Do you believe in near death experiences?

I believe in near death experiences (NDEs). I have read many accounts and I believe that many of them are authentic. Some of the NDEs that I have explored involve Christians, while others told the experience of non-Christians. There are many sources for NDEs.  Perhaps you have read Don Piper's 90 Minutes in Heaven. It's an excellent book that tells of this Baptist minister's account of Heaven after leaving his body following a serious traffic accident. Just recently, I finished reading the book, My Time in Heaven, which was written by Reverend Richard Sigmund.  Richard has since passed away, but his life was definitely one that was filled with spiritual encounters.  When Richard was involved in a one-car accident, he was dead for about eight hours.  During his visit to Heaven, Richard met with Jesus, and stood at the foot of the throne of Almighty God.  His incredible descriptions of what he saw and heard will leave you with a feeling of excitement and inner joy for what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.  It is unlike any near-death experience book I have ever read and one I would highly recommend.  Another heartwarming book, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, is about a father and son who were involved in a car accident.  The boy, Kevin Malarkey, ends up in a coma and is left paralyzed.  He goes to Heaven and speaks to Jesus.  When Kevin returns to his body, he tells his father and the rest of his family about his experience.  After his trip to Heaven, his family realizes that Kevin has been blessed with a spiritual gift that allows him to see angels and hear from the Lord.  It is obvious that the Lord has used Kevin's tragic accident to open the eyes of unbelievers.  This book has built more confidence in my faith.  Another favorite book that I have read is Flight to Heaven, which tells the story of an airline pilot, Captain Dale Black, who miraculously survived a terrible airplane crash when he was 19 years old.  He also left his body and experienced Heaven following the accident.  Dale's account is both thrilling and comforting. Still another of my favorite books is To Heaven and Back by Rita Bennett. It details the NDEs of men and women whose lives were changed by their journey to the other side of the grave and back. One of the best websites that I have discovered for NDEs is http://www.bibleprobe.com/nde.htm. It contains several NDEs that affected me so greatly, I sat at my computer for several hours and wrote an e-mail message to all of my relatives. It is a message that comes from my heart. I believe that the Holy Spirit was helping me during the four hours or so that I wrote it. It is a message of love and concern. After much thought and speaking to the Lord, I believe I was led to create this website and share the message here instead of via e-mail.

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A Message of Love and Concern

Hello everyone,
I hope all is well with your family at this time. I am doing very well and am writing to share some biblical information that I feel is very important. I want to say that if you do not believe in God or you are not interested in hearing things regarding the Word of God, then I especially hope you will continue reading this message. This is not really so much a message from me, but one inspired by God Himself. This is a lengthy message and it may be best to read it when you have more time available. What follows may be something you are already aware of, but just haven't thought about lately. Whatever the case may be, I hope you will read on and know that I am sharing this because I believe God has placed it on my heart to do so.  I send it with a nonjudgmental heart and in a humble manner. For several months now, I've been praying that the Lord would send me wisdom and understanding. I've never asked for wisdom and understanding previous to this time, but I learned in church how wisdom and understanding are better than silver and gold...and that nothing can compare with them. Since I have been praying for wisdom and understanding, God has led me to some very important revelations. I have no doubt about it. This is so important that the Holy Spirit wants me to share it now and not procrastinate because I might be afraid that you'll think I'm either crazy (sometimes that may be the case, but this is not one of those times) or that I have no business telling you about God - in other words, "Who does he think he is preaching to us?"  Well, at the risk of having you think these things, here goes. 

I'm obeying the Holy Spirit and sharing this immediately no matter what you think because I believe it is too important to hold back from you, and God is prompting me to do it. In other words, God has shown me things that should make us want to serve Him the rest of our days and He wants me to let you know now without any further delay due to my various frames of mind, such as "Well God, I really don't want to offend anyone in my family" or "What will they think of me, Lord?" or "They may never want to speak to me or see me again" or "They'll just think I'm a religious fanatic" or "God, I'm so imperfect and need to change my own life before I share with anyone else." If I didn't believe in eternity, and feel so strongly about the reality of Heaven and Hell, I wouldn't be sharing this. Without God's courage, I know I would keep it to myself and someone's soul could be lost forever. The fact is I know that I cannot turn my back on this any longer... the conviction of the Holy Spirit is too strong, and I love my family too much to know what I believe to be truth and hide it with the tremendous risk that is involved. 

