Have you ever stood at the edge of the unknown, where the stories of near-death experiences (NDE's) tempt the imagination with possibilities of what lies beyond? Our latest episode embarks on a profound exploration, drawing from the heart-rending narratives of those in Pierre's men's group and the introspective musings of Michelle from a childhood friend's perspective. Together, we traverse the enigmatic landscape of out-of-body episodes and the weight of spiritual awakenings.
Music can be a bridge to those we've lost, a theme ever-present in this podcast as we share anecdotes of melodies that hold a special resonance, evoking memories and perhaps even messages from the beyond. We recount tales of songs stirring deep emotions and the uncanny experiences of hearing significant tunes at just the right moment. These stories serve as an invitation to reflect on the signs we all seek - those affirmations of continued existence and the profound impact they have on our lives and beliefs.
Closing our session with a contemplation on the nature of faith, we recognize the deeply personal journey each of us takes towards or away from belief. We welcome you (our listeners) to engage with us and share your own experiences, providing a space for dialogue and understanding. Whether you find solace in the shared affirmations of faith during Easter or grapple with the mysteries of reincarnation and parallel timelines, this episode promises a communal voyage into the heart of human experience and the eternal questions that accompany it.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
Have you ever stood at the edge of the unknown, where the stories of near-death experiences (NDE's) tempt the imagination with possibilities of what lies beyond? Our latest episode embarks on a profound exploration, drawing from the heart-rending narratives of those in Pierre's men's group and the introspective musings of Michelle from a childhood friend's perspective. Together, we traverse the enigmatic landscape of out-of-body episodes and the weight of spiritual awakenings.
Music can be a bridge to those we've lost, a theme ever-present in this podcast as we share anecdotes of melodies that hold a special resonance, evoking memories and perhaps even messages from the beyond. We recount tales of songs stirring deep emotions and the uncanny experiences of hearing significant tunes at just the right moment. These stories serve as an invitation to reflect on the signs we all seek - those affirmations of continued existence and the profound impact they have on our lives and beliefs.
Closing our session with a contemplation on the nature of faith, we recognize the deeply personal journey each of us takes towards or away from belief. We welcome you (our listeners) to engage with us and share your own experiences, providing a space for dialogue and understanding. Whether you find solace in the shared affirmations of faith during Easter or grapple with the mysteries of reincarnation and parallel timelines, this episode promises a communal voyage into the heart of human experience and the eternal questions that accompany it.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast. Oh, I'm Wes Easley. What are your hopes? And I am on location today, outside, in the very windy, windy conditions that I'm in, watching my eight-year-old run around and play with some friends who are on spring break. And I break that news to you because Pierre said that he was also on a little spring break himself and that there are screaming kids outside his window or something. What'd you say, pierre?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, also on destination location, and it's windy here as well. But yeah, there's a couple kids that are out in the little gathering section outside playing Cornhole and one's just screaming bloody murder. So if you pick that up, apologies, he's very excited. But yeah, yeah, it's nice to be on spring break, have a little time off and work, join some family time and decide it was time to get another episode out.
Speaker 1:It's definitely time to get another episode out. It's definitely there. So if you hear screaming and everything, don't think it's us, it's them. Ok, I've got curious kids in my neighborhood as well and I'm telling you they're going to come up here, they're going to start pushing buttons and everything. And if you hear screaming kids, it may be me. Chastising them is what it may be All right, but I'm doing it for the show. I'm doing it for the show.
Speaker 1:Ok, that's Michelle who is joining Pierre, and I didn't know what this topic was even about. Pierre. You sent me a show notes. We don't do a lot of show notes, so it was just like a paragraph for a sentence. And you said, hey, let's do a show on this. And notice, I'm not giving away what the show is about, yet, I'm kind of teasing things and you gave me the initials like three letters and I didn't know what it was. And I just sat there and I looked at it and I thought about it and I'm like, what is he trying to say? And so I just let it sit there for a minute and then I asked you what is this? And then you told me what it was and the only thing that I could come up with was that you, michelle, got into a fight and she just about killed you. That's why you wanted to go over this episode, not yet what is this?
