He quit as a rescue officer and tried his hand at being a businessman. It was not so successful, and he received, among other things, a prison sentence. In 1917 he was very broken, but accepted an invitation from a couple of friends in the Salvation Army to celebrate Christmas with them. Here he found his way back to his faith, and this Christmas weekend wrote his most famous song: " As a wonderful source of divinity ...". He himself called it "For blood's fault", but it is best known as " He shall open the pearly gates ".
He later returned to Sweden, where he was for a time a pastor in the Swedish Missionary Association.
He is also known for " Gullgraversangen ", ( Once in the distant west ). This became famous, not least because the song evangelist Lapp-Lisa had it in her repertoire.