Others came back still feeling all too human, burdened by all the struggles beset them prior to their NDE. To be clear, NDEs are not equal licenses to sainthood. These sacred experiences do not equally transform the heart and mind.
Seven Near-Death Triggers
One central theme in the Dead Saints Chronicles is you don’t have to be physically dead to have a near-death experience. While death and near-death accounts commonly gain the most attention and are considered more “authentic,” there are four additional triggers, which can lead to an NDE, but do not involve injury or death of the physical body.
Table 1 describes the injury and non-injury events that may trigger an NDE, containing one or more of the 23 Death Elements (See chapter 13).
Seven Near-Death Triggers
Description
#1: Physical-Death
Clinical Death of the physical body
#2: Near-Death
Severe/moderate injury to the physical body, including coma
#3: Multiple-Death
Severe/moderate injury to the physical body during a multiple casualty event. NDE survivor witnesses and communicates with non-survivors as they die.
#4: Fear-Death
Non-injury, core-dying event caused by belief death is imminent. (Term coined by Dr. Jeffery Long, M.D.)
#5: Shared-Death
Non-injury core dying event experienced by the living in the presence of a dying person. Living are acutely conscious and awake during the experience. (Term used by Dr. Jeffery Long, M.D., and Dr. Moody, M.D., Ph.D.)
#6: Mystical-Death
Non-injury core dying event triggered by deep meditation, prayer, hypnosis, astral travel, Near-Death Lightning, Holy Spirit, (i.e., Christian born-again), or appear spontaneously without cause. Sometimes referred to as an STE. (Spiritual Transformative Experience) or SOBE (Spiritual Out-of-Body Experience)
#7: ADC (after-death communication) / NELE (near-end of life event)
Non-injury core dying event experienced through a dream involving an after-death communication (ADC) from deceased loved ones, (which may occur years, months or days before death) or a near-end of life event (NELE) (seeing and talking while conscious or semi-conscious to deceased friends and family, weeks, days or hours before death.
Table 1
Invariably, the near-death experience is a “born-again” experience—consistent with, but not restricted to, Christian values. The Dead Saints aspire to charity, service, and a love for all humanity, as do all other spiritual traditions. Eyes are opened, hearts are touched, life will never again be the same, but the newly canonized saints typically have the same obstacles to overcome, the same lessons to learn after their resurrection as they did before they died. The Dead Saints come back with a new perspective. They discover Earth is a University. Their classes, designed by God, are still in session, with exams remaining to be studied for and passed. Now these students have the gift of a new heart, new perspective, and a new hope in which to tackle those daily challenges.
Linda describes her prayer one year after her near-death experience:
I don’t know what I am supposed to do, who I am to see, or what I should say. I don’t even know what to think. I am always requesting what I think would be best for me. God, I don’t know what is best for me. My life is yours. Whatever you want for me is fine. If I am to lie here in this bed, sick and disabled for the rest of my life, whether it is twenty minutes or twenty years, that’s fine. Whatever happens is fine. I know you love me. Then I added, ‘I make one request, however. Please, if I am to live, let me be useful in some way —for YOU.’ 3
Dr. Jeffrey Long asked in the original version of the web based NDRF.org study Questionnaire “Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?” Of those responding, 73.1 percent answered, “Yes.” He concluded from his ongoing study that the majority, but not all, NDERs experienced changes in their lives as a result of the near-death experience.4
Authenticity of Dead Saint Experiences (Term to be interchangeable with NDEs)
I have written the Chronicles with a distinct Christian and Eastern bent that reflects my training and I include many of my own Christian-oriented dreams and personal experiences of the Afterlife. My material has been culled from the thousands of Dead Saint experiences that make up the world’s NDE English inventory. I have chosen Afterlife testimonies I believe to be authentic, real, and “off the cuff”—that ring true and do not attempt to impress or proselytize.
NDEs are not rare. It is estimated by near-death researchers one out of 25 people (4.2%) in the US have experienced several core elements of the dying experience.5 Calculating this statistic equates to more than 12 million Afterlife tales in the US alone, a statistic that may be off by as much as 50%. It has also been estimated more than 25 million individuals worldwide have had an NDE in the past 50 years.
NDEs that occur on the operating table in hospitals are thought to be widely underreported because doctors and healthcare practitioners are not open to them.6 Research has shown “patients remain silent because nobody believes them when they first try to talk about it and fear being labeled as crazy.”7 Christians may keep their experiences to themselves, fearing ridicule because the dead are not supposed to awake until Judgment Day. Sometimes children do not recognize the unusual nature of their experience, as was the case for 4-year-old, Colton in (the movie and book), Heaven is for Real.
