Progressing from Life Through Death and Beyond: Incredible Stories of People Who Have Died & Lived To Tell About It

By Dr. J. Roland Giardetti

People are often upset about the issue of why do bad things happen to good people? This entire book is a clear and present answer to why and how God’s mercy works in mysterious ways through the many stages of a person’s life. You will listen through the tears of twenty-four people who traveled through death and survived. Faith is at the very center of this inspiring story of progressing through death and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385010905

Dr. J. Roland Giardetti

Dr. J. Roland Giardetti Ph.D. is a career educator. He began his teaching with high school Art and Art History with a B.A. and M.A. in Art Ed., an earned Doctorate in Education finished teaching graduate school in Secondary Education. He has published in Media, Communications and Advertising. His current focus and passion is in Christian living and evangelization, including the completion of this book. He is active in three separate ministries in Cape Coral, Florida, where he and his wife, Erin (R.N.), are retired. Their hobby is the celebration of the lives of their seven married children and twenty-three grandchildren.

Book preview

Progressing from

Life

Through

Death

and Beyond

Incredible Stories of People

Who Have Died & Lived To Tell About It

DR. J. ROLAND GIARDETTI

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Copyright © 2023 Dr. J. Roland Giardetti.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

I have tried to recreate events, locales and conversations from my memories of them. To maintain their anonymity in some instances I have changed the names of individuals and places, I may have also changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties, occupations and places of residence.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1089-9 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1090-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023920572

WestBow Press rev. date:  12/06/2023

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

The Meanings of Death and Survival

Introductory Text on Death

Introduction

PART 1

Chapter 1     In The End

Chapter 2     Extreme Stress. The cause of my death?

Chapter 3     After the End

PART 2

Chapter 4     Are you going to take my life now, Lord?

Chapter 5     I can’t believe this is happening again!

Chapter 6     Believe it or else. Another End

PART 3

Chapter 7     My Life Goes on In Endless Song

Chapter 8     The list of Family Miracles

Chapter 9     Long before my End

Chapter 10   At the last moment

Chapter 11   Devastation of our home in 2022 and another Stroke and Near Death Again

How Younger Family Members Responded to Death

Hanna’s Tribute to Her Great Grandmother

Marla’s Message to Her Grandmother

PART 4

Thomas A Kempis, Meditation on Death

Other Testimonies about Death and Near Death

The Near Death of Joe

Nick’s Sad Lifetime of Near Death

Death at 82 and Still Living

The Death and Survival x 3 of Hans

The Death and Survival of Betty

The Tragic Death and Survival of Michael

The Death and Survival of Loreto

The Death and Survival of Jared

The Near Death of Jenny

The Near Death of Daniel

Pastor Mathew’s Near Death

Denny’s Lifetime of Close Calls and Death

Eulogy for Denny

Pamela’s Death under a City Bus

Tommy’s Near Death

The Near Death of Joe

Nick’s Sad Lifetime of Near Death before His Death

Death at 82 and Still Living and Laughing

Kelly’s Near Death on a Horse Cart

Visions of What is Beyond as reported by Saint Faustina.

DEDICATION

For all our dear family, including seven adult children,

their spouses, and our twenty-three grandchildren,

in Canada and the United States.

The briefest possible compression of Saint Paul’s letter to the Hebrews about the meaning of faith is:

Faith is being sure of what you hope for.

This book is about a lot of hope and faith. It has taken twenty-five years to reproduce these miraculous stories and it is the hope of the author that all those who venture here are prepared to meet the Author and Healer of all life.

…Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion answered him. Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, Truly I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith…. And to the centurion Jesus said, Go; be it done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. (Mt 8.7-13)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is indebted to many sources of assistance. First is my dear wife Erin, not only for her steadfast love and kindness over fifty-six years, but her great amount of help in the writing of this book. All the members of our family are also thanked for their prayer support over a lifetime of trials. Special thanks are given to our dear friend in Christ, David S., for his good counsel and support over many years. We are very grateful for Gayle M. and Anita and Edwin A. and many others who have faithfully blessed us with their fervent prayers. Editing was of great help by Judy M., Denny and Margaret Ann W. Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed. (Prov 15.22). Thanks, are also given to many staff members at WestBow Press for their helpful guidance in the publication of Progressing from Life Through Death and Beyond.

And before all,

Thanks be to God!

THE MEANINGS OF DEATH

AND SURVIVAL

The second half of this book is all about people of Christian faith who have actually or almost died with all the medical indicators. While there may or may not have been signed and dated medical certificates of death, these stories are, nonetheless, about people who were dead or nearly dead and came to life again or survived near death. The mystery of how this happens in each case is attributed to faith and calling upon the mercy of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then Mary…fell at his (Jesus) feet saying to him, ‘Lord if you had been here my brother (Lazarus) would not have died.’ (John 11:32)

The following testimonies are presented as reasons for hope and not as spectacular dramatizations of individual experiences. To testify in the legal definition is to provide verbal affirmation that the witness saw and/or heard specific events as he/she reports under oath to tell the truth. Under these circumstances it would be unusual for someone to falsify the details of their actual or near-death experience.

It is also imperative that a clear distinction be made between death followed by survival and death followed by an afterlife experience. ADE represents After Death Experience, and NDE designates Near Death Experience. The ADE stories have become the subject of recent movies with bright lights at the end of tunnels, sweet smells, beautiful fields of flowers and warm feelings of comfort and peace. Both the ADE and the NDE have been recorded in personal testimonies throughout history.

More recently NDE may have resulted when a medical intervention was applied to prevent death, as is common in cardiac surgery or the many techniques for preventing death from trauma or stroke.

The stories in part 2 are reported as well as can be stated and are true and clear accounts of the persons and actual events. Most of the names and places of their stories have been changed upon request to protect their privacy and their desire to remain without notoriety.

Following the publication of Dead Man Watching in 2017 by WestBow Press, the author became aware by several providential meetings that his story was not so unique and not the lone ranger he thought he was.

In the New Testament there are four people named who were dead for various amounts of time and were then called back to life. Lazarus is the most well-known and dramatic case, as his grieving sister, Martha, complained to Jesus that his body would surely be corrupted and create a stench after four days in the tomb. The other three cases did not include a body that was long dead. They are the stories of Tabitha (Matt. 27:50-54), Eutychus (Acts 9:36-42), the widow’s son (Luke