https://open.spotify.com/episode/5dKoCQegPu8s6nCZYGdBRC?si=f_Zph7wtQMu7hvJx3Sf2xw The previous stage took Christian and Hopeful into both the heights and depths of life, which very often do occur back-to-back as Bunyan has described. Now, as has been the pattern since the Valley of Humiliation, Bunyan follows a stage of much action with a stage of much conversation. In the ninth stage, which …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/04b9hAWp3jGSl9reMbnmHp?si=JVC6lXT2T2uC-S2xkXBbOA After shunning the corrupting company of By-ends and avoiding the pit at Lucre Hill, the pilgrims Christian and Hopeful concluded the previous stage of their journey with the sight and warning of Lot's wife. Now in this eighth stage, the pilgrims meet three settings: the River of Life, Doubting Castle, and the Delectable Mountains. …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5s5TmX3W0ZSRkX6bT2QotP?si=X6WWXRbBT0iGiIX7_7SAWw There will be no post on The Pilgrim's Progress this week. The 8th Stage lies still before us with its classic description of Christian and Hopeful being caught in the grip of Giant Despair. Given the ever-growing depression and anxiety rates today, our society as a whole seems to be similarly locked in Doubting …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NyJ4mmmzM5WE8NxL7CtWD?si=Vh5Bkq0KTLu3VzOfleNy3w After witnessing the death of his fellow companion, Faithful, under a faux trial at Vanity Fair, our last reading ended with Christian escaping from his cell and setting back on his journey, singing in honor of his victorious brother. Along this stage of Christian's pilgrimage, he is joined by a new companion named Hopeful, …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZOFtj5jaSGiHiVdhrLwvR?si=wvh5MzboRXei5jA4532qKQ After Talkative's departure, Christian and Faithful continue on to the next stage of their journey. In this week's reading, the two pilgrims meet with Evangelist who prepares them for the suffering and even death that awaits them in the town called Vanity. Once in Vanity Fair, the pilgrims are mocked, arrested, tried, and Faithful …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6QbgtnwrrhtwbBzWi6srMH?si=LBMBykfGR3-2F1AaSjd4ZA Having passed through the Valleys of Humiliation and the Shadow of Death, Christian's journey marches onward. On this leg of his travels, we have two distinct parts. First, Christian begins to walk with Faithful and hears of his pilgrimage thus far. Second, Faithful has a dialogue with another traveler named Talkative. Faithful’s Testimony In …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OVPUmhnXglwwzGGRI6Wmn?si=QnCcQXsZT-6v-YJRudAc2Q Our reading picks up with Christian setting out from his stay at the House Beautiful. Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity accompany him down to the foot of the hill, the beginning of the Valley of Humiliation. Here Christian discovered a different kind of difficulty. Scaling the Hill of Difficulty left Christian ascending slowly upon …
Continue reading Humiliation, Apollyon, & the Valley of the Shadow of Death
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5EA6RiIe6kbD6mGnpxlNjn?si=8OTJcUEATKKAZjlEfAOA2A Leaving Interpreter's House, Christian soon comes to a little hill upon which stands a cross. At this marvelous sight, Christian's burden is immediately loosened and rolls into the sepulcher, never to be seen again. The burden, as we said previously, is the guilt and shame of sin, not necessarily sin itself. For this reason, …
Continue reading Deliverance, Difficulty, & the House Beautiful
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GsjUGa6XaWJDY0FEfjYqf?si=ptPp5vwHRCKjodQ6-oQYoA We ended our first week's reading with Christian being sent back to the narrow path toward the wicket-gate by Evangelist. In our present reading, Christian enters the gate, has a brief conversation with Goodwill, and then is given much to meditate upon by Interpreter. After Christian's wandering from the path, his journey to the …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qjEpP2gVYIxleDwf2Hh2Q?si=Mi6N3JqIT-aRVwYebfsYYw Being one of the greatest books ever written (Christian or otherwise), we should begin by noting that there will be far more regarding The Pilgrim's Progress that could be said than we will ever have time to actually say. My aim, therefore, during these discussions is to be more devotional than literary. For an …
B. C. Newton 