In our current church climate, we often read of ministers abusing parishioners in one form or another. Less often, we read and ponder the abuse of ministers by their own parishioners and by outside critics.
History is replete with such accounts. The famous Baptist pastor from London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, faced vicious criticism throughout his ministry, and it often led to severe bouts of self-doubt and spiritual depression.
Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue
Early in his ministry, his preaching became so famous, that his church could not hold the crowds. So his congregation rented the Surrey Music House. The first night someone yelled “Fire!” Some in the crowd fled in panic, with seven dying and dozens injured. Spurgeon urged everyone to stay and continued to preach, unaware that several people had already been crushed to death. Moments later, another panic arose. This time Spurgeon fainted and had to be carried away. Many even thought that he had died.
Experiencing guilt, and battered in the local press, Spurgeon plunged into depression. His wife, Susannah, wrote about their resultant mutual despair. “I wanted to be alone, that I might cry to God in this hour of darkness and death! When my beloved was brought home he looked a wreck of his former self—an hour’s agony of mind had changed his whole appearance and bearing. The night that ensued was one of weeping and wailing and indescribable sorrow. He refused to be comforted. I thought the morning would never break; and when it did come it brought no relief.”[1]
The ensuing days were no better, as Susannah recounts. “The Lord has mercifully blotted out from my mind most of the details of the time of grief which followed when my beloved’s anguish was so deep and violent that reason seemed to totter in her throne, and we sometimes feared he would never preach again. It was truly ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ through which we then walked; and, like poor Christian, we here ‘sighed bitterly’ for the pathway was so dark that oft times when we lifted up our foot to set forward, we knew not where or upon what we should set it next.”[2]
Recuperation and Healing from Spiritual Abuse
Friends took Spurgeon to the country town of Croydon where he stayed in the house of Mr. Winsor, one of his deacons, with Mrs. Spurgeon and their one-month-old twin baby boys. Mrs. Spurgeon’s biographer writes, “It was hoped that the rest and change of scene would aid in the restoration of his mental equilibrium, and although at first his spirit seemed to be imprisoned in darkness, light at last broke in.”[3]
Susannah shares her account of her husband’s recovery. “We had been walking together as usual, he restless and anguished; I sorrowful and amazed, wondering what the end of these things would be; when at the foot of the steps which gave access to the house, he stopped suddenly, and turned to me, and, with the old sweet light in his eyes (ah! how grievous had been its absence!), he said, ‘Dearest, how foolish I have been! Why! what does it matter what becomes of me, if the Lord shall but be glorified? And he repeated with earnestness and intense emphasis, Philippians 2:9-11.”[4] By an amazing inner working of the Holy Spirit, Spurgeon was able to take his eyes off his own agony, placing them instead on God and His glory.
Though Spurgeon began to recover his mental and spiritual equilibrium, upon his return to London even more critics began to write even more critical articles about him and his ministry. Spurgeon actually collected every critical article into a book, on the cover of which he wrote the title Fact, Fiction and Facetiae.
Of these, Susannah said years later: “At the time of their publication what a grievous affliction these slanders were to me. My heart alternatively sorrowed over him and flamed with indignation against his detractors.”[5] Every ministry spouse can relate.
Spiritual Healing through Scriptural Enlightenment
Caring deeply for her husband, Susannah set about the task of ministering to his soul. “For a long time I wondered how I could set continual comfort before his eyes, till, at last, I hit upon the expedient of having the following verses printed in large old English type and enclosed in a pretty Oxford frame: ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you’ (Matthew 5:11-12). The text was hung up in our own room and was read over by the dear preacher every morning, fulfilling its purpose most blessedly, for it strengthened his heart and enabled him to buckle on the invisible armor, whereby he could calmly walk among men, unruffled by their calumnies, and concerned only for their best and highest interests.”[6]
Amazing. What men meant for evil, God wove into good.
How do ministers (pastors, counselors, teachers, missionaries, lay leaders) survive sadistic slander? Through confidence in God and God’s Word. Through the supernatural empowering and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit who teaches them that these falsehoods and lies result in great reward in heaven. Through spiritual friends who use scriptural insight to create a glowing neon sign reminding them that their present suffering is not worth comparing to their future glory.
[1]Charles Ray, “The Life of Susannah Spurgeon,” in Susannah Spurgeon: Free Grace and Dying Love, Carlisle PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, p. 165.
[2]Ibid., pp. 165-166.
[3]Ibid., p. 166.
[4]Ibid., pp. 166-167.
[5]Ibid., p. 168.
[6]Ibid., pp. 168-169.
