Do you realize there are as many near death stories in the United States, alone, as there are people without health care coverage? I have researched this extensively. Doctors agree that there is a massive firing of the brain's neurons at the point of death. The theory is that the firing of millions neurons is the cause of hallucinations which have been interpreted as the near death experience by the patients brought back after an episode.
If that is true then there is no truth to any of the experiences you may hear. These near death stories, however, remain interesting because of sheer volume of them, and in their similarities in the stories. There could be one other explanation for the massive firing of neurons at the point of a person's death. I'll present the possibility to you, and then you can decide. I present the possibility that as we near death, or in the process of death there is a splitting, or a separation of the spirit and the soul. Definitions of our soul differ so I will word this in another way. There is a process of separation of our physical body and our immortal spirit during the process of death. In this process all that makes us who we are migrates from the physical to the spirit leaving the dead husk behind. No, I am not qualified in any way to say that. That's why I said it is up to you what you believe. That is always the case anyway; simply it's up to you what you believe. With this in mind I will tell you of my experience. Do not take it to serious because the doctors may be right.
I don't think my story will disappoint you. It is like most other near death stories except in two areas. The first is the depth of the experience, and the other is that I met someone while it was happening. If it was caused by my brain's neurons firing off then it was more like a sky rocket. There is a third difference, and that is I was not brought back by human endeavor, rather I was sent back with a task to perform. That could sound ominous but it was, probably all just a hallucination. That should put it back into, just, an interesting story.
I was twelve years old. This happened during the summer between elementary and junior high school. We lived a small rural town in the Texas Panhandle. We are a family of nine. My father was a landscaper. Mom was a homemaker. I had three brothers and three sisters. There were three older than me and three younger. I had a pet turtle I named Fred. I found him down by the creek years before. He was a real pig of a turtle. He would eat anything I gave him. He grew so big I could hardly carry him. Fred started running away from home the year before. After searching everywhere I found him the first few times he ran away. I was afraid one time I couldn't, so I used some of my sister's nail polish and wrote on his back, "My name is Fred, Please return to..." That worked pretty well. There were a lot of people brought him back. This was the Summer Fred left home and no one brought him back.
Dad had the contract at the cemetery, just west of town, that year. He was responsible for the general care of the grounds, and digging the graves. Johnny Ray, my older brother, and I did most of the mowing and irrigating during that summer. That left Dad free to take care of his other customers. He was very particular about the graves, so he always did that. He was a perfectionist when it came to graves. He would actually shave the walls with his spade until they were perfectly smooth.
One week, in July, Johnny Ray and I were cutting in around the headstones with the push mowers when he pulled the mower back over his foot. The blade hit right in the middle of his toes and split his foot all the way back to the ball. I couldn't imagine how much that hurt. To say the least he had to stay off his feet for rest of the summer, so that left Dad and me to take up the slack.
Our schedule was we mowed through the week, and irrigated on Saturday's. Dad wanted the cemetery pristine on Sundays for visitors. The Saturday after Johnny Ray's accident Dad dropped me off at the cemetery just before dawn to set up the irrigation system and get it started. After he dropped me off he went on to cut a couple lawns. He was going to bring me some lunch when he got a break so I could work on through.
Setting up the irrigation system was awkward for one person. The well was in the middle on the south side right by the shop. The water was piped underground on either side of a road through the center of the cemetery to the North side with risers every forty feet. With two people setting it up we would hook the pipe trailer onto the old Ford tractor. Starting at the riser one person drove the tractor slowly out to the edge of the cemetery, then loop over forty feet and drive back to the center. The other person would walk behind the trailer while pulling the pipe and placing them about where they went. When the pipe was placed the tractor and trailer were parked and each person would take a run of pipe assembling it from the center out. Turn the well on, in a couple hours, turn the well off, and move the pipe to the next section. With one person there was a lot of jumping on and off the tractor between each pipe pulled.
