That Blinding Veil

A Historical Christian Novel

Book #3 begins where Book #2 ended.
Saul is energetic and eager to begin his ministry as an apostle to set the Jews straight on what really happened to Jesus of Nazareth. His expectations for success are high. But a school of hard knocks awaits him, from which he will emerge better suited as an apostle and a Pathsetter for those to come after him.
The one thing certain to the young woman Rachel is that life had dealt her a fistful of troubles. Everything else is uncertain. Having been raped by a Roman legionnaire, accused by her father of having played the harlot and therefore disowned, she is now alone, pregnant, about to give birth to a child that she does not want, and without hope for a future. There are but three things she wants: Justice. Love. Acceptance. None seem likely, however.
The young man Joel becomes caught on the horns of a dilemma. He falls in love and wants the young woman of his desire sexually. But that he cannot do. They are not married! Not only does his Lord Jesus forbid such immorality, but the civil penalty for taking her sexually outside of wedlock is being stoned to death. He must marry her first! But that he cannot do either. For he lacks the income to support her. His life then becomes a quest for more money so he can marry her and satisfy his yearning to have her. But doing that is further complicated by the necessity that he may also have to support his aging widowed mother. The only solution that he can come up with to acquire the funds that he needs so that he can marry Rachel and support his mother will, however, not only put him deeply in debt, but will require him to endure the very thing he does not want – being separated for long periods of time from the woman of his desires!
Leah’s life is conflicted. Her marriage. Her social acceptance. Her place in life. Even her conscience. At the heart of it all is the ruling passion of her life that does not harmonize with her husband Peter’s calling in life. And not being able to fulfill the ruling passion in life makes her despicable to other women, which one day erupts into violence. Her life, then, is a struggle to cope with disappointment, hopelessness, bitterness, frustration, marital tensions, a necessity to be self-sacrificing, and being a good wife to her husband and all that his calling demands of her. To make matters worse for her – she is missing her one confidant upon whom she had been able to unload her feelings and troubles.
Peter finds himself having to bear Leah’s disappointments and frustrations. He, too, wishes that her ruling passion could be realized. For what she craves continues to put him on the horns of a dilemma: Does he continue serving Jesus as his Lord, or does he bow to the wishes of Leah his wife? The two are not compatible. But that is not the only problem confronting him. His Lord Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations must be achieved. But the Jewish people on the one hand and the house-churches of The Way on the other hand are both standing in the way of achieving the goal set by Jesus.
The reign of terror now having ended, Dareh, the former beggar at the temple, goes back to live in the house of his late parents. He is not there long, however, before his two older brothers, sister-in-law, and sister who renounced their faith in Jesus and then unleashed their hatred against him, return also intent upon living in their parents’ house. Tensions and strife immediately arise. Dareh is then faced with the possibility that they may betray him to Caiaphas to have him killed as a believer in Jesus, just as they had previously betrayed their own parents!
Esther and John Mark are happily married. Esther has largely overcome her fear of becoming pregnant and dying in childbirth, so they are also enjoying their sexual relationship. But then a tragedy occurs that tears them apart. They are both strained and tested to the limits of their endurance.