I must tell you that I pray for all of you and your family members as much as I am able. Hopefully my prayers have made a difference somehow in your life. I plan to keep praying because I know how serious God takes our prayers. With that in mind, please continue. First, let me state that from reading the Bible and listening to teachers of God's Word over the past several years, I have discovered that the Lord above is not just a God of love, but a God of wrath and righteousness.  His word is true and no unrighteousness can enter into His kingdom. That's why Jesus is the only way to Heaven. You must ask Jesus into your heart, repent of your sins, and place your trust in Him for salvation so that your sins may be covered by His precious blood and washed away forever. Without fully giving our lives to Jesus, we will be lost and end up in Hell. The Bible warns about this place and tells who will be sent there, including liars, thieves, and idolators, just to name a few. Obviously, all of us have sinned on this Earth, and the Bible tells us that we need a Savior to redeem us from sin and bring us unto everlasting life. The wisdom and understanding that I have prayed for led me to the topic of the fear of God. Please check out the following link from Pastor Charles Stanley on what it means to have proper fear of the Lord, including the benefits to our souls:  https://www.intouch.org/Watch/the-fear-of-god                                                                                                                 
Most Christians today receive a lot of the love of God message from our churches, but not much about the fear of God is shared because it is not a popular message and may drive people away, hurting church revenue. As Christians, we must have a healthy balance of the love of God and the fear of God. With only the love message, we will tend to disobey God and enter into various sins in our lives. We are apt to think that, since God is forgiving and we are Christians, sin is not that serious for us.  It can always be confessed and forgiven. Of course, that is true. However, it often leads to a lack of devotion to the Lord and we wind up living with one leg in His kingdom and one leg in the world. Not much victory is going to occur in our lives when we choose to live like this. The Bible says we are not to be of this world, and that as Christians, we are just passing through with our sole purpose being to tell others about the Good News of Jesus and salvation. Salvation from what? Hell, of course. 

I've been reading about near death experiences off and on now for many years, and I believe that many of them are true. However, I am seeing them in a different light now. For I have read about one near death experience in which a so-called "good person" ended up in Hell never to escape. A person, who had died for a portion of time and was being shown various things about Hell by Jesus during a near death experience, saw this "good person" - a pastor. This pastor had proclaimed the Word of God during his lifetime, but was also engaging in sins, such as stealing from his own church congregation. God is a God of righteousness, and He will not be mocked. Obviously, this pastor did not stop this sin and he died in it, without confessing it, or equally important, repenting or turning away from the sin. As a result, his soul was sent to Hell. If you believe that everyone makes it to Heaven, then you may not believe this.  Check the Bible though and it will share much about the existence of Hell. For if the Bible speaks about both Heaven and Hell, should we not believe what it says about both of them? 

You might be thinking that there is no proof of near death experiences, but I believe that they exist based on what I know about the Bible and the Word of God. Perhaps you have already read 90 Minutes in Heaven, about a pastor who died and visited Heaven. I believe that God has allowed these near death experiences to be shared on Earth because He loves us so much and is longsuffering, not wanting any of us to perish. He wants you to know the truth today. God says in the Bible, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." God does love us because He is love. Just as parents want and expect their children to obey them, God requires that we are not only to obey Him, but that we are to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. I've been praying for more love and more of the fear of God because I want to have more love for others, especially God, and to turn away from any sins that are in my life. My thinking is "How can I say I love God and not have love in my heart towards others?" Jesus said that we need to pray for our enemies. That is one that I need to really keep working on. I know that God will give us the strength to love Him and our neighbors as we should if we ask Him and truly desire it.  
Once again, there is one website that I think you should read, http://www.bibleprobe.com/nde.htm. It contains several accounts of near death experiences that I have enjoyed very much. 

There is a devil in this earth who would like nothing better than for you to dismiss all of this and go on with your life.  He is the father of lies and his only intent is to destroy God's most precious creation - you and me.  If the devil wins, we lose for all eternity. And after you read some of these near death experiences, I think you will see how terribly awful eternity is without God's presence. I strongly believe that the soul does live on when we die...it's a matter of whether it will live with the Lord in Heaven above, or with the devil in a place that is so horrible, it makes those who have entered into it beg Jesus for just one more chance on Earth. Just one more chance to repent and follow Him.  Sadly, it is too late for those who have rejected God, died, and actually entered that horrifying place. Why?  Because these souls had a chance to accept Jesus' salvation and walk in the path of the Lord, but rejected Him, by either:
- never really truly accepting Him as Lord and Savior or
- turning away from the Lord in disobedience to willingly engage in assorted sins of the flesh without a sincere desire to repent.  
God knows those who are truly His.  He knows who is striving to live life according to the ways of the Bible and who is choosing to willfully sin without asking for His help to overcome it.

