My interpretation of the Apostle Paul’s description of a spiritual, immortal, “glorified” body born from a natural physical body is entirely consistent with testimonies from the Dead Saints. At the moment of death, in the twinkling of an eye, we are changed. That which is corrupted, the flesh, is given a Body of Light—an incorruptible, immortal body.
Most Dead Saints describe donning a Body of Light soon after death. However, there are points of contention: Is the immortal, “incorruptible” Body of Light “donned” if the mind of the departing soul is in distress and does not attend the Judgment?
Egyptian Beliefs about the Body of Light
Ancient Egyptians describe aspects of the Body of Light and a “name”—definitions which may help define St. Paul’s “incorruptible” body, Dead Saint descriptions of the “Body of Light,” and the dilemma of a soul who doesn’t attend or pass through the Judgment:
• The ba: The Astral Spirit. A Spiritual Body which can roam beyond the veil at night and can visit with the deceased and stands before the Judgment council at death. It is connected with a silver cord which is released when the physical body dies. This is not the Body of Light or St. Paul’s “incorruptible” body. Souls who refuse to stand before the Judgment will remain in the astral world as an “astral spirit” who co-exist with the physical Earth plane. (See chapter 18, Ghosts, Apparitions, & Earthbound Spirits)
• The akh: The Immortal Spirit. Equivalent to St. Paul’s “incorruptible” body and the Dead Saint’s “Body of Light.” According to the ancient Egyptians, it will be awarded after the Judgment.
• The name: The name of your Immortal spirit. Revelation 2:17: …To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.
I believe the answer is self-evident. If a soul does not continue onto the Light and face the Judgment, they will not receive an “incorruptible” glorified Body of Light described by St. Paul and the Dead Saints, nor given a “new name.” The soul and mind will remain encapsulated as an astral spirit with its old Earth University personality and desires.
Body of Light Abilities
Bill expands our understanding of what we feel, see, taste, smell and touch in the Afterlife, a world that reflects our human understanding of our five senses, but on a much higher, more enhanced level:
When I died on the operating table for the first time, I didn’t realize I was dead. There was no out of body experience, no tunnels, no Light at the end of the tunnel, no spirits, nothing. I was out of my body and just popped into the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Light is not visual there. The senses are all-encompassing impressions flooded into my being all at once. The experience is so intense that it is hard to explain, because it doesn’t follow a logical sequence and it is totally wrapped up in emotion. Words are far too limited to explain, but I’m doing my best to try to say what happened.
The senses are extremely heightened and don’t really work like they do here. Words are completely inadequate, because all the senses are wrapped up in each other. We have the largest vocabulary on Earth based on describing events in terms of what we see. Although I felt the experience, I can best describe it in terms of vision.
The grass was so green it hurt to look at it, and it felt so good! I could even taste the grass by feeling it, it tasted like watermelon. Walking on the grass was wonderful – it was an incredible feeling. The best way I can describe it was, ‘OH MY GOD! WOW!!!’ The sense of smell was not with the nose. It was more like it permeated through my cheekbones under my eye, like smelling through the sinuses.2
Feeling Whole Without a Physical Body
Sue answers perhaps one of our deep fears about the Afterlife. How will we feel without a physical body?
I was experiencing some sort of free fall during all of this, however, it is hard to pin point any direction I was travelling in because, well, there was no direction. ‘It is hard for me to imagine now, even after experiencing it personally, how it could be one would FEEL so much, yet only have awareness mentally with no physical. From this, alone I can assure you after death you will feel completely as you do now, whole, even without a body.3
The Appearance of the Body of Light
Dead Saints describe donning a new “glorified” body during their NDE that generally looks like a human body, but in many ways different:
I had a body with arms and legs resembling the physical body on Earth, but yet somehow very different. This new spiritual body was translucently white, but then again, it wasn’t. It’s so hard to describe. It “glowed” or “radiated” such Light. It was not subject to gravity of the laws of physics I had known while on Earth. If I wanted to go somewhere, I didn’t use my legs to get there. I simply thought of where I wanted to go, and there I was. I could not “speak” or “hear” like the physical body, but I could “speak” and “hear” just the same. It was like telepathy. I could “hear” everything “speak” and I could do the same. I “knew what the people on Earth below were thinking and feeling without even being near to them. I automatically “knew” things and accepted this without fear or hesitation: it was normal for this new dimension I was now in. 4
The appearance of the Body of Light sometimes does not necessarily appear human, but may appear spherical, oval, or look like a round pulsing loci of Light. Dirk describes people wearing white gowns of a very fine fabric:
Everything had an extra dimension to things. Everything looked more real. I remember taking note of how people looked—and the only explanation I have is I was able to see complete around [360 degrees]. When we see people normally, we only get to see what they want to reveal. This was like seeing people for who they are—as God sees them all at once. Also the white gowns were part of people; it wasn’t like they had put clothing on as a separate fabric, but it was an extension of who they were—like the robe of salvation, or the gown of righteousness, from Scripture. They all looked young, but were not young in age, just freed from the decay and curse of death. Fully alive.5
The Creation of the Body of Light
On July 30th, 1994, Mira drove her white 560 LS Mercedes convertible about 400 miles with her secretary from San Francisco for a couple of meetings with some clients. After about 10 minutes on the road, a car with two young boys, driving in the left lane, suddenly swerved to the right and impacted her Mercedes head on. The next thing she knew a white stream of Light swept through her body, filling her with electric white Light. Mira describes the creation of a “Light Body” while flying fast through a dark void:
I saw with complete amazement, a very interesting transference starting to happen, as a string of atoms started flowing out from within the left side of my electric body, disappearing upwards into nowhere. And almost as if from thin air, a much finer frequency of atoms, seemed to be appearing from the right side and were entering through my right side into this same electric Light body. I was watching and experiencing at the same time again, with no sense of duality, as my entire Being was totally emptied and refueled and re-programmed, with this ethereal, orderly, interchange of atoms.
