Monday, January 8th | The Marriage of Charles and Suzy Spurgeon

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Leave us a good five-star review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from, and absolutely nothing less than five stars. We will find you on this 2024, and we will scold you dreadfully. So the verse of the day today comes from John chapter 1, verses 2 through 3. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. It's important to remember Christ's role in creation, his role in the Godhead even. Because everything was made for him, but it was also made through him. He's the one who fashioned it. And so we often have this picture of God the Father, this big bearded man in a Zeus chair just speaking, and everything just boom. But Jesus is literally fashioning creation with his own hands, and did it in seven days, no less.

Gracious. If he's not a king worthy to be worshipped, I don't know who is. Exactly. I mean, it says right there in the verse, prior to this, in the beginning was the Word, and how does God create things? He speaks them into existence. Jesus is that creative agent from the Father. And it's important to remember that he didn't originate in a manger. He has always been, since before the beginning of time, co-eternal, co-equal with God the Father. So important for us.

I love the way that John lays that out in the first couple of verses, just that deep, rich theology of Christ at creation. Amen, amen. We, uh, been a week. We survived the first week of 2024. We made it. The world has not ended. The sky has not fallen down in pillars of fire and smoke. Well, there was that one time.

Well, that's true, yeah, but then it turns out, that would just turn out to be gas. You do remember when everybody used to, like, so I don't, I was too young. I'm too young to remember Y2K. I don't know if you do.

Really? No, I was in, like, I was, like, eight. Let's see, 2000. I was born in 92. I was, like, eight years old.

Oh, yeah, I guess you would have, yeah. So who, which one of your kids is eight years old? Evie? Mmm, Joanna. Joanna's eight. Joanna's eight.

Yeah, so I was Joanna's age. So, like, imagine Y2K, but it's Joanna. Like, now you can be like, hey, the world's gonna end. It's like, uh, that's scary. But it's like, hey, the computers, they don't have their clocks set to go to 2000, so the world economy's gonna crash. Yeah.

Wall Street is gonna be down. This is like, I don't know what that means. I don't know what that means. See, I was, I was knowing Hartley's age about when, when Y2K happened. So, sixth grade. I do remember. Were you using computers in school around that time? No, not really. Not yet?

No. I mean, here and there, we had, like, computer lab, but it was, it was rare. So what was the problem? The clocks just weren't going to... So, every, what everyone's thing was is that there's gonna be, Y2K was, like, this bug that was implanted, almost like a Trojan virus. By who? Who knows? In every computer software, in every digital system, in every electronic device, so that when we hit midnight in 2000, because we were rolling into a new millennium.

Right. I mean, this was, it was huge. It was like, all computers were gonna go haywire, the banking system was gonna go off the grid. I mean, they were gonna be rolling blackouts across the nation. I mean, it was, people were really worried about that. I remember people being stressed.

I remember walking through, like, the grocery store and seeing all these headlines. And then, you know, sort of that sense of trepidation when you're sitting there watching the ball drop, and then it gets to midnight, and then 1201, and then 1202, and nothing happens. Everything is fine.

We just all go about our lives. And, like, that was a whole lot of stress for literally no reason. Wow.

So I'm reading, I'm reading a thread right now. Explain like I'm five, what was the Y2K fear all about? It's basically saying, like, everything used two digits, like, the year 1999 was just 99. So when it hit zero, they thought everything was just correct. It's funny looking back on it 24 years later and being like, why would you think that? But the most brilliant people in America and in the world really thought that. So there had to be some, like, legitimate concern, I guess. Well, think about, I mean, how much technology has advanced in 24 years. I mean, way, way, way back in the late 1900s.

That would have been what? Windows, like, Vista XP? Not even Vista. Windows 95. I mean, really, you're looking like Windows in like 98. I mean, you're talking about technology that is outdated for us now, but it was cutting edge back then. And, you know, people were like, everything's gonna shut down.

We're gonna lose all of our stuff. There was a church. There's a church member who goes here. I won't say his name on the radio, but he actually I asked him if he remembered Y2K because I was I was kind of trying to prep for for today. And I asked him, I said, Did you were you around for Y2K? He said, Dude, when the clock hit midnight, I went to our my friend's basement and shut the breakers off. Yeah, people did that. I mean, that was a real thing that people did. It was like, it was like, three, two, one.

Happy New Year. And then all the like, panic upstairs. Because people were worried that if you left those electronics, something was going to infiltrate and something was going to, you know, corrupt and your entire system was going to go offline.

