May 3, 2017 Show with Ray Rhodes, Jr. on “Susannah Spurgeon: Princess of the Prince of Preachers”

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Good afternoon Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity

living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming.

This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on

this third day of May 2017.

She was married to one of the most famous preachers in history.

She gave away 200 ,000 books to poor pastors and even planted a church.

She was the author of five books, co -editor of and primary contributor to a

massive four -volume autobiography of her husband and author of numerous other

articles.

However, she is the subject of only one brief biography written in 1903.

She has been mostly overlooked by scholars and authors and I'm speaking of Susanna

Spurgeon, Princess of the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and we're going to discuss

Susanna Spurgeon today with Ray Rhodes Jr., who is an elder at Grace Community Church of

Dawsonville, Georgia, founder of Nourished in the Word Ministries and Books that Nourish,

blogger at the Dancing Puritan, an author of such books as Family Worship for the

Reformation Season, Family Worship for the Thanksgiving Season, Family Worship for the Christmas Season,

The Marriage Bed, and The Visionary Marriage.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron,.

Ray Rhodes.

Well, thank you, Brother Chris.

It's great to be on your show today.

And in studio with.

Me as a special guest co -host, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Gerard.

It's great to have you back in the.

Studio.

It's good to be back with you, Chris, and good to be on the same line with my friend,.

Brother Ray Rhodes.

And he is also a co -elder at Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia, and in

studio again is a more regular co -host, the Reverend Buzz Taylor.

Great to have you back in studio.

Thank you very much.

Good to be here.

If anybody would like to join us on the air today with a question of your own about Susannah Spurgeon, our email address is chrisarnson at

gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

And Pastor Ray, I know that you've done this before since you've been a guest on the program, but for those of

you, for those in our listening audience who have just discovered you, tell our

listeners something about Grace Community Church of.

Dawsonville, Georgia.

Yes, sir.

Grace Community Church is constituted

and formally before Baptist congregation here in North Georgia, committed to the

doctrines of grace, expository preaching, a godly fellowship, a growing

fellowship.

My brother, Kevin Gerard, who is an elder,

and we're excited.

It's a great place to be, the northernmost metro Atlanta County, Dawson County,

so we're in a growing area, vibrant community, and great opportunity to preach the.

Gospel here.

Praise God.

And for our listeners who are either living in the Dawsonville, Georgia area

or they are visiting there, planning to visit there, or if they have loved ones living near there,

have them directed, or if it's you, please visit Grace Community Church

of Dawsonville, Georgia, and their website is gracechurchdawsonville .org,

gracechurchdawsonville .org, D -A -W -S -O -N -ville .org.

And you have, as I said in my announcements, quite a prolific writer,

and you have the family worship books for many of the seasons.

Are we to expect a family worship for the Kwanzaa season coming out soon?

No, I don't think so.

Obviously, I was just kidding, but do you have any others coming out in that series?

Because you haven't exactly addressed every single holiday yet.

Not yet.

My wife has

been to the right family.

Worship for it as I can.

Those families are

Gadosh's.

Yes, and Mike Gadosh is

not only a dear friend and a sponsor of Iron Sherpins Iron Radio,.

But he's also the very first pastor I had after becoming a born -again Christian.

So I dearly treasure my relationship with Mike and always look forward to him returning as a guest

on my.

Program as well.

We

anticipate seeing a bit of a revival this year.

And the subject

matter today,

as

I've already mentioned, Susanna Spurgeon.

What is it about.

Susanna Spurgeon that so fascinated you that you wanted to dedicate a lot of time

to researching her life?

And in fact, did you not include something about her life in your.

Doctoral dissertation that you're

working on?

I did.

I graduated, looked at their marriage, and also

I'm attracted

to Susanna

Spurgeon.

This

is

the only biography.

Numerous in 1903.

A woman

that

contributed,

and I'm

thankful to...

Wow, sorry

about that.

I almost

spilled a.

Scolding hot cup of coffee on my lap.

And I would have become an invalid myself, possibly.

But now, before we even get to that point in her being an invalid, I'd like to know something about

her religious upbringing as a child, if any, and what specifically that was, and how the Lord

providentially drew her to himself and saved her.

And then you can get us to the point.

Where she actually became an invalid, and so on.

Right, right.

