What most seems to fascinate them is the separation of the soul from the body. I tend to get impatient with this kind of focus because I long ago answered that question for myself, both from scripture and personal experiences, and some books too I think, but I realize that's probably unfair of me. Most people, including Christians, are so immersed in the materialism of our day, or naturalism or whatever the best term is, they need proof of claims that there is something beyond the physical world. Even saying that, however, I'm thinking that if we are Christians we believe ON FAITH what the Bible teaches. But then I remember that "Doubting Thomas" wanted evidence before he'd believe, and Jesus willingly gave it, so there's the answer to that. But on the other other hand Jesus said that although he showed His wounds to Thomas, it is better if we believe what the witnesses tell us, which Thomas had refused to do. But if some people need more evidence, and it's available, there's nothing wrong with pursuing it. Leave it at that.
Materialist secularists, who have been thoroughly brainwashed against the idea of anything existing beyond this physical universe, can't be expected to understand UFOs, for instance, in any terms other than physical. It's got to be some kind of advanced technology. NDEs and apparitions on the other hand they just attribute to some kind of psychological state of the person experiencing them. About UFOs, however, Jacques Valleee's work should go some distance toward disabusing them of their physicalistic bias, but I suppose they can shrug that off too just because the materialist bias is so solidly entrenched. Vallee isn't even a Christian, or religious at all as far as I know.
But once you've accepted the idea of another world and the spearation of soul from body, I do still think that Christians should have been taught to be alert to the possibility of demonic deception and it's appallling to find out they aren't. So far Miller has only spoken of these scenarios as something God brings about. Maybe by the end of the discussion I'll have a different impression. I can hope I guess. She said without much conviction.
Miller gives the general outline of what he says is a pretty consistent scenario experienced in NDEs. it starts with dying on the operating table, then floating above the scene and watching what's going on, then going somewhere else which is a beautiful landscape, seeing familiar people who had died, often seeing one's own life reviewed, then being told it's not yet their time and they are to return to their body.
Such experiences are had around the world, in many different cultures, and the scenario is pretty much the same although terms and sights are different in occordance with the cultural expectations of the person. Muslims forf instance see "Allah" although even these supposed Christians assume that's the true God they are seeing under a different name, which is simply false. It's the same with Hindus who may see one or another of their multiple gods.
Shouldn't this fact alone alert a Chrsitian that there's something wrong here, that these experiences cannot be coming from God? Even the different clothing that is seen should mean they aren't all visiting the same place. Miller says it seems that they are seeing what "the people on the other side" want them to see, and I'm sure that is very true. The "people on the other side" are putting on a show, a performance, for the purpose of deceiption. This is very similar to what Jacques Vallee concluded about the phenomena that seem so similar to UFOs in their behavior down through history, despite their very different appearance in accordance with the technology and cultural expectations of the time and place. That is, he concluded that they are the work of invisible beings designed to deceive people. They can fabricate NDE landscapes and impersonate familiar people just as they can fabricate vehicles appropriate to a particular time and place, now the UFOs seen today, and an apparition of "Mary" and so on. They are masters of illusion.
McDowell says the most convincing information comes from those who met deceased family members on the other side and bring back information they couldn't have known without that experience, including information about someone who was there who just died but nobody knew it yet. I'm sorry, Sean, this is SO naive of you. Demons impersonate people all the time. That's what "ghosts" are. That's why the Witch of Endor was shocked when the prophet Samuel himself actually appeared to talk to King Saul rather than the impersonation she was expecting. And demons would have information about people that we might not have so they can use it to convince a person he's been to heaven. Please, Church, please please wake up. We can't afford this kind of naivete.
First, what do we see in scripture about heaven? Not pretty landscapes. We are shown the throne room of God and innumerable angels worshipping God. In one story Jesus told we are shown a rich man in Hades suffering from the flames while a poor man he had mistreated during his life was happily embraced in "the bosom of Abraham." There's no pretty landscape shown here for anybody, but sinners are given to expect that they will go to a place of torment. How is it then that unbelievers see the same pleasant scene as believers? Also, Jesus told the thief on the cross beside Him who recognized Him as the Messiah, that he would be in Paradise with Him. Paradise is understood to be the holding place of the souls of the righteous dead, a part of Hades, the other part being where the rich man was tormented. There is simply nothing to lead us to expect to go to a beautfiul peaceful landscape, certainly not unbelievers, and not even believers as far as scripture reveals. "Paradise" MIGHT have such a landscape but the general biblical idea is that we will be among millions of believers, not in a quiet landscape with a few friends and family members, and we wouldn't see unbelieving friends and family members there anyway. According to the Bible they are in the place of torment, so all the unbelievers who have these nice bucolic visions or visits are being deceived, lured into a passive expectation from which they are going to be rudely shocked when they meet the reality, if they don't repent and seek the salvation of Christ.
Surely this is a demonic deception to keep people lulled by wrong ideas about God and the afterlife. People who trust in such experiences are not going to be looking for salvation in Christ, they'll just accept the illusion of a nice place they are going to. Many change their lives, try to be better people after such experiences, but that for an unbeliever is a "salvation by works" idea and is contrary to the biblical doctrine. The fact that people all over the world in many different cultures have similar experiences creates the impression that there is nothing special about the biblical revelation. It's just another religion, while the "reality" they see is that all people go to the same place no matter what they're religion or belief, including atheists, who also have these experiences. Nothing here about one life followed by the Judgment that is taught in the Bible.
Finally, near the end, Miller talks about some NDEs that teach a false theology according to the Bible. He acknowledges that there can be deceptive experiences. But he nevertheless holds onto the idea that the NDE phenomena themselves come from God, so that it must be some aberration in the personality that experiences them rather than in the experience itself. And Sean McDowell seems not to see the majority of them as inconsistent with the Biblical revelation of Heaven. This I don't understgand at all. There is simply nothing in scripture that fits with these peaceful landscapes with a few angels and familiar people around or sometimes even completely unpopulated.
It doesn't seem to occur to either of them that the experiences themselves are fabricated, that it could be the work of demonic beings. That never gets mentioned at all, but it is the most likely explanation of all of it to my mind. The lack of similarity to the biblical accounts, the seeing of family members, the fact that atheists and believers in false religions have similar experiences. Seems to me this ought to alert a Christian that these are simply NOT coming from God.
If the main concern is whether or not such experiences are real, whether the soul can and does leave the body under some circumstances, which does seem to be the main part of their concern, I think these studies and the testimonies themselves do confirm this reality. But when it comes to the experiences of "heaven," it all looks like a monumental deception and I'm appalled if not exactly surprised that Christians fall for it so easily. I get why atheists and believers in other religions fall for it, but not biblically educated Christians.
Demons are calling the shots in these pretty stories, just as they are calling the shots about UFOs, , and poor gullible fallen humanity, and sadly, Christians too, either deny the obvious reality of them or eat up the lies the demons tell about them. Oh my poor aching head.
