"Feed the Pig"

The other night I read an article that spooked me, but ultimately reaffirmed my confidence in my God.

I was scrolling through Facebook giggling at memes and animal videos, when I saw an article titled something like, “I died and didn’t experience heaven or hell, it was much worse.” I was interested to see what they would write and if it was something that brought them faith in God or if it was something completely different. I didn’t look into it to see if this was a fictional story or if this person really did go through this near-death experience or not... rather I took it at its surface- an article written recounting this person’s experience.

Very long story short, this man wrote out a horrific story of what he experienced when he attempted suicide. We’ve all heard the stories of people being clinically dead, then revived, and then telling the world what they saw. But this man’s was… different. When reading the article you find that since he tried to kill himself it made a difference in his experience. It wasn’t the typical bright light or a dark cold feeling like we hear from people, rather it was a torturous, terrifying, disgusting, and eye opening experience that to him felt like it lasted hours if not a day or so.

The author of the article explains that when he experienced this near death moment, he appeared in this... middle ground… place where people who commit suicide are sent. In this place, there was a man who seemed to be the second in command, giving the author answers to his questions, and laying out the conditions of this place. The man explained that this place was horrible, but it “wasn’t Hell” and the author had only two choices from here on out. The choices were to stay in the terrifying and disgusting place he had appeared in, for eternity, and try to fend for himself, or ‘feed the pig.’ He, not knowing what that meant or what the “pig” was, decided that feeding the pig seemed better than staying in that place forever (I’ll spare you the awful details of what he saw). The conditions of feeding the pig were that if the pig saw fit, he would save your life and you would have a second chance to live, but if he did not like you, you would be sent to Hell, which was said to be not much worse than the current place he was in.

I’ll admit through the first few paragraphs before the pig was introduced I had quick thoughts of... “Would this type of middle ground actually happen if someone wasn’t fully completely clinically dead?! Would God use this type of experience as a way to show a person their need for Him?... Is it real, or just part of our imaginations?”

I quickly learned the answer to my questions.

When the man in charge of the author was telling him about the place he appeared in he said certain things that were instant red flags. This is when I knew this was not a real place nor could it be. The man in charge described the place as ... ‘somewhere that God created to send the people who committed suicide that He wasn’t sure if He would send to heaven or hell, after all there are many good people who commit suicide, do they deserve hell?’ And that as ‘time went on God forgot about it and since then there have been power struggles in this place, and the only one that can save you and give you a second chance at life, or send you to Hell is the pig.’

AS SOON AS I READ it was a place ‘God created and sent people that He wasn’t sure He should send to Hell or allow into heaven’ I knew this was not a real place. My tiny flicker of “hmm I wonder...” was stomped out instantly. I was even further convinced when the author said that the man in charge said that God had forgotten about this place. After reading that line I thought to myself, “okay now that my silly doubting moment is over I can read this as entertainment rather than taking it as reality.” Also, God would never give someone an insane experience like that and bad mouth His own character- that would be so counterintuitive. From here on out I viewed this man’s experience as some sort of subconscious-survival based experience that the brain created (almost like a nightmare of sorts) when he attempted to end his life… not something that he literally experienced.

So. why did those lines convince me so quickly that this place isn’t real?

Because…

God isn’t “unsure” about anything.

He doesn’t “forget” anything.

And He certainly wouldn’t let anyone, let alone a giant pig (yes the “pig” was a legitimate giant pig- not metaphor of any kind) decide whether people go back to living or go to Hell.

God is the final Judge and He is the only one with that power.

I believe that what God has taught us about Himself is true- that He is all-powerful, all knowing, and ever present. He is the most powerful and He will never be beaten- He is the one and only God. So, since I sincerely believe this, it was extremely easy for me to see the faults in this ‘middle ground’ for people that commit suicide.

So what do we make of this man’s experience. I think we should learn from it- as he did. He learned to appreciate life, push through fear, push through hard times, and live as a better person.

BUT we must be diligent in looking for Christ in this, and things of the like. NOT only the superficial “live better” lessons.

