The Deathbed Lie

The Little White Deathbed Lie by D. J. Love, Minister, TSN, SBC revised 6-16-2002 refined 3-30-2007

The phenomenon of "The Little White Deathbed Lie" is still far more common than most people, alive today, can comprehend. A great many of you will have a similar story to tell. I have personally witnessed this phenomenon many times among the elderly, and it almost always starts to occur within a few weeks of their death. This phenomenon is always accompanied in varying degrees by other signs of memory loss, disorientation or confusion This, however, is not a redemptive issue, and in the mind of those near death it is most probably not a deliberate lie. However, just because someone (who is near death) suddenly begins talking to and/or seeing visions of a long lost relative, that doesn't validate a belief in the living ghosts of the spirit world, except as trapped in the mind of the dying. After all, it is only "In the Mind" that the natural spirit or Holy Spirit exists (see Holy Pneuma).

The Story of Granny Granny, was special to me while I was growing up, and as a Christian she was far more influential than I care to admit. She would tell me of having visions of seeing Jacobs Ladder, and that her long departed mother came to visit her in a dream, in which she was allowed to walk and meet her half way to heaven on this very narrow path that pierced the clouds. The apparent strength of her faith would have a profound effect on me, but it wasn't until her last days among the living that the "Deathbed Visions" occurred.

Granny, who was in her eighties, was dying. She was well aware of this fact, and had been expecting it for some time now. It is a well known and accepted belief in our family, that once someone reaches the ripe old age of eighty, they die; almost no one reaches eighty-one. At first, while lying there in the hospital room, granny seemed to be as lucid as her visitors, but then she slowly began to slip away. Just exactly what was going through her mind at a time like this can only be imagined, but there were clues; some of which granny had been giving us all of our lives. Granny clearly believed in the immortal soul, going to heaven when you die, and the spirit world. After all, this was what the Christian preachers of the "Old Time Religion" taught; therefore granny believed it too. Amazing thing about beliefs, even if they aren't true, they are real to "The Mind" of the believer, and beliefs are the motivation behind everything the believer does; even in death. This is one of the reasons that voodoo used to be (and may still be) such a powerful influence "In The Minds" of the ignorant; "Mind Over Matter" can heal or kill. We give power over ourselves to whatever it is that we believe in; therefore, ONLY believe in the power of The Eternal Father, and beware of false traditional manmade (christopagan) beliefs. And so time was running out for granny, and she believed it. Did granny have to stop and think about her next moves, and what it was that she could she do to instill her faith into her children, grandchildren and visitors before she went to meet her maker? No way! Her faith was second nature to her, and, as a matter of fact, it was practically instinctive. Granny had been performing her duty as a Christian to confess her religious beliefs, and to plant the seeds of her religion in the minds of everyone that would listen all her adult life. Granny now had a captive audience who loved her, trusted and believed in her; and now the stage was set. In her mind, she was ready to perform one last "Good Deed" before she slipped away; after all, wouldn't Yahweh bless her for this? It was not unlike granny to speak of her Christian beliefs and visions in life, so why should her death be any different? Maybe, granny actually thought her visions and dreams were real, but if granny had had a deeper understanding of the Holy Scriptures, she would have realized that "The Dead Know Nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and that "The Dead Are Asleep In The Earth" (Matthew 27:52, Acts 13:36). But granny's Christian beliefs was based

on Satan's deceptions (Human Nature) concerning "Life after Death." This is not to say that granny was evil, but that granny was truly deceived. Does your church teach that you go to heaven when you die? Do you believe it? Why do you believe it? I'll tell you why you believe it; because we all want to believe that we and our loved ones will be comforted in the arms of Yahweh in death! We, somehow, believe that we are conscious after we die; Well, this is just not so! Who we are is retained, however, in the Holy Pneuma of Yahweh, which is "The Mind of Yahweh," and Yahweh "Remembers Us." Please try to understand; not only can we PRE-exist within the Mind of Yahweh, but we can also POST-exist within the Mind of Yahweh. So in a sense, we do exist Spiritually within the Mind of Yahweh before and after death, but we are not there like angels or ghosts walking the streets of gold; Rather, we are at peace, and time is meaningless to those who sleep. According to those who were present in the hospital room, granny suddenly started seeing departed loved ones visiting with her in her room. Now granny was still coherent enough to talk in complete sentences; so I am quite sure her mind was still functioning in at least at a semi-coherent level, but was she on a self-appointed mission from Yahweh? Many people were greatly affected by this deathbed scene and remain so to this day. Some say, "That granny even pointed to a chair in the room, and said her long departed brother was sitting in it." Since no one could understand what was going on, they could only accept granny's revelation as true; after all, granny wouldn't lie or would she? Well, not unless she believed that a lie was the truth. Well, granny had the reputation, granny had the Christian beliefs, and granny had the motive. A motive that, I am sure she believed with all of her mind, would reward her in the fast approaching afterlife; but granny was wrong! Instead of instilling a True Faith in Yahweh into her children, she instilled a Christopagan belief in "Spirits of the Dead," "Ghosts," "Psychics," "Channelling," or "Crossing Over;" oh granny, what have you done? What had started out as a "Little White Lie" has now become a "Huge Black Lie." A black lie that has the power to rob many of the unsuspecting of their chance for True Salvation. So what does Yahweh's Holy Scripture say about such things?

