Personal Experiences of S. O. Susag Part 9

While there we had a call to go to the insane asylum, at Fergus Falls, Minnesota to pray for a Brother Weegan who had lost his mind. After entering the inst.i.tution we were locked in the cell with him and on bended knees with our hands uplifted toward heaven, we began to pray and all of a sudden he was restored to his right mind. We knocked on the door to have the attendant came and let us out. As we were going out of the door Brother Weegan pushed his head between us and the attendant and said to the man, "You might just as well let me out, too, for I am as rational as these two preachers now, and I will not hurt you any more."

Then I asked the attendant whether there was a man in the place by the name of John Lukesen of Irving, Minnesota, and he told me there was such a man there. I told him we had ten minutes to spare and asked him whether we could go in and see him without first having to go to the superintendent's office for permission. The man lifted his hands and said, "You can see anyone in this inst.i.tution since this one man has received help from you."

He then proceeded to give us information about the one we wanted to see. He said, "When Mr. Lukesen first came here we had to have him in a padded cell and he got so bad that we had to tie him to his cot and now he is like a wild cat and nothing but skin and bones; he won't be long for this world."

When he opened the door to the cell, there I saw my neighbor lying on his cot and he surely did look like a wild cat, as the man had said! The compa.s.sion of the Lord Jesus came upon me and I lifted my hands toward heaven and called aloud to him, "John Lukesen, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I serve, makes you well!" And he was well! Shortly after this, he was sent home.

We planned to go from there to Hereford, Minnesota. At Evansville where we had to change trains, we inquired of the station agent when the train for Hereford would be leaving. We were informed that there would be no train leaving for that place before Thursday at three o'clock. We were told that only two trains a week went from there to Hereford and this was Tuesday--a long time to wait!

Brother Peterson said, "Let us go out and pray." After we had prayed we returned to the depot and asked the agent when the train for Hereford would be leaving. He answered gruffly, "I told you Thursday afternoon at three o'clock." "All right," said Brother Peterson, "Let us go out and pray."

After praying we went back the second time and asked the agent the same question; and this time he was really gruff. And he surely informed us that there would be no train leaving before Thursday afternoon at three o'clock.

Again, Brother Peterson said, "All right, let us go out and pray."

We went out once more into the grove to pray and Brother Peterson did the praying: "Lord, the President can get a special pullman train any time he wants it and he is only the president of the United States; and here are we, Brother Susag and I, Thy amba.s.sadors. We are not asking Thee for a pullman car--we will be satisfied with an old caboose--the distance is only 30 miles; so Lord, won't you please talk to the agent?" We both said AMEN.

On returning to the agent for the third time, Brother Peterson said to him, "When will that train be ready for Hereford?" In a very mild tone he replied, "I have been thinking about it and I will shove a few box cars and a caboose together and send you fellows out." And we both said, "Thank you, sir." And so the Lord answered prayer and sent us home on a special train!

When wife and I got saved, my brothers and families and wives quit writing to us, and in four years we seldom heard from them. One evening a letter came from my sister-in-law telling us that my brother had lost his reason and had been sent to the insane asylum at St. Peter, Minnesota, and asking me to come at once. Not having any money on hand to go with, I went to a near neighbor and showed him the letter and asked him if he would loan me fifteen dollars so that I could go to Minneapolis and also to St. Peter. He told me that he would do that even if I were not able to pay him back. The next day I went to Minneapolis to my sister-in-law and her five children.

Jerome, the oldest boy, seven years of age, said, "Uncle, are you going to bring Daddy home?" I said, "Son, I cannot bring your Daddy home, but Jesus Christ whom I serve will bring him home."

My sister-in-law related how it all happened. She went for her pastor and my brother-in-law, a professor in the Lutheran college. When they came Jerome said to them, "Won't you pray like Uncle Swen does?" They had evidently talked about our praying even though they did not write to us.

