Greetings!
Welcome to
Near-Death.com!
My name is Kevin Williams, the webmaster of
this site. Like many people, I became a near-death
experience (NDE) fanatic after reading
Raymond Moody groundbreaking book
Life After Life. My life changed forever
after reading this book and my passion for learning
more NDE information continues to grow ever
since. By 1996, I had read just about every
NDE book I could get my hands on. At the same
time, I learned how to build websites while
earning my B.S. degree in Computer Science.
There were only a few websites on the subject
of NDEs then because the World Wide Web was
relatively brand new. The opportunity to bring
NDE revelations to the world via the Internet
created within me an
epiphany and a tremendous feeling of
synchronicity. My mission from God became
crystal clear. I was at the right time and the
right place to bring these life-changing NDE
revelations to the world via a website:
Near-Death.com.
Public interest in NDEs at the time also began
to skyrocket which ultimately led this website
to become the number one ranked NDE site on
the Internet. In the development of this website
I have included content from many profound NDE
books in order that this website may contain
the cream of the best authors on the subject.
When describing the information on this site
as a whole, I am inclined to say with a celebrated
French writer:
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"I have
culled a bouquet of varied flowers from
men's gardens, and nothing is my own
but the string that binds them."
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I am also the author of
the book, "Nothing
Better Than Death: Insights from 62 Profound
Near-Death Experiences." What follows
on this web page is my personal testimony of
my conversion from a very strict fundamentalist
Christian - to a follower of Jesus as revealed
in NDEs. To show you how far I have come along,
I believe a person can even (erroneously)
believe Jesus to be a myth and still benefit
from the teachings ascribed to him. After all,
it takes a "Jesus" to invent a Jesus
myth, doesn't it? I am convinced a person doesn't
need to be a Christian to be a follower of Jesus
- love is the only requirement (see
Luke 10:25-28). If religion really mattered,
shouldn't all Christians be Jews like Jesus?
I now believe Jesus to be our "brother"
in God; and that everyone,
like Jesus, is a child of God (John
10:30-36,
Psalm 82:6). As Jesus declared, everyone
can become like him if you believe. (John
14:12).
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1. Why There is
Nothing Better Than Being Dead
NDE testimony
offers answers to the big questions: Who
are we? Why are we here? Where did we come
from? Where are we going? What does it all
mean? NDEs also provide circumstantial and
scientific evidence supporting the
Afterlife
Hypothesis for which scientific reductionism
cannot adequately explain. The evidence
suggests NDEs are transcendental journeys
to another dimension of reality profoundly
changing the lives of those who have them.
One particular near-death experiencer,
Dr. Dianne Morrissey, eloquently stated
this way:
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"If I lived
a billion years more, in my body or
yours, there's not a single experience
on Earth that could ever be as good
as being dead. Nothing."
- Dr. Dianne
Morrissey, near-death experiencer
|
This wonderful quote is
the basis for the title of my book
Nothing Better Than Death.
The
main purpose of this website is to help people understand
the tremendous importance of
unconditional love which appears to be
the most important revelation given to so many NDE
experiencers. Unconditional love is also
the primary teaching of Christ as well in many
other religions. NDErs frequently learn how loving
others unconditionally is not only the way to heaven
after death, but it is also the way to create heaven
within all human beings and the way to create heaven
on Earth. NDE testimonies affirm how living in a
physical body creates an illusionary separation
between us and other people. People who have had
a NDE describe an out-of-body existence after death
where the one-ness of all things cannot be denied.
This state of one-ness can be described as heavenly
if a life of one-ness with others had been lived.
NDEs reveal love to be the bond which actually connects
all things together. NDEs also reveal love to be
what people worship as "God." For those
prefer the illusion (or delusion) of separation
over one-ness, life after death can be a temporary,
painful experience of self-awareness. Such conditions
are temporary because of NDEs suggesting how life
after death is even more dynamic than physical existence.
Nevertheless, after death, the only thing we can
really take with us is the love we have. Death means
stepping into the spiritual condition we have been
creating within us all our life. Then we will find
ourselves at a particular level of one-ness
(love) which we prefer. In the lower afterlife
realms, darkness reigns and the illusion of separation
is greater. In the highest afterlife realms, there
is a reality of a one-ness which can best be described
as a complete realization of a total at-one-ment
with God and all things. Love is then the critical
factor in determining how close we come to this
realization after death.
My
mission in life is to promote these NDE truths as
a light shining in a world of darkness. As a self-proclaimed
NDE evangelist, I seek to end the ignorance of and
the fear of death through the promotion of these
truths. I am convinced NDE research is contributing
greatly to the spiritual evolution of humanity and
there is no greater endeavor than planting seeds
of love and light within other human beings. Love
is literally what life, death, and God is all about.
