Thank you for praying for us. Deb and I have tested positive for Covid. Symptoms are mainly sinus pressure and dry coughing. We are quarantining, so I’ve had some time to chill and watch some TV. Yesterday, I was checking out some of my favorite topics on YouTube and a recommendation popped up for me. It tells “the story” (notice the quotes) of Bryan Melvin. He was poisoned, died, and saw Hitler, and then came back to life. I got that info from the title of the clip. I didn’t click on it because I figured it would be just like hundreds of other sensational claims concerning out of the body experiences. But in the past week over 342,000 viewers have tuned in to see this. Why am I so skeptical about claims such as these? It is because of my default position. What is a default position you ask? It is your foundation, it is your filter, it is your way of knowing if it is truth or a lie. In my case, and I pray it’s yours as well, that default position is the Bible. Everything gets run through the filter of the Word of God. It is the foundation for my belief system.

I believe in resurrections. Not a single doubt in my mind that resurrections in the Bible happened. As a matter of fact, there are ten. I believe that they happened just as the Bible describes. They are found in the Old Testament and the New Testament. I’ll quickly list them for you. 1. Widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17). 2. The Shunammite woman’s son (II Kings 4). 3. Young man at Elisha’s grave (II Kings 13). 4. Tabatha (Acts 9). 5. Eutychus (Acts 20). 6. Widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7). 7. Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8). 8. Lazarus (John 11). 9. Some Old Testament Saints walking around Jerusalem after the Resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27). 10. Jesus himself (Mark 16).

What about out of the body experiences? I’ve heard people my whole Christian life speak about this type of experience or a story they have heard or a book they had read about fantastic out of body experiences. But what does the Bible say? Most often, when trying to give a proof text from the Bible for this type of experience, the person seeks to use II Corinthians 12:2-5. What does this passage say to us? Let me share three quick observations. There are more, but I’ll stop at three.

  1. His glorying is in his infirmities, his sufferings and not in his experiences. II Corinthians 11:23-31 tells us of all the experiences he has had. The list is wowing. Beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, floating in the ocean. What about the robbers that beat him as they took his money, and the Jewish authorities that constantly chased him? He was hungry and cold all the while trying to care for the churches he’d started. At the end of chapter 11 he tells us about escaping from Damascus. He was let down from a wall in a basket when the king was seeking to arrest him. That’s an exciting experience. As the old Ronco commercials say, “But wait there’s more.” Beginning in chapter 12 he adds something else to the testimony of his Christians life. Almost without exception commentators and scholars say the unnamed man in 12:2 is Paul himself. It was a common practice for Rabbis to speak of themselves in the third person. What is this additional information to his testimony? He had an out of body experience. Some think he died and was resurrected while others think he was simply transported in spirit to the third heaven and then returned. I have heard some amazing testimonies from various evangelists in my Christian life, but none can touch Paul’s life story. Yet, what does he say in 12:5, “…yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.” He is willing to share the story, but doesn’t want to have praise heaped upon him, so he diminishes his importance by not naming himself. That is usually not the case for those claiming out of body experiences.
  2. He didn’t know if he was alive or dead (vs. 12:2-3). Most of those with these types of experiences can give you all kinds of details. Most of these stories are usually told by those that claim to be a follower of Christ, but in a few, the person doing the telling will make the claim that they were unsaved and this out of body experience brought them to Christ. The closest example from the Bible that I can think of is Luke 16, the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus doesn’t do any talking, but Father Abraham and the unsaved rich man are communicating across a “gulf.” When reading this story, we don’t see the rich man being allowed to come back from the dead. His fate is sealed. For those claiming to die, go to Hell, and be allowed to come back, don’t pass the example we find in the Bible. As a side bar, once a person goes to Hell, I don’t think that Hitler will be on their mind even though I think Hitler and others like him are in the hottest part of Hell.
  3. He couldn’t communicate what he heard and if he could have, he wasn’t allowed to speak about it (vs. 12:4). He heard “unspeakable words.” Evidently there is a heavenly language that is not translatable to us. He then goes on to say “…it is not lawful (permitted) for a man to utter.” This is a major hurdle for me. The Apostle Paul is the greatest Christian ever to serve Christ, period! He was able to perform miracles, write at least half of the New Testament and yet, he is not permitted to share his out of body experience. If God would not let Paul, why would he let another? Many of the stories are simply sensationalized, causing a myriad of Christians to be duped by fraudulent hucksters. A few years ago, working on my M.M., I came across some fascinating stories told by some of these men. One claimed to have been taken to heaven, put on a trolley car and for a good while toured the sites of glory just as one would visit the tours of Savannah, Ga. When this man would tell this story Christians in the arena would be beside themselves thinking about the sites they’d see one day. Yet, Paul wasn’t allowed to share one iota of his experience.

How should a Christian approach a story like the one recommended to me on YouTube? My answer, with a healthy dose of skepticism. Why? Because most of these stories are told looking for a big financial windfall. This is the main reason that we must keep the Bible as our foundation and filter. Everything is evaluated through the prism of God’s word. Is it harsh for me to say that every man or woman that tells something like this is evil and possibly Satanically inspired, seeking to fleece the flock of God? Probably. Some that share these things may be sincere, but their experiences are simply imagined. Our experiences do not trump scripture. A rule of thumb for your Christian life is simply this. If your experience cannot be backed up by the Bible or it is opposite of the Bible, then your experience is faulty. Realize that even Satan himself can transform himself into an angel of light. Just because people use terms you and other Christians are familiar with, doesn’t mean those people are true believers. There is an old song called a “spiritual” from the days of slavery. In that song there is a phrase I like. “Everybody talkin bout heaven ain’t goin.” Filter everything through the Bible.