Leviticus 19:31 31 Don't turn to those who have familiar spirits (psychics or mediums), nor to the wizards; don't seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am Yahweh your EL.

Leviticus 20:6-7 6 The soul that turns to those who have familiar spirits (Mediums), and to the wizards, to play the (Spiritual) prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be Holy; for I am Yahweh your EL.

1 Samuel 28:6-17 (Saul, King of Israel, seeks a "Medium" for answers, and Yahweh punished him.)

6 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn't answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets (Yahweh was testing Saul's faith). 7 Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit (psychic), that I may go to her, and inquire of her. His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor. 8 Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whoever I shall name to you. 9 The woman said to him (not knowing he was Saul), Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: why then lay you a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing. 11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to you? He said, Bring me up Samuel. 12 When the woman saw Samuel (in her mind), she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived

me? For you are Saul (the demons in the woman warned her). 13 The king said to her, Don't be afraid: for what do you see? The woman said to Saul, I see the appearance of a god coming up out of the earth. 14 He said to her, What form is he of? She said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. Saul perceived (believed) that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. 15 Samuel said to Saul (this was allowed by Yahweh to condemn Saul), Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up? Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and Yahweh is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do. 16 Samuel said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing Yahweh is departed from you, and is become your adversary? 17 Yahweh has done to you, as he spoke by me: and Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David.

Isaiah 8:19 19 When they (the Spiritually lost) shall tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar (common) spirits (unrighteous beliefs) and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their EL (YHWH)? On behalf of the living should they consult with the dead?

Matthew 12:43-45 (A Parable or allegory) 43 When the unclean spirit (unrighteous mentality) is gone out of a man, it (seeks other brains) walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then it saith, I will return into my house (original brain) from whence I came out; and when it (unrighteousness) is come (returns), it findeth it empty, swept, and garnished (no righteousness seeking mindset). 45 Then goeth it, and taketh with himself seven other (unrighteous) spirits (thoughts) more wicked than itself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last (mental) state of that man is worse than the first.

Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation (unrighteousness shall be multiplied seven times).

As for Granny, she had two strikes against her. Her brain was controlled by both her false beliefs, and her age. The following is a copy and paste from a recent medical study:

Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain Is to Blame. By SANDRA BLAKESLEE Published: October 3, 2006 They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: A man describes feeling a shadowy figure standing behind him, then turning around to find no one there. A woman feels herself leaving her body and floating in space, looking down on her corporeal self. Such experiences are often attributed by those who have them to paranormal forces. But according to recent work by neuroscientists, they can be induced by delivering mild electric current to specific spots in the brain. In one woman, for example, a zap to a brain region called the angular gyrus resulted in a sensation that she was hanging from the ceiling, looking down at her body. In another woman, electrical current delivered to the angular gyrus produced an uncanny feeling that someone was behind her, intent on interfering with her actions. The two women were being evaluated for epilepsy surgery at University Hospital in Geneva, where doctors implanted dozens of electrodes into their brains to pinpoint the abnormal tissue causing the seizures and to identify adjacent areas involved in language, hearing or other essential functions that should be avoided in the surgery. As each electrode was activated, stimulating a different patch of brain tissue, the patient was asked to say what she was experiencing. Dr. Olaf Blanke, a neurologist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland who carried out the procedures, said that the women had normal psychiatric histories and that they were stunned by the bizarre nature of their

