Hegge Iverson

18 July 2010

 Dear Phyllis,

Last week I was telling you about some men who knew God. This past week I got a letter from Jeana Crane. In her letter she said some things that reminded me of Hegge Iverson. I haven’t thought about him in some time, but he was one more unusual man who knew God like few men I ever known. Hegge was the JEMA conference speaker in Karuizawa in 1979. You and Ted might have heard him.  He told stories like I have never heard from anyone.

 Dear Hegge was an old school Pentecostal. He told how he had been out having special meetings and came home to find his 21 year old daughter dead. Crash! He said he bottomed out like you would not believe. His grief was utterly inconsolable. He wailed so loudly at night he kept a sock in his mouth to suppress the noise. One night he was walking the street at 2:00 AM and went in the unlocked door of a little chapel. As he was kneeling there in the dark, the Lord spoke to him, “What are you doing here, Hegge?”

“I’m crying.”

“Why are you crying.”
‘Because I am filled with grief.”

“Have you ever thought about being filled with the Holy Spirit?”

What a remark! In great humility Hegge, replied, “Lord Jesus, would you please tell me what it is to be filled with Your Spirit and how I can be Spirit-filled?”

Hegge was a genuine Pentecostal but he tore up Pentecostals more than I any man I have ever heard. No conservative could have peeled them as hard as he did from that pulpit. But the stories he told… .

He had a counseling center in Seattle, Burden Bearers. His motto was “We can help you”. He always used the plural pronoun even when his staff was only four – he, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But he always talked about his Boss.

One day a Jewish lady walked in that was virtually a vegetable. She had been to every psychiatrist in the Seattle area and had been in a revolving door to mental hospitals for 18 years. A Jewish rabbi was a close friend of Hegge and recommend that she go see him.

When she first came in and started to tell Hegge about her problem, he said, “You must meet my Boss. He is a world famous psychiatrist who specializes in difficult cases just like yours.”

“Does he live here in Seattle?”

“Yes.”

“Is there any way that I could see him?”

“Yes. I will call him tonight and set up an appointment. But I promise you, come in tomorrow and I will have a hand written note from Him for you.”

She was thrilled! But after she left, Hegge got down and his knees and pleaded, “Lord Jesus, You have got to give me something to say to this woman.” Then the verse in John 4:25, 26 came to his mind. So he got a sheet of paper and wrote, “The woman saith unto Him, ‘We know that the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ’…and Jesus saith unto her, ‘I that speak to thee am He’.”

The next morning the lady came in tingling with excitement. “Did you get hold of that psychiatrist last night? Can He see me?”

“Yes I did. I spoke with Him about you. He is coming soon but first He gave me a note to give to you.” Hegge handed her the piece of paper with the note on it and told her, “Now read the entire message and don’t respond until you have read the whole thing.”

She read the message and looked at Hegge with perplexity. “They told us at the synagogue that Jesus was just a man.” Hegge responded, “This says He is the Messiah. Now we are going to talk to Him.”

“But they told us that He is dead.”

“Lady, I don’t talk to dead people. Now kneel down and we are going to talk to Him.”

“But I don’t see Him”

“Your eyes will be opened as soon as you get on your knees.”

And Hegge led her in prayer to accept Jesus as her savior.

When they got up off the floor he instructed, “Now Jesus has several things He wants you to do. He wants you to go to a hair dresser and get a permanent. Next he wants you to throw away your house coat. (She was in the habit of not getting dressed each day but always went around the house in an old ragged house coat.) Next He wants you to wash that stack of dishes in the sink.”

Six weeks later her husband called Hegge saying that he wanted to see him. He came in astounded and asked, “What in the world did you do to my wife?! She has been to every psychiatrist in Seattle and no one could help her. She went to you and came home transformed. She is beautiful! The house is spotless. There isn’t a dish in the sink. As soon as she uses a dish it gets washed immediately. And she goes around the house all day singing! What did you do?!

 Hegge replied, “She met my Boss.” And the man said, “I want to meet Him too.”

Hegge said, “I am a story teller. The reason I am a story teller is because my Lord was a story teller. Jesus never taught a spiritual truth without telling a story to illustrate it.” In 53 years I have heard thousands of messages – very few of which I remember. But 31 years later I can recall Hegge Iverson messages like they were a CD burned in my brain.

He told about a lady who called one day and demanded, “Brother Iverson, are you filled with the Holy Ghost?”

“I’m sorry maam but I can’t discuss that over the telephone.”

“Brother Iverson, I live on the Olympic peninsula and I don’t want to waste my time coming across to see anyone who isn’t filled with the Holy Ghost.”

“Well maam you come in anyway and I believe we can help you.”

Hegge hung up the telephone, went out and said to the receptionist, “Great day, she’s got yellow teeth. She is huge. Her hair is a mess and her stockings are rolled down.” 

The receptionist asked, “Who is that?”

“The person I just talked to on the phone.”

Hegge said the receptionist looked at him like she should call 911 and get some help for him. But he told her, “She is coming in tomorrow morning at 9:00 o’clock and you will see.” Hegge said it was just like he was looking at her on a screen as he to talked with her.

The next morning at 8:50 the receptionist came in Hegge’s office and gasped, “She’s got yellow teeth. She is huge. Her hair is a mess and her stocking are rolled down.”

When she came in, Hegge got out his clip board and began to interview her asking pertinent questions – name, age, married, saved, etc. Then he asked, “Is your husband a Christian”

“No!”

“Why isn’t he saved?”

“Because he hates Jesus.”

“No, he doesn’t hate Jesus. He hates that hypocrite inside of you! He hates that 5 pound box of chocolate you have hidden under the bed, and he hates all those sacks of potato chips you have scattered all over the bedroom. He hates that hypocrite inside of you! You talk about your baptism of the Holy Ghost, but, lady, you don’t know a thing about the Spirit of Christ!” At that she burst into tears and wailed. She was in the habit of always dieting and not have her meals with the family. But she would go in the bedroom and gorge herself with hidden chocolate and potato chips.

 Two months later her husband called and wanted to talk to Hegge. He asked, “What did you do to my wife. She came home and is a new person. She has lost 30 pounds. She sits at the table having meals with the rest of us, but is highly disciplined. And she has become an attractive woman.” Hegge said, “She met my Boss.” The husband replied, “If that is who Jesus is I want Him too.”

 Hegge was the most clairvoyant man I ever met. Some folks at the conference protested, “You talk about all these things you see but none of the rest of us have experiences liked that.” That was a very valid point. But Hegge’s response to that was, “All Christians have a certain degree of clairvoyance. The fact that you have the witness of the Spirit in your heart that you are born of the Spirit of God is an example.” There is truth in that remark. Still in all, very few Christians are that clairvoyant. But then very few Christian know God like Hegge Iverson.

 Gomen nasai, Phyllis, I could go on and write a small book about Hegge Iverson stories. That would be a very interesting narration. But you don’t have time to read all that now. I guess the main thing that I want to say is what I said last week, The name of the game is TO KNOW GOD. Very few of us will ever be like Hegge Iverson, but I believe if we knew the Lord a little better and allowed Him to fill us a little more with His Spirit, perhaps He could use us beyond what we are accomplishing by ourselves.

 Lord Jesus, please take more control of this poor man.