I'm sorry, that that is true. But I'm saying he did that as a prank. Oh, he did that to prank the all the people upstairs. I gotcha.

Okay. So there's a room for people upstairs. And he's and they say three, two, one.

He just goes boom, shuts all the breakers off and everything. Just that's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. I'm sure back then it wasn't that funny.

But no, no, I'm sure people were stressed. I remember the stinking 2012 Mayan calendar. Oh, yeah, I was I was I feel like by that time, after having gone through Y2K, most of the people were like, Okay, I thought it was funny. Okay, I thought it was the dumbest thing for a long time.

But then like, as December 21st crept closer, I was like, all right, maybe it starts to creep in a little bit. You're like, when people talk stupid for so long, you just start to go along with Yep. And and I don't know, maybe that's a good leadership advice. We can we can don't listen to stupid people for too long. Be careful who you surround yourself with.

Because if you hear something stupid long enough, you might start to believe it. That's right. That's right. All right. Well, let's get Dr. Shaw. I wonder I know he's he was around for Y2K. Let's let's get his take on it as well.

Yeah, he'll have a better perspective than me. I was sixth grade. So I remember it, but it didn't quite impact in the same way not being an adult. If Y2K impacted you, if you remember it, write in and let us know what your experience was.

2525825028. We won't blast you if you thought the world was gonna end on Y2K. Or were you kind of sad that there wasn't like a world-ending cataclysm prophecy this year?

Maybe you feel like you kind of missed out a little bit. We can we can invent one for you. And if so, write in and let us know because we need to have a very different conversation with you. Or visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Stay tuned. We'll be back after this.

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Amen. Let's hop back into the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. All right. And here we are once again in the Clear View Today studio on this beautiful Monday morning, Dr. Abbadon Shah.

It's crisp, it's clear, it's a January morning. Wow. Let me just pass out for a second. Here we go.

We are here with Dr. Abbadon Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament Textual Criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. We made it through the first week. Yes, we did.

I can't believe it. 2024 is already here and we are in it. We're in it. We're in the thick of it. And we're in it to win it. We're in it to win it.

There you go. Let me ask you this. There was no crazy conspiracies this year, no end of the world prophecies. But I remember a time back in 2012 where everybody was certain it was going to happen.

Yeah. They were the big Mayan calendar thing. The calendar ran out, so naturally the world is going to fuck. It's like these guys made a calendar 5,000 something years ago and it went 5,000 years in the future. But because it ran out of space, they somehow knew.

Here's one I don't remember personally, but I wasn't allowed for. Tell me about Y2K. Oh, gosh. Like the computers are going to run out of time. Yeah. So we're all going to die. Well, I hate to mention names, so I'm not going to mention any names. There were a lot of Christian authors who got on the bandwagon of writing these books on how to survive Y2K. You're joking.

No, I wish I was. And so it was sort of hard to ignore that and it was tough. And I was like, yeah, I don't know how this is going to work out. I don't know what's going to happen to the banking system. I don't know how it's going to happen to the internet.

I don't know what's going to happen. And I remember staying up that night. This is 2000 going into 2001. I'm sorry, it was 1999 going into 2000.

That's what it was. And then I turned on my computer like five minutes after 2000 came in and nothing happened. Did the date say 2000?

Like 1-1-2000? Yeah, it was just like normal. And then I woke up the next morning because I went back to sleep. I was like, okay, let me go back to sleep now. I'll go to sleep now.

And got up the next morning, checked everything and the world was just fine. All these books written, all this conversation on the radio. I don't think they were like podcasts at the time. I don't know.

Not that I know of. But everybody was talking about it. Seminars were there. Businesses were calling in experts to come and help them navigate through this, how everything was going to be chaotic.

And nothing. I remember that. That was my sixth grade year. I remember the hype because some people I know in my life and love dearly kind of fell into that line of thinking. And just like you said, those well-known, well-respected names and authors, people were interested in that and they were buying books. So if you write a book on the subject, people are going to buy it.

How to survive it. So just complete honesty, did your wife buy into it at all? Did Nicole believe a word? No, neither of us did. But we did fill up our gas tank. We did do that. We did buy a little extra groceries. And so we were sort of ready just in case something happens and the power goes out and we have to now cook on the grill. Because we did have a grill, I think, at the time. A small one. And we're ready for that.