Everything was going good that morning. The sky was a ruddy red glow while I pulled and placed the pipe. By the time I started assembling the pipe it was beginning to get light. I was moving good, but half way through the first pipe run I saw a squirrel run into the next piece of pipe I needed to connect. I shouted in the pipe to scare out the squirrel, I hit the pipe; I picked it up and dropped it. No squirrel came out. I propped one end up on a headstone so I could see through it. Just to make sure there was a squirrel, actually, in that pipe section. I couldn't see through it so it must be in there. I was running out of ideas on how to get the squirrel out, so I carried it down to the shop. I laid it down and waited real quiet for awhile, thinking it may run out. The dirt trailer was parked in the driveway outside the shop. I, finally, picked up the pipe and beat it against the trailer. The pipe started vibrating so I gripped it harder. It kept vibrating. I had been, totally, concentrating on getting the squirrel out of the pipe that it, just, did not occur to me that I was standing right under the highline wires with a twenty foot section of aluminum pipe in my hands held straight up. When it, finally, dawned on me that the pipe must be touching the highline wire and the vibration was, actually, electricity flowing through the pipe and me to the ground; my thought was to let go and jump back as far as I could.
I didn't even get to move. Everything just, like faded out on me. I was never a religious person. I know you would say, "What twelve year old is?" I was raised in the country out on the farm. We went to church most Sundays, but honestly, God and the bible was mostly an abstraction to me. Even if I had been devout I would not have been prepared for what was happening to me. I believed in things I could see, touch, or hear. I wasn't even sure about distant cities of which I had heard. My world was country. That was all I had ever known.
I seemed to be floating, bodiless in an utterly dark void. I didn't breath and my heartbeat was gone. This is impossible. How could I be conscious without a body? I did know what had happened, though, I didn't let go of that pipe in time. This made, absolutely no sense. If I was dead then where was this? Other than being dead I felt good, as a matter of fact, for a dead guy I felt really good. I felt nothing. It was neither hot, nor warm, nor cold, there no pressure like in up or down. I had no arms or legs so I couldn't move anything when I tried. The really weird thing though was that I felt normal, oh, not like alive normal, but like a forgotten how I should be normal.
Did you ever think about breathing or a heart beating in your breast affects your sense of time? I was just suspended there for awhile, so I want to move ahead for a minute before I come back to this. I'll tell you who met me and guided me out of this dark place, and where he led me to. That is where I want to go. That is what I want to talk about. But, for now two things are happening. There does seem to be some form of existence after the death of our body. I could have been knocked out and not, quite dead yet, so I still have some intellect left. When my brain functions stop this may fade away, and me along with it. At this point the Doctors may, still, be right. My neurons may not be finished firing, yet. Think of this, if there is any type of life after death then there would have to some form of separation at some point of the spirit and soul, or spirit and body. Whatever makes each one of us unique must transfer from the physical body into the spiritual body. This has to happen as a last ditch process. I don't even believe in a spiritual world. Isn't spiritual is what some people feel when their in the mood at church? There is something very important happening now, back in the void. This gets harder to explain as I go along, but I will try.
What is happening also has something to do with something no one believes. Here goes. We were made in God's image, and no it's not the other way around. God was not made in our image. Now while God may do anything he wants to. He can, certainly manifest himself any way he wants to. This would include a burning bush, a man, a woman, a thundercloud take your pick, but God is a spiritual being. That is the image we are made of. Please remember that.
During this quiet time while floating in a dark void something is manifesting itself, and I first realize something is missing. The devil was cast out of heaven. He was cast down onto the earth. We lie even, to ourselves all the time. God cannot lie. We can, and do lie to ourselves and others because the devil lives within us. When your physical body dies and you are reborn into a spiritual body the devil may not follow. He can not follow you once you are beyond the earth. That is what is missing, and we are made in God's image so we cannot lie in our spiritual body. Then you realize the spark of the divine within you. This is what is missing, the devil within me. The spark of the divine that image of God is enabling the other thing else that is happening to me.
