thought, ‘Yes, I got my cloud!’ That’s how He cares about us. He remembered it. It was a cloud-like tunnel revolving clockwise around me.Posted on 12/20/2007 7:34:12 AM PST by NYer
It was December of 1994 that Linnie Smith of New Hudson, Michigan, "died" and returned. And when she did, she had an incredible description of Jesus.
What she saw, as you will note in a moment, should be a warning to atheists: Many dozens -- hundreds, indeed thousands -- are those who return from death's door with a similar description. In all the fuss over Christmas, in all the commotion over its denial -- in the inconceivable hoopla over taking the Name of Jesus out of His very birthday -- we can rest assured of one thing: there are great surprises in store for those who deny Him. It doesn't matter what disbelievers think. Reality is what is real, and near-death experiences are well documented.
But let's get back to the story of Linnie from Michigan: In 1994, the Michigan woman was in her early forties and in deep distress due to a badly ailing gall bladder.
For years she had suffered digestive maladies and for years Linnie was told it was simply a problem with acid reflux. Incomprehensively -- unaware her bladder was filled with stones that were shredding her organ -- doctors kept sending her home, and the same happened as Christmas approached thirteen years ago.
Linnie found herself doubled over from pain and yet still turned away -- left to suffer at home, unattended by qualified medical personnel.
She was at the end of her rope. She was frustrated. So was her family. There was obviously something very wrong with Linnie yet little recourse but the prayerfulness she had learned as an active Christian. "I had no more strength to keep me inside my body," she recalled to us this week. "I knew I was dying, that I couldn’t do any more to keep 'me' in there. All I had was my faith."
That was enough to bring the miracle -- to bring a glimpse of what we in our limited language call eternity.
"As I was lying there in my room, I began to tell the Lord how much I loved Him, how very much I loved Him, and when that happened the room suddenly filled with the sounds of music, bells, birds, voices, and instruments," Linnie says. "It was the most beautiful music I ever heard. It was so harmonic. I know now why churches have bells!
"As that music filled my room, a foggy mist rolled in, and as it did I got farther and farther from myself.
"In the blink of an eye, I was in a closed-like tunnel – but not dark. The end was not far away and it was bathed like everyone says, in a light brighter than the sun but with no yellow: pure white light, and transparent and translucent at the same time, radiating out. There are no earthly words for it because you can't find it on earth.
"As a kid I used to go outside and want a cloud to come down so I could ride it and now I thought, ‘Yes, I got my cloud!’ That’s how He cares about us. He remembered it. It was a cloud-like tunnel revolving clockwise around me.
"Light hit the side of the tunnel and burst into pastel colors that were alive and sparkling. If they could have giggled, they would have – they were full of life. Everything there was full of life.
"Something drew my eyes to the light at the end of the tunnel and there was Christ. He was light. He was full of light and His Hands were out to receive me.
"There were all these shades of lighter white in His Light (in and around Him) but with no dark -- more like a prism. There were different shades but no darkness! An artist couldn't do this. He is light. It became whiter than white. There was so much light coming out of Him that you couldn't see Him. His Arms were outstretched and I knew I was home and I was ecstatic!"
But just then, the phone next to Linnie's bed rang and the Midwesterner was suddenly back in her room. That too happened in a "blink." The fog, the mist, was still there -- and there was still the sound of music -- but Linnie had snapped back into her body.
It was a friend calling to make sure Linnie was okay – which she was, more than ever before in her life, more than anyone could know, but for the fact that she had returned. "I grieved for years that I was sent back," she says.
Her friend said it sounded like she was in a cave far away.
As it turns out, it was the first of three such episodes. Later that year, Linnie found herself in the tunnel again -- and with Jesus. "The tunnel experience repeated exactly," she asserts. And in June of 1995, after undergoing surgery that did little to relieve her distress, she was being prayed-over by two friends when the third encounter happened.
This time it was a bit different -- actually, mightily different.