experiences. The Sept. 21 issue of Nature magazine includes an account by Dr. Blanke and his colleagues of the woman who sensed a shadow person behind her. They described the out-of-body experiences in the February 2004 issue of the journal Brain. There is nothing mystical about these ghostly experiences, said Peter Brugger, a neuroscientist at University Hospital in Zurich, who was not involved in the experiments but is an expert on phantom limbs, the sensation of still feeling a limb that has been amputated, and other mind-bending phenomena. “The research shows that the self can be detached from the body and can live a phantom existence on its own, as in an out-of-body experience, or it can be felt outside of personal space, as in a sense of a presence,” Dr. Brugger said. Scientists have gained new understanding of these odd bodily sensations as they have learned more about how the brain works, Dr. Blanke said. For example, researchers have discovered that some areas of the brain combine information from several senses. Vision, hearing and touch are initially processed in the primary sensory regions. But then they flow together, like tributaries into a river, to create the wholeness of a person’s perceptions. A dog is visually recognized far more quickly if it is simultaneously accompanied by the sound of its bark. These multisensory processing regions also build up perceptions of the body as it moves through the world, Dr. Blanke said. Sensors in the skin provide information about pressure, pain, heat, cold and similar sensations. Sensors in the joints, tendons and bones tell the brain where the body is positioned in space. Sensors in the ears track the sense of balance. And sensors in the internal organs, including the heart, liver and intestines, provide a readout of a person’s emotional state. Real-time information from the body, the space around the body and the subjective feelings from the body are also represented in multisensory regions, Dr. Blanke said. And if these regions are directly simulated by an electric current, as in the cases of the two women he studied, the integrity of the sense of body can be altered. As an example, Dr. Blanke described the case of a 22-year-old student who had electrodes implanted into the left side of her brain in 2004. “We were checking language areas,” Dr. Blanke said, when the woman turned her head to the right. That made no sense, he said, because the electrode was nowhere near areas involved in the control of movement. Instead, the current was stimulating a multisensory area called the angular gyrus. Dr. Blanke applied the current again. Again, the woman turned her head to the right. “Why are you doing this?” he asked.

The woman replied that she had a weird sensation that another person was lying beneath her on the bed. The figure, she said, felt like a “shadow” that did not speak or move; it was young, more like a man than a woman, and it wanted to interfere with her. When Dr. Blanke turned off the current, the woman stopped looking to the right, and said the strange presence had gone away. Each time he reapplied the current, she once again turned her head to try to see the shadow figure. When the woman sat up, leaned forward and hugged her knees, she said that she felt as if the shadow man was also sitting and that he was clasping her in his arms. She said it felt unpleasant. When she held a card in her right hand, she reported that the shadow figure tried to take it from her. “He doesn’t want me to read,” she said. Because the presence closely mimicked the patient’s body posture and position, Dr. Blanke concluded that the patient was experiencing an unusual perception of her own body, as a double. But for reasons that scientists have not been able to explain, he said, she did not recognize that it was her own body she was sensing. The feeling of a shadowy presence can occur without electrical stimulation to the brain, Dr. Brugger said. It has been described by people who undergo sensory deprivation, as in mountaineers trekking at high altitude or sailors crossing the ocean alone, and by people who have suffered minor strokes or other disruptions in blood flow to the brain. Six years ago, another of Dr. Blanke’s patients underwent brain stimulation to a different multisensory area, the angular gyrus, which blends vision with the body sense. The patient experienced a complete out-of-body experience. When the current flowed, she said: “I am at the ceiling. I am looking down at my legs.” When the current ceased, she said: “I’m back on the table now. What happened?” Further applications of the current returned the woman to the ceiling, causing her to feel as if she were outside of her body, floating, her legs dangling below her. When she closed her eyes, she had the sensation of doing sit-ups, with her upper body approaching her legs. Because the woman’s felt position in space and her actual position in space did not match, her mind cast about for the best way to turn her confusion into a coherent experience, Dr. Blanke said. She concluded that she must be floating up and away while looking downward. Some schizophrenics, Dr. Blanke said, experience paranoid delusions and the sense

that someone is following them. They also sometimes confuse their own actions with the actions of other people. While the cause of these symptoms is not known, he said, multisensory processing areas may be involved. When otherwise normal people experience bodily delusions, Dr. Blanke said, they are often flummoxed. The felt sensation of the body is so seamless, so familiar, that people do not realize it is a creation of the brain, even when something goes wrong and the brain is perturbed. Yet the sense of body integrity is rather easily duped, Dr. Blanke said. And while it may be tempting to invoke the supernatural when this body sense goes awry, he said the true explanation is a very natural one, the brain’s attempt to make sense of conflicting information.