It may sound strange but learning about death means
learning about love. Love conquers and transcends
death. In this respect, death itself is the Grand
illusion.
I am currently writing a new book
entitled Nothing Better Than Love, which
is a follow-up book to
Nothing Better Than Death. It is about my personal
testimony of
my family's "after-death communications"
with my mother which occurred after her death in
2001. You can also read about
my unusual paranormal experiences which I have
experienced throughout my life.
2. The Teachings of Jesus
in the Gospels as Spirituality 101
Reading
these beautiful testimonies of love and heaven by
near-death experiencers created within me a deep
love for near-death experiences and made me a much
more spiritual person and less of a religious person.
Reading enough of these experiences can make a person
feel as if they are relearning knowledge they had
forgotten long ago. My deep love for profound near-death
insights makes me committed to bring these insights
to the Internet. I also believe my mission in life
is to bring these special insights from others to
the Internet for all too receive. I strongly believe
the insights from near-death testimonies are universal
and speak to the heart of everyone. I believe these
truths are already known to us all at the deepest
core of our being.
My
spiritual journey began like many people as a child
of the 60s believing
the profound revelations of John and Paul: "All
you need is love." But in 1977, after being
challenged by my Christian brother to read the Gospel
of John,
I had a "born again"
experience
- a paranormal event of instant
spiritual resurrection. I was transformed into
a completely different person and have never been
the same person since. I participated in follow-up
evangelism with the
Billy Graham crusade and the
Josh McDowell ministry on my college campus.
I led a number of people to Christ and gave speeches
on
Bible prophecy and
early Christian history. I was a religious zealot
with a
savior complex compelling me to want to save
everyone whom I perceived were deceived, hell-bound,
and lost sinners who lacked the righteousness I
had. My savior complex also extended to Christians
whom I believed lacked the fundamental intellectual
formula I possessed - a very arrogant position isn't
it? There is a fine line between ignorance and arrogance
and at this point in my life this line was blurred.
When I began to read about
near-death experiences my religious arrogance quickly
disappeared. The spirituality I found in near-death
experiences was on a scale far grander than anything
I could find in religious dogma. My narrow religious
mindset ultimately began to crack as the light of
universal love,
universal salvation, and a
universal God entered in. This ultimately led
me to abandon my rigid systematic intellectual religious
theology.
3. The Christian Paradox
of Faith Versus "Good Works"
The
Christian paradox of faith versus "good works"
is most strikingly revealed by these two contradictory
passages of scripture:
PAUL:
"Therefore
we conclude that a man is JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
without
the deeds of the law."
(Romans
3:28)
JAMES:
"You see
then that a man is JUSTIFIED BY WORKS and
not by
faith only."
(James
2:24) |
 Clearly
in the above verse,
James the brother of Jesus (died in 62 or 69
AD) taught the exactly
the opposite of what Paul (5 - 67 AD) was teaching. These
two Bible verses have been known by scholars throughout
history to be perhaps the greatest contradiction in the
Bible. This contradiction is one of the major reasons
why
there are so many different Christian denominations
and interpretations of Christian scriptures in the
world. To fully understand this contradiction and
paradox one must first understand
the dispute between Paul and the Twelve Apostles
- specifically the dispute between Paul and James
the brother of Jesus.
Many Bible scholars believe
Paul hijacked Christianity as taught
by Jesus and the Twelve; and that Paul is the
real founder of the Christian religion.
Paul knew Jesus only from a near-death experience
he had on the Road to Damascus which transformed
him from persecuting the Twelve and their
followers to becoming a supporter of them.
Unfortunately, Paul did not spend the time
necessary to sit at their feet and learn from
them the teachings of Jesus. He barely knew the
Twelve and rarely visited them; but when he did,
he would often be in conflict with them as
recorded in Paul's epistles. This led Paul to became a
witness to the Gentiles who was influential in
establishing the
Church of Rome. Paul can be considered a self-appointed
apostle who taught the Gentiles how
the law of God no longer applied to them and
how Judaism is no longer relevant.
Unfortunately, throughout history, Paul's
letters were influential as the source for the
Church's [1]
anti-Semitism, [2]
homophobia, [3]
sexual intolerance, [4]
religious intolerance, [5]
economic discrimination, [6]
racism, [7]
discrimination against women, and [8] support
for slavery. But to be fair to Paul, I doubt he
ever wanted his letters to be considered the
very words of God and to be included part of scripture. But
despite Paul's influence in developing Christian
theology, it is clear that
Jesus never believed the law of God to be irreverent
and he never repudiated his Judaism. The result
of Paul's teachings
(whether intentional or not) was the exclusion
of the behavioral requirements
set forth in God's law and which Jesus emphasized
was necessary for salvation.
