The Lazarus Phenomenon Narrated by Ron Bailey Since time began, mankind has sought the answers to life’s greatest questions... it is a burning desire that has driven both nations and individuals to consume and conquer all frontiers set before them, in a search for ultimate meaning. The quest for answers has taken the human race to the very ends of the earth, and beyond... yet, despite our greatest achievements, there remains one... as yet unconquered final frontier... death... and the life beyond... and it is this frontier that holds perhaps the true answer... to all of life’s mysteries...
Hello... I’m Ron Bailey... welcome to the Lazarus Phenomenon... the program where we seek to answer that one most intriguing question... is there really life... after death? ...every person has probably asked that question at least once, in his or her life-time... do we cease to exist the day we exhale our last breath? Or is there more to it than that? In this program, we’ll be talking to experts in both the medical, and the scientific fields... as well as to people who have literally been to hell and back... and experienced a heaven beyond their wildest dreams... so join us, if you dare... as we enter into... the Lazarus Phenomenon...
Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? Is our existence on earth merely a product of chance? A random act of cosmic coincidence? Or is there really another world beyond the seeing eye? Since earliest times, most cultures have displayed a belief in life after death... the ancient Egyptians believed that when they died, they too would make a journey to another world, where they would lead a new life... they consequently paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies... properly preserved... as they believed, they would undergo various tests... on the other side... Similar beliefs can be traced back to the great civilizations of Greece and Rome... and various cultures as far afield as the Mayans’ and Incas’ of south and central America... the Koison of southern Africa, and the aboriginal peoples of Australia... in later times... particularly, in the middle ages, life was dominated by a fear of demons and the terror of damnation... throughout the ages... poets and writers, voiced their own interpretations of the teachings of Jesus, and what the biblical authors had written of heaven and hell... one particular story... related by Jesus Himself... was of the rich man... and Lazarus...
“There was a certain rich man... clothed in purple and fine linen... and there was a beggar named Lazarus who laid at his gate full of sores... and desired if so, to be fed of the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table... moreover... the dogs came and licked
his sores... and so it was that the beggar died... and was carried by the angels unto Abraham’s bosom... now, the rich man... fared sumptuously... every day... feasting... and dining... to his delight... but it came to pass that he too... died... and awoke... in Hades... (Please note that this story recounted by Jesus was not an endorsement of poverty as some sort of ticket to heaven... the only ticket to heaven is an acceptance of the redemption through the cleansing of Christ Jesus’ blood. Neither was it a warning of prosperity as a route to hades... this was a judgement on that rich man’s wickedness in not helping the poor man, as it had already been clearly revealed in the divine Will of God from the writings of Solomon who by the way was the wealthiest man that ever lived, that if you shut your ear from the cries of the poor and pass by, you yourself will cry and not be heard (Proverbs 21:13)... Jesus was bringing some balance and speaking to a Jewish audience who had understood prosperity as a seal of divine approval from the beginning but had begun to use this as a tool of oppression against the poor... the chief priests were the greatest culprits of this and this is a primary reason they hated Jesus so much and kept looking for a way to get rid of Him... His popularity from their point of view was a major threat to all the extortion in the Name of God going on at the time... Noisy distracting trade had been going on in the only area of the Temple gentile proselytes (converts to Judaism) were allowed to pray and meditate... and these proselyte gentiles were being manipulated and severely taken advantage of through usurious money exchange rates etc which is why Jesus drove all those wicked souls out [Courtesy of Peter Anderson, pastor of Destiny Church Edinburgh], and why they hated Him so much because they were counting their lost profits from royalties these traders would pay the chief priests for allowing this go on... a sad day amongst the people of God when they who should be shepherds become wolves to devour the flock of God.) and while in torment... he looked up, and saw Lazarus... and Abraham... afar off... ...the rich man speaks...“...father Abraham! ...have... mercy upon me... and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and... cool my tongue... I’m in agony in this fire...” ...father Abraham speaks... “...my friend... remember that while you lived... you had everything good... and Lazarus everything bad... now he is at peace, and it’s you who are in pain... and besides, there is this great chasm between us, that no one can cross over...” ...the rich man cries out in agony... “Abraham! ...please send Lazarus... to... my father’s house... I have five brothers... do not let them come to this... terrible place...” ...father Abraham speaks... “...your brothers can read what Moses and the prophets wrote... that’s what they should pay attention to...” ...the rich man in agony cries... “...it’s... it’s not enough! ...if someone from the dead where to... go to them... and tell them... they would turn to God...” ...father Abraham speaks... “...if they won’t pay attention to Moses and the prophets, they won’t even listen to someone who comes back from the dead...”.
But is this belief... this seemingly universal instinct, merely the product of superstition and religious doctrines... or is there actual scientific evidence to support it? ...today, scholars and religious figures... are certainly divided... some talk of reincarnation... others of assimilation into the universal life force... nobody knows for sure... or do they (rhetorical question)... towards the end of the 20th century, a phenomena arose... in which people reported near death experiences, otherwise known as NDEs, in which they encountered some form of after-life reality... modern medicine began referring to this occurrences as “the Lazarus Phenomenon”...after another biblical
character... also named Lazarus... who was revived by Jesus... four days... after his supposed death... but just what is near death experience? Dr. Jeff Long... elaborates...
“...of course the name, near death experience implies... these people have some event in which they are severely physically compromised... generally, there is a... severe... physical malady that occurs very suddenly, often towards the end of a chronic illness... near death experiences are very frequently associated with cessation of heart function, or cessation of breathing function and very often both... and given that ten seconds after that, that the EEG, a measure of brain electrical activity
it’s medically inexplicable... that near death experiencers are having a conscious experience... goes absolutely flat,
there’s so much more evidence behind... something more going on with near death experiencers... something, that is not medically explicable... there are blind people... including people that are blind from birth that have near death experiences... and for most of them it’s a visual! ...experience... that is absolutely, medically inexplicable... these are people that are blind, where for the first experience in their lives they’ve had vision... and can see things in a world... was during their near death experience... there is no other explanation for that... time and time again, we hear accounts of people that have their near death experience... and their consciousness separates from their body... so from a... vantage point of their consciousness apart from their body, they’re able to see... and hear what’s going on around them while they are being resuscitated... very often, they can see incredible detail... of the events going on around them... out of all the near death experiencers that I have studied... that have had their consciousness come apart from their body, and where they were seeing earthly every day events, essentially all of them... what they describe... has been absolutely... plausible... and of all the near death experiencers I’ve seen... who actually went and sought out verification of what they saw... where their consciousness was apart from the body...
single time
every
with only one exception what they saw... or heard... was absolutely correct... and there is... no explanation for that... for consciousness apart from the body, at the time you are having a Cardio-pulmonary arrest... to people that think that near death experience is not legitimate, I would remind them that there is at least 12 to 15 million Americans, that have had near death experience... this is such an enormous number... of a shared experience... that so greatly affects their lives... that no matter what the cause... of near death experience... no matter what your ideas about why they occur... I think there is no question, given the
number of lives it has impacted... that it makes sense to study it... it’s an incredible phenomenon... and the implications are... enormous...” - Dr. Jeff Long, M.D. IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies)
A medical practitioner, who has experienced this first hand... is Dr. Melvin Morse of Seattle’s prestigious children’s hospital...
“...the near death experience is in fact the dying experience... we will all have this experience... when we die... the interpretation of the experience... is in dispute... nevertheless, it’s a scientific fact... not a belief system... that we will have this experience when we die, there have been 3 major studies of near death experiences in the last fifteen years... and all 3... of these... studies... document... that these experiences are real... and they’ll happen to us all when we die... so the old ideas, that these experiences are caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, or hallucinations caused by chaos in the brain at the point of death, or caused by drugs that are given to the patients we are trying to resuscitate when they are dying... those ideas... ehm... were of course respectable scientific theories, but turned out to not... be true... in fact, near death experiences are... the dying experience... and that’s a... scientific fact, not an opinion...” - Dr. Melvin Morse, M.D. Seattle Children’s Hospital
“...I think in terms of the consistency in testimonies of near death experiences, it suggests that the... the experience is a reality... which is not purely the product of brain chemicals... because why we know from the studies of drugs ordinarily, they... they could give one person a drug... and they give the drug to another person, they’ll have two completely different experiences... there might be broad similarities, but not the level of consistency you find with the near death experience...” - Dr. Tony Lawrence, Coventry University
Science cannot give us the definitive answers to our questions about the after life... not yet... until it can, our best source of information is the human experiences of those... who have undergone death... and seen the other side... one such story is that of Daniel Ekechukwu... an African pastor who lay dead in a mortuary for 3 days... yet lived... to tell the tale... let’s join him now in Nigeria... where he tells his story of how he was raised... from the dead...
Raised from the Dead A True Story Christmas, for the Ekechukwu family, was always a time of celebration... celebration of the birth of Christ, and the love of friends and family, but this time... things were different... on the surface, everything seemed fine... but inside, Daniel was boiling with anger and un-forgiveness... he had recently fought with his wife, and was still harbouring deep resentment... Daniel relates... “I had a quarrel with my wife on Thursday... and the little quarrel I had with my wife, I frammed on her... then on Thursday night she was knocking on my door, I couldn’t open the door for her. Then on Friday morning, she now knocked on my door... No, on Friday morning she woke up and I came out [of the room] she said: “Daddy, good morning...”, I wouldn’t accept it, I wouldn’t talk to her... I kept quiet on her and I left on Friday morning... She offended me, she did something wrong... and, I was angry with her, I was annoyed...” Daniel’s anger had so blinded him, that he had not even seen his son that day... Daniel’s thoughts that day were somewhat distracted, almost as if his mind were somewhere else... as the sun started dipping down, driving back home from delivering the gift to his father in Owerri, Daniel began to speed up... wanting to get home... he was still... very angry... Nigeria’s inner city side streets are notoriously undeveloped... a bumpy ride, to say the least... Daniel knew well to travel cautiously... but that day the car seemed somewhat sluggish, and not responsive... as he headed down one of the dirt roads, he reached down to apply the brakes, but there was no response... Daniel began to pump the pedals furiously, but to no avail...
Daniel relates “...I was going to deliver the goat to my father in Owerri. When I arrived, I saw my dad and said to him, "Hello Dad, I have a goat for you." I took the goat out of the car and gave it to him. Then I climbed into the car to return home. The sun was setting on the way back and I was anxious to arrive home as soon as possible, so I was driving faster than normal. As I passed a truck, the car seemed to be sluggish and unresponsive to the controls. I was travelling down quite a steep hill, and was about to turn into another dirt road. I applied the brake, but nothing happened. Even when I pumped the brakes nothing happened. The other cars in the road hooted, and pedestrians shouted at me, but there was nothing I could do. I crashed into a palm tree.
The whole thing was weird. I seemed to see things happening in slow motion, and then there was darkness...”
Daniel’s wife Nneka Ekechukwu relates “...so... he came back lamenting to warn me that pastor was dead... that he saw a group of people carrying him on their heads, moving down the road, so... the moment I heard him screaming, and I heard that pastor is dead, I knew it was my husband... so... from that upstairs, I ran down... I began to... run towards the place... where the accident happened...” When Nneka arrived, at the scene of the accident, she learnt that Daniel was still alive... but in a very serious condition... bystanders had taken him to the local hospital... where Nneka found him... after being rushed into the Intensive Care Unit at Burunyu hospital, Daniel refused to be treated... intead... he insisted that he be taken to his family doctor all the way out in Owerri... the hospital surgeon told Daniel’s wife, in no uncertain terms, that he was in no state to travel given the extent of his injuries... but despite the surgeon’s pleas... Nneka... was adamant...
Nneka relates “...they discharged us that night, they said I should sign... that I am taking him, at my own risk... then I had to do it... so we took him to his eh... private Doctor in Owerri... on our way to that place he called to me... that I should take care of the church, and the ministry and the children...” Daniel relates “...I insisted on being taken to my family doctor at Owerri. Nneka also asked the surgeon to move me to our family doctor. Nneka was advised that I was not well enough to travel or to make decisions, and that I may die if I left the hospital. Nneka then signed a discharge authority to remove me from the hospital at her own
risk. She arranged for me to be taken in an ambulance at high speed to the clinic in Owerri, where our private doctor practiced. I was in great pain during the journey, and I passed out. As the ambulance continued along at high speed, so... suddenly... I... I had some strange feelings... for me to look up... I saw two angels...”
