Posted on 01/30/2010 3:45:12 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
..."For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light..."
One of the most common characteristics of the so-called near-death experience is encountering a being of light. This being is said to emanate love and warmth.
It has been claimed by numerous (not all) individuals who have had alleged near-death experiences that the being of light they encountered was none other than Jesus Christ. As appealing as the idea may initially sound, this identification seems to be flawed in view of the fact that the so-called being of light typically says and does things contrary to the Christ of the Bible. Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), it would be impossible that these are one and the same Jesus. I believe that many of the individuals who go through near-death experiences actually encounter a counterfeit Christ.
The “Jesus” (being of light) typically encountered in near-death experiences teaches such things as:
* Death is good and is not to be feared.
* Sin is not a problem. In fact, this “Jesus” often responds to human sin and shortcomings with humor.
* There is no hell to worry about.
* All people are welcome to heaven, regardless of whether one has placed faith in Christ.
* All religions are equally valid.
In view of the fact that these ideas clearly go against what the biblical Jesus taught, I think we have good reason to conclude that this “Jesus” is in fact a lying spirit.
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. -John 8:44 (NKJV)
We must remember that Satan has the ability to appear as an “angel of light” and as a “servant of righteousness.”
And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. -2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (NKJV)
His goal, of course, is to lead people astray. He is happy to mimic a being of light if the end result is that he can lead people away from the true Christ of Scripture.
Consistent with the above is the fact that many who have had near-death experiences come out of the experience with a lower view of Scripture. One person concluded that "the Lord isn't interested in theology," and another said that God "didn't care about church doctrine at all." The true Christ of Scripture, however, is most certainly interested in correct doctrine.
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. -John 8:31-32 (NKJV)
Now, other individuals—particularly individuals affiliated with non-Christian religions—claim that the being of light was Buddha, or Krishna, or some other leader of a particular world religion. Certainly this should raise “red flags” in the minds of Christians. Satan, the great counterfeiter, is seeking to keep people of ALL religions away from the true Christ of the Bible.
For Further Reading For more information on the near-death-experience, see Dr. Ron Rhodes book, Heaven: The Undiscovered Country.
The experiences are not so separate and distinct as you represent. To put it briefly, when the body is near death, the things seen and reported are most likely due to the dying of the body and brain. When I hear hoof beats, I expect horses, not zebras. When the brain is dying the perceptions experienced by that brain are due to that organ shutting down. The thing that is shutting it down is anoxia. People who have survived strangulation report pretty similar near death experiences.
The “light” is the brain reacting to lack of oxygen
I started reading the bible after a NDE.
Horses? Maybe that’s because you live in Texas and not Tanzania.
Your points only begin to make sense within a context of materialism. That is, only if you start with the premise that material existence is all there is. I can’t accept the premise.
And even if we do accept it, we are in deeper trouble still because of the fact that many who experience these NDEs have been able to describe events during their arrest to which they had no access through material sense perception.
It is simply too obvious that as a brain dies (or nearly does)images of an unreliable nature might appear to it.
Reports related to NDE's are about as common and reliable as those related to UFO's; they grow with the telling.
It kind of makes sense from the point of view of Oriental medicine, which tracks the flow of different kinds of energy around the body, to and from storage nodes that act like capacitors. They also note similar systems in animals, for both diagnosis and treatment, but that each species has a different configuration.
So, for example, acupuncture works on horses and dogs as well as people, but the lines of flow and the storage nodes are different in some ways.
As far as perception goes, most people who have seen this thing are aware that it is not a physical object they are looking at. It might be more along the lines of a template, or internal blueprint. Like imagining what your skeleton is supposed to look like. You are not looking at your physical skeleton, but an idealized version of what your skeleton should look like—a transparent overlay in your head that appears to be outside of yourself.
What do you think about people who are dying, seeing and talking with their dead relatives and talking about wanting to go home. Do you think that is explained by anoxia?
yes
Well I will respectfully disagree. As a hospice nurse, I have been present at many deaths. And while each death is different because, each person is different, there are certain things that ALWAYS happen. One, they all speak with relatives that have passed on. If that were strictly explained by anoxia, then their would be confusion as well. These pts are not confused, because they don’t confuse dead relatives/friends with those that are still living. Second, they all speak of “going home”You can’t explain that simply from anoxia.
