Download PDF Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan

Download As PDF : Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the edition includes wireless delivery.

Download PDF Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan

"John Bunyan entered the kingdom of God through much tribulation, Acts 14:22; 1 Peter 4:12. His autobiography could well have been entitled "The Furnace of Affliction" because it is a vivid description of the spiritual, emotional, and physical struggles of his conversion and walk with the Lord.
John Bunyan was born in 1628 near Bedford, England, the poor son of a tinker. Little is actually known about his upbringing. It seems that his parents were not believers; and though he says that his family was among the lowest rank in all the land, he also records that “it pleased God to put it into his parents’ hearts to put him in school to learn both to read and to write” (Grace Abounding, #3). When Bunyan was 16 years old, he was drafted into the army of Cromwell for 3 years. After the army, he took up his father’s trade, becoming an itinerate tinker – repairing pots and pans and other metal implements.
Bunyan is transparent about the extensiveness of his sin and vice among his peers and in his community. He says, “I was without God in the world, it was indeed according to the course of this world, and that spirit that works in the children of disobedience. It was my delight to be taken captive by the devil at his will.” He claims that he had few equals for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God, especially considering his youth.
Nevertheless, his conscience was never at ease. Even as a child, he was frightened with dreadful dreams of judgment, and “the apprehensions of devils and wicked spirits who labored to draw me away with them, of which I could never be rid.” Though under such conviction regarding his transgressions, yet he could not let go of his sins and refused to repent. Sometimes as a child, he would wish that there was no hell, or that he had been created a devil, supposing they were only tormentors; because he would rather be a tormentor than to be tormented. In his teens, he reports that he forgot all fear of judgment and gave into his lust, delighting in all transgression against God's law. He writes, “I was the very ring leader, of all the youth that kept me company, into all manner of vice and ungodliness.”
At age 20 Bunyan was married to an orphaned girl, whose name history has forgotten. Bunyan remarks that though poor, she did bring a spiritual dowry to the marriage. “It was my mercy to come upon a wife whose father was counted godly. This woman and I, though we came together as poor as poor might be, not having so much household stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us both, yet this she had for her part, The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven, and The Practice of Piety, which her father had left her when he died…Bunyan read these books with his wife which aroused a interest in religion. He also recalls, “she also would often tell me what a godly man her father was… and what a strict and holy life he lived in his day, in word and deed.”
I could go on and on.By God's abounding grace, Bunyan was eventually converted. The stories of his conviction and turmoil are both heart-searching and humorous. One such interesting anecdote was the story of the church bell.One of his favorite activities was ringing the church bell. However, the conviction of his hypocrisy made him afraid that one of the bells might fall upon him. So he began to stand under a main beam while he was ringing. Then he began to consider that the bell might fall with a swing and hit the wall, rebounding upon him. So he began to stand in the steeple door, which he thought was safe enough. Soon, however, the idea came into his mind that the steeple itself could collapse, so that he now feared even to come and watch others ring.
I highly recommend reading Bunyan's spiritual autobiography-Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.I re-told this book to our church family and they found the story encouraging and challenging.A true and wonderful record of God's grace!!"

Product details File Size 366 KB Print Length 132 pages Simultaneous Device Usage Unlimited Publication Date May 12, 2012 Language English ASIN B0082Z66DU

Tags : Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan ,ebook,John Bunyan,Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,LITERARY CRITICISM / General,General

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan Reviews :

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners eBook John Bunyan Reviews

