I finished this book recently, another story of a young child who underwent a near-death-experience (NDE). Alex Malarkey was six when he was in a severe car accident with his father. The accident left him a quadriplegic, his life saved by heroic efforts from the medical team, and by prayer. Yes, this is another Christian miracle story, following on the heels of the four-year-old NDE experiencer I wrote about a few months ago.

While much of the book deals with efforts to save Alex’s life, the truly remarkable content comes from what Alex saw while in a coma, the places he visited, and the wisdom he received. While his body was immediately knocked unconscious in the accident, he has clear memories of what happened inside the car to himself and his father. He sees human and heavenly interventions to save his father from serious injury, and to save his own life.

After emerging from his coma and learning to communicate he begins sharing bits and pieces of what he experienced while unconscious. The first time he talks about seeing angels in his room with his Dad and a friend present (they of course could not see these angels), Kevin, his father, admits that the presence of angels “. . . are not part of my [conservative evangelical] experience or background, but I can’t deny or ignore that they took place. . . . It may sound crazy, but it did happen. I’ll leave the explanations to the theologians.” (p 114)

Interspersed with commentary from Alex himself, Kevin details the years immediately following the accident, and the numerous miracles which followed. For myself it was the supernatural aspect that made the story riveting. “From the time of the accident, Alex says, the angels have graced our home. . . . Alex knew them all by name, and he would carry on conversations with them.” (p 166f)

Although the book is not preachy, it does get a little on the wearisome side when it goes to great lengths to tell about all the prayers, the church life of the Malarkey family and so on. I would offer one opinion: when Kevin says, “We all need to be on guard against counterfeit truth. Anything that doesn’t square with Scripture is counterfeit. Alex’s angels never operate outside the parameters we find in Scripture–the measure of authenticity,” I have to fall back on all the material I have read on NDE’s and other spiritual phenomena.

The Spirit world always comes to us in ways we can relate to, in ways we are comfortable with, within our own frame-of-reference. So I can accept that in a churchy family like the Malarkeys the Divine would appear in ways they can understand. Not everyone experiences the heavenly realm in the same way, because we all come with our own background experiences. No one way is normative for everyone else. With that qualification I quite enjoyed the story. It is incredible, really. The healing that occurred, the medical measures that were taken, successfully, the tremendous outpouring of support to the family and to Alex during his recovery process, all are a very uplifting. Alex, through his accident, recovery and sharing of his heavenly experiences, has impacted a huge number of people. “God has touched so many lives and brought so much good out of Alex’s pilgrimage that I know God is not only directing His plan, but He is also directing the timing of His plan. That’s where our confident hope rests.” (p 209)

I recommend this book to anyone, but especially Christians and those comfortable with Christian-talk!

Watched this movie last evening. What a story. It follows a couple who is one of the one-percenters, the extremely wealthy of the U.S. David and Jackie Siegel were billionaires, he having made his fortune on developing and selling time-shares. They were in the process of building the largest house in the U.S., a 90,000 square feet monstrosity in Florida. Since they had basically unlimited wealth, there were no limits. Anything either of them wanted in this house, or could think of, went in. The basic structure was modelled after the French palace of Versailles, and they called their place “Versailles”; thus the name of the film. It seemed that the publicity of them building this house is what put them in the news, and probably into the sights of the documentary maker.

While Lauren Greenfield’s documentary mainly follows them around, filming their everyday life and high-flying lifestyle, there are a few telling moments. In one interview, David admits he basically is responsible for George W. Bush winning the 2000 election. “But I can’t go into detail because it is basically illegal what I did.” (Did any of us ever truly wonder about this? I did not find myself in the least bit surprised at his revelation.) He admits that after the Iraq war began he felt he had made a mistake in getting Bush into office. The doc shows some of the activities of his various business enterprises, the high-pressure tactics used to wheedle money out of the “moochers” (Siegel’s term) who would respond to an invitation for a free vacation in exchange for listening to a sales presentation. (Haven’t most of us attended one of these things?)

What really makes the documentary is the fact that after much filming of the Siegel family, the economic crash of 2008 occurred. The time-share business basically ceased to exist, and David began losing one part after another of his businesses. The viewer can watch him age in front of our eyes as his financial disaster unfolds. Their house becomes increasingly untidy and disorderly as they have to pare down from 19 personal staff to 4. Dog shit all over the place, misplaced car keys, nobody able to keep track of anything or anybody (they have 8 children!). I’m not sure I remember the number correctly, but the house they were living in while building the 90,000 palace was “only” about 26,000 square feet.

