Some years ago my wife had a sore on her left cheek. Dr. Morgan examined it
and pronounced it cancer. She was prayed for and the third day after there
was no sign of cancer.
A little later a growth started on her right side just above the hip. It
grew until it was twenty-two inches long, sixteen inches by the body and
fourteen inches around at the end of it. It finally developed into cancer.
She was prayed for often but seemingly was not helped, the odor from it was
horrible. 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.
On the way home I asked her what it was that gave her the faith for
healing. She said, "I don't know; when I went onto the platform I wanted
Brother and Sister Byrutn to pray for me, and could have gotten on their
chair, but there came a young lady who looked as though she might be in the
last stages of tuberculosis, to such an extent was she affected that she
had to be supported by a sister, one on each side of her when she attempted
to walk, and I saw she was in greater need than I was, and, too, she was a
young woman. I was willing for anyone to pray for me, and if I were healed
or not it would be all right." I replied, "that is where you gained the
victory."
This happened in the latter part of June and around the first of October
there was nothing left but a red spot about the size of a dollar to show
where the cancer had been. Just before we went to Anderson, a neighbor lady
wanted to see the cancer and the sight of it made her so sick she was in
bed for two days. And through it all my wife never once complained.
* * * * *
On the last evening of a meeting I was holding in Whittier, California, a
man came to me telling me of a sick lady who wanted me to come and pray for
her. I consented to do so but told the man I must go quickly as a brother
was coming very soon to take me to Los Angeles. On arriving at the bedside
of the sick woman I asked her what her trouble was. She told me she had a
cancer on her left breast and side, and that having to lie on the one side
all the time she became very sick and sore. I prayed the prayer of faith
for her and left immediately.
One year later I received a letter from her. She wrote, "It is just a year
ago tonight since I sent for you to come and pray for me. As you prayed for
me it was as though an electric shock went through me and after you left I
turned over on my left side and went to sleep and slept all night and in
the morning when I woke up I was perfectly healed. I have waited a year
before writing, to see whether any symptoms returned, but none ever did."
In one of my meetings while I was pastor at Grand Forks I felt impressed to
speak to a young man, Tom Perkins, a World War I veteran. I went down into
the audience to speak to him, and told him he ought to seek the Lord that
night as something was going to happen. He said, "Do you think so?" I said,
"No, I don't think so, I know so." But he said, "Not tonight." That was
Sunday, and on Wednesday afternoon as I was going down DeMeres Avenue he
came out of a clothing store with a friend of his, I said, "How do you do"
to him and passed on in front of him, but as I was passing him the Lord
said to me, "Go back and speak to Tom." I at once turned back to him and
said, "Tom, listen to me; you ought to seek the Lord. Let us go back in the
store and settle it with the Lord." But he said, "No." I said, "It is very
important." He said as before, "Do you think so?" And again I answered, "I
don't think so, I know so." He took it very nicely but refused to make any
move toward seeking the Lord. Two days later, the following Friday, he went
to Minneapolis and on Sunday afternoon he was crushed to death between two
street cars. Would it not be well for people to heed the warnings of God's
servants and His Spirit?
The pastor of the Scandinavian Free church at Brookings, South Dakota, one
time sent for me to come to pray for a sister who was a member of his
congregation and had been sick in bed for some six months. I preached there
several times and then announced that I was going to pray for the sick
sister at three o'clock the next day, and asked all those who had faith to
be present and those who did not have faith to stay away, preachers and
all. Only one person was there--an elderly Baptist sister from Huron-Sister
Shall. The prayer of faith was offered and Sister Johnson was healed and
was present at the service that evening.
One Sunday morning wife and I with two sisters drove to Westlake for the
forenoon service which was held in the home of Brother and Sister Hans
Myhre. After service wife came to me and said that Sister Myhre wanted us
to stay for lunch. But I said, "No, we cannot stay for lunch, the Lord
wants us to go home right away." On hearing this, Sister Myhre came to me
and said, "You have got to stay for lunch." I answered, "Sister, we can't
stay for the Lord told me to go home." She said, "And then the sisters will
not get anything to eat either. Why do you have to go?" I said, "I don't
know, only that the Lord says, go home." "Brother Susag, you are stubborn,"
the sister insisted.
We drove home. Wife went upstairs to change her dress, ready to get lunch.
I sat on a chair meditating on what had taken place. I said to myself, "Are
you stubborn? Why did you come home?" Just then the telephone rang. I
answered and a voice said, "Is this Rev. Susag?" "Yes," I said. "Hold the
line, long distance calling you," he informed me. After a short pause a
voice said, "This is Anna Anderson of Brookings, S. D. Do you remember
promising Grandma H., when you were pastor here, that you would officiate
at her funeral? She died this morning and is to be buried on Tuesday. Can
you come?" I told her I would come. As I turned from the telephone wife
came into the room and I said to her, "Now I know why I had to come home so
quickly, for if they had not gotten in touch with me now, I couldn't reach
there in time for the funeral." She said, "Sometimes you are a little
queer, but I have committed you to the Lord and things always come out all
right."
