The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife
Page 31
I could see we were all wounded children, and the reason we were here was to love and forgive one another, and to help one another through this spiritual journey.3
Thomas says Jesus can take away our pain. It is left behind when we die, but the lessons we learn from pain are eternal:
I remember asking [God] questions and receiving answers. The first question I asked was very impertinent. ‘Why is there so much pain down there?’ (Meaning on Earth). The answer was laughter. So much joyful laughter like a mother laughing at the amazing questions only a small child can ask. The laughter was followed with something like: ‘Don’t you know I have the power to take away all the pain? I can rewind the universe and start all over again with one simple wish. The pain is left behind on Earth. It does not travel with us, but the lessons we learn from it are eternal.’ I immediately accepted this without a doubt.4
Sylvia says it’s all part of the school—even the abusive stuff:
I knew I got this body because my mother and father had this little baby and all their close spirit (family friends) were used up. The baby was going to be a very weak, sick female body, but it was what I needed to experience, what I (the spirit) needed in order to grow spiritually. It was like taking a college class you hated, (like calculus), but you knew you had to get a passing grade in it in order to graduate. So I reluctantly agreed to take this body that belonged to a family I had never been with before. I also knew I had been in a previous body that was a huge mean man who abused women and children. I needed to experience what it felt like to be a small, sickly woman. I understood why the body was dyslexic. Now, that was a real challenge back in the 40-50s when you were humiliated and punished because you didn’t know right from left. And (it is) why I chose nursing, and every time I tried to quit and go into another profession, I was pulled back. Everything was clear.5
Dead Saint ‘C’ says people will hurt you, but loved ones and angels can’t interfere. It’s a universal non-interference law. It is something we have to go through:
She told me to explain why she couldn’t stop the people who were hurting me, from hurting me, but as she explained it, I knew the pain I was enduring hurt her, too. She was completely empathetic. I knew she (and the others with her) would always be with me. She explained while they couldn’t stop what was happening, they would always be there to witness what was happening. I knew I would always have contact with someone who would understand completely what I had been through.
She wanted me to know that because they are not of this realm, it takes sensitivity to connect with them. They cannot directly affect what happens here (she couldn’t intervene to stop the abuse), but they can communicate and affect people (or animals, etc.) in this realm. Then we can, in turn, affect the world around us. It’s a little difficult to explain the concept! Like I said, it was something I kind of just understood. It came from her—she was explaining it, but not in words.6
What Is the Purpose of Evil?
There is probably no subject in all religious thought so hard to deal with as Evil. Theologians and philosophers of all persuasions have wrestled with accounting for its origins, the fact it exists at all, what defines evil in the first place, and a host of other intractable associated, but legitimate problems.
The great, primal, unavoidable question for theologians is this, “How can we account for the existence of evil within a Cosmos created by a supreme, omniscient, omnipotent, holy and benevolent God?” How can a Loving Creator God for no reason other than to suit “His all Knowing Will” rain tragedy and misfortune down upon the heads of the apparently guiltless and good fortune upon the heads of the certifiably malevolent without discernible rhyme or reason?
It’s an ongoing argument between God and Satan in the Book of Job. It’s a theological dilemma that can be, has been, and no doubt will be hotly debated to the end of time. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.”
Ancient Chinese Yin/Yang symbol representing Light and Dark—the opposing forces of Good and Evil.
The prophet Amos specifies Evil is “of God,” and poses a rhetorical question whose obvious answer would be blasphemous to the orthodoxy: “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3: 6) and in Isaiah 45:7, “I form Light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
All major religions attempt in vain to answer definitively the question of Good and evil; Love and fear; Light and darkness; Heaven and Hell. In Christianity, Jesus is the embodiment of ultimate Good; Satan the embodiment of evil. In the East, the idea is expressed through Yin and Yang: duality, polarity, opposites—positive/negative. Every philosophy—religious or secular; every tradition sophisticated or mythical, addresses the dilemma to its own satisfaction, but seldom, if ever to the satisfaction of those not sharing that particular tradition.
Rather than trying to resolve the historically unresolvable myself, I feel it might be useful to see what the Dead Saints have to say about the matter…in those infrequent NDE testimonies where the question is addressed.
While perhaps no more satisfactory or definitive intellectually than any other explanation, they have, in my opinion, one huge advantage over practically anything previously written. They are personal and experiential, rather than abstract and theoretical. Speaking for myself, I would rather follow a recipe for fried eggs, written by someone who has actually fried an egg, than by someone who has not.
Carol describes the purpose for good and evil:
I understood all good and bad happens for a purpose. That God wants the Devil to understand God is so good not even with all the bad the Devil does, God cannot do any harm to him [the Devil]. When the Devil understands such great love, this whole world or system of things will come to an end and everyone will experience this other world people like me try so poorly to describe. I understood God is everywhere because matter obscures that which scientists look for so diligently. The smallest tiniest part of all matter is God, too.7
Encountering Evil Spirits During an NDE
Dead Saints who encounter evil (shadow beings) when they are out of the body are not common. Most near-death researchers estimate “distressing” or “hellish” NDEs occur in a percentage in “the mid and high teens.”8 So while these dark and scary experiences seem uncommon, there are accounts to which we should pay attention. Evil takes advantage of fear, guilt, and ignorance at the time of death—situations we describe throughout this chapter.
