Hegge Iverson

25 October 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Last week I had an unusual letter from a brother asking if I knew any Hagge Iverson stories. Man howdy. I have written about Hagge Iverson before but would be delighted to do it again.

I knew Hagge's brother-in-law and sister, Bob and Ruth Frevold, real well, so it was our privilege to have Hagge in our home when he was in Japan in 1979. That conference was one of a kind. Thirty seven years later I can still recite his messages like they were a CD burned in my mind.

Hagge's mother was an old time Norwegian Pentecostal. He was raised Pentecostal and had been a genuine hard-charging, wild-fire, Pentecostal evangelist most of his life. When he was in his fifties he returned from preaching a dendo (evangelism) series to be struck with the death of his 21 year old daughter. His world collapsed. His grief was inconsolable. A few weeks after her death he was walking the streets of San Diego at 3:00 in the morning with a sock in his mouth trying to muffle the sound of his wailing. He wandered in a small chapel that was unlocked and knelt at the altar up front. As he knelt there sobbing the Lord spoke to him saying, “Hegge, what are you doing here?” He replied, “I'm crying.” The Lord asked again, “Why are you crying?” Hegge responded, “Because my heart is filled with grief.” Then the Lord said, “Have you ever thought about having your heart filled with the Holy Spirit?” That was a stunning question. In a pivotal moment of his life, Hegge pleaded, “Lord Jesus, would You please explain to me how I could be filled with the Holy Spirit?” What a man! He was a true Pentecostal preacher but he tore up the errors of Pentecostalism harder than anyone I ever heard in my life. No conservative could preach like that.

In 1964 the Lord led him to open a counseling service in Seattle called Burden Bearers. His motto was, “We can help you”, and he said he never had less than a staff of four – The Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Hegge. He was always the junior member of the staff. When he first opened his office he sat there alone with his staff for three days and not a soul walked through the door. The fourth morning he was waken out of sleep by a woman in front of his house screaming bloody murder. Hegge jumped out of bed and ran outside to see what was happening. A man was out there beating up a lady. He ran back in the house, pulled on his pants, and dashed outside again to tackle the thug. He said to abbreviate the story, the headlines in the Seattle Times that night was “Cleric pins Crook”. The next day the phone rang off the hock with people calling for counseling.

He was the biggest phony I ever met. He would fake it from the top, but he was dead honest. A man called him one day asking if he had any financial experts on staff. Hegge said he didn't know how to balance a check book but he replied, “Yes sir, we have three of the best in the world.” The man said, “Good, I have some financial problems that I need to talk with some one about them. Hegge responded, “Sir, you come in and We can help you.” The next day the man came in with an arm load of financial journals. Hegge got out his clip board and began asking the man personal information – name, age, address, etc. He asked his mothers name. The man said, “What has that got to do with it? She's dead.” Hegge responded this has everything to do with it. What was the last thing your mother said to you when she died?” The man was offended, “That's none of your business.” “That is all of my business. What did she say?” “Well if you want to know, she said, 'Son will you accept Jesus as your savior?' ”. Hegge pinned him, “Are you going to do it?” Twenty minutes they got up off the floor where they had been kneeling, that was wet with tears. The man threw his arms around Hegge and cried, “I came in here to talk about financial problems and God sent me in here to get saved.” The Lord solved his financial problems.

Another time a man called asking if he had any youth counsels on staff. Hagge responded, “Yes sir, we have three of the best in the business.” The next day the man came in with a stack of notebooks he had written about his wayward son. They sat down and the man began to read the volumes he had written of all the deviltry his son had been in. After he read a few lines Hagge stopped him and said, “That's enough.” The man asked, “Don't you want to hear more of all the bad this kid has done?” “No, that's plenty. Now kneel down, raise your hands and say, Hallelujah.” The man replied, “Say, are you Pentecostal?” Hagge snapped, “Don't you ever say that word in my office. That word is divisive and God hates it!” The man replied, “Well, I'm Baptist.” Hagge said, “You certainly are a rebellious one and the rebellious shall dwell in a dry land.” The son had left home a year previously but two weeks later he suddenly came back. The next night the father knocked on his sons bedroom door and said he would like to talk with him. He said, “Son, how would you like to go to the Space Needle together tomorrow night?” The boy was stunned and asked, “Dad, aren't you ashamed of me with my long hair?” “No son, I'm proud of you. But would you forgive me. I have been a bum father.” The next week the boy came into Hagge's office and asked, “Could I meet the counsel that fixed my father?” Hagge said. “Yes, we will see if we can arrange it.” Today that boy is a pastor.

