt home. It was taken for granted that he could. It was strange that all the healings that came in rapid succession were always “invisible” and diffuse. It was never a severed arm that God suddenly made whole again. Why didn’t God deliver healings like that, when he healed so frequently in other cases? I probably didn’t think about this back then, as a little lad. For me, there was nothing to discuss; God healed in buckets and loads, just look at “Brita Gloppen.”
Have you heard the word “anointing cloth” (salveduk)? That word was as natural as Lego and willow flutes in my upbringing. If people needed extra attention or cleansing from God – or assistance in their distress of various kinds – they received intercession from my mother and father in the form of a small handkerchief soaked in cooking oil. They received it in the mail. Anointing cloths went out from Barkaleitet 13 on a large scale. It is a bizarre practice. I loved the anointing cloths.
From as far back as I can remember, I have memories of the buzzing from the bathroom in my childhood home. I often woke up to that buzzing. Or the droning. Or the rumbling. The sounds came from my father. He prayed, very early in the morning before going to work, with his face buried in his hands. He prayed for a long time. It gave him strength for the day ahead, he often said. He prayed ordinary prayers, and he spoke in tongues in there, in the bathroom. I liked those sounds. They felt safe. My powerful father – and God – were watching over me.
They did not do that in my dreams. Or nightmares. In the Hartvedt home, it was not up for debate whether a gruesome perdition – a hell of glowing heat – existed. If I abandoned the faith, I would not only lose Mom and Dad. I would also be burned alive. I can remember today looking at my mild and warm mother with painful thoughts of potentially losing her. No, the thoughts weren’t just painful, they were desperate at times. In my dreams, I was occasionally fair game. Backmasking in rock, and Aleister Crowley’s rituals and Satanic influence through, among other things, rock music, I had been introduced to in junior high. This was just some of what dominated my worst dreams. I was terrified of evil, of the devil. For it was he who could take me away from Mom and Dad. Sometimes I went sobbing into the bedroom of my mother and father in the middle of the night and was allowed to lie between them, terrified. You’ll just have to believe me when I say it was desperate to fear the torturer and executioner Satan – time after time. I remember the feelings well to this day. It was my parents, whom I loved dearly, who had inflicted these terrible states of mind upon me. They were the ones chanting about the beast and lakes of fire.
For years, a key part of the pickling of Frank Benjamin was Bible studies. I was given what my father called a reading plan. I was to read one chapter from the Bible every day, between all the adventure journeys with the Hardy Boys from Bayport. I went to work motivated. I read carefully. I wanted to become knowledgeable about him who was so infinitely greater than me. I probably read through the entire Bible then, as well as the New Testament a couple of times. My favorite scripture was Psalm 91:11. “Frank Benjamin’s favorite scripture is Psalm 91:11!” “Frank Benjamin’s favorite scripture is Psalm 91:11!” It was golden and cool that everyone talked about my theological taste. I loved it. My mother loved it too. I was her little scholarly pride and joy – her little scribe.
When I was about 13, I was adult baptized in the Maran Ata Congregation – by my father. I had to take a clear stand myself on whether I really wanted to do this. My position was of the self-evident kind. And it definitely wasn’t just fear of hell that made me wet from head to toe; I was a motivated Christian little lad who wanted to live for Jesus.
One of the reasons for that was my parents’ behavior. My mother was mild and gentle, safe and caring, and so intensely devoted to Jesus. None of us knew he existed, but she would have jumped from a bridge if she had “received in the spirit” that that was what she should do. It was childlike faith on speed. My father was very inspiring to observe. That man was consumed by faith. He wrote speeches, he wrote articles in local newspapers, he led radio programs on a local radio station (where I actually sang a song once or twice), he led local TV broadcasts – and my mother took part in everything. My father was not a master of spelling, but my mother was. Everything my father wrote went through Eva Louise’s brilliant censorship – on the typewriter. They were perfectly in sync – a dynamic duo. They loved each other. It has obviously been inspiring to see them collaborate.