I saw the new entry was of a vastly different energy constitution and seemed to have a much more expansive and delicate DNA energy, with a new wave of very lightweight, subtle cellular frequencies, as they spiraled in, expanding and changing the previous electric body formation. And again, all the above was happening very fast and yet…taking an eternity. Enfolded in the comforting wrap of Pure Divine Love during this cellular ‘exchange,’ it seemed as though I, as the one who had arrived here, was gradually disappearing with the atoms leaving this electric Light body, and almost as if, another ‘me’ was birthing through the newer, finer atoms entering into this Light form. It seemed as if my whole Being was cleansed and purified, making it ready for its next role in God’s divine drama.6
The Body of Light is a
vehicle for our minds to traverse the immensity of the Afterlife universe faster than the speed of light. While we no longer have a physical body with its physical DNA, we have a subtler spiritual body composed of “Light DNA” that mirrors our former Earth body and contains all the memories and experiences of our earthly life. The Body of Light sees, feels, hears, smells, and tastes. It is smarter, sharper, and thinks exponentially faster than you think or I can imagine, and is just the beginning of the miracles God has promised you and me when we die.
—
Endnotes
1Sharon NDE, #4055,11.18.15, NDERF.org
2Bill W NDE, #180, 10.29.02, NDERF.org
3Sue C NDE, #2927, 01.18.12, NDERF.org
4Katie W NDE, #4029, 10.11.15, NDERF.org
5Pastor Dirk W’s NDE, #525, 11.24.04, NDERF.org
6Mira S NDE, #3898, 03.08.15, NDERF.org
— 17 —
Heaven—The Kingdom of Light
“Let nothing stand between you and the Light…When you travel to the celestial city, carry no letter of introduction. When you know, ask to see God… ~Henry David Thoreau
Many Christians remain skeptical of Near-Heaven experiences because so few Dead Saints experience Judgment or hell-like conditions. Instead, the Saints describe all manner of people, even non-Christians in Heaven, overcome with a profound, life-changing encounter of God’s unconditional love.
How can this be? Because God, the Living One, knows your heart. Jesus Christ knows your heart, Christian or non-Christian, saved or unsaved, baptized or unbaptized.
Throughout the Chronicles, I have conveyed from Scripture and from the Dead Saints, guidelines for entering one of the many levels of Heaven. You must be joyous and lighthearted. You must be peaceful and loving, and innocent like a child.
The mansion (or level) of Heaven that you enter is determined by the magnitude or depth of unconditional love that you attain while in the physical. The depth of one’s love is expressed by the purity of one’s heart—the extent to which the heart is free of all fear and inflamed by faith, unconditional love and universal kindness. Your heart, not the religion you profess, is the REAL you that you present to God when you pass over—a reflection of the ancient Biblical saying in Proverbs 23:7, “So as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”
While many Dead Saints see Heaven as a “place” with gardens, people and buildings, Teri’s revelation about “Heaven” is different. She sees Heaven as a “frequency” we attain:
Being in the presence of White Light was “Heaven.” It was more than the greatest feeling I had ever experienced or dreamed was possible. Having that feeling again became what I wanted to strive for, not going to a place. The feeling, the energy I was experiencing became “the place.”
…I knew somehow, I had to raise my vibration and become more loving in order to experience this indescribable love on a permanent basis. These are the concepts that are difficult to explain because it wasn’t conveyed to me in words. It was an understanding that spoke to me in a way I could relate to. But it was never conveyed as Judgment or with the intention of creating fear of punishment. This White Light wasn’t capable of anything but Love, because that was truly the essence, 100% the vibration of what it was.
…I learned, Heaven isn’t a place you are admitted to, but it is a frequency you attain.1
In Saved by the Light, Dannion Brinkley, describes beings below him who shimmered at a slower frequency than his own. Just looking at them caused him discomfort by slowing down his vibration. Conversely, watching beings above him caused him similar discomfort because he would begin vibrating faster, “like drinking too much coffee.”2 A corollary of the Law of Frequency and Vibration is something I call “reality bubbles” —a bubble that has a particular frequency/vibration that encapsulates our consciousness and beliefs —it reflects the reality we believe in. Bubbles of a higher or lower vibration attract or repel one another. Our reality bubbles can expand beyond our immediate environment, to encompass our neighborhood, city, county, nation, world or…Universe. Higher frequency bubbles can see into lower frequency bubbles, but not vice versa.
