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.
* * * * *