I discovered our church had a library and I brought many books home, usually biographies. I also read the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye; all twelve books! Then I found a used book web site, and started buying used books to save money. My interest focused on near-death experiences of others. I did not discriminate about who’s NDE’s I read; atheists, new agers, practitioners of mystic religions, etc. None of this mattered. I took them all in, and eventually ended up with sixty plus books on this fascinating subject.
One winter day I invited a new friend from church over to my home. Her name was Nanda, and she grew up in Brazil. Both of our husbands are geologists so I wanted to find out what we gals had in common. She brought a lovely Christmas cactus as a gift, and I still have it. I thought we had a nice visit, but she never came to my home again.
Two years passed. In April of 2013 the women of our church put on a Christian retreat at a lovely spot called Hot Lake Springs Resort just minutes from our community. It was a wonderful Friday and Saturday of fellowship with fellow believers. I was excited about this retreat because I knew God had a special message for me. What the message was or who it would come from I had no idea. Saturday afternoon we were enjoying our last hour on the property when the Lord told me to sit down on a pew in a quiet hallway. As I sat there God led Nanda my direction, and she immediately sat next to me.
“I have something to tell you. God finally gave me permission to tell you.” Nanda said.
I sensed the seriousness of what she was about to say, and suddenly realized this was the message from God I was waiting for. “I’m ready for whatever you have to say.” I gave her a big smile to help her relax.
Nanda spoke slowly and with intensity as she described the afternoon two years before when she came to my home. As we sat visiting in my garden room she described a terrible feeling which overcame her. She felt a terrible darkness enter the room, as if one of her children had died. It was that awful, and dark, and overpowering. She did not feel she could tell me this because we barely knew each other. So Nanda visited a little longer then left as quickly as she politely could.
Back at her home everything was fine. Her children were fine. And the really dark feeling was gone. Nanda sensed there was something in my home which shouldn’t be there, but she did not receive permission from God to talk to me about this until now.
Stunned, I listened carefully to my friend’s version of what I thought had been a pleasant visit that afternoon. It certainly explained why she never returned. What was in my home that could make such a dark imprint? My husband and I don’t drink or do drugs. We don’t tolerate pornography, or even violent movies. I follow the Bible mandate to have nothing to do with sorcery, or witchcraft, or the “dark arts”.
Then I thought about my book collection of Near Death Experiences. How many of these were books God wouldn’t approve of? How many were actually books describing counterfeit experiences with eternity that Satan had created to deceive people? I knew these thoughts were placed there by God. I spoke my questions out loud to Nanda. She thoughtfully responded that she didn’t know what was in my house that I needed to get rid of, but that God would reveal it to me. Then we prayed together. I thanked her for being honest with me.
I had many excuses for keeping ALL these books, and I started to argue with God about what He was asking me to do. I’ve spent a lot of time, and effort, and money putting together this incredible collection of over sixty books. Some of the books I knew God was asking me to destroy were in excellent condition, and signed by the author! Some of the books were no longer in print, and I spent much time hunting for them. Some of the books were just plain physically beautiful with lovely dust jackets over hard covers, and the thought of destroying them just went against the grain.
But God reminded me that satan comes as an angel of light, a beautiful creature that attracts our eye. Doesn’t it make sense that satan’s books would look the same way? But inside those books are lies and deception which I don’t want to expose myself or anyone else to. The books God guided me to destroy included near-death-experiences where the person returned convinced that no one need to fear death because everyone goes to heaven. Anyone who has read the Bible knows this is not true. Other fallacies are that if each of us just does the best we can, and lives a good life then we’ll go to heaven. Jesus clearly taught that it is because of His sacrifice on the cross that we can become the children of God, and go to heaven to live with God. We cannot earn our way to heaven. Some authors have returned saying there is no God because God is within us, therefor all we have to do to experience “heaven” is to do whatever seems right to us while on earth. Any one who has really considered the beauty and complexity of a clear night sky knows that only God could have created this vast and amazing universe we live in. God is our creator and He has provided a way for us to have a relationship with Him; through Jesus Christ His only Son!
I left the women’s retreat ready to clean house! I knew without a doubt this was God’s special message for me, and He’d waited two years, and the last hour of retreat to tell me. God knew I was not ready before now to be obedient to complete this challenging task. The next seven days was spent going through every book I’d piled onto the dining room table about NDE’s. There were over sixty books. I knew within minutes which ones God didn’t want me to keep, but I decided to take notes on the reasons I was either keeping or destroying each book. By the end of the week I was exhausted. I’d been in the midst of spiritual warfare, and my energy was zapped. But I was elated that I’d chosen to be obedient to what God asked me to do. In total I destroyed thirty books. And the remaining thirty books in my library are all excellent accounts accurately detailing a Near Death Experience with a Biblical perspective.
Some of you may be curious about the subject of NDE’s, and would like to read more on this subject. I’m listing a few books here that I highly recommend!
“In Heaven! Experiencing the Throne of God” by Dean Braxton
“The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven” by Kevin & Alex Malarkey
“My Glimpse of Eternity” by Betty Malz
“To Heaven and Back; a Doctor’s Extraordinary Account” by Mary C. Neal, M.D.
“90 Minutes In Heaven; a True Story” by Don Piper
“To Hell and Back” by Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D.
“Ordered To Return; My Life After Dying” by George G. Ritchie, M.D.
“My Descent Into Death; a Second Chance at Life” by Howard Storm