By Cissie Zhang –
In the 1,000 or more near death experiences (NDEs) he’s surveyed, John Burke sees Jesus as the common thread in all of them, as he reveals himself in culturally relevant ways around the world.
“When they come back, they talk about experiencing the life to come, and how it’s more real than anything they’ve ever experienced in this world,” Burke told CBN. “They are seeing and experiencing the God of Scripture. And we’re looking, not only at his love story told throughout history in the Bible, but also his heart and characteristics, the mystery, the majesty of God.”
Burke, the founder of Gateway Church in Austin, has published books documenting his studies of NDEs. His latest book, Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted, documents 70 NDEs from every continent.
Compared to the descriptions people give of the afterlife, Burke says life on Earth is drab and colorless, like a black and white experience.
“The things that the people who had the NDE told me over and over are, beyond the beauty of Heaven, the great reunions, the mysteries and the wonders, if they were ever in the presence of God,” Burke said. “They say they didn’t care about anything else, nothing mattered to them, all that mattered was just looking into his eyes.”
But some of the NDEs are controversial and have drawn criticism from Christians because they don’t seem to line up with Scripture very well, Burke says.
To a girl named Nia, God showed up as light and love, the beauty of Heaven. That’s what she saw, but what she reported was that she saw Durga Maa. The trouble is that Durga Maa is an 8-armed Hindu goddess who rides on a lion.
Despite the apparent confusion, Nia returned to consciousness with knowledge about Jesus that she didn’t know previously, Burke says.
A Muslim in Rwanda, an imam who nearly died of blood cancer, had an unusual NDE experience.
He saw Jesus with a beard, wearing a robe and a gold sash, with brilliant light radiating from him like the sun. When Jesus held out his hands, he could see the nail marks in his palms.
Jesus said to him: “I died for mankind, you are one of whom I died for; never deny it, and tell everyone what you saw today.”
Today, the former Muslim is an Anglican pastor. His life was threatened seven times.
In the book, he tells the story of a CEO man who was bullied growing up. He had a little Fox Terrier named Casey as his
best friend who would always come jump up on him and lick his face like a lollipop. The dog died when he was in college.
In his NDE, he was in the presence of Jesus, and saw his Casey running across the meadows of Heaven, jump up on him, and lick his face like he used to do.
Then Jesus said to him: See, beloved, I give you the desires of your heart.
Burke says these testimonies provide compelling reasons that all who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus should look forward to Heaven.
“People think they’re going to miss out somehow following Jesus in this life because maybe they make sacrifices or they don’t do things that everybody else is doing,” Burke said. “You won’t miss a thing, there’s nothing you’re gonna miss, because his love is better than you can imagine.”
To learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus, click here.
Related content: Professor John Martin Fischer studied NDEs, are NDEs tailored to the individual?, 15 minutes under water brought her Jesus, doctors said he was dead but he recounted what the nurse had said.
About this writer: Cissie Zhang, from Vietnam, studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.
