The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife

by David Solomon

  There was a review of my life in this body, and also my past lives. I was the judge as to the benefit and value of each experience. They all seemed very interconnected, and yet separate. There was a focus to each life experience, and all the experiences contributed to an end result. I didn’t want to come back to the Earth School, and after some deliberation with the other beings of energy, including the God Being, or large mass of energy, we decided coming back would serve the greater good. I had a choice, and yet the choice seemed to be made in unity with the other beings. I also knew if I didn’t come back at this time, in this body, I would return to the Earth School in another body, to finish what I was here to do. Before the experience, I didn’t believe or disbelieve in reincarnation. Now, I am sure I have had many reincarnations.14

  An amazing Dead Saint experience was reported by a boy involved in an inner tube accident. While the following account seems very simple in content, it is filled with tons of information about the Afterlife we rarely see or hear about:

  I’m not sure about the whole reincarnation thing, but it certainly opened my mind. Not only did I feel they had been human in the past, but I felt they expected to be human again. Like a part of a natural life cycle where being born and dying are just transitions between different forms of our existence.

  I believe with all my heart we carry certain things like love and giving between these realms. Most all of what we feel is important as a human is of no importance in the other realm. They are excited to be human again as they can do things like having a family. They also really like the excitement of being in human form as it comes with struggles, challenges, danger, risk, unpredictability, etc. They miss things like making love, music, art, etc. Many of our core values are the same.

  They have a high regard for humans who are humble, giving and tough. For these reasons, the souls of firefighters, single moms and the like rank high. They like those who protect others and fight to survive.

  They are non-judgmental and quick to forgive as they know the temptations humans face and know they will face them again themselves. I really love life in a way I am sure I would not have, were it not for this experience. If everyone could have a glimpse of this realm, the world would be a much better place for humans... no killing, violence, etc.15

  Earth University Exams?

  One possible reason for reincarnation is failing your Earth University exams. The exams are comprised of very specific lessons, tests and trials we were born to overcome. Ramon’s probable NDE reflects this challenge:

  Next, I wanted to go through the door of Light, and he told me I could not, I had to go back, so I let myself return for my daughter Melissa. On coming back, before re-entering my body, I stopped in that place people speak of where there is peace and tranquillity, next to the Light that emerges as if from a tunnel. It was there I thought I was going crazy, as I was surrounded by thousands and thousands of energies (spirits) like myself, all moving towards the place I was coming back from.

  I went over to the left and came upon another very big group of energies, and from these one detached himself and went down on his knees as if begging forgiveness from me, though I did not recognize him (though later I did). From this immense gathering of energy is born a long line of energies (spirits) going towards and delivering themselves to where the Light ended. When I approached this line, I did not like the feeling there, it was like the feeling of having studied hard for an exam, and then failing it despite all the study. I looked again at the place where I first arrived, and could still see thousands and thousands of energies appearing and disappearing, going towards the place from where I was returning. I wanted to go on looking because I wanted to understand what that place was, but then I felt myself being called, and I entered through my head down as far as my feet.16

  We learn lessons faster here than we will learn them in the Afterlife. The knowledge we gain on Earth will help us move higher in the Realms of Heaven. We see this with JB’s NDE:

  I needed to get the Word in me while on Earth because I couldn’t approach God in the great Throne Room until a certain level of knowledge was attained [on Earth] or I would learn it there [in Heaven] which would slow down my journey there.17

  Learning lessons (the Word) while we inhabit a physical body infuses this knowledge into our DNA, both physically and on a spiritual level—knowledge that is passed on to future generations enrolled in Earth University.

  Evolution was the theme of a 2006 dream I had during a rapid phase of growth at my company, Fast Transact. In the dream, I found myself in a 1960’s High School classroom, with the old style wood top desks that opened up and a dark green chalkboard with a script and standard alphabet over it at the front of the classroom. Two angels (I knew they were angels, but I don’t believe they had wings) stood on either side of the chalkboard and had drawn pictures of homo-sapiens evolving from Neanderthal to Modern Man. Underneath and below Neanderthal Man, the one angel wrote Retail Man.

  On the other side of the chalkboard was a picture of Modern man in suit and tie carrying a briefcase. Underneath Modern Man the angel wrote Internet Man. Between Neanderthal Man and Modern Man they wrote the word “EVOLVE.” While I later made the dream into a successful advertisement for our company to solicit Internet merchants, the dream wasn’t just talking about business.

  Pass or fail, our purpose for being born into Earth University is to evolve. Some Dead Saints see us in a ‘childing’ stage of spiritual evolution where we grow for billions of years to become like the Being Jesus referred to as ‘My Father’—a thought provoking statement to say the least.

  —

  Endnotes

  1Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Summary of Key Findings, http://www.pewforum.org/2009/12/09/many-americans-mix-multiple-faiths/

  2Wikipedia: Ascribed by Jewish tradition to Moses, it is generally agreed by scholars that the book comes from the period between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE, with the 6th century as the most likely date. The anonymous author was almost certainly an Israelite, although he has set his story outside Israel, in southern Edom or northern Arabia, and makes allusion to places as far apart as Mesopotamia and Egypt.

