Lessons from Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan--Part 2--Vanity Fair & It's Challenges to Us in 2026

I am writing another continuation of the previous post about the lessons we can learn from Pilgrim’s Progress in 2026.  Specifically, I want to go back to the treacherous trap called Vanity Fair.  A dangerous city that all travelers must go through on their way to the Celestial City. 

Just as a brief reference point, the whole seed of the idea for this was a sermon/Bible study that I developed after a late-night conversation with Pastor Douglas Walker.  He had moved to Calgary, Alberta to take the pastoral leadership at Truth Church.  The conversation had stirred my soul and mind with some thoughts concerning modesty.  That word is somewhat ancient for a lot of us now and I really believe that we are lesser for it both spiritually and mentally.      

Lessons from Pilgrim's Progress--Vanity Fair & Its Challenge to Us in 2026

In and around the Barnabas Blog you will find a host of references to Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.  Part one was written in 1678 and part two was published in 1684.  Over the years I have collected various copies of it.  The nicest one is the one published by Easton Press and the oldest one is from the 1890’s that I found in a used bookstore in North Platte, Nebraska when I was with Pastor Myron Powell (DSupt/NE).  I have multiple copies of paperbacks by Oxford Press, Penguin Classics, Barnes & Noble Classics series, Baker Books, Dover, and several independent publishers that serve the homeschool community.  I am always interested to find copies in used bookstores that have marked up margins, highlights, and scribbled notes on the inside of the front/back covers.

As I have written several times, I am indebted to Pastor John Harrell who was the long-time pastor of the Bridge City UPC in Bridge City, Texas who encouraged me to read it.  I can remember the copy that I bought in a Family Christian bookstore in Dothan.  It was The Pilgrim’s Progress in Modern English published by Bridge-Logos Publishers.  It was a paperback copy that weathered multiple backpack journeys with me to and from Flowers Hospital when I was still working full-time in one of the IR cath labs.  I look at the copy now after 25 years and the highlights and marginal notes serve almost as landmarks of a spiritual journey moving on toward the Celestial City.  If you have read it, some of this may be a bit redundant to you, however, I am going to focus on some points that brings in and around the vicious town of Vanity Fair.     

Book Recommendation--Stockholm Syndrome Christianity (Why Christian Leaders are Failing--and What We Can Do About It)--John G. West

I grew up reading books.  I am not sure if it was expected that I should read books but once I learned how to read, books became things that took my mind and spirit to places I had never been before.  I read all the Hardy Boys series, many of the biographies that were prevalent in the children’s library in Dothan, a host of stories about the advancement of America toward the west, and sports stories.  Duane Decker was a fictional writer that wrote about fictional major league baseball teams and the ups and downs of the players.  Beverly Cleary’s books about Henry Huggins were another big hit for me. 

Then I started reading the westerns that were written by Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey which led to Peter McCurtin and his Sundance series.  As I got older, I found Stephen Ambrose (recommended to me by Harold Hoffman) and read Undaunted Courage about Lewis and Clark and their expedition.  Then I started working through his books on World War II and that opened more books about the great war in the European theater.  Biographies by McCollough, Meachum, Chernow, and others were another avenue that I went down. 

Mixed in was another writer that I found about the time I started in RN school whose books captivated me for more than a decade—Robin Cook!  He has written more than 40 books, and I have read at least 35 of them, some of them multiple times.  Somewhere along the way I accidentally found A. J. Cronin whose writing, even to this day I find incredibly intriguing especially the two that I have read several times, The Citadel and The Keys to the Kingdom.  Another similar incidental find is The Lords of Discipline and The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, which pushed me to read all his other books—deep, melancholy, and provoking characters and twisting plots that have stayed with me for the long years since I have read any of his books.  I could go on and on about books and authors but that is not what this blog is supposed to be about—it is a book recommendation—so I shall commence with that task.

The Kitchen Table

I have spent a bit of time reading back through some of the old Barnabas Blog posts to stir up my thoughts and memories.  One of the series that created a “time warp” was those that I had written about the various characters of Pilgrim’s Progress.  Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was initially recommended to me by Brother Harrell, the long-time pastor in Bridge City, Texas.  As I mused on that character series, I was pulled back toward a kitchen table.  In fact, I went back and looked through my preaching record in Excel to pinpoint the exact dates that I spent at a specific kitchen table.  These dates (3/2/96; 11/22/97; 6/20/98; 12/15/01; 6/1/02; 7/26/03) were the times that I spent with the Raggio’s in Birmingham, Alabama.  These specific dates were on Saturday nights prior to me preaching at Bible Tabernacle where Brother Ken Raggio was the pastor.  All these dates were when I was still working at Flowers Hospital here in Dothan.  He would invite me up to preach and I would usually make the drive on a mid-afternoon on Saturday and stay in their home.  We would go eat somewhere and then be back at their home by 7-7:30. 

