Can Life After Death be Documented by Near-Death Experiences?

Tuesday, February 8th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Scholarly research on near-death experiences started receiving significant public attention in the 1970s. The International Association for Near-Death Studies says there is still no single medical explanation that accounts for all aspects of the near-death phenomenon. Others say that's because near-death experiences are spiritual, that there truly is an after-life or a world beyond.

Many of us know that Rhema Bible Church and Training Center plays host to a sparkling lights display during the Christmas season. Many people do not know the hidden story of Rhema's founder, Kenneth Hagin, Senior. The 82-year-old Christian minister started the sprawling bible school in 1974. However, Hagin says, many years earlier he died and lived to tell about it.

Hagin calls it a dramatic, spiritual awakening. "I was born again on a bed of sickness on the 22nd day of April, 1933 at 20 minutes to 8 o'clock in the south bedroom of 405 South College Street in the city of McKinney, Texas," he said. Hagin grew up in McKinney, a city located just north of Dallas, during the Depression. His woes seemed more physical than financial. Hagin says that as a boy, he suffered from serious heart trouble. Itâ€™s a birth defect that nearly killed him on that fateful April night. "I was just a little over three months away from my 16th birthday and my heart stopped,â€ he explained. â€œWhen my heart stopped, I felt the circulation cut faster than you can tell it, faster than you can snap your fingers. My toes and my feet went numb like they'd gone to sleep. The numbness went up to my knees and my stomach. I then leaped out of my body." Hagin says that this was an out of body experience and he began to descend.

Hagin's claims were dramatized in a 1993 Christian documentary entitled "Death and Beyond." Filmed by Tulsa-based Impact Productions, "Death and Beyond" chronicles the experiences of Hagin and several other individuals from around the nation who say they've also had near- death experiences.

The International Association for Near-Death Studies which is headquartered in Connecticut estimates as many as 13 million Americans have experienced this phenonomen. Many of these people report seeing a white light and feeling a sense of peace and comfort. But a few others, like Hagin, report a dark experience. An experience that is troubling, even frightening. "I could see the lights of the earth above me till finally the lights faded away. I went through darkness that was so thick that you couldn't see your hand even if it was an inch in front of your eye," he said.

Hagin says he continued to float down to a pit, drawn like a magnet to a terrible place.
"As I went into hell, the gates were open and there was some kind of creature that met me. I never did look at it, because my gaze was fastened on the fires of hell. The creature took me by the arm to escort me in," he recalled.

Hagin says at that moment he heard a loud voice in an unknown language. Whatever the voice said must have caused the creature to release him. He says he floated back to earth and into his body.

Can experiences like Hagin's be proven or verified? In the documentary, a leading author on the subject says no. "Life after death cannot be proven scientifically,â€ said Raymond Moody. â€œI think that life after death is still something that has to be accepted pretty much on a kind of faith."

Robert Boots of Tulsa says he has that kind of faith. Boots says a 1984 experience shook him so powerfully, it broke his addiction to alcohol. "I remember a light that filled my consciousness," he said. A voice spoke to him and said, â€œQuit or die.'' â€œIt was not an ultimatum,â€ Boots said. â€œIt was not an ultimatum, because I was given a choice."
He says he joined the near-death association to help him learn from his encounter.
"It was a remarkable experience,â€ Boots said. â€œIt's a life-changing, a life-enhancing experience."

Hagin says his hellish experience happened three times in a 10 minute span. He says it ended only after he begged God to forgive the sins he felt he'd committed. He later recovered from his illness. Hagin says he made a promise to God that one day led to his ministry and the founding of the bible school. "Well, the doctor said, I had to die,â€ he recalled. â€œI said â€˜Well Lord, you get me up from here and I'll go preach.â€™"