Jesus emphasized "good works" over faith all the time
in his parables. It is also clear how
portions of
Jame the Just's Epistle is a point-by-point counter-argument
against
Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Below is a chart
defining the debate between Paul and James. You
judge for yourself.
How Paul's "Faith
Without Works" Salvation
Contradicts Jesus's
Emphasis on "Good Works" |
|
PAUL |
|
On Justification: |
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"Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds
of the law." (Romans
3:28)
|
|
On the Faith of Abraham: |
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"For
if Abraham was justified by
works, he has something to
boast about, but not before God.""
(Romans
4:2)
|
|
"For
the promise that he [Abraham]
would be the heir of the
world was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness
of faith." (Romans
4:13)
|
|
On Salvation: |
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"But
what does it say? 'The word is near
you, in your mouth and in your heart'
(that is, the word of faith which
we preach): that if you
confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised
Him from the dead, you will
be saved." (Romans
10:9)
|
|
On Faith: |
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"For
in it [the gospel of Christ]
the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, 'The just
shall live by faith.'"
(Romans
1:17)
|
|
On Works: |
|
"Therefore
by the deeds of the law no flesh
will be justified in His sight,
for by the law is the knowledge
of sin." (Romans
3:20)
|
|
"Therefore,
having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans
5:1)
|
|
| JAMES (the
Brother of Jesus) |
| On Justification: |
|
"You
see then that a man is justified
by works and not by faith
only." (James
2:24)
|
| On the
Faith of Abraham: |
|
"Was
not Abraham our father
justified by works when
he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? Do you see that faith
was working together with
his works, and by works
faith was made perfect? And
the Scripture was fulfilled which
says, “Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.” (James
2:21-23)
|
|
On Salvation: |
|
"What does it
profit, my brethren, if someone
says he has faith but does
not have works? Can
such a faith
save him?" (James
2:14)
|
|
"You foolish person, do you want
evidence that faith without
deeds is useless?" (James
2:20) |
|
On Faith: |
|
"Thus
also faith by itself, if
it does not have works,
is dead." (James
2:17)
|
|
On Works: |
|
"For
whoever keeps the whole law and
yet stumbles at just one point
is guilty of breaking all of it.
For he who said, 'You shall not
commit adultery,' also said,
'You shall not murder.' If you
do not commit adultery but do
commit murder, you have become a
lawbreaker." (James
2:10-11)
|
|
"But
be
doers of the word, and
not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
(James
1:22) |
|
4. The Christian Paradox
of Election and Predestination
Before
I learned about NDEs, I believed
in the extreme fundamentalist view of
God predestinating a portion of humanity for salvation
and leaving the rest for damnation. This brand of Christian theology is historically known
as
Calvinism after
John Calvin (1509-1564 AD) whose
teachings were instrumental in bringing about
the
Protestant Reformation along with
Martin Luther (1483-1546 AD).
Calvinism and the Protestant Reformation was
actually a rediscovery of the teachings of
St.
Augustine (354-430 AD) who was
the first person to formalize Paul's theology (see the
box below). Paul's theology is based upon
a concept that
everyone is born spiritually dead and are
unable to come to God to be saved. Therefore,
salvation is entirely the work of God: the Father
chose some people (the elect),
the Son
redeemed them (and only them) at the cross guaranteeing
their salvation in the future, then the Holy Spirit
draws them at the appointed time giving them the
gift of spiritual life
and making their salvation
secure forever. The non-elect
go to hell - not because of their
forseeen lack of faith or works - but because they were
never chosen by God to begin with. Moreover,
Paul viewed
God as
creating the non-elect for the sole purpose of
destruction in order to make God's mercy
known to the elect.
Even more amazing, Paul didn't believe his
teaching dishonored God because God was under no
obligation to save anyone at all. Instead, God
"has mercy on whom he has mercy, and whoever he
hardens he hardens." Read more about the history of this
debate between Paul's theology and its alternative on
this Wikipedia article.
The
alternative theology
of Christ dying
for all humanity and not only for a chosen few is even more of a paradox.
If Christ died for everyone, and some are lost,
then Christ's death didn't actually save anyone.
Salvation is then reduced to a mere possibility
conditional upon the spiritually dead sinner's
ability to come to Christ - a contradiction of
scripture. Paul's theology limits
the quantity of Christ's redeeming
power because it applies only to the elect. The alternative
theology limits the quality of
Christ's redeeming power because it didn't
actually save anyone at the time and is conditional upon
spiritually dead sinners.