Then we would gather up at the kitchen table in their home.  These were the days when study Bibles were not nearly as available as they are now.  So, for me, I had my “go to” Thompson Chain KJV which has been my primary sword of choice for a long time now.  Brother and Sister Raggio also had Thompson’s as well.  I can’t even begin to tell you how rich the experience was at that time.  Even now, time pulls me back to those powerful moments of fellowship over the Word.  You may think that the description of powerful is an exaggeration but in my mind that word doesn’t even nearly tap what all that we would get into as far as biblical content.  Another memory that I cannot shake free of is Sister Raggio’s Bible, I have only seen one other woman’s Bible to this day that has been as marked up as what hers was.  It was a Thompson as well and there was no doubt in my mind that her proficiency with the Word was incredible.  Not only did her contributions to the discussion bear that out but her Bible was unbelievable.  The golden gilted page edges were no longer there because of constant use and there were marks all through the Scripture columns in the classic Thompson text block.  But here is another matter, she also had marked up the index and the charts that were in the back of it.  Brother Raggio’s Bible was in the same condition, well-used, marked up, prayed over and preached with.  I look back at those times with great fondness with my only regret being that I was not actively journaling at that time, so the details are now lost to time.

 

My Poor Blog!

January 17, 2026

 

Twenty years ago, I started the Barnabas Blog on a whim.  At the time, blogs or weblogs were sort of coming into existence from a variety of amateur writers and a few more serious ones on the religious scene.  I can remember there were two blogs that I do not even remember how I found them, but they had a very strong influence on my thinking at the time.  One of them is still in existence and the other one has long been reduced to an inactive state.  So, once I sort of gathered my “sea legs” so to speak, I started writing about things that piqued my interest and what I thought might gather a small following of preachers and ministers. 

 

It has been ages since I have written anything besides sermon notes and Bible studies that primarily are for where I pastor in Dothan, Alabama.  On this rainy, cold Saturday night, once again I am in my study at the Pentecostals of Dothan.  It is much larger and has a whole lot more volumes in my library than it did twenty years ago.  Twenty years ago, I was literally working out of a small room that had become a cleaning closet for the old fellowship hall.  In December 2005, I had made the transition from working full-time in an Interventional Radiology Cath lab as an RN to a very part-time basis that I would continue until the fall of 2014.  So, I had gone from a high-tech medical procedure lab to a dusty, dilapidated “broom closet” and that is where the Barnabas Blog started.  The space was 12 feet by 16 feet with a noisy window unit that cranked out very cold air but also sprayed mildew all over creation as well.  In those simple surroundings, I wrote and prayed, wrote some more and prayed some more, and wrote even more and prayed even more.  Prayer is far more important than writing, however prayer will set your mind and pen on fire while you are writing.  So, I wrote!  Honestly, I had no idea how many people would come to read the Barnabas Blog in that first decade.  It never crossed my mind that it would inspire, convict, encourage, and in some cases aggravate.  So many people came up to me at various conferences and introduced themselves as readers, to the degree that it was amazing.  Once there was a time when I got hemmed in by a couple of preachers who felt like I had no business writing content like I did.  I look back at those days and ask myself what I asked just before I started this blog post: Why did you quit writing?! 

 

Take Care Fellow Travelers

This is a snail mail letter that I send out to about 80 ministers.  

June 10, 2025

Dear Fellow Traveler,

I hope that all is well with you and with these letters I try not to clutter up your life too much with junk mail.  I frequently am in conversation with pastors and ministers throughout the apostolic movement both in and out of various organizations.  Wherever you may be serving, you need to know that I have never seen the pressure that the ministry is under at this current time so don’t fall into the lie that something is wrong with you, this is the spirit of the age.  There is much resistance to almost any kind of spiritual leadership these days and some are dealing with outright rebellion in their local assemblies.  At times it is mind-numbing and soul-withering what we have to soldier on through.  But if you are wondering, I do have your name in my prayer journal and I pray for you on a regular basis.  To some degree I was texting some of you on our prayer revival nights in a group text but have backed off from that since there were times that I felt that it was perhaps self-serving to do so.  We need the strength of the Spirit and the power of the Word to surround us because we cannot accomplish the purpose of God without it. 

North Dakota District UPCI--Day 5--Bible Study Notes--Philip Harrelson

The following notes are the actual notes that I used in the July 14, 2023 session.  As you can see there is a lot more content than what was covered in the session.  

The Saint Builds, Prays & Remains—vv. 20-21

 

• A true saint will be one who builds his life on the Word of God (v. 20a).

• A true saint will pray in the Spirit (v. 20b).

• A true saint will remain in the love of God (v. 21).

 

Jude affirms that the Holy Ghost helps us to pray.  While we are praying, there is a steady flow of the grace of God given to those who would pray.  Zechariah 12:10 is notable for its promise that a spirit of grace and supplication will come to those who are given to prayer.  A regenerate man should be drawn very easily into the presence of the Lord during his times of prayer.  The priests were to wash in the laver before they went to the altar of incense in the Tabernacle, therefore a New Testament believer needs to come to the laver of regeneration by the work of the renewal of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5).  However, even though we are regenerated we still do not pray as we ought (Rom. 8:26) so Jude urges us to pray in the Spirit because of the need to earnestly contend for the faith.