Chapter 25

Not Every NDE Is from God — Satan's Hijacking Strategy and the Need for Discernment

Introduction: The Spiritual Battlefield

We have spent many chapters exploring the remarkable ways that near-death experiences line up with biblical teaching. We have seen how NDErs consistently encounter a Being of overwhelming love and light. We have observed the surprising presence of Jesus in these accounts. We have documented the deep compatibility between what NDErs report and what the Bible teaches about the afterlife, the soul, the reality of God, and the importance of love. All of this is deeply encouraging.

But now we need to have an honest and important conversation. Not every NDE is from God.

That might sound surprising after everything we have covered so far. But it should not surprise us at all — not if we take the Bible seriously. The Bible paints a clear picture of a spiritual world that is not uniformly safe or benign. God is active. He is revealing Himself, drawing people to Himself, working through every means available — including, I believe, through near-death experiences. But God is not the only spiritual actor on the stage. There is an enemy. And that enemy has a strategy.

Jesus said it plainly: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10, ESV). If God is using NDEs to reveal His reality and draw people toward Himself, we should fully expect the thief — Satan — to attempt to corrupt this channel of revelation. Why? Because that is exactly what he has done with every other channel throughout all of history. Satan corrupted the first humans in the Garden. He corrupted the worship of Israel through idolatry. He attempted to corrupt the ministry of Jesus through temptation. He has corrupted the message of the Church through false teachers. And I believe he is actively working to corrupt the phenomenon of near-death experiences as well.

This chapter is the centerpiece of our discernment section. In the chapters that follow, we will explore specific areas where deception enters the NDE world — wrong interpretations (Chapter 26), the false claim that all religions are equal (Chapter 27), the dangerous fringes of psychics, mediums, and aliens (Chapter 28), and a comprehensive biblical framework for evaluating any NDE (Chapter 29). But before we get to those details, we need to lay the foundation. We need to understand who is behind the deception, how the deception works, and why Christians must be alert, discerning, and wisely engaged — not naively gullible and not reflexively dismissive.

Shaun Tabatt captures this urgency well in his book The NDE Conspiracy. Tabatt's central thesis is straightforward: God has intended NDEs for good as a way to reveal Himself and to alert people to the realities of heaven and hell, but there is another being — Satan — who is trying to use these afterlife encounters for his own purposes.¹ Throughout this chapter, I will draw heavily on Tabatt's framework, as well as on the work of J. Steve Miller, Michael Sabom, and John Burke, to build a comprehensive picture of how demonic hijacking works in the NDE world and what Christians can do about it.

Who Is Satan? A Biblical Portrait

Before we talk about Satan's strategy regarding NDEs, we need to make sure we have a clear, biblical understanding of who Satan actually is. The popular culture image of a cartoon devil with red skin, horns, a tail, and a pitchfork is worse than useless — it is dangerous, because it makes Satan seem silly and harmless. The Bible presents a very different picture.

Satan is commonly understood to be a fallen angel — a powerful spiritual being who was once part of God's heavenly host but who rebelled against God because of pride. The prophet Ezekiel, using language addressed to the king of Tyre but widely understood as referring to the power behind the king, describes this fall: "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you" (Ezekiel 28:15, ESV). Isaiah adds further detail: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high... I will make myself like the Most High'" (Isaiah 14:12–14, ESV).

The New Testament confirms Satan's angelic nature. Jesus speaks of "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41, ESV). The book of Revelation describes the great battle in heaven: "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" (Revelation 12:9, ESV). These fallen angels — demons — are the spiritual forces actively at work in the world today.²

Three characteristics of Satan are especially important for our discussion of NDEs.

First, Satan is a deceiver. Jesus called him "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44, ESV). Deception is not just something Satan does occasionally — it is his essential nature. He is the father of lies. Every lie in the history of the world traces its lineage back to him. Revelation 12:9 calls him "the deceiver of the whole world." This is not a minor player causing small mischief. This is a powerful spiritual being whose primary weapon is deception, and whose primary target is the whole world.

Second, Satan is a counterfeiter. Paul warns us: "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14, ESV). The Greek word translated "disguises" is metaschēmatizō (μετασχηματίζω), which means to transform one's outward appearance — to put on a disguise. Satan does not always show up looking frightening. He shows up looking beautiful. He appears as light. He mimics what is good. He produces experiences that feel divine. This is critically important for evaluating NDEs: an experience of light and love is not automatically from God. It could be a counterfeit — a masterful imitation designed to deceive.