On October 20, 2012, Kenneth had a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation, an irregular pulse, which required a procedure called ‘cardioversion.’ This is a process designed to shock the heart back into normal rhythm by means of administering an electric shock, but instead of restarting Kenneth’s heart, the procedure killed him. His remarkable NDE describes him following his own body to the morgue where doctors prepare to do an autopsy on him. What Kenneth saw when he was out of his body, raises questions that should interest people of all faiths (or no faith):
[Author’s note: Kenneth W’s corpse was photographed in the morgue on October, 20, 2012, and posted on NDERF along with his NDE, but was removed within hours by their webmaster for obvious sensitivity reasons.]
I really couldn’t understand why I was in a state of disembodied consciousness whilst my physical body was clearly dead. It had already become a bluish/grey color. I could think reasonably clearly, but I feared for what would happen once my body had been dissected for medical study. Would I be abandoned as a kind of spiritual wisp, a nothingness? Ostensibly dead, I was now an artifact and not a person. Clean, I was wheeled into another room down the corridor. Here, I was put on a sort of giant set of weighing scales, used for cadavers.
…I was squeezed in with other dead bodies, some covered in sheets and others naked. There didn’t seem to be much space, as I was laid over a couple of old men, both with
grey beards and obese; one completely bald and the other with a torso covered in tattoos - ugh! In the morgue, the presence of what I took to be the astral bodies of the dead people there was quite palpable. I got the feeling of welcome, and once again, other emotions such as shock and outrage, and resentment at being plucked from the living world.
I got the sense, more and more, of something very sinister lurking over me. I would describe this as a spiritual presence both malignant and at the same time seductive. I had the feeling it wanted to absorb me, and enfold me in an embrace that would end up in my oblivion. Something in me, as I floated in my non-physical state, wanted to surrender to this blackness and lose myself in it forever. But another voice seemed to be saying, ‘Be careful! Don’t!’ I could liken it to the pull of gravity as the presence seemed to be pulling me closer and closer into its embrace.
I heard the mortician drone on about the tissue samples he intended to take, and felt the lines being drawn on my torso with marker pen to indicate where I would be dissected. But as I was about to be sliced, one of the attendees noticed a trickle of saliva dribble from my mouth. At first, the mortician refused to accept there were signs of life, and wanted to press on with cutting me open. He said my corpse was still fresh, and would provide valuable medical data. Lying there, my naked body was the source of much discussion, but luckily, instruments began to show a barely discernible pulse. I was brought back to life largely with the help of heart massage and a defibrillator.9
I struggled whether to include this Dead Saint experience in the Chronicles, but alas, while rare, there are more Dead Saint encounters like Kenneth’s describing encounters with evil presences when out of the body. Three other NDEs describe such a situation right after death. Annette had a conscious (awake) after-death communication (ADC) with a man who had died seven days previously in a truck roll accident:
He had a demon-like creature on his right with its hand on his shoulder and an angel on his left, right in my living room. He was terrified. I immediately went into this deep prayer, I don’t know for how long, and when the moment broke and I looked up he smiled, the angel grabbed him around the waist and flew off with him the demon thing hissed and snapped at me for a moment and flew off the other way. I know it sounds unbelievable but it is so true.10
Deborah was facing off with “demons” when she cried out for God’s help. Notice there is a hierarchy in Heaven:
[God] had a stern message for me concerning the chain of command. There was God, all of the angels, good and bad but somehow equal and somehow all loved by God. Then, there was Jesus, and I had a vision of His throne and his knees and somehow we were placed somewhere below his feet. I accepted all this knowledge happily without question. Then, I was told by the power of Jesus I could leave the demons and return to my body. Suddenly, I was facing the demons again and in my mind I repeated the information I was just given.
Then I had to say it to the demons, ‘By the power and authority of Jesus let me return to my body.’ The demons gave me a total look of surprise and then I was back in my body.’11
Atana was being watched by “shadows” when she died:
Reaction to insulin. Low blood sugar. Unconscious. I cannot move or speak. Seeing myself bathing in bright Light, surrounded by 12 beings in white garments. I was in the middle of the circle, and also saw shadow people in the corner of my back yard. They were told they cannot come near me because I have done 108 good things in my life time.12
The ‘108’ things Atana had done in her life, perhaps representing all the good actions and thoughts of her life, more likely is symbolic and should not be taken literally.