* * * * *
When Brother August Christofersen of Norway Lake, Minnesota, was down with
double pneumonia I was sent for to come and pray for him. I went and prayed
for him and the Lord raised him up. I stayed for three days, went home and
in three or four days received a phone call to come back. I asked whether
he was sick. They answered, "No, but he wants to see you." I was able to
get a ride almost to his place, and walked the rest of the way. On nearing
his home I turned in to a grove I had to pass and kneeled down to pray for
the brother. The Lord said to me, "You do not need to pray for him now; he
is home with me." On coming toward the house his brother came out to meet
me, and I said to him, "So Brother August is home with the Lord!" He said,
"How did you know?" I said, "The Lord told me over in the grove."
* * * * *
While I was in Denmark I was invited to come to a certain town with which I
was entirely unacquainted. Finally when I found time to go I went without
writing to announce my coming. On arriving in the city I found I had
forgotten both the name and address of my friends. I walked back and forth
on the depot platform, racking my brain, as it were, to come across the
needed address, but I just could not remember it. A man spoke to me and
said, "You seem to be in deep meditation, or in trouble of some kind." I
said, "I surely am." To which he replied, "Sometimes we get into such a
fix; do you suppose I could be of any help to you?" But I answered, "I
don't suppose you can." However, I told him my trouble. He laughed and
said, "Surely you are in bad fix; can't you think of anything?" "The only
thing I can think of," I said, "is that they are the parents of Mrs. Anna
Nelson of Kaas, Denmark." "Well," he said, "you haven't struck it so bad
after all--I am her father!"
When I was pastor in Grand Forks we had in the congregation a mother in
Israel, a German sister who could not speak English. One Sunday evening the
Lord had blessed in a spiritual way. Mother Calm said to Brother Shave, "I
can preach Bro. Susag's sermon in German now." (I had preached in English.)
Bro. Shave said, "You can't do it." But she said, "I can." At that, Brother
Shave raised his voice and said, "Everybody wait a little while." And, sure
enough, Sister Calm preached my sermon, the Germans said, "almost to a
word."
* * * * *
At the St. Paul Camp meeting one time, Sister Aamot came to me telling me
she had lost a five dollar bill, over which she was feeling very badly. Her
husband was not saved. She wanted me to pray that the Lord would help her
find it. She told me she thought she had lost it on her way coming from the
Old People's Home to the tabernacle. It had been blowing pretty hard that
day and she had the bill in her handkerchief.
I went out into the timber to pray, and how the wind did blow! After I had
been earnestly praying that the Lord would help me to find the bill for her
and was getting up from my knees, on looking down into the leaves, lo,
there, between my knees, was the five dollar bill! And the sister had no
difficulty in proving that it was her five dollar bill.
* * * * *
While still in Denmark, one time Brother Morris Johnson and I were holding
a meeting on a farm. As we saw a large, fine looking man coming toward the
meeting place, Morris said, "Let's go behind the barn and pray God Almighty
to convict and save that man this afternoon." And the Lord honored our
faith and really saved the man that afternoon.
* * * * *
I was holding a meeting in Albert Lee, Minnesota and from there was
intending to go to Greenwood, Wisconsin. I looked at my time-table to find
out what the railroad fare would be and I figured it to be thirteen
dollars, so asked the Lord to give me thirteen dollars that evening. At the
close of the service someone put some money in my pocket and I began to
thank the Lord for thirteen dollars. The devil said, "You haven't got
thirteen dollars in your pocket," but I said I had. He said, "Just feel in
your pocket and you will find there is hardly anything there, or take it
out and count it and you will see." I told him that I would neither feel in
my pocket nor count the money for him, and that I had thirteen dollars.
When I got to my room I knelt down and thanked the Lord for thirteen
dollars, and then took the money out of my pocket and counted it and found
I had $13.05. On buying my ticket the next day it cost $13.05! I had made a
mistake in my figuring, but the Lord knew the exact fare.
* * * * *
During the meeting at Greenwood I went out inviting folks to the services.
One day I came to a farm house where the man of the house was ill in bed
with tuberculosis of the spine. I told him that I was a minister and also,
that I believed in Divine healing. When he heard this, he said, "You are
the very man the Lord has sent to me that I may be healed." I said, "I do
not know about that; however, I will pray for you. I am impressed of the
Lord not to anoint you. I will be back on Friday afternoon, and in the
meantime will pray the Lord to show me what to do." With this arrangement
the sick man was satisfied. It was now dusk, and on reaching my room in the
house where I stayed, I knelt down beside a chair to pray for him. As I did
so, a cow and three sheep stood right before me. I did this four times, and
as soon as I would get on my knees here were the cow and three sheep
between me and God, so to speak. So I gave up trying for that time, but the
next day at ten o'clock I went in to pray for him again in broad daylight.
But as I did so, the cow and the sheep were there before me.
