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Thread: "Heaven"

  1. #26
    alanmolstad
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    Doing a little posting tonight Billy?

  2. #27
    Billyray
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    Quote Originally Posted by alanmolstad View Post
    Doing a little posting tonight Billy?
    You betcha.

  3. #28
    Libby
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    Elane's "death experience" continued......

    Filled with the greatest sense of excitement I had ever felt I ran across the gr***es, but somehow my feet didn't touch the ground. Yet still I was moving very rapidly, very easily. My long hair (my hair is thin and very curly, and I have never in my mortal life been able to wear it long) was flowing behind me, and I was dressed in a simple long gown of white material that shimmered with soft, pastel glimmers of more colors than I could begin to comprehend. It was as if the white were alive, and the light about my own being was reflected off it.

    DEPARTED RELATIVES

    “Hurry Elane! Everyone's waiting!” called a man who was stand ing by a rock under the trees, motioning me to them with a swing of his arm. He was my mother's stepfather who had died when I was about sixteen, and I recognized him immediately. Two ladies broke away from the group, coming toward me. The music continued to play on the air—this whole new world I had discovered created a sound that wafted ever so gently on the breeze. What a beautiful sound—so new and yet so incredibly familiar!

    The ladies were now within about twenty feet of me, and I recognized my dad's mother who had been dead since I was about nine. Behind her was my husband's Aunt Virginia, who had died the previous spring. She had been so crippled up in life, yet here she appeared physically perfect! They both seemed young, too; in their late twenties or early thirties!

    Wow! I thought. If my kids could just see this! I smiled happily, surprised at Virginia's vibrant good health and thrilled to see all of them, and...
    Couple of things that struck me, when I read this. The "white garments" and the "youth" of her relatives (late 20's or so)...both LDS concepts of heaven.

  4. #29
    Libby
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    Story continued...................

    BODY SLAM Blam!

    A heavy duty body slam brought me back into my body, on the gurney in the Emergency Room! Defibrillator paddles were poised above my chest where they had cut away my nightgown, and I felt my body arch with the jolt when they connected again!

    Confusion was all around me. A lab technician who had tested my blood for drugs was shouting that there was nothing in my system, not even aspirin. “Take it again!” ordered a Doctor who loomed above me. “We have to be sure—and put a rush on it!”

    For some reason I could see again, and my body, especially my chest and head, hurt more than I can possibly say. I literally felt like I was going to explode. I closed my eyes to try to shut out the pain—the world. Here I was, enclosed in the painful shell of my body, with my memories of that other place so vivid I could hardly stand it, and with all my heart I wanted to go back!

    I had just been where I had felt such peace and freedom—and now my world was pain and chaos and confusion. How could I possibly endure it? I didn't feel I could.

  5. #30
    Libby
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    Elane's story continued....

    LOST IN THE TWILIGHT

    From that point on I had a sense of being in somewhat of a surreal, twilight space—benumbed and sort of beyond feeling as I drifted in and out of awareness—or maybe in and out of my body, for that is what it seemed like. It was as though I somehow had a foot in both worlds, and couldn't make myself go the way I wanted to.

    Every few moments a nurse would call out, “Here she goes again!” Or, “Grab her! She's having another one!”

    And then the m*** confusion of shouting, furiously working people would increase in intensity. Someone was straddling my hips performing CPR, someone else grabbed the defibrillator paddles and shouted “All clear” as they slammed them onto my chest, a third person was pushing more medications through the big-bore catheters into my body, and all the while at least one physician was shouting constant orders and the others were shouting their responses back again. It was organized chaos.

    I now know that I was experiencing what is known as ventricular fibrillation—my heart was fluttering instead of beating. That starved my brain for oxygen, which increased the seizures. These in turn prevented me from breathing and starved my heart for oxygen, increasing the ventricular fibrillation.

    It was a vicious downward spiral. And all of this had been caused by the rupture of an unknown tumor in my brain—an Arterial Venous Malformation—which was rapidly bringing me to my death despite what the medical people could do. But more on this medical information a little later.

  6. #31
    Libby
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    Story continued................

    AN EXPANDED SPIRITUAL POWER

    It was at this time that I lost my sight again and realized that my sense of hearing was all I had left. I couldn't speak, I couldn't even feel. Yet something else was happening, too. My spiritual senses were expanding even as the physical ones diminished. I remember at one point hearing someone saying that they were losing me again and someone else asking what my religion was. A nurse was sent into the waiting room to ask my cousin if she knew. Apparently she told them that she wasn't sure. But since she was Catholic, and since I was wearing a small gold cross around my neck, the nurse ***umed I was Catholic and said that to the doctor. He then sent someone to find a priest.