After they had gone his wife had to let my brother out-doors and he ran four blocks without a thread of clothing on--until a policeman captured him.

I went to St. Peter, and Dr. Tumbleson, the president of the inst.i.tution, refused to let me see my brother. I told him that I must see him; that as a minister of the gospel I had a right to go where a doctor could go. But he still refused and called in two other doctors who said to me, "Your brother is not only insane but is seriously ill and we do not expect him to leave this inst.i.tution alive." To which I replied, "Then so much the more do I have to see him; and if you continue to refuse to let me see him you will have two Susags in this inst.i.tution, for I will stay until you grant me the right to see my brother." Finally relenting, they sent for a man to take me to see my poor brother.

As I entered the cell in which he was confined my brother did not know me.

He was walking around the room more like an animal than like a man. I knelt down in the middle of the floor and prayed. After a while he came and put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Swen, how does it come that you are here?" I said, "I have come to help you, Mike." "Thank you, I am glad you have come; something got into my head and I lost my mind. How is my family?" I told him they were all well and had sent their greetings to him.

Then the man who had brought me in took hold of me and ordered me out.

But I was satisfied. This was the 22nd of March and I fasted from one meal every day for seventeen days and some days I would touch neither water nor food telling the Lord I had promised Mike's wife and his children that I was going to bring the husband and daddy home; and, "Jesus, I will give you no rest until you do so."

On the eighth of April during morning worship the Spirit of the Lord revealed to me that the Lord had heard our prayer and that my brother was perfectly well! I jumped up from my knees and ran around the house shouting the glory of G.o.d. Wife thought, "Here is another crazy Susag," but Brother Enos Key, of Red Key, Indiana (who had come to hold a meeting) was with us and he said, "Praise G.o.d, Brother Susag has the victory!" And three days later I received a letter from Doctor Tumbleson giving us the good news that on the eighth day of April the nurse went to take food to my brother and found him perfectly well in mind and body. And that he was doing bookkeeping for the inst.i.tution and could come home any time only for the customary red tape it would take a few days before he could come. In a short time he was home and well.

On one occasion when I was holding a meeting at the fishing town of Sookden, Denmark, a great storm arose. As is the custom in fishing towns, boats put out to sea at high tide for better fishing conditions; forty-two had gone from here about two o'clock in the night. Toward morning the storm broke and on into the forenoon it became very fierce. Some of the older people were telling of a similar storm they remembered of some forty years before when thirty-eight boats went out and such a storm blew up. If I remember correctly, not one boat returned.

In those days there were no motor boats. They were all sailboats, generally three men to a boat. This time, however, they had gasoline motors on the boats and from twelve o'clock until three o'clock one boat after the other returned, some of them full of water, barely getting to sh.o.r.e. Forturnately the wind was blowing toward the sh.o.r.e or they might not have made a safe landing.

I was staying at the home of Brother Morton Petersen. He and his crew had not returned as yet. It seemed that most of the population of the town was standing on the hills looking for his return. I heard someone say to his wife, "Marie, do you expect Morton to return?" She answered, "He has been out so many times and has come back, and I expect him back this time." He generally went farther out than any of the fishermen because the farther out the fish were supposed to be larger and better.

We stood out there for two hours or more. About five o'clock someone said, "I see a dark spot out there." A little later someone else shouted, "I see a spot, too!" And then we began to see the spot more and more often, and at last they came safely to land--and not a bucket of water in the boat.

On our way home I asked Brother Petersen how he had gotten along. He said, "When we realized the storm was on hand we packed up our fishing lines and I ordered my partner to take care of the motor and I myself took charge of the rudder. My partner was a saved man but we had a boy who was not saved.

I ordered him to be ready to dip out the water if any got in the boat."