Third, Satan is a predator. The apostle Peter warns: "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8, ESV). Tabatt invites us to sit with that image for a moment. The devil is hunting us. He is roaring to put fear in our hearts. His end goal is to devour us — to consume and destroy us.³ This is a being with murderous intent, not a prankster playing harmless tricks.

Satan's Strategy: From the Garden to the NDE

Now that we understand who Satan is, let us look at how he operates. His strategy has remained remarkably consistent from the very beginning of human history to the present day.

The Original Playbook: Genesis 3

Genesis 3 establishes the pattern. God had given Adam and Eve a clear command: "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16–17, ESV). The command was clear. The boundary was clear. The consequence was clear.

Then Satan entered the scene. And notice how he operated — not with a frontal assault, not with an obvious lie, but with a subtle twist:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1–5, ESV)

Study Satan's technique carefully. He begins with a question designed to create doubt: "Did God actually say...?" He does not deny that God spoke. He simply introduces uncertainty about what God said. Then he directly contradicts God's word: "You will not surely die." And finally, he offers a counterfeit promise: "You will be like God." Notice the mixture. There was some truth in what Satan said — their eyes were indeed "opened," and they did gain knowledge of good and evil. But the truth was wrapped around a deadly lie. The consequence was real. They did die — spiritually immediately, physically eventually. The serpent told a lie decorated with just enough truth to be believable.⁴

This is Satan's playbook. And he has not changed it in thousands of years. He still takes what God intends for good and twists it — just enough to deceive, not so much that the deception is obvious.

The Same Strategy Applied to NDEs

When we apply this pattern to near-death experiences, Tabatt's framework comes into sharp focus. Satan does not need to fabricate entirely fake NDEs. He only needs to inject false elements into genuine ones. A person may have a real encounter with God's love — but then receive a false message layered into the experience: "All religions lead to the same place." "You have lived many lives before." "There is no judgment." "You are God." The core experience may be real. The theological content may be the foreign element — injected by a deceptive source.

The deception is effective precisely because it is wrapped in a genuine experience. The experiencer felt real love. They saw real light. They experienced something that was truly beyond anything in their earthly life. And because the experience felt so overwhelmingly real and good, they trust everything that came with it — including the theological messages. They do not stop to ask whether the love was from one source and the theology from another. They accept the whole package.

I believe this is one of the most important principles for understanding the NDE landscape: genuine experience and false theology can coexist in the same NDE. The experience can be real while the message is corrupted. We will explore this experience-versus-interpretation distinction in much greater detail in Chapter 26, but the principle needs to be established here: just because an NDE felt real does not mean that everything the person took away from it is true.

Explicit Demonic Influence in NDEs

Now let us look at the evidence. How does demonic influence actually show up in near-death experiences? I want to distinguish between two forms: explicit and subtle. Explicit demonic influence is easier to spot. Subtle influence is far more dangerous.

Bryan Melvin's Counterfeit Welcoming Committee

One of the most striking cases of explicit demonic deception in an NDE comes from Bryan Melvin, a self-described militant atheist who died after contracting cholera from contaminated water at a construction site. During his NDE, Melvin had what initially appeared to be a welcoming committee ushering him into the afterlife. Here is what he described:

Melvin found himself in a location that looked like the house he had lived in with his parents back in Virginia — but something was not quite right. The house was similar but not identical. There was a dilapidated tree in the wrong place in the yard. Then people began coming out of the house and up out of a valley. It appeared they were coming to welcome him, slapping him on the back. But things did not feel right. Some of these people could not really have been there because they were not dead. Then the beings began to morph right in front of him, trying to distract him. One even tried to appear as his mother. He said: "You are not my mom. My mom's not dead. You are not dead." And then they all changed. Their eyes became like alligator eyes with yellow irises. He could suddenly see what they really looked like. They surrounded him, and he began calling out the name of Jesus.⁵

Tabatt has reflected on Melvin's account at length, and his insight here is critical. Melvin soberly wonders what would have happened if he had been resuscitated in those first moments — before the beings began to morph and reveal their true nature. He would have come back believing he had been welcomed into paradise. He would have assumed that since he went to a heavenly place once, he would go there again when he truly died. The deception would have been complete — a counterfeit welcome that would have given a militant atheist false assurance about his eternal destiny without any encounter with the real Jesus or any call to repentance.⁶

Melvin's case raises a haunting question: how many other NDErs have experienced similar counterfeit encounters but were resuscitated before the deception was revealed? How many people have come back with false assurance, believing they visited heaven, when what they actually encountered was a carefully constructed demonic imitation?

