Posted on 05/20/2016 1:21:01 PM PDT by NYer
A registered nurse who worked in ICU for years and later went into hospice work has logged fascinating deathbed accounts, including glimpses of hell and Heaven and a vision of Jesus that is among the most compelling we have read in this realm of alleged mystical encounters.
The nurse, Kelley Jankowski, a mother of six who lives in Maryland, kept a journal and took meticulous notes after listening to what those dying were telling her and has recorded them in a splendidly written, vivid, and credible book, An Army in Heaven -- consoling indeed!
There are stories of the simple process of dying. There are the accounts of tremendous heavenly vistas. There are the sobering accounts of hell -- the most detailed we have seen; quite a job of amanuensis.
As in other cases, a number of those at the threshold of death detailed the consoling presence of deceased loved ones. For our discernment. We are always cautious about any such spirits.
But at the least, the immediate fruit was just that: a removal of fear from the dying, and for those looking on, consolation.
For instance: there was a 79-year-old man named James who had a long history of hypertension and diabetes. His kidneys were now damaged from it. As he approached death, Kelley found him lying peacefully in his room and after completing her physical assessment and taking vital signs, she heard him say, "Boy, what are you doin' here?"
"I looked over at James," writes Kelley, "and he was smiling and looking at the foot of the bed.
"'Who are you talking to James?' I asked, since I saw no one sitting at the foot of the bed.
"He looked up at me with a puzzled and impatient look on his face and said, 'What, you blind, woman? I'm talking to Benny right there!'
"He pointed to the foot of the bed.
"'Oh, sorry, Benny, I didn't see you slip in [I said]. Well: you two have a nice visit, and here's your call bell -- you call me if you need anything at all.'"
Once back at the nurses' station, Kelley says she watched as James had a pleasant, animated conversation with "Benny" for an hour and a half. Other nurses likewise watched. "Maybe Benny's dead," suggested one of them.
When Kelley returned to the room, James said, "Benny's done and gone now. It sure was good seeing that boy again, so good. It's been a long time since I've seen him." When, after James himself passed on, Kelley asked the family if there was a "Benny," there was shock. "What?" they all asked, almost in unison.
Benny, it turns out, was a grandchild who had been close to James and was killed four years before in a terrible motorcycle accident.
Such deathbed "visitations" are common fare among nurses who work, as did Kelley, in ICU units, never mind [a Catholic] hospice -- so common that a major nursing website has an entire blog with hundreds and hundreds of such spiritual encounters (not always pleasant ones).
The experiences match many near-death experiences in which people who glimpse the other side frequently report being met -- upon departure from their bodies -- by close relatives. "Dear, it's time for me to go," another told his wife as death closed in. "Mom and dad are here," he said, pointing -- in this case to the left side of the room, near a window. "They're telling me that it's time. I asked them to please let me tell you good-bye, and they said okay."
As death approaches, we learn from these accounts, the veil thins. Perhaps you have similar accounts in your families. Intriguing indeed -- electrical -- was the account of Simon, a tall, large-bellied, 64-year-old economics professor who had been rushed to the emergency room after a severe heart attack.
"It was beyond anything any mortal mind could remotely comprehend, and it was specific only to me," he told the nurse of his afterlife glimpse -- explaining that our abodes in Heaven are each unique and based on our lives on earth, especially compassion and service to others. During his close encounter with death, Simon told Jankowski about (allegedly) meeting Jesus.
"When I turned to look at Him, He had the most spectacular smile," said the dying man. "He was like a father surprising a son on his birthday. He beamed with such incredible happiness, like a father watching a child open a tremendous present. I felt immediately how pleased He was at everything I had done for Him during my life. He placed His arms around me and pulled me close to Him and into my soul I heard Him say, 'I love you.'
"I melted at His embrace and was so overwhelmed with love for Him that my soul rejoiced in complete and utter praise.
"Incredible, spontaneous adoration sprang from my heart, so much so that I could have easily praised and adored Him for eternity," said the economics professor. "It was all so overwhelming and exhilarating that there are simply no words to express what overtook my heart in His embrace and His Presence.