I asked him whether they did much talking during that terrible storm and he said, "No, I was praying all the time that we might reach land safely, because the young man with us was not saved and he was the sole support of his widowed mother, his father and one or two brothers having gone down somewhere in the North Sea not so long ago. We were getting along very well--for the Lord helped me steer the boat right--but the worst that we had to meet was just before we landed--there were three sandbars we had to cross. If the waves struck us just right we would get over, but if not, we would get stuck in the sandbars, and there would be no help for us. When we came to the first one a big wave carried us safely over the sandbar. I said 'Thank G.o.d, we are over the first one;' and so it was with the other two; and each time I said, 'Thank G.o.d for taking us over, and too, for not letting the water get into our boat.'"

A week later I embarked on the steamer Olaf Barger, sailing from Fredriksen, Denmark, to Sweden. As I was going on board the boat the Captain came to me and asked whether I could spare him a few minutes before we landed in Sweden, as he wished to have a talk with me. When we got so far that we could begin to see the rocky coast of Sweden he came to me and began his narrative. He said, pointing ahead, "You see that three-mast schooner standing upon that rock?" I said, "Yes, I see it." "You remember the awful storm we had a week ago today. We were just coming out from Gottenburg to return to Denmark--an hour's sailing--and the schooner called for help but we were unable to even help ourselves so that we could not possibly help them. They were blown upon the rocks, but the people were saved." Then he pointed to the left to two big rocks, and continued, "And right there was a small steamer in trouble. They, too, called for help but we could not give it and they went down.

"We now saw that it would be impossible for us to reach Denmark and were fortunate in managing to turn the ship's course back toward Gottenburg. I tied myself to the bridge with an inch rope. Down into the waves we went and I said to myself, 'We have seen the sun for the last time.' But we came up and went down again many, many times. Then I did something I had never in all my life done before--I am sixty-five years old--I prayed the Lord to save my ship and all that were sailing with me. Along in the afternoon I found myself calling on G.o.d for salvation of my soul, and the Lord did save me and finally brought my ship, and those sailing with me, safely into the harbor at nine o'clock that evening, it having taken us nine hours to do one hour's sailing.

"Knowing that you were a minister of the gospel I wanted to tell you the story that you might perhaps tell it to others."

How longsuffering and merciful is the Son of G.o.d toward the children of men that when they repent and turn to Him, HE FORGIVES THEM.

One time when I arrived home from one of my evangelistic tours I found that my two young sons who were twins, eleven years of age, had been cutting hay. It was all raked and rowed up ready for hauling, and they were rejoicing that I had come as they were counting on me to help them haul and stack the hay. They said, "Dad, tomorrow you will have to help us." I said, "All right, we will have to get up early to get it done as I am leaving the following day to start another meeting."

The next morning we started out. We had to drive eighty rods south on the road, then we turned another eighty rods east to the hay meadow. Just as I began to pitch the hay up in the rack the boys exclaimed, "Dad, it's raining." "Yes," I said, and stuck my pitchfork in the ground, threw my hat beside it and said, "Let's pray." I said to the Lord, "This hay is yours; this farm is yours and I am your servant. This hay must be hauled today as I leave tomorrow to minister unto the people, so please, at least keep the rain off the hay meadow and off the road where we have to drive. Amen."

I went to pitching hay again; it was just pouring down all around us as far as we could see across the fence and west of the road. The only spots where it did not rain was where we were working and on the road we were driving.

It rained all day, and it did not just rain--it poured! We hauled hay all day, until a little after six o'clock I slid off the stack in the yard and then the rain just poured down. I said to the boys, "The Lord surely heard prayer." They said, "Yes, He did," and we thanked the Lord.

After I had left the next day, our neighbor came over and seeing the stack asked the boys when they stacked that hay. They told him, "Yesterday, Daddy was home." (There was a distance of about twenty rods between his house and ours). He said, "That is impossible. I took a rest all day for the rain just poured down and I could not do anything." He thought it must have been the day before that we hauled and stacked the hay. But the boys told him that "Daddy prayed and it did not rain on our hay meadow, nor on the road where we were driving." This man was greatly astonished at hearing this.