As long as it isn't Enoch Light!
On second thought, maybe Purgatory's waiting room does play of space age bachelor pad lounge music.
Certainly I can and do. The difference between NDA reports and UFO reports is like the difference between religion and superstition; everyone thinks there is a qualitative difference but no one can quite define it.
As the brain fades it becomes less reliable. The fact that it seeks comfort in happy thoughts is not too surprising to me.
BTW the uniformity of the reports is just like the uniformity of reports regarding alien abduction. They concur with each other down to tiny details but this does not make them believable.
I am not talking about ND experiences and I’m certainly not talking about alien abductions. I am talking about actual dying pts. If they are just thinking of things that bring them comfort, then why do they ALL think of dead relatives? Everyone has different things that bring them comfort, so why would they all think about the same thing?
How many people have you been with as they passed from this life to thenext?
My wife of nearly 30 years died in my arms from metastatic cancer. She never mentioned dead relatives. Her mother, 93 and with Alzheimer’s, has conversations and even dinner with dead relatives all the time. Many of her fellow patients do as well. I suspect a brain malfunction leads to conversations with dead people with good and ample reason.
By the way, alien abductees all report, all of them, that there is no sign of water or plumbing on board the ships they are taken to. This is one of the markers researchers use to distinguish liars from the truly delusional. There are other such markers that all of the truly deluded abduction reporters speak of. Different classes of schizophrenia are characterized by remarkably uniform delusions. The brain is an amazing organ particularly in its malfunctions. Uniformity of delusions is fascinating and well-documented,
My wife had a NDE while she was with me. She had a spinal infarction C-5/C-6 while we were on a date before we married. She collapsed in a mall and I carried her to her car a cop pulled up and said what hospital and off we went. She was describing bright but pink lights {day time mid afternoon} and the peace that was upon her. When we got to the ER she was stable and pulled through but had a six month stay there and rehab.
Like you she sat with many who were making their crossing. Some was good some wasn't. The patients were very well aware of what was happening to them and what they were seeing and describing to her. Before this happened to her she had also experienced a dream {while sleeping} of seeing Christ but not His face. He was reaching out His hand to her. She woke up as her alarm clock went off.
Now for the other side of the coin. She went into Serotonin Syndrome over a medication reaction about 9 years ago. Folks when someones brain chemistry is messed up they aren't going to make too much sense. They may talk about things in their life but trying to have a lucid conversation? Forget it. That is why I dismiss the notion NDE is cause by the brain dying. The conversations are too well organized and the persons are too well aware of what is going on.
We are physical beings but we are spiritual beings as well. Our bodies die but our spirit lives on just as every bit as much as it does right now. It is every bit well aware of what is going on. There is a passage in the Bible where Stephen is fixing to be stoned and looks up. What does he see?
I also know of persons very much alive of whom the Lord makes His presence known to them through Spirit revelation. I do wonder if the writer would have us dismiss that as well? I think that is what NDE's actually are. They are not of the physical body but the spirit body. There is a term in the Bible of dismissing ones spirit before death. You don't hear it talked about too much in these times. I just don't see any evidence as NDE's being demonic. Rather it would seem more like an orderly transition into the next life.
I’m very sorry you lost your wife. Its a very difficult situation to be in. I just lost my father in law to metastatic pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve, so I know it can be extremely difficult to watch a loved one die from cancer, especially when it is a spouse. Days before he went unconscious, he would say he could see relatives that had passed. He also said he wanted to go home and my mother in law thought he meant their house, but I knew what he meant. The morning before he became comatous, he kept telling my husband to get his pants for him because he was” going on a trip”.
I stand by my experiences. I do believe that these experiences are how people deal with crossing over from this life to the next.I used to be like you and believe that there was a scientific/medical explanation for these things, but working in Hospice has made me see that not everything that happens can be “explained”.
Certainly not by those who cling to supernatural beliefs.
YesSir,
I must agree with your comments. Long ago, I spent a terrifying evening dying of pneumonia on a Florida Condo balcony. That event dramatically changed my life for the better.
“appear to it”
Does this describe a particular neurochemical process?
And what could “images of an unreliable nature” possibly mean?
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