The film left me feeling incredibly sad. Both David and Jackie came from modest backgrounds. Their lives were the epitome of the American Dream. And they did not know how to handle either the extreme wealth, or the sudden downturn in fortune. They continued to dream, to believe that everything would eventually turn around, that their life could resume its former privileged status. But the viewer can easily see how totally out-of-touch they were with “normal” life, and also with each other and their family and friends. They were average people who happened to hit it rich, and it did not do them any good. Jackie commented toward the end of the doc that she could see herself being happy with a basic four-bedroom, $300,000 family home. But I could see that David could not. He was 74 years old as the film came to its end, and his whole life’s work was going up in smoke.

By the way, they were only about half-finished with Versailles, and the banks had forced them to put it on the market. But how large a clientele would there be for a 90,000 square foot house, priced at $75,000,000? It had not sold, and David, sounding very depressed, said he hoped they could hang onto it. “I would like to finish it.”

The Calgary Herald review aptly called this film, “An enlightened, open and entirely unbiased view of obscene indulgence, . . . a thoughtful and somewhat humane post-mortem of the American dream.” I couldn’t agree more!

Watched a video this evening which really blew my socks off! The Way, starring Martin Sheen, is about a father searching for his son, who has died at the beginning of his pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago. El Camino, The Way, is an ancient pilgrimage through the French and Spanish Pyrenees Mountains. Often known in English as The Way of St James, church tradition maintains that St James (one of the twelve disciples of Jesus) is buried in Santiago de Compostela.

People take the pilgrimage for many reasons. In medieval times it was usually for religious reasons, to honour the memory of St James. Today people do it for personal reasons, for physical reasons, spiritual, psychological, recreational, and so on. The scenery is stunning, people are gracious along the way; it is fun to watch travellers on The Way and the many experiences they have.

In the movie, Thomas Avery, an orthodontist from California, receives word that his son has died on this trek. He goes to retrieve his son’s remains from France, and while there decides to walk The Way himself, in honour and memory of Daniel. As happens to many who undertake such a pilgrimage, he goes through many changes, within himself, and in his life. He meets others on the road, and gradually a group of four fall into the pattern of travelling together, slowly learning to know each other, despite the solitary nature of each of them and their reasons for undertaking The Way.

The movie, such a departure from typical Hollywood fare, shows the gradual healing process experienced by Thomas and his fellow travellers. Without going over the top, it shows each of them as very average, common people, with all their foibles, fears, secrets and goals. It really does a great job of telling this story, simply, and with a good sense of place and pace. It makes me want to walk El Camino myself!

This novel, written by Chase Brandon, a former CIA operative, is a conspiracy thriller. As such, it does a great job of keeping the reader in suspense.

There are a lot of components included in the story which I wonder about. Sure, we have all heard of underground bunkers to keep the President and other government officials safe in the event of a national crisis. But underground train links between Washington D. C. and New York? Does the sculpture outside the CIA headquarters contain a cryptic code message? I suspect there is truth to these things; I wonder about the detail. How much literary licence did he use?

Written by a former CIA guy lends an air of credibility to the story, which covers a sweep of history from the entire 20th century up till about 2055. It deals with secrecy around UFO’s and contact with ET’s. The words in the title are names of certain projects undertaken to safeguard the U.S. Ultra-top-secret files open to very few contain information crucial to the future of the country and the planet. But as conspiracy theorists have long surmised, this information is kept secret in the belief that open dissemination would lead to panic and social collapse.

There are elements of the supernatural included in this story. The main character seems to be specially chosen by spiritual forces to bring about certain policies and projects ensuring the survival of the human race. The story includes brief glimpses into the spiritual dimension as heavenly beings oversee this planet and its inhabitants. There is spiritual warfare involved, as two ET races conflict and collide with each other. But the story centers mostly on U.S. power brokers, a select few knowing what is really going on, with the rest just doing the best they can with their limited information.

One aspect of the story I really appreciated is that it portrays these heavenly forces, at least the “good” ones, as attempting to support and foster the nobility of the human race. That seems to be their objective. When humans reach out to each other in compassion and brotherhood, this is what they look for and encourage.

