{"id":6210,"date":"2017-03-06T15:21:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T15:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=6210"},"modified":"2017-03-07T13:29:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T13:29:24","slug":"catholic-beyond-death-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/catholic-beyond-death-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Death’s ‘Doors’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Actually, there doesn’t seem to be so much a door. If testimonies are to be believed, it’s more like simply walking into an open room or being transported there faster that fast in a dimensional warp.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s no dream. Life on earth is what suddenly seems like the dream. But glimpses of it can occur, in dreams, while we still walk this earth.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Not every experience is pleasant, though most are. Addictions are something that can be dangerous, as are narcissism, atheism, greed, sodomy, and suicide.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"There was a fellow<\/strong> named Bill who was a drug user and heavy alcoholic, drinking morning till night — while som<\/span>ehow holding a job in construction. He had a wife and kids. But he grew so desperate — so deranged — he decided to kill himself.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The night before his planned suicide, after saying prayers with his children — acting as if all was normal — he fell asleep and lapsed into an incredible “dream.” Was it really a dream, or a preview? (You can watch his testimony\u00a0below<\/em>.)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“All of a sudden,\u00a0<\/span>I’m in hell,” said Bill. “When I say ‘hell,’ I mean this cave. The cave is humongus<\/em> — I can’t even describe it. Over to my left there’s like this two-mile-wide crater, with orange, yellowish, reddish flames coming up and the screams are\u00a0millions<\/em> at a time, and the thought that hit my head was, that’s where Hitler is, that’s where a lot of people leading people to death are.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“Where I was was on this, like, ledge. There were two cave entrances there. I didn’t go into them but I could see them. There were demons and people screaming all over. A demon would grab my arm and pull and rip my arm off where I’d see the veins hanging and the skin and the blood. He’d pull it off and a couple second later it would be back on again and he would do the same thing all over again, looking at me, laughing, because he just wants to see the fear and fright on my face.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“In front of me stood<\/span> — the only thing I can describe it as is a monster: like four feet wide, huge shoulders, with huge claws and he would just go like this and\u00a0wham, <\/em>hit me and rip my stomach, and my whole insides would fall out. [The demons] were content to do this forever. You absolutely knew that in your heart. The chaos for me was the separation from God. I could pray all I want but I couldn’t get my prayers up to him. It’s over.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At the opposite extreme are the realms that are heavenly — realms plural, for there are many levels. We die into the unique state that has defined us.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is Dave Breidenbach, who recently spoke about his beyond-death experience at Saint Louis Church in Tiffin, Ohio. His life had nearly ended on April 27th, 2016 from a heart attack.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>(See video\u00a0below<\/em> for his testimony also.)\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>While emergency responders<\/strong><\/span> desperately tried to save his life, Dave experienced what he believes to be Heaven: a calm, warm and welcoming place. He relates that, in an instant, all the beliefs of his Christian faith were completely confirmed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A lifelong parishioner of the parish, his goal now to inspire all believers to hold onto their faith because “Heaven is worth it” and the Catholic faith if real.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Church, he points out, is such an aid and refuge. “What I learned from my heart attack was that my faith will get you to Heaven. The faith that I learned here and accepted will take you to Heaven and it took me there.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As a Dallas police officer and senior corporal named Ed Lujan [left]<\/em>, who was struck by an SUV as he and other officers escorted four men from a nightclub,\u00a0has stated<\/a>, there was “the euphoria of my life and soul leaving my body. So it wasn’t a feeling of sadness or joy. It was more like tranquility. So I knew what was going on. I’m dying.”\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>As a television news station recounted, Lujan says he looked over to the side of the road and saw his dad, who had died eight years before, there standing over him.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“He’s looking down at me and he says, ‘Son, get up,'” he said. “And I said, ‘Dad, I can’t get up.’ And then I will never forget this, he puts his hands on his knees and he bends down towards me and he’s looking down at my eye and he says, ‘Son, you have to get up because you have a family that loves you and needs you.'”\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And so it was that the Texas police officer suddenly took a deep breath and found himself back in the hospital.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Just like that.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Just like slipping back into the dimension we call life on earth.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n