"The love that emanates from Him is simply indescribable and so complete that nothing -- absolutely nothing in my life that I have ever experienced -- comes remotely close to it."
Can such detailed be verified?
Added the man:
"Despite feeling so immensely overwhelmed, I was absolutely and completely happy, for nothing was lacking while I was there. You know, my wife, all my friends, my home, and everything I worked for here in this life? None of it mattered. I was completely at ease in leaving it all behind without even looking back.
"And my [wife] Annie, whom I love more than anyone -- I was completely content to leave her behind because I was finally home, and I was absolutely fulfilled and completely happy... completely happy."
Heaven is our real home. This is related again and again in such episodes.
Meanwhile, the Lord?
He "radiated absolute love, holiness, and absolute and perfect purity. But above all," said the professor, "He exudes such regal majesty that you are compelled to worship, to adore, and to love Him, as He is overwhelming and stunning in His magnificence and beauty.
"He is tall and completely and perfectly masculine and so wonderfully handsome," said Simon. "He had brown hair and the most engaging deep, beautiful eyes. I could have looked at Him and nothing else for all of eternity... But He looks nothing like any artistic rendering I have ever seen on earth, as so many are effeminate looking. He was incredible!" The description goes into much detail. But we get the point.
No hurrying it, but something to look forward to, passage to the eternal, when we are with Jesus.
For in Christ, and with Christ, death indeed loses its sting.
Despite His incredible, ineffable splendor, Jesus looked, the man told Kelley, intriguingly, "like you, like me, like that woman over there, that doctor there. It's really difficult to explain, but looking at you, I see Him. I see Him in everyone, and He's very much a part of everyone because we were created in His image, you see."
As for the title of this compelling book, the most touching, well-written, and informative book we've read in a while, Kelley explains:
"I cared for a little lady who asked me if she could do anything for me. I thought this a sweet request given that she was bed-bound and unable to care for herself. I asked her that when she got to the other side and met God face to Face, to please pray for me. My brother Patrick asked if that was a common request I made of my patients, and it is.
"He commented that if all my patients over the years remembered that request, then surely I had an army in Heaven praying for me."
[resources: An Army in Heaven
My dad died shortly before my aunt, who was in a nursing home in Pittsburg, near her daughter. The nursing home people said that an old guy who looked like her and wore a baseball hat came to the desk looking for her room. We all think that was my dad because of the hat. She would not get any elderly visitors from outside the nursing home because the did not live in Pittsburg, and the people in the home would know him if he was a resident.
A few minutes later he passed.
I had asked his male caregiver "What's he looking at?" and the caregiver said "I don't know."
I'm so lucky that I was able to see my husband out in his peace and tranquility. It was a gift that God blessed me with.
I view these as proof that not only is scripture for real, but so is Heaven.
:-) Growing up, I heard family relate a similar event. One of my aunts was dieing and the family gathered around her. She began to speak with her deceased husband, her eyes focused on a spot in the corner of the room. She told him she was not leaving this world until she saw her son Danny, who was serving in WWII. The military were able to fly him home to be with his mother. After seeing Danny and reassuring herself that he was ok, she told her husband she was ready and soon passed away.
My grandmother, OTOH, spent the last week of her life in the hospital. While visiting with her one day, she looked towards the window and shouted: "No! Don't jump!" We all turned our gaze towards the window but there was no one there. She also pointed towards boxes that we could not see. However, the most extraordinary event, occurred as she prepared to pass. My daughter, at the time, was about 10 years old. She was with us in the hospital but amused herself by visiting with other patients as we sat at my grandmother's bedside. When evening arrived, I set off to find my daughter and bring her back to the room. As we approached the door, there was an invisible wall tat prevented me from entering the room. (not sure how else to describe this) An 'interior' voice said: "Get the baby out of here!" (My grandmother always referred to my daughter as "the baby"). In the room, I could see my uncle and aunt standing next to the bed and simply said I could not come into the room and was taking my daughter back to my grandmother's apartment. It was a 20 minute drive and as we came into the house, the phone rang. It was my uncle. He said I could not have even reached the parking lot before my grandmother passed. Essentially, she did not want her great granddaughter to be traumatized by witnessing her death.
