Are Near-Death Experiences Real or Fake? What I Learned After Meeting Jesus in Heaven
Excerpted from The NDE Conspiracy.
After I am finished describing the wonders of Heaven I experienced after clinically dying in the hospital for 30 minutes and 49 seconds from pulmonary emboli, sepsis, and clotting throughout my body, some have said, “I wish that I could have had an experience like yours.”
I usually respond with something like this: “Well, then you’d have to die first.” That usually causes the person to retract their immediate desire to experience Heaven.
But then I started interviewing people who testified of visions of Heaven, some even said that they were translated to Heaven. After considering these, I thought to myself, Gee, I would have liked to experience Heaven without flatlining and returning with damaged organs, poor circulation from damaged valves, a cerebral bleed, disabilities, and lifelong medications to keep me alive. It sure would have been a whole lot easier.
One man I interviewed was lying in bed and then caught a vision of Heaven that he described in vivid detail. I said, “Well, I consider visions to be somewhat subjective since they are ethereal in nature and filtered through the brain. When someone clinically dies, their brain ceases to interpret their experiences.” He countered in a rather resentful way, “I disagree, I think my vision was as real as your experience.” I did not want to argue the point, but I remained confident that if he were to die and experience Heaven through his spiritual body, he would agree with me.
Because freed of our body, and entirely present with God, the very definition of reality changes. Many of my fellow afterlife survivors and I say that “Heaven is more real than this world.” The senses are multiplied beyond our five senses on earth, and the assimilation of experiences is processed entirely through what the apostle Paul states in Philippians as “the mindset of Jesus.”
I believe wholeheartedly in visions and dreams and that one can catch a glimpse of Heaven on earth. But your Christian loved ones who died are now citizens of Heaven, and I would testify from my afterlife experience that they consider their life on earth to be more like a dream. Sometimes I will catch myself walking and think, Is this place real, or am I just imagining what I see? I know that sounds bizarre, but compared to Heaven this world seems like it’s filmed in black and white. Remember how the Wizard of Oz movie started in black and white and then Dorothy found herself in a world of color? It is kind of like that.
The NDE Conspiracy: Can We Trust Eyewitness Accounts of Heaven, Hell & The Afterlife?
Shaun Tabatt
I especially question when people have visions of hell and then start telling people that they are going to hell if they mess up on earth, even if they are Christians. I consider those who experienced a vision in hell while sitting in a chair or on a bed to be like armchair referees. Some of them go to Heaven and hell so often that it appears they must have a built-in elevator. And they are very willing to tell you about Heaven or hell as if their word is gospel.
On the flip side, those who I have interviewed who died and went to hell as non-believers typically suffered from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) afterward. This tells me that their experience was not only real, but that they felt like they would never escape their torments.
If you have ever experienced a nightmare, and then awoke thinking you are still partly in that nightmare, you may have had a vision of hell, but you were not in hell. A dream is surreal. A vision can also be surreal, because it is at least in part processed through the brain. I experienced a vision of Heaven when I became a Christian, 16 years before my afterlife experience in Heaven.
The difference between the two was night and day. The afterlife experience was far more real. Afterlife experiences come from those whose heart has stopped, which is the definition of clinical death, and typically that cardiac arrest lasts for more than just a few seconds. Hence, the brain has stopped functioning. There is thus no imagination.
Near-death experiences are self-defined as when a person is near death, such as being in a coma or a severe accident, but the near-death survivor has not clinically died. Their brain remains functional but impaired, which somehow seems to allow them to see into the non-physical world, albeit, filtered through the brain. Then there is a third type of experience that many fit into the near-death experience (NDE) category, which includes visions. That person is cogent and perhaps caught in a type of trance.
When you die, you will have an afterlife experience. Any otherworldly vision you may experience will be complemented by your brain. What deeply saddens me is when people summarily dismiss any NDE experience as false. Barring some change in their attitude, they will know the undeniable truth when they die. I admit that I sometimes think of meeting them in Heaven one day so that I can say, “See, I told you so!”
