Adversity, Betrayal and Christian Ministry

Few things in life are more painful than personal betrayal.  I have found that those who have experienced ministry mutinies first hand are far more sympathetic than those who have not endured a Psalm 55:12-14 experience.  The following quotes by D.A. Carson and Spurgeon are quite insightful:  "One is not long in ministry before one observes some curates, assistant ministers- whatever a particular denomination labels them- subtly trying to undermine their senior minister, wickedly trying to assume power, covering the operation with a gauze of pious verbiage and a veneer of humility." D.A. Carson.

C. H. Spurgeon, "Ten years of toil do not take so much life out of us as we lose in a few hours by Ahithophel the traitor, or Demas the apostate."