And believe me; seeing my father speak from the pulpit in Menigheten Milde Due was just as overwhelming every time. My father didn’t speak; the powerful chieftain almost cried while he wholeheartedly and loudly flung out Biblical points and edifying anecdotes. That I was proud of my father is not up for discussion. He was “larger than life” for little Frank Benjamin.
I assume our neighbors at Barkaleitet 13 knew when the Hartvedt family had invited people for prayer meetings. On those evenings, a handful of members from the congregation usually came, often those closest to my parents, and the volume was high. So was the laughter and enthusiasm. There was often an immense joy and excitement in my childhood home on these evenings.
There were probably a number of things that happened in the Barkaleitet period that many people would immediately describe as bizarre. If you have some Bible knowledge, you may have heard of Joshua and the walls of Jericho in the Old Testament. Joshua and his Israelite men went around the walls of the city of Jericho seven times, with the result that the walls fell and Joshua and his men could conquer Jericho. That had been God’s strategy. My father and some of the members of Menigheten Milde Due had emphatically taken note of that story. For when they, in need of new premises for the congregation, came across the Teigland Bilforretning building in Åsane, there was nothing to discuss. Together they walked seven times around the car dealership building, and we all understand what their ambitions were. They didn’t want the building to collapse. They just wanted the building. The Joshua method was to lead to God arranging it so that the building would somehow fall to them. It went south. As expected, one might say.
In Barkaleitet 13, only the Kingdom of God was interesting. Not the Kingdom of Norway. Social studies were not on the agenda in my home. Therefore, I never became interested in political philosophy and philosophy – politics. Everything earthly was transitory; it was the heavenly Jerusalem I should acquire knowledge about. My father often sang the song “Han tek ikkje glansen av livet” (“He doesn’t take the glory out of life”). But wasn’t that exactly what God did? God and Frank August and Eva Louise.
I cannot remember there being any people in my upbringing who were a significant counterweight to my parents’ indoctrination. Except for a local radio host perhaps, a “colleague” of my father. I remember him fascinating me a bit. He was as worldly as they come and as outspoken as they come. Later I was to learn from some of his unorthodox and hard-hitting radio programs.
Always Sensed Something Was Wrong
Yes, I was pickled in the faith. Very much so. It was a good and safe upbringing. It was an inspiring upbringing. It was an upbringing with events and situations that seem absurd to people who are not religious, even to people who are religious. And there was fear of Hell. And of losing my mother, especially.
I was pickled in the faith, and I liked much of what happened, but all the time I sensed that something was wrong. It probably began with my butt-empire at the age of six. I remember well that – after I had been on an expedition with a friend – a girl or a boy – in the woods of Barkaleitet earlier in the day – I discovered bits of pine cones and heather remains in my underwear before I was going to bed. Then anxiety gripped me. Mom must not discover this. For what I was doing was a sin. I knew that well even then. I think I became good at hiding the cone bits. A master, surely. But why was something as exciting and fun as a butt-empire something wrong?
Do you remember the TV series Vill, Villere, Villaveien and Derrick on NRK? I was allowed to see these series, until suddenly I wasn’t anymore. And it wasn’t because the series got worse. No, it was because something as terrible as naked skin appeared on the screen. In Derrick, the main character’s partner’s rear end was exposed in all its glory in a scene. Then my father lost it. The TV was turned off and I was commanded into my room. In Vill, Villere, Villaveien, I seem to remember that infidelity issues suddenly arose, where men and women ran half-naked from apartment to apartment. On my father’s watch, they could forget displaying themselves to Frank Benjamin. A fun show was a thing of the past. What do such events do to your thoughts?
And what about this: my little brother and I used to play-fight occasionally, which I assume many brothers do while growing up. I cannot understand why, but once when we were play-fighting, we were both stark naked. It cannot have happened more than once. But that one event was unfortunately observed by my mother. In shock, she exclaimed: “These are deeds of darkness!” These are deeds of darkness? Yes, they were. And we got a lesson on what this could lead to. And where it could lead. Can you understand that I sensed something was fundamentally wrong?
Like Damien Thorn, I had a babysitter who played a central role. She let us see things on TV that were strictly forbidden in everyday life. I will never forget the excitement she gave me. That young girl opened floodgates.
