Hallucinations

A friend asked recently, "So what did you experience when you collapsed from the aneurysm?"

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

The book/movie "Heaven Is For Real" has been popular.  Nearly all my life I've heard stories of near-death experiences.  So what did I experience?  Nothing.

Maybe I wasn't that near death?

Or maybe it was something else?

My pastor is diligent to visit those in the hospital in serious condition.  Coma?  The guy needs to be visited frequently!  Surgeries, drugs, and breathing tubes?  Pastor is there a lot!  He says such times of weakness (especially with the drugs and anesthesia) are prime opportunities for Satan to wreak havoc in a Christian's life.  It's critical that the person be receiving the Gospel ... even if the person isn't intellectually comprehending the words.  It's a battle of God's angels versus Satan's angels.

I've heard stories of horrible hallucinations while people were on narcotics.  Even though I did hallucinate, it wasn't ugly.  I remember having an argument with myself about talking to one of the people in my room -- a person I knew full-well was NOT there.  But that person-who-wasn't-there was talking to me, and it would've been rude not to answer.  I remember reaching out to brush away stuff that was hanging too close to the hospital bed -- stuff that wasn't there.  I remember reaching for a pair of scissors (who knows why?!) that I just couldn't get a good grip on ... merely because they weren't there.  I hated the narcotics and the unreality it foisted on my mind.  But looking back, I'm realizing that nothing was horrible.  Monsters did not chase me.  Nobody threatened my life.  And best of all, there were no demons. 

And I wonder if any of this plays into the lack of "near-death experience."

Death cannot destroy forever.
From our fears, care, and tears
it will us deliver.
It will close life's mournful story,
make a way that we may
enter heavenly glory.

Lord, my shepherd, take me to Thee.
Thou art mine.
I was Thine even e'er I knew Thee.
I am Thine for Thou hast bought me.
Lost I stood,
but Thy blood free salvation brought me.

By Grace I'm Saved

The distribution hymn this morning was LSB 566 (aka TLH 373). Kneeling at the altar rail this morning, the words being sung were some of the loveliest in the whole hymn:
For though I know my heart's condition,
I also know my Savior's voice.

And what was my Savior's audible voice saying, right at that very moment, to ME? "The body of Christ, given for you."

How sweet is that?!!

Hallucinations -- Part 1

Pastor told us the story of when he was visiting a shut-in shortly before he died. The man asked "if he needed a beer." As it was mid-morning, and as he was there for a communion visit, Pastor politely turned down the offer. But it turned out that the shut-in was asking Pastor whether "that other guy" needed a beer. Pastor didn't argue about the non-existence of "the other guy" but just said that he was fine and that that other guy didn't want a beer right now.

Gary was once visiting Lu shortly before he died. Lu was happy to be "going home" soon. Now, what is a pastor normally going to think about a man in hospice who's talking about "going home"? Nope, it wasn't that. Lu thought he was back in the service in Europe, and that the war was over and that he was being shipped back home soon. Rather than arguing about the location and the occasion of the visit, Gary just ministered to the man where he was, telling him about Jesus and about the relief of "going home" and getting there safely because of God's grace.

Pastor also had mentioned in the past that it is possible that those on medications and those nearing death might be seeing things in the spiritual realm that the rest of us cannot see. Both Gary and Pastor had mentioned previously how useless it is to argue with people in this situation, and that the important thing is doing what needs to be done for them.

Pastoral Visits

The pastor does not make social calls. He makes pastoral visits.

When a person is sick or dying, he may not feel up to having visitors. That's to be expected. But nobody tells the medical doctor, "I don't feel up to visitors today. You can't come by." The sickness and the desire to avoid visitors is precisely the evidence that you need the doctor's care. AND the pastor's care!

Apparently hospice workers and nurses and home health aides do not understand this. If this is some unimportant factoid they heard in class and promptly forgot, the family is going to have to take action to make sure the helpers know. You know those signs that go up in houses when oxygen is in use? A warning with instruction? Maybe we need big signs like that in the home when a loved one is sick and dying: "Anybody who answers the phone always says YES when the pastor suggests coming over. No matter how the patient is feeling today."