But the overall portrayal of our future is rather bleak. I am sure it is realistic from the author’s perspective. And being who he is, he should know. I find myself not totally agreeing with his perspective, being considerably more hopeful and optimistic than he sounds in his book. But it is certainly worth a read. It is a spell-binding tale, well-written. I found it difficult to put down at times.

The Source, God, is completely gracious, wise and accepting. When we experience the after-life, the Spirit dimension, we experience it in a way which is accessible for us, understandable and comfortable. This delightful little book is about a delightful little boy who had a near-death experience. He experienced heaven in a way completely consistent with being four years old.

He also has been raised in a Church/Christian environment, so his experience was entirely consistent with this milieu. His father is a pastor in a small, western-Nebraska town.

Colton Burpo, approaching his fourth birthday, complained of a stomach ache. Several recurrences of this stomach ache, a couple trips to the doctor, finally resulted in emergency surgery for a burst appendix. Although Colton was extremely sick and the parents realized they almost lost him, there was no indication of him actually clinically dying.

Thus, a few months later, the parents were caught completely by surprise when Colton began talking about his experience of angels, Jesus, and heaven. While aware of the phenomenon of near-death experiences, here in their own four-year-old son it was difficult to accept. Details emerged over a period of months and years following, as occasionally Colton would come up with statements which would catch his parents off-guard.

At one point Todd, Colton’s father, wanting to ascertain the validity of his son’s experience, asked him about going to heaven. “You said you went to heaven. People have to die to go to heaven.” Colton’s gaze didn’t waver. “Well, okay then. I died. But just for a little bit.” (p 79) After mulling this over the father, “. . . realized that Colton, in telling me he had died ‘for a little bit,’ had only been trying to match up his pastor-dad’s assertion with what he knew to be the facts of his own experience.” (p 80)

Colton had many experiences in heaven. He met John the Baptist (“. . . he was really nice.” p 63), saw Jesus’ horse, many angels, had to do homework, saw Jesus’ markers (stigmata), and much more. Again, Todd wanted to put things into perspective. “‘Colton, you said you were in heaven and you did all these things . . .  a lot of things. How long were you gone?’ My little boy looked me right in the eye and didn’t hesitate. ‘Three minutes,’ he said. Then he hopped down from the chair and skipped off to play.” (p 76) Todd had to realize that in heaven time is very different than we experience on earth.

I could go on and on. This book is full of delightful stories. It is so refreshing to hear deep spiritual things from a child’s perspective. I recommend this read to anyone, but especially Christians. Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, by Todd Burpo.

This book is the story of a young teen. BJ, as he was called, was a very unusual kid. Small for his age, he managed to capture the hearts of everyone around him. Attention gravitated to him like a magnet; he influenced large numbers of people in his short life. At age 14 he got himself invited as an underage participant on a church mission trip to Peru, returning there the next summer as well. That second summer he contracted a severe infection (posthumously diagnosed as bubonic plague) and by the end of September he died.

The book, written by his parents, Brent & Deanna Higgins, includes many writings from BJ’s journals and communications with friends. They demonstrate an unswerving devotion to God and saving others. His intense single-mindedness certainly attracted a lot of people.

The biggest problem with the book is that it is written exclusively for a Church audience. I doubt many non-Church people would be able to wade through the churchy language and pious mindset of the story. And from what I read, this goes directly against the aim and purpose of BJ’s life. His own sense of mission was to the “lost”, that is, to those who are outside the Church. But not many of his target audience will be tempted to read this book.

I can accept the blind devotion to Church teaching from one so young. He had yet to grow into the maturity where he would be able to realize that God is so much larger than mere Church theology. My criticism is to his parents and those around him, who obviously felt they could not write this story without the pious language. This book, the story of their exceptional son’s short life, could have had so much more impact if written with a larger audience in view.

Entangled: The Eater of Souls, by Graham Hancock, Disinformation, 2010. This author, who has written a number of bestselling books investigating historical mysteries, here turns his knowledge and skills to fiction. In a gripping novel of travel in the Spirit realm, time travelling, good and evil, Hancock tells a story of two young women, still in their teens, who become “entangled”, their destinies entwined over millennia in an effort to defeat an evil entity. Ria, about 24,000 years ago, and Leoni, in today’s world, slowly find themselves drawn into scenes of desperation, threat, danger and adventure. Both discover within themselves unsuspected strength and destiny. As they begin to believe in themselves and their calling they find themselves caught up in a life-and-death struggle.