At the kids’ discos in the street, shortly before puberty set in, the impressions from the babysitter’s “cinema nights” flooded over me as I danced “Slow Dance” with some of the cute girls in the street. I loved football more than anything on earth. But the feelings when I danced in the middle of Barkaleitet close to one of the girls were something else entirely. Something beyond. And I knew, of course, that these were feelings that were forbidden. These were feelings I could look forward to experiencing in 10 years perhaps, or 15, or 20 – when I had become married.
I was subject to a “rebellion against nature.” Plain and simple.
When puberty arrived, I could, of course, forget about establishing a new butt-empire. I had to settle for sneaking a peek at the extremely arousing music video for Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” I watched it again and again – in secret. That and Schulmädchen-Report on Sat. 1. If it were discovered, I would have been in deep trouble. But why wasn’t I afraid of Hell? Even if Mom or Dad didn’t see my activity, God did. He sees everything, right? Answer: even then, I took my chances. Nature was already stronger than God, it would seem.
I was not the son of a political ambassador like Damien, but of a pastor – both fathers with great authority. The most beautiful and intense in life – as I experienced it then – was denied me by the great authority in my life. And God.
What perverted imagination has fed man the lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth? There is only one hell – the leaden monotony of human existence. There is only one heaven – the ecstasy of my father’s kingdom. Nazarene charlatan, what can you offer humanity? Since the hour you vomited forth from the gaping wound of a woman, you’ve done nothing but drown man’s soaring desires in a deluge of sanctimonious morality. You’ve inflamed the pubertal mind of youth with your repellent dogma of original sin. And now you’re resolved on denying them ultimate joy beyond death by destroying me! But you will fail, Nazarene. As you have always failed. Damien Thorn (The Final Conflict)
Two Life-Altering “Visions”
When I look back on the time in Barkaleitet, and also the time in Rollandslia, there are two “spiritual” recurring experiences that stand out as central and life-altering in an Antichrist perspective.
Let me recount what I experienced repeatedly in my thoughts – in my daydreams – in Biblical terms.
“Then I saw a classroom with beautiful and petite girls. I was in love with one of them. Her I worshipped. But it was not her I wanted to ‘go into.’ It was not her I fantasized about. I dreamed of all the others. I acknowledged it and I thought it was strange. But I saw it was good. And I thought of the world’s wisest man. King Solomon. If he could, then I would too. I saw myself deciding who I wanted to become. And I saw it was good.”
“Then I saw a tall, well-built man dressed in black on the horizon, wearing a long coat. It was me. Frank Benjamin. Far ahead in time. I saw an unapproachable man – mystical, commanding, almost divine – and people around him looked at him with wonder. I saw a man who was everything I wanted to become. I saw a man who was everything other than the one God and my father and my mother wanted me to be. This man was not humble. I saw a powerful man who himself made the rules he followed.”
One could now see the contours of Antichrist Frank Benjamin.
The Antichrist will be a Messiah, but a false one. He will be a kind of Christ, but a false Christ – a different Jesus than the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. He will preach a gospel that will be a completely different gospel than the good news. Pastor Per Braaten
Frank Benjamin II: Morvik
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
The Time Before Morvik
From the time I was around 19 to about 22, I lived on my own, including in Storåsen in Åsane. When I was around 22, I moved to Morvik, also in Åsane. I lived there for about three years.
As shown previously, one could see the contours of Antichrist Frank Benjamin. It was now a good while since I had lived in a pickled existence.
In the period before Morvik, I lived, among other places, in a garden apartment that I rented from an elderly man. He lived upstairs and was a friend of our family. He had also been seen in Menigheten Milde Due some years earlier. He was a kind, pondering, and very quiet man. But occasionally he bared his extreme faith-based passion. Once when he and I stood outside his house talking, he suddenly began to cry. No, he wailed, almost sobbed. And then he looked into the air and almost shouted that he wanted to go up onto a mountain and shout to the people that they had to repent.
The incident struck me. He was sincerely in a kind of emotional crisis on behalf of humanity. I saw a man who took his faith with the utmost seriousness. Not long after, he died.