Ironically, an extreme form of Calvinism
(combined with a little
Christian mysticism) solves this
paradox and is the Christian belief system I hold myself:
The Father elected all human
beings for salvation; Christ redeemed all
human beings at the cross; the Holy Spirit
then calls all humanity for
salvation according to God's timetable. If a
person is not made spiritually alive during their lifetime, then
it will occur in
some future lifetime either through
bodily resurrection (reincarnation) - or by some
form of temporary
purgatorial-like state in the afterlife - or
both. Another source of NDE testimony helping me
in transition from a fundamentalist Chrisitan to
a more mystical one is
the NDE
revelations of Edgar Cayce who ties NDE
insights together with the mystical Christianity
taught by Jesus.
Rational
minded Christians must choose a theological system to believe
in; or it may be best to simply
accept God as a child because they
are, after all, closer to the Source. In the box
below are the scriptural references formulating
Paul's theology.
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Paul's
Theology of the Doctrine of Election and Predestination
Salvation
depends upon God and not man: No
one seeks God
[1]
because no one has the
will to accept things from God
without the Spirit of God
[2].
The human will is not free, but is
enslaven to their fallen nature
until set free by Christ
[3].
Therefore, salvation does not depend
upon fallen human beings
[4]
but upon
God's grace through through the gift
of faith
[5].
God created
the elect for mercy and others for
destruction: God chose some people
for salvation before the world was
created
[6]
to be objects of his mercy
[7]
and the rest of humanity God created
to be objects for
destruction
[8].
God's predestined his elect to obtain salvation
while passing by the others
[9]
[10]
[11].
God has elect angels and fallen
angels as well
[12]. Only
God elect's are
called, justified, and eventually glorified
[13]. When Paul preached at Antioch
everyone who was appointed for
eternal life believed
[14].
God redeemed the elect with his own
blood
[15].
Christ died
for the elect only and not for the
rest of humanity:
Christ gave his life for his
predestined elect
[16].
Not only this, God has predestined
everything to be conformed to his
plan
[17]. God redeemed
"all
men" and "the whole world" and wanting
"everyone" to be saved in the
sense that God's chosen elect are
not limited to Jews, but to everyone
from every tribe, language, race,
and nation
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21].
Once the elected sinner is saved by Christ's
redeeming power, they are forever saved: God's
elect are called, justified,
and glorified
[22]
proving they are saved from God's wrath
in the end
[23].
So there is no condemnation for
those whom God elected
[24]
and nothing can separate them from God
[25]
[26]. God's
calling and gift of faith are irrevocable
[27]. God resurrected his elect when
Christ was resurrected
[28].
And what God began will be carried
on to completion to
the very end
[29].
Paul's theology may have originated
from his conversion on the road to
Damascus. His NDE of the risen
Christ may have shown him how
everyone is
totally dependent upon God's grace
and sovereignty for salvation; and
it has nothing to do with their
cooperation
[30].
Paul's theology of salvation is
analogous to a narrow bridge going all
the way across to heaven.
The alternative theology is
analogous to a very wide
bridge going only half-way across. Another analogy
is to imagine Christ walking through a
cemetery, calling and raising some corpses,
and leaving the
rest
in their graves to perish.
The devasting problem with Paul's
theology of salvation: it flat out
contradicts everything Jesus taught
in the gospels about the
importance of behavioral
requirements (works) which God
expects everyone to perform in order
to attain perfection and eternal
life. Here are some examples: Jesus
taught people how loving God and others is the way to eternal life
[31].
Love is God, so without love, it is
impossible to attain eternal life
[32]
[33]
[34].
The following parables
of Jesus confirm the existence of
behavioral
requirements leading to salvation: the parable of the
Unforgiving Servant
[35]; the
parable of the Two Debtors
[36]; the
parable of the Wise and the Foolish
Builders
[37];
and the parable of the Unjust Steward
[38].
|
If you do an in depth
study of
Early Christian history you will soon realize how Christian doctrines have
changed radically from the time of Jesus.
Paul's tremendous influence in shaping
Orthodox Christianity and
Eastern Christianity denegrated original
Judeo-Christianity into a vulgar
system where pledging allegiance to Jesus and
becoming a member of a personality cult of Jesus
worship is the way to salvation. While Paul
generally accepted
the teachings of the Twelve coming
directly from Christ, he threw away (or
completely ignored) the
essential Jewish teachings of Christ
which is based on performing good works
according to God's law. The doctrines of the
Church of Rome
which Paul established ultimately won the political
struggle over the
Jerusalem Church and Christianity has never
been the same since.