Dead Saint “TO” was bitten by a Black Widow spider three times on the arm. She was found by her husband not breathing and without a pulse. She also reports “shadow beings” trying to wrap themselves around her:
As I opened my eyes, I saw the foot of the sofa was about 5 feet below me. I was ready to ask my husband to call 911...but decided against it...and then decided to pray. I WANTED to take [the Light] in..to go to it...but I DIDN’T because I knew what it meant. What I know it meant was, if I went with that Light, I’d be taken from this Earth. I cried inside and asked God to please spare me and give me a second chance at life. Before I was presented with the Light/Presence, I first went through a period of seeing and feeling several strange shadows kind of wrapping themselves around me and over me...suffocating almost. It was very frightening. This is when I began to beg God’s forgiveness and mercy--for I suspected these “shadow beings” may have meant I would not be able to go to God… but that some horrible alternative would take over.13
Is Hell Real?
The fiery descriptions of the lower, dark realms stand in stark contrast to the brilliant Light of Heaven. Called Gehenna in Greek, and translated as Hell in English, it is a place of torment, hate, anger, resentment, and remorse. Traditionally, Hell serves as a prison for evildoers; it is punishment for those who repudiated God; a kingdom ruled by Satan, and the personification of evil.
But the hypothetical concept of Hell presents a real ethical/theological problem to several religions where the idea of a dark realm existing for the eternal punishment of damned souls is seen as inconsistent with a belief in an Omni-benevolent, loving, Creator God.
Some religions describe a plane of existence that can be likened to Hell, but they are not considered permanent or eternal. They are considered only an intermediary state brought about by a soul’s evil actions while living on Earth. While some people believe Hell was created as a fantasy to scare people into good behavior, a dark reality should not be easily dismissed. The British novelist, and Christian apologist, C.S Lewis writes, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight.”14
Dead Saint Experiences of Hell
Dr. Ritchie describes in his book, My Life after Dying, how he went with the Son of God who took him on a tour of Hell:
There was no fire and brimstone here; not boxed-in canyons, but something a thousand times worse from my point of view. Here was a place totally devoid of love. This was HELL…There were beings arguing over some religious or political point, trying to kill the ones who did not agree with them.15
George observed remorse and the unwillingness to be accountable for our thoughts and actions is another slippery slope we must be aware of as we ponder our Afterlife destination:
I briefly “saw” both what would be considered Heaven and its counterpart. The terrible torment of those in “Hell” was far worse than the fire and brimstone crowd preach. It was something akin to spending eternity with those who would harm others in the same fashion as yourself, or conversely eternal loneliness for those who would, for lack of a better phrase, “fleece” others. The strange thing about the dark place was it was a place (and no place at the same time) you went to because of yourself. No one sent you there but yourself, and by the same token, only you could get yourself out.
Eternity seemed to be more of how you wished it. While Hell was well populated with millions of souls, it only made a very small dent in the total population of the Afterlife. I was struck by the accuracy of the Robin Williams movie, “What Dreams May Come,” I saw just a couple of months later. Although not the best movie, its portrayal of the Afterlife is closer than anything I’ve ever been able to articulate.16
I believe all have a chance at redemption, even those living in the darker realms. The Dead Saints describe angels waiting for souls lost in Hell to look up with a desire to return to the Light, to God. Jean witnesses such an event:
Though I was also shown a much darker place too...where people did not seem to know they had moved out of their bodies and continually fought each other for material things.
Material possessions were their focus, and all the actions were self-based there. But above them were also a legion of beings...waiting. Whenever someone looked up and asked God for help, they were whisked away to another place, a place more peaceful and tuned to God and God’s love. But many seemed lost in this place, never looking up and never asking for help.17
NDEs of Hell often become a trigger for the soul to change its ways. It doesn’t mean, as one Dead Saint declares, change is forced upon a soul, but it has another opportunity, another “mop and bucket” placed in the path they can pick up and to learn the lesson of love. It is an experience to remind the soul to turn towards the Light and to turn towards love. Nearly all who record hellish NDEs do just that. Of course, we do not hear about those who do not.
—
Endnotes
1Michelle Knight with Michelle Buford 2014. Finding Me, a Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed. Philadelphia, PA: Weinstein Books, Perseus Books Group. p. 204.
2Amy C NDE, #2382, 10.09.10, NDERF.org
3John K NDE, #3628, 03.26.14, NDERF.org
4Thomas M NDE, #1890, 04.25.09, NDERF.org
5Sylvia W’s NDE, #152, 07.30.02, NDERF.org
6CS’s NDE, #428, 06.13.04, NDERF.org
7Carol M NDE, #1616, 04.29.08, NDERF.org
8Holden, Janice Minor, Ed.D. Greyson, Bruce M.D., and James, Debbie. RN/MSN, 2009. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences, Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Denver, CO. Oxford, England: Praeger Publishers, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 81.
9Kenneth F NDE, #4046,11.07.15, NDERF.org
10 Annette W probable NDE, #2379, 09.26.10, NDERF.org
11Deborah NDE, #1150, 09.16.07, NDERF.org
12Atana NDE, #1790,12.15.08, NDERF.org