We have a gas tank, a propane tank. We're going to make it. And it's like, well, nothing. But you and your wife both had sense enough to know, like, this is nothing. And I guess in that way, y'all were sort of perfect for each other because you were able to see past all that lunacy. Yeah, we were able to do that. Yeah, absolutely.

So, yeah. And then the 2012 Mayan calendar mess came and neither of us even remotely stopped. And then the blood moon stuff came out. Oh, man, the blood moon. People were asking me things and I was feeling so dumb because I was like, yeah, the blood moon. Right, right. Well, it just takes a while to explain.

Let me take it back with you on that. I'm thinking of what is the blood moon? Where in the world is the blood moon? Why did I learn this in seminary?

Why did they not talk about the blood moon? Dude, if you're out there, those are great marriage goals. Just be able to sit up with your spouse late into the night and just laugh about stuff like this.

Laugh about the end of the world coming. Everybody buying into it. You know, in that sense, you want that person where you can be in the same team. You're in this together.

You're in the thick of it. You know, no matter what craziness happens, you have each other to lean on, to rely on. Well, you also know God's plan for your life. And you know God's plan, not know every single detail, but you know that God has a plan for your life and for your marriage. That's right. That's right. We're talking about one of those marriages today.

Absolutely. We are. We are because this is a special day.

You all want to tell us what that special day is? Today is January the 8th, which is the wedding anniversary of one of your favorite preachers of all time. Preachers, pastors, same thing? Same thing. I know people make a big deal out of it.

It was a big Facebook thing going on. Preacher versus pastor. And then they got into the, well, preacher is a preacher. He just preaches. Pastor is a shepherd. I'm like, it's a title. It depends on which tradition you come from.

If you come from a country tradition, it's preachers. Yeah. And it's Charles Spurgeon.

Like, you're what? You're going to step to Charles Spurgeon? I don't think so. You're really going to play semantics with Big Daddy Spurgeon and his wife?

I don't think that you are. What was his wife's name? His wife's name was, um... Susie. Susie Spurgeon.

Oh, that's cute. Susie Spurgeon. That's a cute name. Susie Spurgeon.

That kind of sounds like the kindergarten girl that lives next door. I'm Susie Spurgeon. She wasn't Spurgeon as a little girl.

No, that's true. Married on January the 8th. Nice one, dude.

Nice one. Yeah, she wasn't a Spurgeon until she was a girl. You did a series a long time ago on their marriage specifically.

Yeah, I did Sunday morning. In our worship service, I did a series on famous couples. Which is, which is odd because it's like, when I say odd, I mean, it's, it's very irregular to be like, Hey, what did you, what did the pastor preach on today? Charles Spurgeon's marriage. Yeah. Really? Then we did Martin Luther's marriage.

Then I did R.G. Letourneau, one of my heroes, his marriage. And we, and I'm just mentioning the name of the men, but, but of course the wives were just as involved in their marriage. Right. But in here, just for the benefit of those who don't know much about Charles Spurgeon, he still holds the title of Prince of Preachers.

Still holds that title. When he came to the new Park Street Church, London in 1854, they had only 200 members. And in 38 years, almost four decades, the ministry added about 14,000 members. Now we're not talking about the eighties when there was always mega churches. And even prior to that, there were mega churches. We're not talking about the nineties, you know, with Saddleback or Willow Creek or First Baptist Dallas or First Baptist Atlanta. We're talking about 1860s.

Right. The 1800s. Like civil war times.

Prior to civil war. That's crazy. And at one time he had as many as 12,000 in audience with 10,000 waiting outside to get in.

Wait a minute. 12,000 in the audience and then 10,000 more were waiting outside to get in? My people just could not get enough. That's almost as many outside as there were inside. That's crazy. And he would sometimes tell people not to attend the next Sunday's service so that other people could come and find a seat. Imagine that.

Like, hey, take a break next Sunday so that other people have a chance to get in. He was a soul winner. He was. And there are lots and lots of stories about how people got saved. One time he was doing some sound test and he was told, he said, read loud some passage. And he said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Of course, he did it in a British accent. And a man working in the rafters got saved. Nice.

One time a woman read a piece of paper that was used to wrap some butter and it was Spurgeon's sermon and she got saved. Wow. Right. That's incredible. And in 1865, he sold as many as 25,000 copies per week. I'm not talking about in the 1960s where those printed sermons were so popular.

We're not talking about 2024. We're talking about 1865. That's incredible. That's a long time ago. That's a long time ago. And that's incredible numbers to be pulling in that day and age. Right.

