Tom McGregor: Near-death experiences can be scary too

By Tom McGregor, CCTV.com commentator and editor, based in Beijing

Author of Drilling Dialogues novel

Click the "Drilling Dialogues-(The Hope Series Book 1)[ebook]"  to order the novel and support Get Real America

http://museum.getrealamerica.org/product/drilling-dialogues-the-hope-series/

When I was a young kid, I watched TV shows that addressed life after death topics. The stories followed a similar format. A person was interviewed, who explained they had died either from a tragic accident or struck down from illness, but rescuers rushed in to help restore them to life.

For a few seconds and in many cases for a few minutes, all vital signs of the person showed the person was dead, no heart beat, breathing, bodily movement and brain activity. And when they had returned back to life, they all had similar tales.

They had felt their soul depart from their body and lifted to a higher spiritual realm and then came into the presence of the light. For them, the light was a pleasing presence and death as a peaceful experience and before walking towards the light, there's usually an angel or long-dead relative that approaches them to say, "your time has not yet come." and their souls soon return back to their bodies.

Sounds so wonderful and if indeed this is what happens to you after death then we should all feel so happy to experience the eternal joys. Nonetheless, when writing my novel, Drilling Dialogues, there's a character named, Bruce, who stands at the point of death in a hospice and he has a discussion with the main character, Donald.

Bruce had a near death experience and tells Donald that there really is a hell and wants to warn him and the world about it. When Bruce explained to Donald what he had witnessed, I had used my prior near-death experience in high school as reference.

Let me tell you my story, but for-the-record, I can not 100 percent verify if I was dead for a few minutes and if what I had witnessed was an authentic near death experience.

I can only say with that I came too with a person hovering above me saying her performed CPR to save my life, while a crowd of witnesses were clapping when they saw me breathing again.

The incident had occurred during Spring Break celebrations in the USA when I was 16-years-old, a high school student. I went to Catholic school from first grade on up, so as a student I was required to attend classes on religion every year.

I was baptized Catholic in my infancy, but for the early years of my life when studying religion, I was more of a skeptic. I had doubts of God's existence and when it came to angels, demons and guardian angels, they were just fantasy tales for me.

On the nearly fatal spring break day, I was strolling the beach and many college students were partying and asking me to join them as they would drink alcohol on the beach. Yes, this is illegal and I'm underage, but that's why spring break is deemed so much fun.

One group of fraternity brothers from a college located in San Antonio were explaining to me the finer points of skirting the rules. They gave me a huge-sized cup, similar to a super-sized 'Big Gulp' cup that you would find at a 7-11 convenience store.

They filled 3/4s' of the cup with vodka and added Coca Cola, so if the cops asked I could say it's just a soft drink. Since I attended strict Catholic schools, I can honestly say I was unfamiliar with liquor and how drinking a bottle of vodka could lead to alcohol poisoning.

I knew nothing about such matters and when they handed me the cup, I chugged it down in 1-2 minutes. I even asked for second cup and then I learned my lesson the hard way. I had a few swallows. A cute woman threw a football at me. I caught it and threw it back to her. As I saw the football spiral in mid-air, blink I went blank.

I don't recall falling down, but the next thing I remember is my soul departing from my body. You feel the soul float away and you watch your body as if it's something not yours. You lose any bodily feelings. You are not cold or warm, pain or comfort, your soul just is present and that's that.

I saw people surrounding my body looking worried. But I floated away and yes I saw the light too and it's true the light is a very pleasant presence.

{% qnimg neardeathexperience.jpg %}

The best way to describe it is that let's imagine you just found out you had won the lottery. The moment you discover you are the winner is the bliss you feel in the presence of the light, but even better.

I came to an awareness that the light is God and his presence of love is the most amazing experience. You want to spend an eternity in its presence.

But, my life started to flash before my eyes. All the sins I had committed and the pain I had inflicted on others had come into my awareness. Yes, you have full knowledge of everything at the moment but that's meaningless when you recognize all the terrible deeds you had done in your life.

I also saw the future and saw my funeral. My death was a shocker to my family and they lived with the knowledge their son had died of alcohol poisoning and they failed to prevent it. So I could see the long-term consequences of my untimely death.

Filled with overwhelming guilt, I felt ashamed to be in the presence of God and in an instant I found myself in darkness. And there was a huge pit, while I stood on the edge of it.

I knew if I fell down the pit that would be the end of me and my soul could feel it being tugged closer and closer to the pit by creatures that looked diabolical, demons. They were laughing and taunting me saying, "You were so easy for us. You didn't even try hard to stay away from here."

I was getting dragged closer and closer to the pit and due to my sense of overwhelming guilt I would not fight back. I just accepted my doomed fate. When I looked down in the pit I saw so many lost souls down there and that was so tragic.

After analyzing the situation, I concluded there were two types of lost souls. Those who had rage in their hearts and the others with deep sadness. I fit into the deep sadness category.

The demons tormented the hateful souls by constantly fighting them so they kept fighting back. These souls stayed sinners even after death, while the demons needed them to stay that way so they would never wish to be with God ever again.

Meanwhile, the sad souls were taunted by the demons with relentless taunting. Demons would laugh at them and remind them how they got stuck down in the pit, perhaps by suicide or some other means. Demons kept insulting them so they would feel so ashamed they would never wish to be with God either for an eternity.

But I saw other lost souls escape from the pit on their own accord, they looked so happy to leave.

Well anyway, I was just about to be thrown down in the pit when I heard, what I later concluded was my guardian angel, saying, "you can't take him, repeatedly." I was impressed with my guardian angel, a true fighter.

He refused to take no for an answer and no matter how hard the demons were fighting, he just flung them away, just like what you would see in a Hong Kong-made Kung Fu movie.

My guardian angel kept fighting and finally grabbed a hold of me and led me to a flight of stairs. As he walked me up the stairs, I will never forget his final words.

"I saved you this time, but never forget what happened. If you die young, it will be because of suicide or shameful behavior, you will return to the pit and can't be saved anymore. Be gone from here and if you do what's right, you will suffer much but if you die in old age, you will be in the presence of God forevermore."

And just like that I felt my soul return to my body and it was in lot's of pain. A person a few inches above me, looked startled, he said, "he's breathing and he's alive."

People watching were cheering, but not everyone was pleased by what they had witnessed. A police officer walked by, picked me up, placed me into handcuffs and drove me off to County Jail. I was never arrested before and that was a shocking experience for me too.

Although, I was disappointed that I had just escaped death and headed towards jail, I did recall the words of my guardian angel and warned me of much sufferings in life, but I had to make amends for my past sins and the people I harmed.

On a side note, the near death experience had a huge impact on my life. Beforehand, I was a skeptic about God, but now believe in a divine presence. I also believe in guardian angels and feel so grateful for mine. But did I become a saint or living example of righteousness?

The answer is no. A few months after the incident, I was chatting with my best friend in high school. He later became a Catholic Priest and serving as the Minister of a parish church in Philadelphia. I told him about my sadness, but said I haven't really changed my lifestyle. I still allow myself to get distracted by anything unrelated to God and spiritual concerns.

He listened, paused and said, "As the Apostle Paul said, 'the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.' I hope that answers your question." And he just walked away leaving me alone to ponder his words.

Tom McGregor

{% qnimg Tom.jpeg %}

Tmcgregorchina@yahoo.com

WeChat: 86 13439758718

Twitter: @tmcgregorchina

http://english.cctv.com/opinion/index.shtml