When Daniel saw the two angels, he wanted to let his wife know, but the angel indicated that he should keep silent... immediately Daniel’s power of speech was taken from him... Nneka began to cry... fearing that Daniel would die... the angels took Daniel by his shoulders... and lifted him out of the ambulance... suddenly... Daniel found himself in another place... with one of the angels... ...the angel speaks... “Daniel... I have a lot to show you...”, as he looked out... Daniel saw a place where a multitude of people gathered... and their appearance, was like that of the angels... their colour was pure white, and their bodies seemed to glow... with radiance... because of their similar appearance, Daniel thought he was seeing a gathering of the angels... meanwhile... the ambulance rushed to St. Eunice’s clinic in Owerri... Nneka, and a friend of the family waited with laboured breaths... as Dr Jose Onabunwa examined the patient... Nneka relates “...then... that place the Doctor came and checked him and after checking him, confirmed that he was dead... that eh... no... respiratory organs, that everything is ceased... that we should take the body to the mortuary... but to me... I disbelieved him, I said no... my husband is not dead... he cannot leave me and go like that...” ...the angel speaks to Daniel in heaven... “...this is not the gathering of the angels Daniel... this... is the gathering of the saints... The differences between the saints and the angels were subtle... their colour... is a pure brilliant white... from their hair... down to their feet... but the difference is... that the angels have wings... while the saints do not... the saints were worshipping God... they worshipped God with one voice... and raised their hands... as they were singing... Daniel heard the sound of many instruments... and the sounds were like nothing he had encountered before... he longed to join these people... and moved over towards them, but the angel stopped him... ...the angel spoke... “Daniel... don’t go... I have a lot to show you... take this file... and record everything you see...”
The multitude that Daniel saw... were all looking at a bright light that shown like the sun... it was the Source... of all the light there... Daniel relates “...a very thick heavy... Light... coming upon them there... now... they were all looking at that Light... as if they were seeing something there, but to me... I could not look at that Light... can you get... I could not look at that Light because ehm... that Light was so dangerous to my eyes... so I tried to dodge, cover so that I could look through, but they were looking through, but to me I could not look through... “
Daniel’s body was taken to the mortuary... where Darlington Manu... the local mortician arranged the burial...
Darlington Manu relates “...It was on the 30th of November... 2001... that was the day they brought one Reverend Daniel Eke... he died in an accident eh... case... that was the day... brought by the father, known as Mr. Lawrence... eh, Eke... Imubwa... then after the treatment, I gave some injections... some mls... about... this is a five ml. Syringe... I gave about six syringes... to the fingers... and the toes... to treat for the embalmment... The 30th of November 2001 was a date forever etched on Nneka Ekechukwu’s heart... and mind... in fact... she remembers it well... Nneka relates “...eh... that very day... it was terrible and horrible... and I was mourning... then the Word of God appeared to me in Hebrews 11:35... “...women received their dead... bodies back to life...” ...so... when I read that scripture... I said... ehn... dead bodies back to life... eh... dead bodies, dead bodies... I began to meditate over the... Word of God... I said, dead bodies... my husband is one of the dead bodies... back to life... I must take him... to... [Reinhard] Bonnke’s crusade... so that, he will come back to life...” ...meanwhile the angel spoke to Daniel... “...let’s visit the mansions... Jesus... prepared for His people... immediately... Daniel was in a new place with radiant mansions as far as the eye could see... it was incomparable to... anything he knew on earth... though the appearance resembled buildings, their
structure was unusual, not made of... any earthly materials... they seemed to be alive... moving... ...the angel spoke... “Daniel... Jesus has finished His work... the mansions are ready... but the saints... are not ready...” ...there was a sound... of beautiful singing... and worship... and it seemed... to come from all around... Daniel wondered... where the singing was coming from... because he could see no people there... ...the angel spoke... “Daniel... the worship song you are hearing... is being sung by the flowers...” ...as he looked... Daniel saw the flowers... swaying in response to the music... and it actually seemed as if they were clapping their hands... shouting... and praising God... ...the angel spoke... “...they are waiting for the saints...”.
Darlington Manu relates “...it was around eh... between 12, 1... midnight, when I came out... I started hearing some noise over here (The morgue cold room)... I wondered maybe the churches, maybe the church people over there... maybe they were having crusade or something like that... then I kept on hearing singing... praises and clapping... I wondered... part of my mind told me... to come down to the mortuary... maybe, it was happening in the mortuary...” ...meanwhile the angel spoke to Daniel... “...we are now going to visit... hell... can you see... the gates of hell... “ ...the angel raised his hand... and as he brought it down, the gates ripped open... with a great noise... Daniel could hear the crying... and wailing... of many people... but he could not see... any of them... and then a light shone... from the angel’s body into the darkness... so that Daniel could see more clearly... there were many people there... but unlike the souls in heaven... the appearance of these people... was as it had been, on earth... they were from every race... culture... and nationality... every person seemed trapped... in their own personal torment... a torment which would go on... for eternity... and they could not communicate with others... the sounds... of crying... and wailing... were almost deafening... suddenly... they all seemed to become aware... of Daniel... and began crying to him... for help... and they called to Daniel only... as if they could not see the angel...
Daniel relates “...A tormented soul shouted to me, "Please help. I am a pastor. I stole money from church and I lied. Help me! ...please.... I am ready to repent! ...help...". I noticed that immediately after the pastor made that statement, the force that was tormenting him seemed to increase. The people had flesh, but no blood, and they almost seemed to be on fire, although no flames could be seen... There was a group of people that were eating their own flesh. They would vomit what they ate, and their flesh grew back again. This carried on in an endless cycle of torment....” ...the angel spoke to Daniel... “...those people you see... eating themselves... they practiced witchcraft while they were on earth... they specialised... in eating human flesh... and now... they’ll eat themselves forever... they are reaping... what they sowed...” Daniel relates “...that place... is not good for any human being created by God to go... and God did not make that place for human beings... He made that place... for the devil and his agents... but stubborn human beings... who will disobey God like the devil... will also go there...
God has no desire to put
any human being in hell...
it’s a dangerous and a deadly place... He made for the devil... and his people...” What was to follow... was an earth-shattering statement... by the angel... Daniel couldn’t have imagined... in his wildest dreams... that he would hear... the judgement... ...the angel spoke... “Daniel... if the book of your life was to be closed today... this... would be your portion... “ ... Daniel relates "...this was completely shattering news to me. I said to the angel, "No. I am a pastor. I am a child of God. I am born again. And I have preached all over this country ehm the country where I’m... no... this can’t be... no... no... this can’t be..."
On the way to the first hospital you were asking God to forgive you. But you would not forgive your wife. Therefore your sins have not been forgiven. It is a matter of reaping what you have sown. You cannot sow un-forgiveness to your wife, and reap forgiveness from God." The angel said sternly, "Enough, Daniel.
Daniel relates, “...and immediately he made that statement... my spirit convinced me that what the Angel told me... or the judgement on me... is true! ...I didn’t say no... because I remembered... that... I had a quarrel with my wife on Thursday... and the little quarrel I had with my wife... I frammed on
her... then on Thursday night, she was knocking on my door... I couldn’t open the door for her... then on Friday morning I came out and she said “Daddy, good morning...”, I did not accept... I wouldn’t talk to her... so I... I kept quiet on her, and I left on Friday morning... are you getting what I am saying, because my wife provoked me... she offended me, she did something wrong... and... I was angry with her, I was annoyed... so I didn’t accept her greeting, and I left on Friday... on my way coming back, I had the accident and died... so... now the angel told me that... my wife offended me, and I did not forgive my wife, and I come to God and ask God to forgive me... that I am not forgiven... that this place would be my portion... I cried... I did not say no... I did not reject the judgement... the judgement was true to me, because I knew... in my heart... I was angry with my wife... I was thinking of what I should do to her to punish her... I was thinking... my wife... slapped me... my wife slapped me... what am I going to do to her? ...I was thinking of what to do... so... in my heart... I was... annoyed... and I believe God was judging my heart... so... He said to me that I didn’t forgive my wife... that I am not forgiven... so while I was crying, crying, crying, shouting and shouting... I was saying, is this how I destroyed my soul? ....look at how I destroyed my soul... while I was shouting and crying... I was afraid... tears were all over me... I was... panicking because... that place is not good for anyone... and the way... everything was looking... if... if... God wanted to put me inside hell, nothing would prevent Him... because ehm... while we were discussing... some... group of people... thousands of people... were... being sent into hell...“ In the meantime, Nneka relates the circumstances leading to her husband being raised from the dead, “...then me... I concluded in my heart that I must do something... to make sure that my husband is revived... that I believed that he must come back to life... if I took a step of faith... that something good... might come out of it... “ Daniel relates, “...Nneka told me that she had decided that she must take a step of faith, to make sure that I was brought back to life. She told my father that my family should take my body to the Reinhardt Bonnke meeting. But my father did not agree to this request, and dismissed her request to remove the body from the mortuary...” Meanwhile on the other side of town, things were working miraculously in her favour... Darlington Manu relates, “...as early as 5:30... to 6... I left my house with the address... tracing the dad (Daniel’s father)... then, when I asked of eh... the man Mr Lawrence Eke... Imubwa... then, they directed me... to him... and I told him to come and remove the corpse that they brought inside my mortuary... they claimed that he died in an accident case... because... during that time, he was... bleeding... then I asked them to come and remove the body... I saw some kind of signs... I don’t know... what is wrong with the corpse... I don’t want anything to haunt me... because this job is a tedious job... is a dangerous eh... job...” Nneka relates, “...we took him from the... mortuary... we dressed him up... and eh... put him inside the casket... then we took off from Owerri... then we continued coming down to Onitsha...”
Darlington Manu relates, “...ehm... His Glorious Cathedral... Grace of God Mission... Anambra State... that was Omuleri road... where Reverend... Bonnke... Reinhard Bonnke... was having a crusade... they wanted Reinhard Bonnke to pray for him so that he would raise again... I started laughing... I said... this corpse... they said yes... I said, ok, give me the tally... she went and brought the tally and then cleared their bill... then we dressed the body... when I dressed the corpse, I called on my assistant to join me... they hired an ambulance... they went and bought a coffin... the white coffin inside the room there... I said, ok I will go with two people... let me witness... maybe it is the power of God, or anything that happens, I will know...” Nneka relates, “...so when we arrived there with our... siren... there was tension all over... security... people came... both the church security... they wanted a permit from the local government, even from Federal government... even the one that came with Bonnke... they thought that we were... evil people... who came to bomb Bonnke... they were pushing me left, right and centre... but I was withstanding their... pushing and torment... they were abusing me and calling me all sorts of names... so, at a time I told them that he is dead... he’s even a man of God... you people should not eh... kill me... he’s a man of God... only that he had an accident and eh... died... that they should allow us, to take him inside so that Bonnke can pray for him... and I believe that he can come back to life...” The security guards refused them entry into the premises... thinking they might have a bomb... in the casket... the procession was redirected to a facility... in the back of the church... Daniel was taken out of the casket... and laid... on a table... people started praying for him... praying... for resurrection... Daniel relates, “...then the angel said to me... that he is sending me back to the world... to go and warn this generation, because this is going to be the last warning to this generation...” Nneka relates, “...as prayers were going on... then... his heart began to pant... life began to come... in his heart... we continued praying... we were praying... we were praying... as all these things were going on, he began to... breathe gradually, but his body was still stiff...” Daniel relates, “...I saw myself... being held by a lot of people... I was naked, I was wearing only trousers, they’d pulled off my clothes, I saw crowds of people... more than 20,000 people... I looked on my left, right, everywhere... people were shouting... crying everywhere... some were praising God... some were crying... I... I was looking around, I couldn’t... understand what was happening... because to me, I was falling down... and I fell into a pit, and when I opened my eyes... I was seeing... I saw all hands... was grabbing me... they said to me that I jumped up... I saw... this big Cathedral... a very big Cathedral... I looked by my right... my left... my front and my back... everywhere was full of people... and... some people were shouting... some were saying coffin... some said mortuary... some said three days... I couldn’t understand what was happening because... my experience there was like...
fifteen minutes, so I didn’t know what they meant by three days... to me... there was no night... there was no day... it was only that moment... I was into... I now... said to my wife... what is happening... she said I should keep quiet until when we get to the house...they brought me back to my house... this place... with my wife... so when we got inside the bedroom... that was on the 2 nd of December... I asked my wife, what is happening... what’s this about coffin and... two days... and... mortuary... what is happening...then my wife... now... began to look at... my body... where they injected chemicals... and she said, daddy do you know... you were in mortuary... three days... and this is the... death certificate... while I left the ambulance... they still went to the hospital... so the Doctor now... confirmed... that I had died... they now used their equipment to check... as you can see... they checked... the heartbeats... everything... the eye pupil... everything according to the Doctor... and after he checked everything , he confirmed that I was totally dead... he now gave them certificate that they should remove me... you can see it here... it says... for removal to mortuary... ”
The full story of Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu is featured in the movie, "THE LAZARUS PHENOMENON" which may be viewed free of charge at HTTP://WWW.FINALFRONTIER.ORG.UK/INDEX.PHP? MAIN=13&SUB=3&PAGE=1 . His story was filmed on location in Nigeria, and includes computer graphics of both Heaven and Hell. In the movie there is
live
actual footage of his return to life, after being dead for three days. Daniel has his death certificate, dated November 30th 2001, and many people witnessed his return from death. These include his family, friends, church members, medical doctors, and the mortician who attended him. This story is included with the permission of Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu.