• John Bunyan entered the kingdom of God through much tribulation, Acts 1422; 1 Peter 412. His autobiography could well have been entitled "The Furnace of Affliction" because it is a vivid description of the spiritual, emotional, and physical struggles of his conversion and walk with the Lord.
  John Bunyan was born in 1628 near Bedford, England, the poor son of a tinker. Little is actually known about his upbringing. It seems that his parents were not believers; and though he says that his family was among the lowest rank in all the land, he also records that “it pleased God to put it into his parents’ hearts to put him in school to learn both to read and to write” (Grace Abounding, #3). When Bunyan was 16 years old, he was drafted into the army of Cromwell for 3 years. After the army, he took up his father’s trade, becoming an itinerate tinker – repairing pots and pans and other metal implements.
  Bunyan is transparent about the extensiveness of his sin and vice among his peers and in his community. He says, “I was without God in the world, it was indeed according to the course of this world, and that spirit that works in the children of disobedience. It was my delight to be taken captive by the devil at his will.” He claims that he had few equals for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God, especially considering his youth.
  Nevertheless, his conscience was never at ease. Even as a child, he was frightened with dreadful dreams of judgment, and “the apprehensions of devils and wicked spirits who labored to draw me away with them, of which I could never be rid.” Though under such conviction regarding his transgressions, yet he could not let go of his sins and refused to repent. Sometimes as a child, he would wish that there was no hell, or that he had been created a devil, supposing they were only tormentors; because he would rather be a tormentor than to be tormented. In his teens, he reports that he forgot all fear of judgment and gave into his lust, delighting in all transgression against God's law. He writes, “I was the very ring leader, of all the youth that kept me company, into all manner of vice and ungodliness.”
  At age 20 Bunyan was married to an orphaned girl, whose name history has forgotten. Bunyan remarks that though poor, she did bring a spiritual dowry to the marriage. “It was my mercy to come upon a wife whose father was counted godly. This woman and I, though we came together as poor as poor might be, not having so much household stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us both, yet this she had for her part, The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven, and The Practice of Piety, which her father had left her when he died…Bunyan read these books with his wife which aroused a interest in religion. He also recalls, “she also would often tell me what a godly man her father was… and what a strict and holy life he lived in his day, in word and deed.”
  I could go on and on.By God's abounding grace, Bunyan was eventually converted. The stories of his conviction and turmoil are both heart-searching and humorous. One such interesting anecdote was the story of the church bell.One of his favorite activities was ringing the church bell. However, the conviction of his hypocrisy made him afraid that one of the bells might fall upon him. So he began to stand under a main beam while he was ringing. Then he began to consider that the bell might fall with a swing and hit the wall, rebounding upon him. So he began to stand in the steeple door, which he thought was safe enough. Soon, however, the idea came into his mind that the steeple itself could collapse, so that he now feared even to come and watch others ring.
  I highly recommend reading Bunyan's spiritual autobiography-Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.I re-told this book to our church family and they found the story encouraging and challenging.A true and wonderful record of God's grace!!
• This is a very hard read. I was half way through the book and ready to quit. It was so discouraging to continually read of his spiritual battles and never seeming to get any peace. Or at best a short-lived peace. But at just over 50% of the book he finally came out of it and got on with his ministering and jail time. All in all, it was very hard reading, but I'm glad I finished it!
  
  We live in a day of easy believism where we are told to just pray this prayer and you are in. Then I read the testimony of great spiritual giants like John Bunyan and Charles Spurgeon, and how they struggled to enter the kingdom and it makes me think we may just have things turned upside down in the world today. John Bunyan struggled through the first half of this book claiming that satan was whispering lies into his ears. I'm thinking that satan is still whispering lies into our ears, only we are believing them!
  
  Don't quit at half way through, it gets better! The last half gives details of his ministry, arrest and imprisonment. There is another edition of this book that has 25% more material in it. I would recommend finding that edition. I looked for it by clicking, in My Account, on the actual book, but is said that link no longer worked. It even includes the accounts of when he and his wife went before authorities trying to get him released. Also someone else included a short account of his last years of ministry and his death. Sorry I can't find it for you!
• When I began to read this book, I thought that it would present a balanced assessment of the author's life before and after his conversion. What I was not prepared for was the depth he described his struggles with sin and the time that led up to his actual conversion. Yet, even after his conversion, his struggles did not end. He even goes into detail over his encounter with his judges and jailors who imprisoned him for what the crown deemed to be illegal meetings that were being conducted outside of the established state church (and his abject refusal to comply with the Book of Common Prayer). There is even an account of his wife trying to secure his release from prison along with a postscript from editors who attested to his character and the fruits of the Spirit that were evident in him.
  
  I would definitely recommend this book. Readers should be able to relate to what Bunyan went through. We are all born in original sin, and Bunyan is certainly no exception to this.