Other Cases of Explicit Demonic Encounters

Melvin's case is not isolated. The NDE literature contains numerous reports of encounters with terrifying beings, entities that initially appear benign but become threatening, and beings that communicate messages designed to lead the experiencer away from God. George Ritchie, a medical doctor whose NDE became one of the earliest well-known accounts, described seeing beings in the spiritual realm who seemed locked into patterns of hatred, lust, and destructive thought. He observed that the common feature of these dark scenes was the failure to see Jesus — whatever got in the way of His light created the separation into which people stepped at death.⁷

Michael Sabom, in his important book Light and Death, documents cases where near-death experiencers encountered "evil-like spirits" who may indeed have been demons. He presents the case of a woman who saw a dark, frightening being during her NDE, along with other experiencers who encountered entities that exuded menace and dread. Sabom makes the crucial observation that demons do not always reveal their identity by appearing frightening. Citing 2 Corinthians 11:14–15, he notes that Satan "masquerades as an angel of light" and his servants "masquerade as servants of righteousness." These evil angels can appear extremely appealing, loving, and benevolent — and masquerade in order to deceive and ultimately to destroy.⁸

These cases of explicit demonic influence are alarming. But I want to suggest that the explicit cases are actually less dangerous than the subtle ones. When demons show up looking like demons — with yellow reptilian eyes, as in Melvin's case, or with an unmistakable atmosphere of evil — the experiencer has a chance to recognize the deception. The truly dangerous form of demonic influence is far harder to detect.

Subtle Demonic Influence: The More Dangerous Form

More dangerous than the explicit demonic encounter is the subtle corruption of an otherwise genuine experience. This is where Satan's genius as a counterfeiter is fully on display.

Here is how it works. A person genuinely encounters God's love during their NDE. The light is real. The love is real. The overwhelming sense of peace and acceptance is real. God is genuinely reaching out to this person, giving them a glimpse of His reality and His character. But woven into this genuine experience — perhaps in the messages communicated, perhaps in the beings encountered alongside the divine presence, perhaps in the theological conclusions drawn — are false elements. Elements that did not come from God. Elements that were injected by a deceptive source.

The deception is devastatingly effective for one simple reason: the experiencer trusts everything because the love felt real. And the love was real. The false message was the foreign element. But the experiencer cannot tell the difference because they have no framework for distinguishing divine content from demonic injection within a single experience. They accept the entire package as one unified revelation from God.

What kinds of false messages show up in these subtly corrupted NDEs? Tabatt and I have identified several recurring patterns.⁹

False Message 1: "All Religions Lead to the Same Place"

This is perhaps the most common false message that accompanies otherwise genuine NDE experiences. An experiencer encounters overwhelming love and light, and comes back saying, "I learned that all religions are just different paths to the same God." But is this what the experience itself showed them? Did they actually see Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians all arriving at the same destination through different routes? Almost never. What they experienced was overwhelming love. What they concluded was that all religions must be equal. The conclusion does not follow from the experience. We will examine this in much greater detail in Chapter 27.

The Bible is clear on this point. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6, ESV). Paul wrote, "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV). When an NDE produces the message that all religions are equally valid paths to God, that message contradicts the explicit teaching of Jesus Himself. It may be wrapped in a genuine experience of divine love, but the theological content is false.¹⁰

False Message 2: "You Have Lived Many Lives Before"

Some NDErs return claiming to have memories of past lives. As we explored in Chapter 24, the biblical worldview firmly rejects reincarnation. The author of Hebrews states: "It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27, ESV). When an NDE includes elements that suggest past lives, this is a marker of potential demonic influence — because this teaching directly contradicts Scripture. Tabatt addresses this at length, noting that many exorcists and deliverance ministers have identified past-life memories as a phenomenon with demonic connections.¹¹

False Message 3: "There Is No Judgment"

Some NDErs return with the message that God does not judge anyone. Everything is accepted. Everyone goes to heaven regardless of what they believe or how they live. While it is true that NDErs overwhelmingly encounter a God of extraordinary love and compassion — and I have argued in Chapter 22 that this is entirely consistent with the biblical portrait of Jesus during the time before final death — the conclusion that there is no judgment contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture. Jesus taught about the reality of judgment repeatedly (Matthew 25:31–46; John 5:28–29). The Bible describes a final accounting before God (Revelation 20:11–15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). The love of God and the justice of God are not in conflict — they are both essential attributes of His character.