I pondered much on faith and life, naturally, but my focus in everyday life was probably more directed toward the earthly now. And then came the talk with one of my cousins. That little talk became important. Central, possibly. For he truly made me aware of many of the absurd stories in the Bible. It was he who dissected the story of the thin-skinned bald prophet Elisha who got God to send bears after some kids who mocked his modest hair growth. The children were torn to pieces. It was my Bible-literate cousin who thought it was rather peculiar that God chose to drown an entire world instead of sending his only begotten son at an earlier point than he did. And it was my cousin who roared with laughter at the song «Gud vil jeg skal være et solskinnsbarn» (“God wants me to be a sunshine-child”). He cracked up with laughter as he sang it while we talked. “A sunshine-child, a sunshine-child, God wants me to be a sunshine-child.” “Frank, we had to be sunshine-children from the time we were a fist size. We had to be as perfect as we could for Jesus’ sake.” He laughed and laughed. But believe me, I knew that he had also cried. And more than that. My cousin was a damaged man – for everyone to see – and a significant reason for that was his experiences related to a Christian upbringing, faith-based activity, and theological headaches.
I would not say that I felt significantly damaged by the faith-based pickling in my upbringing. Yes, there had been some painful moments and I had probably been robbed of ecstasies, but as I have described, the upbringing was safe and actually inspiring in its own way.
A time before I moved to Morvik, I got a good business idea. Previously, I had financed my driver’s license by recruiting driving school students for my cozy driving school teacher; now I saw my chance to make a business of it. I contacted a couple of driving schools in Bergen and presented my idea of becoming their recruitment consultant. I offered to make a presentation of their business that I would present to potential students. They accepted and engaged me, and I set the operation in motion. It turned into good money over a few months.
This consulting job is central. It is central in connection with my “vision” of the girls in the classroom, recounted in the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series.
The consulting engagement led me back to high school. To a long series of gymnasiums in Bergen. They were my main sales points. There were many long sales conversations with young people aged 17-18. And some of these people were beautiful young women – girls who were forbidden fruit.
The conversations often became intense with these girls, even though they were essentially just about night driving and the crème de la crème of driving instructors in Bergen with long experience. I used my entire arsenal in my persuasion attempts. It is not up for discussion; many of these conversations reeked of mutual flirting. There was so-called chemistry with many of them. All the girls were different – all had their grace, their “quirks,” their quick comments. And sales came in buckets. But who cared about thousand-kroner notes when one was so giddy after these conversations that one had to find the nearest shower facility to level out. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but these were lovely experiences for me, and extremely inspiring. I was now living in line with my “vision,” the only thing missing was skin against skin. But I could not take the initiative for that in the wake of the sales. For I was still not set free from the Word. I was to find a girl to marry; sex before that was out of the question. But in my fantasies, all the mentioned girls had VIP seats. They were treated like princesses there, night after night. Those girls set in motion a strong passion and urge to realize my “vision” in the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series. They and a girl I had liked for a long time. Who visited me in Storåsen one day. She knew that I had my Christian faith, and she probably sensed that I liked more than just her hair; nevertheless, she approached me on the sofa while we talked cheerfully together and began to stroke me on the inside of my thighs. We liked each other, we two, and had done so for a long time. How do you think it was to resist that seduction attempt when on top of it all I was in the middle of the glory at the high schools?
I now wanted to meet beautiful girls “on a grand scale” – for more than intense, inspiring, and erotically arousing conversations.
And then the internet arrived in full force. And this time it wasn’t Schulmädchen-Report on the screen, I can promise you that. And I didn’t need to watch in secret. You need not be in doubt that this was a life-altering period in my life. It all took place in Santalgården in downtown Bergen. I slowly began chatting with girls on the internet. And I met a couple of them.
Then I moved to Morvik.
The Arena for the Next Step on the Way to Becoming the Antichrist
Why in heaven’s name should a god – and the Nazarene – whom I didn’t know existed, and whom I had slowly begun to doubt, stand in the way of an earthly paradise? I had to clarify my faith now. Nature pressed on to ensure hegemony. Morvik was to become the arena for the next step on the way to becoming the Antichrist.
