Life After Life Upon Earth - Sharing An Experience - September 30, 2016 (Draft)

LIFE AFTER DEATH/LIFE (Draft)

By: W. Anthony Shaw

 Introduction: (I have written a more detailed article regarding life after death, which I will publish later. That is why I refer to "book" in this excerpt. I felt led to publish this portion now.)

 The event you are about to read is true. It happened to me in 1971 while driving from Charlotte, NC to Spartanburg, SC. The experience is unusual because it is not a deathbed or near death experience. It involves the death of a Christian lady, Mrs. Myrtle Parris Green and her transition from earth to heaven.

  I read Mrs. Green’s obituary and a paraphrase of it reads,

Mrs. Green is the wife of Odus Max Green and has two daughters Elsie Peeler and Estelle Willis. Mrs. Green died at 4:10 PM on August 25, 1971 after one year of declining health and one day serious illness.

 Unknown to me on the day Mrs. Green died, she was taken to the hospital while I was on a trip to Washington, DC. I was returning from that trip on Wednesday, August 25, 1971 and driving south on Interstate 85 after flying into Charlotte, NC.

This experience is unique for several reasons. It happened, while I was driving on the Interstate, very alert, in broad-open daylight and without knowledge that Mrs. Green had been taken to the hospital that day. I knew that she had cancer because we had been praying for her. Her daughter and I worked together.

I shared this experience verbally with members of the family and in a letter to Mrs. Green’s husband, Max, dated May 28, 1976. The letter is dated five years after this event. I wondered, why did I waited five years? I had no idea at that time. All I knew was that THE LORD prompted me to write the letter to Mr. Green as HE has prompted me to write about this event.

However, I found it interesting, while verifying the dates given for this writing, that Mrs. Green’s birthday is May 29; unknown to me until preparing this book. THE LORD always has a plan and purpose for all things.

I will explore with you, what GOD’S WORD, the Holy Bible, reveals about life after we depart earth later in another writing in more detail. This account is written to glorify GOD and HIS Only SON, JESUS CHRIST and to give all a glimpse in the mystery of life after life through this experience.

The Bible gives us insight into the mystery of death. In the New Testament in First Corinthians Chapter 15, Verses 55 through 57*, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now sin is the sting of death and sin exercises its power (upon the soul) through (the abuse of the) the law. But thanks be to GOD, WHO gives us the victory – making us conquerors – through our LORD JESUS CHRIST.” JESUS CHRIST is the answer to life after the death of our bodies. (Amplified Bible published by Zondervan)

In 1971, my wife and I were living in Spartanburg, SC. I was working at Hoechst Fibers Industries. I had meetings in Washington, DC and drove from Spartanburg to Charlotte, NC to catch a plane to Washington, DC, on Tuesday, August 24, 1971. I stayed overnight in Washington and flew back to Charlotte the next day, which is Wednesday, August 25, 1971. I was returning to the plant where I worked. The plant is located a few miles outside Spartanburg on Interstate 85.

 I was in the vicinity of Gaffney, SC, when this event happened.  Mrs. Green lived in Gaffney near the Interstate.

 While driving, all of a sudden outside the automobile and in the sky, slightly to my right side, I saw what appeared to be a picture, a scene or a vision. I saw two people walking down what appeared to be a reddish path with green shrubs on each side of the path. They appeared to be coming over what appeared to be a horizon in the background. The person on my left is taller than the person on my right. The person on the right is a woman. I can see all of her. The way the scene is angled, I can only see the person to my left from the shoulders down. The person on the left, whose head or face I cannot see, is dressed in a green garment, something like a robe and the woman is dressed in a white garment, again something like a robe.

[Revelation 6:8 - 8 And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and Hades was following after him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.]

They appeared to be coming down a hill and approaching a curve in the path. The path curved to the left of the scene, which would have been a right turn for them. As mentioned earlier, this scene was outside my automobile, high in the sky at an angle to the right side of my automobile.

 Combined with the scene, which lasted a few seconds, is a booming, very distinctive voice. A voice of which I have never heard or since said, “Mrs. Green has just passed away but she is walking with the LORD!” At that moment a joy like I have never experienced before swept over me and I was signing, happy and full of joy. I heard the voice again, “I told you Mrs. Green is fine, she is walking with the LORD, you pray for the family!”

I prayed for the family and looked at my watch and it was 3:45 PM.

I arrived at the plant a few minutes after 4:00 PM and went straight to my office and asked my Secretary if she had heard from Mrs. Green.  Mrs. Green is the mother of Mrs. Elsie Peeler, a fine Christian lady who worked in the lab where I was the Manager.

When I was on the road, my secretary always wanted me to check with her for messages. I had not spoken to her that day, since I was planning to come back to the office. She asked me, “Did you call in today?” That meant, did you call and speak to the lab supervisor and not get her to transfer you to me for messages. These were the days before cell phones. I said, “no.” Then she said, “then how did you know about Mrs. Green?” I said, “know what about Mrs. Green?” Then she said, “Mrs. Green took a turn for the worse and they had to put her in the Hospital.” I said, “well?” She said, “well what? She is going fine. In fact, Elsie called after lunch and stated that her mother was resting well and they (meaning her, her sister (Estelle) and father (Mr. Green) would probably go home and get some rest so someone could stay with her mother through the night. She thought their preacher and his wife were coming to relieve them.”

