Near Death Experiencers: The Gospel is Really Just to Love People
Love is all you need
It’s been a minute since I shared a video. I have been reflecting on, indeed, captivated by this interview. John Burke has spent his life documenting near-death experiences (NDEs) and was recently interviewed by Abigail Robertson from CBN.
It has transformed my faith.
Nearly Universal Accounts of Jesus, Heaven, and Hell
I have been learning about NDEs for about 6-7 years now. Watching accounts to determine what people experience when they temporarily transition into the other realm. What was so transformative about this, and as you’ll learn from John Burke’s accounts, is that no matter the background, race, gender, age, location, and religion (he has interviewed atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Christians), they all seem to say the same thing and have a common theme about their transition into the afterlife. And note, he only interviews people who were declared clinically dead, some more than a few hours. So these are not hallucinations.
They coded in a hospital, drowned, were crushed…and died. Then came back to tell us all what they experienced.
There’s also a part two on what NDEs report on hell:
Commonalities in the Stories
They immediately left their body upon being declared dead
They floated up or went through a tunnel and were met with angels, a welcoming committee (family, friends).
They have sharpened senses and communicate through their thoughts
Many see Jesus
The ones that see Jesus report feeling immense, overwhelming love. And sometimes get a “life review,” where their life is played before them like a movie, moment by moment. Time doesn’t operate the same way, so that they can see everything at once.
What I love is that they don’t want to come back, they want to stay with him and in heaven. But he usually tells them it’s not their time and they need to go back.
Here’s the part that got me. When they ask what they should do, he tells them the same thing over and over: love people. Love everyone. And the reason for this is that Jesus uses everything. Every smile, kind hello, warm hug, act of forgiveness, taking someone food when they're sick, a short prayer for a friend. Feeding the homeless. He uses it all for good and to further his Kingdom.
Glory to God!
Jesus Uses Our Love as a Kinetic Force
This has just wrecked me because, as someone who loves theology and learning about Church history and great Saints of the past, I am just floored that it’s really that simple: love your neighbor. But don’t we know this already?
Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.Mark 12:30-31 NIV
And so many, many more.
The Mercy of Jesus Makes Evangelism Easy
It has given me a new perspective on evangelism. If love is the currency of the Gospel, I need only love whoever God puts in my path. Not necessarily preach to them the four spiritual laws, or about atonement, sanctification, justification, and resurrection. All that will come. But they find God through love.
The NDE accounts of hell show how, when people remember a prayer or cry out to God to save them, he appears and starts pulling them out of the abyss and darkness. He then tells them essentially to “go and sin no more,” and they are sent back to earth. Burke says of all the people he’s interviewed who went to “hell,” all of them changed their lives radically and lived for God.
Why would they do that if they didn’t encounter the real, saving power of Jesus?
The tremendous mercy of God is also on display since there seems to be this liminal space or tunnel, whatever it is, that allows people to make one final decision: do you want to spend eternity with God or without? I wonder if this is what Catholics call purgatory? I wonder if it means our prayers for those who are already dying or dead are effective?
So interesting to think about!
All I know is that I have gotten a quadruple espresso shot of faith. from these videos, and it has changed how I live.
Dear Jesus,
Teach us to love one another,
to see our neighbors, friends, and family
the way you do.
Let us show everyone
the most excellent way.
Amen.