Nine Days in Heaven: A True Story (3 page)
It had all begun slowly and gradually. I had progressively become less and less conscious of the physical things around me. My inner self seemed to become stronger and somehow more aware. The objects in the room—the walls, ceiling, and furniture—turned to shadows and finally disappeared altogether. I then found myself in this amazing new world with the extraordinary experiences it brought me.
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Since returning, I have had many people ask me what happened. I have tried hard to tell them, because that is why I was shown all these things, but I struggle over the task. There is simply no way on earth to fully describe the things beyond earth. Our words even spoil the beauty and perfection of the heavenly things that are out there.
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F
OR HUMAN UTTERANCE MARS THE BEAUTY
AND PERFECTION OF HEAVENLY SPEECH…
But I must complete the task I have been given, so I will try to describe what I saw. All I ask is that you who are reading this will look beyond my woefully inadequate words and try to see something of the true power, the graphic beauty, and divine glory of the things I saw.
“Follow me,” said the angel, “but before you do, look back and see yourself.”
I looked far below through the dark misty space and finally made out my motionless body. Gathered around me were my worried friends calling to me and frantically shaking me, trying every possible way to wake me, but without success.
“This is the human view of life,” said my angelic guide. “Look at your family. They love you and grieve for you. Every human goes through troubles and heartbreaks, and ultimately death. But the true picture of what happens after that is hidden from them.
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“Look out there at the world’s teeming millions. They are full of hope, ambition, and troubles. Then finally, death arrives. All of them are afraid of death. It is a ruthless destroyer and cuts life short. Generations come and go, one after another in rapid succession.”
Timidly I asked a question. “I know I am young and don’t know much, but I have been thinking a lot about these things. One day all these people will die. What happens to them? Do they have a place to go to? Can you take me to them? Can I go and be with my loved ones who have already died?”
I waited for her answer. I realized how incredibly much I wanted to know it. For so long this question had haunted me, day and night. Unable to share it, I had buried it deep inside me where it went round and round, the answer always elusive. Now, unexpectedly and remarkably, this Angel of Peace stood before me, sent from the next world. I was on the brink of a monumental discovery, one that would at last settle these issues that had plagued me.
Support From
the Word of God
1.
Angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). There are frequent references to angels in the Bible. (See Psalm 91:11; Acts 12:7; Hebrews 13:2.)
2.
“…
many religious traditions are unreliable
.” Marietta speaks here of powerless forms of religion. The apostle Paul warned of these in 2 Timothy 3:1–5: “…having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them” (v. 5). Churches must demonstrate the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit—not just good works done in the name of God.
3.
Visions are a part of the Christian experience—not always plentiful, but not rare either. Paul described a similar experience to that of Marietta in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 (see also Acts 2:17):
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
4.
“…
our words even spoil the beauty and perfection…
” Marietta’s story is not unique—a number of books record similar visions of heaven. Many of the authors make this same comment—human words cannot do justice to the splendors of heaven.
5.
“…
the true picture of what happens after that is hidden from them
.” God’s concealment of eternal things is related to His plan for us to be free, created in His image, like Him. We have a genuine free choice to choose God or to reject Him, to choose good or choose evil. We are free from the pressure of overt promise of reward—or threat of punishment.
T
HE ANGEL SPOKE.
“M
ARIETTA, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN A SPECIAL
favor to learn about these things. First of all, let me tell you this. When people die, they are taken to the place where they will spend the rest of eternity. However, the destiny of some is enormously different from the destiny of others.”
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As if to explain, she lifted her head and said, “Look up there. What can you see?”
I looked above me and saw a vast, shining heavenly place, brighter by far than the sun at its peak. Dazzling light radiated from it, shooting across the heavenly skies. I was spellbound and stared at it in wonder.
“There are many people up there you would love to see,” said my guide. “They wear soft white clothes and live in unalloyed happiness. There is no night, no sorrow or death, no sin or pain, no suffering of any kind.”
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She was silent for a moment. “However, before you see this, I have to show you some things that are not as pleasant.
“Marietta, you are well aware that people on earth have widely different values and morals. You may not be aware that when they die and their spirit lives on, their moral nature is not changed. The bad are still bad, but the good continue to be good.”
She touched my forehead, saying, “Tell me what you can see now.”
A new scene opened up before me—vivid and graphic. I saw endless crowds of all kinds of people struggling in the throes of death. Some were in majestic palaces, lying on beds spread with fine and costly coverings. Some were in poor, humble cottages, while others lay in dark prisons. Some were in lonely forests, others in barren deserts or on raging seas. Some lay under the scorching sun; others were perishing on bleak snow-covered mountains. Some were surrounded by weeping friends; others were dying alone and forgotten. Some had been murdered; others were killed on the battlefield.
This was the place where time met eternity, and it was a place of indescribable misery.
“This is death,” said my guide. “It is the result of a divine law that has been broken. But what you see here is only a small fraction of it.”
She touched me with her saber of light, and as she did, I found I could see the immortal nature of all the dying people. I was able to see their spirits. I stood fascinated as I watched them leave their bodies and enter the regions of eternity, tentatively stepping out into new and untried experiences.
…I
BEHELD THE IMMORTALITY
OF THOSE WHO WERE QUITTING
THEIR HOUSE OF CLAY
…
Then I noticed that spirits of different kinds were gathered around each dying form. They were there to meet the earthly spirits as they entered the new regions. People of all classes and types were met—some by evil and wretched spirits, others by bright and holy angels sent from God. This gateway of death was the common transition state between earth and eternity.
As the people left their bodies, they were attracted to spirits of a similar moral nature. Evil and unholy people joined like-minded spirits and then moved off toward regions that were covered by dark clouds. People who loved good and had formed relationships with good people were escorted by holy angels to the heavenly glories above.