A brief Excerpt: According to 2 Corinthians 4, spiritual blindness keeps unbelievers from seeing Christ clearly, which is why gospel witness must be joined with focused prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

The Author is: Derek Hastings

Eugene settled into the worn driver’s seat of his beat-up, threadbare old-time Toyota van. The Moon Buggy, as it was named back when it was new and “cool.” It was one of his going-away-to-college gifts.

He sat there, staring out the windshield, watching people flow out of the church. Many of them were pastors. They had come to be encouraged about their attempts to evangelize their cities and neighborhoods. All of them were smiling and full of energy, discussing what they had learned over the weekend conference.

“I wish I could smile,” Eugene said to himself. “All this conference did was make me feel guilty.” The engine started breaking the pity party’s spell as Eugene carefully made his way out of the overflowing parking lot. He always left early to avoid the traffic jam after one of these conferences.

Eugene picked up his mail from the floor and discovered a flier from the team of elders who organized the conference. It was professionally produced and timed to arrive in mailboxes while the conference was still fresh in the attendees’ minds. It announced an evangelistic outreach starting in two weeks.

Eugene set the flier down on the kitchen table, released a sigh, and grumbled, “I suppose I’m going to be called to help lead the outreach. I guess that’s one of the downsides of leadership.” He grabbed a non-alcoholic beer out of the fridge, turned the kitchen chair around to see the television that hung from brackets over the kitchen counter opposite from the large custom island, and allowed his mind to relax.

Eugene’s life had changed when he found Jesus ten years ago. His fiancée left him, his hunting buddies stopped including him, and now he lives a solitary life. But he had stayed busy. He began to pray. At first, he prayed for the desperate way life had seemingly abandoned him. Four in the morning every morning, he walked on the extensive, steep, winding streets here in Kent Woodlands. Eventually, he learned about the power of prayer and how prayer had changed the world, not just answering personal prayers.

Living alone and the constant prayer and pursuit of drawing close to Jesus resulted in a long history of unique and obvious effects on the city. Others began to pray with him, and one man in particular came alongside, and they walked the city praying for the city council and for the long list of schools.

One thing led to another, and he was chosen to lead a weekly prayer meeting and a pre-service pray-over-the-pastor service every Sunday.

Eugene was burnt out.

The sound of knocking on the door woke him up. His beer fell out of his hand when he fell asleep in the chair. It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up to the situation. Eugene went to the door; it was 4:30 in the afternoon, and random salespeople rarely venture up the hill, and then he opened the door.

A short, elderly man stood there smiling at him. He was maybe 5’4″, thin, with greying red hair and a beard. His clothes were ancient. But it was the face and the eyes that caught his stunned attention. His face was gnarly and dark like an ancient fruit tree in an abandoned orchard. The eyes were intense, and Eugene had a sense that this man was reading his mind.

“Ah, can I help you?” Eugene managed to say with a lack of conviction.

“Yes, you can, Eugene! Can I come in?” The old timer asked as he stepped past Eugene into the large foyer and proceeded to the small kitchen as if he were looking for something.

“Hmmm, no coffee.” The old timer announced. “How do you function without coffee, my boy? It was the blood flowing through the veins of every soldier of General Grant’s Army.” He turned to Eugene and, pointing at the chair, said, “I won’t stay long, Eugene. I’m here because The King said you would probably relate to me. Your prayers lately have been colored by a dark shade of darker. And, He was getting concerned.”

Eugene leaned up against the kitchen counter, trying to think of what to say. Then he blurted out, “Who are you?”

“My name is Red Fox Flinn! I’m one of your many Grandfathers from way down the pecking order of relatives. But I’m here because you have done a lot of research into my life.”

“Richard Red Fox Flinn!?” Eugene almost shouted the name. “How? How are you supposed to help me out of this boredom? How are you even here? I would think someone is pranking me. But no one would think of something like this.”

“Actually, I’m here to show you something important about helping people see the truth about Jesus. There were many clues about this. But the biggest clue is one of the last things Jesus said on the cross.”

“Well, there weren’t very many things He said during the crucifixion.” Eugene offered.

“Correct!” Red Fox said with the emphasis of the best game show hosts. “However, not many people these days are good at connecting the dots in the Word. So I am going to help you get the picture, so to speak.”

Eugene realized he had the opportunity to gather firsthand information from a distant relative. “Mr. Red Fox, before you leave, will you let me ask you some questions about the civil war?”

Red Fox answered without looking at Eugene and said, “If we have time. I am on the ol’ clock. So it all depends on whether you learn the lesson I am trying to teach you. Fair enough?”

Eugenenodded his head and began organizing his questions in case there was time.

Red Fox walked into the vaulted-ceiling family room and picked up the remote. Eugene realized Red Fox hadn’t counted on technology getting in the way of his message and walked over and turned on the TV.

Instantly, the scene on the giant wall-mounted screen showed a first-person view of a mountain trail. It looked as if the person was wearing a GoPro camera. The view changed as the person turned to his companion, a man in his late forties dressed in buckskins and a wide-brimmed hat, carrying a Henry Repeating rifle. A loud shout came from the uphill side of the trail, where a group of ten or so men was standing with their rifles pointed at them.

The crew began to walk towards the men standing in the middle of the trail. As he got closer, one of the men, who seemed to be the leader, stepped forward and met the camera. There was a moment of silence, then most of the men began laughing and hugging each other.

But a couple of men stood back, puzzled. They weren’t participating. Nor were they laughing.

Red Fox stood up, waved his hand, and the picture froze. “Do you see anything that doesn’t make sense, Eugene?”

Eugene stood up and walked closer to the screen and stood there, not moving, and then said, “The two men in the back are blindfolded. I can see their eyes, but there is definitely a blindfold across their faces. They kind of fade in and out. But the moment you see it, you can’t unsee it. Except that about half of the men definitely don’t have blind folds. And now that I have recognized it, the blindfolds are all different. Some of them have white pointy hoods over their heads, and a couple of them look like the veils women wear when they get married.”

Red Fox smiled and said, “Excellent! We’re almost done. How well do you know your Bible? Does 2 Corinthians 4:3-5 ring any bells?”

2 Corinthians 3-5 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled [a] to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this [b]world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that [c] they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants [d]on account of Jesus.”

Instantly, it came crashing down. “Wow! Are those the actual veils satan put over their minds? And the ones without them are believers?”

“Exactly! That’s the lesson, maybe a hint or a clue, the Holy Spirit told me to give you. It’s a prayer point, an important one, for when you go out to evangelize. They can’t understand the Truth of Jesus because Satan has blinded them. That’s why preaching and evangelism are so important and dependent on focused prayer. Both rely on the prayers of the Saints to be effective. So don’t be so hard on yourself for not being good at those. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that He has you right where He wants you. He loves you and your zeal. He’s right there with you.” Red Fox waved, and the TV turned off.

Red fox turned to Eugene and said, “I have to go. But I will make sure you get the family info you need.”

Then Richard Red Fox Flinn disappeared with a bright flash, leaving Eugene with an amazed look on his face.