Well, she was born the only

daughter of a

chapel, where

Spurgeon would become

the pastor.

Evening devotions, Bible reading, were

oftentimes perhaps lying on the veneer of the culture, the

heart of the folks.

But nevertheless,

she grew up in

a city, a

free chapel.

And while

there, for the first time,

almost immediately after her,

sort of great moral sin,

needing, just not really having

that in number.

Spurgeon, December

18th, 18th, a sermon as a guest

preacher.

So it was just a handful of people

on

Sunday

evening, and she was...

Now,

when

you say unimpressed with his language, do you mean his grammar,.

Or his accent, or was he using profanity?

What do you mean by that?

Nope.

And so

what was it

that the Lord used

to change her mind so radically that she wound up

married?

1854, in April of 1854, she confided in friends

about her spirit,

communicated

to

him,

or just as they

described it with

time, they began meeting at this friend's home, and she confided

more and

more

in Spurgeon.

He discipled her.

And I'd like to

repeat our.

Email address again.

It's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

If anybody else would like to join us on the air with a question of your own on the life of Susanna

Spurgeon, or even on Charles Spurgeon, the email address again is chrisarnson at gmail

.com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Please give us your first name, at least, your city and state, and your country of residence, if you live outside

of the USA.

By the way, I do have a listener in Dawsonville, Georgia, who has written us.

Adrian, he says, I'd love to know how much Mr. Mr. Mr. Dr.

Pastor Rhodes loves and appreciates his wonderful and talented son -in -law.

That's obviously Adrian Rink, who works alongside Todd Friel at Wretched TV and Wretched Radio,

and he sent this in and said he's listening to the program today.

I've seen them both in Georgia at the G3 conference.

Because he moved from Minnesota, I met my daughter just

down the street from where I live.

My daughter Rachel has three lovely children, my grandchildren, and one on the

way, so we're anticipating number four, so

a godly son -in -law.

By the way, we also have an email from Al Yerkes, who

volunteers with Wretched Radio.

He's from Mahopac Falls, New York, and he says,

he says, did you know that Grace Community Church will be my home church when I move down to Georgia?

Put in a good word with my future elders.

So that's Al from Mahopac Falls, New York.

Let's hear more about the blossoming romance between Charles and Susanna

and their courtship and so on, things that many of our listeners, even those who love Charles Spurgeon's writings, might

be totally ignorant of.

Before you do that, Chris, I wanted to make sure that when Ray was describing Susanna's impression of

Charles that Ray wasn't confused in talking about his wife Lori's first impression.

Of Ray.

Could you confirm that for

us, Ray?

And I was a

country boy.

That's funny, my late wife has told people in the past that she was totally unimpressed with

me when she first met me, and she makes fun of the clothing that I was wearing and thought it was

too hip looking or whatever, and she thought that I just spoke about myself

too much.

But anyway, what do we know about what Charles'

first impression of Susanna was?

Well, we don't know.

At that

point,

she was

described

as

a huge,

she

owned

it all

in 1954.

Dismantled and then reopened in a South London suburb in June

of 1854.

During

that

time of

marriage,

for him

who

is

to

be

young,

emotion,

she went from not knowing for

an

essence.

Wow.

Well, what

do

we know of.

The parents of Susanna Spurgeon and their attitude toward him?

Right.

In fact, I have dear friends in London right now who are digging through

archives, trying to find any information that we can piece

together

about the merchant, a manufacturer.

I

don't even know her mother's name.

At least I've not been able to uncover it.

You

know,

just a short ways that

he would forget other people like the young

lady at his side.

So as he runs back to

her mother that, you

know, he's forgotten

me.

Well, at the end of Spurgeon puts

two dolls on him.

He's just, he's unable to, he

rushes back to her parents' home and her mother wisely meets him at the door,

explains the situation to him.

And she'd already counseled her daughter that she was marrying a man who was no ordinary man

and that God had called him and reminded Susanna.

From that

point forward, Susanna made it a point

never to.

And, uh, the, I know that they

had children, I believe two of the children they had were twins, correct?

That's right.

They only had two children.

Okay.

They only had two.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thomas.

And she came out, uh, uh, Thomas was right.

The shadow of not only his

brother,

the twins are born in late September.

I guess she

more

appropriately,.

She was with children, not with child.