Ironically, last month, it was just the opposite. My mother went into hospice and it was my daughter who was there, holding her hand, when mom passed. Just prior to this, I explained to my daughter that mom, though 'sleeping', could hear us and asked her to place the phone next to my mother's ear. After telling her how much I loved her and reading messages sent from cousins who live far away, my daughter decided to remain at mom's bedside. She would not relinquish mom's hand until the funeral director arrived.
My grandmother told the nurses her husband was there to take her now.
Yes... He did say that we "will neither marry nor be given in marriage in the next life"....but we won't be like the angles in Heaven other than in the sense of being immortal beings. In fact, our bodies will be transformed into a body like Christ's body.....
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. " (Philippians 3:20-21).
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2).
Thank you for posting this article.
My dad died of cancer after being in a coma for four days. He was not speaking. The day before he passed he got out of bed, raised arms towards heaven and had the biggest smile on his face I had ever seen. He eyes were the bluest I’ve ever seen. We were all standing around the hospice bed in my parents living room. My mom kept saying “Jim, who do you see?” he did that twice before he died? I will say this, my dad was a very holy man!
Mine was also 53 when she died in 1978.......
Thanks for posting! Beautiful and comforting.
Fabulous account. Thank you for sharing it.
Here is a video of a woman who filmed the hospital room in the dark right before her mother’s passing. It is quite amazing.
Thank you for sharing your interesting story, NYer. : )
“In my end time, I hope to see my mother. She died to young.........
Me too. My Mom was only 53 when she died in 1973.”
My mother died in 1973 at 49.
They flew me home to spend the last three days of her life with her.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story.
I am hesitant to post this, because it is a bit confusing from a theological perspective, but here goes. I know what I think it means, but I think that’s between me and God. I am a Christian; Christ is the central focus of my life and I always tried to proselytize my parents and brother. My father never had a relationship with Christ, but did begin to believe in his last weeks. He was the most wonderful human being I have ever known. He had been doing very well healthwise for weeks, so no one was visiting him on his final day. I was at work, an hour away, and I just knew I had to see him; I was busy and doing critical work, but I just knew. I told my boss I had to go see my Dad, and that I didn’t know why, but my instincts were screaming for me to go right now. He thought I was crazy, but said okay but probably nothing. When I got there, he was quite lucid. We spoke for a time, he made me promise to take care of my mother and told me how much he had always loved me. It seemed that he had been speaking to God and to angels in the room. I could sense the presence of the angels, but not of the dark ones that I sometimes feel at the hospice, and he told me he wanted to leave but couldn’t let go. God opened a vision for me, so that I could see what he could see. There was a beautiful meadow, just at the edge of a great beautiful city, at the edge of a beautiful forest where the ceiling should have been. My father kept insisting that we (my Mom, I and my brother) were here for him in this world, but there was no one there for him, and he wasn’t ready to go and be alone in the forest just yet. Now my dad absolutely loved my Chow Chow, who had just passed away a few months before. He would find any excuse he could to come over and play with her, and she had been one of his true joys. Suddenly, I saw her in the meadow, and took his hand and said, “Dad, look again. There is somebody there waiting for you by the tree.” All the stress and worry left his face, and he had a look of joy and peace. He looked at the ceiling, and said “I see her, it’s Ssu Bear (my dog’s nickname).” She was barking, wagging her tail, like she was waiting for him. Suddenly he was gone, and the spark of life left his eyes, though for a moment they were still open. I saw for an instant him walking toward her, and her wagging her tail and jumping around like a fool in her own inimitable way, then the vision closed up and I was staring at the ceiling. I released his hand, and went out in the hallway to the nurse on call. I told her passed away, and the time of death. She thought I was crazy, because he was doing fine, and he often dozed during the day. I told her I was absolutely certain, and she needed to go in, which she did.
Did you deserve it?
So many beautiful stories! Thank you for posting.
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