Jesus and the Near-Death Experience
 |
The
following are some of the important insights concerning
Jesus from many near-death accounts and my own research
concerning the NDE and the Christian connection to it.
There are many interesting experiences with Jesus from
NDEs and many insights concerning him within them. Some
of these experiences are humorous and all of them profound.
There are many different descriptions of the appearance
of Jesus which is because, as one person put it, Jesus
appears to us in a way that we can recognize him. You
will find all the various descriptions of Jesus from
NDE accounts on this website. You will find interesting
quotes and NDE insights concerning Jesus.
|
The following is a list of some very interesting encounters
with Jesus that near-death experiencers had during their
NDE:
1. |
Jesus rescued
a man from hell when he cried out for him.
(Rev.
Howard Storm) |
2. |
Jesus pled a
woman's case before God in order to take
her out of hell. (Angie
Fenimore) |
3. |
Jesus hugged
a woman and she described it as feeling
like a million volts of electricity going
through her. (Susan) |
4. |
Jesus gave a
man a hug and told him to, "Go and
hug others." (John
P.) |
5. |
A woman was carried
in the arms of Jesus toward the light of
heaven. (Linda
Stewart) |
6. |
Jesus turned
into a giant sphere of light and absorbed
a man with the ecstasy of love. (Carter
Mills) |
7. |
Jesus told a
gay man that he would send guardian angels
to help him when he returned. It was two
gay men who helped him. (Dr.
Liz Dale's research) |
8. |
Jesus said to
a child, "Will you come unto me?" The child
told Jesus, "No." (David
Goines) |
9. |
Jesus told a
child that because of his visit to heaven
the child would never be the same again.
(Randy
Gehling) |
10. |
Jesus told a
child that her heart condition was given
to her to stay compassionate. (Lynn) |
11. |
A man realized
that the light of Jesus is everything in
the universe including himself. (Thomas
Sawyer) |
12. |
A woman saw a
beautiful valley with people in it and Jesus
was looking over it all. (Kerry
Kirk) |
13. |
A woman saw Jesus
turn sideways and stretch out his arms as
a bridge between her and God. (Valvita
Jones) |
14. |
Jesus told a
man to turn around and when he did he saw
himself being pulled out of the car wreckage.
(David
Dawson) |
15. |
Jesus gave a
man something to eat that tasted like chocolate.
After the man ate it, Jesus informed him
that he just ate the Bible and because of
this, he will remember its contents. (Emanuel
Tuwagirairmana) |
16. |
Jesus gave a
man a guided tour through four afterlife
realms. (Dr.
George Ritchie) |
17. |
A blind woman
was reluctant to return until Jesus told
her that she is going to have children.
(Vicki
Umipeg) |
18. |
Jesus revealed
a woman's mission to her in order to encourage
her to return. (Betty
Eadie) |
19. |
Jesus told a
man that his "second coming" will occur
before the man dies. However, the man died
in December, 2002 and it is apparent the
second coming of Christ hasn't happened.
However, if Christ's second coming will
be like his first coming, then a case can
be made that perhaps Christ has indeed already
returned. He was born into this world by
a woman in his first coming; Christ may
return in the same manner. (Dr.
Richard Eby) |
20. |
Jesus had a child
look into a television-like device to see
her future. (Clara) |
21. |
Jesus and a man
together traveled back in time to the Stone
Age to watch cave men and women. (Guenter
Wagner) |
22. |
A man traveled
back in time and lived in the minds of Jesus
and his disciples. (Dr.
George Rodonaia) |
23. |
A man traveled
back in time to witness the actual crucifixion
of Jesus. (Don
Brubaker) |
24. |
A man saw Jesus
on a cross in heaven and Jesus glanced at
him with a look of great love. (Dr.
Gerard Landry) |
25. |
A woman saw Jesus
with blood on his robe and he told her,
"This is the blood that I shed on the cross
for your sins." (Lorraine
Tutmarc) |
26. |
Jesus gave a
woman who attempted suicide the choice to
either reincarnate or return to Earth. (Sandra
Rogers) |
27. |
Jesus asked a
woman if she wanted to be reincarnated.
(Jeanie
Dicus) |
28. |
A man saw the
Being of light transform into Jesus, Buddha
and Krishna. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict) |
29. |
Jesus was observed
summoning other beings to join him by producing
a musical note which they could hear. (Rev.