False Message 4: "You Are God"

This is perhaps the most blatant form of deception — the message that the experiencer is divine, that they are one with the universe, that there is no real distinction between Creator and creature. One NDE account from the NDERF database describes the experiencer feeling "omnipresent" and "omniscient," saying she was "everything, everywhere," and that "there absolutely was no separation." Tabatt notes that while NDErs commonly describe a profound sense of interconnectedness during their experience, ascribing labels of deity to oneself crosses a line into pantheism — a worldview fundamentally incompatible with the biblical distinction between God the Creator and human beings as His creatures.¹²

This particular deception echoes the original lie in Eden: "You will be like God" (Genesis 3:5). When an NDE produces the message that the experiencer is divine, we are hearing the serpent's oldest trick dressed in new clothes.

How to Identify Demonic Influence: Theological Markers

If subtle demonic influence can be woven into genuine experiences, how can we tell the difference? How do we separate the wheat from the chaff, the divine from the demonic, in any given NDE account? Tabatt and I suggest several markers that should raise our level of concern.¹³

Marker 1: Teachings That Contradict Scripture

This is the most fundamental test. If an NDE produces theological content that contradicts the Bible, that content is not from God — regardless of how the experience felt. This includes: reincarnation, pantheism ("you are God"), the claim that all religions are equally valid, the irrelevance of Christ, and the denial of judgment. God does not contradict Himself. If an NDE message conflicts with what God has already revealed in His written Word, the message is not from Him.

Paul was absolutely clear about this: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8, ESV). Notice the force of Paul's statement. Even if an angel — a radiant being of light — delivers a message that contradicts the gospel, that angel is to be rejected. Paul is saying that the content of the message matters more than the impressiveness of the messenger. A being of dazzling light can deliver a false message. The test is not how the messenger looked but what the messenger said.

Marker 2: Vague or Evasive Divine Beings

Tabatt raises an important concern about NDE accounts in which the being encountered by the experiencer is vague and nondescript. He writes that he is always concerned about accounts where beings — especially those that the experiencer believes to be God — are vague and undefined. If the being claiming to be God in the experience is not readily identifying itself, Tabatt finds that suspect.¹⁴

This is a shrewd observation. The God of the Bible is not vague about who He is. He revealed His name to Moses — "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14, ESV). He revealed Himself definitively in Jesus Christ. He identifies Himself clearly. When NDErs encounter a being of light who identifies Himself as Jesus, and whose character matches the biblical description of Christ — loving, holy, truthful, merciful, just — we have good reason to take that identification seriously. But when the being is merely a shapeless blob of light, an impersonal force, or a vague "presence" that refuses to identify itself, we should exercise greater caution.

As Tabatt notes, this is in stark contrast to the many NDE accounts where God reveals Himself specifically as God the Father, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. The God of the Bible constantly goes out of His way to reveal Himself to humanity. A being that hides its identity does not match the character of the God we see in Scripture.¹⁵

Marker 3: Promotion of Occult Practices

When an NDE leads the experiencer into occult territory — communication with the dead through mediums, development of psychic powers, astral travel, reliance on spirit guides — this is a serious red flag. The Bible explicitly prohibits these practices (Deuteronomy 18:10–12; Leviticus 19:31). We will explore these dangers in detail in Chapter 28. For now, the point is simple: if the fruit of an NDE is involvement in practices that God has forbidden, the source of that NDE — or at least the source of that particular element — is not God.

Marker 4: Pride and Self-Exaltation

When an NDEr returns believing they have been given special authority, secret knowledge, or prophetic status that elevates them above ordinary believers, this is cause for concern. The fruit of a genuine encounter with God is typically humility, not pride. Isaiah encountered the holiness of God and responded: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5, ESV). Paul, who had a genuine vision of the "third heaven," was given "a thorn in the flesh" specifically to prevent him from becoming conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7). When an NDE produces pride, self-importance, and a sense of spiritual superiority, we should ask whether the source of the experience — or the interpretation of it — has been corrupted.

Marker 5: Confusion and Instability Rather Than Peace and Clarity

Paul reminds us that "God is not a God of confusion but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:33, ESV). When an NDE leaves the experiencer confused, spiritually unstable, anxious, or unable to integrate the experience into a coherent worldview, something may be wrong. Genuine divine encounters in the Bible produce awe and sometimes fear, but they also produce clarity, direction, and peace. If an NDE produces long-term confusion and spiritual instability, we should consider the possibility that not all elements of the experience were from God.

The Biblical Basis for Discernment

The Bible does not leave us without tools for navigating these waters. Scripture provides clear, specific guidance for evaluating spiritual experiences — and this guidance applies directly to NDEs.

1 John 4:1 — "Test the Spirits"

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1, ESV).

