← Imagine Heaven Podcast with John Burke
Imagine Heaven Podcast with John Burke
Hindu Engineer Dies and Encounters Something Unexpected in the Afterlife
01:18:38
A Hindu manufacturing engineer clinically dies — and what he experiences completely challenges what he expected about the afterlife. Santosh grew up believing in reincarnation. But during his near-death experience, he says he encountered something...
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- [00:00]
Santosh Akarchi
Jake.
- [00:00]
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- [01:01]
Santosh Akarchi
Are you really buying a car online on Autotrader right now? Really? At a playground? Yeah, really. Look at these listings from dealers. Wow, your search can really get that specific. Really? And you just put in your info and boom. Car's in your budget. Mom needs a second. Honey, you can really have it delivered. Really? Or I can pick it up at the dealership.
- [01:20]
John Burke
One sec, sweetie.
- [01:22]
Santosh Akarchi
Mommy's buying a car.
- [01:23]
John Burke
Mommy, look.
- [01:24]
Santosh Akarchi
I think kid is walking up the slide. Kyle, again?
- [01:27]
Bluff (Spin Quest Advertiser)
Really?
- [01:27]
John Burke
Auto trader? Buy your car online.
- [01:29]
Santosh Akarchi
Really? As my Hindu belief, I thought if I die, maybe I'll come back as another living thing in this life. It did not happen. A bright light was appearing before me and I saw that light was shining on top of a beautiful compound. I knew I was looking at the kingdom of heaven.
- [01:53]
John Burke
A Hindu manufacturing engineer's heart stops and he clinically dies. But he didn't experience what he expected from his past religious beliefs. Instead, he describes seeing the holy city of God found in Revelation, chapter 21. How do you explain this? Well, today I'm going to let you hear my full interview with Santosh Akarchi. He was one of my favorite interviews I did when I was writing the book Imagine the God of Heaven. I was in the studio and Santosh was online, so it's going to look a little different. But what Santosh describes about God, the holy city, heaven, hell, reincarnation, all of it, it's going to amaze you. And afterwards I'll break it down for you. So stick with me till the end. Well, I'm John Burke, author of the New York Times best selling book Imagine Heaven. And this is the Imagine Heaven podcast.
- [02:51]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Well, Santosh, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with me today.
- [02:57]
Santosh Akarchi
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John, for, for inviting me.
- [03:01]
John Burke (Interviewer)
You grew up in India. Tell me a little bit about just your, your background leading up to this experience of dying and coming back.
- [03:10]
Santosh Akarchi
Well, I grew up in India and I grew up in a very conservative Hindu family. My father was a Sanskrit scholar, but he was also in the priesthood of the Hindu religion. He was very well known, well respected Hindu preacher and everybody honored him, including me. Even today, I have a lot of honor for my, A lot of respect for my, for my father. So I grew up in that environment and I did. I was well, you know, I was well familiar with the Hindu culture and what we should do and what we should not do. Because growing up in a family, I learned by watching what my father and mother do.
- [04:05]
John Burke
Yeah.
- [04:07]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And then later in life you became a manufacturing engineer.
- [04:12]
Santosh Akarchi
You know, in Hindu religion, especially in that family like that, they would probably expect the eldest son to follow the path of the father. So that means my father, even though he didn't force upon me, he probably wanted me to go that route. Okay. But I took a different route. I went in the technical field, engineering field, and I became in manufacturing and became a manufacturing engineer. I was well paid in that area and well respected.
- [04:51]
John Burke (Interviewer)
What were your spiritual beliefs? How had that evolved?
- [04:55]
Santosh Akarchi
My spiritual belief always stagnant and all I knew was Hinduism. So whatever the Hindus believe, that's what I used to believe. So that's what it was. I didn't explore to other because I had no time to do that. I was very busy with my career.
- [05:16]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Yeah. And at the time that your near death experience happened, did you think there was life after death?
- [05:24]
Santosh Akarchi
Well, no. The Hindus, as Hindus, we believed, and Hindus still believe that after we die, we come back to this life again. Not necessarily as a human being, but could be different forms, could be like animals or something else. So that's what I used to believe.
- [05:45]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Based on your karma.
- [05:47]
Santosh Akarchi
Based on your karma.
- [05:48]
John Burke
Yeah, yeah.
- [05:49]
Santosh Akarchi
And I never paid any attention to, you know, whatever happens. Once you die, you die. That's what I thought.
- [05:59]
John Burke (Interviewer)
So bring us up to the time of when this happened in the hospital and they declared code blue.
- [06:06]
Santosh Akarchi
Well, it came all of a sudden and I had a very severe chest pain and the pain was so severe. And I woke up in the middle of the night, probably around, I'm not sure, probably one in the morning or something like that. And I felt that somebody was Felt like somebody was stabbing me left and right. And I've never felt such a pain in my life before. So I started to cry and moan and groan. And my wife, she woke up and both her and I thought I was having a heart attack because all the symptoms were there. And whatever was happening was not getting any better. It was getting worse. So we called 911. The paramedics came, and they also thought I was having a heart attack. During the time they were monitoring my heart rate and. And my heart rate was at that time was, I think close to 200. So they were very alarmed. And once we came to the hospital, they immediately took me to the icu. My doctor said, now we know what's wrong with you. At the time we thought, well, you are having a heart attack, but you don't nothing wrong with your heart, so you don't have a heart attack. What happened is at night, your gallstones ruptured. When the gallstones ruptured, it ruptured with a tremendous force. They punctured the nearby organ called pancreas. And some of the stones puncture your pancreas from one end to the other end. And as a result, your pancreas is bleeding. And the situation is very dire. Your heart rate is 204 is extremely dangerous. At that rate, we won't even let you sit down. Okay? He said, there's nothing we can do for you. Nothing, absolutely nothing. All you can do is pray and hope. There is no medication, no surgery, nothing we can do for you until your pulse rate comes down. There's nothing we can do. And he said, I'm sorry. At the time I was very sad that I am having all these, you know, like traveling all over the world, all kinds of things, making money and all kinds of other things. What good is it for me now? I need immediate attention. But they said there's nothing they can do. So what good is that money? In the hospital situation started to getting worse, one thing after another. On 21st of October, collapsed in my bed. And I have code blue right there.
