Do you believe near-death experiences offer glimpses of the afterlife?

Theology
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Summary

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This post reflects on T.D. Jakes’ sudden heart attack and his vivid description of a peaceful, heavenly space. Join the discussion on whether such experiences provide insight into eternity.

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Photo Credit: ©YouTube/Today

In November 2024, Bishop T.D. Jakes experienced a major health scare during a sermon at The Potter’s House in Dallas. Without warning, he collapsed from a heart attack. Medical professionals later told him that if help had arrived just five minutes later, it could have been fatal (Chron, Page Six).

What he described next was powerful: a quiet, serene, cloud-filled space that he interpreted as a glimpse of the afterlife. He later said the experience reminded him how fragile life is and how much we should cherish each moment (Crosswalk).

Have you or someone you know ever had a near-death experience? What are your thoughts on these types of encounters? Are they purely biological responses, or could they be windows into something greater?

Read more here:

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The brain supposedly releases DMT upon death which creates a dragged out floaty experience akin to some form of drug induced trip.

I don’t think anyone can honestly say they know because of the steps the body takes to make release easier. Where that experience ends and the other begins, who could say?

Some people claim they knew what people were saying or doing while they were dead. They claimed they could see or hear things while they floated above their bodies.

But even then, unless they could know things that happened away from earshot like in another room, it doesn’t really prove anything about the afterlife. The ears could still be picking up information as the brain is dying. We don’t know how long after physical death this continues for people to be able to hear.

Which is why people are told to tell their loved ones that it is okay to go forward in peace after they pass.

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No. I do not believe that near-death experiences offer glimpses of the afterlife. Why is that limited to near-death experiences? After all, the person is still alive.

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Hi,
No.
If this is a Christian experience, why is it selective?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. KJV

According to Solomon, this is what happens to our spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. KJV

Paul agrees.

I don’t know of any Scripture that supports a “near death experience.”
I personally believe it to be Christian sensationalism used to sell books.
Maybe the person did have an experience.
But there is no basis for it Scripture of which I know.
People claim to get abducted by aliens also.
Did they really have such an experience?
Who can say?
There is no measurable proof.
But a good story can sell books.

Blessings

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There are many accounts of ’ nde ’ some have not been pleasant.
As far as Im concerned there is a simple test as to whether it is a real spiritual experience or not.

Does it bring them closer to Jesus.

If it doesn’t then the experience is meaningless.

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I have read many NDE books, but one story stuck with me. Unfortunately, I don’t remember which book I got this from.

In this story, the patient described that he was in a hospital room, had a cardiac arrest, and while hospital personal came rushing in, he left his body and floated up to the ceiling.

Here something remarkable happenend. He spotted a note that was left on top of one of the closets, right under the celing. In a place where it could not be seen from the hospital bed that he was lying in. After his out of body experience this was verified and they found the note.

To me, this can simply not be dismissed as some leftover function of the brain, but it hints at something eternal - our soul.

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From a biblical perspective, no—I don’t believe near-death experiences offer genuine glimpses of the afterlife.

While people may sincerely describe vivid and emotional moments during those experiences, they are not authoritative or trustworthy sources of truth about eternity. Scripture is clear that after death comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27), and Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16 shows that even someone rising from the dead would not be more persuasive than the Word of God. Experiences can be shaped by many things—trauma, brain activity, emotions—but God has already told us everything we need to know about heaven, hell, and salvation through His Word.

So while I don’t doubt that people experience something during an NDE, I don’t believe those experiences are revelations from God about the afterlife. Truth comes from Scripture—not from visions, feelings, or personal stories.

While near-death experiences (NDEs) are often emotionally intense and described with striking detail, they should not be considered reliable glimpses into the afterlife. According to Scripture, God has given us a complete and sufficient revelation about life after death through His Word. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” There is no indication in Scripture that people return from the dead with insider information about heaven or hell. In fact, in Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, where Abraham tells the rich man that if people do not listen to Moses and the prophets—that is, to God’s Word—then even someone rising from the dead would not convince them.