The command to "test" — the Greek word is dokimazō (δοκιμάζω), which means to examine, to prove, to discern — is not a suggestion. It is an imperative. John is commanding believers to evaluate spiritual experiences and spiritual claims. The reason? "Many false prophets have gone out into the world." Not every spiritual experience is from God. Not every being of light is Jesus. Not every message of love is divine. We must test.

How do we test? John answers in the very next verse: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:2–3, ESV). The test centers on Jesus — specifically, on a proper confession of who Jesus is. Spirits that acknowledge the incarnation of Christ — that Jesus is the divine Son of God who took on human flesh — are from God. Spirits that evade, deny, or minimize Jesus are not from God.¹⁶

2 Corinthians 11:14 — "Satan Disguises Himself as an Angel of Light"

"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14–15, ESV).

This passage, which is "owned" by Chapter 25, is among the most important in Scripture for our discussion. Paul is warning the Corinthian believers that not every impressive spiritual experience is from God. Satan has the ability to appear as light. His demons have the ability to appear as ministers of righteousness. An experience of brilliant light and overwhelming love is therefore not, by itself, proof of divine origin. The test must go deeper — to the content, the message, the fruit, and the ultimate direction of the experience.¹⁷

John Burke, in Imagine Heaven, addresses this concern directly. He acknowledges that yes, it is possible for the Being of Light that people think is God or Jesus to actually be a deceptive fallen angel. He adds an important counterpoint, however: if all NDEs were satanic deceptions, then Satan is doing a remarkably poor job of misrepresenting God. The Being of Light encountered in most NDEs reflects the description of God revealed by the prophets and Jesus — overwhelmingly loving, holy, truthful, personally engaged. Additionally, God would be allowing little children and committed Christians, including pastors, to be systematically deceived. Burke's conclusion: we should check all claims against Scripture and, as Jesus said, look at the fruit the experience produces in a person's life.¹⁸

Galatians 1:8 — The Angel Test

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8, ESV).

This passage, also assigned to Chapter 25, provides a devastatingly simple test. Even an angel — even a being of radiant heavenly light — must be evaluated by the content of its message. If the message contradicts the gospel of Jesus Christ, the messenger is to be rejected, regardless of how glorious, beautiful, or loving the messenger appeared. This principle applies directly to NDEs. A being of light that communicates a message contradicting Scripture is not from God, no matter how wonderful the experience felt.

Sabom's Theological Analysis: NDEs, Angels, and the Head

Michael Sabom, a cardiologist and committed Christian who served as an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, brings a unique combination of medical expertise and theological reflection to the question of discernment. In Light and Death, Sabom recognizes that the spiritual content of NDEs — the encounters with beings of light, the feelings of peace and love — is consistent with what he calls "the general revelation of God." But he also issues a stern warning from the apostle Paul:

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. (Colossians 2:18–19, NASB)

Sabom's point is powerful. The "prize" Paul mentions is not a successful resuscitation or return to physical life — it is eternal life in the presence of God. And this prize is not received through the worship of angels, no matter how appealing they may appear, or from taking a stand on a vision experienced during the waning moments of life. The prize is received by holding fast to the Head — and that Head is the historical Jesus, the One who proclaimed Himself to be the Christ, the Son of God.¹⁹

Sabom also makes the important observation that the accuracy of out-of-body perceptions during an NDE — while scientifically significant — is not, by itself, a complete diagnostic of divine origin. Citing Deuteronomy 13:1–3, he notes that even true "signs and wonders" can be used by Satan to accomplish his goals. The spiritual message, along with the scientific accuracy, of the near-death experience must be considered.²⁰

This is a crucial insight from a careful Christian thinker. We cannot evaluate NDEs on the basis of their accuracy alone. Accurate out-of-body perceptions prove that the experience was real — that consciousness was genuinely functioning outside the body. But they do not prove that every element of the experience was from God. A real experience can contain both divine and demonic elements. Accuracy validates the experience; it does not automatically validate the theology.

NDEs with "Bad Theology": Case Studies in Subtle Deception

Tabatt provides several specific examples of NDEs that contain what I would call "bad theology" — theological content that is incompatible with a biblical worldview. Examining these cases helps us see how subtle demonic influence actually works in practice.²¹

Case 1: Bristol O. — Reincarnation and an Impersonal Being

Bristol O. experienced an NDE due to severe blood loss from a ruptured ovarian cyst. During her experience, she was approached by what she described as an "incorporeal being" with no recognizable form. The being communicated to her about a system of "incarnation cycles" in which souls wait in stasis between lives, are placed in a queue for reanimation based on the quality of their previous lives, and can be "wedded" to new bodies when new consciousness begins.²²

There are two serious red flags in this account. First, the being is vague and nondescript — it has no recognizable form, and it does not identify itself. As Tabatt observes, this is suspicious. The God of the Bible reveals Himself clearly. A being that remains undefined and impersonal does not match the character of the God described in Scripture. Second, the theological content — reincarnation — directly contradicts the biblical teaching that each person lives once and then faces judgment (Hebrews 9:27). This NDE may have been a real spiritual experience. But the theology it communicated bears the marks of deception.