Howard Storm) |

Before an 8-year-old with
cancer passed away, the child had a NDE where Jesus
was seen driving a school bus. Such NDEs experienced
by children, transformed a pediatric oncologist from
Yale from an atheist to a person convinced that NDEs
are real spiritual experiences. (Dr.
Diane Komp)
"Ralph Duncan was a cancer
patient who had a NDE where he encountered a luminous
being whom he took to be Jesus. Ralph noted that Jesus
didn't look anything like the traditional images of
him. Jesus' eyes where "shooting fire" which resulted
in Ralph being cured from his cancer. (Dr.
Kenneth Ring)
John P. was in the presence
of the Jesus who expressed unconditional love and acceptance
toward him. Jesus then reached out and gave him a hug.
The hug was symbolic of the lack of affection that John
experienced from being a neglected child. At that point,
John was healed from my past. Jesus then told him to
go and hug others. (John
P.)
During George Rodonaia's
NDE, he realized that all he needed to do was think
about something and it would come to him. He felt it
necessary to learn about the Bible. So, he went back
in time and lived in the minds of Jesus and his disciples.
He heard their conversations, experienced eating, passing
wine, smells, tastes - yet had no body. He was pure
consciousness. (Dr.
George Rodonaia)
Sandra Rogers asked the light,
whom she identified as Jesus, how people from other
religions get to heaven. She was shown that the group,
or organization, that people profess alliance to is
inconsequential. What is important is how we show our
love for God by the way we treat each other. Sandra
learned that this is because when we pass to the spiritual
realm we will all be met by Jesus. (Sandra
Rogers)
David Oakford was told that
Jesus is the being who is entrusted by God to ensure
that souls evolve. He was told that Jesus is of the
highest in vibration than any other soul. He said that
God holds Jesus in the highest of favor because he was
the best example of what humans need to do. (David
Oakford)
Mellen-Thomas Benedict had
a conversation with the light who kept changing into
different figures, such as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas,
archetypal images and signs. Mellen-Thomas asked the
light to clarify itself. The light responded that your
beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before
the light. If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist,
you get a feedback loop of your own stuff. Mellen-Thomas
then became aware that he was seeing humanity's Higher
Self matrix - a mandala of human souls within each of
us. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
Jesus appeared to George
Ritchie with tremendous light. Far more than power,
what emanated from this presence was an astonishing
unconditional love. It was a love beyond his wildest
imagining. It was a love that knew every unlovable thing
about him -the quarrels with his stepmother, his explosive
temper, the sex thoughts he could never control, every
mean, selfish thought and action since the day he was
born-and accepted him just the same. After a life review,
George is give a guided tour of the afterlife with Jesus.
(Dr.
George Ritchie)

Guenter Wagner's encounter
with Jesus:
Jesus then poured pure love within him and his whole
soul was immersed in love. Jesus told Guenter that he
needed to be cleansed. Jesus lifts him up and places
him into a red light. Afterward, Jesus took him to the
top of a mountain to converse. Jesus told him
that there were very powerful and cunning beings who
were his enemies with whom he had been constantly fighting.
He told Guenter to warn the world against them. Then
Jesus told him to turn around. When he did he heard
people screaming and saw fire and smoke that gradually
took on the shape of a mushroom. Jesus told Guenter
that he will do everything in his power to prevent this
from happening. Jesus told him
that this war has been going on for a very long time
and the evil beings had become more and more powerful.
Jesus said that if this continued he would not see any
means of preventing them from taking over everything.
He said that if the enemy had really succeeded in coming
into his world, the war would have been lost. He would
have been powerful enough, no doubt, to fight them off,
but the war would have been lost in the long run. Jesus
was afraid of loosing this war. Then it was intimated
to Guenter that Jesus needed help. Jesus told him that
the only way he could help him was by going back and
telling the world about his experience. Jesus told Guenter
that he would become a new type of teacher. He said
that he was going to teach while being in a sort of
sleep. While asleep, Guenter would be able to hear and
talk. Jesus said that people will come to him and ask
him questions. What he will say while asleep will be
of much importance.
[Webmaster's
note: This is
exactly how
Edgar Cayce
had his out-of-body journeys to heaven to obtain information.]
Jesus tells Guenter to write
down everything that happened to him. Jesus then takes
him back into time to the Stone Age to observe early
humans. Afterward, Jesus lead him through a life review.