The danger of relying on NDEs is that they can easily promote experiences or feelings over truth. Many accounts contradict biblical teaching, promoting universalism or vague spirituality rather than the gospel. God has not left us in the dark about eternity; He has spoken clearly through Scripture, and everything we need to know about the afterlife is already there. Rather than seeking truth through subjective experiences, we are called to trust in the certainty of God’s Word and the salvation found in Christ alone.

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Dr G Habermass tell several stories like this.
They indicate that some out of body experiences are valid, but tell us nothing about spiritual realities.

That someone while clinically dead saw and heard things in a different room of a hospital is irrelevant in determining whether Jesus is ones saviour.

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Friends

How do NDE’s square with biblical accounts? Here are a few reminders. There are many more facts to discredit these phenomena as something other than what they are claiming to be, but for now, let’s let The Bible speak for itself.

Being raised from the dead (or near dead), back to physical life.

  1. There are no accounts of people returning from :near death" but there ARE 9 accounts of people returning from the dead-dead, not counting Jesus (which was different).
    None demonstrate any similarity to NDE phenomena. Not one person, raised from the dead in the Old or New Testaments, ever recorded what he or she saw or experienced in a spirit realm. That includes Lazarus, who spent four days in the grave.

  2. Each person who was raised from the dead was raised intentionally, through someone who God used, with the partial exception of the unnamed man who was revived after touching Elijah’s bones. Even while it was unintentional it was still Elijah’s bones that effected the resurrection

  3. Each example in the Bible occurred after a period that was long enough to be fully assured the person was completely dead; none were near death, in a coma, under anesthesia, or during attempts to save their life.

  4. At least three passages suggest that this kind of thing does not happen:

Agur the son of Jakeh in Proverbs:
“Who has ascended to heaven and come down?” (Proverbs 30:4).
Agur’s implied answer is “No one”.

Jesus, in John 3:13:
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

In the teaching of Jesus in Luke 16:19-31:
“… And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But Abraham said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. "

What about visions of heaven?

  1. Only 6 people in the Bible claim to have had a vision of heaven; Micaiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul, Stephen, and John. Three of them wrote in some detail, the other three did not. Paul suggests it would be unlawful for him to do so.
  2. None of those who saw a vision of Heaven were near death, compromised, on drugs, or anything other than completely awake, aware, and healthy.
  3. Of the three that give details, all three accounts perfectly agree with each other, but none of them are even close to the accounts given by NDE survivors.
  4. Of the people who had visions of heaven and lived to describe what they felt, a common reaction is to feel “crushed”, “undone”, “fallen at His feet as dead”. No one describes feeling elated, calm, peaceful, or any of the other descriptors often heard from NDE survivors.

Something to think about.
KP

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The truth of God cannot be evaluated or determined by the experiences of men and women but only by the two witness that God has left on this earth in order for us to know the truth and they are the finished inspired written scriptures and the Holy Spirit through which they were inspired to begin with.

It is easy to understand that because Jakes and others having these experience were influenced by the particular beliefs they hold to, would in a state of unconsciousness right before death dream these things in their minds.

Furthermore TD Jakes is just another of many other false prophets and teachers that are distorted the truth of the scriptures in this world.

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@Truthfor2025, what two witnesses are you talking about? Who are they? Our church has a pastor who stays very close to the Bible in his preaching and doesn’t stray away. Would you call him a false prophet, or not? I just curious.

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I believe that they are just that Near death experiences and not experiences of those having died already.

Also, I already revealed who the two witnesses for the truth are, they are the written scriptures and the Holy Spirit and not your pastor or your Bible college professor nor anyone else.

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I would agree with most of the above except that when Jesus spoke John 3:13 to Nicodemus, it was before he himself was crucified for our sins and rose from the dead in order to prepare the way for sinners to be saved and enter into heaven/

Therefore, if you read Matthew 27:51-53, you also see a number of believers who were resurrected from the dead following Jesus as the first born of these first fruits.