Speaker 1:What is this episode? Pierre Tell the listeners, let them in on what our conversation was to start this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the initials I sent you were NDE, so I'll let the listeners sit on that for a moment to see if they know what that is. And, honestly, it's just something that has been popping up in my life, just searching and rabbit holes that I've gone down, and I had a situation recently, actually in my men's group, where someone experienced one of these and they start talking about their situation as well and I'm like, okay, this might be something that we want to have a conversation about, because there's a lot of possibilities, I feel, with this topic and I feel like it was good to just talk about it and see what other thoughts are and maybe even get some listener involvement at the end and have them kind of leave feedback, which you can at findingfafelosingsleep, at gbocom, also on the X slash Twitter machine at findingfafepod. But we'll get to that once we dive in.
Speaker 1:All right, and, michelle, he said that this is coming up a lot in his life. I don't know if he said our life or not, meaning yours and his, I don't know, but can you tell the listeners what this topic is about and what the world Pierre is talking about? I sure?
Speaker 3:can. It's near-death experiences and it's kind of Pierre's rabbit hole, but we have had some discussions about it and there were a couple of things that I've had in my past not myself personally, but at least one person that I know that had a situation like that, and so it's come up in our conversation. But this has kind of been his baby and he talks to me about it. He'll say, OK, so this is what I heard now and this is what I saw this time and what do you think about this? And honestly, he would have to tell you this part. But I think some of it came about because maybe because I was struggling with that myself. So I'll talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So one of her situations, obviously through the cancer battle that she's been going through and has went through, which a lot of listeners they listen to any episodes would probably know that was kind of like what happens once you pass. Because, honestly, some things can be conflicting even within the Bible itself when you speak to whether you are going to remember your loved ones even once you're beyond this life. Are you going to remember those that took place here on Earth. And it's honestly a conflict Because some things say that you won't remember anything at this point and it's all joy and happiness. But what's that joy and happiness if you don't remember your life here? But on the flip side, I started diving into some of these experiences and even some examples. You see loved ones and stuff on the other side, so I was like, well, what's the answer there? So that's kind of how I started diving into it and there's there's just so much to go into and I mean, what's your thoughts? What do you think New death experiences are real? Do you believe in them yourself?
Speaker 1:I think near near death experiences are real. You're talking to somebody who's been in over 20 car wrecks, so I believe that that is real, because I've almost died who knows how many times, you know don't write West noted.
Speaker 1:OK. So, yes, this is, this is one of those conversations and this is what the podcast is about. It's that's what the name comes from finding faith and losing sleep podcast. There's we lose sleep thinking about some of these things and how they just don't dive right With what we see, what we hear, what people tell us. And then we get to the Bible and we start looking at what the Bible says. It's just like, ok, wait a minute, here, this is you put it all together and it just doesn't. It just doesn't sit well right In my mind. It just doesn't sit well.
Speaker 1:So I've heard of a lot of experiences as well, and I don't know if you've ever talked to anybody who's ever worked in the hospice field. Boy, I think they have some stories. Ok, they have some stories of things and it's it's definitely one of those times in somebody's life, whenever they're on the verge of death, that that people want to say that they're starting to see things. They're just, they're kind of getting delirious. I don't know, you know, it's kind of like, ok, maybe they aren't seeing things like they were, but that doesn't mean they're not seeing things. Yeah, you, almost. I want to. I want to give people somewhat the benefit of the doubt that they're still cognitive.
Speaker 1:Ok, I got, I saw my great grandmother, ma'am all Ma'am all was her name and she was unresponsive, in a hospital bed. It felt like for days, I don't know, we were a whole family, was up there and everything for a long time. So I'm not sure how long the time was that she was unresponsive, but it was unresponsive for days. And then her, her granddaughter, my aunt, she said she said Ma'am all, you want some snuff? Because Ma'am all that took snuff, which is like chewing tobacco, you know. So she said, she said, ma'am all, you want some snuff.