And he missed the opportunity to go to college, but he started college. What we don't think about is his marriage to Susanna or Susie Spurgeon as we know her today. Wow. So for the next few minutes, let's talk about her. Maybe it encourages somebody today who is struggling in their marriage or doing great.

You don't have to struggle in your marriage to enjoy a show like this. That's right. So Charles Spurgeon had been very successful in a small town out in the country called Water Beach. And he got a call to come to London's New Park Street pulpit or church for a trial sermon. And he showed up in Victorian London. This is sort of the, I wouldn't say the height of fashion, but it was very close to that. They were well-dressed. Was he a fashionable guy? No.

And so when Susie saw him for the first time, she didn't like him much. Uh-oh. That's the second time you threw me off because I thought for sure you were going to say it was love at first sight. No, it's not.

Not happening. She was like, um, that's a no. He was just preacher boy, hair everywhere, had a huge blue handkerchief with polka dots in his front pocket. So that, she said, I couldn't take my eyes off that handkerchief. The old flag right there.

Yeah, right there. But, um, she had been saved, but was backsliding and Charles's preaching opened her heart to God once again. See, I love that. I love that it was God's word that actually ended up bringing them together. Same with my mom and dad.

That's the same thing that happened. My dad helped my mom not come to know Christ, but really dedicated her heart to God. That's what I thought of as you were talking about, uh, Susie and how she kind of, you know, through Charles Spurgeon's preaching came back.

I thought about what you shared about your parents, about how, you know, your dad was your mom's pastor first before he was her husband. That's right. I mean, a marriage that lasts, man, it's built on the word of God.

That's right. Like when my dad would, they started dating or something, you know, they, he start, he was talking to her about God and he was just laughing at him like, what are you doing? Like, I'm trying to explain to you the mysteries of Christ. She would just laugh at him. But I mean, in time they both were on fire for Christ. So, um, they would take long walks together and a year later he actually baptized her and they were married and had two twin boys. Oh, wow. Beautiful.

Beautiful. So it's no secret that God had his hands on Charles Spurgeon and the church was growing rapidly, the ministry was expanding and, um, Charles had a lot on him. And several times Susie would walk into the vestry, if you know what a vestry is, um, and Charles wouldn't even recognize her.

Wow. He was so engrossed in his work and he would stand up and greet her with, how are you? At first she was upset, but then she knew what he was facing. And one time before they married, he even left her in a crowded place and, and, um, forgot about her.

Just got off the phone, hello, and just walks off. And she had to make her way through the crowd to find a seat. It made her so mad that she left the place and went to her parents' home hoping to find some sympathy. Instead her mom kind of wisely explained to her not to be selfish. That's a good mom, by the way. Yeah. I was about to say, go mom.

That's a very wise mom to understand the burden, not the burden, but the cost of ministry. Yeah. It's like, no, I don't think he does that intentionally. He is, he's got a lot on him, so go love him.

Don't, don't hate him for that. Yeah. But church kept growing and they decided to expand the building and they rented Exeter Hall, which was a large public auditorium that could seat about 5,000 people. And this was unheard of in Victorian England to have something like this for a church was not... Like to rent out an auditorium?

Yeah, so that we can have church. So all that you hear today with all these churches renting out theaters, Spurgeon did that. Wow.

That's incredible. He did that about 100 years ago, 150 years ago. It was too poor commonplace to have a place of your own, I guess. Right, right. And so one newspaper even said, the place is jammed to suffocation.

All his discourses are redolent, of bad taste, are vulgar and theatrical. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Come on. So, by the way, there's a great book that Spurgeon wrote. It's called, oh, the title escapes me, but it's about these radical preachers. There's a different name for, it's a radical, he has another name for that, but it was, it's a great book. But he writes like short biographies of these preachers who were sort of where he learned this idea of just being off the grid a little bit.

Wow. Another one said, all the most solemn mysteries of our holy religion are by him rudely, roughly, and impiously handled. Were they just jealous? Were they envious of him or did they just genuinely not like his preaching? Well, when a man is drawing in 12,000 some people. They're trying to pick it apart any way they can.

I got you. And he pretended that it didn't bother him, but he struggled with that. I can imagine. And he would say, down on my knees have I often fallen with the hot sweat rising from my brow under some fresh slander poured upon me. In an agony of grief, my heart has been well nigh broken. And Susie said, my heart, alternately, alternatively, I'm not saying it right, soldered over him and flamed with indignation against his detractors. That's a good woman.

She's worried about him, but she's ready to go to bat for him. Right. And so they moved into a new building, but it was still small again. And once again, they had to expand.