Now many falsely believe that these died again but that is nonsense, because Jesus having died first for their sins had opened the way for them to also enter into heaven right after him, so there would be no reason for them to have to die again unlike Lazarus.

Paul even speaks of these as having been resurrected to eternal life in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 and therefore unlike what is also falsely taught, there only remains one single second coming of Christ and one single resurrection and rapture following immediately after it.

This will be the end also and just as Paul also went on to say in that passage and when he will deliver up that resurrected and raptured Kingdom unto God even the Father, after, after, after he has put down all other rule, authority and power during the tribulation and at his second coming first.

That is what the scriptures teach and not the pre trib rubbish that is commonly being taught about it in the apostate churches today.

Therefore there will be no pre trib rapture but God will use the tribulation to expose the false believers = The Tares from The true believers = The Wheat and then to separate the Tares from the Wheat through the judgments that will descend upon the Tares in the Tribulation and judgments of God.

For just as Jesus said in that parable, the tares will be removed from the wheat first through the tribulation by the angels and not the other way around.

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@Truthfor2025

I am aware of your esoteric personal positions regarding eschatology. I’ll not comment on them here since “Forum Decorum” encourages us to stay on topic. Also, while I appreciate that you may “agree with me” (partially), I want to be clear, I’m not really looking for agreement, it does not validate me, but it is nice to hear at times.

I hear your point about John 3:13, and I can see how one might build a chronological distinction to that verse to support the argument that even though “no one had YET ascended into heaven, since Christ had not been killed yet”, but that some (like those you mention in Matthew 27) might ascend into heaven before “the rapture”. You also note that the physical ascension of humans into heaven (clothed with new bodies) will be a singular event, and yet here you postulate that some have already gone, in your interpretation of Matthew 27:50-53.

Matthew 27:50-53

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

You will note that, according to your interpretation these were resurrected with heavenly bodies before Jesus was resurrected, whom you confirm was “The Firstfruits" from the dead”.

1 Corinthians 15:20-27

But now Christ (long-promised Messiah) is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (mortal death). For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order:

(1) Christ the firstfruits (first one),

(2) afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

(3) Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.

(4) The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet…”

Please explain your personal chronology as demonstrated by scripture, if possible, as it relates to this topic.

My point with sharing John 3:13 seems to have been missed.

John 3:13

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

I was suggesting, by this verse, that Jesus was authoritatively teaching Nicodemus, since He is the only one who has descended from heaven, saying “no one has ascended to heaven”, if not (ei mé), the only one who descended from heaven”. He speaks of Himself as one who IS in heaven. My point was to counter the argument that some people say they ascended into heaven while “near death”, and the words of Jesus refute that claim.

I surely understand your agenda to push your personal POV, rejecting the deity of Jesus, and your esoteric eschatological ideas, but I think you destroy your own credibility by regularly calling those with whom you directly disagree “apostate” “false teachers”, and purveyors of “rubbish”. Just my opinion, for what it’s worth.

Respectfully

KP

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LOL, You are just angry because I am revealing that you are not totally correct and which reveals that you are proud and full of yourself also.

Sorry but the Bible clearly reveals that the rapture follows after the resurrection and not the other way around to begin with, so I haven’t a clue what you thought you were talking about by that.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:22-26 clearly reveals that there is an order to those believers who would be resurrection, with Jesus the first (past tense) and then the first fruits and which has to be referring also to those in Matthew 27:51-53 (also past tense) and then those who belong to Christ at his single future coming.

He also includes the tribulation here when he says in verse 24 then comes the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom unto God even the Father, After, After, After he has put down all rule, authority and power. for he must reign (present tense) until he has put all enemies under his feet and The Last enemy that shall be destroyed is death

51, behold I show you a mystery, for we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.

All you have to do here is just follow this context and it becomes apparent that the rapture will only occur when Jesus for the sake of the believers left alive and waiting for his return and after having put all other enemies of God under his feet will then put that last enemy of death under his feet.