I could go on for pages telling Hagge Iverson stories. He had a terrific impact on my life. I greatly enjoyed the conference in 1979 but in 1995 I got out a box of old Karuizawa conference tapes and listened to Hagge's messages again. I got more out of them the second time than I did the first.

I apologize that my weekly letters are so lengthy. I believe anyone who who reads them clear to the end gets special credit in heaven. Rather than making this one a six pager I will do something unusual and quit here with the promise to continue next week. The Lord only made one Hagge Iverson, but the same Jesus Who filled him with the Holy Spirit has made Himself available to all of us and it is our great privilege to walk with Him daily. Have a great time serving Jesus.

See you next week,

                                               bill

Calamity

18 October 2015

Dear Phyllis,

1980 was the most calamitous year of my life – up to that point. It later got worse. I can't begin to innumerate the disasters that fell upon us but the highlights were; I got sacked from the language school, which had been my life, we were told to leave our house, which had been the greatest treasure in my life, and we had been ostracized from the missionary community in Karuizawa where I had always had a very good relationship. I was glassy eyed and staggering when we arrived back home to Greenville, SC. But all the calamities that had fallen upon us were only the warm-up for the main event that was about to happen.

There were three main pillars in my life. One was our home church in Greenville, one was Joe Carroll, to whom I had devoted my life, and one was a wonderful Baptist church in Glendale, that had been our main support for the past seven years. I had given 1972 and 73 to Joe in working on his new Evangelical Institute Bible school in Greenville. My plans were to return to Greenville and give him one more year working for him for free. To my utter bewilderment when I got home I discovered I was persona non-grata at the Institute. But more bewildering was our home church. Previously we had been very popular missionaries and a top speaker. But we returned back home to spend nine months attending church regularly and not even being introduced that we were in the audience, much less, never being asked to lead in payer or standing in the pulpit one time. The explanation for these two mysteries was truly amazing.

But after spending nine months in Greenville we went west to stay with Bob Holsten in a little cow town in Colorado. Oh, I thought I had arrived in heaven when we got to Colorado. But we hadn't been there long before we heard from our home church in Greenville that we had been deleted from the fellowship and, totally unexplained, our main supporting church in Glendale called to say that they were dropping our support. Crash!

That July I was one of five drivers in a five truck caravan hauling a new school teacher from San Jose, Calif, to Wiggins, Colo. We had been driving almost non-stop for two days. At 2:00 AM we came to a small rodeo site in a deserted place in Nevada and pulled in for a brief rest. We slept for three hours on the roof of our trucks and cranked up again to go on at 5:00. At 6:00 we pulled into a restaurant in a rest area for breakfast. Such a life was not conducive to a deep devotional life and while waiting for my pancakes I got out my Bible for a brief time of devotion. At random I opened my Bible to Job and read, “I go forward but He is not there, and backward but I cannot perceive Him: on my left hand where He doeth work but i cannot behold Him. He hideth Himself on the righth hand that I cannot see Him. But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold. … I have esteemed the Words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He is of one mind and who can turn Him? And what His soul desireth even that He doeth. For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me.” Oh my goodness! What a moment! If ever there was a shaft of light that pierced the darkness of my soul it was that morning. What a joy it was to be reminded that when I was in darkness and couldn't see three feet in front of me Jesus was still there. He knew all about it and He was the One who was going to “perform the thing that was appointed for me”.

It was shortly after that that one day it suddenly dawned on me the only way I could know what to do for my impossible future was to get a word from God. There was a wonderful Bible school, Raven Crest, in Estes Park. I knew Chris Thomas who was the director and called him asking if I could stay there for five days of fasting and prayer to seek the Lord. What happened that week is another more amazing story that space will not allow me to share right now. The gist of it was that I wound up going to a Cliff Barrows family conference and never missed a meal. But the bottom line was, the last night – through the most unimaginable way – the Lord spoke to me showing me what to do.

When I got back to the ranch Rosemary asked how I made out at Raven Crest. I said, “Great! I went to a family conference and never missed a meal.” She groaned, “Oh no! Now you have to go back and do it again.” I replied, “No. Pack the bags. We are going back to Japan.”