Case 2: Anne W. — Pantheism and Self-Deification

Anne W. experienced an NDE during an apparent heart attack. During her experience, she described being shown "the expansiveness of the universe" and feeling that she was "the UNIVERSE in expression." She reported feeling "omnipresent" and "omniscient" and knowing that she was "connected to everyone and everything" with "absolutely no separation."²³

Tabatt notes that the language in this experience leans into pantheism — the belief that God is everything and everything is God — and that claiming to be omnipresent and omniscient crosses into attributing qualities to oneself that belong exclusively to God. While many NDErs describe a profound sense of interconnectedness, there is a crucial difference between feeling deeply connected to all of creation (which could be a genuine glimpse of the unity of God's creation) and concluding that you are God, that there is no distinction between Creator and creature. The latter is a theological claim that contradicts the most basic teaching of the Bible: that God is the Creator and we are His creatures (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 45:5–7).

Case 3: Eben Alexander — A Cautionary Example

Eben Alexander's bestselling book Proof of Heaven has been enormously influential. Alexander, a neurosurgeon who experienced an NDE during a severe case of bacterial meningitis, describes an elaborate journey through multiple realms of existence. His account contains beautiful descriptions of light, love, and divine presence. But it also contains theological claims that have concerned careful Christian evaluators.

As one reviewer noted, Alexander's account, despite its use of some biblical language about God as Creator, about divine love, heaven, and angels, does not align with the teaching of the Bible at several crucial points. Much of what Alexander writes is beautiful, stirring, and appealing — but such descriptions may characterize deception as well as truth, as the Genesis 3 story of the original deception in Eden so clearly illustrates.²⁴ Open theologian Greg Boyd similarly identified significant concerns with Alexander's theological conclusions, noting that they departed from Christian orthodoxy at several points.²⁵

The Alexander case illustrates why discernment is so important. A brilliant, credentialed author can have a genuine NDE and yet produce theological conclusions that are problematic. The experience may have been real. The theological framework through which Alexander interpreted the experience may have been inadequate — or corrupted. This is precisely the kind of case where the experience-versus-interpretation distinction (which we will develop fully in Chapter 26) is essential.

What Is at Stake: Eternal Consequences

Someone might ask: Does it really matter? If someone has a comforting NDE and comes back feeling at peace, even if some of the theology is a bit off, is that really a big deal?

Yes. It is a very big deal. And Tabatt explains exactly why.²⁶

What is at stake is nothing less than people's eternal destiny. If an NDE gives a person the false impression that all religions are equally valid, that Jesus is merely one option among many, that there is no judgment, and that everyone goes to heaven regardless — then that person may never seek Jesus, never come to genuine saving faith, never experience the repentance and transformation that the gospel offers. The false comfort provided by a demonically influenced NDE could prevent a person from finding the true comfort that only Christ can provide.

The Bible is explicit: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6, ESV). "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV). If Satan can use a near-death experience to convince someone that Jesus is unnecessary, he has accomplished his goal. The person feels reassured. They have no sense of urgency. They see no need for Christ. And so they remain in spiritual danger while feeling perfectly safe.

This is why discernment is not optional. This is why I cannot simply say, "Enjoy the nice parts and ignore the rest." The nice parts may be the bait. The hook is hidden inside.

The Adjacent Doorways: How Satan Expands His Deception

Tabatt identifies another dimension of Satan's strategy that deserves brief mention here, as we will address each of these in detail in Chapter 28. Beyond injecting false theology into individual NDE accounts, Satan operates through what I would call "adjacent doorways" — topics and practices that are closely associated with the NDE world and that serve as entry points into deeper spiritual deception.