- [09:39]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Code blue as in your heart stopped beating?
- [09:41]
Santosh Akarchi
Yes. At the time, my wife was sitting right there. So I gave my final blessings to my wife. So when I collapsed, everything went dark. I didn't like all my organs gone right away and then. But my sense of hearing was still there. For several minutes, I could not see my wife. I could not speak to her. I could not feel the touch. But my sense of hearing was there for several minutes. The reason I say that, because I heard when it Happened. I heard most likely an RN came to the room and went to the intercom, said code blue, Code blue, room number such and such. Code blue, Code blue. I heard that very clearly.
- [10:42]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And later the doctors told you your heart had stopped beating and they weren't able to get it going again.
- [10:49]
Santosh Akarchi
Yes, yes, yes.
- [10:51]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And as a result, so you were clinically dead. How did they. You said they put you on some kind of artificial life support.
- [11:01]
Santosh Akarchi
That's what I found out later. I was, I was gone on 21st of October 2006, probably around, most likely around 3pm and I came back to life on 24th of October 2006 in. Probably around 7:30 in the morning, around that time. So I was gone for almost three days and three nights. And in the meantime they transferred me from ICU to the CCU. CCU means Critical Care Unit where a doctor was observing me 24 hours a day. And then I asked the doctors later on when I met my doctor, he said, what actually happened? He said, well, you had a code blue. They could not revive your heart. So they have the medically induced coma in you which even today I didn't understand any what that means. And they put you, they took you to, before they took you to surgery room, they put you on artificial life support. And then the reason I had the code blue. Let me explain that to you. When the doctor, some of the medical people there did some, not intentionally, they did something wrong, they actually punctured the main artery that goes to my lungs. And then it was bleeding. It was bleeding. And when my lungs got filled with blood, I could not breathe anymore. Okay. That's what caused all this.
- [13:02]
John Burke (Interviewer)
So let's go on to your experience now beyond your body.
- [13:08]
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- [13:38]
Santosh Akarchi
As my Hindu belief, I thought if I die then that should be it. Maybe I'll come back as another living thing in this life. But it did not happen. All I experienced a momentary momentarily I felt everything went dark. Nothing was visible. And then I saw a bright light was appearing before me. And when the bright light appeared before me I knew that light had superior authority, superior power. I need to listen to this. And once that bright light came to me, it was so bright, it engulfed me with its radiance. So nothing else was visible to me except that light that was a little bit ahead of me.
- [14:49]
John Burke (Interviewer)
What did you think this light was? Or did you.
- [14:54]
Santosh Akarchi
This light? Just as soon as I saw that light, I knew it was a divine light. Okay. I had to obey that light. And then together I traveled. We traveled quite a distance. Exactly how long, I do not know. But during this transition, I knew this light didn't mean any harm for me. It meant good for me. Wherever it's taking me is good for me. I knew that.
- [15:37]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And at that point, what did you feel from this light? You at one point told me I fell in love with this light. Why?
- [15:45]
Santosh Akarchi
I fell in love with that light because it was protecting me from any harm, if there's any harm or anything. It was protecting me and taking me somewhere safe for me. That's the feelings that I had. But once in a while we felt that we were going through some dark tunnels momentarily. The reason I'm saying that, you know, have you ever traveled through a train and the train goes through a tunnel at a fast speed and you know that you're going to that tunnel. Okay. And as soon as the tunnel is gone, you are back to normal again. So once in a while I felt that we are going through some dark tunnels. And once I cross the tunnels, I'm back to normal again. So at the end of the journey, the light stopped. So once the light stopped, I had to stop. And I saw that light was shining on top of a beautiful compound. That compound was so beautiful, it'd be hard for me to explain.
- [16:57]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And what do you mean by compound?
- [17:00]
Santosh Akarchi
Compound means it's an area. It's a large area. And that area was not only beautiful, it was all surrounded with high walls. And that inside that compound or complex, I should say is. Is there's a lot of mansions. Mansions mean big buildings after buildings. It's absolutely gorgeous. And as soon as I saw that complex or compound, I knew that my goal of life is to enter into that. Into that compound. And I noticed that the light that brought me there, he was shining on top of that compound inside the wall. And I am outside of the wall. So I desperately wanted to get inside because that would be my ultimate goal in my life. I looked all around. The entire compound was like a square shaped. I desperately wanted to get inside, but I couldn't get in.
- [18:36]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And what did you see inside.
- [18:39]
Santosh Akarchi
Let me explain here. Once we go there, where I was, our vision becomes unlimited. What I mean by that, here in this world we have a very limited vision. We can only see whatever, you know, whatever distance. I can see if there's something obstructing us. I cannot see anything because of the obstruction. But once I am there, there's no obstruction. I can still see what's going on inside there. Not only that, like a powerful camera, I can zoom in. Which you cannot do in this world.