That was in August 1981 We had always been badly under-supported. We had the lowest missionary support in Karuizawa. Now we had lost 90% of that. We didn't have enough support to buy dog food. But we got on a plane to go home to Japan.

A year later we were with Japan Mission in Ikoma. They paid for the construction of the finest home I ever lived in – the Joy Corral. Our neighbor, Terauchi, was the 12^th wealthiest man in Japan. He had a private swimming pool that he asked me to take care of and consider it our own private swimming pool. As far as I know I was the only missionary in Japan with a private swimming pool.

This past Friday morning I had a wonderful time of meeting with the Lord. He reminded me of all His astounding goodness to me. I wept as I pleaded, “Lord Jesus, eternity is inadequate to thank You for all You have done for me.” Oh my goodness, angels exhaust themselves worshiping God. Where do we stand? Angels know nothing, personally, of the debt we owe to the Lord for forgiveness of sin, salvation, and being placed in Christ. Should we not out-shout them in saying, “Thank You Lord! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!...” Oh what can we do? I am mattaku komaru (huge big problem). The only thing I have is an empty cup to hold out to Jesus. My hands are slam empty. I have absolutely nothing to offer Him. If I was a young man and gifted, I could offer Him my life. But at 80 and sitting on my balcony 12 hours a day with virtually nothing to do, the only thing I can think of is prayer. But that is one of my weakest points. I am trying to spend a little time in prayer each day. But most of my time is spent void of a spirit of prayer. I am toughing it out for a few minutes on my knees reminding the Lord of a few things that need His attention. How can we honor His Name and bring the Kingdom of God down here so that His will is being done, in our lives and surroundings, as it is being done in heaven? I don't know. My only consolation is that He sees me. He knows the way I should go. And He must perform the thing that is appointed for me. Oh Lord Jesus, You are wonderful.

                                      bill

Niki

11 October 2015

Dear Phyllis,

There is a teacher working at the Netlahong Kindergarten where I teach that has attracted my attention ever since I first met her. She has the saddest most pained look on her face. I have always thought, “That poor soul has a great deal of sorrow and pain in her life.” Last week Sangha told me that she was recently divorced from a very violent, heavy drinker, husband. Her mother died two years ago at 54 and her father is in bad shape with TB. That explained much to me. Since then I have had a heavy burden for Pak that she finds the Lord and be filled with the joy of Jesus. She reminds me of Niki san. I have told you about Niki before but her testimony is so unusual it bears repeating.

On September 1^st 1983, a Russian fighter shot down Korean KAL 007 passenger plane just off the coast of Hokkaido. Of the 269 passengers on board there was a man who lived in our neighborhood in Ikoma and His wife distinguished herself as a Christian. Further more, I learned that her children occasionally went to the Sunday school at the Japanese church where we attended. I had a deep burden to meet this lady to support her during this time of intense loss. I asked a close friend who was working with the children in our church to introduce me to the mother. Shortly after that I was preaching in the church one Sunday. The next Sunday I was to a different church but the third Sunday Yumi chan told me that a widow had been in church the week I preached and pointed her out to me. After the service I approached the lady and invited her to come to our home for supper Tuesday night. What a night! It turned out we had the wrong person and I never did meet the woman who lost her husband. But Niki had one of the most amazing testimonies I ever heard.

Niki was born into a normal, slightly upper-middle class, family of three sisters. She had been blessed with a happy marriage except they had been married for many years before she was finally able to conceive. Like a number of Japanese women, she choose to go home to be with her mother for the birth of the child which turned out to be a healthy little boy.

A month after the child was born her husband called from Wakayama saying the next day he was coming to pick up Niki and Ta chan. Niki said she had to go to Osaka that day for the one month check for the baby. Her husband said, “That is even better. I have something I want to get checked and I will meet you at the hospital”. Two weeks later the hospital notified them that there was a concern about the test they had taken on her husband that required further examination. He went back to the hospital and two weeks later he was dead.

Niki's world collapsed. She had been happily married for ten years. At last they finally had a baby. She had two weeks of family life and her husband was dead. Of necessity she returned home to Ikoma to live with her parents so her mother could take care of the child while she went to work. Two years later the second tragedy struck when her mother died of cancer. Unbeknown to her there was a Christian woman who lived in that neighborhood who stepped forward offering to take care of Ta chan so Niki could continue going to work. She was grateful to the lady and politely listened to her tell her about Christianity but that was not a subject she had any interest in, other than Christianity was probably a kind religion.

