To Heaven and Back

To Heaven and Back mentions several churches Mary Neal has attended. But her affirmation of the strange doctrine of pre-existence made me wonder how much she has been influenced by Mormonism. Her publisher informed me that Mary is part of a Reformed church and has no connection with Mormonism; see my upcoming Friday blog. Unbeknownst to me, my patient and his wife had visited with their Latter-Day Saints bishop prior to this surgery and had received blessings from him….

He told my patient that God was very pleased with him, that the veil between this world and the next would be very thin, and that he would be required to make a choice…. Before surgery, my patient and his wife had discussed together their interpretation of these blessings.

They had concluded that my patient would have to choose between continued life on earth or physical death. They were both spiritually devoted and knew that my patient would choose God. For a summary of Mormon doctrines and their biblical refutations, see this website or this article.

To Heaven and Back: Another Visit-to-Heaven Book

I am not saying Mary Neal believes or advocates other false doctrines held to by the Mormon Church. But certainly she believes and tries to persuade readers of pre-existence. Decades ago Mormon Betty Eadie, in her mega-selling Embraced by the Light , wrote of her after-death experience. The book spent a year and a half at number one on the NYT bestsellers list, and sold 13 million copies.

I knew that I had known him [Christ] from the beginning, from long before my Earth life, because my spirit remembered him. I saw that in the pre-mortal world we knew about and even chose our missions in life. I remembered the creation of the Earth…. I was gratified to see that the Earth is only a temporary place for our schooling and that sin is not our true nature.

We watched as our spirit brothers and sisters entered physical bodies for their turns upon the Earth, each experiencing the pains and joys that would help them progress. But pre-existence is emphasized by both. The book seems to encourage readers not to fear death. If this is in To Heaven and Back , I missed it. There are other problems in the book, one that could lead people to view end-of-life issues differently, and tempt them to prematurely withdraw care to those in comas and terminal situations:. I had the overwhelming sense, really more of a deep knowledge, that his soul had already departed from his body.

He was already dead. Since some things the author is emphatic about e. Once you know that some of the book is false, on what basis do you determine which other parts are true? Where the experience contradicts the revealed Word of God, Scripture alone should be trusted. For the Christian, there is no other option. I suspect the phenomenal success of Heaven is for Real will tempt people to use their imaginations in telling stories about visiting Heaven. Some will be deceptive, others will exaggerate, still others may be sincere but take images from a drug-induced state on a hospital bed and by power of suggestion may convince themselves that various thoughts in their heads were actual experiences of Heaven.

The financial success of 90 Minutes in Heaven and Heaven is for Real will inevitably invite others to come forward who are willing to either deliberately mislead others or convince themselves of something that was not a true experience of Heaven. I do not believe Mary Neal is deliberately misleading readers, but I do believe some of what she emphasizes is contrary to Scripture. To Heaven and Back itself is not my biggest concern. I fully expect more accounts will be published that go ever further, denying fundamental biblical teachings and perverting the gospel itself. Universalism will be taught, hell will be denied, the gospel will be redefined.

Yet the Bereans were commended for carefully scrutinizing Paul's words in light of Scripture. I am seeking to honor Jesus by speaking with grace and truth. Please follow Acts Rather, it is a warning about some books already written and those sure to come. May we be quick to discern the difference between what men say and what God says:.

It was just enough for the group to shift the boat to free Neal, who was sucked out of the bottom of the boat by the current -- with her legs bending back over her knees. I could feel the ligaments and the tissue tearing. I felt my spirit peeling away from my body, sort of like peeling two pieces of tape," Neal recounted. As one of her friends grabbed her wrist to try to pull her out of the water, Neal realized she was outside her body watching the rescue effort. I could see them start CPR," she said.

One fellow was yelling at me to come back. My body was purple and bloated. My pupils were fixed and dilated. I guess I really did die,'" Neal said. As she watched, she said she was met by "these people or these spirits" who started to guide her toward a brightly lit path toward what appeared to be a domed structure.

There, she spoke with the spirits. They told her it was not her time to die, that she still had a job to finish, Neal said. One of the reasons she had to return, they told her, was because of her son Willie. He'd really already done what he was meant to do. Then she was back in her body, breathing again. Those involved estimate that Neal had been without oxygen for 30 minutes. Her recovery would take months, but she no longer took time for granted. It is a journey she chronicled in her book "To Heaven and Back. Each day took on a new meaning for Neal, who awoke every day wondering if it would be her son Willie's last day.

On June 21, , year-old Willie went out to roller ski with a friend. I absolutely believe that every person can look at their life and see the hand of God.

It's that person who calls you when you most need it, she said. It's that person who directs you to someone who changes your life. Anita Moorjani's near-death experience On February 2, , Anita Moorjani was in a coma. With her body riddled with cancer, doctors told her husband that her organs were shutting down and she likely would not make it beyond the next 36 hours. Moorjani knew what cancer could do to the body. She had seen it ravage her best friend, Soni, eventually killing her.

• Stories of life, death and faith: 'To Heaven and Back'.
• To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal, M.D. | theranchhands.com: Books?
• Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187–1291 (Crusade Texts in Translation).
• Heike riprende a respirare (Italian Edition).
• A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story;
• Hot Ride.

So when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in , she was afraid. In a way, Moorjani had always been afraid -- of living and of dying. Growing up in Hong Kong, she said she was bullied because of her Indian heritage. She went so far as to lighten her hair and bleach her skin to fit in at the British school she attended. Then she was diagnosed with cancer, one of her biggest fears after seeing it take the life of Soni.

By February 1, , sick and weak, she thought to herself: The next morning, she didn't wake up. Her husband rushed her to the hospital, where the family was told the bad news: Moorjani was in a coma and not expected to wake again. Moorjani can't put her finger on the exact minute that she says she left her body. He was there by my bedside. I could feel he was willing me to come back," she said. Moorjani could also hear conversations that took place between her husband and her doctors, far from her hospital room.

She heard them, she said, discuss her pending death. Hovering between life and death, she said she was surrounded by people who loved her. Her best friend, Soni, was there. So was her father, who had died years earlier from heart failure. There were others there, too. She didn't recognize most of them. But she knew they loved her and cared for her.

Why would I want to come back into this sick body? Then, hovering between life and death, she had a moment of clarity -- a true understanding.