Books: Personal Experiences of S. O. Susag
S >>
S. O. Susag >> Personal Experiences of S. O. Susag
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13
We all went into the school house and went on with the service. We found
afterwards why the devil opposed me and did not want me there. There was a
bootlegger in the audience, who, when hearing me relate the experience, got
to thinking about it, became convicted and got saved. When we were leaving
to go home, Brother Keutzer asked me how I was going to get home; was I
going to walk? "No," I said, "I am going to ride and we will have no
trouble with the car." The devil had lost his hold on that bootlegger and
we had no further trouble with the car.
* * * * *
The first time I was called to the Koglin home to hold services was in
winter and very cold. The address given me was Thief River Falls, but did
not state the number of the rural route, so there was no way for me to get
to their place that evening, and I had only enough money to take me to
Steiner, which was my destination. I asked at the depot whether I could
stay there, but they said "No," because they closed up over night. So I
left my grips there and went out to see what I could find, for there was no
one in the city that I knew. I saw a light in a chapel and went in,
thinking I might get an opportunity to testify, and that someone might
invite me home with them. I got a chance to testify all right, but no one
invited me to go home with them. I walked around the city and went into a
restaurant, sat down and got warmed up. But soon they closed.
I kept walking the streets to keep warm, and after a while a man caught up
with me and said, "Well, some one else is out walking in this cold weather,
twenty below." I agreed that it was surely cold. He asked me whether I
lived there, and I told him that my home was in Paynesville,
Minnesota. Then he said, "What is your name?" I told him, "S. O. Susag,"
and he then replied, "I used to know a man by that name who was in the
grocery business on Franklin and Minnehaha in Minneapolis." He turned to me
in the darkness and said, "I am Erickson of the firm of Rudda and Erickson
that used to be on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis."
It turned out that he was a good friend of years ago, so he soon found out
why I was there. He asked me whether I had a hotel room yet. I told him,
no, that I was just looking around. Nevertheless, he offered me money to
pay for a room at the hotel. I refused it, but he insisted, saying, "If our
spare room was empty I would have taken you to my home, but we have friends
from North Dakota visiting us today, but you come to our home for breakfast
in the morning before you take the train." He never knew what a blessing he
was to me in the hour of my great need.
* * * * *
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
At the State Camp meeting at Wilmar, Minnesota, I was asked to preach in
Scandinavian as there were some sixty elderly Scandivanian people who did
not understand the English language. I agreed to do so. As soon as I had
begun to preach the whole camp came in to listen. When the service was over
people asked why Brother Susag did not preach in Scandinavian in the
afternoon. Brother Ring told them that he had done so. However, they
insisted that I had spoken in English, since the whole camp, they said, had
come in and heard me preach in English. The fact is: I had spoken in
Scandinavian and the Lord interpreted it to them in English.
* * * * *
THE FUR COAT
At one time I was in great need of a fur coat, for the winters are very
cold in the northern states and Canada. So I set my heart on having a
fur-lined coat listed in the Sears Roebuck catalogue for $57.25. I asked
the Lord if I could have it and He answered, "Yes."
Shortly after this matter had been decided, a brother came to me and said,
"You need a fur coat and here are ten dollars to start toward it." Others
wrote sending money specifying that it was for a fur coat until I had
$36.50. Then a whole year passed and nothing came. The following November I
went to Rice Lake, Wisconsin to hold a meeting for Bro. E. G. Ahrendt. It
was very cold and there was lots of snow. On my arrival Brother Ahrendt
said to me, "Haven't you got a fur coat, Brother Susag?" I answered, "Yes."
He said, "Why don't you wear it this cold weather?" I answered, "I have it
by faith--have had it for a year and a half and have $36.50 laid by for it
that was given me towards buying a coat, but the price is $57.25." Then
Bro. Ahrendt went upstairs and was gone for a long time. When he came down
again, he said, "Brother Susag, before you leave here you are going to have
a fur coat." I said, "Is that faith or presumption?" To which he replied,
"If it isn't faith, I have never had faith." I said, "Praise the Lord; good
for you and good for me."
When the meeting was over Brother Ahrendt said, "Did you get the fur coat?"