Bob, I'm not certain if they knew that she had twins before they were born, because back then, I don't know what kind of, uh, how,

what kind of clarity doctors had and knowing how many, uh, children were in the womb

there at that time.

But, uh, we're going to be coming right back with, to learn more about Susanna Spurgeon and her marriage to Charles Haddon

Spurgeon.

If you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsonatgmail .com,

chrisarnsonatgmail .com.

And please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence, if you live outside of the good old

USA.

And perhaps you could answer, uh, think about a question that I'll ask now, and you can answer it when you come back.

Uh, we have, uh, we have, uh, Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County,

Long Island, New York, who wants to know what you know about the lives and faiths of Spurgeon's,

uh, the, the, uh, those that, uh, are in the family tree of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in

this country and around the world today.

So perhaps you could think about that.

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Hi, I'm Pastor Bill Shishko, inviting you to tune into A Visit to the Pastor's Study every Saturday

from 12 noon to 1 p .m. Eastern Time on WLIE Radio,

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We bring biblically faithful pastoral ministry to you, and we invite you to visit the pastor's study by calling in

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Join us this Saturday at 12 noon Eastern Time for A Visit to the Pastor's Study,.

Because everyone needs a pastor.

Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnzen.

If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours with about 90 minutes to go is Ray Rhodes,

elder at Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, Georgia, and an author of a number of books.

Today we are speaking on Susanna Spurgeon, Princess of the Prince of Preachers, Charles Arnzen, and Susanna

Spurgeon.

If you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is ChrisArnzen at gmail

.com.

Before the break, Ray, Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York was asking about the progeny

or the descendants of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon, what you know of them, if anything,

and what their faith is, if you know anything about it.

Okay, yeah,

I don't know a lot,

and while I was there,

Susanna, so her

great -grandfather,

her mother's

lady, seemed

to be a very godly family, and in fact, she was at the grand opening

of the Spurgeon Western Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

So she is a Christian?

She is. She is a godly lady.

She is.

And do you know if the doctrines of grace followed down the lineage

of the Spurgeon family?

I'm not as aware of the particulars.

We have Erin in Indianapolis, Indiana, and she says, is there any

indication of how Charles and Susanna handled their separation by distance when he was away

preaching, when she was an invalid and made to stay at home?

And she has a second question I'll ask you after you respond to that.

Yes, they wrote,

Susanna

was with

you

at

that

point

in time,

and in

fact,

between those,

Susanna helped

him with

the same

work of

miracle

and raised you up

to perfect health, and then he

goes on and on.

That was his...

And what do we know about what this surgery was, why it was required in

the first place?

What was her health problem that required this surgery?

Ray, I don't know if you're aware of this, but you are breaking up from time to time.

This may have happened the last time as well, where you cut out completely.

Can you hear me, Ray?

Okay, let me try this.

Is it better?

Right now it is, yeah.

Okay, yes, and it

surmised

that she was in significant

prison for

marriage,

but

able

to...

By the way, I'm almost certain that a book by Diana Lynn

Severance, which was published by Christian Focus Publications, A

Cord of Three Strands, I believe that

this book contains some of the love letters written by Charles Hadley

Spurgeon to Susanna.

I know that it contains Christian love letters of famous Christians throughout

history, and I interviewed Diana Lynn Severance several months ago, and

I'm almost certain that I can remember hearing her read at

least one of the love letters from Charles Spurgeon.

But those of you listening who have an interest in that, you might want to go to Cumberland Valley Bible Book

Services website, cvbbs .com, cv for Cumberland Valley, bbs for

BibleBookService .com, and look up A Cord of Three Strands by Diana Lynn

Severance, s -e -v -e -r -a -n -c -e, and it was published by

Christian Focus Publications.

So I think that you will enjoy that.

In fact, you could also look up the interview that I did on that same subject with Diana Lynn Severance

at ironsharpensironradio .com, and then type in Severance in the

search engine, s -e -v -e -r -a -n -c -e, and then Diana Lynn

Severance should come up, and you can find A Cord of Three Strands.

The health problems that she had, was that a cause of Great Depression

for her or Charles?

Because I know that it is quite well known that Charles Haddon Spurgeon battled his own

depressions, but I don't know if it had any connection with Susanna's

health.

I do know that the fire in the theater where he was holding worship services, or I should

say the deaths of those trampled during the false

fire alarm, or somebody yelling fire into the doorway, that was a cause of

Great Depression for Spurgeon.