Speaker 1:And and my memoir squeezed her finger. You know, squeeze my, squeeze my aunt's finger. So is it? Could she? And I'm telling you she's unresponsive. You talk to her, she is unresponsive. But at that time she could understand, she could hear and there was no doubt that she wanted snuff. So I kind of want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time I don't know that we'll ever have those true answers, pierre and Michelle, because until we go through it and experience it, yeah, and then we might not be able to convey what we're Having is the truth and people will just doubt us. I always want to give people the benefit of doubt, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need to. I don't know if I I want to experience it Is the need that something probably went wrong in order to get to that point. So I'm fine just going down the rabbit holes of others, but I know what Michelle can, can talk on this, on your friend and that that kind of has situation if you can dive into kind of what took place there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I dated a guy in high school who, without saying names, he was out running and was hit by a car and passed away on the operating operating room table and they brought him back. And when they brought him back he said it directly immediately. When he saw his mom he said it was the strangest thing that he was like there was a kid in his class who had passed away previously, I believe, of a brain aneurysm. And when he saw him he said, well, what are you? He saw the kid and he's like, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here yet. And that's when he woke up in the operating room.
Speaker 3:So he was not one of those people that embellishes anything. He was pretty straightforward and just. You know, matter of fact, and so I didn't have any reason, or don't have any reason to not believe what here is. Mom said, and you know it's just, he was pretty shaken by that and I don't I can't say that I know what his faith level was or what his parents faith level was. So at that, at that time In my life, it wasn't really about a faith journey, so to speak, but more so just like, wow, like. So you know the the fact that he saw somebody that he knew and then when the kids said, hey, you're not supposed to be here yet, it's not your time, that's when he wakes up. So I had told Pierre about that and that was just one of the conversations that we'd had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's trippy. See, I like these kind of things because it's the only category I could put this stuff in is like ghost stories, you know what I mean. Like, and I'm not saying that man's experience, their boys experience, was a ghost story or anything like that, but that's just how I that's the box I have to put it in that I, I don't know, I'm, I wasn't there. Yeah, I've heard the story and the people telling the story are just you can see it in their eyes. They believe it, you know, they know it's as right as rain. So, like that's back to them. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I? That's what I mean about wanting to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I don't want to discredit. Oh, they're crazy. Oh, I'm just delirious now.
Speaker 1:I you know, but I will say that at the same time, I Know myself, mm-hmm, if, if I'm in a dream state, if I'm dreaming, you know asleep or whatever, on the sofa or or in the bed at night, or anything like that, and then you have one of those dreams where You're, you're, you're doing something, right, you're just doing something in the dream and you wake up and that something is right there in front of you, almost Whether it's somebody about. You know, you're like about to talk to somebody, and then that person puts their hand on your shoulders and then my daughter, who's eight years old, is standing right in front of me and her hand is on my shoulder. You know, yeah, so it's. It's kind of one of those things where the mind somewhat knows what's going on, but the body's just not catching up to the mind and the mind's trying to wake up your body in all that.
Speaker 3:Subconscious versus consciously.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but how you know? I mean, did my ears, did my ears hear that? Obviously my eyes were closed, so I didn't see it? I don't think, but you know your ears here. Maybe maybe I smelled her, maybe some of those other senses were taking over, or whatever, but it, the my mind, was enabling me to know what was going on and and giving me that power to wake up and address whatever the situation was.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I used to full on frustrate the heck out of my mom because she would try to wake me up and I Would be mad at her knowing, like in my somewhat Conscious, I suppose, state, like if I was asleep and she's trying to wake me up, I would be having a conversation, one conversation. She's having a totally different conversation with me and we just be arguing like while I'm half asleep. Like it was just crazy and I know it would frustrate the heck out of her sometimes, but I think that's just where subconscious takes over and our conscious mind isn't, you know, fully capturing what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2:I Don't know if I have those conscious or subconscious moments, my myself, but I, so I know the experience that I I recently kind of set in on Was a member of my men's group and again, I won't name names either but Something I also noticed that takes place a lot in the, the near-death experience, rabbit holes. I come, I come across her like out-of-body type of experiences and I Hadn't talked to this. This guy, he was actually newer to our group at the time and he actually told us, on his own you know a story that he he basically tried to take his life a few years back, took some sleeping pills I believe he said it was a 162 sleeping pills at once. He said he knew it because he he went out to get as many that he could afford at the time with a goal in mind of taking his life and he took him and Apparently he he had an out-of-body experience where he he could see himself, as you often hear, like on the, the hospital bed and, you know, saw folks working on him, pumping his stomach etc. And he didn't feel any pain.
