Read Nine Days in Heaven: A True Story for Free Online Page B

first they came one at a time, but then they all combined and took on my own character. I was facing myself! To escape them was to run from myself. To annihilate them would have blotted out my own existence.
    I was stunned as the words of the Savior echoed through my mind, “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” 4
    I reeled back in turmoil, longing to escape and return to my body, but another scene appeared before me—the most terrible scene of all. It was a clear and dramatic vision of my crucified Redeemer. As it appeared, all the misconceptions I’d ever had about Jesus passed before my mind in the form of pictures.
    In one picture I saw those thoughts in which I had viewed Jesus as only a man. In another were my beliefs about the “doctrine” of special forgiveness for a limited number of people who were “chosen.” 5 Along with this I saw the tears I had once shed when I believed I was doomed to an endless punishment because I thought this had been predestined for me.
    Then in another picture was the idea I had once entertained that eternal salvation would be given out freely to everybody—without any need for moral change and without a personal and loving faith in the Savior’s death for our sins. And in still another I saw my ideas about obtaining salvation simply through living a good life. 6
    These separate pictures blended into one spinning mass around me. In it were ten thousand confused images of everything I had ever learned or imagined about Christ, heaven, hell, religion, or eternal life. All my ideas of the Redeemer were related to one another, yet they conflicted in so many ways. I was completely bewildered by it all.
    I saw in each image a distorted view of the Savior. But none of them, either singly or together, showed Him as He really is. None of them showed His divine glory, His honor, His majesty, His perfection. None of them demonstrated His exalting and redeeming power. I, Marietta Davis, was simply not able to see Him in His true character, as Prince and Savior.
    Totally overwhelmed, I was ready to give up all hope of ever escaping that place. I concluded this warped view of the Savior would be my last—a sight that would fill my cup of woe to the brim. I had already drunk from it, and it would last me for all eternity. But then I saw Him—suddenly, unexpectedly—in the midst of a cloud, stretching His arms toward me. He spoke with a voice of love, inviting me, even as burdened and as faulty as I was, “Come to Me.” 7
    What a contrast it was! That glorious Being, surrounded by radiance as bright as the sun and circled by a revolving halo of light. I could clearly see His relationship to the universe of light where the angels live. I could also see the awful disparity between my own corrupt nature and that wonderful place of light and life, harmony and love. So I saw Him, the Holy One. Him in the brightness of His glory, the one I had rejected so many times in my madness, in my foolishness, in my skepticism.
    I gazed at Him and realized how desperately I wanted to break away from the tormenting mental forces that surrounded me. I wanted to go to paradise and live there in its beauty, peace, and joy. But there was such a gulf between that holy place and my impure, fallen mind that I could not do it, and all my doubts overwhelmed me once again.
    Support From
the Word of God

    1. “ …my whole life flashed before me… ”
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

—M ATTHEW 12:36

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

—R OMANS 14:12

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

—H EBREWS 4:13

    2. Compare the reaction of the rich man in Luke 16:19–31.
    3. “ …you had your chance. ” Hebrews 9:27 tells us, “…man is