Spirit Daily

The archives:

Visions From Beyond: Woman Reflects On Her Glimpse Of Eternity And The 'Future'

By Michael H. Brown

We've been talking of late about near-death experiences. Some years ago, while speaking in New Orleans, I met a Louisiana woman who described a brush with death and what she had seen during what sounded like an incredible experience. Her name is Sondra Abrahams (from a small city called Sulphur) and she says she "died" in 1970 after undergoing a hysterectomy.

During that experience she allegedly encountered Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and the Archangel Michael. And she claims she was shown certain aspects of the future. She says she was shown the crisis of abortion (this was just before Roe v. Wade) and also something that for years she referred to as "duplication" -- but which she now knows as "cloning."

As former New orleans Archbishop Philip Hannon points out in video about her, Sondra's insights are private revelations that one can accept or reject. We always study such accounts, and as Scripture advises, take from them only what is good -- discerning not only the root experience, but also aspects of the content. But if you're like us, you find such insights informative and even fascinating.  

How was Jesus?

Sondra still weeps when she discusses it, as she does in a new video. "I literally died on the emergency room table," she says. "I saw the doctors working on me. I went through the tunnel toward the light and Jesus was in it." He embraced her, she recounts, with a love that is far beyond any love experienced in the world. "I touched His tears and I will always cry His tears," says Sondra, who still weeps when she speaks of an event that occurred 33 years ago.

"I want to get people back on the track to God, because I don't want anyone to end up in hell," says Sondra, who saw the netherworld, as well as purgatory. "I have had souls come asking for prayers. Sometimes I hear a voice coming like on the wind: 'pray for me.' When you get to purgatory, once you leave here, this earth, this life, you can do nothing for yourself. You are at Christ's mercy. You have to be cleansed of any blemish on your soul. Some go right through and right out. You really judge yourself. You know why you're there. You understand it. It's our prayer, our Rosaries, our Masses, that get them out. When I saw my soul, I knew I didn't belong in Heaven. My soul was dark gray. When I looked to heaven and saw the souls and how radiant they were, I knew I couldn't stay. It was just beautiful. I knew I couldn't stay, even though I wanted to."

How do we know how long we could spend there, she was asked by interviewer Mary Lou McCall?

"You don't know," says Sondra.

What about non-Catholics?

"There are prayers for the forgotten dead," says Sondra. "Everyone has a chance for Heaven. It's not just Catholics. Heaven is for everyone -- every religion."

When a person suddenly comes to mind, when someone we never think of appears in our dreams or thoughts, could that mean anything?

"It could mean they need just one prayer to get out of there," says Sondra.

What about priests? And the current sexual scandal?

"If you noticed, these problems began around Vatican II," asserts Sondra. "A lot of these changes that were made were not supposed to be made. Things from Vatican II were taken out of context and put into the Church. I love my priests and I have wonderful priest-friends, but I have to say that many of the priests and some of our bishops became very materialistic. They get caught in the materialistic world like we do. They need to be very careful in the seminaries. I communicate with many seminarians. I'm worried about the Church. It will survive, but there are many things introduced right now that are wrong. When we're told not to genuflect during Communion, people don't like that. They moved the tabernacles to the side. Now when you genuflect in the pews, you have to turn to the sides. It should be in the center of the Church. That worries me. We're taking things away from Him."

Were you warned about pedophilia, she was asked?

"I saw a priest falling, just falling [into hell], because of bad things. And Christ told me He was going to cleanse His Church, and He meant it. But there are so many good priests, and some are being accused of things that happened 30 years ago, and they have never done anything since, and those we need to use. Christ forgave. I'll probably get some flak on this, but if [victims] forgive, they'll find a healing."

You received an overwhelming message of love, that it can heal all?

"That's right. Forgiveness and love. That's why Christ came. Right now we're on the brink of war because we can't forgive. We have to forgive. No one wants to forgive."

You saw babies in test tubes and so forth. We're hearing they cloned a baby, said McCall. What about that?

"I don't think they really cloned a baby yet. And saying they named it 'Eve,' that's really a slap. Either there's something wrong with the baby or they didn't do it. The one thing God told me was that when we tried to become God that He would come down on us, that He would come down on us [she weeps]. You noticed when all this cloning was announced, the weather got horrible everywhere? That's God saying He's still in control. The other thing I was shown was a war. And it won't be like any kind of war we've ever had before, and it's going to be here on our land too. I'd like to write to the President and ask him not to do this.  It won't just be a war of guns and planes but nuclear, and every little nation that has a nuclear weapon will get in on it. I've seen it. He showed it to me. Fires out of the sky, people burning, death everywhere. I can still even smell the smoke. I've never talked about it because I wanted to keep the focus on love. Peace can happen, it can happen, but we have to pray."

But what about those who say we have to show that we're strong? What about responding to terrorism?

"There has to be another way. Right now it's like, 'you hit me I'll hit you back.' That's not forgiveness. This year is going to be one crazy year. The end of the world? No. But a punishment. There will be famine and extreme cold and we will not have medical supplies and we will have to go backwards. That's all there is to it. We've become so advanced with things like cloning and we think we're so smart that we have to go back to find God."

For years Sondra kept silent about her experience, telling only family members, but began to speak publicly after another spiritual experience. She says she saw a ball of fire came from a tabernacle and re-experienced her near-death brush. Oil has allegedly exuded from her. On her chest, there was a perfect cross. She claims to see angels. She claims to know their names. We are very cautious about such; we can't vouch for experiences beyond the basic near-death brush.

Again, we must discern each claim individually, but there is no denying the power behind Sondra's experience. What about those who think such experiences are hocus-pocus? Sondra shrugs that off. Every person, she says, has been born, has been sent, on a mission. It's up to us to fulfill that mission. And to pray. With prayer, she says, we can stop the otherwise looming wars.

[Resources: Her Life After Death, Her Return To Life, After Life]