- [19:25]
John Burke
Yeah.
- [19:26]
Santosh Akarchi
What I mean by zooming in, I can look at an object, let's say several, you know, miles away. I can zoom on that face of whatever you want to see, I can zoom on. But we don't have that people really here, you know.
- [19:41]
John Burke (Interviewer)
I think I told you this when we talked. But it's fascinating because John in the book of Revelation is taken up to a very high mountain and is looking on the same square compound or city you saw. And he can read the names on the foundation stones, so it talks. He's having that same telescopic kind of vision in the Bible.
- [20:05]
Santosh Akarchi
It's a vision. It's probably we're going to get as soon as we get there. But I don't have that, you know, that vision here I have very limited. As a matter of fact I have some, several problems in my eyes after I came back. But that's this life. But what I saw, that compound that I'm watching is definitely square shaped and it is very high walls. And I saw these and I counted them. The twelve magnificent gates there beautiful gates. So I was wondering how can I go through one of these gates? I looked around, all of these gates were closed for me. I could not get in.
- [21:05]
John Burke (Interviewer)
You intuitively knew that or I know
- [21:08]
Santosh Akarchi
I saw they're all closed. The gates are closed. It even if I go near the gate, I could not be. I should, I cannot go in because the gates are closed. The gates have to be open for me to get inside. So I was very sad.
- [21:28]
John Burke (Interviewer)
What did you think this place was at that point?
- [21:32]
Santosh Akarchi
At that point I did not know it was heaven yet that I'm looking at. But as I was looking to get in, I was looking inside the heaven from outside wall and I could see that the nearest gate that was where I was standing, nearest gate. There I've seen there are several angels, many angels, they're protecting that gate. And then when I looked around, they're not only protecting that gate, there are many, many angels are there. When I saw the angels at that Time I knew I was looking at the kingdom of heaven because the heaven, Kingdom of heaven is also in the Hindu, Hindu religion. They also said there is a heaven, there is also a hell. So that I grew up with that, with that knowledge. So once I saw the angels, I knew I was looking at the heaven at that point. I've seen several humans inside the heaven. Several. And my first reaction was to see. That's when I see. When I could look at their face, I could zoom in. Even though they're a distant distance from me, I could zoom in their faces. I zoomed in their faces to see if my father, my mother, both of them were gone at the time, long before then. But I did not see their face. And that still bothers me even to this date because when I grew up, I knew if anybody from this Hindu religion would be there, would be my father or, or my mother. They were so devout. They're so like religious good people. If anybody from that religion would be there, would be my parents. But they were not there. I'm sad to say that because my father was. He was a very honorable person. He was a very like priest. He did everything that the religion commanded him to do. So even today's date, I'm sad when I say. I say that God only knows where he is now.
- [24:34]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Well, you know, Dean Braxton, who we just interviewed, didn't think his aunt was going to be there. Thought she was going to be in the other place and she showed up. So you never know.
- [24:48]
Santosh Akarchi
I'm praying, actually. I pray for them every day that when I go inside the heaven that I will see them, but it's going to be entirely up to the Lord. So not being able to get inside the heaven, I was sad then. I was concentrating on where I was and what is this place? This place was outside the wall of the, you know, the nearest gate where I was standing. And I was standing on a huge platform that was thousand feet, almost thousand feet long by 250ft wide. So I was at the extreme left edge of this platform and my. I'm concentrating on the spot where I was standing. And it felt like, you know, I was at the extreme as it feels like I'm on a higher ground or wherever it is. If I fall down, where am I going to fall? So I looked on my left and what I saw down below was so scary, even scares me even to this day, where I'm going to fall, enormous depth in darkness. And at the end where I'm going to fall is a lake of fire. That's where I'm going to fall.
- [26:21]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And you're seeing this down to the
- [26:23]
Santosh Akarchi
left of you I'm seeing on my left below there where I'm going to fall.
- [26:27]
John Burke (Interviewer)
How far down?
- [26:28]
Santosh Akarchi
Far down. There was no railing there. And my immediate reaction was, how come there's no railing there? But there was no railing. So immediately I stepped one or two steps on my right. And look at my situation there, where I am. I want to enter into the kingdom of heaven, but I can't. I cannot go back where I came from. Because I said, no, no, once I leave this world, there's only one way ticket. You cannot go back. So my only option was to fall into that lake of fire. And that lake of fire where I'm going to fall from there, I cannot climb up again. Because from where I'm going to fall, it's all abyss. Abyss means this is all steep. There's no way you're gonna climb up. So that's where I was. I was sad. And at that time, I looked at the center of the platform. I said the platform was thousand feet long by 250ft wide. It's on the outside of the outside. This is a wall. It's a common wall between the inside to get inside and the outside of it. So I'm on a platform, standing there. So I'm looking at the center of the platform there I saw three steps. And on the third step I saw there was a huge throne. And on that throne, it felt like somebody was sitting there. So I looked up and lo and behold, there was the Almighty. He was sitting there. And as soon as I saw Him, I knew he was the Almighty. Because there's no one higher than Him. I knew it automatically. Nobody had to introduce him to me. And as soon as I saw. I saw his face. And his face was very angry at me. And all the sins I committed in my life, everyone was shown was flushed before my eyes. I started to tremble. And then I knew that the Lord is not going to spare me. Today would be the last day. So I kept repeating the same thing. The Lord, please forgive me. Please forgive me. I did not. I did not know some of them that I did. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I started pleading, but Lord did not respond. He did not respond before that I should mentioned that even though my body was not there, it felt like that everything that God gave me was there. Like I could. It felt like I was standing. I'm speaking to him. Everything that he gave me was there. Like even Though my body was not there. Then I kept pleading to him. Also, I felt that my knees automatically bowed down. Even my body was. It felt like my knees automatically bowed down to him.
