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A
Vision that Changed My Life Forever
After I was discharged from the hospital I
went back to the monastery where other monks
cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and
was lapsing into unconsciousness. I learned
later that I actually died for three days.
My body decayed and stunk of death, and my
heart stopped beating. My body was prepared
for cremation and was put through traditional
Buddhist purification rites.
Although I faded away in my body I remember
my mind and spirit were fully alert. I was
in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous
wind flattened the whole landscape until there
were no trees or anything else standing, just
a flat plain. I walked very fast along this
plain for some time. There were no other people
anywhere, I was all alone. After some time
I crossed a river. On the other side of the
river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire.
In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a
place like this. At first I was confused and
didn't know it was hell until I saw Yama,
the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed
to the King of Hell in numerous cultures throughout
Asia]. His face looked like the face of a
lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs
were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had
a number of horns on his head. His face was
very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling,
I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the
king of hell, the Destroyer."
The terrible, terrible lake of fire
The king of hell told me to look into the
lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron
colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in
Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven
head of a man. When I looked at the man's
face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw
[the famous monk who had died in a car accident
in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my
former leader was confined to this lake of
torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of
fire? He was a very good teacher. He even
had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man
or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people
understand that their worth as humans is far
greater than the animals." The king of hell
replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he
did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why
he is in hell."
I was told to look at another person who was
in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair
wrapped on the left hand side of his head.
He was also wearing a robe. I asked the king
of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied, "This
is the one you worship: Gautama [Buddha]."
I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell.
I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and
good moral character, why is he suffering
in this lake of fire?" The king of hell answered
me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He
is in this place because he did not believe
in the Eternal God."
I then saw another man who looked like he
was wearing a soldier's uniform. He had a
large wound on his chest. I asked, "Who is
this man?" The king of hell said, "This is
Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar."
I was told, "Aung San is here because he persecuted
and killed Christians, but mostly because
he didn't believe in Jesus Christ." In Myanmar
the people have a common saying, "Soldiers
never die, they live on." I was told that
the legions of hell have a saying "Soldiers
never die, but they go to hell forever."
I looked and saw another man in the lake of
fire. He was a very tall man and he was dressed
in military armor. He was also holding a sword
and a shield. This man had a wound on his
forehead. This man was taller than any person
I have ever seen. He was six times the length
between a man's elbow and the tips of his
fingers when he stretches his arm out straight,
plus one span of a man's fingers when he spreads
out his hand. The king of hell said, "This
man's name is Goliath. He is in hell because
he blasphemed the Eternal God and His servant
I was then taken to a place where I saw both
rich and poor people preparing to eat their
evening meals. I asked, "Who cooked the food
for these people?" The king of hell replied,
"The poor have to prepare their own food,
but the rich people get others to cook for
them." When the food had been prepared for
the rich people they sat down to eat. As soon
as they started a thick smoke came up. The
rich people ate as fast as they could to ease
their consciences. They were struggling to
breath because of the smoke. They had to eat
fast because they were fearful of losing their
money. Their money is their god.
Another king of hell then came to me. I also
saw a being whose job is to stoke the fires
beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot.
This being asked me, "Are you going into the
lake of fire too?" I replied, "No! I am only
here to observe!" The appearance of this creature
stoking the fire was very terrifying. He had
ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand
that had seven sharp blades coming from the
end. The creature told me, "You are right.
You came here just to observe. I cannot find
your name here." He said, "You must now go
back the way you came." He pointed me toward
the desolate plain that I had first walked
along before I came to the lake of fire.
The Road of Decision
I walked a long time, until I was bleeding.
I was hot and in great pain. Finally, after
walking for about three hours I came to a
wide road. I walked along this road for some
time until I came to a fork. One road, going
off to the left, was wide. A smaller road
went off to the right hand side. There was
a signpost at the fork saying that the road
to the left was for those who do not believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller road
to the right was for believers in Jesus.
I was interested to see where the larger road
led so I started down it. There were two men
walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried
to catch up with them so I could walk with
them but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't
catch them up, so I turned around and went
back to the fork in the road. I continued
to watch these two men as they walked down
the road away from me. When they reached the
end of the road they were suddenly stabbed.
These two men cried out in great pain! I also
cried out when I saw what happened to them!
I realized the bigger road ended in great
danger for those who traveled down it.