Like Damien Thorn, I went to the scriptures – in a desperate hunt to find answers that could defend my faith in God (Damien went to the Book of Revelation in the Bible to find out if he was the Antichrist). For it was out of the question to just wave away a faith that had been so central in my life, as if it were all a trifle.
What perverted imagination has fed man the lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth? There is only one hell – the leaden monotony of human existence. There is only one heaven – the ecstasy of my father’s kingdom. Nazarene charlatan, what can you offer humanity? Since the hour you vomited forth from the gaping wound of a woman, you’ve done nothing but drown man’s soaring desires in a deluge of sanctimonious morality. You’ve inflamed the pubertal mind of youth with your repellent dogma of original sin. And now you’re resolved on denying them ultimate joy beyond death by destroying me! But you will fail, Nazarene. As you have always failed. Damien Thorn (The Final Conflict)
When I moved to Morvik, IFS was already a year old, and much of my focus in the years I lived there was directed toward the building and expansion of the concept and activity. But between that work, I wrote a lot about faith. I wrote the novel Way. I also visited countless Christian meetings in various congregations, including among others Levende Ord at Bønes and Kristkirken at Minde, and listened to speeches and testimonies. I also discussed my faith with many different people, both Bible experts, less Bible-literate Christians, zealous faith-pillars from Jehovah’s Witnesses, agnostics, and atheists. It was an intense hunt for answers and conclusions.
The work on the novel Way is absolutely central. How could I believe in a God I could not intellectually defend? If I believed that personal honor was important for one’s personal strength in life, I had to get to the bottom of whether my God held water. It became a theological dismantling in the end, if you ask me. Way led me astray, God would have said. Way led me on the right path, the other one would have said. Way became the decisive sword-thrust against God. That and a phone call.
He was at that time known as one of the truly great giants of faith in Norwegian Christian circles. The one I called. It turned into a long and deeply disappointing conversation. Not that he was unwilling to answer my questions, or that he was unpleasant. On the contrary, he was engaged. But as far as I can recall, he failed to give a single good answer to any of what I questioned him about. I drew many questions from Way, including wonderings linked to absurd and incomprehensible and malicious events in the Bible, and logical gaps. Let me express what I experienced in the conversation in Biblical terms.
“Then I saw a wise and respected man who had lived an entire life in service to his Lord. He had prayed for the sick, he had spoken with authority, he had written beautifully about his faithful God, he had been a comfort to so many. I saw a man who was a rock among God’s people. And I heard him say in the end: ‘I cannot give you fully satisfactory answers to your questions, Frank. Sometimes it is perhaps so that one believes because it is the best alternative out there.’”
I was almost shocked by that conclusion. I hope you can understand that.
“God must be merciful, otherwise he is unreasonable. And if he is unreasonable I will, as always otherwise in life, have nothing to do with him.” By that I meant that God had made it difficult for us to believe in him, therefore he had to be merciful and not judge us to perdition if we chose not to follow and submit to his commandments and authority. How he had made it difficult to believe in him? He had not shown himself to me or spoken to me, he had carried out terrible acts against people described in the Bible – to eradicate sin — while he later finally sacrificed his only begotten son for our sins (why didn’t he do that right away?) – it was on the whole many things in the Bible that, to put it mildly, jarred. He had allegedly created me, with an intellect and ability to make rational choices in life. How could he punish me if I used this intellect and rejected him? Conclusion: if he existed and did that, he would have been unreasonable. And unreasonable beings you don’t want to be with. Therefore I left God with the thought that he had to be merciful to me if he existed. Frank Benjamin Horn Hartvedt (Maksima.no)
I was now completely free from God’s chains. I could now fully realize my “vision” from the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series.
The Antichrist will be a Messiah, but a false one. He will be a kind of Christ, but a false Christ – a different Jesus than the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. He will preach a gospel that will be a completely different gospel than the good news. Pastor Per Braaten
Frank Benjamin III: Welhavens Gate
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
From the time I was around 25 to nearly 33, I lived in Welhavens gate in Bergen.