5. How Near-Death Research
Solves These Christian Paradoxes
As
I read more about the profound insights in NDE
testimonies, the more they filled the gaps I had
in understanding Christian doctrines. I began to see
how concepts such as
universal salvation
which are found in
near-death experiences
are also found in the
Early Christian teachings of Jesus. I eventually
had to deal with the paradoxes and
contradictions I found in the Christian doctrines I loved
and believed deeply for so many years. This
transformational processes caused much mental anguish
(on top of my
bipolar disorder) but led me on a quest
to understand Christianity in light of the
insights I was learning from NDEs. By studying a
combination of NDE
testimony, the
lost teachings of Jesus,
Jewish history around the time of Christ,
Judeo-Christian teachings,
lost Church doctrines and
an important
doctrine of Christian teachings declared
a heresy by the Church, I found compatibility between them
all. I discovered how Church bishops decided not
to include many of the teachings of Jesus
circulating among various Christian groups
because they were thought to be
Gnostic. For example, some bishops held the
Gospel of John and the
Book of Revelation to be suspect and were
almost not included in
the development of New Testament canon. The
Gospel of Thomas (considered to be the
oldest gospel) was not included in canon perhaps
because it describes Jesus teaching his closest
disciples how to obtain salvation through a
mystical divine-human unity and the process of
reincarnation. The
nature of Jesus was the subject of much
debate by the Early Church. Scriptures dealing
with experiences in the afterlife, such as the
Book of Enoch, were not included in the
development of canon even though
Jesus quoted from them many times in the New
Testament. The
Pharisees, the
Essenes,
the
Christian Gnostics, and
many early Christians were believers
in
pre-existence and
bodily resurrection
(reincarnation) and believed in a spiritual
form of resurrection taught by Jesus to
his disciples (becoming reborn of
the Spirit). The general public were not given
these closely guarded teachings (including the
interpretations of his parables) which is
evident in
Jesus'
conversation with Nicodemus.
6. The Resurrection of the
Spirit versus the Resurrection of Corpses
 It
is apparent how Jesus meant for the mystery
of the resurrection of the dead to be hidden until
the last days before he returns. The
1945 and 1947 discoveries of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
and
the early Christian writings in Egypt occurred
shortly before Israel became a nation again in 1948.
All the unfulfilled Bible prophecies concerning
a conquering Messiah arriving to rule
the throne of David can now be fulfilled. NDE
visions of the future support the notion of
humanity currently at a crossroads when major
earth changes are approaching. but it will not be the end of the world
as many believe - it will simply be
the end of the old order.
The
Christianity taught by Jesus and the Twelve centered
upon two types of resurrection:
the resurrection of the spirit (spiritual rebirth)
and the resurrection of the body (bodily
rebirth, reincarnation). But
when Paul abandoned his Judaism and Pharisee
upbringing, he effectively did not include (or
was ignorant of) these important teachings of
the Pharisees and Jesus. Paul accepted a version
of the resurrection of the dead which is
identical to
the Persian concept
of resurrection that existed before the time of
Christ. It describes how people sleep in their
graves until the
End Time when corpses are resurrected for
final judgment. This concept of
resurrection won the political battle over the
mystical interpretations of resurrection
secretly taught by Jesus. The vulgarized version was more palatable for the
ignorant general public and this may be why it
was defeated.
Rome conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many around Jerusalem
fled to Egypt where Jewish-Christianity and Gnostic
Christianity could continue to practice the mystical
teachings of Jesus concerning
attaining at-one-ment with God.
In conclusion,
by studying
the historical records and allowing NDE concepts
to guide me, I reached the same conclusion many
others have: Christianity as taught by
Jesus resembles
Tibetan Buddhism more than it does fundamentalist
Christianity. Tibetan Buddhism and the early Christian
writings emphasizes liberating
oneself from the
cycle of reincarnation through a spiritual
rebirth of the heart, mind, and spirit. Reincarnation,
although not a desirable option, is actually a
gift from God allowing humans to have as many opportunities
as necessary to become permanent residents of
the highest heaven.
Hell is having to reincarnate and be subjected
to death repeatedly until eternal life in heaven
is attained.
What is fascinating is how these hidden mysteries
of Jesus were not limited to Jesus or to Judeo-Christianity.
These mystical teachings of attaining a human-divine
unity can be found in Buddhism (Tibetan),
Islam (Sufi),
Judaism (Kabbalah),
Hinduism (too
many to list), and Christianity (Gnosticism).
All teach the same goal: liberating the soul
from
the flesh through the awakening
of the spirit within.
7. Near-Death Studies Affirm
Long Abandoned Doctrines of the Early Church
|
The Gospel According
to Jesus and the NDE

Love is God (1
John 4:8) and loving God within
everyone is the way to eternal life
(Luke
10:25-28).