  According to the 6th-century prophet Ezekiel, Job was a man of antiquity renowned for his righteousness.

  3http://www.examiner.com/article/do-gnostics-believe-reincarnation

  4Ibid. web article.

  5Ibid. web article.

  6Based on an Article by: Walter Semkiw, M.D., from Born Again and the Revolutionaries. Charlottesville, VA.: Hampton Roads Publishing.

  7(The Anathemas against Origen), attached to the decrees of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, A.D. 545, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d ser., 14: 318).

  8http://www.near-death.com/reincarnation/history/bible.html.

  9Jim B Tucker M.D., 2008. Life before Life. New York: St Martin’s Press. p. 70.

  10Ibid. p. 67.

  11Carmel B NDE’s, #1920, 05.30.09, NDERF.org

  12Cathleen C NDE, #1734, 11.01.08, NDERF.org

  13John C’s NDE, #275, 04.17.03, NDERF.org

  14Cara NDE, #1645, 07.06.08, NDERF.org

  15Ken W NDE, #2139, 02.25.10, NDERF.org

  16Ramon probable NDE, #3099, 08.09.12, NDERF.org

  17JB NDE, #1307, 11.10.07, NDERF.org

  — 23 —

  Jesus, Planetary Headmaster

  Drawing of Jesus and Apostle John overlooking ancient Jerusalem. Reprinted with permission from FIL Archives.

  ~As Head-master of Earth University, I don’t believe Jesus is overly concerned one way or another where you choose to worship. If your place of worship serves Love and kindness, then that serves Him. I have never read about a Dead Saint meeting Jesus in Heaven and Jesus tries to convert the Saint from his or her religion. How ironic. If salvation is through Christianity alone, shouldn’t the Dead
Saints typically report jJesus urging them to accept Him as their Lord and Savior and attend church every Sunday? That’s not what is happening. Meeting Jesus changes the life of the Dead Saint forever. No religion is required. Post resuscitation, some embrace their old church with renewed faith. Some walk away from the church (if it doesn’t reflect the Love of Christ they experienced in the Afterlife). Some find a new church. And some even become Taoists or Buddhists. The Dead Saints are not looking for a prison of religion after meeting an infinite God. They are looking to recreate the peace, the Light, and the unconditional Love they felt when they met God or Jesus in the Afterlife. ~Chronicle 193

  Why are so many Dead Saints of all faiths seeing Jesus during their near-death experience? Since Earth University is a school, and every school requires a Headmaster, it seems, regardless of our faith, its Headmaster is Jesus Christ. Bridget describes the Lord’s work:

  That is when I recognized he (Jesus) was a part of the greater Light and in a way a custodian of our planet, kind of like He was assigned to it, it was his to “rule” and watch over, to guide and protect and to love and nurture.1

  The Dead Saints who are sent back to Earth describe Jesus as a gentle, but “strict father.” He is a Dad who forces them to go to their first day of school despite their tantrums and crying. David hinted at Jesus’ responsibility to guide our spiritual development and evolution:

  Jesus is the being who is entrusted by God to ensure souls evolve. He was told Jesus is of the highest in vibration than any other soul. He said God holds Jesus in the highest of favor because He was the best example of what humans need to do.2

  We have read numerous Dead Saint encounters where Jesus is present at their Life Review—observing, watching and questioning in an attempt to arrive at a decision whether to return to Earth University or not. It appears to not matter whether the Dead Saint is Atheist, Christian, or of another faith. Jesus is there anyway.

  Ouroboros. The Serpent swallowing its tail.

  The Historical Jesus & the Mystical Christ

  Many books have been written in an attempt to portray Jesus of Nazareth as a conjectural or putative Christ, who never existed as a historical figure. Mythologists, such as Joseph Campbell and others, point out that many of the stories of Jesus of Nazareth are so similar to perennial tales ascribed to god-men like Osiris in ancient Egypt and Dionysus in Greece, that early church Fathers, including Justin Martyr, Tellurian, and St. Irenaeus, were understandably disturbed by these “heresies,” assigning these tales to the realm of “diabolical mimicry,” accusing the Devil of “plagiarism by anticipation,” a thesis that describes how Satan, “Deviously copied the true story of Jesus before it actually happened in an attempt to mislead the gullible.”3

  While I DO NOT support the author’s final conclusions, we can see from research below done by Freke and Gandy in the Jesus Mysteries, why early church fathers were “unsettled” by ancient pagan stories of Osiris/Dionysus “Christ-like” motifs describing similar stories found in the Gospels (list quoted from the Jesus Mysteries):

  • “He is God made flesh, the Savior, and the “Son of God.”

  • His father is God and His Mother is a mortal Virgin.

  • He is born in a cave or humbled in a cowshed on December 25 before three shepherds.

