By Bobby Davis
Charley and Susie Haisch live in Polo, a small town of about 2,500 about an hour southwest of Rockford, in northern Illinois. Raised in rural settings, they are grateful for loving parents and the solid values they gave them. They’re also grateful for the good careers they enjoyed—Charley as a pharmacist, and Susie as owner of a beauty salon.
Raised in Methodist homes, they never questioned what they’d been taught, and probably believed they’d never attend church anywhere else. “My Dad was pretty strict on church attendance,” Charley says, “and unless we were really ill, you would definitely find us in church every Sunday! But when I went away to college, I only attended church periodically—pretty much when I felt guilty.”
“I was raised Methodist, too,” Susie says, “but my family wasn’t quite as strict. So when we got older and didn’t want to go to church, nobody forced us.”
After they married, the couple would visit Charley’s parents in South Dakota. “Susie and I would go to church with them—as a courtesy,” he says, “but it was never because we wanted to go. Sadly, all that time, I never got to know Jesus. And if there’s one thing I would change about my life, that would be it. I was 59 years old before I gave my heart to Christ, and while we pray for Jesus to come soon, I thank Him for tarrying. Had He not done that, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be lost forever.”
Psychics
Their successful careers kept Charley and Susie very busy. But here’s where their journey gets rather interesting. “I guess you might say that we were searching for something, but we didn’t realize it,” Charley says, “and somehow or other, Susie became very interested in psychics. She was especially impressed by Sylvia Brown, a famous psychic who made the rounds of all the television shows.”
“Sylvia was a world-renowned psychic,” Susie explains, “and I probably read 30 of her books before I found out the truth about all that. When she showed up on the Montel Williams Show, I made sure we didn’t miss it!”
“There were other psychics, too,” Charley adds, “and although all this was 180 degrees in the wrong direction, when Sylvia Brown talked about Mother God and Father God, we started praying to one for one thing, and then praying to the other for something else. One of Susie’s friends had a psychic come down two or three times to talk to our horses, and she told us things that only the horses and we would know!
“She also talked to our other pets,” Susie adds, “and although that’s really out there, when you don’t know where all this information is coming from, it’s pretty convincing. Satan knows things, and I feel sorry for psychics because they’re so lost. They’re seeing demons, and they don’t even know it.”
Charley points out, “Years ago people would laugh if anyone talked about psychics, but people believe in them today!” He pauses for a moment, then adds, “There’s too much going on in the world, and between cell phones, computers, the Internet, TV, and everything else, people don’t take time to sit down and read their Bibles. That’s Satan’s plan—to occupy our minds.”
A Turning Point
Although Charley and Susie were walking down a wrong path, their heavenly Father never gave up on them, and slowly, He used their interest in spiritual things to lead Susie to Christian television.
“She started watching The 700 Club, and that led us to buying a Sky Angel satellite dish for Christian and family-friendly channels,” Charley explains. “We also watched Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) a lot.”
Susie quickly adds, “I guess we just melded all the psychics and Christian teachings together. Honestly, I think a lot of people do that, because you can twist anything to make it fit if you don’t know your Bible—and we didn’t!”
A program called Through the Bible with Les Feldick helped get them into the Scriptures. “Les would sit down and go through the Bible, and although some of his teachings were wrong, we really learned a lot about the Scriptures,” Charley says. “I didn’t even know God was leading me, but He was. He kept changing the angle just a bit until He got us over to the right message! We found ourselves watching psychics less and less, and eventually we threw all those books out.”
“What’s That?”
The first time Susie heard about Seventh-day Adventists was when her dermatologist mentioned that his neighbors were of that faith. She remembers asking him, “What’s that?” and he said “Oh, they think that Saturday is the Sabbath,” which she thought was odd. Meanwhile, their Sky Angel receiver began to fail, so Charley ordered a new system from Dish Network—complete with a DVR to record programs. “They installed two dishes so we could get both the Sky Angel and Dish channels,” he says, “and that’s when Susie discovered 3ABN!”
One day, as she flipped through the program guide, she came across a channel she didn’t know. What’s that? she wondered, as she tuned it in. “I thought it was very different, but what they said made sense. Then Pastor Doug Batchelor began to preach, and suddenly things started to fit together. By the time Charley came home, I said, ‘You gotta watch this guy!’”
“We watched 3ABN a lot,” he recalls. “We watched before I went to work; we watched when I came home. It was phenomenal, and we were hungry for truth! My favorite Bible text is Romans 5:8, ‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ He set us up, and He gently brought us around.”
Baptism and the Sabbath
As Susie watched 3ABN one day, one thought kept crowding in. “I didn’t say it to Charley, but as we watched I kept thinking, I think I’m an Adventist! Then suddenly, he looked at me and said, ‘I think I could be an Adventist!’”
With that realization, they both decided to be baptized; but one big obstacle remained. “We both worked every weekend, and I knew my boss had trouble getting pharmacists to work on Saturdays. I didn’t know what to do, so finally, I sent an e-mail to Pastor John Lomacang, and a half-hour later, he called! We talked, and I can’t tell you how that eased my mind. The next day, I sent my boss an e-mail laying out my situation, and asking for Saturdays off. It happened to be April 1, though, so naturally, I got an e-mail back asking if this was an April Fool’s joke!
“It was a struggle for a while, because although he cut me way back, my boss still had me working one or two Saturday’s a month. When I did, I decided to give all my wages to the Lord because I didn’t feel good about keeping it.
“We were so eager to be baptized that I called 3ABN and was transferred to Pastor Jim Gilley, their president at the time. I’m happy to say that the Lord worked it all out, and Pastor Lomacang baptized us during 3ABN’s Spring Camp Meeting! He also wrote a letter to my boss, and I never worked another Saturday again.
“It chokes me up when I think of all the ways God led us to know Jesus. When we were baptized, we were just baby Christians. But praise God for the Sanctification process and that we’ve never quit learning. Each day we get stronger in our faith.”
Mom
But there’s more to this story! Susie’s parents had become disillusioned with church back in the 1960s and hadn’t attended much. But after she began attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she asked her mom, Betty Stoner, if she’d like to go with her. “She lit up, and said, ‘Yes, I’d like to go!’” Susie says with a smile.
“Mom had always played the piano, but she’d never played church music. So it was a whole new experience when she was asked to be our church pianist! She loved our church so much that a year and a half later, at the age of 88, she wanted to be baptized. Since she was petrified of putting her face in the water, we could tell how serious she was about it!
“It was a beautiful baptism, and today, at 93, she’s with us in church every Sabbath. Our church family loves her, and they love her music, too.”
If you visit the Sauk Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, chances are you’ll meet Susie at the door, since she’s a greeter. You’re sure to meet Charley, who is an elder and a Sabbath School teacher, and you’ll enjoy Betty’s piano playing, too!
Today the Haisch family is grateful for God’s gentle hand that led them into truth, and for a church family that’s eager to share the love of Jesus with everyone they meet. Thank you for your prayers and support that make stories like this possible!
Sauk Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church