Looking into Heaven
I started walking down the believers' road
instead. After traveling for about one hour
the surface of the road turned to pure gold.
It was so pure that when I looked down I could
see my own reflection perfectly. I then saw
a man standing in front of me. He was wearing
a white robe. I also heard beautiful singing.
Oh, it was so beautiful and pure! It was much
better and more meaningful than the worship
we have in churches here on the earth. The
man in the white robe asked me to walk with
him. I asked him, "What is your name?" but
he did not answer. After I asked his name
six times the man answered, "I am the one
who holds the key to heaven. Heaven is a very,
very beautiful place. You cannot go there
now but if you follow Jesus Christ you can
go there after your life has finished on the
earth." The man's name was Peter.
Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed
me a place to the north. Peter said, "Look
to the north and see God create man." I saw
the Eternal God from a distance. God spoke
to an angel, "Let us make man." The angel
pleaded with God and said, "Please don't make
man. He will do wrong and will grieve you."
[In Burmese literally: "He will make you lose
face."]. But God created a man named anyway.
God blew on the man and the man came to life.
He gave him the name "Adam". [Note: Buddhists
do not believe in the Creation of the world
or of man, so this experience had a significant
impact on the monk].
Sent Back with a New Name
Then Peter said, "Now get up and go back to
where you came from. Speak to the people who
worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell
them they must go to hell if they don't change.
Those who build temples and idols will also
have to go to hell. Those who give offerings
to the monks to earn merit for themselves
with go to hell. All those who pray to the
monks and call them 'Pra' [respectful title
for monks] will go to hell. Those who chant
and 'give life' to idols will go to hell.
All those who don't believe in Jesus Christ
will go to hell." Peter told me to go back
to the earth and testify about the things
I had seen. He also said, "You must speak
in your new name. From now on you are to be
called Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu ["Paul who
Came Back to Life."].
I didn't want to go back. I wanted to go to
heaven. Angels opened a book. First they looked
for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book,
but they could not find it. They then looked
for the name I had been given when he entered
the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya)
but it wasn't written in the book either.
Then Peter said, "Your name is not written
here, you must return and testify about Jesus
to the Buddhist people."
I walked back along the gold road. Again I
heard beautiful singing, the kind of which
I have never heard before or since. Peter
walked with me until the time I returned to
the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached
down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder
didn't reach to the earth, but stopped in
mid-air. On the ladder I saw many angels,
some going up to heaven and some going down
the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter,
"Who are they?" Peter answered, "They are
messengers of God. They are reporting to heaven
the names of all those who believe in Jesus
Christ and the names of those who don't believe."
Peter then told me it was time to go back.
It is a Ghost!
The next thing I was aware of was the sound
of weeping. I heard my own mother cry out,
"My son, why did you leave us now?" I also
heard many other people weeping. I realized
I was lying in a box. I started to move. My
mother and father started shouting, "He is
alive! He is alive!" Other people who were
farther away did not believe my parents. I
then placed my hands on the sides of the box
and sat upright. Many people were struck with
terror. They cried out, "It is a ghost!" and
ran away as fast as their legs could carry
them.
Those who remained were speechless and trembling.
I noticed I was sitting in smelly liquid and
body fluids, enough to fill about three and
a half cups. This was liquid that had come
out of my stomach and my insides while my
body was lying in the coffin. This is why
people knew I had indeed been dead. Inside
the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet
fixed to the wood. This sheet is placed there
to retain a corpse's liquids, because many
dead bodies release much fluid like mine did.
I learned later that I was just moments away
from being cremated in the flames. In Myanmar
people are placed in a coffin, the lid is
then nailed shut, and the whole coffin is
burned. When I came back to life my mother
and father were being allowed to look at my
body for the very last time. Moments later
the lid of my coffin would have been nailed
shut and I would have been cremated!
I immediately started to explain the things
I had seen and heard. People were astonished.
I told them about the men I had seen in the
lake of fire, and told them that only the
Christians know the truth, that our forefathers
and us have been deceived for thousands of
years! I told them everything we believe is
a lie. The people were astonished because
they knew what kind of a monk I had been and
how zealous I had been for the teachings of
Buddha.
In Myanmar when a person dies their name and
age is written on the side of the coffin.
When a monk dies, the monk's name, age and
the number of years he has served as a monk
are written on the side of the coffin. I had
already been recorded as dead but as you can
see, now I am alive!