That is all
there is to it! This is the entire gospel
of Jesus! It means allowing the unconditional
love from the kingdom of heaven within
yourself and then allowing it to manifest
into the world. It is about living forever
with unconditional love for everyone
and everything now. The gospel of Jesus
is all about unconditional love: For
God so loved the world he gave
us his beloved son (John
3:16) that whoever "believes
in him" will never die. Now, what
did Jesus mean by whoever "believes”
in him? Jesus taught this lesson in
context with
John 3:19-21 where Jesus refers
to those who come into the light and
live by the truth of this light - as
opposed to those who fear entering into
the light because of their fear of judgment.
The gospel of Jesus is about finding
and entering into the light of God's
unconditional love now and not waiting
until death to go to heaven. Love is
the only thing we take with us at death.
This is the same message people learn
from NDE testimony.
|
So believing and knowing
about unconditional love is not enough. It must
be lived, practiced, experienced, embodied, until "I
AM". Although this is a very high standard
for us to follow, it is the reason we are here in
this "World-School of Hard Knocks." We
are growing our way to heaven by means of unconditional
love (i.e., God) right here on Earth. We
are bringing this unconditional love of heaven into
this world right now. Perhaps a day will soon come
when humans have evolved enough like Jesus to walk
upon water, raise the dead and heal the sick. Fortunately,
I believe we are getting closer and closer to this
goal.
8. The Scientific, Philosophical,
and Religious Foundation for the Gospel of Love
The following is my understanding
of reality based upon the higher knowledge found
in NDEs and their application toward the understanding
of science, religion, metaphysics, and philosophy.
How we began:
In the beginning, there was nothing but one universal,
collective consciousness, which people refer to
as "Spirit" or "God." Within
this one Collective Consciousness are infinite points
of consciousness. All things in the past and present,
and all things which will ever be in the future,
exists as eternal spirit in one of these infinite
points of consciousness within the Collective Consciousness.
Our spirit is a
fractal of God. This means our spirit is both
a part of the Whole and the Whole itself. Like a
drop of water from the ocean, we are part of the
ocean. Like a drop of water from the ocean, the
very essence of the ocean is contained within us.
The origin of species
and dawn of humanity:
Then, at some moment outside of time, came the desire
for individuality and self-expression. This led
to the creation of the cosmos and souls. The vehicle
for our spirit is our soul. In the same way, the
vehicle for our soul is our physical body. Our spirit
is the eternal part of God. Our soul is a temporary
vehicle for our spirit to experience individuality
of existence between the physical realm and the
spirit realm. The human body evolved from ape-men
millions of years ago and it will continues to evolve
until it is able do those things which fully evolved
people from our past, such as Jesus and Buddha,
have achieved. At some point millions of years ago,
souls descended upon these ape-men and began influencing
to come down out of the trees and eventually form
societies. Then souls began inhabiting the bodies
of these ape-men. Thus, the dawn of humanity arose
on this planet.
Humans were created in
the image of God:
Humans are three-dimensional beings:
body, soul, spirit. The divine nature is as
a manifestation of
life,
light, and
love. The Bible mentions a trinity of personalities:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible also
mentions a trinity of human-divine unity: (Body
of Christ,
Mind of Christ, and
Spirit of Christ.) Science
and metaphysics describe human awareness in terms
of
consciousness (mind), subconsciousness
(soul), and the collective unconsciousness
or superconsciousness (spirit).
What happens when we
die: After death,
our soul body leaves our physical body. The physical
body decays and is lost forever. As a soul, we can
then experience in various soul realms as we did
every night on Earth in our dreams. While in the
soul realms, our soul body is the vehicle for our
spirit. Our soul mind functions as our conscious
awareness and our spirit mind plays the role of
the subconscious mind. Ultimately, we will want
to leave the soul realms and enter into the higher
spirit realms. When this choice is made and the
soul actually enters into the light, the soul merges
fully with the light and soul body is shed much
like the physical body was shed at death. The memories
of the soul remain forever in the mind and the individual
is now once again a pure spirit in the spirit realms.
As a pure spirit, we exist once again in pure thought
form in the mind of the one enormous and fantastic
dream called "God."
Humanity is evolving
in mind, body, and soul:
As human beings, we have been evolving on a biological
level for millions of years. Between Earth lives,
we spend "eternities" in spirit form in
various spirit realms. We also return to these spirit
realms every night during our dreams. The reason
we choose to come to Earth for another relatively
brief human experience is because we are also evolving
at the soul level. Through the cycle of birth, death,
life in the spirit realms, and rebirth into flesh,
we are learning valuable lessons which only Earth
lives can give. The goal for every human being is
to evolve into perfection in a manner similar to
Jesus, Buddha, and other great spiritual leaders.