And this time they had to meet in the big, much big Surrey Music Hall. And this was a theater, by the way. And once again, he was criticized, but more people kept coming in. One night, some agitators decided to cause trouble and they shouted this scream. Someone screamed, fire, the galleries are collapsing.

Oh, yeah, I remember you telling the story before. So when that happened, there was a mad rush, kind of a stampede to the door. And Charles tried to quiet the people down.

And once again, someone yelled, fire. And as he turned from the pulpit, he collapsed. And he had a breakdown, a real nervous breakdown. And he had to be taken out the side door and brought home.

And listen to what Susie said about this. This is powerful. He said, I wanted to be alone, that I might cry to God in the hour of darkness and death. When my beloved was brought home, he looked a wreck of his former self. An hour's agony of mine 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, but when it did come, it brought no relief. Seven people died. Yeah, imagine a tragedy like that happening at your church. Like when you read about it in history books or in Charles Spurgeon's life, it's like, man, that must have been rough. But like, seven people died. Imagine seven people. And many were injured. Yeah, imagine seven people dying at one of your church services. Think about it.

It's not just an ambiguous problem that people have. People have a problem with him. And he's got to bear the weight of that, even if the accusations are wrong and they're unjust. I mean, he still is carrying the weight of all of that.

That's right. And it was tough. But a few days later, as they were taking a walk in the garden, it suddenly hit him that it was not about him. It was about Jesus Christ. Why was he so worried? And he missed only one week and he was back in the pulpit, preaching again.

Which is tough, which is very tough. So this is him. The new building was finally completed, and they changed the name to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. And Charles Spurgeon's ministry began to grow, and Suzy even started a book fund to assist preachers who didn't have money for books. And they even started college for preachers, as I mentioned earlier, and even an orphanage. And he had more and more speaking engagements, and Suzy would often go with him. It seemed like everything was going great, but then in 1868, at the age of 36, Suzy became terribly sick. I mean, just 36. We're not talking about 46, 56, 66. He was young.

36. She got sick, and she was in constant pain. And she even had a major surgery that helped the pain, but ultimately she became sort of a semi-invalid. She's not traveling with him anymore.

That form of support is kind of over. And then a year later, Charles' own health also took a turn for the worse, and at the age of 35, he had rheumatoid arthritis, which was especially bad during the cold and damp winters, and he also had gout. And once he wrote to his congregation, he said this way, he said, I have been brought very low. My flesh has been tortured with pain, and my spirit has been prostrated with depression.

With some difficulty, I write these lines in my bed, mingling them with the groans of pain and the songs of hope. And in time, he did get better, of course, but he had complications. Well, he very famously had depression. Do you think this stuff with Suzy is where it started? Yeah. I think it all began that night of the collapse, as we just talked about that. I think that's when it began, and it triggered something inside that never really got resolved. And at times, he was away from the pulpit. Three weeks at a time, he had to stay away.

Wow. There was so much he couldn't get out of it. And many times, Suzy would sit by his bedside and read to him, and even she struggled with depression. And at age 57, his body couldn't take it anymore, and as he lay on his deathbed, Suzy was with him, and he called for her, and she responded with Tershata. That's what she used to call him, which is governor in the Old Testament.

Tershata is what she would call him. It was pretty interesting. And he said, Oh wifey, I have had such a blessed time with the Lord. Wow. And no bitterness, no doubt, just gratefulness. And in the end, about 100,000 people came to the funeral. What an encouraging note to end your marriage and your life on.

Yeah. Like, I've had such a great time with the Lord, a blessed time with the Lord. That's beautiful. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, maybe you learned something about Charles Spurgeon and his wife, Suzy. If it helped you in your marriage, write in and let us know 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website, so we're all the way to the bottom of that page and become part of our Clearview Today Show family by supporting what God is doing through our show.

I also want to encourage you to visit MightyMuscadine.com and view some of their great wellness products. You can use that promo code today, that's T-O-D-A-Y, for a discount on your purchase and a portion of those proceeds coming right back here to our show. John, what's coming up on tomorrow's episode? We're talking some leadership on tomorrow's episode. A couple of leadership topics and some quick tips to help—well, not even really quick tips, just fundamental advice for leaders, especially in the ministry. Be discerning.

Be very, very careful who you surround yourself with. That's right. Tune in tomorrow as we put the fun in fundamentals. Oh, nice, Rob. It was right there. I had to take it. Love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.