"They were praying and it was like someone put a straw into my head and suddenly I was on this green grassy hill and I could feel each blade of grass under my feet and my feet were transparent and translucent with light emanating from them, a soft light," says Linnie.
"The grass was holding me up and each blade was giving me life. The blades didn't bend under my weight.
"I looked at all the flowers," continues Linnie. "You know how a rose looks when it is at its peak? Everything there was at a vibrant peak of perfection. Heaven is full of life and all about life. And there were the bells, the birds, the music. There were lots of hills. No shadows. The sky was like sapphire azure blue and it was alive!"
Suddenly, however -- there on the other side -- Linnie saw bright white letters -- the words of a prayer -- scroll before her like a news ticker. They were the words prayed by those friends of hers who were interceding -- and they arched in front of Linnie, bounced back, caught her up, and thrust her back into her body.
"Our prayers pierce the clouds," she learned first hand. "They are seen and heard in Heaven. It was amazing!" The Holy Spirit covered her like a blanket.
And so Linnie -- like those so many others -- returned again from a place where she desperately wanted to stay but with a new life mission to help others and with her testimony that Jesus is not a figment of the imagination.
She was Pentecostal at the time. In 1998, realizing that the Mother Church had all the charisms, Linnie became Catholic. At one point, she had formed a prayer group that was half Catholic, half Protestant, and prayed the Divine Mercy chaplets.
The Pentecostals had taught her much -- and their worship and praise was like singing with the angels, she says -- but they did not have the foundation of Catholicism. They did not have the Eucharist (and Eucharistic Adoration). They did not fully understand the significance of suffering.
For some reason, she was led to look for books on the saints like St. Therese of Lisieux and ended up perusing a Catholic bookstore. She was there so much that the store hired Linnie and she took a "crash course" on Catholicism.
In case after case, ordinary people who "die" and return (brought back by modern means of resuscitation) consistently report similar encounter with an incredible Person they immediately recognized as Jesus.
Such is true even of atheists.
And such will be a startling reality for those who would denigrate the greatest Person in the universe -- a description not just from religious literature but again from those who have returned from the threshold of eternity.
-- Ask former atheist Howard Storm, who was saved from a journey to the netherworld by a light that came to him like a comet and turned out to be Jesus (Dr. Storm is now Reverend Storm).
-- Ask Angie Fenimore, a young woman who tried to kill herself but whose case was pled by Christ before the Throne of God.
-- Ask Dr. George Rodonaia, a doctor and atheist in Communist Russia who found himself in a totally dark realm after he was killed (and even taken to the morgue) following an accident. (He too is now a minister, no doubt preparing for Christ-Mass).
-- Ask a pediatric oncologist from Yale who turned from atheism to belief after hearing near-death accounts from children.
At Mass, says Linnie, Heaven meets the earth. There are actual angels. She now sees those. She also has developed other mystical inclinations. She believes we are in special times indicated by exactly such trends as the rebellion against Christmas. It is time to get our souls "squeaky clean." There is a "spirit of frenzy." It is time -- especially around Christmas -- to get rid of such frenzy. Christ is the Prince of peace. It's time, she advises, for all of us to love -- urgently.
Are the non-believers paying attention?
These are accounts documented by medical doctors.
Those ready to eradicate His Name and rob Him of His holy day might do themselves a favor and read the research.
And yet Linnie had an important message -- even about those who do not yet believe, who don't yet know the love of God, who deny Him Christmas: "Judgment is mine, God's," she said it was written on her heart -- in white letters, like fire, after her return. "Only I, God, can see the heart. You are to love and help others on their path and journey."
The Lord told one man named Randy Gehling that he should never worry if people doubted his story or could not understand what he was telling them.
"One day," said the Lord -- allegedly, "everyone will come to see for themselves what you have seen."