On the appointed Friday I went to see him again. He inquired at once what
the Lord had made known to me about him. I told him the Lord had shown me
something but that I did not understand what it meant. He was anxious to
hear what it was, and I related the vision I had had. He said, "I perceive
that the Lord has sent you to be a help to me," and continuing, went on to
say, "We used to live in Iowa on a good sized farm and we were well-to-do
financially. I was very much interested in spiritual work, even to printing
and sending out a number of tracts. But it seemed that my poor soul was
clinging to the worldly thing too much. I was troubled about it, off and
on. However, your vision means that if I only had a cow and three
sheep--which we have--if my soul is clinging to them I can never enter
heaven." "Surely," he said, "the Lord has sent you to help me. Please pray
that I get right with God; that is the main thing." The dear man bitterly
repented and became very happy. The third day following this event he went
home to glory.
* * * * *
I had promised that after this meeting I would go to hold a meeting at
Dallas, Wisconsin, but the Lord impressed me to go home. Knowing no reason
for going home, I bought my ticket only to a certain station where I would
have to change if I went to Dallas, thinking that maybe my feelings would
change before I got there. But there was no change in my feelings when we
got there, so I bought a ticket to St. Paul and from there got a ticket to
Hawick, Minnesota, which is just three miles from my home.
On the street in Hawick, I met a young brother who exclaimed when he saw
me, "Oh, so you got our postal card?" I replied, "I did not get any postal
card." Then he said, "But you got the telegram?" I told him I had not
received any telegram either. "Well, then," said he, "how did you happen to
come home?" I told him that the Lord wanted me to come home, and then asked
him what the trouble was. He told me that my wife was very sick, near to
dying. Then he very kindly said he would take me out home. On arriving home
wife said, "I knew you were coming; I asked the Lord to send you." She was
suffering from an internal malady from which the nurse had told her she
could not recover, and so made up her mind that she was going to die.
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."
Just about that time we got a letter from the Brothers Nelson and Niles
telling us they had been praying and the Lord had showed them that Sister
Susag was not going to die. On hearing this, wife said, "The good brethren
do not know any better; I am going to die." (And I was thinking so, too, as
she was getting no help.) More and more I was thinking about the homestead;
but wife told me I had better go to Texas. It seemed almost impossible to
get anyone to come and stay with her and the children, yet she would say,
"We will get along some way and you had better go or else souls will be
lost. If I should pass away before you get back you know where I am going
and if you keep true to the Lord we will meet in glory."
But I did not feel as though I could go and leave her that way. A couple of
nights after I had had this conversation with her I had a dream. I saw a
little table standing beside my bed on which was a kerosene lamp. The light
was just about to go out. It would light up a little and then go down till
it looked as though it was just ready to quit burning. I saw Jesus standing
on the other side of the table with a sad look on his face, pointing to the
lamp and saying, "Your lamp is about to go out." And I awoke from my dream
and jumped out of bed, ran into the next room and said to my wife, "On
Tuesday morning, I leave for Texas whether you are living or dying." To
which she replied, "Praise the Lord for your decision."
The Lord miraculously sent a good sister to our home from Washington. She
arrived the morning I was leaving for Texas. When she discovered the
circumstances, and that wife was sick, she said, "Now I know why the Lord
sent me here, and I'm here to stay until Sister Susag is well."
So I went to San Antonio. This was in the year 1902. At one place where I
had to change trains on the way, I took my grip and walked out on the
platform toward the train I was to take. There I stood and did not get on
the train, and the train pulled out without me. I walked back to the depot,
and the agent asked me whether I had intended to take that train and why I
did not get on it. I simply told him I didn't know why. "Well," he said,
"you fool, you will now have to wait four hours and take a slow train." (I
understood a little later why I was held back from boarding that train.
Only forty-five miles out it became derailed and some forty passengers were
seriously injured and, if my memory is correct, some were killed.)
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.
After the meeting had closed and we had gone to our room at eleven p. m.,
Brother Nelson asked me whether I had received money for our car fare. I
told him I had not; that I thought he had received it all, since he had
been there before. But he hadn't received any. We then decided we had
better see whether we had enough money to take us to the next place.
Brother Nelson had enough for his fare and eight cents over; I was lacking
two dollars. We were to leave on the four-thirty train in the morning, and
now we had to pray the Lord to get us the two dollars!
As for me, I was not acquainted in the city and did not know where to go to
raise a penny. We prayed until two o'clock, then I said to Brother Nelson,
"We do not need to pray any longer; the Lord says He will attend to it." We
went to bed for about an hour and a half. We went to the depot and Brother
Nelson bought his ticket, then I ordered mine and put what money I had in
the window of the ticket office. While the agent was counting the money, a
man came running very fast into the waiting room and stuck his left hand
right in front of my nose through the ticket window and left two dollars
there, then turned and went out so fast that I had no chance to thank him.
Brother Nelson looked at the man, and then asked me whether I knew him, but
I had never seen him before, nor had Brother Nelson. The lesson I learned
from this incident was that it is better to depend upon the Lord than on
well-to-do saints.
* * * * *
On arriving home I told wife of the incident. She at once asked me whether
I was sure it was a man who brought the two dollars. I said, "To me he
looked like an angel, and he would have looked so to you if you had been in
a like fix."
* * * * *