John Burke (54:00)
You know, this Life Review that Mary talked about and Dale as well, has the most profound impact on people having near death experiences. We could do an entire podcast on it. I'm sure we will. But the Life Review is varied. Many people, because time doesn't work the same way. They re experience every moment of their life as if in an instant, but they're reliving it. And it's like this three dimensional panoramic. They're watching it there with God experiencing all their thoughts and feelings. But they're also many times able to experience how it impacted other people. The thoughts and the feelings that every act of kindness or every mean thing, how that affected other people, and even how it rippled through humanity. As Mary was talking about, she saw how God used everything for good. You know, just like it says in Romans 8, 28, that when we seek him, when we follow him, even the things that we would have said were tragic or horrible or bad, he can use for good. It doesn't mean those things were necessarily good. But the Life Review just reminds us of what Jesus said, first of all in Matthew 22 when he reiterated what God said to Moses, that, you know, he was asked what's the greatest commandment? And he said the first and Greatest commandment is to love God with all you have. But the second, he said, is like it. In other words, it can't be, you know, taken away from what it means to love God, love your neighbor as you love yourself. And then he said this, he said, do those two love God and love people, and you fulfill all the commands of Scripture. So that's what the Bible and all its commands are really about. This is consistent. Near death experiencers, whether they knew God or not, in his presence, having a life review come back saying two things. God is love. And what he cares most about is how we treat or how we love one another. Thoroughly biblical, but also what Jesus says in Matthew 25 when he said, but when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered to his presence. And then the king, the Lord will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. He says, then the righteous ones will reply, lord, when we ever see you hungry and feed you, or all these other things, and the king will say, truly I tell you, when you did it for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, in other words, the least people, you were doing it to me. So this near death experience testimony of the life review is thoroughly biblical. Now one of the things that trips up Christians and honestly caused me a lot of confusion for many years is that near death experiencers, many of them would say things like, as I'm watching this, I'm seeing all my good and all my bad. And they said, but God wasn't judging me. You know, God was not condemning me, God was loving me, he was supporting me. I was judging myself. And now some of them, in saying that will then make an interpretation and say, see, there is no judgment, we only judge ourselves. So we just have to stop judging ourselves and it's all good. Well, that's an interpretation because what the near death experience shows is that people clearly see they're good and they're bad. There is no hiding from the truth in this life. We can rationalize, we can pretend, you know, we can make excuses. But on the other side, consistently near death experiencers know there's no hiding from the truth. Now, consistently, God does love them. God is love. He can't not love the children he made even when they do wrong. And that's the difference between God and us. You know, when our children do wrong, sometimes we withdraw our love because of their behavior. Well, God is not imperfect like we are. You know, the right thing is that we never withdraw our love. We try to correct, but love is differentiated from their behavior. And so of course God loves them. He doesn't withdraw his love. Even when people do things with thought or action that are against his will, people would say, well, see, there is no judgment. So this is not the God of the Bible, but Matthew 12:36. Jesus says, I tell you that everyone will give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words will you be acquitted, and by your words will you be condemned. In other words, this is what the Life review, which I think is just a preview, is telling us that if we say we've done no wrong, we don't need God's forgiveness, we don't need what Jesus did for us. By our own words, we will see that we were wrong. On the other hand, by our own words of acknowledging our need for God and wanting his forgiveness, we will be acquitted. God never withdraws his love though. And by the way, this is what it says, you know, in that famous verse, John 3:16, God so loved the world he gave his only son. Whoever believes in him will never perish but have eternal life. But what it says after that, John 3:17, God sent His son into the world not to judge the world but but to save the world through him. So we shouldn't be surprised that this is exactly what near death experiencers feel from God and experience in the Life review. But the Life Review is not the judgment of God. That doesn't happen until the end of human history. That's what the Bible tells us. So this is just evidence of the truth of what Jesus said in Matthew 10:26. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden, that will not be made known. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 5, Therefore judge nothing. You know, we're not to judge, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. And that's what people experience in their Life Review. At that time, each will receive their praise from God. Now this is really important because people miss this. The Life Review is not just, it's not to punish all our wrongs have been forgiven if we've accepted God's forgiveness and what he's done through Christ. So this life review for the child of God is to reward. It's to receive praise from God. That's what Paul says here. For every little act of kindness, every loving thing done in order to please God and to serve humanity, it counts. And let that encourage you. Every little thing counts and nothing will be missed. And interestingly, it's angels that many near death experiencers tell us are recording all these things in books that it says in the book of Revelation will one day be opened. So our lives are being recorded by angels, I believe, because they too are learning from our experience. But angels, the encounter of angels is another commonality. Near death experiencers have. Dale talked about two angels that were actually flanking him. He didn't say it in the video here, but he did in other places as he was shooting off through the universe toward what will be heaven. But he also sees these lights moving toward him that he asks the question and this knowledge comes to him that they're angels. Now, interestingly, in the book of Acts, Peter is in prison and says, suddenly there was a bright light in the cell. What was the bright light from? An angel of the Lord stood before Peter. And so angels also apparently shine with the light of God, like in the describe that too is biblical. And then both Mary and Dale talked about this perfect communication that happens. Many call it telepathic, that has tripped Christians up in the past for some reason. But as Mary said, it's not just thought to thought, it's more than that. It's imagine being able to communicate not only all your thoughts, but all the connected thoughts and your feelings and your heart and all of it, nothing missing. And you understood that from the other and the other understood that from you. I mean, can you imagine? I want to do a whole podcast on that. Because so many of the problems that marriages face, relationships face, is that our communication is so limited and we're so impatient. We're so quick to speak and want to be understood, but so slow to try to slow down and listen and understand. The communication of heaven reminds us of that we need to be more patient with one another. But even now, this is how God speaks to us. You know, in 1 Corinthians 2:16, it says, who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. Now think about this. You know, we want God to speak audibly to us. Because we think that'll be. That's more direct, but it's actually not. I mean, right now I'm trying to get my thoughts into your mind, but I'm having to use, you know, the microphone and my limited words and your ears to hear, and you're probably thinking other things. What would be way more direct is if I could put all my thoughts and feelings of what I'm trying to communicate directly into your mind. Now, you could be thinking about something else. You could say, well, that's a dumb thought and reject it. But that would be more direct communication if I could put all my thoughts and impressions into your mind directly. I can't do that. Thank God for your sake. But God can, and it is how he communicates with us. Now, many times Jesus said, whoever has ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit says. And that's because we have to learn how to hear that, what's called a still, small voice by the prophet Isaiah in our thoughts and in our heart, and learn to respond. But that's probably another podcast in and of itself. Another commonality that Dale and Mary talked about is this complete knowledge that people say they have. Dale said, you know, he started to understand that that's the way it works. He has a question, and as soon as he has the question, the answer would come directly into his heart. Mary said the same thing, that on the threshold of this city of God, every question she ever had was answered. Now this too trips up Christians or has in the past, because near death experiencers will say, like, on the other side, I was like, God, I knew everything. I had universal knowledge. Okay, well, not so much. And Mary even pointed out, and other near death experiencers have pointed out what it was is, as soon as you have a question, the answer comes. And so in terms of all the questions we've ever had, it would feel like universal knowledge. But she said she didn't have divine knowledge. Sometimes it sounds like that's what they're saying. She said, I didn't know everything God knows, and I didn't know everything about God. But it would feel like you know everything because every question you have, as fast as you have it is answered. Dale said, though we will be learning forever more and more about God, the knowledge of God is endless. But it is interesting. First Corinthians 13:12 says, all that I know now, this is Paul speaking, is partial and incomplete. But then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely. So again, even this sense of knowing every question, every answer to every Question is biblical. And isn't that encouraging too? Because to think that there will be a day when all of these confusing questions, all these whys, why God? You know, I've asked my, my fair share of why God? And there have been many things that I've been very confused about. But when you realize that one day these questions that haunt us will find answer, they will be resolved. That can give us a sense of patience, of endurance, of trusting God, even when we don't understand. The day that we live together in God's world, our exploration and our learning, it will be awesome and it will be endless.