This same idea is also reflected in Edgar Cayce’s well-known quote about Heaven, “You don’t go to Heaven. You grow up to Heaven.”
The Transition to Heaven
Robert’s heart attack in August 2005, precipitated his awe-inspiring visit to Heaven:
The transition [to Heaven] did not feel odd in anyway. I must admit there was some apprehension because of the unknown but that slowly passed too. An intensity of different feeling began to rush over me all at once.
The first feeling was a feeling of intense peace. It was so calm and serene with an incredible amount of tranquility. Never on Earth had I had anything at all feel so incredible with calmness and peace. The intensity of these feelings was so intense that you realize that they are not from life on Earth in any form.
All of my earthly worries, thoughts, fears, opinions, were gone. It was as if my entire 47 plus years on Earth did not exist. The intensity of the tranquility was so incredible and overwhelming that you were willing to give your soul to GOD and accept the transition to Heaven without questioning a single thing. This is what the love of GOD can portray; complete and total release of your soul and you will put your soul into the hands of GOD without question.
There was no fear in what I was experiencing, no fear on where I was going, and what to expect when I arrived there. I knew it would all be just fine when I arrived at my final destination. The feelings I was having were not happening in any chronological order, but happening in sync and it wasn’t overwhelming.
Then there was warmth. It was as if I was wrapped in a blanket that came out of an oven. It wasn’t too hot or too cold. It was simply perfect. It was so incredible and comforting; any anxiety remaining in your soul was expelled out of you. It was as if you were being held in the loving arms of an Angel with their wings wrapped around you to keep you warm and to insure you are secure. The love of GOD is far reaching and His love is warmth and that is what you feel. You are the child of GOD coming home and home should be a warm and welcoming place, which Heaven is.
…You can travel to all areas of heaven with just a desire to be there. You can enjoy the climates you are attracted too. You can visit whom you like and you can see the greatness of the musicians and artists that passed before you and who are now in Heaven. Imagine being able to learn the nuances of Pablo Picasso’s painting style, or perhaps Van Gogh’s unique style being done in front of you. If painting isn’t your thing can you imagine being able to sit and listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King play guitar together. Perhaps, you would rather listen to an Italian operatic tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. Could you ever imagine you would be able to sit with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and listen to them just break into song? In Heaven, it is all possible and that is the love of Heaven and what the grace of GOD provides.
Then there was the love. This is a very difficult feeling to describe. Try to remember the first time you saw your child or met your significant other. You know what I am talking about. That feeling of first time love that is so positive and so powerful. Now take that feeling and multiply it thousands of times over. It is a love you can never imagine being possible on Earth. This is difficult to explain, but I suppose the best way to explain it would be that GOD took your soul and held you close to His bosom and gently brushed His hand over you and said in a soft, soothing, yet powerful voice, ‘You are safe. I have you and you are home with me. Welcome home my child.’ 3
Family Reunions
Our hope is we will be reunited with departed friends and family in Heaven. There is no way to explain how we will truly be together again. The reunion may or may not be as father and son, husband and wife, or as a dear friend. When we descend to Earth University and occupy a physical body, it’s as if our souls are part of a Body of Light that has been split, a
nd then when we return to the Kingdom of Heaven, we suddenly come back together again as a single Body of Light, united yet separate, and we share together what we have learned. Robert continues his walk through Heaven, describing the joy of reuniting with loved ones:
As my vision began to clear, I saw numerous faces all happy and smiling. It felt as if I was being held by so many different souls. Each of which were welcoming me back home. It was difficult to recognize who they were; they were all young as if in their twenties or early thirties. But, their faces started to become familiar once again. I began to recognize them and I knew who they were and the level of happiness that was felt can’t be explained in earthly terms. There is no possible way to explain this and how it felt.
I saw my aunts and uncles that passed on before me. I saw my grandparents and others I knew that went before I did. I knew I was safe and I was meant to be there. Then, I saw my Father and we made the connection that so many years on Earth have taken away. It was as if it was yesterday and not over 38 earthly years since his death. My Grandparents were there and Grandma Lucia had that same smile of love and harmony she always had. Grandpa Pete was younger and more resilient. They all were younger than my memories held. They all appeared to be in their late 20’s or 30’s. Does it have something to do about that age as being in the ‘prime’ of our lives?
As I looked around to familiarize myself with Heaven, off in the near distance, I saw incredible towers and buildings all glistening with inviting incredible colors. The skies were brilliant with various colors from blues to purples. The grass fields were vast and the trees were magnificent. It is GOD’s creation and it is all in perfect harmony. All the areas of Earth seem to be in Heaven, but it isn’t like Earth. It is better and it is as perfect as GOD originally created it.
The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife Page 27