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I got an e-mail from blind Bartimaeus. Well, let me back up and
explain. He is blind, and I got an e-mail, but he isn't the
two-thousand-year-old beggar from Jericho mentioned in Mark 10:46.
But his website is called Bartimaeus Alliance of the Blind, Inc.
(And, if you are reading this, you are there!) http://bartimaeus.us
Bartimaeus, that is, Grant (his real name) originally wrote me in
February 2005 after coming across this blog in withChrist.org. I
was amazed that a blind man used a computer and was so conversant by
e-mail! But this was just the start of finding out how amazing this
man is. Not only is he now his own web curator, he also has
produced on the web nine of Lewis Sperry Chafer's writings. He also
ministers to the blind and sighted readers of his website. But he
is even more amazing when you hear his story.
He was blinded in a tragic accident at age seven and at age fifteen
suddenly lost both of his parents in an automobile accident. Though
he had made a profession of faith in Christ at age six, he wrestled
with doubts about his relationship with the Lord for many years. At
age twenty-nine, he heard a Sunday school lesson on 1 Corinthians
15:1-5 and saw clearly, with the eyes of his mind, that Christ died
for his sins. He recently told me in an e-mail, "It was then the
Spirit enlightened me, and I thought, 'I don't know what day I first
believed that gospel message, but I know what I believed and believe
it now.'" Grant is now sixty-five, married, with two daughters and
one grandchild.
I've mused over this story for some time. Here is a man blinded at
age seven and losing both parents at age fifteen. He had every
reason to shake his fist in God's face and ask, What do you think
you're doing?
How do we explain this? The God of miracles is still making the
blind to see. Yes, Grant is still physically blind, but perhaps he
sees something, my friend, that you are blind to. The Apostle Paul,
again, writing to the Corinthians, said,
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in
whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
That gospel (the "good news") that Grant saw with the eyes of his
mind is the simple message that Christ died for our sins, was
buried, rose from the dead, and seen by upwards of five-hundred
people at the same time.
God can take away that blindness of your mind if you will pin your
faith on Jesus Christ. I would love to get an e-mail from another
"blind Bartimaeus" who now can see.
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