THE MIRACLE OF JESUS CHRIST

THAT SHOOK NORWAY & EUROPE

                             FOR FIVE YEARS STORM AND MONSEN PREACHED
                       THE GOSPEL OF JESUS. MONSEN WAS BLIND & PARALIZED

ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF HÅKEN'S HEALING THE

 STAVANGER NEWSPAPER CARRIED THE STORY OF HIS HEALING

FOR FORTY YEARS STORM & MONSEN PREACHED ACROSS

NORWAY, SWEDEN, DENMARK, FINLAND AND U.S.A.

               LUDVIG MONSEN MIRACLE

                By Dr.Max Solbrekken, D.D.

  While I was preaching to great crowds across Norway in 1968, I heard so much about the men who were instrumental in the healing of my mother, Anne Hestekind. 

  To celebrate the 60^th Anniversary of Ludvig Monsen's healing, the 1975 issue of the Stavanger Newspaper filled a very large section of their newspaper with the Miracle Healing that he received from Jesus Christ on January 15, 1915

  There would not have been a marriage between Anne Hestekind and Ingvar Solbrekken, if God had not healed my mother in about 1920 at the Betania Healing Home on the shore of the North Sea near Oslo Norway. And I would not have been born or preached the Gospel because Anne would not have married, because of her serious illness!

    And there would not have been a Storm / Monsen Ministry to bring healing to my mother, if God had not healed Ludvig Monsen at the Special Gospel Meeting at 3:00 pm January 15, 1915 at the Labour Hall in Stavangr Norway.

   Here is a brief history of the great Ministry that brought salvation and divine healing to countless thousands of sick and suffering in Norway, Scandinavia and Europe.

   Ludvig Monsen of Stavanger had experienced God in a special way as a youth but going to sea at 16 years of age had slipped away from the faith. After some years as a sailor, he got a job as a chimney sweep.

             LUDVIG MONSEN FALLS OFF ROOF!

    On a wintry night in 1903, Ludvig Monsen fell off a roof onto an icy street 60 feet below. He was left paralyzed and blind and hovered between life and death for two years.

   During this time he returned to the faith and for next two years he asked for prayer from the Lutheran Prayer House, Lutheran Home Mission Group, the Salvation Army and the Methodists. He prayed four hours a day – two in the morning and two at night – without an answer from God.

   Then God brought into his life Håken Storm, a young man he knew in his youth who had experienced a powerful visitation from God. He was from a wealthy, highly cultured family who were personal friends with the King of Norway. His father was the mayor of Stavanger and his two uncles were Professors at the University.

   Håkon Strong was a musical prodigy, starting to paint at the age of ten and accepted at the Copenhagen Academy of Art in Denmark at 15. 

   After graduating at age 20, he spent considerable time studying in Rome, and would often sit in the Sisteen Chapel studying the works of Michael Angelo and Leonarda de vinvence. 

  He met with several Norwegian artists, among them Edvard Munch who painted' The Scream', and who called him "Church Crazy".
  Returning to Norway, he became involved in teaching ART but there was a yearning in his heart for God. A remarkable breakthrough to faith came to Håken Storm one night in 1902 when he had gone to seek God, at a secluded area on a high hill outside of Stavanger.

   Håken stated, “I looked at the star studded sky and suddenly it was as if a thousand twinkling stars surrounded me, with the most beautiful flower fragrance. It was if the whole universe was an ocean of God's love and myself as a drop in that sea.”

   Immediately he began visiting homes to read the Bible and pray. He asked the Bishop of the Lutheran Cathedral if he could hand out gospel tracts to people attending and he began holding open air meetings in the area. Then, somehow he learned about the paralized Ludvig Monsen who was praying four hours a day for divine healing.

   They devised a plan to form an Evangelistic Team to reach the people of Norway. Håken built a wagon/bed on two high wheels with two handles similar to a wheel barrow, which he could push. 
   On June 15, 1909 the wagon stood ready. Håken had specially made identical dark sailor's uniforms with Captain caps. (Ludvig's father had been a ship's Captain who drown at sea, when he was 9 years old)

   It took five men to carry him to the wagon. Their first meeting was in a Lutheran Prayer House in Ryfylke, eight kilometers away. When they arrived, they discovered that the bed was too wide. One of the church leaders went home for a saw and cut out a piece of the wall. The meeting took off with a start.    Not only was Ludvig totally paralized, with the exception of his right arm. He was also blind.

