CNN iReport

March 21, 2009

YOU’RE MORE ALIVE WHEN YOU’RE DEAD by Alberta Parish

Why do I feel like some days I’m waiting to die that I might live? I mean, truly live. In fact, you’re more alive when you’re dead. Many people don’t believe that there’s life after death. Many people think that there’s no Heaven. Others think there’s no Hell either. If there is no life after death, then how do you explain those who have actually died and claimed to have looked upon their physical bodies before going back into them? If there’s no spirit realm, then how do you explain those people who claim to have had out-of-body experiences? I had an out-of-body experience fourteen years ago, when I was twenty. But, I wasn’t on my deathbed. Instead, I was summoned by the Angel of Death himself, Satan. “Come, see. All this power will I give you if you worship me,” are the words I heard very clearly on that night. I believe this was my first, real paranormal experience with the spirit world. Please understand that I’m not a psychic or medium. This was only a supernatural experience I had. At the time, my mom, grandmother and I were living together in a house in Northwest Atlanta. I remember that I was walking through the hallway in the house that night. I entered my mother’s bedroom, and there I saw a very dark shadow/figure standing in the corner of the room. I saw no facial features, because all I saw was a dark shadow shaped like the figure of a man.  Then I heard the voice, “Come, see. All this power will I give you if you worship me.” I responded, “No, I can’t do that. That’s the same thing you told Jesus.” My experience ended afterwards or perhaps, my spirit body went back into my physical body that was lying on the bed in my own bedroom. Either way, you don’t get to meet Satan – in his true form – without having an out-of-body experience.  Satan is truly the Spirit of Darkness.

Many people don’t believe that Satan is a real spirit entity, because they also don’t believe that God exist. I’m here to tell you that Satan is as real as the night he tempted me. I’m here to tell you that you have a spirit body as well as a temporal (physical body). Certain aspects of your human life count toward where you will spend eternity. Not all human spirits linger upon earth. Many souls or spirits go straight to Hell just like many other souls go straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. Hell is another world just like Heaven is another world. When I say certain aspects of your life count toward where you will spend eternity, what I mean is the deeds that you do in the world will ultimately lead you to your final destination. Many people live their whole lives in violence and in corruption and never change their way of life, their way of thinking. They continuously hurt people and ruin people’s lives, and they never ever say I’m sorry. They never ask God to forgive them for their misdeeds, whether toward themselves or toward others. They never ever give their lives to Christ or even knowledge Him as their personal Savior and at least attempt to do what is righteous before God, whether toward themselves or toward others. Then, one day their physical life expires. We would like to think that these people went to Heaven, at least I do. I hope they had time to repent before they died, but unfortunately many people don’t always get the remaining time they have left to always do this. This is why it is imperative that we set aside time for God now; that we set aside time to pray and ask God to forgive us now for our sins and to come into our lives now and to make us into what He wants us to be now. In the final analysis, when your physical life expires and you cross over into eternity, all your worldly accolades like your sports trophies, your championship titles and rings, all your earthly possessions like your money, your cars, your homes, your careers, your jewelry, your clothing, all of it won’t mean a thing. The only thing that will matter is what kind of person were you on earth, because this will ultimately determine your final destination. What kind of person were you would be the only thing that matters when your physical life ends and your eternity begins. Were you a rapist? A murderer? A treacherous person who caused somebody’s death or downfall or complete ruin? I mean, a truly treacherous person. A gangbanger who killed innocent bystanders during your shootouts? The police may have never caught you. You may have gotten away scot-free, but God saw you that day. He saw what you did, and your deed was recorded in a book. That book is called the Book of Life.

See, humans aren’t perfect. This is why we needed a Savior. His name is Jesus. He is the mediator between God and man. Being imperfect in nature, we must pray and ask God to forgive us for our unrighteousness, in the name of Jesus. We must be real about our sins, and lay everything out on the table before God. Don’t justify anything, because sin is sin no matter how small or insignificant we believe it is.

The spirit realm is all around us. God is still in control over this world no matter how everything appears to be right now. Pray. Peace out.