These adjacent doorways include: psychics and mediums who prey on grieving people desperate for contact with deceased loved ones; past-life and pre-life memory claims that introduce reincarnation into the NDE conversation; and alien encounter narratives that share structural similarities with NDEs but bear the marks of demonic deception. Tabatt points out the remarkable fact that there are numerous documented cases of alien abduction experiences abruptly ending when the abductee cries out the name of Jesus — strongly suggesting a spiritual rather than extraterrestrial origin.²⁷

All of these phenomena share potential demonic connections. Their presence in the NDE community serves several strategic purposes for the enemy: they discredit legitimate NDE research by association; they lead vulnerable seekers into spiritual bondage; and they distract from the genuine message God is communicating through NDEs — His reality, the afterlife, the importance of love, and the centrality of Jesus.

Paul's words in Ephesians capture the situation perfectly: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). The NDE world, like every area of human experience, is a battleground between God and the forces of darkness. Christians must be discerning warriors, not naive consumers.

Counterargument: "If Satan Is Behind NDEs, Why Does God Allow It?"

A fair objection should be addressed here. If some NDEs contain demonic elements, why does God allow it? Why doesn't He prevent Satan from corrupting these experiences?

This is actually a form of the ancient problem of evil — and the biblical answer is consistent with the broader Christian understanding of God's relationship to evil and suffering. God permits Satan to operate within limits, for reasons that include: testing and refining the faith of believers (as with Job), providing opportunities for humans to exercise discernment and grow in wisdom, and ultimately bringing a greater good out of evil.

The key insight is that God has not left us defenseless. He has given us His Word — the Bible — as an authoritative standard against which every spiritual experience can be measured. He has given us the Holy Spirit, who guides believers into truth (John 16:13). He has given us the church — a community of believers who can help evaluate spiritual claims. And He has given us clear commands to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), to evaluate messages against Scripture (Galatians 1:8), and to examine fruit (Matthew 7:15–20). God permits the deception but equips us to detect it.²⁸

Furthermore, as Burke insightfully argues, if all NDEs were truly satanic deceptions, Satan would be doing a remarkably poor job. The vast majority of NDE accounts point people toward God, toward love, toward moral transformation, toward the reality of Jesus Christ. If Satan's goal is to lead people away from God, he is failing spectacularly in most NDE cases. The more reasonable conclusion is that most NDEs are genuine — and that Satan is attempting to corrupt a minority of them, or to inject false elements into the margins of otherwise genuine experiences.²⁹

Counterargument: "This View Makes Christians Look Paranoid"

Another objection worth addressing: doesn't this talk of demonic hijacking make Christians look paranoid? Doesn't it make us seem like we are seeing demons behind every bush?

That is a legitimate concern, and it is precisely why balance is so important. I am not arguing that all NDEs are demonic. Far from it. As we have documented throughout this book, the vast majority of NDEs appear to be genuine spiritual experiences that are remarkably consistent with biblical teaching. The presence of Jesus in NDE reports, the compatibility of NDE content with mainstream biblical themes (as Miller has documented with 47 specific points of overlap), the positive spiritual fruit produced in the lives of most NDErs — all of this points to genuine divine activity, not demonic deception.³⁰

What I am arguing is that some NDEs — or some elements within otherwise genuine NDEs — bear the marks of demonic influence. And the Bible explicitly warns us that this is exactly what we should expect. Calling for discernment is not paranoia. It is obedience. The same Bible that tells us God is real and that heaven exists also tells us to "test the spirits" and to "be sober-minded" and "watchful." These are not the commands of a God who wants us to be paranoid. They are the commands of a God who loves us enough to warn us that we have an enemy — and who equips us to stand against that enemy's schemes.

Tabatt's 9-Point NDE Framework

Before concluding this chapter, I want to briefly introduce Tabatt's 9-point framework for understanding near-death experiences, which he developed over the course of his extensive work interviewing NDErs and studying their accounts. This framework categorizes the major elements that appear in NDE accounts and provides a vocabulary for precise analysis. When combined with the biblical discernment principles we have outlined above, it becomes a powerful tool for evaluating any NDE account.³¹

Tabatt also emphasizes an important distinction between near-death experiences — in which a person has clinically died — and prophetic dreams or visions of heaven and hell, which are a different category of experience. He suggests several criteria for evaluating prophetic visions: How does this measure up to what we read about heaven or hell in the Bible? How does this fit with accepted orthodox and historic Christian views? Are these accounts more appropriate for a personal journal rather than public dissemination? Does this content point people to Jesus or is it doing more to give the author fame and attention?³²

When it comes to weighing the relative authority of these different types of experiences, Tabatt leans more heavily toward near-death experiences where someone has actually clinically died as potentially more authoritative than many prophetic visions. But regardless of the type of experience, he insists that we must always weigh any extrabiblical teaching drawn from these experiences against the Bible and historic Christian orthodoxy. Scripture remains the final standard. No experience, no matter how dramatic or vivid, can override the authority of God's written Word.

