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NASB | Hebrews 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this [comes certain] judgment, |
Bible Question:
To comment on your statement: "The Bible says satan comes as an angel of light". Anyone familiar with NDEs knows the "Being of Light" gives an astonishing amount of goodness, holiness, love, joy, peace and such. Jesus made it very clear that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, nor a good tree bear bad fruit. Some critics use the Bible verse below to discredit the "Being of Light." ".. Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14) Notice the verse states that Satan can only "masquerade" as an angel of light. The verse does not say he actually is an angel of light. It only refers to Satan’s ability to deceive people into believing he is an angel of light. But, we cannot be deceived if we use the test given by Jesus. Using this test we can ask: Is there good fruit involved with the Being of Light? If so, then it must be of God. Is there not good fruit involved? If not, then the Being of Light must be of Satan. It is obvious to anyone who is familiar with the Being of Light that the test actually confirms the Being of Light to be of God. In my NDE research, an experience of astonishing love from the Being of Light or NDEs in general, is the most common characteristic appearing in 50 NDEs. Since God is light, there is no light in darkness. Neither is there darkness in light. Satan is no angel of light. The Being of Light has a tremendous amount of light. Light can come only from God. Satan is neither an angel of light nor an angel of love. There are very serious consequences of attributing things of God to Satan. When Jesus was accused of performing miracles by the power of Satan and before he gave the test, he said, "And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." (Matt. 12:31-32) Jesus makes very clear the grave consequences of attributing to Satan the works of the Holy Spirit. Like the professor, many critics are quick to declare that the Beings of Light in NDEs are Satanic. They probably don't realize that they may be dangerously close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus said such behavior is a sin that cannot be forgiven. I understand that people think it's okay to have sex outside of marriage - fornication, little white lies, to cheat and justify it etc. and yes that is the work of the devil, but..how can we say someones experience in a truly peaceful atmosphere in the gates of heaven are of satan? These people are not committing crimes or sinning, these happen to be real experiences felt by people, of which they cannot control. |
Bible Answer: "Who is the "being of light" often encountered in so-called near-death experiences? Is it Jesus Christ?" "It has been claimed by numerous (not all) individuals who have had near-death experiences that the being of light they encountered was none other than Jesus Christ. As appealing as the idea may initially sound, this identification (at least in most cases) seems to be flawed in view of the fact that the so-called being of light typically says and does things contrary to the Christ of the Bible. Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), it would be impossible that these are one and the same Jesus. I believe that many of the individuals who go through near-death experiences actually encounter a counterfeit Christ. "The "Jesus" (being of light) typically encountered in near-death experiences teaches such things as: * Death is good and is not to be feared. * Sin is not a problem. In fact, "Jesus" often responds to human sin and shortcomings with humor. * There is no hell to worry about. * All people are welcome in heaven, regardless of whether one has placed faith in Christ. * All religions are equally valid. "In view of the fact that these ideas clearly go against what the biblical Jesus taught, I think we have good reason to conclude that this "Jesus" is in fact a lying spirit (see John 8:44). We must remember that Satan has the ability to appear as an "angel of light" and as a "servant of righteousness" (2 Cor. 11:14,15). His goal, of course, is to lead people astray. He is happy to mimic a being of light if the end result is that he can lead people away from the true Christ of Scripture." [Taken from "The Complete Book of Bible Answers" by Ron Rhodes, 1997, Harvest House Publishers, pg. 249] |