(I learned later that Elsie and Estelle stayed at the hospital.)

I said, “let me tell you what I saw while driving down the road.” So I told her what I had seen and she said, “well if she had died we would know it because not more than five minutes ago, Evelyn (the lab supervisor) was in here and told us that Mrs. Green was resting in the hospital.”

I said, “I am going to talk to Evelyn.” My secretary said, “I told you she was just in here and she would have told us if she had died.” I said, “I am going to talk to her anyway.”

The lab has double lock doors to keep the lab at standard lab conditions for testing purposes. I stepped through the lab doors and Evelyn was just inside the lab doors. I asked her about Mrs. Green and she told me exactly what my secretary had told me. I then told her what I had seen and heard while driving down the road.

At the moment I finished the story, the lab telephone rang and Evelyn answered the phone. After a few minutes on the phone and while still on the phone, I saw her gasping for breath and over heard her say, “my boss was just telling me something he saw while coming down the road today.”

 As soon as she hung up the telephone, she came over to me and said, “that was Mrs. Green’s pastor’s wife. She said Mrs. Green passed away a few minutes after 4:00 PM.” Mrs. Green’s pastors’ wife said, “they had gone to the hospital to relieve the family, so the family could go home and get some rest before coming back to the hospital to stay with Mrs. Green through the night.” (Mrs. Green’s two (2) daughters, Elsie and Estelle, did not leave but stayed at the hospital.)  The pastors’ wife said, “Mr. Green left for home, believing that Mrs. Green was stable. This was about 3:30 PM. Some time after 3:30 PM, I looked at Mrs. Green and thought her color did not look good, so I called a nurse. The nurse came into the room and looked at Mrs. Green, asked us to leave the room and called a doctor. The doctor pronounced her dead a few minutes after 4:10 PM.”

 Well guess what? I looked at my watch after I saw the vision and Mrs. Green was walking with THE LORD at 3:45 PM.

 Before I left on my trip to Washington, DC, I knew that Mrs. Green had cancer and we had been praying for her. My knowledge base when I left on my trip was that she had been working on a limited basis and was at home. To my knowledge death was not close at hand. She had to have some fluid drawn from her body a few days or so before I left for my trip to DC.

 I never met Mrs. Green while she was alive on this earth. I saw her physical body for the first time in the casket at her funeral. Her physical body had aged and she had some gray hair, as one would expect of a 53 years old person. What I saw in the scene or vision was a young brunette, probably in her early or mid twenties with long, flowing hair coming to her waist/hips. The top of her head came to the top of the shoulder of CHRIST. I say CHRIST because the voice said, “Mrs. Green is walking with the LORD!” She is dressed in a white garment and CHRIST is dressed in a green garment.

In my wildest imagination, I would have never thought of CHRIST being in a green garment. I always thought of CHRIST in a white garment. None-the-less CHRIST was in a green garment.

I have thought many times about this scene and thought could it have been a reflection of some sort? Had I been thinking about Mrs. Green?  The answer is always the same, “no”! I saw what I saw and I did not have Mrs. Green on my mind. No, I was not on any medication or under the influence of anything that would have caused me to see things.

Again, if I had ever tried to envision CHRIST, I would have put HIM in a white robe. I usually thought of those in heaven as wearing white robes or garments, because that is how we generally see the departed depicted. During the writing of this book, I discovered that the Bible talks about white robes.

 The booming voice accompanying the vision “Mrs. Green has just passed away, but she is walking with the LORD!” certainly got my attention and could not have been imagined.

 I share this event with you because the LORD allowed me to witness it and HE has prompted me to write about it. HE alone is the one to be glorified and HE alone must be the focus of this event. HE alone is the ONE who gives us life after the death of our earthly body or as I like to think of our body as our earth suit. I simply share this event, so others who may question life after death or want to know more about this mystery, may know that there is life after death or life after this life on earth.

Death will come and it is not something to which we look forward.  Christians possess eternal life and pass from death to life while upon earth, through faith in JESUS. That decision must be made now, while we are still in our earthly body or earth suits. Ask JESUS to forgive you for your sins and for HIM to come into your life believing that HE gave HIS life for you. 

You will experience the miracle of rebirth in your spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit is your confirmation and assurance of being born into GOD'S family and that you have received the gift of eternal life. Once born into GOD'S family you will never be unborn but you can disappoint GOD. When we sin, as Christians we must confess our sins to remain in fellowship with HIM, so we can obediently serve HIM. Death is something every human faces. Where will you spend eternity? The choice is yours to make. Accept JESUS as your Savior and you will spend eternity with GOD and CHRIST. Reject JESUS and spend eternity without GOD and CHRIST, where the fire never is quenched. 

Death is a reality but just as life is a reality so is eternal life with GOD and CHRIST. Now is the time for you to make that decision. Do not delay.

Tony Shaw