Fairly well written, the story is extremely entertaining. It reveals a world becoming more real to me all the time, a world of Spirit travel, intervention, a world of beings who care for us, help us realize our destinies, a world where there is a struggle going on much beyond the mundanity of everyday life. While there may not always be complete agreement with everything I have learned thus far about the Spirit world, the author makes very good use of his life’s research in weaving an intriguing tale. It is well worth the read.

A Spiritual Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe: Travel Tips for the Spiritually Perplexed, by Paul Rademacher, Hampton Roads, 2009.

What a delightful book this turned out to be! And how synchronous that it came my way when it did. This book, in my hands, could not have been better timed!

It relates the author’s tale as he struggles with growing spiritual awareness amidst a typically mundane life. During the first stage of his journey, Rademacher moved from being a construction contractor to seminary and into church ministry. As Spirit continued to call him deeper and deeper, his spiritual questing took him into areas he knew would not be acceptable to his conservative Presbyterian congregations.

He found ways to weave some of this new learning into his ministry. But at each step of the way, he continually felt called deeper and deeper into the Spirit realm. He would just begin feeling comfortable with a certain new level of spirituality, when lo and behold, he would be shown yet another level! And he realized that each step took him closer and closer to trouble in his career.

But, as with so many of us, the realities of life kept him bound to his job in order to meet family obligations. Three growing children always had more and more pursuits costing the parents money, time and energy. How could he leave a job which was increasingly deadening in order to pursue something as fleeting and unsubstantial as the Spirit world? The person of Paul Rademacher, and his family, seems so very ordinary that it is with great delight that the reader discovers how a very ordinary person, in a very ordinary lifestyle, can be reached by Spirit and drawn out of the ordinary and natural into the extraordinary.

With refreshing style and honesty Paul Rademacher unveils the road he had to walk in order to find fulfillment. He reveals to us his growing awareness of the heavenly Father’s love and care for each and every one of us. Sometimes the lessons were painful; other times the intersections on the journey were a delight to discover. But at each stage of the journey Paul shows us how he learned to take the next step on the next leg of his journey.

While I myself am not compromised in my job by my own spiritual journey, I find myself increasingly at odds with old friends and with family who may not understand how the Source of all is leading me on my path. I encourage each of you readers, whether you have casual questions, or deep criticisms, of the way I am going, please keep talking! Do not turn your heads in silent judgement and slowly shuffle me out of your life. Read this book; ask me questions; tell me your own thoughts and opinions; keep the dialogue open. This journey is often as perplexing to us who push the boundaries as it is to you who watch us with dismay!

Keep tuned!

This little book, Whispers from the Other Shore: A Spiritual Search – East and West, by Ravi Ravindra, came my way at exactly the right time. (Of course, is there any other way?!!!) Published in 1984 by the Theosophical Society in America, it has been around a long time, but had never come to my attention till now. I probably would not have paid it much heed if it had come my way much earlier!

The author, born in India, came to Canada to study, and subsequently taught at Canadian Universities. He has a wonderful perspective, having lived in both eastern and western cultures. Some of the book is devoted to comparing and contrasting the separate traditions, but the most delightful parts of this little book (115 pages) is the wisdom gleaned from both.

A representative quote:

What are we–we who are drawn by divinity and held down by our selfish concerns, we who hear the call from the other shore and betray it? The movement from this shore to the other is the spiritual pilgrimage. Our life touches both the shores, but out of ignorance and fear we cling to this shore which we imagine we know and where we feel secure and in control. We do not know what will become of us and what we might do if we let go of our usual worldly props. Lest we make fools of ourselves, we choose to stay in the familiar prison of our little egos, trying to strike bargains with the unknown, using coins of piety, good works, and learning. However, in spite of our great need for certainty, there just cannot be any guarantee of what will be revealed when we open ourselves and become vulnerable. (p18)

That closely represents where I am in my own spiritual pilgrimage. I am in that place of trying to let go of the known, and take the risk of making a fool of myself by letting go and opening myself to spirit and becoming vulnerable. “Spiritual life is not ultimately a matter of belief in something, although this may be relevant to it at some stage of development. It is a matter of living–searching, struggling, overcoming.” (p22). My own religious background has been important to me for most of my life. Now I find myself moving away from earlier beliefs into new, exciting, yet unknown places.

This book came my way at just the right time in my own process. Thank you Spirit, for sending it my way!!!