- [30:40]
John Burke (Interviewer)
And what did he look like? What were you seeing?
- [30:43]
John Burke
He.
- [30:45]
Santosh Akarchi
To me, he appeared to be like a giant. His face was full of. What I should say. His eyes were filled. Feel like. Like lightning bolts. It was very, very scary. And I. I knew that he's not gonna. He's not gonna leave me alone today. Today is my last day. So I kept pleading to him, please forgive me. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. And I was waiting. At any moment, he's going to command me to dive down or make me fall down. And then finally he spoke to me. When he spoke to me just the opposite. His voice was full of tenderness, mercy and grace. And he asked me, what are you doing here? I shrugged my shoulder, meaning, I don't know. He said, I'm sending you back to the earth. Go back, complete your unfinished tasks, and then I'll see you again. When the Lord speak spoke to me, I felt I was. I felt I was not shaking anymore. I was not scared anymore. I felt. I felt much more, you know, calmer.
- [33:00]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Why is that?
- [33:03]
Santosh Akarchi
Because of the voice, the tenderness, the love that he showed to me.
- [33:07]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Mercy, you know, you are experiencing love now.
- [33:11]
Santosh Akarchi
From him I experienced the love, tenderness from him that I did not expect. He said, I'm sending you back to the earth. And when he was speaking to me, and right what is sitting on his throne, just a few short distance from him, on the platform level, I saw a very narrow door or a narrow gate that was open. And when that narrow door was opened, I could see through this narrow door, narrow gate, the entire kingdom of Heaven. And as I. Everything in front of me, I can see all the twelve gates that I see still outside there. They're all closed. But the only one open is the narrow door and a narrow gate that in front of me. And that is the only gate through whom through the gate that I can enter into the kingdom of Heaven. When I see there is only one gate, open that narrow door, I ask the Lord, lord, when you see me again, please tell me how I can go through this narrow door. Because next time when you see me, Lord, I want to go to the narrow door. He did not respond. Then I started to beg him. I cried to him, lord, please tell me. Because I know at any moment he'll be sending me back to the earth. Said, please tell me how I can go to this narrow gate when you See me again. Please tell me when I go back. Please tell me which church, which temple, which mosque, which synagogue, or any other place that you want me to join. I will join. Please tell me. He wouldn't tell me that. So I kept crying out to him. Finally he responded. He said to me, those things are not important to me. I was shocked. I was totally shocked because I thought the more religious a person is, the closer to heaven he is. But he is telling me, those things are not important to me. I was shocked and I asked, lord, Lord, please tell me what I need to do to enter when you see me next time. I want to enter. He said, I want to see how honest, how true, how sincere you are with me 365 days a year, not just once a week or once a month. I want to see how sincere. I want to see your relationship with me. What's your relationship? Actually, I did not understand any of those. Okay. He said, lord, I'm a simple human being. Please tell me what I need to do when you see me next time to enter into this narrow dog. And he gave me some instructions. So I'm giving you some instructions. So I'm sharing those instructions with you. First thing, he said, once you are back to your family, I want you to love your family and love your children. He said, always tell the truth. Always tell the truth has two meanings for me. Not only do not tell lies, but also tell the truth. What do you see? What do you witness here? What are you talking about? What are you witnessing in front? What are you witnessing on your left? Tell the truth. Do not be afraid to tell the truth. Some people look down upon you when you tell the truth. But tell the truth.
- [37:59]
John Burke (Interviewer)
So he wanted you to tell the truth about what you were seeing.
- [38:03]
Santosh Akarchi
What I'm seeing in front. The eternal utter darkness.
- [38:05]
John Burke (Interviewer)
The heaven, the compound.
- [38:07]
Santosh Akarchi
And where are you going to fall? Right where I'm going to fall. That's the truth. It's going to. You will have only two things. Either go up front or fall down. There is no way you can go back where you came from. No reincarnation or what they think. There is no such thing. And the only way you can enter into this kingdom is through the narrow gate. Okay, then, next instruction. He said to me, the wages of sin is death. From this day on forward, commit no more sins.
- [38:53]
John Burke (Interviewer)
What do you think he meant by that? Because none of us can never sin.
- [38:58]
Santosh Akarchi
This is exactly what he's telling me. Wages of sin is death. From this day on forward, commit no more sins. The third Thing he said to me, surrender yourself completely. Should underline completely unto me in your daily lives. This is very difficult thing to do for us. We all like to do our own ways. And the next instruction he gave to me was walk with me, which is a very. It's a completely different language for me. I come from a different background. I don't understand how can I walk with God? To me, he looks like he's a mighty giant. His one step will be like, I have to run a race just to do his one step. How can I walk with him? Final instruction he gave to me is, be kind to the poor. Be generous to the poor. They need your help. Please help them. You need to help them. Whenever we talk about poor, we usually think somebody needs financial help only, not necessarily. People can be poor in many ways. Could be physically poor, mentally poor, emotionally poor, spiritually poor. These days, even when I look at many people going to the churches every Sunday, many of them are spiritually poor. They just go there just, you know, not to have a relationship with him. From there, the next thing I know, I'm back to the hospital. Three days later, I open my eyes and then I see motherly lady was looking at me, very, so very gracefully looking at me. And she said, oh, you are back to this. Everybody here is very anxious for you to wake up. You woke up. Let me go and tell all the, you know, people working here, they've been waiting for you. When the doctor said to me that there's nothing they can do for me, even after now is almost 17 years, I'm still walking around. I'm still, you know, doing my things as much as I can do. It's all done only by his grace.