The Dead Saint’s near-death visions are typically described as very vivid-more than just a dream-more real than real, and often the most beautiful, dramatic experience of their lives. Looking back on the NDE, the saint perceives physical existence as the dream. Moreover, the saints describe communication akin to what we regard as telepathy. Every word is communicated without actual verbal words. They never feel like they are hearing anything auditory at all:
People would just look at each other, and often even with some mouth movements, but messages would come through so quickly, without any effort, and from the inside, rather than outside of self.8
Are the Dead Saints divinely inspired voice recorders playing back exactly what is being dictated to them, or does the brain significantly filter their experience? From my research, each Dead Saint encounter is unique. Afterlife experiences that occur in a non-corporeal state, must be interpreted by the human brain when the Dead Saint returns to the physical body. The vision or dream images of the saint are converted to words and symbols that are interpreted through the filter of the human brain-mind’s experiences including: vocabulary, culture, religion, beliefs, fears and age. Interestingly, some researchers have found that a surprising number of children “felt like an adult in a child’s body” during their NDE.9
Some researchers theorize the NDE is a result of an intense belief in God and the Hereafter, but as we will see, NDEs happen as frequently with unbelievers as believers. It appears, at times, deep religious beliefs significantly affect the interpretation of Afterlife encounters when re-told to the faithful, but the basic framework of the experience remains intact. There may be overlapping themes of brilliant Light and unconditional love in all non-materialistic phenomena, but they always intersect with and are informed by the unique matrix of the individual’s personality and social circumstances.
Regardless whether the quasi-scientific anecdotal approach I employ in the Chronicles is accepted, I believe the cumulative evidence gathered is enough to convince—except for die-hard materialists—that even one valid Dead Saint “white crow”10 will disprove “all crows are black.”
Can Christianity’s Beliefs Accommodate the Dead Saint Experience?
> You may wonder if your religion (or, for that matter, lack of religion) can accommodate the Dead Saint experience. Christians may ask whether these encounters will confirm their belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and the Son of God. Christian writers have written many books on NDEs that most often reflect their Biblical beliefs about Heaven and the Afterlife, sometimes rejecting NDEs that do not support their views.
Some preachers feel the widespread practice of accepting personal spiritual experience, or the near-death experience as “authoritative” is misleading Christians. They feel many people are “augmenting the Bible with extra-biblical data, proclaimed as “new” revelations from the Holy Spirit, and misplacing their faith in an alleged mystical experience.”11 The fear among some churches is they will make the spiritual experience as valid as the written Word of God. I believe this is the crux of the matter. Perhaps, their spiritual experience IS as valid and holy as the Word of God.
The basis behind the fear of the personal, spiritual experience can be found in the Evangelical Reformation led by Martin Luther, who taught, “enthusiasm” for the mystical experience, “Clings to Adam and his children from the beginning to the end of the world—fed and spread among them as poison by the old dragon. It is the source, power, and might of all the heresies, even that of the papacy and of Mohammed. Therefore, we should and must insist that God does not want to deal with us human beings, except by means of his external word and sacrament. Everything that boasts of being from the Spirit apart from such a word and sacrament is of the Devil.”12
Martin Luther’s teachings are why some Christians regard the NDE as a type of “demonic possession,” a view derived from a single St. Paul line in 2 Corinthians 11:14, where he writes Satan may disguise himself as an “angel of light.” I have only read of one such “counterfeit angel” NDE out of 5000 in my database where a being poses as a “smiling angel” clothed in bright white garments.13
Alone “counterfeit angel” should not be accepted as a reason to dismiss wholesale the thousands of real, life altering, Dead Saint encounters with a holy, loving Being of Light and with Jesus; transformative encounters which validate and clarify our faith. These are not cruel charades devised by the Devil.
St. Paul says in his letter to Galatians 5:22-23 that we will know them by their fruits:
The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such, there is no law.
The Dead Saints show ability to distinguish good from evil even in the midst of a near-death state. Their encounters with Jesus and the Being of Light describe angels and Beings exhibiting unconditional love and forgiveness. The saints discern the being of darkness (Satan), as the antithesis of Light, and while created by God, is deceitful, and does not generate love, forgiveness, holiness or goodness.
Please be assured, NDE studies and spiritual experiences will neither become a “religion of the resuscitated” nor will they replace the Word of God as reported in the Holy Bible and the sacred texts of other religions. It will become clear from NDE testimonies there may be some misunderstanding of what has been passed down to us centuries ago, but God’s Word remains holy and complete. It is my belief, the Dead Saint experience is a contemporary “continuation” of God’s Word. We should consider their sacred experiences carefully and weigh them against the Spirit of Truth.
Strict, doctrinaire, literal Christian beliefs appear to be changing. In the last two years, movies based upon NDEs and sojourns in Heaven continue to attract blockbuster audiences. Why is the Word of God not being sought as the only guide for many
Christians? Ponder this question as we take up a walking stick and begin our Zen journey through the Chronicles.
Reporting the Afterlife
The doctors have given my life an early expiration date. Over 150,000 people die every day somewhere on the planet. So, my death, whether it comes tomorrow or in the next few months, will be just one of hundreds of thousands who will be led through the “Grand Central Station” of death to a final destination somewhere in the Realms of Heaven.