Ohaka maeri is a pretty serious ceremony for Japanese where the relatives are supposed to visit the grave sites of loved one showing their respect and regards to the departed dead spirits. Her husband's grave was in Wakayama that was about 50 km from Ikoma. Niki had an older sister that lived in Wakayama that she could stay with when she went down there for the annual ohaka maeri. On the fourth year her sister surprised her by saying that she and her husband had become Christians. Niki thought that was okay for them. Kirisuto kyo (Christianity) wasn't a bad religion but that had nothing to do with her. But the next year was a shock. When she went to Wakayama she was stunned by the radical transformation of her sister and brother-in-law. She thought, “What in the world changed this disgusting man into such a pleasant gentleman?” Her sister explained that they were having some kind of a Bible study in their home that night and she was welcomed to join them if she cared. Niki said she had never been in anything like that in her life. About a dozen people just sat in the living room reading and talking about the Bible. I asked her, “What were they studying?” She said it was about some man who died and then Jesus brought him back from the dead (Jn. 11). But then she added, “It was the strangest thing. I thought they were talking about me and when Jesus said, 'Take away the stone', I thought He was talking to me.” After disaster had struck Niki so hard, her younger sister got married and had a blissful married life. Niki was bitter. She had it so rough and her sister had such a wonderful life – it wasn't fair. Bitterness had filled her heart and it had been two years since she had spoken to her sister. She felt her heart was a grave, and if she took the stone away, life would come out of the grave of her heart. Niki said after the meeting that night the folk there had given her a couple of books to read, and encouraged her to go to church in Ikoma.

The next Sunday she had no plans to go to church but surprised herself when she showed up there. Ta chan was acting up so she went out to the foyer of the church and listened to the message from there. Some gaijin (foreigner) was preaching about a fountain. Niki thought in her heart, “I am thirsty. I would like to drink”. She thought the gaijin was the pastor but the next week a Japanese pastor was speaking. But the third week, after the service, the man who had spoken two weeks previously spoke to her inviting her to come to their home for supper.

Rosemary and I were sitting on the edge of our seats listening to this amazing story for over an hour. Ta chan had to go to the bathroom and Rosemary was exploding. She said, “We have got to get this woman saved!” We had a stack of Kichijoji, Hihari Yo Are, books that we were giving out. Rosemary got one and placed it on the table. When Niki came back from the bathroom she gasped, “That is the same book I got in Wakayama!”. She had read it with rapted interest and added, “There was a beautiful prayer written at the back – 'Lord Jesus I confess I am a sinner. Please come in my heart to be my savior'.”. I asked, “Did you pray it?” She replied, “I thought that prayer was so good I wrote it out in my own hand and carry it in my purse. I pray it every day.” I said, “Congratulations. You are born-again.” Niki burst into tears.

Niki was one of the most joyous Christians I ever met. She bought a good chair and placed it right beside the telephone with her Bible and spent an hour every night fellow-shipping with her sister in Wakayama. That was 32 years ago. She went on to be a rock solid follower of Jesus.

That is what Pak needs. I told Sangha to tell her that we want her to come to our house for supper. You might join me in praying that Pak find the same Jesus that filled Niki's heart and she too will be a joyous fountain of life in that school.

Arigato (thanks), bill

End Times

4 October 2015

Dear Phyllis,

A month ago I said it will be interesting to see what the world looks like when October 1^st gets here. It is now the 4^thand I am genuinely surprised. Both John Hagee and Jonathan Cahn warned that, according to the Four Blood Moons and the Jewish year of Shemitah, dire events were likely to happen in September. I said, “I am keeping my money off the table but I strongly suspect that they are right”. Wrong. That one really bewilders me. I am utterly astounded at how the Lord withholds His hand of judgment against America.