Ultimately, the day will come when the world will
be filled with perfected human beings. It will be
a time when humans will be able to live as long
as they want and perform feats which today we would
call "miraculous" - like walking on water.
In such a state of perfected evolution, humans will
have become "liberated" from this evolutionary
cycle and will no longer be subjected to reincarnation.
As taught in the mystical forms of the great world
religions, liberation is attained by "becoming
one" with all things and all people (i.e., "God")
through the practice of unconditional love. This
spiritual state of one-ness occurs when a person "awakens"
their higher spirit-self and brings it into their
conscious awareness. In Christianity, this liberation
is referred to as
spiritual resurrection or
spiritual rebirth or being
born again. In Buddhism, the state of liberation
is known as
Nirvana. In Hinduism, it is known as
Moksha. In Gnosticism, this liberation occurs
through attaining
gnosis. All these concepts describe the same
thing. It is the liberation of the spirit from the
flesh. It is also
the symbolism behind the crucifixion of Jesus.
Practicing
love for one another is the way to heaven on Earth
and heaven within:
Jesus taught people
how
the way to attain liberation is through the practice
of unconditional love. Love brings about a one-ness
between people and is necessary to attaining the
higher dimensions of consciousness. Practicing unconditional
love leads to the manifestation of the spirit within
us and in our lives and brings our spirit into conscious
awareness. It is an awakening of unconditional love
within us and is the manifestation of our holy spirit
within us. However, it is not enough to merely believe
in love. Nor is it enough to merely know about love.
To be spiritual beings living in a physical world,
we must live love, manifest love, and become the
embodiment of love. We do not get there by focusing
only on the love and sacrifice of Christ nor through
worshipping him.
The Christian life involves
taking up our own cross and following in Jesus'
footsteps by practicing unconditional love:
We can practice unconditional love by
crucifying our self-centeredness through self-sacrifice
and self-denial for the sake of serving others. "
Crucifying the flesh" also means to put
to death the desires of the lower self - the animalistic
desires - to allow our higher self, our spirit,
to come through.
The "beast"
we are evolving away from:
This lower nature within human beings is the unevolved
animal nature within humanity of which we have been
slowly shedding for millions of years through evolution
and reincarnation. The nature of this unevolved
beast within humanity is manifested as self-gratification,
self-indulgence, self-centeredness, selfishness,
self-importance, self-righteousness, self-delusion,
self-condemnation, and the constant clamoring for
self - "ego" (symbolically known as
the "false god," the "devil,"
and the unevolved "beast.").
Discovering a higher
reality and the supremacy of love:
It is the illusion of separation (i.e., the
false notion of our not being part of one giant
Whole), which is the source of many problems
humanity has ever faced. This constant desire for
self apart from the Whole must be overcome in order
to become the spiritual beings we really are. We
are actually spirit beings having a highly evolved
human experience. Everything on the physical and
soul level is slowly evolving toward perfect unity
with the Whole. Here in the physical realm, we are "enrolled"
in a "World-School" for a class called "Introduction
to Eternal Life 101" to learn how to live with
and love the people around us forever. NDE research
reveals an open secret about our lives on Earth.
Life is a test. It is a gigantic examination for
which we will be graded on after death. There is
no judgment except self-judgment and we shouldn't
even do this. There is no condemnation but self-condemnation
and we should not do this either. The life review
after death is for our educational benefit, enlightenment,
and soul evolution. The life review is where we
discover what we have been filling the void within
us our entire life. The more we fill our void with
love for others, the more we have evolved as soul.
The love we have found within our void is what draws
us into the light.
However,
not everyone enters the light immediately after
death. There are many reasons for this and they
can be found within the NDE testimonies on this
website. In general, it requires many human experiences
(i.e., lifetimes) until our higher spiritual
nature is brought into our consciousness awareness.
In the end, no one is lost. There is no eternal
damnation. Nobody completely "flunks out"
of God's University of Higher Knowledge. God's
love is "tough love" as well as unconditional
not wanting anyone to be lost but to attain at the
physical level what we are at the spirit level.
Life is
about loving everyone and everything unconditionally
forever as individuals and collectively as a Whole
which is God.
9. The Gospel of Love Means
Universal Salvation
Ultimately,
I reached a point in my NDE studies where the hundreds
of first-hand eyewitness NDE testimonies of Jesus
I read became far more sensible and trustworthy
to me than the four testimonies of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John in the Bible. These gospel testimonies
are not first-hand testimonies as NDE testimonies
are and there are contradictions in the gospel narratives.