At this point, remember that the God who created us is a God of righteousness. In his kingdom, there is no sin or unrighteousness. Quite simply, God's holiness, by its very nature, cannot dwell in the presence of sin.  That's why Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God. He is the only substitute for our sin because God is Holy and a God of wrath. We cannot stand before Him without asking Jesus into our hearts and receiving the gift of salvation, first of all, and then obeying the Word of God in our daily lives. In other words, there is a narrow path of righteousness that we must follow and no other way will do. Now, this does not mean that our salvation depends on the number of times we remain on the path or how many times we stray off of the path. In other words, we do not save ourselves by a certain number of good works in this lifetime.  Only faith in the shed blood of our Savior Jesus Christ can save us.  We must ask for the Lord to forgive us when we stumble, but get back up and keep striving to live our lives for God with a dedicated and sincere heart towards avoiding the near occasions of sin. God knows our heart, and He examines it.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside us and convict us, leading us to turn away from sin. In fact, if we keep praying to avoid a particular sin, God is faithful to help us overcome it. He will not ever force us to stop sinning, but He will give us the strength we need to overcome sin as long as we remain steadfast in doing so. I know this to be true, and I pray that God keeps leading me in ways of righteousness. However, to make sure that I don't forget this message and to stay focused on the areas of my life that need God's grace, I need to be thoroughly reminded of the horror of Hell. I'm not trying to punish myself by reading any of this, but I am instead dedicated to changing my life and asking God to help me improve the way I live my life. I need to live for God and Him alone because this life is not mine. It's God's. The Bible says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must be mindful of this and live our lives knowing that Almighty God's Holy Spirit is living on the inside of us. Our ambition should be to live in holiness. If I do my part each day asking God for help along the way, I know that He will be faithful to help me always combat the enemy of this world.  

I pray that the Lord will continue to impart wisdom and understanding to me and that he will do the same for you so that we can realize that there is nothing more important than giving our lives to the Lord Jesus - the only way to the Father. We do not know how long we have to live on Earth, so I believe it's important to look to God and ask Him to transform us forever. For whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. The Bible says that. I believe it as sure as I am breathing. I'm not looking to upset or alarm any of you, but the Lord is moving me to share this message because nothing you can do on this Earth is more important than asking Jesus into your heart. We need a Savior.  We have sinned against a Holy God who cannot tolerate unrighteousness.  That same God looks down on us with more love and compassion than any amount of human love that has ever been shared on this Earth....but, He requires that we place our trust in his Son, the Son of Man, who takes away the sins of the world. Why do our sins need to be taken away? Because God demands it - He is Holiness. Sin cannot be taken lightly. 

There are a lot of good NDE books. I read a book about near death experiences that shared six persons' stories called To Heaven and Back by Rita Bennett. One that sticks with me is the one about the drug addict who died one night on his bed after overdosing on drugs. He was sliding into Hell and stated that, in his terror, the arm of Jesus suddenly reached down for Him and pulled him out of the pit.  Jesus saved him for one reason and one reason only....the man's grandmother had been faithfully praying for his soul every single day. For that woman's faith believing that the Lord would do what she was praying for, God chose to give this drug addict another chance. His soul reentered his body and he awoke. From that point forward, the man's life was reformed and he lived for the Lord, thankful that he had been given the opportunity to have another chance and telling his encounter of Hell to anyone who cared to listen. 

There are many prayers of salvation that can be said. If you are feeling like you would like to renew your walk with Jesus or want Him to come into your life to start a personal relationship with Him, please go to the top of this page and click on Salvation Prayer.  I encourage you to go there as soon as you have finished reading this message.

I know that God wanted me to share this with you today. Remaining quiet about it and keeping it to myself would be a form of disobedience and not an act of love. If you already know about all that I have shared, I am glad and thank you for reading my message to the end. Again, please know that I am not the judge. The Holy Bible says not to judge, lest we be judged ourselves. I am just a member of your family who cares about your eternal soul and wants to see all of us together in Heaven someday. Take care and I promise to keep praying for you. I would appreciate your prayers in return. God's very best to you.

Love, Doug