(Guenter
Wagner)
Betty Eadie's encounter with
Jesus: "I
saw a pinpoint of light in the distance. As I approached
it, I noticed the figure of a man standing in it, with
the light radiating all around him. As I got closer
the light became brilliant - brilliant beyond any description,
far more brilliant than the sun. I saw that the light
immediately around him was golden, as if his whole body
had a golden halo around it, and I could see that the
golden halo burst out from around him and spread into
a brilliant, magnificent whiteness that extended out
for some distance. I felt his light blending into mine.
And as our lights merged, I felt as if I had stepped
into his countenance, and I felt an utter explosion
of love.It was the most unconditional
love I have ever felt, and as I saw his arms open to
receive me I went to him and received his complete embrace.
I felt his enormous spirit and knew that I had always
been a part of him, that in reality I had never been
away from him. I knew that he was aware of all my sins
and faults, but that they didn't matter right now. He
just wanted to hold me and share his love with me, and
I wanted to share mine with him. There was no questioning
who he was. I knew that he was my Savior, and friend,
and God. He was Jesus Christ, who had always loved me,
even when I thought he hated me. He was life itself,
love itself, and his love gave me a fullness of joy,
even to overflowing. I knew that I had known him from
the beginning, from long before my Earth life, because
my spirit remembered him.
His light now began to fill
my mind, and my questions were answered even before
I fully asked them. His light was knowledge. It had
power to fill me with all truth. As I gained confidence
and let the light flow into me, my questions came faster
than I thought possible, and they were just as quickly
answered. I understood that he was the Son of God, though
he himself was also a God, and that he had chosen from
before the creation of the world to be our Savior. I
understood, or rather, I remembered, his role as creator
of the Earth. His mission was to come into the world
to teach love. This knowledge was more like remembering."
(Betty
Eadie)

"I knew right away that it
was Jesus. I knew by his eyes." (Randy
Gehling)
"You can see yourself mirrored
in Jesus' eyes. He can look straight through you and
into you. He glows with an iridescent golden light."
(Valvita
Jones)
"Ralph Duncan was dying of
leukemia and he had a NDE during which he encountered
Jesus who appeared as an luminous being and did not
look anything like the traditional images of him. Jesus'
eyes were 'shooting fire' and he communicated a telepathic
message: 'That's enough, it's dead, it's gone.' Ralph
understood this to mean that he no longer have leukemia.
Through Jesus' eyes 'shooting fire' and saying 'That's
enough,' it was understood to mean, in effect, 'I've
zapped you with enough voltage for this to cure you.'
Ralph later recovered from his leukemia." (Dr.
Kenneth Ring)
"He is about 5' 9" and about
150 lbs. He is slim and handsome. When he hugs you,
it feels like a million volts of electricity going through
your body." (Susan)
"Everything you would want
to see in Jesus' face is there." (Lorraine
Tutmarc)
"He was dressed in white,
long sleeve floor-length robe with a wide gold band
around his mid-section and wears sandals. He has a long
face and a broad chin. He communicated by looking at
me." (Clara)
"Children tend to be explicit
about skin tones when talking about any religious figure
who visited them. Jesus is seen as a man with tan skin.
Adults are the ones who usually see Jesus as white."
(P.M.H. Atwater)
"To me he looked like the
picture of the 'Sacred Heart,' the one looking
upward." (Stanley
Villavicencio)
Margaret Tweddell's description
of Jesus: "When
I first saw him, the light and the glory and the surging
of power was so tremendous. It was like an avalanche
of feeling over me. At the present time I just don't
feel that I have found a way in which to describe what
it was like - an indescribable contentment and uplifting,
a tremendous ecstasy of feeling on all realms, being
completely out of yourself, an unusually vivid knowledge
of the intense, sympathetic love around you - the warmth
of it, the light of it -something that is not external
but is part of you. It is like a sunrise on a mountain
that is covered with snow, when the colors come down
and reflect on you- a dazzling brilliance that would
make you close your eyes and yet feel it in every pore
of your body. This is the feeling that you have as you
come toward the LIGHT.
"And then suddenly to hear
the voice that says, "Look at me." And
when you look - there, just as you've always imagined
-you see him. He shows himself to us according to our
own understanding. If I want to think of him as a man
who walked by the lake and a man who looked as the Jews
looked at that time, then I'll see him that way. If
in my thought I think he's modern and bright, then I'll
see him that way. We do not see him as the medieval
painters made him. We see him as we, in our own selves,
have pictured him, because otherwise we wouldn't recognize
him. How would we know unless we have the picture already
in our own being -in our own minds, in our own hearts.