But what kind of ramifications did Susanna's health problems have?

Yes, let me back up just a little

bit.

It seems to have suffered even prior to his

new Park Street Chapel.

Not to the extent that he did later in life, but he did suffer

from depression.

He writes about that a bit, and I don't remember the exact reference,

into a section called the Minister's Thanking Fits, I believe is in

that book.

And then in 1856, again, the twins are born in September.

At the music hall, the church is growing so rapidly, they

rent this music hall, and he's preaching on a Sunday night there.

Sunday morning services will be at the new Park Street, Sunday night at the music hall.

And as he goes into

the music hall, there's 10 ,000 people.

And you have told us, as I repeated in the outset of the program,

that she gave away 200 ,000 books to poor pastors.

I mean, did this involve Charles Haddon Spurgeon coming home one day and looking into his library and being

shocked, seeing empty shelves in his own study?

Or how did she get a hold of these books?

What books did she select?

And how did she know about these poor pastors to begin with?

That's quite a number of books.

Yeah, pulling a lot from memory here.

Spurgeon

said,

well, why don't

you?

Future use began.

And so she

gave away

copies of Skrema

station for

stacking books, boxing books.

There's many pastors.

And the pastors, do you know what theological background were they from?

They were from, were they predominantly Baptists and evangelicals and so on?

Or are they from varying degrees of religious backgrounds?

They were

from various

varying

degrees,

I

believe, 10

years after.

And in those books, she recounts the story.

I think you're starting to cut out again, Ray.

But the books that she has written herself, oh, by the way, I wanted to

give a word to all the wives out there who give your husbands a hard time for

buying too many books.

Well, look what Susanna Spurgeon did.

She bought 200 ,000 books to give away to strangers.

But tell us something about the books that she herself wrote.

Right.

She's

written

after

Spurgeon.

Yes, I actually did an interview with the folks at Particular Baptist Press who brought that back into

print.

That's right.

I have a copy of it right here on my desk.

And I read that.

As part of my research on Susanna, I'm doing an analysis of her writing and

read that influenced her as well as,

she was a, she was a figure.

I already mentioned that Particular Baptist Press has reprinted A Cluster of Camphor.

What are, are any of these other books available in print today?

They are.

Susanna Spurgeon, my edition,

Votions, it's available

by Banner

of

Truth.

So yes, you can get all of the devotional books in print.

It is very difficult.

My Life Book from 1986 was about the time

it came out.

So, you know, reprint those and you can find them from time to time.

Did she get any negative feedback, this being in the 19th century

and being in a theologically conservative Christian household,

a theologically conservative husband who is in the ministry?

Did anybody raise eyebrows or raise an eyebrow to her writing books that involve

theology and look upon this as something improper for a pastor's wife to

be doing?

I have not run across three things I've seen as has been

positive.

And again, our

patients have

got sovereign

grace.

Wow.

That's something.

We're going to our midway break right now.

If anybody would like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the good old USA.

So don't go away.

We are going to be right back, God willing, with Ray Rhodes and more of the life of Susanna

Spurgeon right after these messages.

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And I hope you join me at Harvey Cedars this May 15th through the 17th

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Evangelicals at the Harvey Cedars Bible Conference in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey.

The speakers include Carl Truman, Todd Pruitt, John Nielsen, and Amy Bird.

And this is in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

If you'd like to register for this Pastors Retreat, the Alliance of Confessing

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Click on Events, and then click on the Faithful Shepherd Pastors Retreat, and you'll

have all the information that you need.

I do not believe this is restricted to pastors only, so just make sure you contact them to find

out all the details that you need.

To be able to attend.

The next event that I'm letting you know about is restricted to church leaders,

pastors, deacons, and others.

This is the Banner of Truth U .S. Ministers Conference, which is going to be held Tuesday, May

30th through Thursday, June 1st, in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania at the Elizabethtown

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Speakers include Joel Beeky, Jeff Thomas, William Vanderwaard, Mark Johnston,

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.org, banneroftruth .org.

Click on events and then click on 2017 U .S. Ministers Conference.

Also coming up June 22nd through the 23rd in New York City,

Sermon Audio is conducting the Foundations Conference that I am also

planning to attend.