If I were not a follower of Christ, I know I would easily be scared straight by this article. I would be thinking, “Oh no, what if this place is real, and what if there’s more places like this for all types of death? Will I be ok?!” and I would live in fear and guilt. We must guard ourselves with the truth of Christ so that these types of seeds of lies will not affect our faith in Him.

The Bible teaches us that when we die we are going straight to God for judgment. If we have accepted Christ as our savior and lived in obedience to Him, we are accepted. If not, we are sent to Hell. There’s not Purgatory, there’s no negotiation, there’s no second chance. (I’ve had conversations about issues like what happens to people that die and had never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel… To be honest, I don’t have a perfect answer on that… I do not know. But this is something I want to learn more about from Scripture. For the sake of this post, I’m talking about people who have indeed heard the Gospel and have accepted or rejected it).

It’s important for us to deal with our life after death while we are still alive- when we die, we face God about how our souls were when we were alive.

It took me a little to figure out what to make of this man’s experience. Do we discredit it? Can we say it was an experience God put in his mind? I’m praying that he finds Jesus through this, but what I’ve come to believe is that God did not orchestrate this experience rather it was by Satan- which you’ll understand why I’ve come to this decision in a few lines & in the next paragraph. I believe that this experience happened in his subconscious when his body was fighting to live when he tried to commit suicide. And as I said earlier, I don’t believe God would have created this experience in this man’s mind seeing that it completely discredits God’s character- there would be no point for Him to create this experience, and preach lies to this man!

I read further on these types of experiences… and from a Christian website that touched on the “near death experiences” I learned an extremely important aspect that relates to the above issue. The Bible teaches that Satan is the great deceiver and that he also comes as an angel of light- meaning that we find it easy to trust his tricks because they seem good for us and worth it! Do you really think any of us would follow Satan if he tried to entice us with straight up pain and suffering? Of course not. Not only that, but as I said, the experience contradicted God’s character… so while it appeared to be God reaching out to this man to change his life, there was no pointing to Jesus Christ as the way to save his life… it was ALL about how the author could save his own life- completely a Satanic teaching that drives people away from God.

The important warning about Satan & these types of experiences is explained in the following quotes…

“Let’s also remember that Satan is the great deceiver. He can create scenes that seem to be scenes of heaven but are actually creations born in hell. Some near-death experiences are demonic in nature. You should never base your hope of heaven—or the hope of seeing a loved one in heaven—on a supposed vision or revelation. The only reliable ground given to us is the eternal, unchanging Word of God.”

“However, a close inspection shows that most of those books [about near death experiences] embrace unbiblical heresy, either the notion that we are saved by doing good works or the idea that everyone is going to heaven in the end...”

So in summary-

In these near death experiences that we hear of, and specifically this “feed the pig” one, most of the lessons learned and taught from them are to, “not mess up your second chance at life and be a better person, do good, etc.”

Do not be deceived. Just because you do nice things, just because you try hard to be a good person, just because you give to the poor and donate your time to community service, and just because you go to church DOES NOT mean you’re saved. These near death experiences are useless if they do not point the person who experienced it or those who hear their story to Jesus.

Good works will not gain you heaven. The Bible is clear. It is by faith in Christ alone.

Please do not be persuaded by these stories that “just being a better person and appreciating life more” is the most important lesson in life.

It should always be about Jesus because HE is the one and only way to Heaven. Only by faith and obedience to Him will we enter Heaven’s gates.

Finally, one of the best things that came from reading the author’s experience was the reassurance I had of my faith in Christ.

I laid in bed and prayed,

“Lord thank you that you’ve shown yourself to me.

Thank you that my life now, and after death, is in you.

Thank you that I don’t have to worry about any of this nonsense and can sort out truth from lies because of your Word.

And thank you that you’ve given me your Word to reassure me that because I believe in Christ that nothing can take my soul, nothing can hurt me, and that when I die my only concern in judgment will be my reward in Heaven for my works done in obedience to you.

Thank you that I can worship you for all of my days and forevermore when I die. Thank you for the peace and hope you give me daily.

Thank you for Christ.”

The peace and hope Christ can give you is supernatural, unexplainable, undeniable, unmatchable, and can never be taken away.

Cry out to Him and ask Him to come into your life. Life with Him is smooth sailing- even if you’re drowning.