    After several more minutes of feverish activity all around me, the Doctor asked someone if they had found a priest yet. When he was told that none were available, he said with a sense of urgency to a young man who was there, “Call an outside parish then. Quick! At the rate her seizures are coming, we're not going to be able to keep her together much longer.”

    More time p***ed, and then suddenly I heard someone yelling that there had been a major car accident somewhere, and that everyone in the emergency room was needed. Confusion grew again, someone—I think the young nurse—asked about me, and then the voice of the doctor broke through.

    “It doesn't matter about her,” he said matter-of-factly. “She's flat. Get her out of the way.”

    And somehow, while he was speaking, I was above my body so that I could see the back of his head, and I knew that he had his back turned toward where I lay. “You shouldn't say that,” a young nurse who was standing right by my head cautioned the doctor. “She might hear you.” “Who?” he responded almost mockingly. “Her? She's out of it. She's gone. She can't hear anything.”
    Last edited by Libby; 10-20-2012 at 10:12 PM.

  7. #32
    Libby
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    Elane's story continues............

    A SINCERE PRAYER

    Somehow I was able to sense the anxiety this young nurse was feeling for me, an anxiety which continued to build as she watched my condition deteriorate. I was also aware of my deteriorating condition, though it did not bother me because I was no longer feeling any pain. In fact I felt kind of detached, and instead of worrying or suffering I found myself simply wondering what was going to happen next.

    A few moments later she said something else, and the doctor grew almost angry. “Look,” he told her gruffly, “if you can't handle this, we'll send for someone who can.”

    The nurse ***ured him that she wanted to stay, and then silently, without audible words, she began to pray. With my expanded spiritual senses I could actually hear her prayers and feel her concern.

    The next that I was aware, the gurney I was on had been pushed to another area. I don't remember it happening; I was just aware that I had been moved. Though I couldn't see it then, moments later I realized that there were curtains to one side of me, and I was close to a wall, though in one direction I could see past the curtains and so understood that I was away from the bustle of the emergency room.

    I still felt nothing; no pain, not even any real concern. Everything that was happening seemed like a dream, sort of like it was all happening to someone else and that it didn't affect me very much at all. My being was in soft darkness, and I was very content.

    Someone then gave orders to prep my body for the morgue, and I wondered that they should think I was dead when I felt so very much alive. Yet not only was I unable to communicate, but neither did I feel any anxiety, even about this. Meanwhile the young nurse was beside me, still praying while she worked at taping my stud earrings and rings in place on my body so they wouldn't get lost in the morgue. And I could still feel the power of her prayers.

  8. #33
    Libby
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    Continued....................The Power of Prayer...........

    THE PRIEST ARRIVES

    Moments later I heard a door open and footsteps sounded across the tile floor. With a sigh of relief the little nurse exclaimed, “Oh, thank God, Father! I'm so glad you're here!”

    I could feel the priest standing near me. “What do we have here?” he asked. I listened as the nurse told him that I had come in DOA— Dead On Arrival—and had gone through over eleven seizures that she knew of.

    The priest came close to my ear on my right side and asked, “Can you hear me? Move something so I know you can hear me.” After a pause he said softly, “Hmmmm.” And then he continued, “You're a very sick little girl, and the doctors have done all that they can. But I'm going to pray and ask now for God's help.” He started to pray, and I didn't know what “Last Rights” were supposed to sound like, but I felt a true sincerity to his prayer. Suddenly I was aware of a power in his praying, and I felt an incredible rush of energy, a strong spiritual power that went from my head to my toes in warm, surging waves. It was like a Ka-whoom, Ka-whoom, Ka-whoom! That was followed almost immediately by a heavy weight on my chest, after which a terrible pressure or pain shot like a flash of lightning through my upper body and into my head, almost as though it were trying to burst free.


  9. #34
    Libby
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    continued...................................

    MY SPIRIT POPS FREE OF MY BODY

    In the midst of this split second of pain there came within my being a soft pop—like a bubble breaking. Then my spirit was free of my body, and I felt myself lifting.

    Abruptly aware that I could see clearly again I rose upward, p***ing within about ten inches of the side of the priest's face. I saw that he had dark hair and dark-rimmed gl***es, as well as a voice that I knew I would never forget. I next saw the little nurse who had been praying for me, and I knew that she was from the third floor, and had never seen anyone die before. I don't know how I knew that, but I did. I also knew a “part of me” was being left on the gurney, but at that moment I felt a great indifference toward it. Instead I found myself luxuriating in my new freedom.