In this period, I lived as an antichrist. Not as the Antichrist, but as one of the many antichrists. The Bible points out, after all, that there are many of them. I completely rejected that Jesus was the Christ, and I rejected the Father and the Son emphatically, just as it is written in First John 2:22. I could not have felt more solid intellectually regarding those conclusions. I also began, perhaps not at the same level as the older Damien Thorn, to develop a certain contempt for the fact that thinking, sharp people could maintain their faith if they had done anything near the investigation work I had undertaken prior to my conclusion to discard my faith in the Christian God.
The First Years: The IFS Expansion in Focus
The move into Welhavens gate marked the start of a long succession of years as an unrestrained “modern day Solomon.” Except for his wealth. But I was rich in the most important thing in all those years; time (in the beginning, it was the Scandinavian futsal movement IFS that ensured that). Like Solomon, I had my kingdom – my sports kingdom – and I lived in line with the first “vision” in the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series (until I eventually didn’t anymore). That I would one day realize the “vision” appeared perhaps as a utopian dream back in Barkaleitet and Rollandslia. But now I did it. I rebelled against the rebellion against nature.
The first years in Welhavens gate were dominated by the work to develop and spread the IFS concepts. Like the older Damien Thorn, I expanded my operations, albeit to a more modest degree than him both territorially and economically. I spread sport in the Scandinavian countries; I was not primarily an entrepreneur or a businessman. With IFS’s burgeoning TV initiative (and focus on investors), we eventually saw the potential to make IFS an economic bastion in addition to what we were: a movement that gathered tens of thousands of people. We had the same goal as Damien, in other words.
As told in the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series, my father often sang the song “Han tek ikkje glansen av livet” (“He doesn’t take the glory out of life”). Indeed, God did exactly that in my upbringing. But he no longer had that opportunity. Now there was a full earthly focus, and life gleamed.
Why did I want to spread the concept I had initially developed in Bergen? Why “conquer” city after city, country after country? Well, I personally would earn a few extra coins by doing it. But that was not the main reason I did it. I was a worldly and earthly man driven by ideas, ideals. IFS was not just an arena for futsal or indoor football as such, it was an arena for the crème de la crème of football players around; the football artists. And it was an arena for those who wanted to be as free as possible when they competed at different levels; not bound by long-term contracts, not required annual fees. My drive had connections to personal experiences within football. I had been a football artist who was cut down.
How do you think it was to see thousands of happy men and women enjoying themselves in sports halls month after month because of what I had created with the help of others? I loved what I saw. I experienced, as so many times before, that I loved to inspire other people. I wanted to see my creation develop “on a grand scale,” I wanted to see happy and inspired people in city after city. And: When I said to media “just wait, this is going to get bigger, we have only just begun” – then I wanted to show that my will was of steel, and unshakable. For to me, life gave meaning when I sought “maximum happiness” – and the building of IFS was exactly that for me.
I also liked the thought that there were skilled men (and some women) in the various places we operated who worked accurately and professionally for what I had created and wanted to see flourish. They were creators of an arena for sporting joy and superior values. When we had joint gatherings with the regional leaders in different places in Norway, it was a true pleasure to shake their hands and thank them for the job they did. It was inspiring. A couple of them were very talented young people.
Forms Political Ambitions
Then, around the middle of the 2000s, something central happens in an Antichrist perspective. I become politically aware. And very engaged. Which increases in strength in the following years.
There were two conclusions I drew back then. First, I noted that there was a steadily increasing political and cultural assault on nature in the society I lived in. Yes, it was linked to sex. I also saw politicians being hailed as heroes more than I had managed to note previously. Why were the politicians heroes, and not the outstanding entrepreneurs in different parts of business? What had the Prime Minister created, other than what he had set in motion by using money he had taken from creative people with unique initiatives, great effort, and indomitable will. I did not like what I saw. I was tired of it.