This is the only way that God’s people can escape their physical death, for until death is put under the feet of Jesus, they will still have to die, for God can resurrect those who have already died any time he sees fit but in order for Christians not to have to die a physical death, death will have to be put under his feet period.

This is exactly why Paul says all this and he also in this clearly revealed that the rapture will happen at the very end of the tribulation as well, for at the last trump, the last enemy will finally be destroyed period.

Now let’s also get this clear, for just like you, I could care less whether you can see the truth in this or not, because you are certainly going to soon enough now.

Therefore, it matters nothing to me whether you believe the truth about it or not for that will be your problem and not mine.

As far as those mentioned in Matthew 27:51-53 you ought to be able to understand the truth about this without needing someone to draw you a picture, for Jesus already died and paid for their sins so that they could enter into heaven and which wasn’t the case for anyone including Lazarus before this.

God is not unrighteous nor unmerciful to have raised those believers from the dead to make them die once again after Jesus already paid for their sin so that they didn’t have to die again but could enter into heaven and that is all you should need to know in order to understand the truth about this.

Now then get ready because if you are still alive, you are going to go through the tribulation and it will be there that you will be revealed as either a religious apostate false believer and teacher controlled by the spirit of antichrist or you are a true believer with a true relationship with the only True God through the true Christ.

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Yes, yes, I hear you. I hear your reiterations. I hear your POV.

What I don’t hear is anything germane to the topic:
" Do you believe near-death experiences offer glimpses of the afterlife?"

(btw, Angry? I feel no anger at all.)

Peace
KP

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No, and for the simple reason that neither believers or unbelievers will have conscious life again until the resurrection where they are joined back to either their original corruptible bodies as unbelievers will or they will be joined to their incorruptible eternal bodies as believers.

I believe the Bible and not what men say the Bible says, and the Bible doesn’t reveal that men and women will continue to have conscious life as bodiless spirits but only when at the resurrection within bodies once again.

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@Truthfor2025

I appreciate that you were finally able to weigh in on the topic, even though your one-word answer came trotting in mounted on your one-trick-pony.

You say:

Then believe this. The full orb of Christian discipleship is much more than a few pet doctrines about eschatology. By the testimony of millions in The Body of Christ, the fullness of Christian doctrine is unfolded in intimate fellowship with the person of Jesus, through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, now, in this body as it will be in the next. As the ecclesia, we abide in the very presence of God, now, as the Holy Spirit of Jesus dwells in our very being. This promised indwelling severely diminishes the importance of the condition of our physical body, both now, and once our physical hearts cease to beat. Jesus said "I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you. We believe this. To be absent from this body does not make us absent from Jesus, ever. We are His Temple, He will never leave it. Even as our outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day. This is a promise we believe. We are confident of this very thing, that God who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6), without interruption. Only God can forgive sins committed against God, and Jesus is our God, He has forgiven our sins committed against Him by fully satisfying the law that was against us, and sacrificing Hmself for our redemption. He is The Holy Promised Messiah, The Son who is given to us; the bearer of government, The Lion of Judah, The sacrificial Lamb , the one whom we call Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) There is no other God. This is why Jesus was able to say to Philip, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9) If I were to trot out my one-trick-pony, this would be it.

You reject this doctrine, so that explains your regular assaults on The Body of Christ; the derogatory name calling, the insults, the false accusations, the ridicule, the apathy, the disrespect, etc. Your hostile deportment in these conversations does not come across as fraternal, and that makes sense, nor are your comments compassionate expressions of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, (love, peace, gentleness, kindness, etc.). We get it, we are used to it. However, since you retain your personal doctrines, as Orlando said to Jaques, “I desire we may become better strangers” [As You Like It, A3,S2]

Peace in Jesus, the Eternal God.
KP

Peace in Jesus, the Eternal God.

KP

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Who was it that was caught up in the third heaven

And said they didnt know if they were in the body or out the body?

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@Corlove13

Paul speaks of himself in the third person about this experience:

2 Corinthians 12:1-6

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

This was not described as a “near death experience” but a special revelation from God.

KP