I told him, "No." He then asked me where I was going tomorrow night from
here, and I told him that I was going ten miles out in the country to a
little meeting house for a service. He said, "I'll go with you."
After the service that night Brother Ahrendt again asked, "Did you get your
fur coat?" I said, "No." Upon, which he inquired where I was going that
evening. I told him that a family had invited me to their home and had
offered to take me to another railroad over which I would be able to reach
home sooner. Brother Ahrendt declared that he was going with me until he
saw my last foot safe in the train, "and," he said, "if you haven't got the
fur coat by then I'll not know what to think of myself or my faith." (By
way of explanation would say here, that the offerings I received went for
my general expenses; the money for my fur coat was to come from other
sources. The Lord had promised me the fur coat.)
That night I had a dream. I woke up about three o'clock in the morning, and
as I stirred a little, Brother Ahrendt whispered, "Are you awake?" I told
him I was. "Did you have a dream?" he asked. I answered, "Yes, a woman came
to me and gave me four bills!" "The fur coat! the fur coat!" he excitedly
said. We got so happy that we couldn't sleep any more and we shouted,
"Glory to God!" We made so much noise that we disturbed the folks down
stairs, and when we went down they said, "What is the matter with you
brethren making so much noise?" We told them we were so happy that we could
not help ourselves.
After a while the sister asked me to come out into the kitchen. She gave me
a chair and I sat down. She at once began to unburden her mind and said,
"Did you understand when I spoke to you at the campmeeting at St. Paul Park
three or four years ago that I was intending to give you some money for
your trip to Europe?" I answered, "Yes, I thought so." "But" she said, "you
said you had the fare." "Yes," I answered, "I had it by faith." Then in
surprise, she asked, "But didn't you have the money in your possession?
Weren't you then already on your way to Europe?"
"I was on my way to Europe," I answered, "but did not have all my
fare--only by faith."
She then told me that she had been sick for about two years. She said, "I
have been prayed for often, and have received some help, yet I gradually
got worse. Finally," she said, "I got desperate about it and said to the
Lord, 'What's the matter with me anyway; I cannot get well and I cannot
die?' Then the Lord said, 'Do you know the Brother you intended to give
some money before he went to Europe?' I said, 'Yes, in a way, but he's back
now.' The Lord said, 'That does not make any difference; how much was it?'
'Fifteen dollars,' was my answer. 'That's right,' the Lord said, 'but there
is ten dollars interest on that now.' 'I'll give it to him the first time I
see him,' I said. Then I was prayed for and healed at once." Having said
this, she handed me the money, "Here it is," and it was four bills! I took
it and commenced to shout the glory of God. In came Bro. Ahrendt and I held
up the four bills for him to see. He shouted, "The fur coat, the fur coat!"
Then I related my experience to her of my praying for a fur coat and said
to her, "If you had given me the money when I came back from Europe I would
not have had to suffer cold for about a winter and a half." The sister was
healed and blessed, and I was kept warm for many a day inside that fur
coat.
* * * * *
A number of years ago I was called to go to Wales, North Dakota, to hold a
meeting at Brother Paul Garber's home, which was a Great Northern box car.
The weather was very cold, the temperature being twenty degrees below zero.
After the first evening service a woman came to me and said, "I am the
sheriff's wife and I want you to come home with me. I cannot allow you to
stay here." I went with her and the next day we got the Methodist church in
which to hold our services.
More than half the people who attended the services were Catholics. On the
last evening as I was going out of the church, the butcher of the town
shook hands with me, putting three silver dollars in my hand and said, "You
come back soon."
I surely had a fine stay with the sheriff and his wife, and the day I was
leaving the sheriff was at the depot with a delegation representing the
business men of the town saying to me, "We wish you would come back soon."
I said to them, "What's your reason for wanting me to come back soon, since
the butcher was the only business man of the city who came out to my
meeting?" "When you come back," they said, "we will all come to your
services, because many people have come and paid up their old bills and
made good their outlawed notes since you have been here." I am sorry that I
never had the opportunity of going back there again.
A number of the saints at Wales moved to Grand Forks, N. Dakota, and were a
great blessing and an asset to that congregation. Later on, sixty-three
adults and children moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, and I understand that
an English and a German congregation was started at that place through
their efforts.
