Page 82...
"After dying...One NDEer, Peter Johnson, states that he was informed in the other world that his first duty would be to watch his body until it had been disposed of because this was necessary knowledge for him to have for the resurrection..."*1
> I believe this to be hogwash and the fellow likely hoodwinked by Satan or one of his minions (evil spirits). Why would I say that!?
God is very capable of gathering us back together even if a person has been cremated and had their ashes spread far and wide. God's Word informs us in Revelation 20:13-14 that,
"The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done..."
Our spirits don't have to search about for our departed, decayed bodies; or what's left of them.
Also, we followers of Jesus Christ will be given incorruptible bodies so we don't need to know where our old earthly, corruptible body has been buried nor where our ashes have been stashed or scattered to the winds (1 Corinthians 15:53). God has given the believer "everlasting life"; their body needs to be able to last.
Those who will go to Hell will have bodies that never get burned up although they likely will feel the pain of the lake of fire, as we have learned in Part 7, that Hell is "everlasting punishment and destruction".
So saying, I don't believe we have to worry about our bodies' whereabouts when we die. I'll let God take care of it.
Another reason given as to why peoples'...
"spirits choose to hover about on earth for a short time"*2
after death, according to Betty Eadie, is...
"to comfort their loved ones".*3
> This does not ring true to me. I have been to several Chinese religion funerals, and the families of the deceased were not comforted. In fact they do everything possible to "persuade" the spirit to go peacefully to where it is supposed to go by burning "hell notes" and making appeasement sacrifices in the form of various foods that the deceased enjoyed during earth life; and the burning of articles made of paper in the shape of cars or computers, etc. They have a continual recorded chant beckoning the departed to go to the 'right' place. When they leave the funeral parlor and the grave site and go home they will make a little fire at the entrance to the driveway of their home. Family members will be compelled to step over that fire to deter the spirit of the departed loved one from coming home and disturbing the family with unrest.
These actions show fear. I can not understand why a departed loved one who was good, kind and loving in life would suddenly turn and wreck havoc in the family?! This is not comfort at all. This is distinct discomfort if you ask me.
In the movie The 6th Sense, a little boy is disturbed, well, not mildly disturbed, he was terrified by the spirits whom he could see loitering about and that were even injuring him. They wanted to make him do things for them. Granted the spirits wanted to set wrongs they had been dealt in life, straight. For instance one little girl's spirit kept badgering him til he was told by an adult, who in the end turned out to be a departed spirit as well, to see what the girl spirit wanted. Her mother had been instrumental in her death. Unbeknownst to the mother, the girl, while still alive, had videoed the mother's actions. The girl spirit then wanted the boy to find that video tape and give it to her father so that the truth of the matter would be revealed.
I do not believe that these things can happen. Rather, I believe that, if there are spirits roaming about that they are evil spirits sent from Satan. He likes to have a semblance of doing good thus the portrayence of it as in the movie-story related above but he is always a deceiver and so are his minions. They masquerade as the departed. They are very tricky like their master Satan whom God abhors. As mentioned in Part 5, God "strictly forbids" communicating with the departed spirits.
Lazarus was not allowed to go back to earth to help or watch over anything (Luke 16:24-26). In fact he was very comfortable in Paradise; his worries and torment over. In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul begged the Witch of Endor (both in bodily form in the land of the living) to communicate with the prophet Samuel (deceased and spirit form) to get some information about the coming battle. Samuel scolded him for disturbing him. The witch, herself "cried out with a loud voice". This was unusual for her too. She was not used to "the real thing". One can only conclude she was used to the demons manifesting and deceiving.
God's Word does not tell us to engage the evil spirits. We are to don the armor of God and stand firm and pray (Ephesians 6:10:-17). We are to submit to God, and to God alone (James 4:7). We are to resist the devil. If we are listening to the supposed spirits of the departed, we are then being controlled by them. We believers in Jesus Christ should only be controlled by the Holy Spirit of God.As mentioned in the introduction above, it is the spirit of the NDEer that is hovering and loitering and that can 'buzz' about. Near Death, are the key words. If a person is dead their spirit will go to be "with Christ" or go to Hades and stay there till the resurrection of the dead when they will then stand before God to be judged, either before the Bema Seat (for Christians) or the Great White Throne (for all the others). This is the knowledge we need to have in the here and now. Prepare to meet God now in this very alive and living-on-earth-moment (Amos 4:12)! Are you ready to meet your Maker? He'll take care of your body as well as your spirit.
~ERC 2016~
Bibliography
1. The Eternal Journey; Craig R. Lundahl, Ph.D. and Harold A. Widdison, Ph.D.; copyright 1997; Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 A Time Warner Company; page 82.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
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