Following the release of the movie," The Lazarus Phenomenon", the testimony of Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu's has had a world- wide impact. The fact is that many people, including family, friends, church members and a mortician can all testify that Daniel was indeed dead for three days and three nights. I Temisan Atimomo transcribing and presenting these facts to you can personally bear witness to the Truth of these events, not only because they completely line up with the Word of God, but I was physically present in Nigeria when they occurred and knew shortly after pastor Daniel Ekechukwu was raised from the dead, which sparked the major revival I have mentioned to you about in earlier Salt & Light Issues. Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu may be contacted at the following e-mail address: MESSAGEFROMTHEDEAD@YAHOO.COM The true story of Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu is included, with his kind permission, in the free e-book BEYOND THE FINAL FRONTIER which includes 27 similar true stories, and may be freely read and downloaded from www.finalfrontier.org.uk. Accounts like these, have had an enormous impact worldwide... causing ripples even among the medical... and scientific professions... in the past... occurrences like these
were viewed... simply as hallucinations... caused by hormones... produced by the body during extreme trauma, but experts are... not so convinced...
Jeff Long narrates, “...hallucinations tend to be very disordered experiences and they are nothing like the highly structured... and ordered experiences that you have with near death experience... on my website, I specifically ask the question, was the experience dream-like in any way... I’ve actually recently done a formal study of that... near death experiencers are emphatic... when asked directly, and I did... that is was the experience dream-like in any way... the answer is a resounding no... it isn’t close at all to a dream... dreams tend to bounce around... a little bit... they tend not to have order... or structure... very often... a dream will end... without it reaching a logical conclusion in the sequence of events... not so with near death experiences, they are highly structured... highly ordered... they tend to have a very logical initial part of the experience... and at the end of a very orderly and structured experience, there’s a very orderly and structured end of the experience... and that’s when the experience ends... near death experiences are nothing like dreams... if you had a frightening... near death experience like some of those that I have described... there is no question that when you have that experience... this forces you to look at yourself... this is something that really shakes up your life in a major way.... you’ve really got to sit down with yourself and ask this question, why did this happen? ...what’s really going on here? ...is this the reality? It really forces you to understand what’s the reality of what’s going to happen, when I die...
Dr Richard Kent... a retired medical Doctor... has studied the NDE over many years... travelling the world... and writing books on the subject... of the 300 case studies he has made... an alarming amount report the existence of a realm... similar to the account recounted by Daniel Ekechukwu... “...It’s just a horrendous, awful place... it’s a place were people are... terrified... are frightened... ehm... and people... having seen hell, even... years later... they recoil in horror... at what they saw there... it’s just a place of awfulness... I’ve interviewed probably
over 300
people
had
who
have
these
experiences... and all of them... have been dramatically changed... their lives... have been changed... by these near death
experiences... you can’t say that about hallucinations... hallucinations simply aren’t... life changing experiences... whereas near death experiences... when you meet Jesus Christ... and either see heaven or hell... they are dramatic... riveting... lifechanging experiences... and... almost invariably people’s lives are dramatically... altered... as a result of these experiences so... personally... and also because of the
near death experience accounts are so... remarkably similar... not only to each other... but also to the Bible... I personally believe that these are... real events... and people are describing... real events... if you fact that the...
read... any... newspaper... today... you’ll read about people... having a near death experience of a type... leaving their body, and going along a tunnel, and going to a place of light... it’s only ones... those who get really close to... who recognise Jesus Christ... erm... they describe Him as... nearly six foot tall... radiating light... tremendous amount of light coming from Him... ehm... from His Face... and from His Chest... and from His Arms... and from His Legs... ehm... but people di... it isn’t just the appearance... of Jesus... ehm... it’s the fact that they are in the Presence of so much Love... ehm... many people said, they’ve never felt... they’ve never felt like that... they’ve never felt so... completely... ehm... surrounded... by Love... powerful... as that... it’s just incredible Love...” - Dr. Richard Kent, M.D. Author, “The Final Frontier” Though scientific research has shed a lot of light unto the subject, it is only those who have experienced first-hand the reality of a life after death... that can truly give us insight into what happens... when we die... like Ian McCormack... a native New Zealandander... Ian McCormack would undergo a life-changing experience... as a result of his extraordinary encounter with death... and the life beyond... fact... or fiction... you decide... after seeing the following account... Glimpse of Eternity A True Story One man’s encounter with life beyond death.
“A Glimpse of Eternity” is the true story of one man’s encounter with death and the realms beyond it. Stung by five box jellyfish while diving off the coast of Mauritius, Ian McCormack later died in hospital and was dead for 15-20 minutes. During this time he experienced both hell and heaven and came back to tell the story! Dying was his doorway to true life and his story is transforming lives around the world, as it touches on some of the deepest questions we all eventually ask. Dedicated to our children, who are our pride and joy, and to all those children (young and old) who are yet to find their home with the Father. “Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going there to prepare a place for you.� - Jesus John 14:2 (NIV) FORWARD Ian McCormack's story is profoundly moving, and completely credible. Although I am familiar with Ian's story, I found that reading this short book caused me to question again the ultimate purpose and destiny of my own life. Hopefully, other readers will be prompted to ask the same questions.
As an experienced General Practitioner, I have no doubt that Ian died following multiple stings from Box Jellyfish. The Box Jellyfish is one of the most dangerous venomous creatures in the world. Death from Box Jellyfish stings can occur within five minutes.
Death is due to respiratory failure, caused by paralysis of the respiratory centre in the brain, or to direct effects on the heart, causing electrical conduction disturbances and paralysis of the cardiac muscle. Patients who have been stung by Box Jellyfish frequently become unconscious before leaving the water.
In my opinion Ian McCormack sustained a cardiac arrest, due to the toxic effects of Box Jellyfish stings. No blame is attached to his death, since a considerable time had elapsed before the antitoxin could be administered to Ian in hospital, making the prognosis extremely poor.
Ian's account of Jesus Christ, Heaven and Hell are completely in accord with the Biblical descriptions. In fact, like all supernatural events, the truth of these events should be checked against the truth of the Scriptures, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11)*.
Ian later became an ordained minister in 1991, and has travelled widely all over the world speaking about his experience. Ian has made it his lifetime's goal to see as many people as possible end up in heaven, rather than hell, which is the reason for his travelling. His motive is not financial.
After hearing Ian speak, he so greatly impressed me that I co-authored two books on Near Death Experiences, and I now travel widely speaking on Near Death Experiences myself. I sincerely hope that as readers are confronted with the reality of heaven and hell, that they not only ensure their own destiny in heaven, but also encourage others to do the same. - Dr Richard Kent (Dr Richard Kent is a retired medical doctor, and is now an ordained minister. He is the co-author of "The Final Frontier", and "Beyond the Final Frontier", which include 51 Near Death Accounts. Readers can find out about other Near Death Experiences, and about Dr Richard Kent and the registered UK charity from which he operates on his web site: www.finalfrontier.org.uk )
* For further biblical correlation’s please refer to the notes at the end of this account.
THE BIG O.E. There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV) It was 1980 and I was 24 years old when I set out on an adventure that was to turn my life upside down. I had saved some money and was eager to travel and explore the world. My best friend and I decided to sell our worldly possessions and head out on a surfing safari, an ‘endless summer’ holiday.
I was born and raised in New Zealand, a beautiful island country in the Pacific region. My parents were schoolteachers, and because of this we moved towns often, relocating in various rural areas. I had two siblings and together we had enjoyed many of the privileges that New Zealand children take for granted, such as summer holidays at the beach. From a young age I revelled in the sea.
I completed a university degree in agriculture at Lincoln University and then worked for two years as a farm consultant with the New Zealand Dairy Board. I loved farming. I loved working in the outdoors, and spent as much time as possible in outdoor pursuits. Most of my weekends were spent diving, surfing, tramping, and pursuing all kinds of sports. After two years of working, I got the urge to travel. It is common in New Zealand for young adults to travel abroad for some ‘overseas experience’. It’s a phenomenon fondly termed ‘The Big O.E.’. So off I went with my surfboard under my arm.
I initially flew to Sydney, Australia and surfed my way up the East Coast of Australia to Surfers Paradise. I travelled light and stayed in the cheapest accommodation I could find, while spending my days catching good waves at Dee Why, Fosters, Lennox Heads, Byron Bay and Burleigh Heads.
I hitchhiked up through the outback of Australia to Darwin and then carried on to Bali in Indonesia, where I surfed Kuta Reef and then took my chances surfing Uluwatu, an amazing left-hand reef break. I also visited a few Hindu & Buddhist temple sites before continuing on overland through Java.
As I travelled through Asia the people often asked me if I was a Christian, presumably because I was white skinned and obviously of European descent. The question challenged me because I had been brought up in a Christian family, but I wasn’t sure if I should call myself a Christian.
I was raised as an Anglican and attended the “Church of England”. At the age of 14 years I was confirmed in the church. I would pray as a child, and went to ‘Sunday school’ and ‘youth group’, and yet I’d never really had a personal experience with God. I didn’t feel as though I knew him.
I remember coming out of the church on the day of my confirmation quite disillusioned. Nothing seemed to have happened – nothing was changed as a result of participating in this religious experience. My heart was full of questions, so I asked my mother if God had ever spoken personally to her. She turned to me and said “God does speak and He is
real”. Then she shared how she had cried out to God in a time of tragedy and he had answered her. So I asked her why God hadn’t ever spoken to me. I vividly remember her answer; “Often it takes a tragedy to humble us so that we will turn to God. Men by nature tend to be quite proud” [It doesn’t have to be so, as we can humble ourselves to His Word at any time and learn... but we bankrupt ourselves of His protection the longer we stay away from active obedience to His Word, kind of like public America... “Get out of our schools and courts, we want no more prayer in these places.. but please protect us”]. I retorted, “I’m not that kind of person, I’m not proud”. But when I reflect on it, I was very proud. My mother said, “I’m not going to force you to come to church. But remember this one thing. Whatever you do in life, wherever you go, no matter how far you think you’ve gone away from God, remember this one thing; if you’re in trouble and in need, cry out to God from your heart, and he will hear you. He will really hear you and forgive you”.
I remembered those words. They stuck in my mind. But I decided that rather than be a hypocrite I wouldn’t go back to church because I had never really had an experience with God. Christianity was basically just religion to me and void of relationship.
I travelled on up through Java, Singapore, Tiomen Island and into Malaysia, then onto Colombo in Sri Lanka with a Dutch woman I had met up with. Once there, I made my way up the coast to surf Arugum Bay. After a month of awesome waves my visa was running out so I returned to Colombo.
I befriended some Tamil people in Colombo who welcomed me into their home and family life. One time while I was staying with them we all travelled to the hidden city of Katragarma. While I was at this sacred city I had my first supernatural experience. As I was looking at a carved idol I actually saw its lips move. I was deeply disturbed by this experience and I wanted to leave the city as soon as I could.
As I continued to live with my Tamil friends, I observed that each day they would offer food to their household idol, the elephant god Garnesh. Some days they would clothe it, other days bath it in milk or water. It seemed strange to me that a person could believe a stone idol could be a god, as someone had obviously made it with their own hands. But looking at that stone statue one day I felt an evil yet powerful presence emanating from it. It surprised and intimidated me. Then into my mind these words came, “You shall have no other God but me and you shall not bow down to any graven image or idol.” Immediately I recognised this as one of the Ten Commandments found in the Bible (Exodus 20:4-5) and I began to reflect on these words that I had heard way back at Sunday school.
In my own way I was on a journey to find the ‘meaning to life’. At times I considered myself an atheist, and at other times a ‘free thinker’. These experiences made me think about supernatural things but I didn’t have enough understanding of them to interpret them. I wanted to experience everything that life had to offer, and at that time my philosophy was simply to live life as fully as I could. In those years I never wore a watch. I lived in a timeless zone of sunrises & sunsets.
