PastorLonnie  says:
9 months ago

Hi,

I really enjoyed your post. It's very well written. However, I disagree with your assessment that "nobody really knows" if there is a life after death but I agree with your statement that "belief is not knowledge."

The reason that I disagree with your assessment that 'nobody really knows' is because I do know -- as do others who have suffered a similar 'fate' as mine (i.e., dying and returning to earth). I must admit that as a Christian preacher I take exception to what you wrote when you stated that there are "Christian preachers who seem to relish condemning sinners to eternal hell certainly have an effect on their believers." It's not that I disagree with the fact that Christian preachers who actually relish condemning sinners to hell have an effect on those who believe them but that almost zero Christian Preachers I know (and I know thousands of them) 'relish condemning sinners to eternal hell.' Instead, we preach an eternal hell because it's a Biblical truth (and a literal one if my experience is any confirmation) and we don't want people to spend an eternity there (especially since a sinner can become a saint by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior). Okay, enough with the 'sermon.' Here's what happened to me that's convinced me that there is life after death.

On February 16, 2008 (just over a year ago) I died and was translated into Heaven.

My death was preceded by treatment for Stage IV oropharyngeal cancer which consisted of chemo and radiation therapies for months. Then, on February 16th I died of a drug overdose caused from my treatments. When I say that I died I really mean that I DIED -- in at least 3 ways.

First, I suffered from respiratory arrest (death), then, due to the respiratory arrest I suffered cardiac arrest (heart attack that led to death), and, finally I was formally pronounced dead due to the fact that when they did an EEG (brain wave scan) on me I showed no brain actvity (caused by cerebral hypoxia/anoxia -- death).

My wife was told by the on-call physician as well as several nurses that, prior to my dying of brain death, the best case scenario was that if I woke up it wouldn't be for a minimum of 3 weeks and, due to the fact that I'd also suffered from a major stroke, she could expect to spoon feed me and change my diapers for the rest of my life. Then, later that evening she was told in no uncertain terms that I was DEAD (brain dead) and that she should go ahead and sign the DNR forms so they could harvest my organs to help other people live.

Needless to say, since I am personally writing this comment, while I was dead, I got better. In fact, I was immediately healed of several physical disorders the day I was resurrected and I've not suffered any physical brain damage from the stroke. Plus, while I wasn't supposed to wake-up for at least 3 weeks I was in and out of the hospital in 10 days!!!

In short, while I was dead here on Earth I was very much alive in Heaven. I was immediately transported onto a road of translucent gold (see through gold) and was flanked by three angels. While on the road I was able to see what was going on back on Earth. Further, I saw that two of my relatives were in Hell. I also experienced some incredible things -- such as a peace that literally goes beyond all human understanding, the scent, smell and breeze of Heaven, and I saw hundreds of people who met me there. Further, my experience in Heaven was later confirmed by at least two different sources; 1) The experience of a Southern Baptist Minister by the name of Don Piper who wrote the book "90 Minutes In Heaven." His experience and my own so mimic each others that I will be eternally grateful that I'd not read his book prior to my own death. The reason is because if I had I would be convinced that most of what I had experienced in Heaven was simply a hallucination based on his book. As it is, I read his book AFTER I died and so it was confirmation of what I had seen while in Heaven. 2) I met a woman in Heaven whom I'd never met on Earth. In fact, she died nearly 30 years prior to my own death in 2008. The woman is my mother-in-law (my wife's mom -- June) and she was wearing a blue dress with puffy blue sleeves. The reason I note the type of dress she was wearing is because it served as a second confirmation in that one of my wife's cousins (Thea) remembered telling her aunt June not to wear the dress because it made her look too small. I recount this testimony of the dress for two reasons; 1) The type of dress June was wearing simply isn't in my 'wardrobe vocabulary' -- in other words while I'd never seen a dress like it, even if I had, I wouldn't have imagined anyone wearing one. 2) Since I've returned from Heaven I've searched through every picture that anyone has of June and not one of them shows her wearing a dress that remotely resembles the one that I saw her in and that Thea remembers her wearing (by the way, Thea was told my story by her mom and dad -- not me -- which means there's no way I could have influenced her).

In any case, THIS is why I believe in Life After Death (I experienced it). If you'd like to learn more about my experience you can visit my web site at: http://www.deeperlifeeast.com I've also written a hub on this site under the name PastorLonnie

In Christ,

Lonnie Honeycutt

Author: Death, Heaven and Back (The True Story of One Man's Death and Resurrection) -- Available on Amazon.com