- [41:46]
John Burke (Interviewer)
So tell us about that experience then, when you discovered what the narrow door, the mystery and how you were seeking in that time after you came back.
- [41:56]
Santosh Akarchi
After I came back, you know, as soon as I get on my feet, they put me on a new assignment. That my new assignment was in China, which meant me. I had to travel there to China quite often, quite frequently. So I got busy with my work again. But it was still bothering me because everything that I witnessed, I did not experience anything in my former religion or I did not know what that meant. It was bothering me big times. And I was really anxious to know the things that I witness, what they meant, what they actually meant.
- [42:43]
John Burke (Interviewer)
I know for two years you were praying for understanding of who this God is, right?
- [42:51]
Santosh Akarchi
Yes, I was. It was bothering me because I did not know this almighty God that I met, who that Person is who that person, who he is. It's not like what I learned in my religion or somewhere else. Who is that? So I was meditating, meditating upon that. See, who is that? God. So finally, my daughter, she got invited to the great church here in Middleburg Heights. She was invited by her friend to come to a. I think it was an Easter service to join the corps. She was in a core group from the university that she came from. And then, so she asked, you know, mom and dad, can you come and attend this? You know, we're going to be singing in the choir. Can you come? So we came. And the very first time I came to this church, and the senior pastor here, his name is Jonathan Shaffer, and the very first time that I heard in his sermon, Jonathan started speaking about narrow door, narrow gate. And as if he was just speaking exclusively to me, okay, So I heard his sermon. I took some notes from the Bible. I went back and looked at those Bible verses, and it got me very interested because this is exactly what I witnessed. Okay? So I kept on coming to this church every Sunday. Gradually, everything came clear to me. What does narrow door means? Narrow door means you need to come through Jesus Christ. He is our only door. This is the only door you can come in. No other. There's no other Savior out there. There's only one Savior. So this is how I came to know, you know, that Jesus is the way. The only way. And he loves us so much, he doesn't care. He doesn't care which religion, which background, which ethnicity I have. He loves us so much that he came down from. From his place in heaven to come down to rescue us from here. Makes perfect sense. So. And I am now pleading to anybody from any religion to come to know Jesus because He is the only savior in the whole universe. There's no other Savior.
- [46:05]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Santosh, if there's one thing you would want to tell people about God being in his presence, what would you say?
- [46:16]
Santosh Akarchi
Well, God in His presence. First of all, we are all. We are all fallen people. It's not a single person. Doesn't matter which religion you come from. Doesn't matter whether you're priest or whatever. Everyone has committed some sins. Everyone. It's not a single one, including me. And I know all the sins that I committed because they were all shown to me. Everyone will have the same treatment. When you go up there, you'll be knowing all the sins that we committed. So God, first of all, God is love, but he's also holy, very holy. There's no Such, nobody that unholy that can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven is only for the holy people. And then how can I be holy if I committed so many sins in this life? There's no way, no way I can wipe them out. They're already committed. The only way we can wipe them out is by nailing them on the cross. There is no other way. And if you want to ask me if I am unholy, how can I describe God? I don't even know. Because he is. He's so holy and I'm unholy. How can I describe Him? I don't know. He's beyond our capabilities. He's infinite. When I'm. I'm nothing, I'm nothing. The only thing I have, his grace.
- [48:25]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Did you experience that when you were in his presence? His grace and.
- [48:30]
Santosh Akarchi
Yes. And how did you experience that that was completely His? I was thinking that I was going to fall into the lake of fire at any moment. And I deserved to be. I deserve to fall there. Because all the sins that I committed, they were shown each and every one. I forgot some of them, but he did not. So that means God is just. He doesn't forget which sins I committed. Okay? He doesn't forget that they are already. Unless he wipes them out. There's no way we can get inside the heaven. No way. The reason we cannot see God or experience God, because our hearts are not pure. Our hearts are wicked. There's no doubt about that. So without his grace, I have nothing. That's the only thing.
- [49:37]
John Burke (Interviewer)
But I know you told me you experienced part. Part of what you were confused about is why did he show so much compassion to me? Right? Didn't you tell me that when you came back? Yes, because knowing what you deserved, and yet he had such compassion for you,
- [49:55]
Santosh Akarchi
without his compassion, I won't be here today. I won't be. And he has same compassion for anyone as long as we have repentance in our heart, okay? And that's what is lacking in many hearts. They don't want to repent. But the repentance must go with that true repentance. Because when I repent, I must not do it again. I must make every attempt not to do it again. And as I read the Bible, I see the one verse comes over and over to me. Abide in me, and I in you. So if I abide in him and he's in me, then the question of sin doesn't enter into the sin. Wow.
- [51:01]
John Burke
I mean, there is so much we could dive into, you know I, I personally find it so fascinating and affirming that this is not what Santosh was expecting. Right? I mean what would be his motive to make this up? He was a well respected manufacturing engineer demanded around the globe. I mean his testimony talking about this would be thought of of CR as crazy. It would just hurt his career. And everything he said went against his, his family's long held beliefs. Why would he make this up unless it's true and real? And yet his experience perfectly aligns with what Jesus disciple John describes in the book of Revelation. And Santosh experiences both the holiness of God but also the loving compassion of God. Just like it talks about God being in the Bible. So I want to dive in and explore all this a little bit deeper. First let me read to you from Revelation and a few places of how it aligns with Santosh's testimony because I think you're going to find it absolutely fascinating.