I eventually returned to Arugam Bay where I was excited to get a crewing position on a 27-metre schooner called the “Constellation”. We sailed out of Sri Lanka in the middle of the night en route for Africa and twenty-six days later we arrived in Port Louis harbour on the island of Mauritius. Tamarin Bay
I spent several weeks living in Tamarin Bay in Mauritius among the local Creole fishermen and surfers. Hashish (Marijuana) gave us a common bond and they accepted me into their lives and taught me to night dive on the outer reefs. Night diving is an incredible experience. The crayfish come out at night and you can blind them with your under water flashlight and just pick them up. The fish go to sleep at night and you only need to decide which one you want to spear for dinner. It was a fantastic sport and we would sell our catches to the local tourist hotel.
After several weeks of surfing to my heart’s content on Tamarin’s very fast left-hand reef break I was running out of money. So I headed to South Africa where I found a job teaching windsurfing and water-skiing. Amazingly they actually paid me to do this! I surfed Jeffrey’s Bay and Elands Bay and visited some of South Africa’s world famous wildlife reservations.
My desire was to travel over land through Africa up into Europe, but my plans were completely changed when I heard from New Zealand that my younger brother was planning to get married. I wanted to be at his wedding so I made the decision to return to New Zealand via Reunion Island, Mauritius and Australia. At my stopover in Reunion I found an amazing surf break called St Leu where I had some great waves to myself. Then I headed on to Mauritius. It was March 1982 and I’d been travelling now for nearly two years, often sleeping in a tent on beaches and living like a nomad. It was time to return home.
THE BOX JELLYFISH All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. -Psalm 139:16 (NIV) Back in Mauritius again for a few weeks, I rented a house, reconnected with my Creole friends, and spent my time surfing and night diving. One evening a week before I was due to leave for New Zealand, a diving friend came to my house and asked me to come out night diving with him. I walked out onto my verandah and saw a huge electrical storm raging out at sea. The white electric lightening flashes were illuminating the black sky. I turned to my friend Simon and asked, “Are you sure – have you seen the storm?” I was afraid the storm would bring up too much surf onto the reef and become dangerous. But Simon replied “It’ll be okay, we’ll go about five miles down the coast to a very beautiful part of the reef to dive tonight. You’ll be amazed how beautiful it is.”
In the end he talked me into it. It was about 11 o’clock at night. I got all my gear, jumped in the boat and off we all went - Simon, another local diver, a boat boy, and myself. We rowed down the coast to the spot that Simon had talked about. We were about half a mile off the actual island. The boat was sitting in the inner lagoon, and we were going to dive on the outer part of the reef where it drops away steeply into the ocean. It really was as beautiful as Simon had said it would be.
We dived in. I went up the reef and my two friends went down the reef. Normally we stick together but for some reason we got separated. I was looking for crayfish when my flashlight beam picked out a strange sea creature in the dark water. It looked like a squid. Curious, I swam closer to it and actually reached out my hand and grabbed it. I had my diving gloves on and it squeezed through my fingers like a jellyfish. As it floated away I watched it, intrigued, as it was a very odd looking jellyfish. It had what appeared to be a squid’s bell-shaped head, but its back was box shaped and it had very unusual, transparent, finger like tentacles stretching way out behind it. I’d never seen that type of jellyfish before, but I turned away from it and continued with my crayfish search.
As I turned my flashlight back onto the reef suddenly something smashed into my forearm like a thousand volts of electricity. I swung around to see what it was. I had a short arm wetsuit on, so the only part of my body
that wasn’t covered by a wetsuit was my forearms. Something had brushed past me and stung me with incredible intensity.
It was like standing on wet concrete, bare foot, and resting your hand right up against the electrical mains. I recoiled from it in fright, and searched frantically with my flashlight to find out what it was, or where it was, but I couldn’t see what had hit me.
Maybe something had bitten me, or I’d cut myself on the reef? I looked down at my arm to see if there was any blood, but there was nothing, just a throbbing pain. I rubbed it, which turned out to be one of the worst things I could have done as it served to rub the poison into my bloodstream. By now the pain seemed to be numbing out a bit so I thought, “I’ll just get a crayfish and then I’ll go back and ask the boy at the boat what it was.” I didn’t want to get paranoid; I knew it was very important for my own safety as a diver not to panic.
So I went to get a crayfish. As I was diving under again I saw these same jellyfish creatures that I'd seen a few minutes ago. Two of them were slowly, eerily, pulsating towards me with their long tentacles swirling behind them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw their tentacles brush past my arm. As they touched my arm, I was again jolted by a startling electric shock. It just about knocked me for a six in the water. I suddenly realised what it was that had hit me the first time! I knew from my lifesaving experience that some jellyfish are incredibly poisonous.
As a child I had hay fever and had such bad allergic reactions that if I got stung by a bee my leg would swell up like a balloon. Now I began feeling alarmed because I’d had two separate stings from these jellyfish. I broke the surface of the water, gasping for air, and lifted my head to look for the boat. The storm clouds were settling in and making everything dark. I could just make the boat out further down the reef. I put my arm behind my back to get it out of the water. I didn’t want it to be stung again. Then I began to swim in the direction of the reef, trying to fight off the terror I was feeling. As I swam I felt something slide over my back and then another huge shock pulsed through my arm. Looking round I saw tentacles falling off. I’d been stung by a third one!
I put my flashlight back into the water to keep an eye on the reef and to my horror my flashlight beam went straight down through a soup of these jellyfish. I thought, “If one of these hits my face, I don’t think I’ll ever get back to the boat”. So I put the flashlight up near my face and swam for all I was worth. Finally I
made it back to the boat where I desperately questioned the young boy in my best French and Creole, asking if he knew what the jellyfish were. He didn’t know because he wasn’t a diver, he just shook his head and he pointed to my friend Simon in the water. So I had to get back into the water and swim over to him.
I could see him underwater, so I flashed my light into his face to get his attention. He came up to the surface, and I exclaimed to him “I want to get out!” I put my head into the water to swim back to the boat and right in front of my face there was another jellyfish surging at me. I had to choose, it was either going to hit my face or my arm.
So I lifted my arm up and took another agonising shock as I pushed it away. Then I struggled out on to the reef. Two feet of water covered the actual reef. I stood there in my flippers and looked at my arm, which was by now swollen like a balloon with lesions across the top of the skin like burn blisters. It was as though I’d burnt it on the ring element of a stove right across where the tentacles had been dragged.
As I was looking at it, my friend Simon came walking across the reef in his flippers towards me. He was wearing a full wetsuit, as they all did because they were brought up in the tropics and the water felt cold to them. He looked at my arm, and then he looked at me. He asked breathlessly, “How many? How many times have you been stung?” I answered, “Four I think.” He said, “Invisible? Was it transparent?” I replied, “Yeah, it looks invisible.” Simon hung his head down and swore. He said “One sting and you’re finished, just one!” He put his flashlight up to his face and I could see written there the seriousness of the situation. I said “Well, what am I doing with four of them on my arm then?”
Simon was panicking, and I was panicking because he had been diving for years and I trusted his knowledge of the sea world. “You’ve got to get to the hospital.” He said, “Aller, aller, vite.” The main hospital was 15 miles away, it was the middle of the night and I was half a mile out to sea on a reef. I could hear him say “go” but I felt paralysed standing there. He was trying to get me back into the boat. As he dragged me in I realised that my right arm was literally paralysed and I couldn’t lift it up out of the water.
At that point, as I was trying to drag my arm up out of the water into the boat a fifth jellyfish swam across it and added another lesion to my already disfigured forearm. In my heart I thought, “What have I done to deserve this?” Then I got a flashback of my sin. I knew instantly what I’d done wrong. There were plenty of things I had done to deserve this. You don’t get away with anything.
My two friends lifted the boat over the reef with me in it. It was ripping the bottom. It was a wooden boat, and the boat was their livelihood, so I knew the situation was very serious for them to be doing that. They lifted the boat over into the lagoon and were swimming, trying to push the boat to get it going. I said, “Come with me!” But they
replied, “No, it’s too heavy, get the young boy to take you ashore”. So this young kid was pushing the boat to shore with a pole.
I felt like I was on fire. I could feel the poison going through my blood stream and it punched at something under my arm. A lymph gland was being hit. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to breathe into my right lung. My right lung was being constricted by my wetsuit so I undid my wetsuit with my left arm, peeled it off and put on my trousers while I could still move. My mouth was dry and I sat there dripping with perspiration. I could feel the poison moving. I could feel a sharp pain in my back as if someone had hit me in the kidneys. I was trying not to move, trying not to panic. We were only half way to shore and the poison was already pulsating and moving through my blood system.
I didn’t know or care what direction my blood went in until that night, but at that moment I became really interested in which way my blood circulated! The poison was now numbing out the whole of my right leg, and I had enough common sense to know that if it got down that leg and back up to my heart or my brain, then I was in serious trouble.
As I was coming to shore, my vision was blurring. I was finding it difficult to focus. We reached the shore and I stood up to get out of the boat and my right leg crumbled underneath me. I fell right onto the crayfish in the bottom of the boat. The young boy stood back a bit shocked, and then he motioned for me to put my arm around him. I threw my arm around his neck and just held on. He dragged me out of the boat and then up the beach on the coral sand. He got me up onto the main road.
It was about midnight. The place was desolate - no cars, no nothing. I was holding on to the young boy wondering how on earth I was going to get from there to the hospital at such a late time of the night. I was so weak in my right leg that I sat down on the tarmac. The young boy tried to help me but in the end he started pointing to the ocean again saying, “My brothers, I need to get them”. I said, “No, stay here and help me.” I knew the others could safely swim in from the reef because the jellyfish were on the outside of the reef. But he took off, and I was left alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night. Hope drained from me and I lay down to rest.
THE ENDURANCE TEST When my spirit grows faint within me It is you who know my way In the path where I walk Men have hidden a snare for me Look to my right and see; No one is concerned for me I have no refuge No one cares for my life Psalm 142:3,4 (NIV) Tiredness overwhelmed me as I stared up into the stars. I was just about to close my eyes and go to sleep, when I heard a clear voice speak to me, and say “Ian, if you close your eyes you shall never awake again”. I looked around expecting to see a man standing there but I saw no-one. It startled me and I shook off the sleepiness and thought, “What am I doing? I can’t go to sleep here, I need to get to a hospital, I need to get anti-toxins, and I need to get help. If I go to sleep here I may actually never wake up.”
So I tried to stand again. I was able to hobble slowly down the road and I found a couple of taxis parked at a petrol station next to a restaurant. I limped over to the taxis and begged the drivers to take me to the hospital. The men in the cars looked at me and said, "How much money will you pay us?" So I said, "I haven't got any money" speaking out loud to myself. Then I realised what a foolish thing it was to admit to these men that I had no money. I could have lied, but I didn't, I just told the truth. I had no money. And the three drivers just laughed, "You're drunk, you're crazy". They turned around, lit their cigarettes and started to walk off.
Then I heard a clear voice again say “Ian, are you willing to beg for your life?" I sure was! And I even knew how to do it. I had lived in South Africa long enough. I'd seen the black men cup their hands and bow their heads to the white men and say, “Yes’m boss, yes’m marsta.” It was very easy for me to get down on my knees because my right leg was already paralysed, and my left leg was very wobbly. I was leaning up against the car so I just slipped down on to my knees and cupped my hands. Lowering my head I begged for my life. I was nearly crying. I knew that if I didn't get to hospital soon I wasn’t going anywhere. If these guys didn't have compassion and love in their heart for me, and mercy towards me, I would have died right there in front of them. So I begged and pleaded with them for my life. With my head bent I watched their feet. Two of them just walked away, but I could see one young man moving his feet in indecision. It seemed to go on for an unbearably long time, but then he come over and picked me up. He didn't speak but he helped me up, put me in the car and drove off.
Half way to the hospital however, he changed his mind. He demanded, "What hotel you stay in white man?” I replied that I didn’t live in a hotel but in a bungalow at Tamarin Bay. He thought I had lied to him and became angry – suspecting that he might not get
any money from me after all. “How will I get my money?” he retorted. I answered, "I'll give you all the money I've got!" When your life's at stake, money means nothing. I said "I'll give you any money you want if you can get me to hospital.
I'll give you it all." But he didn’t believe me. So he changed his mind and took me to a big tourist hotel. He said "I'll drop you here; I'm not going to take you.” I pleaded with him to take me but he leaned over, undid my safety belt and opened the door. "Get out!” he demanded. But I couldn’t get out, I could barely move. So he had to push me out. My legs caught on the doorsill so he lifted them up and thrust them out, slammed the door and drove off. I lay there, and thought, “This world stinks. I've seen death, hatred, violence; this is hell, this place is hell on earth. This is a filthy, sick world we live in.” I lay there in utter hopelessness. I thought, “What's the point of even trying to get to hospital? If your number's up let it go, just die.”
