Life After Death/Life (Work in progress) - January 9, 2026
LIFE AFTER DEATH/LIFE (Rough Draft- Work in Progress)
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 of the book now. – UPDATE (The “book” is still a draft. Copied
below is a portion of the rough draft.
(Why share this experience now? I was preparing a Bible
Study entitled “Step By Step” and was being led to get into some foundational
issues. The LORD led to me to share this experience, plus I was double checking
what I experienced using GOD’S Word and what I experienced in the experience I
had to make sure what I experienced was sound. It was and is. My experience was
from GOD.)
The event you are about to read is true. I am a
sinner saved by GOD’S Grace through faith in JESUS. This experience 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, (Note the time)
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. Mrs. Green was
a precious Christian lady. I only knew her through her family.
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 wait 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 (JESUS) 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 into 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 was 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. (This is
what I wanted to double check. Mrs. Green was dressed in a white 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 (The LORD and Mrs. Green) 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, powerful voice. A voice of which I
have never heard before or since said, “Mrs. Green has just passed away but she
is walking with the LORD!” At that moment, a joy like I had never experienced
before swept over me and I was singing, 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 doing 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 to my secretary, “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 locked 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.
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 overheard 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 (she and the pastor) 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. Sometime 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-year-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
to have eternal life through the miracle of Spiritual Birth or being “born-again.”
I believe what I saw was Mrs. Green’s Spirit-born eternal body walking
with JESUS.
You will experience the miracle of rebirth in your spirit
and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when you ask JESUS to forgive you for all
of your sins and ask JESUS to come into your heart and experience eternal Spiritual
Birth. 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 and lose Spiritual rewards. 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. Blessings!!!
Tony Shaw
posted by Bible Study | 9:17 PM
|
0 comments