- [52:15]
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- [52:45]
John Burke
John to set it up who wrote Revelation? He was one of Jesus youngest disciples. The youngest disciple or follower. And in John's old age. So this is probably about 40 years or so after Jesus resurrection. He was actually imprisoned on the island of Patmos because he kept boldly proclaiming Jesus as the long foretold Jewish Messiah. And so he's exiled to Patmos. And he said he was worshiping one Sunday when he hears a loud voice, turns around and he sees the risen Jesus. Now not just Jesus in his human form, this is the glorified Jesus. I believe this is who Santosh was seen on the throne. Let me read it to you. Revelation 1 starting in verse 13. I saw someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. His face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I died, but look, I'm alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death in the grave.
- [54:18]
John Burke (Interviewer)
Revelation 1:13 18.
- [54:21]
John Burke
Okay, so at first, Santosh experiences this God of, of divine light and love. He said he knew this was the ultimate authority and, and yet full of love. And so Santosh said he fell in love with this light. But then later, on the platform overlooking the holy city, he sees God again, but this time in a different form. Now, I believe this is who Santosh was describing is the risen, glorified Jesus. And here's why. He intuitive, intuitively knew. He said, this is almighty God, yet he said he was in a. The form of a man. Now, a giant man. Okay, but he was in this form of a man in a regal robe. And Santosh, remember, said he looked up into his eyes and his eyes were like lightning. Now, John said his eyes were like flames of fire and face like the sun, but that would kind of have the same appearance as, as lightning. You might describe it differently, but the same appearance. And interestingly, in another phone interview I did with Santosh, he also said at one point when he was down on his knees, he looked at, at his feet and they were molten broads. Okay? So he, he described just what, what John described. And both John and Santosh say that they automatically drop to their knees. In other words, this is the almighty, holy, overwhelmingly awesome, glorified Jesus. This, this is someone who drops you to your knees. And, and interestingly, many other nders also see God like this, see Jesus like this in his glorified state, but not all. And you know, in the book Imagine the God of Heaven, I interviewed 70 people from all around the world. And you can see how they all experience this same God, sometimes appearing a little bit different. But I also go deeper into the mystery of God and his manifestation. But to summarize, you know, God is infinite and eternal, so he's not bound to one location or, or one point of time. And God is both imminent, which means he's everywhere at once. It says this in Ephesians, chapter four. It says there is one God and Father of all, who is overall in all and living through all. So in other words, God is the very life force sustaining all things, and he's everywhere all at once, and yet over all, he's transcendent. In other words, God is not just the sum total of all of his creation added together. That's what some religions believe. No God transcends all that he created. He's outside of all he created. And yet God has revealed himself as only one being, one essence, but manifested in three persons. So the Father is often seen or manifests himself for the people of heaven in the holy city in the center of the city. He is the light over the city, of the city. There's no sun or moon. Santosh said that too. The light was this light of God. And many times he appears there on his throne in the center of the city.
- [57:53]
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- [58:22]
John Burke
For the inhabitants of Heaven now, Jesus was the human incarnation or manifestation of the one true God for people on earth. But the spirit of God is the distributed manifestation of God. So there, there aren't three gods though there's only one God. And if that confuses you, well welcome to the party and read Imagine the God of Heaven. Because I try to go into it more in the book in ways that maybe can can help you a little bit. But most near death experiencers describe this same thing. First of all, the light and love of God. Just like Santosh saw it first or sometimes Jesus, sometimes the human Jesus. Like if you saw my past interview with Heidi that you remember the 16 year old Jewish girl who got slammed by her horse. But then other times he appears as the glorified Jesus like he did to Santosh and also to Dr. Rajiv party who I interviewed. But interestingly, Jesus prayed for this. His last night before his crucifixion. He prayed now Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you love me even before the world began. And I believe this is who Santosh is seen the risen glorified Jesus. And he said the the same thing once he started to learn and, and and grow and understand the Bible more and remember his presence was so powerful it dropped Santosh to his knees. And it reminds me of a passage in Philippians Chapter two, that's talking about Jesus. And it says one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And you know indeers say it. No one's going to have to tell you who this is. You will just know the truth. So Santosh experiences God in, in these two different manifestations. And then Santosh also describes the holy city that many other near death experiencers also describe. Now let me read to you what John says in Revelation 21. It says, after he, he said Jesus took him up in the Spirit into heaven. And so it says, so he took me in the spirit to a great high mountain and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, just like Santosh said, sparkled like a precious stone, like Jasper, as clear as crystal. Okay. Now Santosh said that it was otherworldly building materials, which is fascinating because a manufacturing engineer would notice the building materials. Right? But these materials are both solid, hard, like Jasper, which is a rock, a stone, yet transparent at the same time. And many near death experiencers have validated this. John goes on in Revelation 21:10, says the city wall was broad and high with 12 gates guarded by 12 angels. And the names of the 12 tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side, east, north, south and west. Okay, so Santosh counted 12 gates and saw the angels guarding them. And he said you can see for thousands of miles. So he was able to count the these gates all around the city. Now John is said he was up on a great high mountain, remember? And yet he read the names on the gates. How? Well, John and the Bible here is confirming this telescopic vision that near death experiencers report. Santosh also said the wall was very high and the city was in a, a square shape. And John later says an angel measured it for him with human measurement. And he goes on, in Revelation 21:16, when he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long each side, 1,400 miles. When he measured the walls and found them to be 216ft, the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each one of the gate was a single pearl. And the city, the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Okay, again, John is describing something that now near death experiencers help us see, is this otherworldly material. You know, in