Then my grandfather came to mind. He went through the First and Second World Wars. He'd been to Gallipoli and had fought in Egypt against Rommel. I remembered this and thought how my Granddad had survived two world wars and here was his grandson giving up because five miserable jellyfish had stung him! The thought of him revived my courage and I resolved not to die without doing whatever I could to get help.
Using my one remaining working arm I tried to drag myself towards the hotel entrance. I could see some lights on. To my amazement the security guards were doing the rounds and their flashlights spotted me grovelling along in the dirt. A man came running over. I looked up and recognised him to be one of my drinking friends. He was a black guy called Daniel, a big lovable man. He came running up to me and asked, "What's wrong with you? Are you drunk? Are you stoned? What’s wrong with you?” I pulled up my sweatshirt to show him my arm and he could see all the blisters and the swollen-ness. He scooped me up in his arms and ran. It was like having an angel pick me up. He ran inside, past the hotel swimming pool and dropped me into a cane chair. About three metres away the Chinese hotel owners were playing mahjong and drinking. All the tourists had gone to bed, the bar was closed but they were still gambling.
Daniel dropped me there and disappeared into the darkness again. I wondered where he had gone but then I realised that a black man couldn’t speak to a Chinese man in this country unless he is asked to speak. I was going to have to try and communicate to these Chinese men myself. So I pulled up my sleeve and showed them my swollen and blistered limb. I said, “I need to go to ‘Quartre Bonne’ hospital immediately, I’ve been stung by five jellyfish.” I even used some Chinese. They laughed. One of the young men got up and said “Oh white boy, heroin no good for you, only old men take the Opium.” He thought I was on drugs because I showed him my arm and from that distance it looked like I had injected myself.
I was becoming furious and frustrated by this. I sat there trying to keep myself calm, because I knew that if I got too excited the poison would move more rapidly through my blood system. My right hand started to shake. It was twitching strangely between my
knuckles, in spasms. The twitching came up my arm and into my face and my teeth began chattering. Soon my whole body, every muscle, started to twitch and contract with the death shakes. I was literally leaving my seat with each contraction as the poison was reacting with my muscles. The Chinese men came running over and three men tried to hold me down. They couldn't contain me; I was throwing them off. When I came out of this incredible shaking a deadly cold crept over my bone marrow. I could actually see a darkness creeping over the inner part of my bone. It was like death creeping over me. I knew my body was dying, right before my eyes. I was incredibly cold.
The men started putting blankets all over me trying to keep me warm. One of them tried to pour milk down my throat, presuming I had swallowed toxin. I could see one vehicle in the hotel carpark. I knew which man it belonged as he had often driven past me and sounded his horn when I had hitchhiked from place to place. I pleaded with him to take me in his car to the hospital but he refused. He wanted to wait for the ambulance to come. I was so mad I wanted to hit him, but I couldn’t move either of my arms. I considered head-butting him but I was aware that the adrenaline it would use might kill me.
In a short while the ambulance arrived and out of nowhere Daniel appeared with another security man. They picked me up in their arms and jogged with me back outside. I realised then that Daniel had gone straight to the switchboard and phoned the hospital himself.
The ambulance came screaming in with its headlights sweeping the carpark, did a U-turn in front of the hotel, and took off again! The ambulance driver was from a black hospital, so when there was no one at the front of the Chinese hotel to collect he obviously thought he had his instructions wrong. So there I was, desperate, half way to the gates, and I could see the ambulance disappearing around the corner. I tried to whistle but my mouth was so parched that I couldn’t get a sound out. Daniel saw what I was trying to do and he whistled as loud as he could. It ricocheted off the wall and down the road. The ambulance driver must have had his window down because the red brake lights came on and to my great relief he backed up. The ambulance was an old Renault 4 with a front seat taken out and a camp stretcher put in its place. That's it boys, that's the ambulance! I wasn't worried. I didn't care what took me there. The driver didn't even get out of the ambulance. He leaned over, opened the door and Daniel dropped me in on the stretcher. No, “How's your mother? How are you? Do you want a blanket? What’s wrong with you?” He was just the driver and off he went. I was trying not to close my eyes, knowing that I had to stay awake until I got some anti-toxins. If only I could stay alive until I reached the hospital.
THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father who is in heaven Holy be your name Your kingdom come Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our sins As we forgive those who sin against us Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For yours is the kingdom The power and the glory Forever and Ever Amen (Adapted from Matthew 6: 9-13) We were half way to the hospital and the Renault was climbing a hill. My feet were going up in the air and the poison in my blood was starting to rush straight to my brain. I started seeing a picture of a little snowy-headed boy, and then I saw another flash of an older boy with snowy white hair. I was looking at this picture thinking, “Gee, he's got white hair,” and it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at myself, that I was seeing my life go before me. It was a frightening experience watching these pictures of my life in front of me like a video playing, clear as crystal with my eyes wide open. I looked and thought, “I've heard about this, and I've even read about it. People say just before they die their life flashes before them.”
My thoughts were racing. “I'm too young to die, why did I go diving? What an idiot, I should have stayed at home.” Now I knew I was confronted with imminent death. I could hardly hear my heart beat and I lay there wondering what would happen if I died? Is there anything after I die? Where would I go if I died? Then I saw a clear vision of my mother. It was as though she was speaking out those words she had spoken so long ago; “Ian, no matter how far from God you are, no matter what you've done wrong, if you cry out to God from your heart, he will hear you and he will forgive you.”
In my heart I was thinking, “Do I believe there is a God? Am I going to pray?” I'd almost become a devout atheist. I didn't believe anybody. Yet, I was confronted by this vision of my mother. I talked with my mother about this later when I returned to New Zealand. She said she had been woken in the early hours of that same morning. God had shown her my blood shot eyes and said to her, ”your eldest son Ian is nearly dead. Pray for him now.” So she had been praying for me at that very moment that I lay dying in the ambulance.
Now of course her prayers couldn’t save my soul, she couldn’t get me to heaven, but I knew at that moment that I needed to pray. Only I didn’t know what to pray or who to pray to. Which god should I pray to? Buddha? Kali? Shiva? There are thousands of them. Yet I didn't see Buddha or Krishna or some other god or man standing there, I saw my mother - and my mother followed Jesus Christ. I wondered what I should pray.
I hadn’t prayed for years. What do you pray at this point? What's the prayer if you're about to die?” Then I remembered that as a child my mother taught us the ‘Lord's prayer’. “Our Father who is in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...” I knew it as a child – I used to race my siblings each night to say it the fastest! That was the only prayer I knew. I started to pray it, but I couldn't remember it. It was as though the poison that had rushed to my head had inhibited my thinking ability. It was closing my mind down. It was terrifying. I had relied so much on my mind and my intellect and now suddenly it was dying on me. Mental blank. Zero.
As I was lying there I remember my mother saying that you don’t pray from your head, you pray from your heart, so I asked God to help me pray. Immediately this prayer came up from deep inside me, from my spirit. I prayed, “Forgive us our sins.” Then I went on “God, I ask you to forgive my sins, but I have done so many things wrong. I know they're wrong, my conscience tells me they're wrong. If you can forgive me all my sins, and I don't know how you can do it - I've got no idea how you can forgive them but please forgive me of my sins”. And I meant it. I wanted to wipe the slate clean, start again. “God forgive me.”
As I prayed that, I got another part of the prayer. “Forgive those who have sinned against you.” I understood that that meant I had to forgive those who had hurt me. I thought, “Well I don't hold grudges. There are heaps of people that have ripped me off and back-stabbed me and said bad things against me I forgive them.” Then I heard this question, “Will you forgive the Indian that pushed you out of the car and the Chinese men that wouldn't take you to the hospital?” I thought, “You must be joking! I had other plans for them!” But no more of the prayer would come. I knew I was in a catch 22 position. I thought, “Okay, I'll forgive them. If you can forgive me, I can forgive them. I will forgive them. I’ll never lay a hand on them.”
The next part of the prayer came to me, “Your will be done.” I had done my own thing for the last 20 years. I said, “God, I don't even know what your will is - I know it's not to do evil things, but I've got no idea what your will is. If I come through this, I will find out your will for my life and I'll do it. I'll make a point of following you whole-heartedly if I come through this”.
I didn't understand it at the time, but that was my prayer for salvation. Not from my head, but from my heart, asking “God forgive me for my wickedness and evil-doing. God cleanse me. I forgive all those that have hurt me. And Jesus
Christ, I'll do your will - your will be done. I will follow you.” I had prayed a sinner’s prayer, a repentant prayer to God, and praying that prayer was pivotal to everything else that happened to me.
An incredible peace came over my heart. It seemed as though fear fell off me, the fear of what was coming. I was still dying, I knew that, but I was at peace about it. I'd made peace with my Maker. I knew it, I knew for the first time that I had relationship with God and I was actually hearing him. I'd never heard him before but now I was hearing him speaking to me. No one else could have told me the Lord's Prayer.
THE FINAL RELEASE You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who chose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it. Matthew 7:13,14 (NLT)
The ambulance turned off the road in to the hospital. Finally I had made it! The driver lifted me into a wheelchair and ran me through to the emergency area. A nurse began to take my blood pressure. As I was sitting there watching the nurse she looked at the gauge and then she hit it. I thought, “What kind of hospital is this?” It was an old World War Two army hospital which the British had deserted and given it to the Creole people. It looked like it was built in 1945 and had had very little maintenance since then. It was filthy and decrepit and yet there I was.
The nurse hit the gauge again and I realised there was nothing wrong with the machine, the problem was that my heart wasn’t beating strongly enough to register. She ripped off the gauge and rummaged through the cupboard, trying to find another one that looked newer. She pulled one out, slapped it on, opened it up and started pumping. She looked at me, and then looked at the machine. My eyes were open, but I knew she was wondering why they were open. With this kind of blood pressure your eyes shouldn't be open. I was desperately hanging on. I was hanging on for all I was worth. I was fighting with all my strength to stay alive. So the ambulance driver, realising the situation was desperate, ripped the gauge off my arm and ran me through to the doctors. Two Indian doctors were sitting there, both of them half-asleep, heads down. One asked in
French: "What's your name? Where do you live? How old are you?” He was a young doctor and he didn’t even look at me. I looked over to the older doctor. He had a bit of gray hair and I thought, “He's been around for a few years, he might know how to help me.” So I waited. The young doctor stopped talking and looked up. I didn't even bother looking at him but waited for the old man to lift his head up. He looked up. I wasn’t sure if I had enough strength left to speak. I locked into his eyes and I gave him the heaviest look I could muster. I whispered "I am about to die, I need anti-toxins right now". He didn't move. I didn't take my eyes off him, he was just staring straight back into them.
The nurse came in with a piece of paper. The older doctor looked at it, looked at me, and jumped. I could see him screw it up in disgust. He pushed the ambulance driver out of the way, grabbed the wheelchair himself and started racing me down the corridor. I could hear him yelling out something but all the noise became muffled to me. My senses were beginning to fade.
The doctor ran into a room with bottles and medical equipment in it. Next minute I was surrounded by nurses, doctors and orderlies. At long last, something was happening. A nurse turned my arm over and put in a drip feed. The doctor was up near my face saying, "I don’t know if you can hear me son but we’re going to try and save your life. Keep your eyes open…come on son, fight the poison. Try and keep awake, we're putting dextrose in for dehydration.” The doctor was saying to the nurses, "Anti-toxins to counteract the poison" in his Oxford English. A nurse jabbed a needle in one side and another nurse was on the other side, jabbing. I couldn’t feel them but I could see them doing it.
Another nurse knelt by my feet, slapping my hand as hard as she could. I was thinking, "What is she doing?" But I didn't care, just shove the needles in! A nurse behind me was filling a huge syringe, like a horse syringe. She was squeezing the air out of it. She tried to stick it in my arm but no vein came up. So she lifted my skin up, put the needle in and started pushing the liquid in. It filled up my vein like a small balloon. I could see how nervous she was because the needle was inside the vein and it looked like it was shaking so much that it would tear my vein open. She left that needle in and someone passed her another needle. Again, it blew the vein up. The nurse looked at the doctor and asked him, “Another one?” The doctor nodded. So she tried another one. A nurse was now trying to massage it in but the vein was actually rolling off her thumb. She couldn’t get the anti-toxin into the blood, it was just not moving.