NDE research
dramatically changed my ideas of just about everything
on a massive scale. I learned how God is immensely
more loving and infinitely more forgiving than I
ever knew. I knew God would never abandon anyone
forever in hell. The "God of wrath" I
once thought existed I now know to be a man-made
construct for which to project our fear and own
personal weaknesses on. Once I understood how the
greatest enemy I will ever have to face and conquer
is: my self, an interesting
change occurred within me. The Devil I used to blame
my sins on and whom I feared all the time evaporated.
I began to appreciate the vastness of God's
love for all people no matter what their religious
or cultural persuasion may be. My narrow religious
system cracked and fell away as it became more and
more ridiculous to me. Worse still, I discovered
my former belief system to be highly dishonoring
to God in how it portrays God as throwing the majority
of humanity in hell fire to roast and be tortured
forever. My former idea of God resembled Charles
Manson more than it did of a God of infinite love
and I regretted ever having ever believed it. I
grew to resent the ignorance within the Church and
sympathized with those still trapped by false doctrines.
I knew God cannot be limited to any book and realized
the universe itself is a greater revelation of God
than a zillion Bibles. I realized we could have
direct experiences with God. We do not have to rely
solely upon 2000-year-old experiences in the Bible.
I learned how biblio-idolatry occurs when a person
elevates a book to be the
infallible words of God.
By studying
NDEs, I found peace of mind and freedom from rigid
beliefs systems and a far greater love for people
and Jesus than I would ever have found in the Bible.
I discovered truth was everywhere including in other
religions. I began to view
Christian doctrines in a more spiritual way
rather than the inferior literal way. I learned
how NDE insights offered
greater spiritual lessons in love which can
transform the world into the paradise it is meant
to be.
Although
I see a lot of nonsense in every religion, I know
the only critical component of every religion is
teaching people to love others and God. I know how
many people, including myself, need to begin with
a narrow religion to direct us within where true
spirituality dwells. From narrow religions, people
can graduate from "Spirituality 101" when
they learn the perfect "religion" is love
for others. Because I would be comfortable to consider
myself a Buddhist, just as I would be comfortable
to consider myself a Christian or a Hindu or a Gnostic,
it is difficult when asked what religion I practiced.
I used to describe myself as a Christian. But what
brand of Christianity believes in reincarnation,
pre-existence, the divine nature within humanity,
universal salvation, and the non-existence of a
Devil? Then I used to answer, "Well, I am Christian,
a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist" but found
out this answer does not make a lot of sense to
people. Then I would say, "NDEs are my religion."
Nevertheless, once I discovered the kind of love
and spirituality found in NDEs, I realized I was
no longer concerned about religious dogma anymore.
Just follow the simple principle established by
Jesus, John, and Paul when they said, "All
you need is love."
10. My Desire to Promote NDE
Testimony and the Spirituality Within Them
My
love for NDEs and the spirituality I found in them,
combined with computer science background, led me
to create this website and write a book entitled
Nothing Better Than Death. This website is a
wonderful labor of love for me and the zealotry
I once reserved for religion is now direct toward
my passion for bringing the spirituality of the
NDE to the internet via my website. It is not my
purpose to promote any single religion or even any
religion at all. However, there are aspects to NDEs
which have profound religious implications. My greatest
desire is to promote the supremacy of unconditional
love found in NDEs because I believe it is the key
for humanity's next stage in human evolution.
I believe NDEs will soon prove the survival of consciousness
after death without any doubt and this will bring
greater love and unity to the world. Imagine a world
where everyone understands how, after death, everyone
is accountable for every thought, word, and deed.
NDE insights equate death as a process of "stepping
into" the heaven or hell we have created within
ourselves during life. The afterlife is a spectrum
of existence where the highest heaven is pure unconditional
love and the lowest hell is the absence of love.
At death, we awaken to the spiritual environment
we have been creating within ourselves and actually
inhabiting all our lives. Therefore, death itself
is just a body problem. This is all there is to
it.
My prayer
is for this website - the NDE information on it
- will enlighten people and help them on their spiritual
journey towards unconditional love. This is not
some "savior complex" of mine; rather
this is an important part of my mission. The light
of love as revealed in NDEs is being poured upon
the entire world now due to the many people returning
from death and their sharing this light with a world
living in darkness and starving for light. I believe
this tremendous influx of light coming in from NDEs
will ultimately deliver the world from the current
chaos we are and bring us to a new level of understanding
of death and life. It will be the spiritual revolution
and unity of man foretold by a multitude of religions,
NDEs, and psychic revelations. It will be paradise
realized on Earth.
On November
of 2003, my family received
a series of after-death communications involving
my mother after her death. It was a remarkable
experience and it proved conclusively to me that
life does go on after death. It has been over two
years since her death and we have been receiving
indications of her continued existence from the
Other Side off and on ever since.
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