our world you don't have pure gold that's also transparent like glass. And yet I've heard so many near death experiencers try to describe this Other worldly material. You know, Dale Black also said the wall was as, as high as it was wide. So 216ft high and wide. And so that means the gate through the wall is more like a tunnel, a 216 foot tunnel through that wall, which, remember if you heard an earlier episode, Don Piper in that interview, he's the one who got run over by the 18 wheeler, described the gate as looking kind of like a Roman archway, but he said covered with this, it was almost like pearlescent icing smeared across it. That's moving and swirling this otherworldly material. Dr. Mary Neal, the spine surgeon I interviewed, said the, the, the wall and the gate into the city was like an old Roman archway and yet made of blocks of stone, she said, that were solid. And she said, yet this isn't going to make sense. But they were made of love, which love and light, of course, go together. That would also be translucent. And so again you're, you're, you're seeing this place that is otherworldly and yet near death experiencers are consistently describing it. In my last video, Brad, who was blind from birth, yet in his near death experience describes coming up to this same wall. And remember he said there was an archway and he starts to go through, walk through the archway into the city when the angels stopped him and, and, and send him back. Now, here's why I point this out, because this is a real place, you guys. It's a real place. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, and when it's ready, I will come and get you and bring you, and you will always be with me where I am. And it's where we want to be. It's where we all want to be. But it's real. I mean, how else do you explain a Hindu describing it? A commercial airline pilot, Dale Black, a surgeon, Dr. Mary Neal, and a blind kid seeing and describing the same place just like John did in the book of Revelation. And as Santosh said, I wanted to go in this. This is the place. The longing of every human heart. That's what Santosh said. That's why he was counting the gates. He's trying to get in. And what, what you have to understand is this is your home. That's what near death experiencers consistently say is I felt like this was my true home, where I really belong, where everything is right. But it's your permanent home. It's the home to live for. And I'll tell you what people I've interviewed describe is the most alive, exciting, beautiful, exhilarating creative, fun place that you can ever imagine and then multiply it by millions. That's what near death experiencers consistently say. And yet at first the gates were closed to Santosh. Why? Well, before I try to explain this, let me say something else first. You know, I find that God sometimes gives people who don't know him and have a near death experience. And if it's not a hellish near death experience, many times they get a glimpse of both heaven and hell. And many times he gives them what I would call a living parable during their nde. And when they come back to earth, when they truly seek him, they do find Him. Now sadly, I've interviewed a few who have come back and they don't seek God. They seek the experience more than the God that they experienced. But most do seek God and, and they find him. It's fascinating because Jesus taught in parables mostly when he was on earth. In fact, one time his disciples asked him, why do you do this? Why do you teach in parables? Listen to what he said to those who listen to my teaching. In other words, those who have ears to hear, who have heart seeking, wanting to learn, more understanding will be given and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, in other words, their hearts are really closed. Even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use parables. In other words, parables are used to test the heart. See, God is a heart God. God is looking at the heart. That's what he said. We look by the outside. God looks at the heart. And any heart truly seeking God is, he says is given more understanding. But for those who are just playing games with God, they're not really humbly seeking God. They're just really living their own way. He lets them go their own way. That is the law of love. Love requires free will, as we've often talked about. And so here Jesus gives Santosh a parable. At the time, Santosh didn't know this was Jesus, but he sees the reality of heaven, he sees the reality of hell. And in his life review, he sees all of his sins and he knows what he deserves. And you know, I think that, that he's being shown Jesus on his throne of judgment. In other words, this is not God on his throne in the center of the city. This is more like a, a, a vision or a creation of Jesus. In the day when he's on his throne of judgment, Santosh sees all his sins. He realizes what he deserves. But his heart is humble and he asks for forgiveness. And I believe this is a parable of many verses. But one of them is this. Romans 3, 23 and 24. For everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God in His grace freely makes us right in his sight, he forgives us. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins, for our wrongs. Just like Santosh said, how can I go back and erase all the sins of my past? I'd forgotten many of them, but God didn't. And if I have to pay for them, I'm doomed. We all are. And yet, when God begins to speak to Santosh, he experiences God's heart, which is grace. God's grace, his great love and compassion for Santosh and for me and for you, for every person he created. And so he shows Santosh the one way into the kingdom of heaven. The parable of the narrow gate, or the narrow door, as Santosh said, that was open to him to go through into the kingdom of heaven. Now, because Santosh came back seeking and meditating on the character in the heart of God and praying to know God. God leads him eventually to this church through his daughter, where he ends up hearing this message on two passages. Look at what the passages were. Matthew 7. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. And then the. The message that day went on to talk about John 10, where Jesus said again, very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. He's calling us like his sheep. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find good pasture. The thief comes to only steal and kill and destroy. See, that's not God. He doesn't want to destroy your life. Instead, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full overflowing life. Well, Santosh said he. He heard this and he goes home and starts reading the Bible. And he told me, everything I experienced, I found in the Bible. And he came to faith in Jesus. Two years after I did this interview. You just saw with Santosh, Santosh left the earth for good. And he did enter, I believe, through one of those 12 gates. Because he found relationship with the one who is the narrow door into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus. You know, as Santosh said, God doesn't care what your religious background is or your nationality. He loves you. And he created to do life with him, to live with you now and forever. And he's not interested in religion as in going to church or synagogue or temple and just doing religious things. If that's all you're doing now, it's not that going to church can't help us, you know, grow in our faith, but what God ultimately wants