NDEs affirm God's power and may threaten hell

Jeffrey Long in his book God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (2016) reports on research conducted by the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF).

Hell

“Hellish NDEs are dramatically different from the overwhelming majority of NDEs. They are also completely outside the life experience of nearly all people. However, frightening and even hellish NDEs do exist.” {GA, 157}

Frances’ experience after she had taken narcotic medication to kill herself: As they were taking me to the hospital, my heart stopped and from outside of my body I watched them do CPR on me. As we arrived at the hospital, I began to descend into darkness. I was falling down a very dark tunnel. Demons appeared around me, and even though I was spirit—my body had stayed at the hospital—they were going through the motions of ripping my flesh off. It was intensely painful. As I went deeper and deeper into Hell, I saw many historical figures, and last, my father. My father welcomed me to Hell, and I thought, “This is it for me. My life on earth is over, and I’ve ended up in Hell.” I didn’t think getting out of Hell would be a possibility, but suddenly I started to go back up the tunnel toward my body. But I didn’t return completely. I stayed apart from my body and watched the doctors work on it. As my vital signs returned, I was pulled toward my body and then into it. {GA, 166-167}

“Frances described her life after her attempted suicide as one of regaining her zeal for life and adding newly found compassion.” Before this experience I did not care about anyone. I was a nurse with no compassion (except when caring for people in hospice). Nowadays I care much about others and try to help whenever possible. {GA, 167}

Long comments that these frightening experiences, as with Frances, “can lead to the same level of positive transformation as those NDEs that might be described as pleasant.”  And he adds, “I never read an NDE describing God casting the NDEr into an irredeemable hellish realm.” {GA, 171}

Power

Long reminds us that: “Many traditional religious stories emphasize the deity’s overwhelming power—whether it is Zeus sending storms of the biblical God destroying Sodom. But in reviewing the near-death experiences that discuss encountering God,” Long says, there are “almost no descriptions of God dramatically demonstrating destructive power.” Long says he cannot recall, “any descriptions in the NDEs of God using power to harm any being. However, descriptions of the power of God are unmistakable when reading near-death experiences.” {GA, 173}

I realized I had entered a new dimension of consciousness. I suddenly realized that I was in the control of some being so powerful it was overwhelming. It was the God that I tried so hard to believe in on earth. {GA, 174}

I became aware of a presence vast and unimaginable, everywhere and everything, the beginning and the end, and he was Love. I came to know that Love is a power to rival all powers—real and perceived—in the universe. {GA, 174}

I wanted to know what to call this light form. It was a pure form of energy. It began to tell me some of the many names for God that our world cultures use. I said that “God” worked for me, even though in my life I didn’t know whether I believed in God. I recognized that many of the people I knew would have called it God. We began to communicate. Where was I? Home, familiar place, somewhere I had been many times before. The light wanted to know what I was doing there; I wanted to know too. {GA, 176}

The Goldenness was all-knowing wisdom, whereas the sheer clarity of the Brilliant Light was what one may call “God.” However, it seems to me that we are incorrect to name such Sacred Holiness and power. I can only say that I have witnessed the ultimate of all that is, was, and ever shall be; yet I can’t name that which can’t be described. {GA, 177}

Cynthia’s NDE at age twelve: The being was God. I asked Him whether only people of one religion will make it into heaven. He said everyone who believes and has faith, even those who don’t think they do, will make it. It depends on what’s in their hearts. {GA, 181}

“It is important to note that near-death experiencers in the God Study come from every walk of life. Among these NDErs are physicians, scientists, nurses, teachers, business executives, homemakers, children, pastors, and others. From these varied backgrounds comes a collection of similar experiences of God and the divine. As a scientist,” Long reports, “I find this not only statistically remarkable, but also hopeful. It suggests that life is not random. And the NDErs agree. Here are just a few NDErs’ thoughts on their renewed sense of life and meaning after their near-death experience.” {GA, 194}

All we need on earth is our belief and faith in God to love, forgive, and accept one another. God loves all creatures. {GA, 195}

We can learn and grow, ultimately learning the power we have within us to create our lives if we honor our calling, our divine purpose. {GA, 195}

I came to understand that life is an opportunity for us to express and experience love. {GA, 195}

“Confounding description even more is the all-inclusive nature of the love these NDE explorers felt. They describe this love as being the very essence of God. Hence, it is the very essence of all reality, the cosmos, life, all things. It is our essence. The light, or energy, behind all creation is or consists of love.” {GA, 195}

Long concludes that: “in the investigation of the largest collection of near-death experiences to date, we see overwhelming evidence of God. This opens a door for science, for humanity, and for religion. Near-death experiences reveal that death is not an end, but an opening to a wonderful afterlife. I believe this is profoundly good news for all of us.” {GA, 196}

{GA} - Jeffrey Long, God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (2016).