  Shortly thereafter, they received a letter from Andeas Larvik from Bergen inviting them to be his guest. He was a well known godly man and a number of meetings were scheduled under his auspicous. In the meanwhile they had started a magazine titled, 'The Clear Morning Star', and within two weeks they had 6,000 subscribers.

  They preached the Gospel everywhere they could. Doors opened for them in many places and in 'Open Air Meetings' and revivals in tents. The wagon was raised up a little with a head rest, enabling Ludvig to preach.

  On October 1914 the Storm / Monsen Brothers began a series of meetings in the Labour Hall in Stavanger. They invited all Religious groups, Peace groups, leading women of the Community and the Temperance Movement. These meetings continued until Christmas. 
   The day before the meeting, someone seeing them push the wagon said, derisively:“Tomorrow they will get slaughtered!” And, I believe that GOD LAUGHED!

  Ludvig Monsen was getting sicker and sicker. He had been twelve years crippled due to a tragic accident of falling down sixty feet from the roof of a house where he had been working as a chimney sweep. 
   He and Håken had spent five years preaching the Gospel. On Thursday January, 1915, Håken placed this ad in the Newspaper:

   IS THE GOSPEL TRUE? IS JESUS TRUE GOD?

A special meeting will be held this Sunday the 17th of January at precisely 3:00 pm at the Labour Hall. To this meeting the Darwinist Society and all the town's Priests will be officially invited, and herewith we invite as well every socialist in Stavanger, as well as all rationalists and God deniers (who deny that Jesus is True God). All doubters and those who are unsure that Jesus is God, are all heartily invited.

  They also sent invitation letters to the Home Mission, China Mission, Methodists and Salvation Army, as well as a host of other pastors and friends asking for their prayers for the Meeting. 
   The Day came. The Labour Hall was filled. First, Håken Storm read a Scripture text. Then, Ludvig Monsen prayed. When he had spoken for a few minutes, he felt helpless and the death angst took a hold of him. He could no longer speak, but prayed silently.

   After a little while, he felt a shock go through his body. It felt comfortable. Immediately thereafter, a new and powerful shock. It felt like it would tear his body in pieces every bone and every limb. He tells it himself:

   “Then came some of the most wonderful things I have ever experienced in my life. A delightful voice, so heavenly, so clean, mild and gentle, which spoke the most loving language I had never heard. 

   ''The voice came from Jesus' own lips and from His own mouth. And the words which He spoke, was for me more than words can speak and pen can write and said, “Ludvig, stand up.”

                        HÅKEN STORM SAYS:

   “I sat on a stool beside the wagon while one wave of death after another swept over my soul. I felt myself together with my brother deep down in death's bitter waters. 

  "After these fearful moments came God's mild peace and I heard the Lord's quiet voice say to me: “Stand up!” But I hesitated. Then the voice said again: “Be kind, raise yourself up!”

   Slowly, I stood to my feet and felt a stream of blessing flowing through me and as I stood there by the wagon, I saw my brother raise himself up and I gave him my hand.”

   The following day, the Stavanger Newspapers carried reports with this headline: A PARALYZED MAN STOOD UP AND WALKED, a Dramatic, Emotional Episode!

  For 40 years, the Storm /Monsen Team preached the Gospel of Christ across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, U.S.A. and other countries, winning thousands of souls to Christ and bringing healing to the sick and suffering in His Name.

    They built 'Healing Homes', a home for young men looking for employment, an orphanage, a home for the aged and a house for alcoholics.

      JESUS HEALED MOTHER AT BETANIA!

   It was at Betania Healing Home near Oslo, that my mother Anne Hestekind was supernaturally healed by Jesus Christ, from an ailment which had sapped her strength and immobilized her for six years! 

  She travelled home by train and walked 21 kilometers completely well, as though she had never been sick, Praise God!

   All honour, praise and glory belong to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.

        Ingvar & Anne Solbrekken married 1925