This conference will feature such speakers as Dr. Stephen J. Lawson, Dr. Joel Beeky,

Phil Johnson, and Todd Friel, and others.

And that again is June 22nd through June 23rd in New York City in the

Chelsea area of New York City.

And for more details about registering for this conference, go to thefoundationsconference

.com, thefoundationsconference .com.

And I hope that you look for me while you're there and have a bit of fellowship

with me if you can attend.

Last but not least, I want you to know about the Fellowship Conference New England

to be held August 3rd through the 5th in Portland, Maine.

And speakers at this conference include Pastor Don Curran, Pastor Mac

Tomlinson, Pastor Jesse Barrington, Pastor Nate Pikowitz.

And the theme actually of the Fellowship Conference New England is that there is never a theme.

They let the pastors preach on whatever has been burdening their hearts, and it's more of a

free -flowing conference in that regard.

I'm sure the men prepare for their messages, but they do not get a

title or a theme allotted to them.

They preach on whatever they believe the Lord is leading them to preach at this conference.

It is a theologically reformed or sovereign grace conference.

And for more details on registering for that conference, go to fellowshipconferencenewengland .com,

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whether you want to donate to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio or whether you want to advertise

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So I thank you for your time and your patience in allowing me to

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And again, I appreciate your prayers very much.

We have returning to our discussion today, Ray Rhodes Jr.

He is pastor of Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia, and he is speaking

today on Susanna Spurgeon, the princess of the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

And in studio with me, I have a co -elder of his, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Gerard at Grace Community

Church of Dawsonville, Georgia, and also the Rev. Buzz Taylor, who is my regular co -host here on the program.

Our email address, if you have a question, is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail

.com.

And Pastor Ray, some of the things that we were discussing

or that I was announcing at the beginning of the program, all the things that are so

admirable about this dear woman, Susanna Spurgeon.

We have already discussed how she was very benevolent and generous in giving away

200 ,000 books to poor pastors, and that she actually had a fund for that

and saved money for that.

She planted a church on her own.

Tell us something about how that came about.

That's quite an interesting story there.

Yes, after Spurgeon died, then

remodeled in 1895

to Bexhill.

And while there, she had someone

reply to her that they had never heard of trying to

meet some years prior, but nothing had really

come of that.

And so Mrs. Spurgeon vacationing while her home was being remodeled is concerned

a Baptist church.

And so she begins to talk about what to do.

In the meantime, she returns home.

And while there had been friends of

Canada days, and

nothing had come.

So it came to her mind one day that if God would will,

would be an excellent that she

had been visited.

And

so then did that the church should have no debt.

And so one thing led to another, or

be no, Ray,

you're breaking up

again.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Let me let me speak a little louder.

Yeah, the last thing you said there would be no worldly entertainment.

Those are your last words.

And then

you broke

up.

Right.

So

she's not

really

lovely, such as about 250

church.

Now, where where was she herself worshiping after Charles and Spurgeon, her husband went home to

be.

With the Lord for eternity?

Well, again, okay, because of

the the physical disability that she had.

And

Aaron

from

Indianapolis,

Indiana has another question.

She says, Could you please ask if or how Susanna helped her husband with

depression?

Yes, that's

the

ultimate

joke about that.

The

poetry

of

George

Herbert,

convicting and confrontation,

she usually called disaster

to him

and write letters to

him.

Affliction

affected.

Yes.

Oh,

yeah.

Not

only

Spurgeon

Kevin Girard

has a

question

or comment.

Ray, I wanted to

set up

a response

for you.

So you keep talking about affliction and suffering.

So I have in my mind an American celebrity pastor and his wife

with the aids of various age defying measures, spray on

tans and who paint a picture for

perhaps an unsuspecting seeker of a prosperity that

accompanies gospel ministry that's very different from the picture that you are

painting for us of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon.

So could you perhaps describe how that false picture of marriage and the

gospel will lead into despair and how the affliction and suffering that

you're describing with Charles and Susanna Spurgeon lead to something else entirely?

Ray, are you still there?

I think that we lost Ray.

All right.

You know what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to our final break.

I'm going to go to our final break now.

And hopefully we'll have Ray Rhodes back on the air with us when we come back from the break.

If you'd like to join us as well, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Don't go away.

We will be right back after these messages with Ray Rhodes.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.