  • He offers His followers to be born-again through the rites of baptism.

  • He miraculously turns water into wine at a wedding ceremony.

  • He rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while people wave palm branch leaves to honor Him.

  • He dies at Eastertime as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

  • After His death he descends into Hell, then on the third day, he rises from the dead and then ascends into Heaven in glory.

  • His followers await His return as the Judge during the Last Days.

  • His death and resurrection are celebrated by a ritual meal of bread and wine, which symbolize His body and blood.”4

  Viewed impartially, it appears the Apostles adapted some of these ancient pagan stories into their Gospels. Indeed, newer religions commonly adapted themselves to ancient archetypes and motifs. It is likely the Gospel writers absorbed some of the stories handed down from Egypt and Greece, but does that invalidate or minimize the meaning of the life of Jesus of Nazareth?

  Not in my opinion.

  Aside from millions of Christian (and non-Christian) encounters with the Love of Christ changing hearts and lives, as well as Dead Saint encounters with Jesus described throughout the Chronicles, I believe it is important we find an answer to this all-important question. Blaming the Devil does not explain why these ancient pagan stories exist and why they are so similar to stories told by the Apostles in the Gospels.

  Without getting into a long dialogue about pagan history and stories about possible manifestations of the Christ before Jesus of Nazareth, there is a simple answer where Paul Solomon sheds some light on this theological dilemma:

  There are several challenges in revealing the mystical side of Jesus’ life, because the story of Christ begins before the world, and even further back to Creation itself, and ends with the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the historical man, Jesus of Nazareth.

  There is a quality of Being, born of God, who is God’s child, who is a power, a consciousness who is the Christ. Speaking of the “Christ,” we are not speaking of a historical person. Yet, telling the story of the mystical Christ is best done by telling the story about the life of an individual, the historical man, Jesus of Nazareth…

  In reading ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Christian literature about god-men, the stories are told as if the stories were about historical beings. The academic approach is always that the stories were mythical, that the individuals never really existed, or the stories were exaggerated and distorted. And where historians have found similar or identical stories in different cultures, coming from different periods of history, and identifying different historical men as “living” this particular life, the academics assumed, one was copying from another—that these universal myths and legends are symbolic, not literal, not real—written to fit an imposed pattern or belief. But there is another important possibility to consider.

  There have been great teachers from time to time in history who used words well, but there is another way of teaching that is accomplished by those spectacular beings who can plan and dictate the circumstances of their own birth and choose to live their life in such a way that the story of their life becomes their teaching. So it is with the life and the story of Jesus of Nazareth. It just happens when we read the story of the historical man, we simultaneously read the story of the mystical Christ. The two become inseparable. They are one.”5

  Believing in a Mystical Savior Versus a Historical Savior

  Paul Solomon expands the mythical / historical Christ debate from a “Savior” perspective. He writes in the Meta-Human: Twice-Born:

  There are those who believe that the Christ we should invite to become the Lord and Ruler of our life should be the historical Jesus. Others say that Jesus demonstrated the Christ and is an example of a teacher rather than a mystical Savior. The argument even becomes bitter around the statement said by Jesus, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.’ The idea that this one Being could establish Himself personally as the only way to the Father was thought by some to be the absolute limit of dogma and even ego…6

  Jesus presented Himself as a Rabbi who taught Judaism consistently up until the time of His death, later through His disciples who continued to teach in the Synagogues. Jesus always taught the one principle tenant and watchword of Judaism: ‘Hear, oh Israel: The Lord thy God, the Lord is one.’7 In this context of one God, Jesus presented Himself as one with God and declared the only way to live in total harmony, or to express limitlessly, (to enter the Kingdom of Heaven) is to be one with Him and to be on
e with God. He could not possibly teach “at-one-ment with God” and be an example of it, and not be one with God and with Himself, the Christ. 8

  The moment Jesus declared before the Jews, “I and My Father are one,”9 they picked up stones to throw against Him. Jesus said, “Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me?”

  The Jews holding the stones responded, “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

  Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’ (Psalm 82:6) If he (the Psalmist) called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the one whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”10

  Paul Solomon goes on to answer more questions about Jesus:

  Does that make Jesus any less than God? Certainly not. You can’t be any more God than one with God.

  Does this mean Jesus is any different from you and me? It means He is very different unless you and I have so completely lost separate identity as to be totally one with God.

  Wasn’t Jesus born the Son of God from birth? Yes, but so were you. According to His teaching, Jesus said, ‘Don’t you know who you are? I have said, ‘Ye are gods and children of God.’ Jesus Christ was described by the Apostle Paul as ‘The first fruits of them that slept.’11 Jesus was the first to rise from the dead—the first to become equal to His Father in Heaven.

  Can I ask the historical Jesus to be the Lord of my life? Why not? If you call on the historical Jesus Christ, you are calling on the one who is supposed to be the same as the consciousness of God. If you seek your ‘Higher Mind,’ you seek the expression of God that is the Source of your Mind. They are one and the same.