Many people have expressed an interest in who the true prophet or savior is. For my Muslim friends, it is Mohammed, and for my Christian friends, it is Jesus.
For the last few months, I have been watching a large number of near-death experience (NDE) videos on YouTube. While there are a few accounts that I find difficult to accept as true, a couple of things have stood out to me. In the more than 100 near-death experiences that I have watched, I have not seen anyone report being greeted by Mohammed.
Instead, many people describe being greeted by Jesus. They portray him as radiating love and having a presence that fills them with peace. In these accounts, Jesus is presented as a messenger of God whose teachings are centered on love and peace.
Why Jesus, and Not Mohammed?
Why is that? There are nearly two billion people who follow Mohammed and the Qur’an, yet in the near-death experiences I have watched, none reported being greeted by Mohammed. Some people who identified as Muslims described being greeted by Jesus instead. They often said that Jesus showed them a broader perspective of God than they had previously understood. In these accounts, Jesus was never portrayed as condemning or degrading anyone. Rather, he was consistently described as loving, compassionate, and peaceful.
Perhaps there is something to be learned from the consistency of these experiences. I cannot say with certainty which accounts are true and which are not, even among those that were difficult for me to believe. However, the people sharing their experiences appeared sincere. When they returned from their near-death experiences, many described feeling overwhelmed by love and the peace of God’s presence. In fact, many said they did not want to return to their physical bodies.
What the Spiritual Writers Taught Us
Before the Internet, much of our understanding of the spiritual world came from writers such as Michael Newton, philosophers such as Carl Jung, and psychic researchers such as Edgar Cayce. I also appreciated the work of Sylvia Browne and Dolores Cannon, both of whom I had the opportunity to meet.
I have always found Michael Newton’s books especially compelling because they were based on the experiences of more than 7,000 clients. His students have guided me through life-between-life and past-life journeys that seemed to correlate with many of the themes reported in near-death experiences.
These experiences often include a life review, discussions of previous lives, and meetings with guides, masters, and elders who help individuals consider what they want to accomplish in their next life. Yet the final decision is always left to the soul. To me, this illustrates that we have free choice, at least on the soul level. It is remarkable that so many people do not believe in the soul or in the possibility that there is another world beyond the physical, one that many describe as far more loving and peaceful than life on Earth.
The Cost of Sharing These Experiences
Several of the people I watched who identified as Muslims described difficult experiences after returning from their near-death experiences. After sharing that they believed they had encountered Jesus, some said they were rejected by members of their religious communities. Friends and family sometimes told them they had been deceived or that their experiences came from Satan. I found these stories thought-provoking because I would have hoped that compassion and understanding would have been the first response.
What Does All of This Mean?
For me, these accounts raise important questions about the nature of spiritual experience and the role of Jesus. Based on what I have seen and studied, I believe Jesus was the authentic spiritual teacher described in these experiences. As for Mohammed, I question the historical and spiritual claims made about him, especially since much of what is known about his life was recorded by followers after his death rather than by people who personally knew him.
These are questions that each of us must explore and answer for ourselves.
