Lookahead:  My initial takeaway was that the man behaved exactly the way I would have, if I had been radically rescued from hell, and taken to heaven at the last second.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, some NDErs are reticent, or confused, or pragmatic, or burned out.  Every single one of Ian McCormack’s emotional responses was genuine. At times he had trouble speaking when he remembered the Glory.  At times he would almost weep.  He was enveloped in love, joy, and peace—with a focus on peace.  And the incident happened in 1982! 

During this Easter season I had the pleasure of watching the movie, Resurrection.  It did have some scenes related to the crucifixion; but the movie primarily focused on what happened post-crucifixion—and the total transformation that occurred in the apostles and the early witnesses of the resurrected Christ.  Then it basically showed the birth of the new church, after Pentecost happened in the Upper Room.  In particular, it contrasted specific behavior of the apostles before and after Pentecost, with Peter being the main test case.  Peter went from being a self-proclaimed coward during Jesus’ crucifixion to an unstoppable warrior, willing to risk life and limb for the LORD, when he was set on fire with a holy boldness by the Holy Spirit.   At the end of the movie, Peter had just been released from prison by the High Priest with a stern warning not to speak The Name again.  (Of course, Peter immediately countered that he would not comply.) 

Here is how the screenwriter(s) scripted Peter’s jubilant speech to a huge crowd of new converts, upon his release from prison: “We are already beyond counting.  We found each other in faith and now we must honor that and we must provide for each other as we draw strength from each other.  The man beside you stands because you were there to hold him up.  We are united when each of us gives what we have and takes only what we need.  The Kingdom of God is coming and we will be fit to enter!!”

In my opinion, I think that the Kingdom of God/Heaven had already come to the apostles…in the Upper Room.  The transformation from cowering people, in fear for their lives, to courageous evangelists—who were willing to do anything and everything to spread the Good News and to build The Church—was Kingdom living in action.  I believe that a true citizen of the Kingdom is empowered by the Holy Spirit and has a heavenly perspective, therefore they have No Fear; they are, in essence, fueled by and running on God’s LOVE.  Jesus did indeed tell Peter and the apostles that something called a Church would be built (Matt 16:18).  And in fact, He used special nomenclature for this (ekklesia in the Greek) assembly or congregation of people who, no doubt, were to walk in the glory of Jesus Christ.  But the screenwriter implied that the success of this church-planting effort would make them fit for the Kingdom.  It’s my opinion that neither success nor failure in this area determine a person’s fitness to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

As I had mentioned in an earlier blog post, I believe that Paul was a full-time resident in the Kingdom of Heaven, in addition to being a successful church planter.  I think chances are good that Paul (Saul) entered the Kingdom of Heaven months, if not a couple of years, before he really started aggressively building The Church—at the exact point of space/time continuum intersection at which Jesus stepped into Paul’s reality.  From that point-of-intersection forward, there was probably constant communication between Paul and Jesus.  So we can look at Paul as the template for those who “want in” the Kingdom.  Paul started out with an incredible capacity to serve God—to attempt to please him in all things, and to seek Him as he strove to religiously obey all of God’s commandments.  But he unfortunately did not have a relationship with God, because Jesus was very clear about Saul not knowing Him at all when He asked, “Why are you persecuting Me?”  I do believe that Paul sincerely wanted to have a relationship with God, because, after he met Jesus, he grabbed hold and never let go.  I also believe that Paul had a sincere Godly fear (respect, reverence, and awe) before and after he met Jesus.  He was not the rebellious or disobedient type.  And he was leading a “sanctified” life—not talking the talk without walking the walk (although he was on an unfruitful and futile path 🙂 ).  Paul obviously needed to learn a lot more about Who God was versus keeping every letter of the Mosaic Law.  But at least we can learn a lesson about what a KO candidate might look like. 

Having said that, I believe that certain people are wired for Kingdom living and those people crave the King, throw themselves into whatever they’re doing for God 1000%, and have a real hunger to know Him more and more.  I certainly think it’s an admirable goal.  Also, as I’ve indirectly indicated before, I don’t think we can manufacture this longing on our own.   I further think that if we are truthfully seeking Jesus, all these things will be added to us. 🙂 But, as Paul corroborates, sometimes it will happen when we’re not seeking Jesus…

I heard a powerful, powerful NDE testimony which demonstrated that if somebody else is seeking it for us, on our behalf, that it can still happen.  Ian McCormack was a young quote/unquote surfer bum from New Zealand who took a sabbatical from life to travel the world in search of the perfect wave…etc.  While Ian was searching from an island in Africa, that wave proved to be particularly elusive—in the sense that he instead encountered 5 box jelly fish, and was stung by each one.  One sting, in the core region of the body, generally kills in a few minutes.  The first person to examine Ian’s stings basically told him, sorry, you have a few minutes at best.  But Ian was somehow able to press on and get an ambulance ride to the hospital; during the ride he felt the paralysis moving up through his entire body, heading for his brain, and knew he was dying.  Ian came from Christian roots, but they had never taken hold in his life, and he was currently toying with whether to become an agnostic or an atheist.  As Ian was dying in the ambulance, he had a vision of his mother praying (this was actually happening in real-time thousands of miles away in New Zealand) and telling him to call out to Jesus to save him.  He did so, and then prayed interactively with Jesus.  Eventually he wound up in heaven after an extremely frightening glimpse of hell.  Ian was clinically dead for ~20 minutes or so…before opening his eyes to the utter shock of the doctor and nurses who had transferred him to a morgue slab. 🙂 

This account was included in the book called Imagine Heaven that I’ve been reading concurrently with this study.  It didn’t have a huge amount of impact on me, as it was one of many similar NDE accounts.  However, recently I stumbled across a 2011 CBN interview with Ian McCormack.  This video was recorded ~20 years after the NDE occurred; and it really humbled me.  I believe that I was watching a genuine KOer in that interview. 

My initial takeaway was that the man behaved exactly the way I would have, if I had been radically rescued from hell, and taken to heaven at the last second.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, some NDErs are reticent, or confused, or pragmatic, or burned out.  Every single one of Ian McCormack’s emotional responses was genuine. At times he had trouble speaking when he remembered the Glory.  At times he would almost weep when he spoke of God’s love and forgiveness.  He seemed to be enveloped in love, joy, and peace throughout the interview—with a focus on peace.  And the incident happened in 1982!  

On the other hand, the interviewer was pragmatic—trying to steer the testimony with his questions.  But eventually, he was moved to reticence.  Ian McCormack was radiating contagious peace—finding humor in his youthful brashness and foolhardiness, highly unpleasant fight for life, and difficult death.  Twenty years later, he hadn’t lost one ounce of joy or gratitude or reverence, and appeared to be on a permanent excursion with the Holy Spirit.

From what I can tell, the only prerequisite for twenty years of Kingdom living was that he was a surfer bum with a praying mother.  But at the critical juncture when it really counted, he was willing to accept God’s gift.  That’s so encouraging because, for those of us who want in, that makes for a very short entrance criteria list. 

In conclusion, I had a beautiful aunt whom, I believe, has been experiencing God’s incomparably perfect LOVE and light and beauty, in an Ian-like experience, for almost two years now.  When she was earthbound, she always used to say, “Let go, and let God.”  It’s so brilliantly simple, but so essential for any KO Candidate.