S. O. Susag

“ Once in a city called Stavanger, Norway, I was asked to come and pray for a sister who was in the last stages of tuberculosis of the lungs. As some of the people over there teach that it is witchcraft to heal by the word of God and prayer, a mob had gathered to stone me, and the folks called me and asked me not to anoint and pray for fear the people might do me bodily harm. I told them that I was not any better than the apostles or any other of God's ministers, and if that was to be my lot I would be willing to die for the gospel's sake. ”

“ 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?" ”

“ The next summer on coming to the North Dakota State Camp meeting at Grand Forks, I was two days late having come from the South Dakota camp meeting, a little girl came running toward me as I was coming on the grounds, saying, "Praise the Lord, Brother Susag." I said, "Amen, who are you?" She said, "Don't you know me?" I said, "No, I see so many little girls and they all look alike to me." She said, "I'm the little girl who came to Grand Forks last winter and could not walk." I set my grip down and wept for joy, and said, "Please tell me, sister, when you commenced to walk." ”

“ I looked up and there was Brother Millar! He said, "Why, Brother Susag, have you undressed? The chapel is full of people who are waiting for you to come and preach." I told him I had understood him to say that there would be no afternoon service, that he should go back and that I would follow as quickly as possible.
I had no message. I opened my Bible and from Genesis to Revelation the Scriptures did not seem to mean anything to me. I prayed and still no message. Then coming down stairs I met Sister Anna Hanson who was just starting for the service. ”

“ 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 the evening the doctor called my son Clarence and said to him, "Shall I tell your dad what the matter is with him, or will you?" He answered, "It doesn't matter who tells him, as he is ready to live or to die; we want to know the worst." The doctor said, "It is the worst. Bring him to my office tomorrow at three o'clock." I heard the five doctors talking the case over between themselves, stating the position of the cancer. ”

“ My earnest humble prayer is that these incidents and experiences may prove a blessing and an inspiration that will quicken the faith of those in need whose help can come only from God.
As my name is S. O. Susag, I think it is fitting to say as the distress call of a ship is SOS, that I have heard the distress call in my fifty-two years ministry, hundreds of times from the evangelistic field, and missionary fields in other lands, from insane asylums, hospitals, sick rooms, and the Lord has heard prayer, and wrought many miracles, almost unbelievable. To God belongs all the glory and praise. ”

“ Once at the South Dakota State Camp Meeting, on account of the weather, we had the services in the chapel. One day a man came who said he was a minister. No one knew him, but he looked like a good man. He asked for the privilege of preaching and it was granted him. After he had been preaching a while it was evident to all that he was badly confused, so the spiritual ones commenced to lift their hearts in prayer to God to stop him, which He did, insomuch that he left the platform and went to the stove to spit, trying to clear his throat. ”

“ Thank God for good brothers who are able to help a person in time of need. Brother Reardon said to me, "Get up quick, Bro. Susag, don't lie there and cry for the devil." But I said, "You don't know what trouble I am in." But they said to me, "There is nothing the matter with you. Get up and rebuke the devil, get up and sit on that chair and we will talk to you." Then Bro. Reardon said, "The Lord used you to break the spell in the meeting and there were seven possessed with devils at the altar. The devil became enraged at you and was determined to ruin you." ”

“ 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. ”

“ ARRESTED FOR BEING A GERMAN DOCTOR In 1915 I was on the Atlantic ocean on my way to Europe, and the captain came to me a number of times on the voyage, saying, "I am afraid you are going to have trouble if an English boat catches us before we get to Norway, because you claim to be a Norwegian by birth and a minister. We think you are a German by birth and a doctor. We had one sailing with us the last trip from Saint Paul, Minnesota and he spelled his name 'Susage' and was a German and a doctor. ”

“ We went to the Anderson Camp meeting. On the day especially set apart for the healing of the sick, and seats at that particular meeting were so arranged that for each sick person there were three preachers to pray for him or her. My wife came up and sat down on the chair next to the one where I was offering prayer, and after prayer had been offered for her, I heard one of the ministers say to her, "Sister Susag, do you believe the Lord heals you?" She answered, "By faith I am healed." And the minister said, "Yes, by faith, is right." From that time the cancer began to fall to pieces. ”

“ One evening I was very tired and sleepy and went to bed at precisely nine o'clock. I went to sleep at once and had a dream. I dreamed that I had become a minister of the gospel and that I was traveling all over the United States and Canada, as well as in a number of European countries. Hundreds of souls were turning to the Lord in the meetings and many healings and miracles were performed. It would take a long life to accomplish all that I saw done in my dream. ”

“ In 1916 while in Denmark I contracted tuberculosis of the throat and head. I got so weak that while holding a meeting in company with Brother Carl Forsberg out from Pandrup, Denmark, one evening before the service started I was suffering so intensely that I went out into the cow barn, sat down on a milk stool coughing and spitting, praying and weeping until I was so weak that I was unable to get up when I tried to do so. Time for meeting came, and the folks did not know what had become of me, so a Brother Madson, a big strong man, went out to look for me. ”

“ I have baptized hundreds of people from Canada to San Antonio, Texas; from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, in every month of the year, in the lakes of Norway, Sweden and Denmark as well as in the North Sea, in all kinds of weather—once in the Red River at Grand Forks, N. Dakota, in a snow storm in zero weather, and I have never yet heard of one person having taken cold from being baptized, but on the other hand, MANY HAVE BEEN HEALED! ”