The Middle Way: Neither Gullible nor Dismissive

As we close this chapter, I want to return to a quote from theologian Robertson McQuilkin that Miller shares in his important work on NDEs and Christianity: "It's easier to go to a consistent extreme, than to stay in the center of biblical tension."³³

McQuilkin's insight is profound. When it comes to NDEs, there are two easy extremes — and both are wrong.

The first extreme is naive acceptance. This is the position that uncritically embraces every NDE as 100 percent true and from God. If someone had a beautiful experience, it must be divine. If a being of light told them something, it must be accurate. If they felt overwhelming love, every theological conclusion they drew from that love must be correct. This position requires no discernment and no effort. It simply accepts everything. And it is dangerous, because it opens the door wide for demonic deception.

The second extreme is reflexive rejection. This is the position that dismisses all NDEs as either hallucinations produced by a dying brain or demonic deceptions designed to lead people astray. This position requires no engagement with the evidence and no wrestling with the data. It simply rejects everything. And it is dangerous too, because it closes the door on what may be a genuine work of God in our time — a work in which He is revealing Himself to millions of people, confirming the reality of the soul, the afterlife, and the centrality of Jesus Christ. We will address this position in detail in Chapter 31, where we respond to the claim that "all NDEs are demonic."

The biblical path — the middle way — is harder. It requires careful, case-by-case discernment. It requires testing each experience against the teachings of Scripture. It requires evaluating the fruit the experience produces in the person's life. It requires maintaining both openness to genuine divine activity and caution about potential deception. It requires thinking. It requires prayer. It requires humility.

But this is exactly what the Bible calls us to. "Test the spirits." "Evaluate the fruit." "Compare the message to Scripture." The Bible does not say "accept everything" or "reject everything." It says "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV).

In the chapters that follow, we will continue to develop the tools for this discernment. Chapter 26 will explore the critical distinction between genuine experience and wrong interpretation. Chapter 27 will address the specific claim that all religions are equal. Chapter 28 will examine the dark fringes of the NDE world — psychics, mediums, and aliens. And Chapter 29 will synthesize everything into a comprehensive six-test biblical framework that any reader can use to evaluate any NDE or deathbed experience they encounter.

For now, the foundation has been laid. We know who the enemy is. We understand his strategy. We have identified the markers of his influence. And we know where to turn for truth: to the unchanging Word of God, tested by thousands of years of faithful interpretation, and confirmed — in its major themes — by the very NDE evidence we have been studying throughout this book.

The spiritual world is real. God is active. Satan is active. And we have been given everything we need to tell the difference.

Conclusion

Let me summarize the main findings of this chapter.

First, the Bible teaches clearly that the spiritual world contains both divine and demonic activity. God reveals Himself through many means, and I believe near-death experiences can be one of those means. But Satan is also at work, seeking to corrupt every channel of divine revelation.

Second, Satan's strategy has not changed since the Garden of Eden. He takes what God intends for good and twists it — subtly, cleverly, and effectively. With NDEs, he does not need to fabricate entirely fake experiences. He only needs to inject false elements into genuine ones. A mostly true NDE with a small percentage of demonic distortion can be more dangerous than a completely false one, because the truth builds credibility for the lie.

Third, demonic influence in NDEs can be either explicit (as in Bryan Melvin's counterfeit welcoming committee) or subtle (as in NDEs that produce false theology about reincarnation, pantheism, or the irrelevance of Christ). The subtle form is far more dangerous because it is harder to detect.

Fourth, the Bible provides clear markers for identifying demonic influence: teachings that contradict Scripture, vague or evasive divine beings, promotion of occult practices, pride and self-exaltation, and confusion rather than peace. These markers give us concrete tools for evaluating any NDE account.

Fifth, the Bible commands us to exercise discernment — not as an option but as an imperative. We are to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), evaluate messages against Scripture (Galatians 1:8), and examine the fruit produced in people's lives (Matthew 7:15–20).

Sixth, the biblical path is the middle way — neither naive acceptance of all NDEs nor reflexive rejection of all NDEs, but careful, case-by-case discernment guided by Scripture, informed by the evidence, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The God who meets us at the threshold of death is real, and He is active in these experiences. But so is the enemy. Our task is not to hide from the spiritual world in fear, nor to plunge into it without caution. Our task is to engage it wisely — with the Word of God as our lamp, the Spirit of God as our guide, and the people of God as our community of discernment. In the chapters ahead, we will build on this foundation with increasingly specific tools for that engagement.