My heart was obviously not pumping around enough blood. My veins were collapsing. I'd done veterinary science in my degree so I understood basic physiology and anatomy. I understood what was going on, but I couldn't do anything about it. I understood that I was slipping into a comatose state. I was totally paralysed, and my heart was barely pumping. As I was watching the needles, I felt myself slipping further and further away. I couldn’t communicate any more, I couldn’t say a thing, but I could still hear everything that was being said about and around me.
I had no idea that what I'd been stung by was a box jellyfish or a Sea-wasp. The box jellyfish exudes the second deadliest venom known to man. Being stung only once has killed up to 60 people in Darwin alone over the last 20 years. For six months of the year they put up a skull and cross bones sign on the beaches in Darwin to prevent bathers from going into the water to swim. I had enough toxins in me to kill me five times over. Normally a person dies within fifteen minutes of the initial sting and I didn't have it just on a muscle, I had it right across my veins.
The doctor was telling me not to be afraid but I could see the paranoia in his eyes. I was lifted onto a bed with my drip feed. The drip feed they had put in my veins was bringing liquid back into my body and I was starting to perspire on my forehead. The doctor was wiping it from my face, but then he walked off for a few minutes. As I lay there I could feel the sweat dripping into my eyes like tears, and it started to blur my vision.
I knew I had to keep my eyes open. I willed the doctor to come back and wipe my face but he didn't return. I tried to speak but my lips would not move. I tried to tilt my head but my head wouldn't move. I flicked some out with my eyelids. I kept squeezing my eyelids shut. It worked a little, and then all of a sudden I sighed, like a sigh of relief and I knew something had happened.
THE DARKNESS Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19 (NIV) Many‌ will be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:12 (NLT) I knew there was a release; the battle to stay alive was over. I knew I'd gone somewhere, it wasn't like closing your eyes and going to sleep, I knew I'd actually gone somewhere. For the previous 20 minutes in the hospital I had been feeling like I was floating away and yet when I closed my eyes, I wasn't floating away any more - I was gone.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, that when a man dies his spirit returns to God who gave it and his body returns to the dust from which it came. Well, I knew my spirit had left, I had gone somewhere, and yet I didn't know I was dead. I seemed to arrive in a huge, broad place like a cavernous hall of pitch-black darkness.
I was standing up. It was as if I had woken up from a bad dream in someone else’s house, and was wondering where everyone had gone. I was trying to find the light switch, and I couldn’t seem to find it. I wondered why the doctor had turned the lights out. I was trying to touch something, reaching for the wall lamp but I couldn’t find it.
Then I realised I couldn’t find my bed. I was moving around but I wasn’t bumping into anything – I couldn’t get a fix on anything tangible. I strained to see where I was trying to orient myself to these new surroundings. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face and it was bitterly cold. I lifted my hand up to find out how much I could see. I lifted it to where my face was and it went straight through where my face should have been. It was a terrifying experience. I knew
I was myself, Ian McCormack, standing there, but without a physical body. I had the sensation and the feeling that I had a body, but I couldn’t touch it. I was a spiritual being, and my physical body had died, but I was very much alive, and very much aware that I had arms and legs and a head, but I could no longer touch them. God is a spirit, an invisible spiritual being, and we are created right there and then,
in his image.
“Where on earth am I?” I thought. As I was standing there in the darkness, I sensed the most horrifying cold dread come over me. Maybe you’ve walked down a lonely street at night, or you’ve come home by yourself in the dark and you’ve felt as though there is someone looking at you. Ever felt that? Well I began to sense evil encroaching on me in the darkness. The darkness seemed invasive. I knew I was being watched. A terrifying encroaching evil seemed to pervade the air around me.
Slowly I became aware that there were other people moving around me, in the same predicament as I was. Without my saying a word out loud, they began to answer my thoughts. From the darkness I heard a voice screaming at me: “Shut up!” As I backed away from that one another yelled at me, “You deserve to be here!” My arms came up to protect myself and I thought, “Where am I?” and a third voice shouted, “You’re in hell. Now shut up.” I was terrified – afraid to move or breathe or speak. I realised that maybe I did deserve this place.
People sometimes have this strange picture of hell being party time. I used to think that. I thought that in hell you would get to do all the things there that you're not supposed to do on earth. That is so far from the reality of it. The place I was in was the most frightening place I’ve ever been. The people there could not do anything that their wicked hearts wanted to do. They couldn't do anything. And there's no boasting. There's nothing to talk about when you know that judgment is coming.
There is no relationship to time in that place. The people there couldn’t tell what time it was. They couldn’t tell whether they had been there ten minutes, ten years or 10,000 years. They had no relationship to time. It was a frightening place. The Bible says that there are two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Darkness, which is ruled by satan, and the Kingdom of Light. The book of Jude
the place of darkness was actually prepared for angels that disobeyed God, not for people, ever. It was indicates that
the scariest and the most terrifying place I have ever been in. I would never wish that even my worst enemy went to hell.
I had no idea how to get out of that place. How do you ever get out of hell? But I had already prayed, and I was wondering why I'd gone there, because I'd prayed just before I died, and asked God to forgive me for my sins. I was weeping by now and I cried out to God, "Why am I here, I've asked you for forgiveness, why am I here? I've turned my heart to you, why am I here?"
Then a brilliant light shone upon me and literally drew me out of the darkness. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah that a great light has shined into the darkness, on those walking in the shadow of death, and has guided their feet into the paths of peace and righteousness. As I stood there an amazing beam of light pierced through the darkness from above me and shone on my face. This light began to encompass me and a sense of weightlessness overwhelmed me. I lifted off the ground and begin to ascend up into this brilliant white light, like a speck of dust caught in a beam of sunlight.
THE LIGHT For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) As I looked up I could see I was being drawn into a large circular shaped opening far above me – a tunnel. I didn’t want to look behind me in case I fell back into the darkness. I was very happy to be out of that darkness.
Upon entering the tunnel I could see that the source of the light was emanating from the very end of the tunnel. It looked unspeakably bright, as if it was the centre of the universe, the Source of all light and power. It was more brilliant than the sun, more radiant than any diamond, brighter than a laser beam. Yet you could look right into it.
As I looked I was literally drawn to it, drawn like a moth into the presence of a flame. I was being pulled through the air at an amazing speed towards the end of the tunnel – towards the Source of the light. As I was being translated through the air I could see successive waves of thicker intensity light break off the source and start travelling up the tunnel towards me. The first wave of light gave off an
It was as though the light wasn’t just material in nature but was a ‘living light’ that transmitted an emotion. The light passed into me and filled me with a amazing warmth and comfort.
sense of love and acceptance.
Half way down another wave of light passed into me. This light gave off total and complete peace. I had looked for many years for ‘peace of mind’ but had only found fleeting moments of it. At school I had read from Keats to Shakespeare to try and get peace of mind. I had tried alcohol, I had tried education, I had tried sport, I had tried relationships with women, I had tried drugs, I tried everything I could think of to find peace and contentment in my life, and I’d never found it. Now from the top of my head to the base of my feet I found myself totally at peace.
In the darkness I hadn’t been able to see my hands in front of my face but now as I looked to my right to my amazement there was my arm and hand – and I could see
my body was full of the same light that was shining on me from the end of the tunnel. It was as if I was full of light. A third wave broke off the main straight through them. I was transparent like a spirit, only
Source of light as I neared the end of the tunnel. This wave hit me and as it did total joy went through my being. It was so exciting that I knew that what I was about to see would be the most awesome experience in all my life.
My mind couldn’t even conceive where I was going, and my words couldn’t communicate what I saw. I came out of the end of the tunnel and seemed to be standing upright before the Source of all the light and power. My whole vision was taken up with this incredible light. It looked like a white fire or a mountain of cut diamonds sparkling with the most indescribable brilliance. I immediately thought of it as aura, then as glory. I had seen pictures of Jesus with a little halo or small glow around his face yet this glory was all encompassing, overwhelming, awe inspiring.
Jesus died to rescue us from the place I’d just come from, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and he is now seated at the right-hand of the Father, and is glorified, surrounded by light and in him there is no darkness. He is the King of Glory, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords and the King of all the kings. I saw at that moment what I believe was the glory of the Lord. In the Old Testament, Moses went up Mount Sinai and saw the glory of the Lord. When he came down his face shone so much with the glory of the Lord that he had to wear a veil so that the people wouldn’t be afraid. He had seen the light of God, the glory of God. Paul was blinded by a glorious light on the road to Damascus, the glory of Jesus. And I was now standing there seeing this incredible light and glory.
As I stood there, questions began racing through my heart; “Is this just a force, as the Buddhists say, or karma or Yin and Yang? Is this just some innate power or energy source or could there actually be Someone standing in there?” I was still questioning it all. As I thought these thoughts a Voice spoke to me from the centre of the light. It was the same voice that I had heard earlier in the evening. The voice said, “Ian, do you wish to return?” I was shaken to learn that
there was
Someone in the centre of the light
and whoever it was knew my name. It was as though the Person could hear my inner thoughts as speech. I then thought to myself “Return, return – to where? Where am I?” Quickly looking behind me I could see the tunnel dissipating back into darkness. I thought I must be in my hospital bed dreaming and I closed my eyes. “Is this real? Am I actually standing here, me, Ian, standing in real life here, is this real?” Then the Lord spoke again. “Do you wish to return?” I replied “If I am out of my body I don’t know where I am, I wish to return.” The response from this person was “If you wish to return Ian you must see in a new light.”
The moment I heard the words “see in a new light,” something clicked. I remembered
“Jesus is the light of the world”, and “God is light and there is no darkness in him.” I had meditated upon those words at that time. I’d just come from darkness, being given a Christmas card, which said,
and there was certainly no darkness here. I realised then that the light could be coming from Jesus, and if it was – then what was I doing here? I didn’t deserve to be here.
THE WAVES OF LOVE
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of the life and power that comes from God Ephesians 3:19 (NLT)
So this was God! He is light. He knew my name and he knew the secret thoughts of my heart and mind. I thought, “If this is God then he must also be able to see everything I’ve ever done in my life.” I felt totally exposed and transparent before God. You can wear masks before other people but you can’t wear a mask before God. I felt ashamed and undone and I thought, “They’ve made a mistake and brought the wrong person up. I shouldn’t be here. I’m not a very good person. I should crawl under some rock or go back into the darkness where I belong.”
As I began to slowly move back towards the tunnel a wave of light emanated forth from God and moved towards me. My first thought was that this light was going to cast me back into the pit, but to my amazement a wave of pure unconditional love flowed over me. It was the last thing I expected. Instead of judgement I was being washed with pure love.
Pure, unadulterated, clean, uninhibited, undeserved, love. It began to fill me up from the inside out, making my hands and body tingle until I staggered. I thought, “Perhaps God doesn’t know all the things I’ve done wrong,” so I proceeded to tell him about all the disgusting things I’d done under the cover of darkness. But it was as though he’d already forgiven me and the intensity of His love only increased. In fact, later God showed me that when I’d asked for forgiveness in the ambulance, it was then that He forgave me and washed my spirit clean from evil.
I found myself beginning to weep uncontrollably as the love became stronger and stronger. It was so clean and pure, no strings attached. I hadn't felt loved for years. The last time I remember being loved was by my mum and dad when I was at home, but I'd gone out into the big wide world and found out there's not too much love out there. I'd seen things that I thought were love, but sex wasn't love, it just burnt you up. Lust was like a raging fire inside you, an uncontrollable desire that burnt you up from the inside out. Yet this love was healing my heart and I began to understand that there is incredible hope for humankind in this love.
God’s
mercy is always extended before His judgement. As I stood there, the waves of light stopped and I stood encased in pure light, filled with love. There was such stillness. I was so close I wondered if I could just step into the light that surrounded God and see Him face to face. If I could only see Him face to face I would know the truth. I was sick of hearing lies and deceptions. I wanted to know
the truth. I had been everywhere to find the truth, and no one seemed to be able to tell me. I thought if I could step through and meet God face-to-face I would know the truth and the meaning to life.
Could I step in? There was no voice saying I couldn’t. So, I stepped through, I put my best foot forward and stepped through the light. As I stepped into the light it was as if I’d come inside veils of suspended shimmering lights, like suspended stars or diamonds giving off the most amazing radiance. And as I walked through the light it continued to heal the deepest part of me, it was healing my broken inner man, wonderfully healing my broken heart.