The judgment process has begun. I didn't even realize it was happening. When the devil within us is gone we can only know the truth. We start our own judgment. We don't finish it, but I will get to that later. The first realization is our self worth. How did I impact others lives? Did I add quality to someone else's life? Simply put, "who will miss you, how much, and why?" I judged myself and found myself lacking. I had no friends with whom I had deep ties. I did not mean enough to any for them to morn me. Being raised in a farming family we accepted that crops would be lost, livestock would be lost, and many times children would be lost. That's why farmers had such large families. Oh, my parents, brothers, and sisters would morn me, but not for long. Nature abhors a vacuum. Life would go on. In this way my life was a failure. That was my realization.
As if someone knew when I was finished it was then that I heard someone call out to me. What they said when they called to me was so bazaar that I couldn't even process the thought. Now, I know it was me, it was all my state of mind, and what they said may not have been so strange. My state of mind was chaotic. Here, I'll position myself for you. I am a twelve year old farm boy whose firm belief is that honest; Ernest hard work got you your just rewards. I have just died by electrocution. I find myself bodiless in a dark void. I self-realize that I have ignored one of the most important reasons of life, and my life is a failure. At that point I hear someone say, "What? Are you back already?" Is it me, or does that seem a little much?
I could not see or move, but I tried. There, off to one side I could see a light. I was very happy. I wanted to see who had called out to me; no, I needed to see who had called out to me. I looked at the light and wished to go there, and either I was moving toward the light or the light was moving toward me, I couldn't tell which. Whatever I was doing I decided to keep doing it. The light kept getting larger and larger until I actually entered into it. The call That I had heard was not by voice. It was more like a thought-feel.
You have eyes, but you cannot see. You have ears, but you do not hear. There should be something added to that. It should be something like, "You have mouths, but you do not speak." When I entered the light I find I am helpless to describe what I saw. When I heard the call, it was not just the one thing he said. It included the information on where here was, where I had been, what we were doing. It included all the background information regarding the comment. It was like a complete thought. In a spiritual body you speak the same as you hear. You form a thought around a question, or comment when you think that thought at someone they hear it. The way we see is just as hard to explain. You can see an entire galaxy at once and you can see one mote of dust from across many worlds. Here, let me attempt to explain what I saw as I entered the light.
I was in a portal, on the threshold of, like, a gate, in and entry, or at the point of entry of a threshold. It was not physical, but I had the feeling that is what it acted like. I had the feeling that no one could reach this point without the acceptance of someone else. I need to emphasize my feeling so you will be sure to understand. I felt that NO ONE could enter this area without an invitation. That's just the feeling I had. Where I entered and looked out there seemed to be no end. The sight I presently was using did not seem to rely on light reflections. It must have been in a different wavelength or something else entirely. It was not possible; I was stunned, shocked, and awed by the sight alone. The only place I can think to start at is a description someone else made, at one time. In John when Jesus was speaking to his disciples at the last supper he described it very simply by saying something like, "There are many mansions in my Father's house. I go, now to prepare a place for you." That was a simple, however gross understatement of what I saw when I entered the light. If I were not there looking out at it there is no way I would, or could even imagine anything of even the palest interpretation of the sight that was before me in this place. This is unimaginable. I could see the flights of countless groups of angels across my range of view. Honestly, it would be worth the price of dying, just, to be able to glimpse this. I felt that I was in The Father's house and what I was seeing was the preparations of the mansion, or the place for his faithful.
Think about this, The Father prepared one other mansion for man, before now. We call it the Earth. Spread out in a parameter before me were countless mansions of The Father's house. Seen, by me, as worlds and world systems, I could see so far, and so clearly.