"To me he came walking across
the air- across the tops of the buildings, the trees.
I'd always known he'd come toward me with his arms and
hands outstretched. He said, "Come, let me
show you" - because I have an insatiable curiosity
and I must see and I must know. But there was no "falling
asleep in the arms of Jesus." There was the knowing
warmth of BEING that I've always known would be. It
was so much beyond what words can tell.
"It is true that the Lord
Jesus can take a form so solid that those who are in
the body may see him - those who are in the dream state
may see him and be called by him. But when I saw him
transcendent, I was days and days just marveling and
sensing and knowing. This was my rebirth. The body in
which I now function was strengthened -made resilient,
firm, aware. When I first came over here, I only knew
what I had known and seen, shall we say, in a vision.
But that was to see and not to experience. Until you
have experienced it and been caught up without the ties
and the cord that keep you with the physical body, it
is very difficult to comprehend.
"Until you are released from
the bondage of the physical body, you have no way of
knowing the feeling and the uplifting and the thoughts
that come into your head. The body is so much heavier
than the personality which goes on. But even in your
personality, there are times when you are completely
detached - we call it a mystical ecstasy. Every time
I turn my mind toward him now, I am engulfed in the
power and time has no limits or meaning. It may be a
flash, it may be hours -I know not. It is just a great
knowing. I ask and he's there. He says, 'Follow
me,' and we follow. But we don't follow with
our feet. The whole being of you follows him because
he is everywhere - in and through and around and everywhere.
He is a manifestation of God." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"Perhaps the greatest reason
why Jesus is described in differing ways in NDEs can
best be described by
Margaret Tweddell
who revealed that Jesus appears in a way that you can
recognize him and/or just as you've always imagined
you see him. He shows himself to us according to our
own understanding. The reason for this is that souls
can appear in any form they desire. This phenomenon
shows up in many near-death accounts. For example,
May Eulitt
and her two companions, who were sharing the same NDE,
each saw the Being of Light as entirely different beings.
Beings of light asked
Rev. Howard Storm
if he wanted them to change their appearance so that
he wouldn't be frightened. Jesus appeared to
Dr. Gerard Landry
on the cross as if he were flesh and bones, still with
his nail-pierced hands and feet, and the wound in his
side.
Hal
had a life review and the being who him through his
life review transformed from a ball of light into a
hooded and robed figure. Ignorant souls in the dark
realms can transform themselves into hideous creatures
with melting faces and foul odors, for example. Even
the experiencers, such as
Reinee Pasarow,
can transform themselves into an orb of light. With
this in mind, here are a few NDE descriptions of Jesus.
More will be added soon." (Kevin
Williams)
NDE Experiencer |
Hair |
Eyes |
Skin |
Valvita Jones |
dark brown and light red, wavy |
blue, piercing, transparent |
olive and light golden |
Lorraine Tutmarc |
auburn, wavy |
beautiful, large, full of meaning |
------ |
Susan |
dark brown |
dark brown |
------ |
Clara |
dark brown, shoulder length |
dark eyes with black around eyelids, eyes
of liquid love |
olive |
 A 13-year-old child with
a heart condition asked Jesus during a NDE if he gave
her the heart condition so that she would have a cross
to carry like he did as her sixth-grade teacher told
her. Jesus replied, "No, this heart condition
of yours is not a cross from me for you to bear. This
heart condition is a challenge to help you grow and
stay compassionate." (Lynn)
Jesus told Randy Gehling
that he should never worry if people doubted his story
or could not understand what he was telling them. "One
day, everyone will come to see for themselves what you
have seen." (Randy
Gehling)
As Jesus was about to leave
me with them, I felt his amusement again, and he seemed
to whisper to my spirit, "Go learn of things,"
and I understood that I was free to see and experience
all that I wanted. (Betty
Eadie)
"During Dr. Richard Eby's
NDE, Jesus commanded to tell people that: "These
are the last days before I return for my body of believers.
I am coming for them soon!" Jesus explained
that he would be giving some of his children many documenting
evidences to validate his prophecies. Jesus told Eby
that: "I need eyewitnesses of my glory and
truth now. You are but one. Go, tell them. There is
but little while until I come for my body of believers."