Standing in the centre of the light stood a Man with dazzling white robes reaching down to His ankles. I could see His bare feet. The garments were not I aimed for the brightest part of the light.
man-made fabrics but were like garments of light. As I lifted my eyes up I could see the chest of a Man with His arms outstretched as if to welcome me. I looked towards His face. It was so bright; it seemed to be about ten times brighter than the light I’d already seen. It made the sun look yellow and pale in comparison. It was so bright that I couldn’t make out the features of his face, and as I stood there I began to sense that the light was emitting purity and holiness. I knew that I was standing in the Presence of Almighty God – no one but God could look like this. The purity and holiness continued to come forth from His face and I began to feel that purity and holiness enter into me. I wanted to get closer to see His face. I felt no fear but rather total freedom as I moved towards Him. Standing now only a few feet from him, I tried to look into the light surrounding His face but as I did He moved to one side, and as He moved all the light moved with Him.
THE DOOR AND THE DECISION I (Jesus) am the Door. Anyone who enters in through me will be saved; he will come in, he will go out, and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order that he may steal and may kill and may destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:9-11 (NASB) Directly behind Jesus was a circular shaped opening like the tunnel I had just travelled down. Gazing out through it, I could see a whole new world opening up before me. I felt like I was standing on the edge of paradise, having a glimpse of eternity.
It was completely untouched. In front of me were green fields and meadows. The grass itself was giving off the same light and life that I had seen in the presence of God. There was no disease on the plants. It seemed as though the grass would just spring back to life if you stepped on it. Through the center of the meadows I could see a crystal clear stream winding its way across the landscape with trees on either bank. To my right were mountains in the distance and the sky above was blue and clear. To my left were rolling green hills and flowers, which were radiating beautiful colours.
Paradise! I
knew I belonged here.
I felt as though I had just been born for the
first time.
Every part of me knew I was home.
Before me stood eternity - just one step away. As I tried to step forward into this new world Jesus stepped back into the doorway. The Bible says that Jesus is the door and that if you come in through him, you will go in and out and find green pastures. He is the door to life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. He is the only way. There is only one narrow passageway that leads into His kingdom. Few find it. Most find the highway down to hell.
Jesus asked me this question “Ian, now that you have seen do you wish to return?” I thought, "Return, of course not. Why would I want to go back? Why would I want to return to the misery and hatred? No, I have nothing to return for. I have no wife or kids, no one who really loves me. You are the first Person who has ever truly loved me as I am. I want to stay in your Presence forever. I wish to go on in to paradise.” But He didn’t move so I looked back one last time to say, “Goodbye cruel world I’m out of here!”
As I did, in a clear vision right in front of the tunnel, stood my mother. As I saw her I realised my mistake; there was one person who loved me – my dear Mum. Not only had she loved me, but also I knew she had prayed for me and had tried to show me God. In my pride and arrogance I had mocked her beliefs. But she had been right after all, there was a God and a heaven and a hell. I began to consider how selfish it would be to go through to paradise and leave my mother believing that I had gone to hell. She would have no idea that I'd made a deathbed prayer and repented of my sins and received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. She would have just received a dead body in a box from Mauritius.
So I said, "God, there's only one person really I want to go back for and that is my mum. I want to tell her that what she believes in is true, that there is a living God, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is a door and Jesus Christ is that door and that we can only come through him". Then as I looked back again, I saw behind her my father, my brother and sister, my friends, and a multitude of other people. God was showing me that there were many other people who also didn't know, and would never know unless I was able to share with them. I responded, “I don’t love those people” but He replied, “I love them and I desire all of them to come to know Me.”
Then the Lord said, "If you return you must see things in a new light.” I understood that I must now see through His eyes, His eyes of love and forgiveness. I needed to see the world as He saw it – through the eyes of eternity. “God, how do I return?” I asked, “Do I have to go back through the tunnel of darkness, back into my body? How can I go back? I don't even know how I got here.” He said, "Ian tilt your head… now feel liquid drain from your eyes… now open your eyes and see.”
THE RETURN You have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light. Psalm 56:13 (NLT) Immediately I was back in my body. My head was tilted to the right and I had one eye open. I was looking at a young Indian doctor who had my right foot elevated in his hand and was prodding a sharp instrument into the base of my foot. He was looking for any signs of life. Little did he realise that I was now alive and looking at him. I wondered what on earth he was doing but then the penny dropped; “He thinks I’m dead!” At the same time the doctor stopped what he was doing and turned his head in the direction of my face. As our eyes made contact, terror swept over his face, as though he had just seen a ghost. Blood drained from his face and he went as white as a sheet. His feet nearly left the ground.
I was shaken by this and I asked God to give me the strength to tilt my head to the left and look out the other side. As I slowly turned my head to the left I saw nurses and orderlies in the doorway staring at me in amazement and terror. No one said a word. I apparently had been dead for some 15 to 20 minutes and was being prepared for the morgue. I felt weak and I closed my eyes but I quickly opened them again to check that I was still in my body. I wasn’t sure whether or not I would disappear again.
I was still paralysed and I asked God to help me. As I prayed I felt a tingling sensation in my legs, accompanied by a comforting warmth. I continued to pray and the doctor just stood there shaking his head. The warmth spread up into my body and arms. God was healing me! I was so tired. I closed my eyes again and fell soundly asleep.
I didn’t wake again until the next afternoon. When I woke I saw my friend Simon standing outside my room looking in through the window. He looked pale and was shaking his head. He couldn’t believe I was alive. He had followed my trail to the hospital and had brought a New Zealand friend of mine with him. “So you had a pretty rough night aye?” this friend asked. “Yeah mate” I replied, “I don’t really know what happened.” I didn’t want to say, “Actually – I died!” I was still coming to terms with all that had happened and didn’t want them to say, “Off to the rubber room for you – you’ve taken too much dope and it’s coming out your ear-holes!”
“This place smells like a latrine.” They said. “We’re getting you out of here. We’ll look after you.” I resisted them – I wanted to stay in the hospital but they climbed in the window, picked me up and walked me out. The doctor came and tried to physically restrain them but they pushed him out of their way. A taxi was waiting. Simon wouldn’t come in the taxi with me as he was still afraid that I was a ghost. They took me home to my bungalow on the beach and put me to bed. Then they went straight out to the living room and had a party!
I was exhausted and hungry. I went to sleep again and woke up in the middle of the night shivering and perspiring. My heart was filled with terror. I was lying facing the wall. I rolled over to see what was scaring me. Through my mosquito netting and through the steel bars on the windows I could see seven or eight pairs of eyes looking at me. There was a light red glow to them. Instead of a round pupil they had slits like a cat. They seemed half human, half animal. I thought, “What
on earth are they?” They looked into my eyes and I looked into theirs and I heard a whisper, “You’re ours and we’re coming back.” “No you’re not!” I cried. I grabbed my flashlight and shone it at them. There was nothing there - but I knew I’d seen them!
I wondered if I was going crazy. I began feeling like I might mentally snap. I had to settle myself down and convince myself I wasn’t going insane. I’d been through so much in the last 24 hours. So I said, “God, what’s going on?” Then he took me moment by moment through everything I’d been through. It was as if He seared it onto my mind. At the end of this I asked him,” what are these things that seem to want to attack me?” He replied, “Ian, remember the Lord’s prayer”. I tried to remember it with my mind again but I couldn’t. Then up from my heart came all the words through to “deliver me from the evil one”. I prayed this earnestly from my heart. Then God said, “Turn the lights out Ian.” I gathered up my courage and turned off the main light. I sat on the edge of my bed with my flashlight on. I felt like a Jedi warrior from Star Wars! I began thinking, “If I don’t turn my flashlight out I’m going to have to spend the rest of my life sleeping with the light on.” I turned the flashlight off. Nothing happened. The prayer had been effective. I lay down and went to sleep.
SEEING IN A NEW LIGHT Be on guard. Stand true to what you believe. Be courageous. Be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT) The next morning I got up and prepared myself breakfast. My friends came in from their morning surf and began talking to me. I began seeing that what they were saying wasn’t what they were actually meaning. It confused me, as if I was hearing two different messages. I began to see through their masks. For the first time in my life I was beginning to see things in a new light. I could see that the intents of their hearts were totally contrary to what was coming out of their mouths. It was frightening for me because I didn’t know how to react to that kind of understanding. So I retreated to my bedroom, and stayed there.
That night I woke again in a cold sweat. Something nearby was scaring me. I turned my head to look and to my horror the demons I had seen last night were now in my bedroom looking at me through my mosquito net. Yet for some reason they couldn’t get to me. They were intimidating me but they couldn’t actually get to me. In my heart I had a deep peace. I knew I had seen the light of God and that light was now in me. No matter how small the flame was, it was in me and they couldn’t come in. But they were certainly trying to terrify me and get me back.
I grabbed my flashlight again. This time I was afraid to get out of bed to turn on the light because they were in my room. I didn’t know what power they had. I flashed the light
madly around the room, leaped out of bed and dashed to the light-switch. With the light safely on I fell to the floor on my knees. I battled with my mind all over again, just trying to keep my sanity. Again I prayed the Lord’s Prayer and then I went back to sleep.
There were two more nights to go before I was to fly out of Mauritius to New Zealand. The next night I was woken by a tapping on my window. It was a girl saying, “Ian, I want to talk to you, let me in.” As I knew the girl I thought nothing of it. Half asleep I walked to the door and unlocked it. The moment I opened the door she grabbed it and I saw her eyes. I could see the same red tinge in her eyes that I had seen in the eyes that had haunted me for the last two nights. She began to speak in word perfect English. She was Creole and had never spoken perfect English. She said, “You are coming with us tonight Ian. We are going to take you somewhere.” Then I heard other footsteps coming. I tried to pull the door closed but it was as if this girl had gained a supernatural strength and I couldn’t move it. Then out of my heart came the words, “In Jesus’ name – go!” She reeled backwards as if she had been punched in the chest.
As I watched her recoil back up I slammed the door in her face and locked it. I was trembling, but safe for the meantime. Finally it was my last night and I was all packed and ready to go. A taxi was coming for me at 5am. I went to sleep but was woken in the night, this time by stones hitting the window. It was the girl again. I was prepared and had locked the doors but I had left a small window open. I thought, “Whatever these creatures are, they are out to kill me and they are using humans to do it!” I was about to jump up and shut the window when a big black arm came through it and flicked the latch. I heard the girl softly saying, ”Ian, we want to talk to you. Come out.” I was pretending to be asleep and the stones came on the windows again. This time she was louder, “Ian, come out.” Then heavier stones began coming right through the window and she was angry now, “Ian, come out!”
I turned suddenly and saw a spear coming through the open window towards me. I grabbed my flashlight. “The best form of defence is attack” I thought and I shone the flashlight into the spear wielder’s eyes. There was that red tint again! I leapt up screaming for all I was worth, grabbed his spear and thrust it back at him so he loosed its hold. I threw it out the window and slammed the window shut. Quickly I shone the flashlight outside on three men and a woman. They cowered away like dogs about to be stoned. What amazed me was how afraid of the light they were.
I was so disturbed that I stayed awake the rest of the night waiting for the taxi to come. But it never came. I woke my surfing friends and asked if they would go find the taxi for me. They found it incapacitated. Someone had thrust steel rods through its radiator in the night. It was the only taxi in town and my friend had to go to the next town to get a taxi for me there. By the time he returned there were a group of Creoles outside my house with sticks and the driver was afraid to drive by them. Apparently I had caused quite a sensation in the town because of my miraculous recovery. The townsfolk knew I should have been dead and being a superstitious people, considered me a ghost or
something worse. I managed to evade the antagonists though and made it to the airport to board my flight to New Zealand via Australia.
In Perth I caught up with my younger brother who was living there. I tried to tell him what I had seen. He was shocked and couldn’t believe it. I slept in his room that night as he had left to return to New Zealand, and in the middle of the night I awoke to have white-eyed demons attacking me. I stormed out of the room to see sitting in the fireplace a small Buddha. As I looked at it God spoke to me that the whiteeyed demons came out of this idol. I was amazed! Now I knew that what I had experienced with the idols in Colombo was demonic. I decided to shorten my trip to Australia and return to New Zealand immediately.
On the plane descending into Auckland, New Zealand, I asked the Lord, “What have I become?” I had my Walkman on with ‘Men at Work’ playing. A voice spoke over the sound of the Walkman and said, “Ian, you have become a reborn Christian.” I took off my Walkman and looked around to make sure no person on the aeroplane had said it. Then I reached into my bag for my dark glasses. I put them on and in the relative seclusion that they provided I quietly freaked out. A Christian! Is that what I was? Who would want to be a Christian? It hadn’t yet occurred to me that that was what I had become.