    In fact, I felt more alive than I could ever remember feeling. I now had expanded senses, and I could see things so very clearly! I found myself in a dense, foggy area with light like might be seen near dusk or dawn. I had no fear, and I was filled with the knowledge that I wasn't alone.

  10. #35
    Libby
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    Elane's death experience continues.....

    / SEE A LIGHT

    I turned to my left to look about myself, and then upon turning to my right I saw a bright light in the distance, slightly above the horizon. It was like a large star or close planet might appear, and a halo of light surrounded it. My spirit lifted and somehow rose toward this beacon which was emanating rays through its halos, though I had no idea of how I was moving. At the same time the fog faded away to darkness and my vision became even more clear.

    MISERABLE EARTH-BOUND SPIRITS

    Something moved in my downward left peripheral vision and caught my eye. As I looked down I saw a large group of people—probably a hundred or more—and all of them had their heads down. They weren't far away from me, not more than thirty or forty feet. I knew that they were spirit beings like myself, though there was such darkness about them that they felt to me wicked or unclean. I knew that they had once lived in mortality just as I had, and I remember thinking of them as earthbound, not because they had to be earthbound so much as because they chose to be. From them I felt a terrible amount of confusion and anger, which I didn't understand, along with a sense of being lost in their own misery—uncertain of which way to go. I wanted to make them understand that all they had to do was look up—up there was the light, and they could go to it with me. But when I tried to tell them, they ignored me completely. It was as if I didn't even exist.

    Even more amazing to me was that neither did the light exist to them. Either they could not, or would not, see it.

  11. #36
    Libby
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    continued.............

    / Go TOWARD THE LIGHT

    Looking upward again, I realized that the light was traveling toward me just as I was moving toward it, and it was moving at a great speed. As we came closer together, I saw rays of light filter out through the halos, and I realized that there was a personality to this light. I also felt an immense amount of love from it, a different kind of love than I had ever felt before, love that was completely overwhelming. And wonder of all wonders, I knew that I was being welcomed to come closer.

  12. #37
    Pa Pa
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    Quote Originally Posted by Libby View Post
    A neurophysicist has been in the news, recently, recounting a near-death-experience he had, while in a coma (his brain was completely flat-lined).

    This man had a vague belief that there may be some kind of creator God, but he did not believe in a "personal God"...a God who loved or cared about individuals.

    So, he was in a coma, in a very serious, near death situation, with no brain waves showing, and he had this beautiful experience with God (a God of unconditional love), which totally changed his life.

    This is one of thousands of NDE's, all somewhat different.

    I read a book by a woman who had no belief in God, who became LDS, after an NDE, because of some things she experienced.


    http://www.amazon.com/Stand-All-Amaz.../dp/1890558273

    Very interesting book.
    This is because God does care and love "all"...great story.

  13. #38
    Libby
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    Glad you are enjoying her story, Papa. I'm not going to copy the whole book (in case anyone wondered! ) but I did want to present her actual death experience. There was quite a lot to it (more to come!).

    Also, in reading my OP again, I misrepresented Elane's views on God. She did have a rather vague belief in God, but had never embraced any particular religion. It was still many years, after her NDE, before she found the LDS Church (or, I should say, the Church found her). My understanding of her current views is, that even the LDS Church is not "perfect", but there were some things from her NDE that stood out as being embraced by this church. So, I would say she is, probably, a bit of an unorthodox Latter-day Saint.

  14. #39
    Libby
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    Elane's story continued.......(the beginning of this paragraph is in reference to when Elane first spoke with LDS missionaries, and she told them her story...

    WITHIN THE GLORY OF HIS LOVE

    “You died?” Elder Bell gasped when I finally blurted it out.

    “You mean you really died?”

    I nodded. “That's right.”

    “Were you dead for very long?”

    “Probably not too long. About an hour, altogether.”
    “Well...what happened?” Elder Peck questioned. “Did you see anything?”

    I smiled. “Actually, I saw quite a bit. And that's when all of my beliefs changed. Unfortunately, I haven't found a church here on earth that teaches these things that I learned. If I ever do, I'll consider being a part of that church.”

    “What did you see?” I was asked again. “If you can tell us, we'd like to hear it.”

