Nine years ago, I wrote a small book titled The Forty Days—A Vision of Christ’s Lost Weeks. I never had any intention of writing it, did not want to write it, and was shocked when I did.
Since it came out, it has caused some to question my sanity. Worse than that for me, I lost several close friends after its publication.
So, why then did I publish a book I never wanted to write, that would do damage to my reputation in some quarters, and cost me some cherished friendships? Because I came to believe that was my calling.
For ten years before its publication, I would have momentary flashes in my mind regarding The Forty Days. The unexpected thought is always like: “There is a powerful story there. Tell it.”
These flashes would happen once or twice a year and last for but a few seconds at a time. Other than making a note somewhere, I did not give them another moment’s consideration.
A few years before the publication, my wife walked into my home office and looked up at a yellow sticky on the wall with the words “The Forty Days” written on it. She asked me what it was, and I told her I truly did not know.
Then, just a year before publication, while sitting in that home office working on an entirely different project, within but a few minutes, the entire story for The Forty Days flooded into my mind: names, places, and dialog. I picked up a pen and made notes as fast as possible. Then, for the next ten hours or so, I stayed at my desk and wrote basically the entire book in one sitting.
I will never claim anything remotely “spiritual” happened. Ever. That said, I can honestly say I am not sure what happened. Since its publication, some have offered perfectly logical secular explanations for how something like that occurs. Others have said I’m “crazy.” I am at peace with those responses.
Whatever it was, at least for me, was surreal, powerful, somewhat frightening, and deeply moving. All the more so because while I am a very spiritual man and Christian, I have never been a fan of organized religion.
As a child, I grew up in abject poverty and was often homeless. By the time I was seventeen, we had been evicted from thirty-four homes. At five years of age, my most precious possession had become a little plastic Nativity scene. As that five-year-old, when the police and movers came to evict us yet again, I was found hiding in a closet with that little Nativity scene clutched to my chest while being comforted by the tiny smiling face of the Baby Jesus.
Thus began my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A relationship that has only grown stronger.
After I wrote the draft of the story that flooded into my mind, I decided to speak with a number of Christian Ministers and priests about the experience. They encouraged me to share the backstory of how the content came to me. But as they did, they cautioned me that doubt, ridicule, or worse, would come my way.
It was their belief that it was my “obligation” to tell the very simple and short story. In a nation and world spiraling deeper into chaos and uncertainty, and as more and more people turn their back on their faith, a story such as this might speak to them on a deeper level. Or, at the very least, remind them of the miracles and messages of Easter.
So…nine years ago, I found a publisher who believed in me and the story, and the book came out. A brief description of what flooded into my head that day is this:
Seventy years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in a poor, one-room home built from stone, mud, and straw located just outside of Jerusalem, a frail old man tells his granddaughter and her husband of an amazing and miraculous secret. A secret that, out of fear for his safety, he kept to himself for decades. That being that as an orphaned nine-year-old street urchin who had made his way to Jerusalem, he had an encounter with a “bloody and beaten” man being forced to drag a heavy timber cross for His own crucifixion. An encounter which led to a very special connection with the “bloody and beaten” man. The old man then goes on to tell his granddaughter and her husband of what he witnessed first-hand as that little boy, of the forty days Jesus walked the earth after His resurrection.
Again, there are people dramatically more “religious” and “worthy” than me. That is why I lost some very dear friendships. People who were deeply religious and strongly felt that something like this could never happen to one as “unworthy” as me. They have not talked to me to this very day.
Over the years since publication, hundreds of people have reached out to me to say that the book deeply touched them, “brought them back to God,” brought them “to tears,” or changed their lives. But each year I heard those heartfelt testimonials was one more year that faith in Jesus, faith in God, and faith in general was on the wane. But maybe no more.
After President Donald J. Trump was shot by a wanna-be assassin in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania – with the bullet literally coming within millimeters of taking his life – President Trump – who is a deeply spiritual man -- then speculated that divine providence might have stepped in to save him for a special calling. To be sure, millions of Americans believe he was spared so he could literally save the United States of America from internal destruction. I am one of them.
Others have said that it was a sign. To see it as “a sign” was an act of faith—an act that would create a new curiosity about Jesus, God, and faith in some while solidifying faith in others. It would make a resurgence of faith in young and old alike.
I do believe that is happening. Just as I Truly believe it is President Trump who is bringing back Faith. And as he does, I do believe it’s my obligation to re-share my story to those who may awaken to faith or reconnect with it.
As Christians pause to celebrate the significance of Easter, I hope many will take a moment to ponder what happened during those forty miraculous days after the Resurrection. A Heavenly occurrence so many have never heard of or have sadly forgotten. Happy Easter.
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book The Forty Days -- A Vision of Christ's Lost Weeks. Follow him @DougOfSkye
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