Knights at the Bookshelf By Sir Knight W. Bruce Pruitt, PGC
Evading Death by Dr. Steven W. Long, (College Professor’s Experience ; Two Paths to Eternity), Published: Trilogy Christian Publishing, Tustin, CA; copyright 2020, ISBN – 978-1-64773-564-7; 198 pages.
“In
whom do you put your trust?” Masons are familiar with this question, because a belief in God, the creator of the Universe, is fundamental to Freemasonry as is an interest in some sort of life after leaving this physical existence. This book is not necessarily “Masonic,” but all Masons will still learn a lot about “what comes after” by reading Evading Death. It will be of interest and useful to any reader who has some concern with the prospect of death and what happens after death. The author of this book is one of the few people who have experienced actually losing his life for a short time and remembering the “journey.” His remarkable story of reaching the gates of both Hell and Heaven stimulates the reader to dwell seriously on the valuable lessons found in the latter part of this book. Dr. Steven Long, with his wife, Victoria, is the founder and international director of Global Champions, an educational program for youth, teaching necessary skills for life, established in Taiwan and expanded further. He is an ordained minister, preaching and lecturing in many locations. He is the assistant professor of leadership and finance at Taiwan University. Steve and Victoria also served for several years as codirectors for ISCO (International Student Christian Outreach) at Stanford University. Dr. Long’s NDE (near death experience) began in Taiwan in 2014. He suffered a massive heart attack, remaining alone for several hours. He had been scheduled for a lecture, so friends came when he did not meet them at the train station. His heart problems had begun in 2006, requiring several stints. This time Steve was rushed to the hospital to spend twenty-four days in various stages of intensive care. The story reported in this book includes the vivid memory of being “out of body” and hovering at the ceiling while watching the surgery. This was not imaginary since Steve tells later of seeing the surgeon waving his arms and flipping his hands. It turns out that is a habit of the doctor to keep his hands cool. During his time in intensive care, Dr. Long had to be heavily restrained because he could not realize what was going on and also because he was being spiritually
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november 2021
