Is God Dead? Series: Resplendent Glory

Having been thrown from a vehicle during an accident, Vicki suffered a basal skull fracture, a broken back, and a broken neck. Like so many others who have lived through a Near Death Experience (NDE), Vicki found herself hovering over the accident scene. Sometime later, noticing that although her “body” had a natural form, it was made up of light, she found herself moving through a dark tube toward a single point of ever-brightening light. Having reached the end of the tube, Vicki arrived at a serene place of lush foliage and magnificent trees, and there found herself surrounded by people. More importantly, Vicki found this place to be bathed in a tremendous light. She later described the light as “something you could feel as well as see . . .. Everyone there was made of light. And I was made of light. What the light conveyed was love.” Suddenly, she noticed a figure far brighter than all the rest, standing next to her, and she knew it was Jesus. Vicki would tell researchers, “He actually hugged me, and I was very close to him. He actually enveloped me with so much warmth and love . . . [and his eyes] were piercing eyes.” Like so many other NDE reports, Vicki stood in amazement before the resplendent glory of Jesus in a heavenly place. Even so, in a moment of profound irony, the beauty of heaven and the glory of Jesus were the first and only things she had ever seen. That is because Vicki has been totally blind from birth, not knowing even between day and night, dark and light. When asked if in her blindness, she saw darkness, she quickly replied, “No, I don’t see anything at all.” In another case presented by NDE researcher John Burke, one individual proclaimed, “Jesus is our light. . .. He is brighter than the noonday sun, but you can still look at him in heaven.” He would go on to say that while everyone in heaven is made of bright light, Jesus was the brightest of all people; “incredibly beautiful and warm.” Yet another reported, “I was so consumed by His presence that I dropped to my knees and looked up at Him. He is so beautiful. All light, inside of Light.” Indeed, over and again NDErs report seeing an incredibly bright light—a light that is almost always associated with Jesus or God. According to Burke, well over half of all NDEs include encountering a brilliant and powerful light emanating from a Divine origin. With 25 million reported cases of NDEs, that means more than 13 million people have “seen the light of Christ.” Thirteen million people!