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Near-Death Experiences:
Messages from the Light
by Dr. Mark Pitstick
When I was nine years old, my Uncle
Cliff’s car collided with a semi. He nearly died
from severe multiple injuries and was in the
hospital for a long time. When he finally came
home, he was pale, thin, missing teeth, and couldn’t
walk. From his hospital bed in their living room,
he spoke through a wired jaw about what he
experienced when he almost died. Walking in a
meadow of lush green grass, hearing beautiful music,
and seeing Jesus. Feeling an accelerated awareness
with everything being more brilliant and colorful
than usual. No longer fearing death. Being so
peaceful that, except for missing his family, he
didn’t care if he came back.
Tens of thousands of Near-Death Experience (NDE)
cases, many of them documented by doctors and
scientists, have demonstrated the persistence of
awareness after “death.” Typical stages during a
NDE include: being out of the body, hearing a
buzzing or ringing sound, going through a tunnel,
seeing radiant light, meeting departed loved ones
and spiritual beings, sensing beautiful scenes and
colors, hearing angelic music, feeling peaceful and
at home, learning lessons, being told it’s not ones
time to stay on the Other Side, and a rapid journey
back into the successfully resuscitated body.
Although
NDEs were first described thousands of years ago,
they are much more common now because of advances in
medical resuscitative capabilities. Many more
people are now successfully brought back from the
brink of biological or irreversible death.
These NDErs were temporarily clinically dead,
that is, had cessation of their heart, lung, and/or
brain functions. During that time, a significant
percentage of them have fascinating and
life-changing experiences.
There are
so many validated NDE cases that they are
collectively known as ‘tennis shoe stories.’ In
Closer To The Light, Melvin Morse, M.D., and
Paul Perry describe the story of psychologist Kim
Clark who was counseling a patient named Maria after
she had a cardiac arrest. They state, “The woman
wasn’t interested in what Clark had to say.
Instead, she wanted to talk about how she had
floated around the hospital while doctors struggled
to start her heart. To prove that she had left her
body, the woman insisted that there was a shoe on
the ledge outside Clark’s window. Clark opened the
window, but could see no shoe. ‘It’s out there,’
the woman insisted. Clark leaned out, but still
could not see the shoe. ‘It’s around the corner,’
said the woman. Courageously, Clark crawled onto
the ledge of her fifth-floor window and around the
corner. There sat a shoe, just as Maria had
described.”
The
immense amount of validated research on NDEs
constitute the most impressive evidence indicating
life after death. Taken together with the other
categories, NDEs are the ‘final straw’ that convince
many people that our real selves do not die.
(excerpted
from Dr. Pitstick's "Soul
Proof") |