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
This is a truly amazing statement! I had heard this before but could not trace it back. In the Maronite liturgy, at the Fraction, Intinction and Co-Mingling, the hymn we sing begins:
"Hosts of heaven. Stand with us at the altar."
This woman's testimony actually confirms the truth of the words chanted in this ancient hymn.
I keep saying to many — “What are you going to say to Jesus at the moment of your death about why you denied him in the Holy Eucharist?” “Why you denied his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary?” Why you ignored the Communion of the Saints?”
All questions to ponder while we are alive and can still do something about it.
**She was Pentecostal at the time. In 1998, realizing that the Mother Church had all the charisms, Linnie became Catholic**
An invitation for all to “come home” as Linnie did. (And many others also!)
Sadly, some will only believe when they are face-to-face with the Just Judge in Heaven. God have mercy on them—and on all of us.
I have had the same experience. I have a brain tumor the size of a lemon. After 2 weeks in the hospital I was sent home. One night, while I was in bed (I couldn’t sleep at all), I saw these beautiful colors - purples and aquas - shimmering off the walls of a tube that was spinning around me. I saw an angel, I am assuming was Gabriel, since he held a trumpet in front of this mouth. But the trumpet spoke to me not the angel - don’t remember what it said. I saw by life flash in a book as the pages were turned pretty quickly. The pages had movable video on each page. Then an intense white light came that shone right though my body. I could not close my eyes tight enough because I was being blinded. Then God spoke. Not in words but in my mind. He asked me if I wanted to go to heaven of back to earth. I said that I wanted to go to heaven, but that I needed to go back to earth to teach my kids of Christ and help me wife. I was bowed the whole time and never, out of fear, looked at the face of the Almighty God. After I answered Him, I was able to watch my journey back to the earth. I saw black silhouettes walking in the streets. Occasionally I would see a white silhouette - I’m guessing the difference between those who believed in Jesus Christ and those who did not.
I was back in bed. My wife asked me if I was OK. I said Yes. I didn’t tell her for months. I think that the Lord has plans for me soon.
(I’m type this with tears coming down my face.)
Oh! Wow! Thank you for sharing your experience. Tears in my eyes too.
I have been waiting to see a similar situation like mine. Then I saw today’s post.
This is beautiful, but the reality is, there are a number of different scenarios people relate when they've had a 'near death' experience. Fortunately, our faith doesn't rely on someone's report of what they saw (or think they saw) while temporarily 'dead'.
"Hosts of heaven. Stand with us at the altar."
This woman's testimony actually confirms the truth of the words chanted in this ancient hymn.
As we do in the Eucharistic Prayer (here is EP II):
Father, it is our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.He is the Word through whom you made the universe, the Savior you sent to redeem us. By the power of the Holy Spirit he too flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary.
For our sake he opened his arms on the cross; he put an end to death and revealed the resurrection. In this he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people.
And so we join the angels and saints in proclaiming your glory:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.Note, too, that the "Sanctus", is based on the praise of the Seraphim in Isa 6:3!
BTW...I am Protestant...if that means anything before God. It is the heart that He desires not the church.
I was then told that we are in the final moments before the Savior will return to the earth. I was told that the war between darkness and light upon the earth has grown so intense that if we are not continually seeking light, the darkness will consume us and we will be lost. I was not told when it would happen, but I understood that the earth is being prepared for the second coming of Christ.
Since early childhood, I have sensed this. As time progresses more swiftly now, the anticipation grows more palpable.
Wow..........I love reading things like this.
Be sure to read the link at #4.
I/we have to remember that it is not about our churches that Christ wants us to lean on, or other people, but He is the only person that will never leave up or forsake us. Is in the Son of God that we are to keep our eyes on - Peter has a problem with keeping his eyes on Christ when he stepped out of the boat in the storm to walk to Christ. We too have problems keeping our eyes on Christ. Every day we should be reading His words.
Ah yes, the fear & guilt method of witnessing. Anyone fall down & thank you for it yet?
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