THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE. Today there is a common phenomenon in which people have died and come back to life, to tell of their experience in the afterlife. Is the near-death experience a confirmation of what happens when we die?

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

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Inviting God’s Presence

God Most High, You have given us Your instruction in the form of the Bible. Help us to be more intentional in reading and studying it so that we may be able to distinguish truth from error. In Jesus’ Name Amen

Are the testimonies from people that have had a “near-death experience,” or NDE, an indication of what happens after we die? A near-death experience is one in which a person is clinically dead, on the verge of death, but comes back to life. 

An article from Scientific America, written by Robert Mortone, September 10, 2019, indicates that NDE is similar to what happens when an individual takes psychoactive drugs.

He expresses that initially there is this feeling of fear as their mind is filled with memories of their past. Then there are feeling of pleasure and happiness. Many also report having the sensation of leaving their body and seeing their own face and body. They talk of traveling through a tunnel toward light and having a feeling of oneness with something universal.

Mortone points out that these reported experiences have been used in religious circles as evidence of life after death and as proof that “god” exists.

There are even movies, documentaries, and TV series based on the accounts of individuals who experience heaven while on the brink of death. Some claim to have had encounters with others who have died.

But is it safe to base our belief in God and what happens after death on these NDE’s?

The Bible does talk about people who have died and come back to life, but they offer no report of a near-death experience.

Contrary to the contemporary reports of individuals who have been on the brink of death and come back to life. These individuals offer no indication of a conscious existence while dead for instance:

Elijah brings back to life the son of the Zerphath Widow

 I Kings 17:22-24

22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.

23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.” (I Kings 17:22-24)

Elijah brings back to life the son of the Shunammite woman

 II Kings 4:34-37

34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm.

35 He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

36 And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”

37 So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out. (II Kings 4:34-37)

Jesus brings back to life Jarius’ daughter

Mark 5:41-43

41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.

43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

Jesus brings back to life the widow of Nain’s son

Luke 7:14-17

14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”

15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”

17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region. (Luke 7:14-17)

Jesus brings Lazarus back to life

John 11:40-44

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” (John 11:40-44)

In all of the near-death experiences, or NDEs, in modern literature, the doctors considered the person clinically dead but not really dead in the sense of Lazarus.

In contrast, Lazarus was dead for four days.  As a matter of fact, John in John 11:39 tells us he had been dead so long that his corpse was rotting.

John 11:39

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39)

In other words, Lazarus was really dead, not clinically dead.

But the Bible does not indicate that Lazarus talks about any experience he had while he was dead.

This is also true of other accounts in which the individuals died and were brought back to life. They talked of no experience they had in heaven, hell or purgatory.

Remember our focus is on End-Time Deceptions. Why could NDE’s be an End-Time Deception

The reports are contrary to what the Bible says happens when we die. In one modern case, in a movie titled Heaven is Real. A child has a near-death experience and returns to life to tell his parents that he played with his sister in heaven who was steal born at birth.

However, here is what the Bible says happens when we die:

 Job 3:11-13 The dead are at rest; they are asleep

11 “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest (Job 3:11-13)

Psalms 115:17 the dead cannot speak

17 The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence. (Psalms 115:17)

Psalms 146:4 the breath departs, the body returns to the earth, and any plans end.

4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish. (Psalms 146:4)

Ecclesiastes 9:10, there is no activity in the grave nor consciousness.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

But, then what about the near-death experiences commonly reported today?

If we accept the Bible’s teaching that the dead are asleep and unconscious, then there can only be two explanations for these reports.

(1) The near-death experiences today are the result of a natural psychochemical produced under extreme conditions that causes the same effect as psychoactive drugs. For the reports of those taking psychoactive drugs are very similar to those who have had a near-death experiences, according to Mortone.

(2) It is a supernatural, but a satanic, deceptive experience orchestrated by Satan, who will transform himself into an angel of light as expressed in 2 Corinthians 11:14.

No doubt Satan causes many of these NDEs because some of the people who “died” say they talked to their dead relatives! This contradicts what we have just read regarding the unconscious state of the dead.

For they are in their grave resting until the second coming of Jesus. They do not and cannot interact with the living.

Therefore, despite whatever experiences we or others might have or have had, if they go against what the Bible teaches, then it is crucial that we stick firmly to what the Word of God says.

Another popular deception is the idea of spiritual evolution in which, when a human dies, the spirit goes through a process of consciousness whereby humans come back as plant, animal, insect, or some other form of life. Why is there no place for this ideology for the people of God? Find out Day 4: Reincarnation

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