When we die, we will have wonderful new bodies

Features

March 13, 2010

By Dr. Stanley Watson, Syndicated Columnist The Picayune Item Picayune Item Sat Mar 13, 2010, 07:43 PM CST

PICAYUNE — I received a number of responses from last week’s topic, “Life After Death”. This one is about the late Don Minton, an old friend and fellow faculty member at New Orleans Baptist Seminary.

“Dr. Watson... really enjoyed this article... you may remember that my Dad had an experience like this on his third heart attack in 10 days in January of 1972... I was at his bedside in the hospital and one of the things that he said to me when the doctors couldn’t find any blood pressure and were calling for the “crash cart” was ‘...tell them He is real, Jimmy, He is right here with me.’”

From Don’s son, Dr. Jim Minton

The mystery of the next life, according to the apostle Paul, is cleared up when we die. He describes our new status like this: “For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down, when we die and leave these bodies we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forever more, made for us by God Himself, without human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 Living Bible

Paul was speaking from personal experience. On different occasions he faced death, but when he was stoned in Lystra by an angry mob, he suffered a near death experience.

“During the time of Paul’s visit, some of the Jewish community of Antioch and Iconium began to stir the town against Paul. Eventually, the tide of public opinion turned, and they stoned Paul, leaving him for dead outside the city. The following day, Paul arose from the stoning and went southeast on to Derbe.”(Acts 14:11)

Several years later Paul wrote about such an awesome experience: “Let me tell about the visions and revelations I received from the Lord. I was caught up into the third heaven 14 years ago. Whether my body was there or just my spirit, I don’t know; only God knows. But I do know that I was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be told.” 2 Corinthians 12:l-4 New Living Translation

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1926 — 2004) believed that after death a person continues to live on because one’s consciousness doesn’t die. She reached that conclusion after studying 20,000 cases of dying experiences from all over the world. As they were about to die many people saw their relatives waiting for them.

Numerous studies of the near death experience have been conducted and the findings confirm Dr. Kubler-Ross’s discoveries. One of the most convincing study is from Dr. Pim Van Lomel, a cardiologist. He interviewed 344 patients from 10 hospitals in Holland who had been saved after suffering from heart attacks. He found that 18 percent of them had near-death experiences. Out of those who had near-death experiences, 30 percent of the patients had experienced passing through a tunnel and seeing heaven or their relatives who had died. Twenty-five percent of them had experienced sensations where their consciousnesses were separated from their bodies, communicated with “light” or saw colored lights. Thirteen percent of them had experienced the review of their whole lives.

The tiny percentage of those who tried to kill themselves came back after a bad trip because they had not completed the purpose for their life on earth. Life is a challenge, sometimes brutal, but we are encouraged by the knowledge that “all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross said: “I’ve told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.”

Dr. Dianne Morrissey who experienced near death, said : “If I lived a billion years more, in my body or yours, there’s not a single experience on Earth that could ever be as good as being dead. Nothing.”

After his second near death experience Dad shared his story with his Indian congregation at the Pigeon mission in the Cookson Hills of eastern Oklahoma. He concluded his message with these words:

“I learned that the things we worry about in this life are insignificant because the most important thing in life is our relationship to the Lord. I’ll never be afraid of death again; I look forward to it because it is the most pleasant experience you could ever imagine.”

A few months later, still living among his Indian friends, Dad passed away in his sleep. Leaving his old body behind he no doubt received a wonderful new body appropriate for his life after death.

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