* * * * *
One time Brother Renbeck and I went to Bro. Bahr's to pray for Willie, a
son of theirs, who had the scarlet fever, and after we had prayed I felt
that I should stay a little longer. I lay down on the lounge and fell
asleep. All of a sudden Sister Bahr called and said, "I believe Willie is
dying," and when I laid my hands on him he was so hot that the heat seemed
to go right through my whole body. I kept on rebuking the sickness and the
devil, but it didn't seem to help any.
I prayed, "Lord, heal this boy to Thy glory. If no other way, I am willing
to take this sickness upon myself, just so you get the glory of healing the
boy." In a few minutes he was sound asleep, perfectly healed! But I felt as
though I was sore all over my body. When I went out into the cold winter
weather the cold would smart what seemed to be sores on my face, and when I
got to the chapel to preach I felt ashamed to get up before the audience
because I thought the folks would see the sores on my face, although I knew
it was an imposition of the devil. When I got into the pulpit I told the
people how I felt, and asked them to pray, and immediately the feeling left
me. I learned the lesson not to be willing to take a devil's sickness in
order to get people healed.
* * * * *
In 1942 as I was coming from the West coast to Wolf Point, Montana, I took
the bus thirty-eight miles from there where another road turns off to go to
my son's place, a mile and a half off the highway. It had snowed quite a
bit and was somewhat stormy, but I thought I could make it. However, I had
not walked far until I had to throw my grips into the ditch and tried to go
on, but the snow was so deep I could not make it walking. My only way was
to lie down in the road and roll. I kept that up quite a while, and when I
got tired I would just lie and rest. After I had gotten a quarter of a mile
I was so worn out that it seemed as though there was no hope for me. I
rolled over to a fence post and stood up and tied myself to it, thinking
that if I did freeze to death folks would be able to find my body. After I
had been standing quite a while praying, I felt as though I was getting my
strength again, so I loosened myself from the fence post and started to
roll again and then tried to walk on my knees, but that would not do. The
snow was too loose--I went down. Toward evening I had reached the highest
spot from which I could be seen from my son's house. He was coming from the
barn and happened to see me, and then quickly came to meet me and very soon
led me safely to his home. So the Lord had mercy on me once more.
* * * * *
One time I received a telegram from Brother Fortner of Brookings, S. Dakota
asking me to come at once. I arrived there late in the evening and found
that their son, Clarence, was seriously ill at the hospital in Huron,
eighty-three miles from Brookings. The folks thought we had better wait
until the following morning to go. Brother and Sister Fortner, another son,
and the pastor all went with me in my car.
Clarence had been saved but had gotten away from the Lord. On our trip from
Brookings, on the highway we drove eighty miles an hour and the pastor
said, "Brother Susag, you do not need to go so fast." I thought that I
would slacken down but the car was still going eighty miles; the pastor
called again, "Brother Susag, you need not go so fast." I said nothing but
felt rather sad that I was hurting the pastor's feelings, but still I was
going eighty. Finally the pastor spoke sternly, "Brother Susag, you don't
need to go that fast." I felt sad, but said nothing, yet in spite of myself
and the pastor, I was still going eighty miles an hour.
On arriving at the hospital the young man said, "I have gotten back to the
Lord and this morning at three o'clock He said to me that at nine o'clock
Brother Susag would be here to take you home." He had the clock standing on
the chair and it was just nine o'clock when we arrived! The pastor walked
out. (This occurred before the laws governing speed went into effect, but
law or no law, the Lord wanted me there at nine o'clock.)
* * * * *
GETTING IN TROUBLE FOR OBEYING THE WORD OF GOD
A brother minister got the idea in his mind that wife and I were covetous,
but we did not at the time realize to what extent it had affected him.
Previous to his leaving the state he brought the matter before the body of
ministers so as to have them deal with us. The ministers told him that they
had not seen any indication of coveteousness in Brother and Sister Susag,
and then asked him what proof he had for thinking so. He answered, "They do
not give enough." (Our custom was never to tell anyone what we gave,
because the Bible says, "Let not your left hand know what your right hand
doeth.")
We were called before the Ministerial Assembly and the matter was taken up.