One afternoon, about three o'clock, the renters on our place came running in great excitement into wife's room and said, "Mrs. Susag, a cyclone is coming." She went out with them and it was dark. There was a wood pile about three or four rods south of our houses and parts of our neighbors buildings south of us were blowing through our pasture and wood from the wood pile began to go up in the air. Wife lifted her hands toward heaven facing the storm and cried, "Lord G.o.d, don't let that storm strike our dwelling." The cyclone turned right square to the east several rods and then turned square again to the north-east of the buildings. When it got beyond our buildings it turned west and when it got just in line with the direction from which it came, it turned north again, rooting up big trees and damaging the neighbor's buildings; but not a thing on our premises was disturbed.

The spout of the cyclone dug a ditch several feet deep in some places. Once more G.o.d's Word was verified: "Call and I will answer."

GLUTTONOUS MAN WITH DYSPEPSIA

At a meeting we were holding, Brother Tubbs, Brother Enos Key and myself was asked to fast and pray for a man weighing from 250 to 260 pounds and calling himself a saint!

We fasted, accordingly, and went after service Sunday noon to pray for him.

We were still fasting, but he sat up to the table and ate a big chicken dinner and when he had finished eating he said, "Now you can pray for me."

Bro. Tubbs said, "No, we are not going to pray for you. We have been fasting for you, and still haven't eaten, and you have sat up to the table and eaten as much as we three preachers, together, could eat. Goodbye!" And out we went.

CASTING OUT DEVILS

At a meeting in Chicago there was a woman possessed with devils, and wanted to be delivered. Seven ministers, four men and three sisters, were working with her for over an hour but without apparent success. We tried to lay our hands on her but the devils in her would kick our hands away. Big knots came out on her body, on her shoulders and neck the size of a good sized apple. Then we ministers withdrew for a consultation among ourselves--to see whether the hindering cause in casting these devils out, lay in us, among ourselves--to be a.s.sured of complete unity and agreement in our midst: And we found that there was perfect unity. That being the case, we said, "We must have the victory, the evil spirits must go." We went back to the woman and worked, prayed and rebuked the enemy for nearly three hours, all to no avail.

Then one brother said, "There must be someone in the chapel sympathizing with her." We began a search looking everywhere to find where the trouble was and behind some folding doors in the prayer room we found a man.

Brother Knight said to him, "What are you doing here?" He said, "Can't I stay here?" But he was told to leave forthwith and he went. We then locked the doors of the chapel and in a few minutes the woman was delivered.

She was obliged to go home as her husband went to work at four o'clock in the morning, but he came back the next day and was gloriously saved.

Another case of demon possession happened in Grand Forks. During a meeting we were holding there, a man came to the service who formerly had taken his stand with the church, coming out of a certain denomination, but before long he returned to it again. When he came to the meeting we were holding he was possessed. In one of the services Brother Krutz and I attempted to lay hands on him: He was kneeling at the altar with his back to the pulpit and he was taken up bodily and thrown upon the rostrum against the wall behind the pulpit. I ran after him and the devil said to me, "Now, it will go with you as it did with the seven sons of Sceva." I rebuked the devil and when I got to the man he turned over on his back and slid, head first, off the rostrum toward the seats, knocking his head against the seats until it seemed as though his skull would surely be broken.

I called for help. Eight brothers came and held him so that he would not get hurt. We laid hands on him and commanded the evil spirits to come out of him but they did not come. Then I asked them, "What is your name?" The answer was, "Salvation Army devil." Then in the name of the Lord Jesus we commanded the Salvation Army devil to come out of him. And when they went out it was with such a horrible scream that many women jumped up on their seats in fright and the man's shirt was torn and blood was running from his mouth and he fell on the floor as though he were dead. We let him lie there a little while, then, laying our hands on him, prayed and he came to. This man repented, made his confession and was saved.