    Now my mind was really spinning. How much do I dare say, I thought? After all, these are young boys, and they've probably never heard such a story. Thinking back on how I had spoken of my experience to others over the years, I decided that a thumbnail sketch was the best way to go. After all, no one had ever heard all of my experience, and I wasn't sure these young men wouldn't write me off as a candidate for the funny farm if I told them even a tiny amount.

    “Oh, my,” I breathed. “Well, if I told you that there's more than one heaven, would you believe me?”

    They shot looks at each other as I continued. “As a matter-of-fact, there are three. And the angels there don't have wings.” Now they were nudging each other.

    “There is music that I can't even begin to describe, and neither can I tell where it all comes from. And there's so much love there that it's overwhelming. That's what Christ is all about—love and understanding.”

    As I explained other parts of my experience to them they continued to nudge each other, and their smiles were growing constantly more wide. One then reached into his bag and brought out a book. As he turned to what he wanted, the other missionary breathed, “Man, she's talking scriptures. I've never heard anything like this!”

    Finding the place he was looking for in his little book, he turned the page around to where I could see it—and there were three heavens pictured on that page! And then I was the one who was sitting there surprised. I was told by the elder that their church also believed that angels didn't have wings.

    I had mentioned to them that the Bible had been explained to me as a “History of the People” which held the words of Christ, and I had been told that there was more history on the earth and even more yet to be found. With more smiles they told me that this was what the Book of Mormon was all about—a history of the ancient settlers of the Americas, and of Christ's time spent among them. The Book of Mormon, they continued, told of the people's struggles as well as their gains, particularly concerning spiritual issues.

    Well, I had given these young fellows much more than I had intended, and to my surprise had found understanding ears. Now I really wanted to know about their church, and so we set a time for the next day when they could come again to share.

    After they left I sat thinking, “Can this be real? Is there really a church that teaches some of what I saw in my own death vision?”

    I couldn't get over the looks I had seen in their eyes when I spoke to them. They had been moved by what I'd had to say. But more than that, more than anything either of them had said, was the fact that every time one of them had opened his mouth to say something about the gospel, no matter what it was, / could feel the Spirit! I could feel again that overwhelming sense of peace I had known the entire time I had been in the presence of the Lord's holy angel!

    Now, with the two young missionaries gone, I sat back and closed my eyes, and for the first time in years I allowed myself to totally relive what I still thought of, even after fifteen years, as my incredible death vision.

  15. #40
    dberrie2000
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    Quote Originally Posted by Libby View Post
    Elane's death experience continues.....
    Wow--good stuff, Libby. I see hope in your posts.

  16. #41
    Libby
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    Can you imagine being those missionaries?! I'll bet they were falling off their chairs!

  17. #42
    Libby
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    Elane's death vision continued.....................

    / Go TO THE LIGHT

    As I got closer to the light I heard a voice—but again as in the beautiful meadow, not with my ears alone. It was as if everything that I was, every particle of my being, was absorbing what I heard. I not only heard the voice, but I felt it as He spoke to me, saying, “Through me you have Eternal Life.”

    IN THE FORM OF A MAN

    In awe I drew nearer, almost riding upon the rays that spread out from the halos that surrounded this light, until I saw in the light's core the outline of a man—a glorious being apparently made of light that seemed more golden in color than the radiance that shown all about him. And though I thought of Him as light, He certainly had all the physical aspects and substance of a man. I saw His hands, His arms, His body, His neck, His head—I even noted His facial characteristics, though I am at a loss to describe them now. Yet with all He was a being of power and glorious light so incredible that I could not really comprehend Him.

    But I do remember His eyes! They were so clear and bright—yet there was color to them—a beautiful blue color outlined in deeper blue that made me think of the color of the distant ocean on a clear day. But it wasn't so much the color of His eyes as it was the power in them, that awed me. Those fathomless eyes penetrated my very soul. They knew me beyond anything I was ever capable of knowing about myself—and to my absolute and dumbfounded amazement, still He loved me. In fact, the love I had felt from the moment of seeing the light had grown steadily stronger, and now it somehow reached out and literally began to encircle me and draw me closer.

    MEMORIES OF AN EARLIER LIFE

    I knew then that I had been with Him before, for I absolutely recognized Him. I knew that I had dwelt, with my same exact iden***y, in an eternal life or existence prior to my mortal life, and in that existence I had come to know this glorious being thoroughly and even intimately. That is both why and how I knew that the voice I had heard and felt, as well as the being I was now gazing upon, was my eternal Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  18. #43
    James Banta
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    Quote Originally Posted by Libby View Post
    Elane's death vision continued.....................