The brethren said that they had not seen any indication of coveteousness in
us and all the brother had against us was that we hadn't been giving
enough, and, said they, "After thinking it over, neither did we know what
you were giving." To which I replied, "If I'm coveteous, I'm the one that
ought to know it, so won't you brethren, please help me out?" This is what
they suggested: "You tell us how much you give and then we can compare." I
answered, "If I tell you how much I give, won't it be fair for you folks to
tell how much you give?" Whereupon the chairman replied, "Yes, that will be
fair; I know you cannot give as much as me since my income is larger; but
you and Bro. A---- should give about the same amount." So they all told
what they had given for the year. I then added the amounts and found the
total, and getting my grip, took out of it receipts for what wife and I had
given and asked the brethren to add them up. Then I requested them to add
up what the seven ministers had given and, to the great surprise of all of
us, they found that wife and I had given $22.50 more than all seven
ministers together. This was one of the "all things" in my life.
* * * * *
When I was the evangelist at a certain State Camp meeting, a lady, who had
only been to our services that morning, got saved at that Sunday morning
service, and having to leave the meeting right away, wanted to be baptized
before going. Three sisters came to me in protest, and said, "You are not
going to baptize that woman with all those rings on, are you?" I answered,
"Please leave that sister and her rings alone." To which they replied, "If
you baptize that woman with all those rings, we will never have confidence
in you again." I answered, "I'm very sorry, but let's pray about it; you go
over in the timber in that direction and I will go over in this direction
in the timber and pray and prepare for the baptizing."
As the woman, who was to be baptized, stepped into the water, she
exclaimed, "Oh!" as if something was hurting her, then stripping the rings
off her fingers she threw them into the sand, never more to put them back
on her fingers.
In response to an urgent call to come to St. Paul Park I forthwith prepared
to go, although not knowing the reason I was summoned. When ready to start,
at the request of my wife, I consented to take along a rag carpet which she
had made for the Old People's Home out there. I put the carpet into a sack
and checked it to St. Paul, rechecking it from there to St. Paul Park. The
baggage man asked me whether I had a trunk or a grip. I informed him I had
a sack. In answer to his inquiry as to what was in it, I told him,
"Clothing." While riding on the next train the devil said to me, "You're a
pretty nice preacher; you lied to the baggage man; instead of telling him
clothing was in the sack you should have said it was cloth or rag carpet."
"Well," I said, "I can make that right on my return trip." On my arrival at
the Park I found that Brother Krutz had lost his mind. When I met him he
did not know me. I went to praying and tried to talk to him and after a
while he knew me. He said, "Brother Susag, Brother Susag, you are pure
gold, pure gold." Then looking at me intently, pointing his finger at my
heart, he said, "What do I see, a tiny spot?" No--doubt the enemy wanted to
hinder me in praying for him. The incident bothered me a little bit, so I
went out into the woods and the Lord showed me that it was just an
imposition of the devil to bother me. Brother Krutz was prayed for and the
Lord healed him and the next Sunday he preached.
* * * * *
PRAYING FOR EGGS AND KEROSENE
Brother Ahrendt and I were holding some meetings in the locality between
Bertha and Hewitt, Minnesota. We were staying in a log house--just the two
of us. We ran out of kerosene, and were also out of money. Brother A----
took the can and started to walk to Hewitt--a distance of six or seven
miles--in the snow, hoping to meet some brethren who would ask him why he
was carrying that can--but he met no one. He went to the post office, got
the mail and concluded that he would have to go back without the kerosene;
however, on opening one of the letters a dime dropped out. He immediately
went to the store, bought the kerosene and returned home.
One evening Brother Ahrendt said to me, "Brother Susag, I'm hungry for some
eggs; let's pray the Lord to send us some eggs." I replied, "How can we
expect to get eggs out here? I haven't seen any chickens around here, nor
in the bush where I have been." "Well," he said, "the Lord can bring them
from somewhere." That evening on our returning from service we found
something setting on the table covered with a newspaper. Brother Ahrendt
lifted the paper and found a tiny basket with five eggs in it! I said, "You
get three of them; you prayed and had faith while I only said, amen."
* * * * *
THE READING ON THE SIGN POST CHANGED(?)
