Chapter Eight

CHAPTER  EIGHT

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Why Keep Him Hidden?

When a person nearly dies, there is no change.  When a person dies, everything changes. 
Dr. House, FOX Network

On December 27 I was about to call my middle brother, Tom, to wish him a happy birthday, when the phone rang scaring me, because I was so close to it.  After I stopped shaking, I quickly answered it.  My oldest brother, Joe, was on the line with the sad news that our Grandmother had just passed away at age 109.

So much can happen in an instance of time.  On the news they may even use just one word to summarize some people’s lifetime, e.g. “He was Nixon’s Ambassador to Denmark.” 

Where should our souls be anchored in order to make it safely through the diversities provided to us by life?  I hope by the time we complete this book the answer will be obvious, the reason will be logical, and doing so will be as simple as it is intended to be.

The above news about grandmother caused many changes in our planned activities for the next two weeks.  The mayhem that accompanies travel probably is the reason I did not encounter this news clip:

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“Australia’s richest man, Kerry Packer, dies”

“By Michael Perry”

“Dec 27, 2005, 12:13”

“SYDNEY (Reuters) – …In 1990 Packer suffered a heart attack while playing polo in Sydney and was clinically dead for eight minutes until emergency medical officers revived him by electric shock treatment.

“ ‘The good news is there’s no devil.  The bad news is there’s no heaven.  There’s nothing,’ Packer said after the incident.…

“Packer, who controlled PBL, one of the country’s major media groups, died in his sleep overnight, local media reported on December 27, 2005.  Packer was 68.”

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We all read about it in the newspaper, heard about it on the radio, or the television, that is everyone else but me.

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While most people are indeed changed radically toward a positive, more  responsible world view from the NDE they had, Packer was not.  From his conclusion of “There’s nothing [nobody but himself out there  –jce.]” was how he derived that he was not obliged to be accountable to God or anyone else for the way he treated people.  His NDE, through his interpretation, gave him permission to treat people as he wanted.  His interpretation was, that there was no God to report to at the end of life, so he would do as he wants.

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