My parents picked me up from the airport. Back home, my mum had left my bedroom with its surf posters exactly as it had been two years ago. It was like walking into a time warp. I’d come home to a refuge. I went to sleep that night and was woken in the middle of the night by something shaking me. By now I knew how to get rid of the demons using the name of Jesus and the Lord’s Prayer. They had to go, but what were they doing in my bedroom, in my house? I was furious! I got up and decided to give them a verbal lashing! So I went for it! [I recently witnessed Ian McCormack share his testimony in Destiny Church Edinburgh, and the very visible expressions of his experience where still very apparent in his face amidst consistent pleas for people to get saved, with no motive other than the pure unadulterated love of God, and the disappointment written all over his face of finding out that the church hall was just filled with a bunch of Christians... I know by the faith from God’s Word angels are encamped all around me and mine all the time, protecting us from the evil in this world, but I personally perceived the tangible presence and power of angels at the front of the altar ministering to the people who came to rededicate their lives to the Lord and I believe two people became born-again... At the tail end of his testimony, he mentioned his father had been a member of the freemason society which is a satanic cult... his father has since left this society and renounced all affiliations to it on his becoming born again... in this cult, oaths with words are uttered amongst the ceremonies done... the members may not fully realise the deep spiritual significance of this, but may just have joined for the perceived valuable society connections to further their professional or political careers, gain power, social prestige or just simply get ahead financially
in business, but they are actually pledging not only their souls to demonic spirits, but involving their generations in this mess... this is passed on from generation to generation with fathers often taking their sons for the initiation ceremony into this coven of “the brethren”, till it is even just believed to be tradition much like Christianity... it is not merely tradition, or a men’s social club... it is an unholy alliance with hell that keeps families bound in darkness, sickness, disease... not necessarily financial poverty... not at first... the devil is cunning... but a poverty of spirit that wreaks havoc everywhere they turn... I know this, because my natural father was a member of the rosicrucian order with close affiliations to freemasonry which is quite prominent here in Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and many other parts of the world and with close affiliations to the skull and bone society in America... this is that harlot babylon in the book of Revelations 18 and in verses 3 and 4 that “...all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues...” “well... I trust my father Temisan, he is a good man and he wouldn’t take me into anything that was bad”... friend... your father may not know better... in actual fact, very few of the members of these societies know of the real deep spiritual stuff that goes on... only the very inner caucus of demonized individuals... you don’t need these societies for money, power or prestige of social class... power belongs to the Lord (Psalm 62:11), also does Wisdom (Proverbs 2:6) and all the silver and gold in this world (Haggai 2:8)... all the connections to prosper financially you would ever need are with Him (Psalm 68:6)... and He does want to teach you to profit (Isaiah 48:17)... and confer such prosperity on you as would add no sorrow as only His Blessing can procure (Proverbs 10:22)... affiliations with societies like these have been costing your family both here on earth, and in a steady trail to eternal damnation and misery where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth... come to Him... He has prepared for you to be a king and a priest before Him, a joint-heir with Jesus Christ to rule and reign in the earth (Romans 5:17)...At that time before his father’s renunciation of this cult and born again experience, those demons had some foothold in Ian McCormack’s home for this very reason, as with the buddha idol in his brother’s house... if you believe your family may have had affiliations with this cult in any way, to break free and experience true liberty in Christ, you will have to work with the Holy Spirit and verbally renounce every single one of these oaths, pledging your allegiance spirit, soul and body and that of your generations to Jesus Christ... continually affirm so with your words all the days of your life, and teach your children, and your grandchildren to do the same]
I woke my parents up but I went for it! I sat down on my bed and said, “God – I’m sick of these things harassing me in the middle of the night. What must I do to get rid of them?” He said, “Read the bible.” I responded, “Next you’ll be asking me to go to church! I haven’t got a bible!” “Your father has a bible – go and ask him for it.”
So I did. I started reading from the beginning, from the book of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that it was good. Then He separated the light from the darkness.” I wept when I read this. I’d been to university and studied all sorts of books but I’ve never even looked at the one Book that could tell me the truth. For the next six weeks I read from Genesis to Revelation.
Everything that I had seen in heaven was described in that book! In Revelation chapter one I read about Jesus, clothed in garments of white, his face shining like the sun, with seven stars in his hand, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I read in John 8:12, that Jesus was the light of the world and those who come to him would no longer walk in darkness but have the light of life. I read about being born again by the Spirit of God in John chapter three. I read that by confessing my sins to God, He had forgiven me and cleansed me from my unrighteousness. I read about the new heaven and earth where there will be no more pain or crying. I learnt that when a demon is cast out of someone it tries to come back to its dwelling place. I learnt that Jesus had given me authority over the demons I had encountered and that
The bible inspired awe in me, as I had never realised the truth that was written in its pages was so vital for life *. demons could inhabit idols.
Since this experience in 1982 I’ve been following Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Initially I spent some time on my sister’s dairy farm in New Zealand getting my life sorted out. Midway through 1983 I joined YWAM (Youth With a Mission) and sailed with them around the Pacific Islands telling the people there about God’s love. Then I went back into South East Asia and ministered among the unreached tribal people of Malaysia. For three years I worked in the jungles of Sarawak and the mainland peninsular. During this time I met my wife Jane.
Since then, I have worked both in the church (I am now an ordained minister), and as an itinerant speaker, travelling to many nations around the world sharing this testimony. My wife Jane and I have three beautiful children, Lisa, Michael and Sarah. Our desire is to continue sharing the amazing good news of God’s unconditional love and mercy, and His provision through Jesus’ death on the cross for forgiveness of our sins, to everyone we meet.
WHAT NOW FOR YOU? This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; By believing in Him, Anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help,
to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; Anyone who refuses to trust in him has long since been under the death penalty without knowing it. John 3 (The Message)
God’s love for us is overwhelmingly apparent.
He sent His own son, Jesus, to die in our place, paying the price for our sin. The bible says that the penalty of our sin is death, and none of us are sinless, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8–11). It is your choice – you alone can chose life for yourself! If this book has challenged you to consider how you will respond to God’s offer of life, it may be helpful for you to pray a prayer like Ian did.
♦ Ask God to forgive you for all your sins. ♦ Forgive anyone in your own life who has in any way wronged you. ♦ Ask God to be Lord of your life and commit yourself to following and serving his will.
If you have made the decision to follow Jesus, it will be important to find some likeminded people who can encourage you and help you to grow in your faith. Get yourself a bible and begin reading it – it may be easiest to start at the book of John (you’ll find it by looking at the contents page at the beginning of the bible). Our prayer for you is that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite Him in. And that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Live lives full of the fullness of God! (Ephesians 3 – The Message)
NOTES IAN’S WEBSITE For more information on Ian and his current speaking locations, visit his website at: www.aglimpseofeternity.org
BOX JELLYFISH For more information on Box Jellyfish check out these websites: www.pharmacology.unimelb.edu.au/pharmwww/avruweb/jellyfi.htm#jellyfish http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/chironex/c._fleckeri.html http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/anaes/marine_enven.html
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES • Death and judgement; Matt 25:31-46, Rom 2:6-11, Rom 14:7-12, 1 Cor 15:3544, 2 Tim 4:1, Heb 9:27, Rev 20:11-15 • Jesus death for our sins; John 11:25-26, Rom 6:9-11, Rom 8:10-11; 31-35, Col 2:13-14, 1 Thess 5:10, 1 Pet 1:3-4 • Jesus the glorified Son of God; Ezek 1:26-28, Luke 9:29, John 20:19, Acts 7:55-56; Acts 9:3-5, 1 Thess 4:14, Rev 1:13-16, • Darkness and Light; Is 42:6, Matt 8:12; 22:13, Luke 2:32, John 1:4-9; 8:12, Acts 13:8-11, Rom 13:12, 2 Cor 4:6, Eph 5:8-14, 1 John 1:5; 2:8-11, Rev 21:23 • Eternal life; Ps 145:13, Eccl 12:5, Is 51:11; 60:19-20, Jer 31:3, Mark 3:29, Luke 16:9, John 3:15; 4:36, Rom 1:20, Eph 3:10,11, 2 Thess 2:16, 2 Tim 2:10, Heb 5:9; 9:15, 1 Pet 5:10, 2 Pet 1:11, Jude 21, Rev 14:6, • Heaven and hell; Matt 5:11-12; 8:12; 10:15; 18:10; 22:15; 23:15, 34-37, Luke 10:20; 15:7; 16:25; 20:36; 23:43, John 14:2, Rom 8:17, 1 Cor 15:42-51, 2 Cor 12:2-4, 2 Thess 1:9, Jude 6, Heb9: 12; 12:22-23, 1 Pet 1:4, 2 Pet 1:10-11; 2:4; 3:13, Rev 7:15; 14:13; 21:2-4, 10-27; 22:3-5,15 • The love of God; Ps 103:4, Ps 36:7, Matt 18:10, John 15:13, Rom 5:5-8, Gal 2:20, Eph 2:4-5; 3:19, 2 Thess 2:16, Titus 3:4 • Demons; Matt 8:29; 10:1; 12:24-30, Mark 1:23-24, 5:8-9, Luke 8:29; 10:17-18, 1 Cor 10:20, 1 Tim 4:1
FURTHER BIBLICAL CORRELATIONS BY DR RICHARD KENT
It is a matter of Biblical truth that when we die our spirit leaves our bodies. The most famous example of this is found in John 19:30, 'Jesus said 'It is finished' and bowing his head, he gave up His Spirit.' There is no question that Jesus died, as recorded in John 19:33. We are told that "alive in the Spirit" Jesus then preached to those who had drowned in Noah's flood (1 Peter 3;19). In addition it seems likely to me that Paul himself had a Near Death Experience after he was stoned by Jews from Antioch and Iconium (Acts 14:19).
The Jews were extremely angry with Paul for deserting the Sanhedrin and becoming a follower of Jesus. It is certain that they killed Paul, and this was invariably the outcome of stoning. Paul describes his own Near Death Experience as being "caught up into the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2).
Finally, Dr Luke described the spirit of a dead 12-year old girl returning to her body, so that she came back to life. Jesus was called to see Jairus' daughter who had died, with the request that He should bring the girl back to life again. The story is recorded in Luke 8:53-55: 'They ridiculed him knowing that she was dead, but He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called saying, 'Little girl arise'. Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.' The clear teaching here is that when the little girl's spirit returned to her body, she came back to life. I believe that this is a Biblical explanation of the case of Ian McCormack, whose spirit also returned to his body after he had died Ian McCormack travels widely all over the world sharing his testimony and it is available in a variety of world languages, and accessible on HTTP://WWW.AGLIMPSEOFETERNITY.ORG/ . You can also watch the Lazarus Phenomenon which includes a re-enactment of the events of both Ian McCormack’s testimony and Daniel Ekechukwu’s (with actual live footage of him being raised from the dead) for free on HTTP://WWW.FINALFRONTIER.ORG.UK/ Ian McCormack recently moved to London following a new church plant in this city, and there you can meet and personally speak to him about his experience and the purposes of God for your life. The new church is called King’s Gate Christian Fellowship, located at Baden Powell House, 65 – 67 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5JS (Sat Navs don’t take you to the right place). It is opposite the National History Museum (Corner of Cromwell road and Queen’s Gate). Service times are 06:30 to 08:30 pm every Sunday night. “It’s very very easy to go to heaven, you just have to make a decision... you just have to... the Bible talks about being born again... to receive Jesus into your heart... to receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, and to become a new creation... those are all technical words, but it’s very simple, it’s very... it’s just a simple prayer, a simple little prayer from your heart to the Lord that you want Him to come into your life... to take over your life... to know Jesus as Lord, and... He died for us... and then, now go to heaven it’s as simple as that... Jesus said you would be converted... in the sense that you would be saved... Jesus talked about being born again, it happened to me... 26 years ago... well, it changed my life then but talking to all those people who have been to heaven... and all those people who have been to hell has had a huge impact on me...
it’s changed my life dramatically, and my wife... and we’ve spent a lot of time abroad in the year, hardly ever travelling, just talking to people... mainly about heaven and hell... and incidentally, it’s it’s talking to people about hell, that causes me, to travel to many many countries of the world... I think people should know... there’s a place to avoid, to be honest there were two thieves on the cross... one laughed at Jesus... on the cross... and he’s in hell now... the other one said a short prayer to Jesus on the cross, and he’s in heaven now... big difference... and it’s forever...” – Dr. Richard Kent Perhaps most compelling of all... and the only true evidence... has been the actual, real life accounts... stories like Daniel Ekechukwu’s that we saw earlier today, and that of Ian McCormack have changed forever, our perceptions of death and the life beyond... God? ...demons? ...a kingdom of darkness? ...a Kingdom of light? ...fact? ...or fiction? ...you decide... and whatever choice you make... based on what you’ve read and seen... one thing is very clear... what we do on earth... really does echo... throughout... eternity...
“...You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father...” – Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13 – 16) New Living Translation