Life After Death

I've been seeing and reading a lot of things lately about the afterlife -- from ghosts haunting a town to near-death experiences. Just this evening I sat down to check the world's news and ran across this CNN story about a Massachusetts woman who was "dead" for 57 minutes last April after suffering a heart attack and was resuscitated. She describes her experiences at the moment of death and what she saw and felt for the 57 minutes afterward. The hair of the back of my neck stood up when I read it. I suggest you read it, too, and we'll discuss after.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/16/cheating.near.death/index.html

Wasn't that interesting? (did you read it? really? all right. if you say so.)

There is certainly life after death. No doubt about it. The fact that our conscious selves don't cease to exist after death is clear from those who have been to death, experienced the afterlife just a little, and come back. They all tell similar stories about what happened. There are some variations, of course, as in any eyewitness account but the basics are the same.

1. The consciousness/soul separates from the body. It usually is described as a "floating" sensation and near-death people usually say they can look down upon their own bodies. "I floated right out of my body. My body was here, and I just floated away. I looked back at it once, and it was there," the victim, Laura Geraghty, said. There is no denying the existence of the soul. The body is perishable. The soul is eternal — it never dies. The Bible speaks of this clearly. "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Cor. 5:1)." In other words, we have two parts of us: earthly (body) and eternal (soul and spirit). The earthly will decay just as the earth decays. But the spiritual is given to us by God and will not decay.
   
2. There is a great sense of peace. People describe not pain or torment but peace. A calmness. As if striving is over and pain is no more. So it is with death. Here's how Laura described what she felt, "It was very peaceful and light and beautiful." I tend to think the peace they experienced comes from the knowledge that they don't have anything to fight anymore. Their life decisions have been made. Their future is not in their hands anymore. So there is a sense of peace.
3. There is a sense of majesty and energy though no one has reported seeing God (as if they could recognize Him). Laura said she was overwhelmed by "massive energy, powerful, very powerful energy." This really fascinates me because I wonder if she was starting to sense the presence of God Almighty. Or maybe it was the cardiac paddles the doctor was using to revive her. Don't know. But every character in the Bible who encountered the presence of God fell powerless to their knees. Remember Daniel? When he saw the angel of the LORD in Daniel 10 he was paralyzed and could not move. Same for John in Revelation 1.
   

I tried to watch a new show of Discovery Channel the other day called "Ghost Lab." The basic premise is this: a team of paranormal hunters go from haunted place to haunted place with scientific equipment and document the paranormal activity they find. The show spooked the stuffing out of me. I couldn't even finish the episode. You see, I DO believe that ghosts exist and, no, I don't think they are all demons at play. I have a theory that is just that -- a theory about ghosts. I can't prove it from Scripture or logic. If you're curious, ask me sometime.

There is life after death. And I'm placing my hope in God's word that when I die and my soul starts floating away, that massive energy will be God welcoming me to heaven, where I will see the saints and the angels. I'll see loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ. I'll see different faces from different places and times. And I'll see God Himself in all three Persons. Whatever He looks like in whatever setting.

That is, unless someone shocks me back to earth.

I'm glad that Laura Geraghty has another chance in life and a new perspective. I hope she uses it to choose to follow God closer than ever before and cling to His promises for life after death.

Be God's!