One person that I will not say that to is Shaun Tabatt. He is a believer. He was an “NDE doubter” when I first met him. At that time, he was a manager at the publishing company of my first book that shared my experience. We started a podcast together called, 2 Christian Dudes, where we interviewed near-death and afterlife survivors. I was the so-called “experiencer,” and he was the former skeptic turned “researcher.” We became good friends.
And then Shaun suffered through his wife Lynette’s brain cancer. Lynette believed in afterlife stories up to the point where she went to Heaven to experience her own. I will never forget having dinner with Shaun and Lynette before her diagnosis as Lynette earnestly asked me about Heaven; and now that I look back on those conversations, I realize that God was preparing her for Heaven.
Now I believe that these afterlife stories are not only helping prepare people for their eternity, but they are helping to save people so that they can experience Jesus in Heaven. In my experience, I have witnessed thousands come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior through these testimonies. For some, these true afterlife stories allay their doubts and confirm that indeed there is God and there is a life after this life.
Some NDE stories speak to a vast universe or light that evokes a feeling of comfort or of being home. They relate a type of oneness with a nondescript being or feeling. The hundreds I have interviewed and shown on our YouTube channel speak of meeting a personal God, often Jesus. I find those accounts to be most reassuring. After all, no one can really relate to the universe or light, but we can all relate to a person. A personal God is so much more reassuring, especially One who made us in His image. My study of afterlife survivors revealed that only those who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior testify of a Person who loves them, enjoys them, laughs with them, and comforts them.
I met Jesus in Heaven. More importantly, He met me as a former agnostic. I did not even believe in near-death experiences until I had my own experience. I was a skeptic. Maybe you are one too. That’s okay. I only know one Person who is perfect. As you read through the pages of this book, I trust that your doubts will be at least lessened, that you will better be able to discern fact from fiction and ungodly experiences from godly ones, and that most critically, you will know the truth.
Not all NDE stories are true. Not all NDE stories that are true tell the truth. The physical demise might be real, but the experience told doesn’t reveal the truth of the afterlife. That may seem like a conundrum, but some NDEs can lead people astray, making them believe a lie, or they can distort the reality of the afterlife.
How can you discern between what is true or not true? May I suggest that you see where the afterlife story leads. Does it lead to a new or more loving relationship with God? I know for the unbeliever this may seem unrealistic; but as a former agnostic who clung to his unbelief and as a former NDE denier who clung to his reason and as someone who met Jesus in Heaven after dying, I can testify that Heaven is real, Jesus is real, and He loves you more than you can possibly imagine!
What Really Awaits Us Beyond the Veil?
You've read the amazing accounts and heard the incredible interviews of people who’ve died, experienced the afterlife, and come back to tell about it―but can you actually believe them?
As one of the most trusted Christian voices in the NDE space, bestselling author and podcaster Shaun Tabatt has spent years researching and investigating testimonies of near-death experiences throughout history. His interviews with survivors have been heard by millions around the world, and what he’s found will fundamentally change the way you think about afterlife accounts.
In this astonishing, eye-opening book, Shaun reveals the truths, the lies, and the ugly sides of NDE accounts, empowering you to discern what’s trustworthy, disprove what’s dangerous, and confidently know what awaits you on the other side.
Full of never-before-published testimonies of heaven and hell, penetrating research, notable stories and documentation throughout history, and real-world wisdom, this vital, accessible book turns a critical eye on afterlife accounts and the NDE industry, helping you:
Stay grounded in biblical truth and a biblical worldview.
Understand the 9-point NDE framework and standard terminology.
Separate the truth from the lies in NDE and afterlife descriptions.
Expose perilous pitfalls, such as psychics, mediums, aliens, spirits, and memories of past lives.
Share the true hope of the afterlife with others.
Don’t fall for false witnesses or half-truths. What lies beyond the veil is more amazing than you can imagine―it’s time to discover the truth for yourself!