But one minor event did happen last week. The mass shooting at Umpqua College in Roseburg Ore. has traumatized America. Everyone is searching, why is this happening and how can we stop it? To me the answer to this is crystal clear. In Ezek. 14:21 the Lord said, “I will send My four sore judgments... the SWORD, FAMINE, BEASTS, andPESTILENCE”. We see these four judgments mentioned in more places in Jeremiah and Ezekiel than I can list. It is highly significant that these are exactly the same as the Four Horses that we see in Revelation 6:1-8. White Horse (beast [anti-Christ]), Red Horse (war), Black Horse (economic), Pale Horse (pestilence). In case there is any doubt, in verse 8 the Bible clearly explains that these four horses are the SWORD, HUNGER, DEATH, and BEASTS. In Lev. 26:22 the Lord warned, “I will send wild beasts among you and they will rob you of your children.” On the other side of the coin, in times of blessing, the Lord promised to “rid wild beast from the land” (Lev. 26:6). I see absolutely no room for argument. For a hundred years America was a very safe country to live in. It wasn't that there were no robbers or murderers but they were extremely rare. When I was a boy we never locked the door on our house or took the keys out of the ignition of the car. Most Americans my age relate the same thing. In most towns it was perfectly safe to walk any street at night. Mass shooting in schools simply never happened. I never heard of such a thing. But from 1960 on these atrocities have escalated. Now they are regular occurrences. How can you stop them? You can't. God is filling the land with beasts. That is undeniable.

But what we are seeing today is just the piter-pater of a few drops of rains that will soon be Noah's flood. I strongly believe the next event on the Apocalyptic calendar will be the Sword. With the exception of the Civil War, America has been uniquely blessed in the Lord keeping the Sword off American soil. We have prided ourselves in that millions of American young men have gone over seas to fight wars on other soil but until 9-11 the Sword had never touched our land. I strongly believe this is soon about to change. It is incontestable that the Lord has raised up a man who has decimated Americas military power. In commenting on Obama's remark that Putin has moved into Syria out of a position of weakness, Charles Krauthammer said, “You cannot argue with this. This is a delusion that must be treated chemically”. And he said, “Putin is the luckiest Russian ever to be dealt a man who has the mentality of a man living in the faculty lounge of a fantasy world”. At the invitation of Assad last week Putin established his army and air force in Syria and told the Americans to get out. Last week Putin has reestablished Russia as the dominant power in the Middle east as it is now the super power in Iran, Syria, and Iraq. Krauthammer further said,“Americas former allies of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan are now in panic mode as the umbrella of protection that was over them for the past five decades has now been folded”. A blind man with one glass eye can clearly see where the world is headed. Obama has weakened America at an astonishing pace and Russia and Islam are surging forward. On paper, America still has worlds strongest military. You might have worlds fastest car, but if a frightened child is at the wheel, that car would go no faster than a motor scooter. With Obama as commander-in-chief it might be accurately said America is now a third world power. This can be nothing but an invitation for a serious attack on American soil. I believe the Sword is the next event coming to America. And wild beasts will continue to fill the land.

Fifty years ago my eschatology was fairly tight, but in recent years the order of events has become very clouded. We all know the big picture of what will happen but when things will happen, and in what order, may not be so black and white. One doctrine I will not move from is the imminent return of Christ. I see that as one of the major corner stones of the NT. Obviously Paul and the 1^st century church expected Christ to return at any moment. And I see that exactly the way that Jesus taught it. He could come at any time. We know the Five Seals of Revelation 6:1-8. They will happen. They are the Beast, Sword (war), Famine (economic) and Pestilence (disease). The 5^th Seal is unmistakable persecution. The souls under the altar were told to wait until their brethren were killed (Rev. 6:11). To what degree we will be exempt from that I am not certain. Nor am I sure the Five Seals will come in that sequence or manner. The world has a dread of the word Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), but for Christians this will be the greatest event since the resurrection of Christ. This is the moment all heaven is cheering for in Rev. 19. This is when Jesus gets on his White Horse and we come back to take out the Anti-Christ and all his forces. This will be V-E (victory over Earth) Day. Oh hallelujah!

Historically there have usually been major moving of the Spirit before big wars. We are encouraged that the tide does seem to be rising somewhat here in Chiang Mai. The moving of the Spirit seems to be continuing in Rumpahkun church here in our village. A church where I occasionally go, The New Creation, had their 5^th anniversary last Sunday. Two years ago they were running 30 or 40 in a service. Recently their numbers have gone up to 120. They have 150 chairs and last Sunday, at their 5^th anniversary, somewhere between 250 and 300 showed up. A wonderful American brother who works there told me, a college student from Mae Jo University accepted Christ in his house Tuesday night. She came back the next night bringing her friend with her. When that happens the system is working just like it should.

I don't know. Maybe Russia moving in to take over Syria and Iraq last week was one of the events of the Blood Moon. But Jesus is the chess Master and He is moving the pieces. It's time to look up.

                                                                        bill