    / Go TO THE LIGHT

    As I got closer to the light I heard a voice—but again as in the beautiful meadow, not with my ears alone. It was as if everything that I was, every particle of my being, was absorbing what I heard. I not only heard the voice, but I felt it as He spoke to me, saying, “Through me you have Eternal Life.”

    IN THE FORM OF A MAN

    In awe I drew nearer, almost riding upon the rays that spread out from the halos that surrounded this light, until I saw in the light's core the outline of a man—a glorious being apparently made of light that seemed more golden in color than the radiance that shown all about him. And though I thought of Him as light, He certainly had all the physical aspects and substance of a man. I saw His hands, His arms, His body, His neck, His head—I even noted His facial characteristics, though I am at a loss to describe them now. Yet with all He was a being of power and glorious light so incredible that I could not really comprehend Him.

    But I do remember His eyes! They were so clear and bright—yet there was color to them—a beautiful blue color outlined in deeper blue that made me think of the color of the distant ocean on a clear day. But it wasn't so much the color of His eyes as it was the power in them, that awed me. Those fathomless eyes penetrated my very soul. They knew me beyond anything I was ever capable of knowing about myself—and to my absolute and dumbfounded amazement, still He loved me. In fact, the love I had felt from the moment of seeing the light had grown steadily stronger, and now it somehow reached out and literally began to encircle me and draw me closer.

    MEMORIES OF AN EARLIER LIFE

    I knew then that I had been with Him before, for I absolutely recognized Him. I knew that I had dwelt, with my same exact iden***y, in an eternal life or existence prior to my mortal life, and in that existence I had come to know this glorious being thoroughly and even intimately. That is both why and how I knew that the voice I had heard and felt, as well as the being I was now gazing upon, was my eternal Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.
    This is spiritualism not mormonism and NOT Christianity.. Just what can this do to address the claims of mormonism you have been so intent on proving? In fact by saying this person saw Jesus you are denying mormonism because this person was never baptized by mormon authority and therefore couldn't go to where He is.. IHS jim

  19. #44
    Libby
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    Actually, this is someone's near death experience...someone who had no previous knowledge of Mormonism.

  20. #45
    James Banta
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    Quote Originally Posted by Libby View Post
    Actually, this is someone's near death experience...someone who had no previous knowledge of Mormonism.
    Yes and she went where only Baptized mormons are suppose to be able to go.. that is kind of anti mormon of you to bring up now isn't? IHS jim

  21. #46
    Libby
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Banta View Post
    Yes and she went where only Baptized mormons are suppose to be able to go.. that is kind of anti mormon of you to bring up now isn't? IHS jim
    Actually, no she didn't. She was given knowledge of 'three heavens', but did not actually "go" to any of them.

  22. #47
    James Banta
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    Quote Originally Posted by Libby View Post
    Actually, no she didn't. She was given knowledge of 'three heavens', but did not actually "go" to any of them.
    Your post didn't say a word about three kingdoms. It didn't say she wasn't with Jesus (Who according to the Bible has taking His place at the right hand of the Father). You did say that she remembered former lives (Reincarnation). That is a part of mormonism now isn't it? NOT!! I don't understand what you saw her saying but it wasn't the same thing you communicated to me.. Strange that you thought she was seeing heaven when you started this thread.. After all you even called the thread "heaven".. I guess you didn't understand that you were saying, so was she in heaven or not? Stop trying to make it up as you go along and just say that you haven't any idea what you are talking about. IHS jim
    Last edited by James Banta; 10-22-2012 at 03:20 PM.

  23. #48
    Pa Pa
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    Quote Originally Posted by alanmolstad View Post
    both are fake in my book...
    What about life on other planets?

  24. #49
    Pa Pa
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Banta View Post
    Your post didn't say a word about three kingdoms. It didn't say she wasn't with Jesus (Who according to the Bible has taking His place at the right hand of the Father). You did say that she remembered former lives (Reincarnation). That is a part of mormonism now isn't it? NOT!! I don't understand what you saw her saying but it wasn't the same thing you communicated to me.. IHS jim
    Why would the guy see or know all this?

  25. #50
    James Banta
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pa Pa View Post
    Why would the guy see or know all this?
    Why would she talk about reincarnation? Seems to be Just as Biblical as 3 heavens.. Is mormonism going to add reincarnation to the 72 Section of the D&C? may as well add it then you would have one more reason to accept the teachings of men and not just rely on Smith's lies.. IHS jim

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