Tens of millions of individuals throughout the globe have had a near-death expertise (NDE), in response to the 2019 European Academy of Neurology’s examine spanning thirty-five international locations. Individuals who clinically die and are resuscitated typically come again reporting an expertise of Heaven or Hell, and even God. Do these wildly fashionable tales of the afterlife verify or battle with what the Bible teaches?
Agnostic to Believer
I first encountered near-death experiences as an agnostic over forty years in the past. My dad was dying of most cancers after I observed a e-book on his bedside desk. It was the primary examine to popularize this phenomenon. I learn the e-book in a single evening, and it set me on a journey to religion in Christ. I’ve since gone from a profession in engineering to a church-planting pastor, and over the previous forty years, I’ve interviewed or studied near 1,500 circumstances of near-death expertise. For a few years, I used to be confused by some NDE experiences that appeared to battle with the Bible. Nonetheless, the extra circumstances I studied alongside the biblical teachings on Heaven, the extra I understood these conflicts, and I gained perception on the explanations to consider these testimonies are literally God’s international apologetic as we speak. Let me provide you with my high causes Christians shouldn’t ignore NDEs:
Verifiable Observations
Close to-death experiencers report their soul leaving their bodily physique, but they’re nonetheless themselves with a non secular physique (like in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Constantly, they report being “up above” their our bodies, observing what folks did and stated throughout their resuscitation. These verifiable observations have been scientifically studied, displaying that 92% of their observations had been fully correct, 6% had been principally correct, solely 2% had been inaccurate, but that they had no brainwaves. As heart specialist Dr. Michael Sabom experiences of his affected person’s NDE, “he described the resuscitation with such element and accuracy that I may have later used the tape to show physicians” (Think about Heaven p. 21). Verifiable observations floor these experiences in our actuality, giving proof that NDEs usually are not a brain-based phenomenon however proof of the soul.
Blind Individuals See
In my books, I write about six folks, blind from start, who describe “seeing” the identical commonalities throughout their NDEs that sighted experiencers report. Brad Barrows informed me, “There was super mild up there… It appeared like all the things, even the grass I had been stepping on appeared to soak in that mild” (Think about Heaven, p. 68). Vicky stated the same factor, “What the sunshine conveyed was love…love got here from the grass, love got here from the birds, love got here from the timber.” That is exactly what the Apostle John describes of Heaven, “The glory of God illuminates town…The nations will stroll in its mild…” (Rev. 21:23-24, italics mine). Blind NDErs “see” the glory of God’s mild that’s God’s love infusing Heaven.
God of All Nations
I’ve interviewed NDErs of various nationalities and non secular backgrounds who report seeing God. Surprisingly, the God they constantly describe has the identical traits, although totally different from their very own non secular expectations. They encounter a really private Being, not an impersonal pressure; a God who is aware of them intimately and whose presence they by no means wish to depart. Their descriptions attest to the God of all nations who declared to Abraham, “All of the households on earth will likely be blessed by means of you” (Genesis 12:3). This occurred when Jesus got here, died, and rose once more, proclaiming “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will likely be preached in his title to all nations” (Luke 24:47 NIV). NDErs from all backgrounds testify to this God of all nations, who stands able to forgive all who flip again to him.
Mild and Love
Close to-death experiencers constantly describe God as mild brighter than the solar, however not laborious to have a look at—the truth is, mesmerizing. Dr. Ron Smothermon remembers how God appeared throughout his NDE: “God is really wonderful, magnificent, superior, the ultimate. His glory is a lightweight however fabricated from infinite love. God’s mild seems like a sudden, silent, atomic bomb blast of white mild, stuffed with his energy. Think about being 5 ft away from the supply of a nuclear explosion.” Now, one obvious battle with the Bible is how NDErs interpret their expertise of God. As an example, Neha, a Hindu girl, stated that in her NDE, “I went to this wonderful, lovely place: Some name it heaven… The glow appeared just like the solar, fireplace, mild, morning. This glow guided me to my security… God undoubtedly exists” (Think about the God of Heaven, pp. 52-53). However Neha then says she skilled Durga Ma, the Hindu Goddess her household worships. But she doesn’t report seeing something just like the traditional description of Durga Ma, a stupendous girl with eight to 10 arms using a lion. She sees the God of Mild. Many examples like this made me understand there’s a distinction between what NDErs generally report and the way they later interpret their encounter. Neha additionally stated, “I felt a distant presence of Jesus Christ. I got here again understanding Christianity, which beforehand I didn’t.” So, we must always not consider each interpretation of an NDE, however give attention to the commonalities they report, which do align with the Bible. In any case, Yahweh revealed himself to Moses in a superb mild on Mt. Sinai, Jesus’s face shone brighter than the solar on the transfiguration, and Jesus declared, “I’m the sunshine of the world.”