What perverted imagination has fed man the lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth? There is only one hell – the leaden monotony of human existence. There is only one heaven – the ecstasy of my father’s kingdom. Nazarene charlatan, what can you offer humanity? Since the hour you vomited forth from the gaping wound of a woman, you’ve done nothing but drown man’s soaring desires in a deluge of sanctimonious morality. You’ve inflamed the pubertal mind of youth with your repellent dogma of original sin. And now you’re resolved on denying them ultimate joy beyond death by destroying me! But you will fail, Nazarene. As you have always failed. Damien Thorn (The Final Conflict)
And then I slowly began to read political science privately. Just a little. And I saw inspiring political documentaries, I read political biographies, and I saw stimulating political thrillers. The man I had seen in the second “vision” recounted in the first part of The Frank Benjamin-series began to emerge in me, already then.
And already then the thought of a political spread of my values was sown; I wanted to tell everyone that true empathy and love for man is to set people free and let them govern their own lives to as great an extent as possible. My values were universal. Then it was not uninspiring to look into notions of world domination, which we have seen Pastor Per Braaten explain will be the Antichrist’s goal. I am not talking about a global hegemony where individuals rule over others, but a world domination where free men and women are the princes of the earth. In my euphoria over all my exciting and inspiring thoughts, I registered the domain name world-wide-way.com. That was quite an action, I must admit. I was gripped by spreading sport. The thought of spreading the right and true political and philosophical message gripped me even more. I had “won” within sport. Now I wanted to win politically. On the biggest stage.
It was as with the older Damien Thorn; the businessman and corporate conqueror gained political ambitions. I gained them slowly.
A few years later, I took it all more seriously when I wrote the political and philosophical manifesto Fripolitisk Erklæring and founded a political society. At that point, I had not read a single book on political philosophy and philosophy (with the exception of some skim-reading in the university course Examen Philosophicum shortly after high school). Years later, it was fascinating to discover that my declaration appeared almost as a bricolage of ideas from several bold and brilliant philosophers and political thinkers throughout history – individuals I had never even heard of when I first wrote it.
At the same time as I presented the declaration, I presented my hard-hitting criticism of God and an attempt to get believing people to understand what I saw so clearly. I was certainly worthy of a place in the stable of the antichrists.
The Antichrist will be a Messiah, but a false one. He will be a kind of Christ, but a false Christ – a different Jesus than the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. He will preach a gospel that will be a completely different gospel than the good news. Pastor Per Braaten
And I had a new “vision.” Let me recount it in Biblical terms.
“Then I saw men and women operating at different geographical points. They were exuberant, they were serious. They were fervent, they were angry. They had an urge to travel. They all wore the same logo. And I saw it was good.”
All the time while I lived in Welhavens gate, I had exclusively an earthly focus. That was to change in the years that lay ahead.
Frank Benjamin IV: The Conception of the False Jesus
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
An antichrist Becomes the Antichrist
In all the years after Welhavens gate, I lived in the Fana area in Bergen – where I reside today as well.
If Frank Benjamin is the Antichrist, it was during these years that this eventual fact began to sound a tiny bit more credible. Because now, Frank Benjamin stood forward as a false Jesus on top of everything else. He called himself “The Real Jesus.”
Pastor Per Braaten, who had gone to the original text, pointed out in the Bible lesson in 2004 that Antichrist means both one who is “against Christ” and one who is “in place of Christ.”
When I cheerfully began to call myself “The Real Jesus” – I cannot time exactly when I began doing this – it was many years since I had undertaken some minor studies of the Antichrist and all the Biblical interpretations surrounding him that exist out there. I had at that time, like many other people, let myself be fascinated by this figure and all the symbolism linked to him – even though I had long since parked my faith. When I began to call myself “The Real Jesus,” I knew that the Antichrist was portrayed by many as an advanced human with an extremely well-organized head, extremely good persuasion skills, a charming inner and outer – and who had significant resources in many areas. I had also noted that he would aim for world domination. But what I did not have in mind – and this is perhaps a bit strange – was that he would come to present himself as Jesus Christ – a false one. I didn’t remember having read that, actually. I understood, of course, that Antichrist meant Jesus’s opponent. But I had not noted that he would call himself Messiah. I only knew that he was the Devil’s “masterpiece” and “magician,” as Per Braaten characterizes him.