Give yourself unto reading.

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He who never quotes will never be quoted.

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Hi, I'm Pastor Bill Shishko, inviting you to tune in to A Visit to the Pastor's Study every Saturday

from 12 noon to 1 pm Eastern Time on WLIE Radio,

www .wlie540am .com.

We bring biblically faithful pastoral ministry to you, and we invite you to visit the Pastor's Study by calling in

with your questions.

Our time will be lively, useful, and I assure you, never dull.

Join us this Saturday at 12 noon Eastern Time for a visit to the Pastor's Study, because everyone needs

a pastor.

Welcome back.

This is Chris Zarnes, and if you just tuned us in, our guest for the last 90 minutes and the next half hour

to come has been and will continue to be Ray Rhoades of Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia,

an author, a conference speaker, and today he is addressing the subject Susanna Spurgeon,

Princess of the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

In studio with me is Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Girard.

He is a co -elder along with Ray Rhoades at Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, Georgia, and also my

more regular co -host Reverend Buzz Taylor is in studio as well.

Before the break, Ray, before we lost you somehow, Lieutenant Colonel Girard was asking a

question.

If you could re -ask that question.

Sure.

So, Ray, I have in my mind's eye an image of a certain American celebrity

pastor and his wife who portray an image of health and

wealth and prosperity that appears to many to accompany

the gospel.

We would say the false gospel that they proclaim, but we've been listening to you talk

about suffering and affliction.

So maybe you could compare or perhaps better contrast that image of the

prosperity gospel and the false prophets that proclaim it and why it leads

them to despair versus the hope there is in the

lives.

Of Charles and Susanna.

Yeah, that's an excellent question, Kevin.

I remember talking to a prosperity -minded pastor one day and

he told me that it was in

essence the losses that Job faced were due

to Job's own lack of faith.

And in fact, it's just the opposite.

It was because of Job's faith, faithfulness, that he

suffered.

In fact, the scriptures say in all that he went through, he did not sin.

That's right.

He had questions, he had doubts, he went through intense struggles, but his loss was directly

connected to his faithfulness, not his lack of faithfulness, which is very different from the

prosperity message.

Now, Charles and Susanna, in the early days of their marriage, they didn't have a lot of money, but

that changed.

Their income increased substantially, and in fact,

his money, or invested all of his money, he probably would have been a multi -millionaire.

There was not much left when he died.

He had enough to take care of Susanna for the rest of her life.

They had a very nice home, managers and

whatnot that helped them, so they were relatively well off.

Spurgeon

gave away their money, and so when she died, there was almost nothing left

except Spurgeon's library.

She held on to that,

and when she died, the son that ended up ultimately now at

the Midwestern Cemetery needed money, and that's

astonishing to think that all of that money came through Spurgeon's hands, and yet he didn't hold it

tightly.

He let it continue on into other ministries and other situations, and so in the midst

of one of the

controversies,

they lived

a very

difficult

life, and yet,

in the

midst of that,

and that was their hope.

Now, Spurgeon believed, indeed, that God

had made profit,

name

it, and claim it,

and the

Mercedes.

You know, some people think that

the vicious way the press.

Attacks well -known people and political figures, they think that this

is something new, but anybody who has seen some of the old newspapers

and other writings of centuries past, they discover how

vicious people were even back then, perhaps even more vicious in some ways, the way that they would mock

political figures and other well -known figures in society, and I am sure Spurgeon

must have been the butt of many a joke and the subject of a lot of

attacks verbally and in writing because of the fact that he had enemies, it seemed, on

several different fronts.

I know that he had the enemies to his right in the hyper -Calvinist camp, and he had

the enemies on the other end of the spectrum involved in the downgrade controversy,

so he was really surrounded, if you will, very often by enemies, and

we know about the wives of well -known figures,

unfortunately being the target of attacks as well.

Was Susanna a part of the jokes and the attacks by those who

opposed Spurgeon and his agenda?

I am not

familiar...written

about her, you're right, when Spurgeon burst onto the scene in London,

the

newspaper, Kingdom

Music

Hall, and

many on

the...for using the theater or using

that which

is...yes,

Susanna

felt...

Well, I'd like you to lay out

some of the primary things that you.

Want our listeners most to remember about Susanna Spurgeon and also

the things that you think will ignite interest and further study

on this great woman of history in the lives of our.