Reality and Omniscience
In God’s presence, NDErs generally report having a Life Evaluate. Heidi, a Jewish lady whose horse fell on her and crushed her, surprisingly discovered herself up above her physique with Jesus. She knew he was God and liked her deeply, but he additionally knew all her good and unhealthy. Jesus gave Heidi a Life Evaluate: “As I floated, a three-dimensional imaginative and prescient of my life started to unfold earlier than me. I may see and really feel the occasions of my life from my very own perspective, however on the identical time I may additionally really feel the impression I had on others” (Think about the God of Heaven, p. 127). NDErs say time is like what Peter describes, “With the Lord a day is sort of a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Due to this, NDErs typically re-live their complete lives in a panoramic, 3D viewing of each scene. The emphasis, they are saying, is on relationship. God cares most about how we love each other, and on this Life Evaluate, they expertise how each little act of kindness, or unkindness, affected the opposite particular person. They actually expertise the reality of Matthew 22:36-40, that loving God and loving your neighbor matter most. The Life Evaluate additionally confirms Matthew 10:26, the place Jesus says that all the things hidden will likely be made identified, and Matthew 25:34-40, which says that each little act of kindness is seen and felt by God. Throughout the globe, folks attest to the reality of Jesus’s phrases throughout their Life Evaluate.
God of Pleasure
NDErs who could have previously considered God as distant, strict, and unemotional are stunned by his pleasure. Former CEO Randy Kay informed me that in his NDE, “Pleasure exuded from each sight and sound, inflicting my coronary heart to leap with pleasure… ‘You see my pleasure?’ Jesus requested. I guessed that the extra you serve others unselfishly on the earth, the higher your pleasure in Heaven.” Many NDErs testify to the enjoyment of God shared by the inhabitants of Heaven, and this could not shock us. Jesus stated, “I’ve informed you this stuff in order that you’ll be crammed with my pleasure. Sure, your pleasure will overflow!” (John 15:11).
God of Jesus
In Think about the God of Heaven, I report on 70 folks I’ve interviewed from India, the Center East, Asia, and throughout the globe. Regardless of various non secular backgrounds, they report the identical God. Typically God seems as a lightweight brighter than the solar, however generally as a person of sunshine they know to be God. To Bibi in Tehran, this man of sunshine stated in Persian, “I AM,” and she or he was again in her physique with a peace and pleasure she’d by no means identified. This despatched her on a search to know the God who declared, “I AM.” Typically, God offers NDErs parables, and after they search him, they discover him. Santosh, a Hindu engineer, completely described seeing the holy metropolis of God, like in Revelation 21, and the Almighty on his throne. Santosh noticed all twelve gates into town had been closed, however one “very slender gate” was open to him. Bibi, Santosh, and lots of others returned from their NDEs searching for the God they encountered and located religion in Jesus. Sometimes, God is extra direct. Dr. Rajiv Parti was the chief anesthesiologist at a serious hospital when he had an NDE. He requested this good God of sunshine, “Who’re you, Lord?” And similar to Saul skilled on the Damascus Street, out of the sunshine stepped a bearded man in a gown of sunshine who stated, “I’m Jesus, your Savior.”
Battle and Affirmation
What about NDErs who say issues that battle with biblical educating? We should perceive that some NDEs are categorised as “shallow,” which means they solely expertise just a few of the forty commonalities I’ve chronicled that align with the Bible. If somebody dies, leaves their physique, feels nice, then returns—they’ll interpret that have inside 100 totally different worldviews, and so they do. Even when Jesus walked the earth, many individuals noticed his miracles and interpreted them as proof he was the Messiah, but others known as him a sorcerer. NDEs are merely testimonies, and the way they interpret their experiences could fluctuate. Nonetheless, what they really report constantly offers international witness to the God of the Bible.
Picture Credit score: ©iStock/Getty Pictures Plus/kieferpix
John Burke is the creator of the New York Occasions bestselling e-book Think about Heaven. His latest e-book, Think about the God of Heaven, reveals seventy international NDEs that verify the God of the Bible. For 60 reflections on God’s character, see Think about the God of Heaven Devotional.
Initially revealed December 09, 2025.
