Insights Into Eternity Study Guide

By Keith Thomas

Have you ever wondered what happens to you when you die? When you are dead, are you really “dead?” What did Jesus mean when He said that Lazarus was asleep? Will we be unconscious when we die? Is there an intermediate place, a purgatory that I will go to if I am not quite good enough? What does the Bible say? What did Jesus teach about hell when He spoke of the experiences of a real person who was sent there? What will our new bodies be like when Jesus comes for us? What will the New Jerusalem be like, and how can I make sure I am going to be a part of it? What is the Bride of Christ, and how can I be sure I will go to heaven? If you are interested in having answers to these questions and many more, this series is for you. This Bible study series is focused on exploring and explaining the Scriptures concerning what happens to believers and unbelievers after they leave this life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781365932946

Keith Thomas

Keith Thomas worked as a lead clinical researcher at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and National Jewish Health before writing for film and television. He has collaborated with James Patterson on a screenplay and a novel. His work has also appeared in Geek and McSweeney’s.

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Insights Into Eternity Study Guide

Insights into Eternity

Study Guide

Keith Thomas

© Copyright 2016 by Keith Thomas Ministries.

Published through www.lulu.com

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Cover art created by Michael Senger.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN 978-1-365-93294-6

Contact Keith Thomas Ministries at [e-mail]

See more Keith Thomas studies at GroupBibleStudy.com

Although it is not possible for me to list here all of the people who have been invaluable partners with me in this work, I would like to acknowledge some key individuals for their practical help, insight and encouragement. I am specifically indebted to the following:

My wife Sandy, for editing, who is also my partner in all things. Bob Froelich, for your faithful work in editing and professional feedback. Mike Senger and Deborah Boock, for helping this series to become a reality in visual and written form. Your expertise in videography, editing and presentation is much appreciated, as is your personal support. For Rich Corbett, for building and maintaining www.groupbiblestudy.com. Thanks for your constant help in service of this ministry. It is love in action. For Rick Schweitzer, for faithfully attending to audio recording for the DVD and CD series. Mike Engel, for your help in promoting the website and partnering in the vision. You are such an inspiring brother!

Finally, to those who continue to work alongside us in this ministry, we regard you as partners in pulling the net that we are drawing up worldwide as these studies go out. Your support in this journey makes all the difference. You know who you are! We are so much better together. Please know that you are appreciated and it is a privilege to work with you.

CHAPTER 1 – What Lies Beyond Death’s Door?

Near Death Experiences

In the year 1976, when I was preparing to travel overland across Asia from England, I realized that I needed to have some vaccination shots against various diseases that were common in India and other countries that I was soon to be visiting. The doctor who administered the shots warned me not to drink any alcohol for at least 24 hours. Later that night, I did something really stupid. (Please do not try this at home!) I did not follow the doctor’s advice. I can now say that, since becoming a disciple of Christ 34 years ago, I am a lot wiser than I used to be, but in my teens and early 20s, my life was full of poor choices. I was still heavily into smoking Marijuana, so a night without any substance to stimulate me simply did not seem like a night out.

I already had my evening planned for me after seeing the doctor; I was meeting with my friends who would see me off with a get –together drink down at the pub before my trip across Europe and Asia. Due to the doctor’s warning, before going out, I told myself I must not drink. A wise decision, but surely a bit of hashish (a stronger form of marijuana) wouldn’t hurt? It would have taken too long to smoke the hash I had, so I ate it and then walked to the pub to meet my friends. As soon as I arrived, my friends bought me a half-pint of beer. I reasoned that it was only half a pint; surely, that little wouldn’t do me any harm. Besides, I did not want to be rude to my friends.

I am sure my powers of reasoning were affected by the hash I had eaten. As soon as I had drunk the beer, I started feeling very unwell. I could not control what was going on inside me. The amount of hashish that I had consumed, plus the alcohol, seemed to be too much for my system due to the vaccination shots that I had earlier, and I started to think about the doctor’s warning. I got out of the pub knowing that something terrible was happening to me. I resolved that I had to get home to my apartment. Somehow, I was aware that I was close to death.

I staggered into my apartment, laid down on the sofa, and then something weird happened, something that changed everything I had believed up until then. I actually left my body and was hovering parallel to the ceiling over the other side of the room and looking down on my body. This was not a vision or a dream; this was reality. My body was on the sofa, but I was not in it! I began crying out to God to have mercy on me. Up to that point, I was a total atheist with no relatives or friends that were Christians. I thought I didn’t believe in God, but all of a sudden, I was praying like there was no tomorrow, and tomorrow was hanging in the balance!

My belief was that, when I am dead, I am dead. However, my theology changed all of a sudden—I was crying out to a God in Whom I didn’t believe. I promised Him that, if He let me live, then I would give Him my life; I would do anything He wanted. Life became very precious, for I was not sure where I would go if this experience were final. All of a sudden, the experience was over, and I was back in my body, alive by the grace of God.

Question:

Have you ever had a near death experience or had to say goodbye to someone close?

Share your experience with one another.

My brush with death was a turning point in my life. Even though I had promised my life to Christ, the next day I reneged on my promise, having no understanding at all about who God was or how to find him. All I knew or believed at that time was that there was something more beyond life on this planet. I was aware that life was not limited to just this body of flesh. I became fascinated with life after death, trying to understand what happens after death. I remember going to a spiritualist church but not being able to actually go in to find out what they believed. It was like there was some invisible barrier against the door, and each time I tried to go in, my heart started racing, and I couldn’t enter. God was very faithful to protect me from spiritualism and the occult.

While I was on that search for understanding, I came across a book that had been written by a doctor who had brought some of his patients back from near-death experiences. The name of the book was Life after Life, by Raymond A. Moody, MD. During the 1970s, various new instruments of resuscitation became widely available so that many more people began to survive accidents that normally would prove deadly. Some of his patients told him of their experiences beyond death. Doctor Moody was so intrigued by what these patients shared that he began to talk to other doctors, and he finally acquired a case file of over 150 people that had died and come back after being resuscitated. Many of their interesting stories are shared in his book. There is a striking similarity in the accounts that these 150 people shared. On the basis of these similar accounts, he put together a brief, theoretically typical picture of what someone would experience at the point of death:

A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical environment, and he sees his own body from a distance as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval.

After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a body, but one of a very different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has left behind. Soon other things begin to happen. Others come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered before—a being of light—appears before him. This being asks him a question, nonverbally, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go back to earth, that the time for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives.

Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing so. In the first place, he can find no human words adequate to describe these unearthly episodes. He also finds that others scoff, so he stops telling other people. Still, the experience affects his life profoundly, especially his views about death and its relationship to life."[1]

I do not know whether Raymond Moody was a Christian at the time he was writing this book, or if he had other spiritual beliefs. He does not specify whether all of the people sharing these experiences were people of faith. Some of them were,