Listeners who may want to pursue more actively finding out more about

Susanna

Spurgeon.

Those devotional books...you can get

your hands on a copy of

the

About Susanna,

leader, for example, of great Christian history that you admire, is to read what

they read.

Samuel

Rutherford...Andrew

Murray

is

not...Andrew Murray

that we would not agree

Of the beauty...Spurgeon was relatively broad

-minded...and we all know

If he found

a...I'm not going to

encourage you to

read Roman

Catholic authors, that would be very rare.

Samuel Rutherford and John Bunyan, read her devotional books, read

her love letters.

As you mentioned, one book, Alice Spurgeon, that

if you want the

full four volumes, Pilgrim Publications,

have

the entire

four

volumes and two

large volumes.

So

Susanna...the

way they laughed

and encouraged others to spend time, she did that, invested her life in

that.

Ray, you're breaking up again.

Are you there, Ray?

Yes, can you hear me?

Now I can, yeah.

...imagine

being fruited

by God's

grace, and our lives

can

be...

So we all may be afflicted...

So those are...

We have Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know if Susanna Spurgeon benefited.

At all from G .K. Chesterton, even though he was a Roman Catholic.

You know who were

the.

Primary people that blessed both Susanna and Charles, outside of Charles, of course,

in literary form?

Who were the writers and perhaps even preachers that they most admired?

Again,

Spurgeon's

blood was

Puritan blood.

In fact, his

grandfather, one of the most significant influences in his life, arguably the

most...is

preaching like a Puritan, but looking like a Puritan.

And of course, Spurgeon's land is Puritan land.

She would have been exposed to Bunyan from her childhood as well, but after it

would be John Bunyan against Samuel Rutherford, Andrew Murray, to some

extent

devotional reading from Susanna and New

Testament.

And I would say it's new from

passage to passage.

Let's see, we have B .B. in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know,

did they have any struggles in their marriage, like John Wesley and his wife

did, that were not.

So beneficial to their married lives?

That's quite true that John Wesley...

I don't know, I've never heard that one.

Yeah, I believe that may be the case.

So someone told me that John Wesley, I don't know if you could verify this, but John Wesley

was at some kind of a gathering of ministers, and I don't know if he walked in

during a conversation or how this came about, but there were men who were chuckling and making fun

of John Wesley's marriage, and he said something to the effect, in retort, I am

sure that none of you are married to a woman who kept you on your knees in prayer more

fervently and more often than I have been.

But I don't know if you can verify

that or not.

Certainly not exempt, Ray, and there are lots of opinions on...

Yeah, breaking up

again,

Ray.

You just

don't...

Again, my recent...

I said,

okay, I never heard that, but...

I'm sorry, you're gonna have to repeat that, because you did break up, and I couldn't understand you.

Okay, is this working better?

Yes,

right

now

it is, yeah.

Okay.

In their marriage, and

he

heard it

from her husband, and yet

she was a

blessing, and so he

did everything, the

shopping, and

he delighted in picking her home.

Now, Brother Kevin's wife, Kelly, and my wife, would

have to be institutionalized.

Got anything, any kind of decor, the

surgeon did that, and he picked out a wardrobe.

I imagine you.

Had...

Amen.

Yes, I remember.

I'm almost certain that Diana Lynn Severance read that same love letter after Charles had purchased something

for Susanna.

How long did she outlive Charles?

Yeah, Charles died in January the

31st, 1892, and Susanna died in October, I believe the 22nd

of October of 1903.

So she lived about 12 years, and she lived...

I'm doing the math here, what about...

Now, as you have said, and as we all know, although these were two

godly and faithful Christians, very admirable heroes, they

still were in the flesh, they still had sins in their lives that

they battled, but nonetheless, they are in many ways role models for us.

How would you say that the ladies listening should

look upon her as a role model for not only

married life and for the life of a wife, but just the life of a

Christian woman in general, some primary ways that you think that Susanna was a godly role model that should

be.

Imitated in

many ways?

And placed them in 2007 Sylvania, New York, and California,

and so we have to understand a bit of thinking that went

into that, but there are that we can look to, and in

Susanna's case, the way she loved Charles, again

reading and writing to them, by working with them.

In fact, she helped him from time to time on researching sermons and books

and other things.