(Dr.
Richard Eby)
Vicki Umipeg, blind since
birth, saw Jesus during her NDE. She noticed that he
is a figure of great radiance. Jesus greeted her tenderly
while she conveyed her excitement to him about her newfound
omniscience and her joy at being there with him. Telepathically,
Jesus said to her: "Isn't it wonderful? Everything
is beautiful here, and it fits together. And you'll
find that. But you can't stay here now. It's not your
time to be here yet and you have to go back." (Vicki
Umipeg)
Jesus lifted Linda Stewart
from the void and into the light filling her with ecstasy
and love. She realized that the only reality is God
and that there is no other. And God is love. She turned
to Jesus and said, "This is beautiful. I am home. This
is where I want to be. I want to stay." And Christ answered: "You
can stay for a little while and then you must return."
(Linda
Stewart)
"In the NDE documentary video
entitled "Shadows",
Cindy Massey described a conversation she had with
Jesus about having to return to life during her near-death
experience. Describing this conversation with Jesus
to other is difficult for her. She stated, "This
parts really hard. As many times as I tell it, I keep
thinking I'm going to get through this [sobbing]."
Cindy told Jesus, "I want to come home now." |
"No, you can't"
He replied. |
"But I don't want to stay there anymore.
I don't like it." |
"I know that." |
"Well, I just want to come home. They are
very mean down there. I don't like it." |
"I grieve for you and what they've done
to you. And I grieve for what they do to
each other. I grieve deeply. I hurt for
you and for all of you. You have to go back.
You have to return." |
"Why?" |
"Because you promised me." |
"But I can do it another time and another
place." |
"There is no other time. There is no other
place. You must do it this time. You promised." |
"Well, you don't understand." When Cindy
looked into his eyes, she knew he did. |
"You promised me, child, it would be this
time. You must return but I promise you
I will be back when it is time for you to
go." |
"I don't know what I am supposed to do." |
"You'll know.
You'll know when it's time and you'll know
what to do.'" (Cindy
Massey) |
 Before the universe was created,
every soul that ever existed and will exist, including
Jesus, was created by God. Millions of years ago, some
of these souls entered into the universe and some entered
the path of the Earth and desired to experience it.
They began to possess the bodies of ape-men and through
the process of millions of years of evolution became
homo sapiens. The race of humanity was influenced by
a soul who had completed its experience of creation
and returned to God. This is the soul known as
Jesus. (Edgar
Cayce)
After reincarnating as the
Biblical personalities of Adam, Enoch, and Melchizedek
(to name a few), Jesus knew that he needed to create
a pattern for humans to follow to attain at-one-ment
with God to lead them back to their heavenly origins.
He did this through his final incarnation as the humble
carpenter from Galilee. By becoming triumphant over
death and the body, he laid down a way for people to
follow to crucify self and the ego and return to God.
(Edgar
Cayce)
Dr. PMH Atwater, researched
the identity of the initial greeters met in near-death
states. She discovered that religious figures usually
conform to the predominant religion the experiencer
was exposed to, but not always. Jesus has appeared in
near-death scenarios of Jewish people, for instance;
a Muslim man once told her he was met by Buddha. (P.M.H. Atwater)
The so-called "trinity"
that Christians talk about (i.e., Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit) is actually how God can be viewed from the Earth's
three-dimensional perspective. That is, God can be viewed
three-dimensionally as Mind, Body, and Spirit. In this
sense, the trinity can be explained as the "Mind
of God", the "Body of God," and the "Spirit
of God." The Bible describes this as the "Mind
of Christ"
which is the Son - the light of God. The "Body
of Christ"
which is the Father - the life of God. And the "Spirit
of Christ"
which is the Holy Spirit - the love of God. This is
why Jesus could say that "you
are gods."
In other words, all humans can be as Jesus was: one
with the Mind of God, the Body of God, and the Spirit
of God. (Edgar
Cayce)
"The way out of the void (outer darkness) is simple.
You must think of love. If you are a Christian and you
think of Jesus and you see Jesus as love, then you will
be thinking of love. To recognize love as a reality
is the key to escaping from the void." (Brian
Krebs)
The Biblical references to
the title of "Christ" (the anointed one) is a reference
to the divine consciousness within human beings. In
this respect, it can be said that Jesus and Buddha became
Christs because they were a manifestation of the divine
nature in humanity. This divine nature is also known
by other titles in various religious traditions such
as:
Dharmakaya,
Brahman,
Collective Unconscious,
and
Universal Consciousness.