Among the flights of angels I saw the one that had called out to me. He was surrounded by a bright rose colored glow. All the angels I could see shone in different colors. The colors of the angel's shine varied from a dusky rose up to a brilliant blue-white color. Although he was planets away I could see and hear the one who had called out to me as if we were standing next to each other. I have to admit at this point I did something stupid. If I had known how to communicate I would never have been so presumptuous any question of anyone like this. I didn't even know angels were real. I certainly could never have spoken to one. Please cut me a little slack. I was a twelve year old kid having a most unusual day.
I was looking at him, so far away, and they were so beautiful. I couldn't help it, my first thought was, "Are you God?" He answered me! Well, actually, he laughed. But, that was an answer, it showed he heard me. He had a good laugh. It made me feel good. I loved that laugh. His laugh was like it started within and built up until he was full, and then It spilled out as he overflowed with laughter. When he was through laughing he explained carefully and slowly, as if he were explaining to a child. He said, " No, and they don't like to be called that. They are the Shepherd. That is what they do. They guide and protect. " He explained the Shepherd is the four joined in the perfect union. They are the greater one. One joined with others are greater ones. While not joined they are lesser ones. Greater ones may be lesser ones when their union is not invoked and still be a member of the greater one. The Shepherd are four joined. The four aspects balanced as they are two masculine and two feminine.
We talked for awhile. He showed me many things, he told me others. He said we were naturally spiritual creatures, that we loved to learn, so we created the earth in order to experience and learn through our physical lives. I couldn't help it, my thought slipped out, once, again. The thought I had was quick and spontaneous. It just came out before I could stop it. It was something like, "Who, in their right mind, would want to live a physical life when we are like this?" He went back to the slow and careful speech again. He said," We do this because we want to do this. Physical life is very rewarding. It is rich in experiences. There are many opportunities to learn new things." He went on to explain other things, and I tried not to let my thoughts interrupt him again.
One thing I had found confusing was God, I mean the Great Shepherd, the father, and the son. What was that relationship? When more than one join in a common cause they become the greater one. They may invoke, and when they invoke their power is multiplied many fold. They may be members of a greater one while not invoked. In that case they are the lesser one of the greater one. The way I understand it is that, for instance, Jesus Christ while on the earth was the lesser one of the greater one The Shepherd. Many times the lesser ones of the greater one "The Shepherd" spend much of their time on the earth to be among their flock, the children of man. My thoughts probably came through or he sensed my confusion because he explained, again. That is what they do, They guide and protect, and in order to do that they must go among the flock. In order to see that their children upon the earth stay upon the safe path they must be there in order to guide and protect. The great Shepherd nearly lost all their flock in Noah's day. They saved what they could but they lost many, and they vowed it would never happen again. Jesus came to the earth because the flock had reached a dangerous crossroad, and had to be guided on the correct path.
All this was confusing for me even being here to help me understand. I really feel for the simple nomadic people of Jesus' day trying to understand what the greater one was, or the lesser one of the greater one. At one point Jesus told his followers, "There are Three in heaven who take note." That just started a whole branch of religion. All they could think of was The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was the lesser one of the greater of the four who are the Great Shepherd, but while Jesus was upon the earth that left three in heaven. He tried to explain, he told them; "I am in the father as the Father is in me, I am of the Father and the Father is of me. Well you have probably read all that. You have to admit their confusion is apparent What am I saying, it is still apparent today. Does anyone understand the relationship of the Father and The son? Even his disciples were confused. At the last supper he told them there are many mansions in the Father's house. I go now to prepare a place for you. I will meet you when it is time to guide you there. Then he told them, I go now, and you will not see me again. One of them asked how is that he will see them, soon, and they would not see him again. Jesus responded, I will be with the Father. Maybe it just seems simple to me.
As far as our purpose in life he put it this way, "You are learning how to be." This is, but, one step of many". Well, I guess as an immortal spiritual creature we do have plenty of time. I began to fade out, again.
