What Are Near-Death Experiences?

Among the best-selling authors in the field of near-death experiences is Raymond A. Moody, who wrote two books on the subject, Life after Life and Reflections on Life after Life, both of which were published by Bantam Books in 1975 and 1976 respectively.  The other author is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who wrote Questions and Answers on Death and Dying, published by MacMillan in 1974.  Following closely behind Moody and Kübler-Ross is Ralph Wilkenson, pastor of Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim, California and author of Beyond and Back, published in 1977.  Two major motion pictures, Brainstorm and Flatliners, have been based on near-death experiences.

It is crucial to remember that no matter how real an experience may be, it must not take the place of Scripture.  Scripture has much to say about death, but says little about the actual process of death, that is, what actually happens at the moment of death.  Genesis 35:18 gives the first reference to a soul departing the body in death.  Whereas, 1 Kings 17:21 records that God allowed the soul of a child to come back into his dead body.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 offers a clue as to what happens at death.

The problem with near-death experiences is that the person claims to have died and come back from the dead to share a vision or message with the world.  The obvious needs mentioning though, that the experience is “near-death,” the person was not clinically dead.  There are abundant accounts of people being resuscitated after long periods of time during which no vital signs registered, indicating that the soul never left the body, but that the body merely ceased to function.  Many people that come out of these states have no recollection of being conscious.

The near-death experience begins with a roaring sound, followed by the sensation of traveling down a dark tunnel at great speed towards a distant light at the end.  Oftentimes the being of light engulfs the person in love or the being turns out claiming to be Jesus.  The being never condemns the person and never mentions the need of salvation.  Given what Jesus taught about demonic deception, it would make perfect sense that Satan would take great pleasure in convincing souls of the need to not fear the judgment of God.

Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, rightly concludes that “the disembodied soul is still subject to the deception wrought by the ‘ruler of the kingdom of the air’ (Eph. 2:2) and his minions, who are not above appearing as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:14).”1  God said clearly that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27) which would lead to the conclusion that the person’s experience was not what he thought it was, especially when the messages received conflict Scripture, which they often do.

1 Douglas Groothuis, “To Heaven and Back?,” Christianity Today, 3 April 1995, p. 42.