This union of the human with the divine is the ultimate
goal of everyone and is spiritually possible for all.
(Edgar
Cayce)
"The higher one's soul development,
the brighter the light will shine from their spirit.
What determines what one looks like in the spirit world
is the person's quality of heart and life. One's inner
quality is perceived as light. One's features are visible
but the light that comes from their very essence is
the identifying feature. For example, because they lived
totally for other people, Jesus and other religious
leaders emanate brilliant light." (Nora
Spurgin)
Edgar Cayce foresaw that
Jesus would return in the year 1998. Critics who are
not very familiar with the Cayce material have pointed
out that 1998 has come and gone and the second coming
has not occurred. Such critics wrongly expect the second
coming to happen when Jesus appears in the sky with
a chorus of angels while Gabriel blows a horn and dead
bodies crawl out of their graves. This idea of the resurrection
was the result of a misunderstanding of the concept
of reincarnation - the ancient concept of birth and
rebirth. (Edgar
Cayce)
"The fact that Christianity
is so dominant in the West may be the reason that the
Being of Light appears in the form of Jesus so frequently
in western NDEs. To Buddhists, the Being of Light often
appears in the form of Buddha. To Jews, the Being of
Light may appear in the form as Adam (as revealed in
the Zohar) or the Jewish Messiah. To Hindus, the Being
of Light may appear as the Lord of Death." (Kevin
Williams)
Jesus teaching his disciples
about the reincarnation of Elijah as John the Baptist:
Jesus said, "For all the prophets and
the law have prophesied until John. And
if you are willing to receive it, he is
Elijah who was to come." ... |
And the disciples asked him, saying, "Why
then do the scribes say that Elijah must
come first?" But he answered them and
said: |
"Elijah
indeed is to come and will restore all things.
But I say to you that Elijah has come already,
and they did not know him, but did to him
whatever they wished. So also shall the
Son of Man suffer at their hand." |
Then the disciples understood that he had
spoken of John the Baptist ... |
"But I tell
you, Elijah has come." (Matthew
11:13-14;
Matthew 7:10-13;
Mark 9:13) |
"The main controversy during
the early Church age was about the nature of humanity
and how humanity is saved. It involved two pictures
of Jesus: Either he was God who had always been God
or he was a human who became God's Son. If he was a
human who became God's Son, then that implied that other
humans could also become Sons of God. This idea was
unacceptable to the orthodox, hence their insistence
that Jesus had always been God and was entirely different
from all created beings. Otherwise, it implied that
the soul did not need the Church to achieve salvation."
(Elizabeth
Claire Prophet)
"Jesus constantly taught the
importance of good works of love to achieve spiritual
growth. The idea that people achieve at-one-ment merely
by giving verbal assent to Jesus, or by worshipping
Jesus, or by merely believing in his name, or by believing
in his work on the cross, is a gross distortion of his
teachings. Having faith
in
Christ alone
means nothing.
Having the faith
of
Christ means to become like Jesus through
living a life of love and
good works toward
everyone." (Kevin
Williams)
"We can each experience a
taste of His embrace by opening ourselves to His unconditional
love and then by giving that love away to everyone we
meet. The ripple effect, from its very source, is available
to all who are willing to pass it along to others. Heaven
can be anywhere." (Betty
Eadie)
"More information about Jesus
and his mission can be found in many NDEs such as [1],
[2],
[3],
[4],
and [5]."
(Kevin
Williams)
"The promises of Jesus given
in the Gospel of John can help you unlock your inner
self." (Edgar
Cayce)

"Central to Christian doctrine
is God's requirement for a human sacrifice for sin.