I was floating, bodiless in an utterly dark void, again. This time it was different. There was someone here with me. I could feel power, immense power. I cast around as before, there was nothing I could see. I felt him and he had incredible, immense power. I was afraid, for an instant, but then I felt there was a balance. The balance was love. I could feel incredible power, and love without depth. A mother never felt such love for her newborn child as the love I felt radiating form whomever was with me in this place. Because of the love, I felt I knew whoever this was I was not in danger, but I still wanted to be somewhere far, far away. I made myself as small as I could in a hope I would not be noticed. I never dreamed that this great one of immense power and love may be here for me! I was a child, not even worthy of notice. This, whoever was with me, mere presence was so powerful it almost seemed almost physical.
There came a group of angels around me. These angels I could see and hear. They brought forth my life, so that I might know. We viewed every moment of my life. They emphasized the important events of my life. They would show them to me, and they would tell me how the event helped me develop into the person I was. Then one would report the event to that dark, powerful presence. The events they were pointing out to me were points in time of personal realizations that changed my future feelings. There was a moment in time when I was very young I noticed an act of kindness of another to someone close to me. They showed me a moment I realized someone made a personal sacrifice for me. They showed me my feelings invoked by my first love. These were the important aspects of my life, they were the personal realizations that made me grow, learn, and develop. My friend, in the light, told me we were learning to be. These moments of personal realizations are, but, tiny steps in our development from innocent, childish, self centered, selfish, uncaring, self gratifying to something much more. We are learning to be who we are, for we were made in God's image. We have a long way to go, and it is made up of many tiny steps.
As in my realizations, earlier, of my life not impacting other's life of equal value to my development were my feelings about how deeply others have impacted mine. My feelings, thoughts, experiences of others actions which were profound enough to alter my outlook in life were the important aspects in my development. Each instance, once found and pointed out to me was reported to the powerful presence there with us. Sight of him was veiled to me. I was, very, curious who he was and what he looked like, but I was not allowed even a glimpse. Finally all my life had been viewed, the angels departed, and for the first time the Powerful presence addressed me.
"You may not, yet, pass on. It is not, yet, your time. There are three reasons why you may not pass, at this time. The first is you are meant to do something which you have not, yet, done. The second is that you are meant to influence someone you have not, yet, met. The third is that you have not, yet, learned enough to accomplish the other two."
With that spoken to me I began to fade out, once more. I knew I was going back into the world I knew. I was going back to my life. As my world came into existence around me he spoke to me one more time. He instructed me, "You will tell no one of what you have learned here on this day. It is not, yet time."
I was back. My hands flew away from the pipe and I fell backwards. I was not harmed. I saw that stupid squirrel run out of the pipe and off into the cemetery. I did find I did not want to come back into my life. I would rather stay in that other place, but also I found I a complete compliance with that Powerful Presence instructions to me.
Often major events often have small triggers. I do not believe my being alone to set up that irrigation system was a coincident. Neither that squirrel running into the pipe, nor entering The Fathers house, meeting my friend there, nor everything he showed and told me was, just a slip. I believe much of what he told me, and showed me has a large part to do with the thing I am meant to do. If that is the case then I have a message to deliver to all the people of the earth. I think the message is wonderful news for all. Forty-two years after this incident I felt that same powerful Presence, once again, this time he told me, "Now is the time to tell your story. Tell your story now!" I know it is not up to me to wonder. Why now? How could I even tell anyone such an important message? I am no one, I am nothing. How can I make anyone listen? For now, and every since I was twelve I have held and still hold this message close to my heart.
For a long time I believed this message to be mine, and it gave me great hope, and comfort. I feel I have free will in when I tell this, or if. It will be when I believe people are ready to hear it, and I am ready to tell of it. Oh, I don't mean that. This would mean so much to everyone alive today. How could I not tell, I mean how hard can it be? No One would, probably, believe me, anyway. I don't get laughed at every day, this could be my chance.
David
Written from excerpts from the book, Beyond the Veil of Innocence By DL Jones. Published by www.booklocker.com
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