I was once asked by a friend what I wanted to accomplish in the ministry. Responding partly in jest and partly in earnest, I said, "I want to survive."  The challenges of being a pastor are not for the faint of heart -- and this reality is reflected in the fact that so many ordained ministers leave the ministry each year. The emotional, financial and practical hardships congregations can pose on ministers are for many a reality. Having been a pastor for more than thirty years, I can speak from personal experience. I have been threatened with physical violence, subjected to emotional cruelty, and have been threatened with financial loss if I obeyed the great commission. In the latter case, a deacon was offended that I had not asked the board for permission to preach elsewhere and thought it was a waste of money for anyone to go on short term missions. His wife asked in mockery, "What can you do in a week's time on the mission field?" The answer is, "A lot in the providence of God."

In each case where individuals in the various congregations I have ministered have risen to attack, denounce, undermine my message and ministry, written libelous letters, withdrawn their financial support or moved to have the congregation take a vote of confidence, I have been comforted by the experience of Jesus as I remembered His words: "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" (Matthew 10:24-25)  

I have also taken comfort and kept from retaliation by remembering the promise of God the Father. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for  in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21)

Until recently, I have taken the words, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay" in a negative sense believing that the Lord would bring some form of calamity upon a person. But perhaps there is another understanding of this divine promise which I have experienced. God has avenged me in the sight of my ministry by allowing me to accomplish what the enemies of the cross have tried to stop.

Did the deacons try to keep me from going to the mission field?  Yes, and I can testify that the words of Revelation 3:8 are true. "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." I have now traveled extensively in the providence of the Lord with many more invitations received continuously.

Did a large portion of the congregation take away my livelihood? Yes, and I can testify that the promise of Jesus is true not only spiritually but literally. Mark 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

    
Have libelous letters been written to places I was to go to minister in an attempt to discredit me before I arrived? Yes, and God has kept His promise as per Isaiah 54:17. "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

           
What better vengeance is there against one's enemies than to accomplish the very goals they are trying to keep you from accomplishing as they attack in every malicious way possible? I tell you, God will avenge the elect all the while administering justice with a vengeance against those who oppose the gospel.

           
Pastor, missionary, fellow laborer for Christ -- if you find yourself the object of cruel, religious zealotry, do not despair for the Lord will honor you as you honor Him. Vengeance upon your opponents will come, perhaps not in the form of cancer, death, disease or financial ruin but simply by your accomplishing the goals the Lord has placed on your heart. At least that has been my own life's experience thus far.