“ Then they'd said to one another, "Look at Brother Susag. He is happy all the time. He is not tried and tempted like we are." But when they heard of my experiences, they said, "The shame is on us." They were much encouraged and went on in the service of God. They finally moved somewhere to the northwest and I am told that one of the brothers became a minister, and the other three Sunday School workers.
Many people do not realize that ministers pass through much suffering both spiritual and physical for the sake of others, but they are glad to do so for Christ's sake and for the sake of others. ”

“ While pastoring in Grand Forks, North Dakota a lady called on the phone one day and asked to speak to The Rev.
Susag. "I am the one speaking," I said. Then she told me she had heard from Mrs. Werstlein that I would pray for anyone no matter what church they belonged to. I told her I would. Then she said, "My husband is at the Catholic hospital and the doctor just called up and said he is liable to die any minute, and cannot live longer than until three o'clock this afternoon. He is an infidel." ”

“ When the tent meeting was over at San Antonio, Bro. Nelson left with me and we were expecting to stop over in Hamilton and Kingston, Mo. to hold some services. As we came closer to the first place Bro. Nelson said, "Here the saints are well-to-do people." So, I thought, if they are well-to-do we will not need to spend our time asking God for our car fare, for they well know that preachers need car fare. The congregation rented a room for us about a couple of blocks from the depot and we ate our meals in the different homes. ”

“ Some years ago when in Norway, Morris Johnson and I held a meeting on a large farm in Roleg in Numedahl. A large crowd was out at the first service. We knelt down to pray and while we were praying I heard a great commotion and when we rose from our knees we found that two thirds of the people were gone. The foreman of the King's highway was in the audience and he had said when he came out there, that those preachers were too fanatical and if he had had his gun along and had shot them, he would have done the Lord a good favor. ”

“ EXPERIENCE WITH TWELVE OTHER PREACHERS When I was holding a meeting in a certain state, some of the church said there had been a couple of preachers holding services across the street from the Church of God chapel, and some of the saints had attended their meetings and became confused. They wanted me to preach against it. I said, "I cannot do that. The Word of God says, 'Thou shalt not judge a strange servant.' But I will pray the Lord to help me to meet them to get acquainted with their teaching." ”

“ The next night there were about two hundred in the congregation and some ten minutes before nine o'clock eight persons started to get ready to leave; I was still speaking, so paused and said, "Just a minute, please: We have just come from Denmark where we preached as long as the Lord would lead, until nine or ten o'clock. Now if you have to go home you are welcome to go, but if it's simply your custom to leave a meeting at a certain time whether or not the service is over, we are going to pray the Lord to break up such a custom." ”

“ That forenoon the teacher asked Sophie to read, and when she got up she said, "Sophie, haven't you your glasses with you?" (She knew Sophie had not been able to read without her glasses.) Sophie answered, lifting her hand, "Teacher, I was prayed for at the revival meeting Friday night and I do not need my glasses!" and her eyes were straight!
A number of years later I met Sophie with her little girl. She was a lovely looking woman and was happily married. ”

“ Paul Park and met Brother D. O. Teasley from New York. He said to me, "So you are on your way to the Assembly in Chicago." I said, "Yes, if Brother Nelson is not going." "Why," he said, "he is not going. When I stopped in Chicago the congregation was praying the Lord to send you." God works at both ends.
We held the Scandinavian services at the Assembly up stairs in the Missionary Home. After five days' meeting, quite a few were saved, while down in the English services in the chapel where there were thirty-three ministers, none were being saved. ”

“ Next morning when I was ready to take the train, I was handed four dollars with the remark, "This is our custom." No wonder the congregation did not prosper, and still these dear people had done their duty, but were unaware of what the hindrance was.
I know of other cases of that same kind, both with other ministers and myself. Once in a camp meeting a young minister was the evangelist, whom the Lord used mightily. One evening they were going to take up the love offering for the evangelist. A nice offering came in, not any too large, and they gave the evangelist seventy percent. ”

“ Right at this time we received a letter from Brothers Nelson and Niles requesting me to come and hold a tent meeting for them in San Antonio and that I should bring my tent with me to hold the meeting in. Of course, I felt I could not go and wrote them to that effect. Meanwhile, wife had persuaded me that she was going to die, and being in poor circumstances, I said to her, "You will not hold it against me, if when you die, I sell out and take a homestead and so get out of debt, will you?" And her reply was, "When I am dead you can do what you please." ”

“ One man in the audience sat on the front edge of the bench so deeply interested in the service that his mouth would be wide open, and after the meeting was over he stuck a five dollar bill in my hand and said that the meeting had been worth that to him.
A man in the audience, who was an infidel, said, "I own a store building in Mechinoch, a few miles away, that these two preachers may have as long as they please, if some one can furnish a stove and wood to warm up the building." The stove and wood were promptly furnished, and we went there accordingly, and continued our services. ”

“ He went to the doctor and had the bones set and the hand taped and the arm strapped to his body. Then he came back to the meeting and wanted to be saved. He repented, and the Lord accepted him. While he was still on his knees he looked up and said, "I hear you men believe in divine healing, and I want to be prayed for that the Lord will heal my hand." So Brother C. H. Tubbs and myself prayed the prayer of faith and he began to unloose his arm and take off the bandage. While he was doing so, the saints were shouting the praises of God. ”

“ Once Brother Renbeck and I were holding a meeting in Erskine, Minn. It was 42 degrees below zero every day, and we had to stand the bread by the heating stove and a number of times it froze so hard on the table, before we got through with our meal, that we could not eat it. When we went to bed, we could see the stars twinkling through the cracks of the roof. We took off our shoes and coats and lay down on the bed, and pulled our fur caps down over our ears and put our fur coats over us. Often through the night we would have to turn over because the side that was down got cold. ”