The Scroll & The Sword 

01 October 2025

My sentiments are shared with Spurgeon

As originally shared by Charles Haddon Spurgeon — and echoed word for word in my own conviction.

The Lord Jesus gave this solemn warning:

“But keep yourselves from men” (Matthew 10:17), and, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore prudent as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

Spurgeon wrote — and I find myself in full agreement —

“Do not expect others to be friends of your piety, or if they are, suspect the reality of that piety of which the ungodly man is a friend. You must expect to be sometimes bullied and sometimes coerced, to be sometimes flattered and sometimes threatened. You must expect at one time to meet with the flattering tongue that has under it the drawn sword, and at another time to meet with the drawn sword itself.”

That line could be published today without changing a syllable. People will oppose you — it’s not an accident, it’s the natural result of truth colliding with the world’s current.

Think of Athanasius in the fourth century, standing alone against the tide. He declared, “I, Athanasius, against the whole world. I know I have truth on my side, and therefore against the world I stand.” Those words still ring for every believer who finds themselves isolated yet steadfast.

Spurgeon reminded us of Martin Luther — men schemed to burn him, but he died in his bed. His enemies tried to silence him, but his words took wings, carried across Europe as though by angels. The seed he planted refused to be uprooted.

And here’s the sting of truth: numbers do not sanctify a cause. Spurgeon noted, “Truth in general seems to be with the minority, and it is quite as honourable to serve God with two or three people as it would be with two or three million.”

History’s true benefactors — God’s servants — have often walked a path marked in blood and fire. The world rarely rewards them. At best, it pays in meagre coins: a title, a stone monument, exposure to the wind and storms, to be stared at by passers-by.

That’s the world’s payment plan. But heaven counts differently.

Filed under Faith & Conviction.

— O.W.F. Brinkmeier