Lay Preacher
You will remember that a Mr. Gifford invited Bunyan to attend Bible meetings in his home -- this group grew into a non-conformist church.  Basically, a non-conformist was anyone that didn’t attend the Anglican (Church of England), which included Baptists, Methodists, Puritans, Quakers, and Presbyterians.

The people who attended the non-conformist meetings with Bunyan felt that he was called to preach, most likely after hearing him give his testimony.  John, too, felt called to preach.  Within four years of being saved, Bunyan was drawing in large crowds to hear him speak as a lay minister.  As a lay minister, he kept working full-time as a tinker while preaching every opportunity he got.

During this time he began writing the Gospel Truths Opened, what was to be the first of fifty-eight total publications.  Sadly, it was also during this same time period that John Bunyan became a widower at the age of 30.

 This post is a bit different from my usual ... I am doing a book review, on a book that was actually published (at least the paperback version I have) in 1982.  The book is called The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelsen.  I ran across her testimony one night when I was unable to sleep and prowling around on YouTube. The message I heard is below.  I decided to purchase her book after I listened to the video.

Revelation
In Bedford, John Bunyan overheard heard a small group of ladies discussing the Lord. Religion being one of his favorite subjects, he walked over to join them.  Upon listening to them, however, he realized that this was one subject he had no idea about:  they talked about a new birth, about how the Lord had worked in their hearts, about His love they had experienced.  He kept listening. 

He heard them talking about how the words and promises of God had brought deep comfort to their souls, and they discussed how He had helped them when temptation came, and when bad things happened.  This small group of ladies also talked about how their own attempts at living right didn’t measure up to God’s standards.  There was something else that John noticed:  these ladies were full of joy.

A Very "Religious" Man
During the time that John Bunyan was convicted over swearing, he states that he became interested in religion.  However, he was more superstitious, he states, than religious. He loved church, he loved Bibles, he loved the ministers, he loved crosses -- but he did not yet love Jesus. 

Keep in mind, though, that this was a stepping stone on the path to his salvation.  Sometimes it is important that Christians keep in mind that people come to the Lord from many different directions, and no two people's paths are going to be the same.

John Bunyan is probably best known as the author of ​Pilgrim's Progress​ -- but he was much more than that.  Bunyan was a tinker, a soldier during wartime, a Baptist preacher, the father of a handicapped child, and a prolific author.

Something else that many people don't realize is that not only did his conversion experience mirror that of the hero, Pilgrim, but he began to write that book while he was imprisoned for what he was preaching.  In the next few blog posts we are going to look at his life.

What Was Wrong

Miriam's illness began with an abscessed appendix.  It was removed, and after surgery drainage tubes were inserted.  Next came blood poisoning, followed by more abscesses in her body.  Each abscess would be opened and drained, but another would then form.  Before long, the wounds stopped healing.  The doctors decided to remove all the drainage tubes, but rather than helping this only lead to more severe infections.

According to her biographer, “Finally, there were five deep, open wounds, excruciatingly tender, which required probing and dressing twice daily, while to relieve the system she endured the exhaustion and distress of tapping over thirty times.”