He would put her to be a

disciple, and especially early in their relationship and their engagement early in their marriage.

So she prayed for him, she encouraged him in any way that she

could, so she was exemplary as a wife and fruitful in her endeavors.

Again, everyone

can write something, and perhaps one lesson that godly

ladies might learn from in Susanna is

journaling and remembering, converted by

missionary,

but he

also

traces his conversion back to the step of his mother,

praying for them, reading the scripture with them, pleading with

them for their scripture to your children to be

faithful in that endeavor.

But Spurgeon stepping

beyond, he

would

take over those responsibilities.

She seemed to struggle.

Yes, I remember from my interview with Diana Lynn Severance that his favorite pet name for Susanna was

Wifey, am I correct?

That's right.

Now, especially after Charles went home to Glory with Christ,

did Susanna have any correspondence in writing

or even in person, personal meetings and so on, with either

other famous evangelists or their wives?

I mean, I know that, for instance, D. L. Moody had visited the Metropolitan Tabernacle,

was invited to preach there, by Charles Adams Spurgeon, and other folks that are

fairly well known globally in the Christian faith.

Did she have any such correspondence with people, especially after Charles went home to Glory?

She received a number of letters.

I'm trying to

recall.

Spurgeon was well known, and Christian leaders, when they came to London, they

would try to see Spurgeon here and preach, and many of them were welcomed into the Spurgeon home, and they knew Charles

and Susanna and witnessed their marriage together.

So I'm not certain on the specifics of who may have visited her and the letters that she received

after that continued.

I did think of something sort of humorous, Chris, related to lessons we can learn from

Susanna.

You know, my wife and Kevin's wife, our wives are godly women, and they

are like Susanna in many ways, but neither of them...

You broke up right at the appropriate point, I think.

No, no, neither one...

Cigars, I'm assuming you were saying.

Are you there, Ray?

Okay.

Did

Susanna complain about the beard?

Moderation, he said, well, you know, moderation, smoking only two cigars at a time, I think.

Well, before we run out of time, we're going to be closing up in about four minutes.

Just conclude with that in summary form that you most want our listeners to remember.

Yeah,

the gospel.

He was about

the gospel.

Susanna Spurgeon,

for God's wrath in our

state, again, and his inner

Christ can be saved.

That's the message that Charles and

Susanna would...

In fact, looking to Christ, wasn't that the.

Words that the preacher kept repeating when Charles was 15 years old and wandered

as a lost boy, wandered into a primitive Methodist church during a blizzard?

Wasn't that what the minister kept repeating?

That's right.

It wasn't even a minister.

I think it was a layman who was there because the pastor was unable to get to the church because of the

blizzard, and he was not a very gifted man with his

oratory abilities and just kept repeating something, and that's what the Lord used to crack open the heart of

stone within the breast of Charles Hadley Spurgeon.

That's exactly right.

He even pointed...

Amen.

Well, I want our listeners to know that the Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia,

where Ray Rhodes serves as pastor, you can discover more

about that congregation by going to GraceChurchDawsonville .org,

Grace Church Dawsonville, that's D -A -W -S -O -N -V -I -L -L -E

.org.

You can also go to Ray's website, BooksThatNourish .com,

BooksThatNourish .com, and there is also another

website.

It is the blog called TheDancingPuritan, and that's TheDancingPuritan

.com, TheDancingPuritan .com.

Do you have any more contact information or websites that you care to point out, Ray?

That or

whatnot is

just contacting our church website.

GraceChurchDawsonville .org, GraceChurchDawsonville .org.

I want to one more time remind our listeners about how to get more information on

registering for the conferences that I will be attending.

The Faithful Shepherd Pastors Retreat in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, April 15th through the 17th.

Go to AllianceNet .org, AllianceNet .org.

Click on Events, then click on the Faithful Shepherd Pastors Retreat.

We also have the Banner of Truth Conference, Ministers Conference, The Living and Enduring Word,

May 30th through June 1st.

If you'd like to register for that, go to BannerofTruth .org, BannerofTruth .org.

The Foundations Conference in New York City, June 22nd through June 23rd.

Go to thefoundationsconference .com, thefoundationsconference .com, and also

fellowshipconferencenewengland .com, fellowshipconferencenewengland .com for the Fellowship Conference New England this

August in Maine.

I hope you all always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you

are a sinner.