is relationship, love. Love is why God created you. It's what he created you for. You know, sometimes people will say, well, I'm a good person. You know, I'm relatively moral. I'm better than so and so or this other person. So I'm sure that's enough. Well, God does want us to be good and moral like Santosh said. You know, he wants us to, to tell the truth. He wants us to do good to others. He wants us to help the poor. And there people can be poor in many ways, but to help them. But that's not God's only or ultimate goal. It's like this. Imagine if you had children and you know, you, you taught them well and they grew up to be good, moral people who wanted nothing to do with you. They couldn't really stand you, they just wanted to keep you away. Would you be pleased? Like, well, I guess you'd be glad they're moral and good rather than reprobates. But no, no, ultimately it's about love. You would want relationship with your kids. And love is the whole point of this life. It's why God created you to be his kid. So if someone boasts about how good they are or how moral, of course it's always relative. But they're not really wanting to know God or love God or seek God. They're missing the very point of their relationship, of their existence, which is relationship with God. Love is the whole point. So let me ask you this. Where is your heart today? Are you seeking God? You know, do you talk to God? Do you pray? That's what, that's what prayer is, just talking to God about everything. You can talk to him about anything. Do you read the Bible? Have you ever read the Bible? I mean, I've gone in these podcasts into many points of evidence that show that, you know, God has been telling us in advance what he would do through His Word so we could know it's true. Not just myth. Do you get to, do you try to get to know Him? Are you open hearted and open minded or in reality closed? Are you walking with God in your daily life in that surrendered posture that Santosh said God desires. And the reason he desires this is because then he can lead us to become the people he created us to Be kind, good, moral, loving. But not out of a checklist to show how good we are, but because we're actually changing in the inside to be more like the One who created us for his love. You know, the reason Jesus died on the cross was to pay for your sins and mine so that he could freely offer his love, his compassion, his mercy and grace. Even though we don't deserve it. We don't deserve it, but he loves us that much. And he did this so that all he needs is the heart turning to him, saying, yes, that's what I want, God, I want you. That's all it takes. God looks at your heart and I'll tell you, you know, if you just tell him that in your heart you can know that you are right with God and then you can walk with God through life, you know, more and more in this surrendered posture, abiding, as Santosh said. You know, I've done videos on staying connected and what that means. So go back and watch the this past year's videos and you'll see or you can read it in my book Imagine the God of Heaven as well. I'll put that link below. You can also listen to it on, on audiobook if you're not a reader. But his promise is this. If you seek him with all your heart, you'll find Him. You know, it says in Second Chronicles 16, the eyes of the Lord range or look throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. Commit your heart to him fully today because no one loves you more. No one is more for you. All right, I'm going to tackle one last question really quickly. What about reincarnation? You know, Santosh said there was no reincarnation, even though that's what he was expecting. Yet I know many of you or many others will say, Well, I see NDE videos on YouTube where people say there is reincarnation and they say they, you know, they experience their past lives during an nd. Now, I'm going to have to do a whole episode on this and I'll have to. It's going to take some work because I'm going to piece together a lot of different interviews I've done with people to show you the whole case. But let me just say a few things. First of all, I've never heard one near death experiencer and I've studied close to 1500 of them say they were offered to go on to heaven or they could go back to earth. I've heard that, but never have I heard or you can Try another body if you would like. I've never heard anyone talk about having the opportunity for reincarnation into another body. Now I have heard the past life experience interpretation, but here's what I think is going on. So in heaven, time and space work differently. Interpersonal boundaries don't even work the same way. There's a unity, there's a oneness, but there's also a separateness. So for instance, Greg Rickard told me during his near death experience in heaven, he's allowed to look through this portal and he witnessed an ancient Egyptian battle taking place in front of the pyramids. But he told me it was more than just watching. He said I could zoom in as if I'm looking at this one person. And it was like I could experience exactly what they were experiencing. Now, interestingly, Riley, remember the teenager in the jet ski accident that I interviewed him? I think it was the live series episode five. Remember she talked about this generational curse of lust and divorce that rippled generation to generation that God showed her in her near death experience. And it went back to her seventh generation great grandfather. And she had seen a picture of her seventh generation great grandfather and his wife in a family ancestry book that she'd seen the year before. And yet in her nde, she said it was as, as if she's experiencing from her seventh generation great grandmother's perspective, confronting her husband about an affair. And she said God was showing her that this is where it all originated because divorce had affected her and hurt her. And she said, I would have thought I had lived that life except I recognize my seventh generation great grandfather having seen the ancestry book. And then I saw how this heart pain rippled from generation to generation to generation, right down to me, affecting generation to generation. She said, I think God showed me that generational curse so I could be the one to break it. Now in my new book that's coming out this fall called Imagine your purpose from Heaven, I talk about epigenetic traits that do get passed down. And interestingly, God warns us about that in Exodus chapter 34 when he says he's the God of love, showering loving kindness on a thousand generations. But he warns us the sins of the parents pass on generation to generation, even the third and fourth generation. So I think these past life experiences that people are, are saying they have are actually God allowing them to see the, the ancestral sin patterns or addictions or things that they're still needing to deal with. And they're seeing this epigenetic lineage that they need to break. I believe it's it's, it's either that or it's this new way of learning lessons in more of a first person kind of way. All right, well, that's enough for this episode. There's a lot more I could say, but for your sake, I won't. But I would ask, please share these if you're enjoying them and learning from them and like them and subscribe them and spread the hope of heaven. And until next time, be blessed.
- [81:41]
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- [82:03]
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