Think of me as a “dying journalist” in the fox hole with pen and pad in hand, reporting “live” from the Earth side of Heaven’s gates. My reports offer an unusual opportunity to look beyond the veil, to see what I see, to hear what I hear, to visualize what I dream, and to present salient, unambiguous evidence from the foxhole that Heaven is real, and that consciousness survives death.
Whether or not some scientist or university eventually manages to prove the existence of the Afterlife to the satisfaction of debunkers matters little. I believe the evidence presented will convince everyone else consciousness is eternal, and that our true native and original spiritual state exists in the Realms of Heaven, our true home. This reiterated truth, carrying the imprimatur of direct personal experiences, is as powerfully expressed by today’s Dead Saints as the venerable, time-honored words of our ancient prophets, sages, and saints.
While this manuscript is technically no more than bits of data on my computer as I write this, it really feels more like a thick, ancient, worn leather manuscript, illuminated throughout with sacred symbols and prayers. It is not a Bible, but a Canon of sacred Afterlife experiences that become a lens, magnifying truths about God and Heaven, a new Magna Carta Liberatum for all faiths.
Definitions and Terms
I feel it’s necessary to clarify terms used in the Chronicles, how my journal notes are woven into the book, and the format that makes this work unique.
I refer to the Being of Light encountered by the Dead Saints using many synonyms: The Creator. The Christ. Jesus Christ. The Living One. The Source of Life. Living Love. Living Water. The Son of God. The Messiah. God. These terms are meant to be interchangeable and not to reference a particular religion.
Ongoing After-death communications (ADCs), approaching-death dreams (ADDs), and premonitions about death I received during the dying process, are chronicled and integrated into the story when appropriate. Chronicle journal notes begin June 13, 2013, when my brain cancer was discovered. They are inserted throughout the book by Chronicle number. Day 1 is Chronicle 1, and so on. They are included for content and may be out of sequence. My experiences before June 13, 2013, are referenced by date instead of Chronicle number.
I use Japanese gardens and Bonsai metaphors throughout the book to tell the Dead Saints Chronicles story. In the process, I refer to the term ‘Zen’,14 not the religion, but to the core essence of Zen, which states wisdom can only come from direct experience, not through doctrine or dogma. Each religion has its mystical branch, and as my path took me from Christianity, to Eastern thought and back again, I employ the Zen philosophy to shed light on aspects of the Afterlife modern Christians may be curious about. Through Zen mysticism, or the belief in gaining knowledge from direct experience, I utilize those who have had direct experience of death—the Dead Saints—to glean a better understanding about what truly lies beyond the veil.
Zen attempts to describe what is rather than what is not. In other words, “Things are what they are.” The Zen philosophy (via the Koan-e.g., “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”) attempts to resolve paradoxes, which cannot be resolved by the rational mind. Answers are
invoked by prayer / contemplation / meditation—with the solution coming as a flash, a realization of the truth, and from whence does this answer come?
The answer, in the Christian vernacular, is it comes from the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Truth revealing what is real as opposed to what is illusion or fantasy. It is an answer born not from the rational mind, organized religion, formal education or inculcated beliefs, but from the mind of God, the Living One, the Christ, the Source of Life and Light within and without you.
Let me explain why I emphasize and italicize the above sentence.
There is great debate among non-Christians, non-believers, and metaphysical students whether Jesus Ch
rist was a historical man or a created archetype of a mythical Christ. Their ongoing belief is that Jesus was a myth created to represent the Christ Consciousness within us.
Early second century followers of Christ called Gnostics recognized the paradox of Jesus Christ without and the Spirit of Christ within. They describe ‘The Kingdom of the Father’ as the Light within us that also exists in and around all things, a Light personified in the historical figure of Jesus Christ. This theology appears on the surface to be in conflict with traditional Christian beliefs of a sovereign Jesus, but I assure you, it is not. The resolution to the paradox will be found through reading and pondering hundreds of Dead Saint experiences. “The pondering” is the Zen part of your journey.
Of Jesus’ real, historical existence, there is no doubt. When He touched me in 1981 and 2011, my faith became a KNOWING. Like the Dead Saints who encounter Jesus in the Afterlife, the experience of touching the hem of His garment changes us forever. It is not mythical, nor is it philosophical. To those who have not had the experience, there is no way to explain it, other than to document my own approaching-death experiences of Jesus Christ and those Dead Saint testimonies of the Being of Light chronicled throughout the book.
The Christian Afterlife
The term Christian Afterlife became a part of the title of the Chronicles for several reasons:
1)To prove that the Being of Light and Jesus of Nazareth are real.
2)To interpret the deeper message of the Christ hidden in the Bible.
3)To resolve Christian theological dilemmas about Heaven and the Afterlife.
Beneath the Zen and the Christian Afterlife themes, brain cancer presented me with a formidable obstacle to writing. On June 13 2013, when Doctor Ma entered the emergency room, closed the blue curtain for privacy, and she bluntly told me, “Mr. Solomon, we found a mass in your brain,” no matter how unafraid you think you are of death, no matter what your religion, when a doctor tells you that you have what might be a terminal illness, the news is catastrophic.
The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife Page 3