One day Bro. Ahrendt was out advertising the meeting. His last call was at
a schoolhouse, and from there he wanted to go to Bertha intending to take a
short cut through the brush to the highway. On coming to the highway, he
saw a signpost pointing in the direction he was going, which read, "One
mile to Hewitt." "Well," he thought, "what won't boys do changing the road
signs?" He walked on a few steps and saw a little town not far away, then
he realized that he had been going north while he thought he was going
south. The boys had not done any harm. He was mistaken in his sense of
direction.
One year Brother H. A. Sherwood was the evangelist at the Minnesota State
Camp meeting which was held at Saint Cloud. A large, roomy church building
was used for the services. The heat was record-breaking that year, and on
one of the hottest afternoons when Brother Sherwood was expecting to preach
as usual, the heat was so intense that he was physically unequal to the
occasion, and so it came about that at Brother Sherwood's urgent request,
Brother Allison F. Barnard (who, with Mrs. Barnard, was attending the
meeting) consented to preach in his stead that afternoon.
As Bro. Barnard came into the pulpit the Holy Spirit came upon him and upon
the whole congregation in such a way and in such measure as I had never
seen in any service. The heat in the chapel moderated at once, but outside
it was as hot as ever. It was as though the dear man was "out of the body"
and there was no trouble at the altar of prayer for seeking souls to
receive their heart's desire. They prayed through! So, again, the Scripture
was fulfilled, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts."
* * * * *
Speaking of Brother Sherwood, I loved that big little man in the Lord. On
one occasion he was the campmeeting evangelist at Morden, Manitoba, Canada.
The Lord used him mightily and when the meeting was over it was arranged
that wife and I should take him with us in our car to Grand Forks, North
Dakota. It started to rain and did really pour down. The first forty-five
miles the roads were nothing but black gumbo, and we used eight gallons of
gas driving that forty-five miles.
Brother Sherwood sat in the back seat, praying all the time that we would
not get stuck in the mud nor slide down into the ditch, and when we reached
the gravel road in North Dakota he said, "Brother Susag, will you stop
awhile so we can have a thanksgiving meeting right here, that the Lord has
heard prayer and protected our lives!" And that is what we did. Brother
Sherwood then said, "Bro. Susag, will you accept an admonition from a
younger man than yourself?" I answered, "Any time, Brother." And he said,
"This is the second worst automobile ride I ever had in all my life. Will
you promise me never again to start out driving when the road is as bad as
this?" My reply was: "Hello! Hello! Hello! Who is this? Brother Sherwood?
What do you want? Your wife sick? What, dying? Yes, I'm starting out right
away; I'm coming as fast as I can." Whereupon Brother Sherwood reached out
his hand and said, "Brother Susag, forgive me; how quick a man can be to
ask a promise of a man without thinking!"
* * * * *
Once I was called to attend a meeting north of St. Cloud, Minnesota. There
were about thirteen ministers there. It was among a people who were called,
"The Free." Some three of their leading brethren had heard the Truth, and
they were the ones who had sent for me to come. The ministers and the
majority of the people were opposed to our teachings. When the offering was
divided among the ministry, those three brethren, who were on the board,
gave me $38.00.
But after I had taken the money I could not keep it on my person. I tried
my best, but even when in my overcoat pocket the money burned me, so I gave
it back to the brethren. A brother was going to drive me to the nearest
railroad station, and when I had taken my seat in the buggy ready to go to
town, these three brethren came and gave me fifteen dollars, saying, "We
have given much more in the offering than that," and they felt that the
fifteen dollars would not burn me. So I took the money and thanked them for
it and we went on our way to town. As I put the money in my pocket it still
burned me. I had to take it out again and lay it on the bottom of the
buggy. I told the driver to take it back and return it to the brethren. He
said, "They will not know what to do with it now that the meeting is
ended." I told him of a young minister who was sick and in need--to take
the money to him. I was needing the money badly, even the $38.00, as I was
without money to pay my way home.
As we crossed the railway track coming into the town near the depot, I
asked the man to let me off. As I was walking up to the station a man, whom
I did not know, came along beside me and pressed a five dollar bill into my
hand, and that was enough to take me home! A number of people took their
stand for the truth in that meeting.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13