The gospels tell us Jesus believed the culmination of
his divine mission as to ultimately become a human sacrifice
for humanity's sin. The gospels describe how Jesus volunteered
to be a human sacrifice to God to pay the ransom to
free humanity from being hostages to Satan. In Jesus'
day, it was believed animal sacrifices were necessary
for the forgiveness of sins. This made good sense to
people in the first century; but to the modern mind
it seems utterly ridiculous. The idea that God would
need human and/or animal sacrifices to be appeased is
repulsive and barbaric to many people. It also seems
incredibly unjust for God to require the killing the
innocent for the transgressions of the guilty. However,
there are much deeper spiritual reasons for Christ's
sacrifice on the cross and why Jesus ultimately wanted
to have himself killed. Humanity's "hostage to Satan"
and "ransom by Christ" theme is a powerful archetype
among other things. The following list contains the
most important and deeper spiritual reasons for Christ's
sacrifice gleaned from near-death accounts, the Bible,
and mystical teachings of Christianity:
1. |
The human sacrifice of Jesus was a sublime
way to symbolize and emphasize the major
point of Jesus' teachings which is to practice
unconditional love through self-sacrifice,
self-deprecation, and self-denial by crucifying
your lower beastly nature of humanity: self-gratification,
self-indulgence, self-centeredness, self-righteousness,
self-importance, self-condemnation, selfishness,
and humanity's constant clamoring for SELF
(i.e., the ego, the "false god",
the "devil"). |
2. |
Through the human sacrifice of Jesus, his
teachings proliferated drew worldwide attention.
The incredible injustice of his execution
combined with his life-changing teachings
made Jesus one of the greatest martyrs the
world has ever known. |
3. |
Through his sacrifice, Jesus demonstrated
that his testimony is highly credible because
of his willingness to die such an extremely
horrible execution for the sake of his testimony
and teachings. A liar would not suffer this
much and die for the sake of a lie. A lunatic
would not be able to say the profound that
Jesus said; nor would a lunatic be as stable
as Jesus was. The only option left for us
is that Jesus was who he said he was. There
is no other option. |
4. |
Through his life and death, Jesus fulfilled
a large number of Hebrew prophecies which
drew a large number of Jews to his cause
to build the foundation of his church. |
5. |
Through his death, Jesus was able to return
to heaven in order to continue his ministry
at a later time. His return to Earth from
heaven would satisfy a large number of prophecies
demonstrating him to be the Hebrew Messiah
and a great teacher for the world. Should
his return be spiritual instead of literal,
it may represent the so-called "Christ
Consciousness" ruling the collective
consciousness of humanity. |
6. |
Through his death, Jesus was able to visit
his disciples in spirit. Their testimony
of Jesus' ability to overcome death provided
the world with strong circumstantial evidence
for life after death. His visitations with
his disciples in spirit are remarkably similar
to modern reports of after-death visitations. |
7. |
Through his death, Jesus was better able
to serve humanity through the outpouring
ministry of the Christ Consciousness (i.e.,
Holy Spirit) which Jesus taught about and
manifested in his life. The outpouring of
the Christ Consciousness resulted in the
spreading of his teachings throughout the
world. |
8. |
In a sense, the bloody horror of what happened
to Jesus had a similar affect as the bloody
horror of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
It was seared into the very global consciousness
of the world - especially Americans. Like
the Phoenix rising from the ashes, it inspired
a chain-reaction of God-like actions from
heroes demonstrating what is best within
humanity. It also brought to Americans a
unity of heart and mind unknown since Pearl
Harbor and demonstrated how such a wonderful
good can overcome a horrible tragedy. The
same can probably be said about the horror
of having such a beautiful person as Jesus
be unjustly slaughtered. |
9. |
Arthur Yensen
once stated that Jesus also came to stop
the age-old practice of slaughtering innocent
animals as scapegoats for human beings in
the name of God. I certainly have to agree
with Mr. Yensen. Killing animals for nourishment
is one thing, but killing them for the purpose
of removing the guilt of people's misdeeds
is infantile and abhorrent in my opinion.
Spiritually mature people pay their own
debts and seek the forgiveness of those
they offended. Blaming a devil for your
shortcomings and having an innocent one
killed to pay your debts is for the spiritually
immature. |
10. |
Life on Earth
is our opportunity to learn unconditional
love as Jesus taught it, to serve and sacrifice
personal welfare in behalf of others. Part
of Jesus' mission was to die for us ...
ours is to live as he did. (Betty
Eadie) |
"I am sure there are
other reasons for the human sacrifice of Jesus.
It is very easy for the horror of the tragedy
to be so strong as to "blind" us from
the subtler and deeper ramifications of Christ's
crucifixion. For thousands of years, the human
sacrifice motif has dominated the more spiritual
reasons for Christ's death in a manner that
has helped to proliferate these same spiritual
influences." (Kevin
Williams)
|