In other words: When I began to call myself “The Real Jesus,” I was one of the many antichrists out there, and without knowing it, I took the step up and became the Antichrist himself – in his modest beginning. It could possibly look that way. What can I say?
And let it be abundantly clear: It was not the Nazarene who was the good Jesus, I made that very clear. It was Frank Benjamin who was, and I told that to people on my way. And I explained to them why.
What perverted imagination has fed man the lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth? There is only one hell – the leaden monotony of human existence. There is only one heaven – the ecstasy of my father’s kingdom. Nazarene charlatan, what can you offer humanity? Since the hour you vomited forth from the gaping wound of a woman, you’ve done nothing but drown man’s soaring desires in a deluge of sanctimonious morality. You’ve inflamed the pubertal mind of youth with your repellent dogma of original sin. And now you’re resolved on denying them ultimate joy beyond death by destroying me! But you will fail, Nazarene. As you have always failed. Damien Thorn (The Final Conflict)
So how did I think that “The Real Jesus,” raised in Barkaleitet in Åsane, would win the battle against Jesus in the New Testament, the man who was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth? In all the years after Welhavens gate, much of what I undertook revolved around this question. I discussed with exciting people, I studied political philosophy and philosophy – and history, religion, and political science. I studied political movements and fascinating, hard-hitting, and abrasive libertarians from many places in the world. I did all this to establish the best basis for standing steady in the battle against the man from Nazareth (and everything that emanates from him), and to be able to lay an optimal strategy for how I could defeat him (and them). Like the older Damien Thorn, I was extremely motivated and focused in my preparations.
Was the basis for defeating Jesus of Nazareth (and that which emanates from him) laid after all these years? Was the basis good enough? Sufficient? I concluded that it was. I felt as intellectually solid as I could feel. I felt like a rock in my standpoints; thought-through, tested, certain, unshakable. I experienced that I now fully had what a former companion believes I have; “authority” and a “sharp eye.” I also felt now “completely without limits” and “incredibly radical and brave,” as the former companion also characterizes me. These are qualities that we have seen Pastor Per Braaten explain the Antichrist has, among many other qualities.
And: I knew that I had already at a fairly young age developed my abilities to communicate, exactly as the teenage Damien Thorn had done in his schooling. Those abilities had not become any worse over the years.
Antichrist – A Religious Genius
Pastor Per Braaten tells us that the Antichrist will be “a religious genius.” I feel today that I sit on a knowledge – a clear perception – of what it is that can give spiritual insight while we live the life we have now, if there is anything to get insight into. Whether that makes me a religious genius is probably debatable. We shall see what opinions emerge ahead.
The Antichrist will be a Messiah, but a false one. He will be a kind of Christ, but a false Christ – a different Jesus than the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. He will preach a gospel that will be a completely different gospel than the good news. Pastor Per Braaten
In the years in Welhavens gate, I had exclusively an earthly focus. In the years after, I leaned more and more toward us humans being first spiritual beings; that we have a spirit or soul that lives on after we are dead. First-cause problematic and science’s impossible task concerning understanding what consciousness is were central to that context. As well as personal experiences. The magnitude one could occasionally experience when it came to emotions played a part. I read, moreover, much different literature about the spiritually potential in these years.
So, Antichrist Frank Benjamin was likely a spiritual being then. That made sense. And I had a “vision.” Let me recount it in Biblical terms.
“Then I saw a small group of people who saw the same. They had authority, they had a sharp eye, they were completely without limits and incredibly radical and brave. I saw that they were antichrists. And I saw it was good. I also saw many people who looked at them with wonder. And fervor. They looked at The Maksima Circle.”
Frank Benjamin V: The Maksima Circle
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
The content of the final part of The Frank Benjamin-series has been decided to be censored by relevant authorities.
A consensus exists, and I approve. Because a bit of mystery is sensible for PR purposes. And as we remember Pastor Per Braaten said: The Antichrist will operate “with an enigmatic seductive power.” He will be a “mysterious leader figure.”
All for the good cause. All for Maksima.
(The Frank Benjamin-series was first published on frankbenjaminhartvedt.no in March 2025)