Speaker 2:He said he felt a presence and at one point he wondered if it was his dad, but he said it was just a different A type of presence, to the point where he he personally feels it was Jesus, they're hovering with him. And he said he felt like a love, but then he felt like a worry, realizing what he had done and what the ultimate result for him was going to be, knowing that he, you know, had committed suicide. And he said, the moment that he felt that worry he like shot Back in his body and was revised. He's like whoa, I can't believe that just happened. He remembered it, all that took place.
Speaker 2:And when I watch different videos I see that as well, where you see people all of a sudden in operating rooms and parks that basically feel like they've just had an out-of-body experience, where they see what they know is their body and it's just looked at as like a vessel that they're now relieved from and the weight's kind of lifted and it's just a different impact and experience. So yeah, I get curious about that, but I don't want to necessarily be in that situation myself, to where I'm looking at my body like, uh-oh, what just happened? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I. Yes, there's different phases of like meditation and your, if you can ever reach the point not that I ever meditate, I don't know like this or anything. All right, when I'm meditating, I'm maybe just thinking about God, I'm doing stuff like that, but I'm not oh kind of meditation or anything like that. Yeah, but you're supposed to be able to reach different planes and platitudes, maybe, if that's the correct word of consciousness you know, and to be able to have those out-of-body experiences.
Speaker 1:I used to listen to a little radio show on AM Radio, a coast-to-coast AM with Art Pell, and they used to talk about. People used to dial up and talk about those kind of things. It was very strange to listen to because you just you don't get taught those things. You know, you just don't get taught them. Interesting though that we're talking about this topic and it's all kind of circling around to something that I've been doing too. I've been on this chronological Bible in a year path and I love to listen to it. All right, I love to listen to it, and just within the I want to say today's reading, but I'm like days ahead because I'll listen and I'll just be like, all right, I'm going, I'm just going, I'm with the whole thing to think.
Speaker 1:You know how I am here, you know how I am here, but so anyway, I don't know if it's today's reading or whatever, but it was in Job, chapter 14. And of course we know Job is in this turmoil and he's just heartbroken, he's lost his family and he's just questioning life and all these things. And while I was listening to it and, by the way, I think it's the guy from Seinfeld who's reading it I don't know who's reading this, it's the amp. I don't even know what Bible version it is, but the guy who's reading it is the guy who was the head of the company that talks like this. Do you know who I'm talking about? On Seinfeld.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I don't watch.
Speaker 1:Seinfeld. He's got the blonde hair, he's like the CEO of the company and he goes on all these hunting excursions and stuff. I haven't watched Seinfeld in years but I just remember the guy. He talked like this and so, as he's reading the Bible, I'm like, oh, this is so cool, he's just reading it. Maybe I'll try to do his impression of him reading the Bible.
Speaker 1:How frail is humanity. How short is life. I can't do it. How full of trouble. We blossom like a flower and then we wither Like a passing shadow. We quickly disappear.
Speaker 1:You must keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting for me. Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one. You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live and we are not given a minute longer. So leave us alone and let us rest. He's kind of begging God here to just let me die. Quit messing with me.
Speaker 1:That was just Job's mentality at this point. But I was thinking about how he definitely didn't believe in reincarnation whenever I was listening to Job, chapter 14. Because he's like once you die, it's over, it's done. And I think about those kind of rumors, speculations that we hear a lot. And I'm not saying what Job said is gospel. Okay, job was a man and he was going under some severe dress at this point. And I'm not saying he was being prophetic. I'm not telling anybody that he was explaining the ways of the world and the ways of the afterlife to anyone. I'm just telling you what his opinion was.
Speaker 1:And in Job, chapter 14, we see that. And then he talks about you always overpower people and then they pass away. You disfigure them in death and send them away. They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. They suffer painfully and their life is full of trouble, just meaning that when you die you don't look down on people from heaven. You know what I mean when you hear people say well, I know he's looking down on us right now and he's happy. I've heard people say that kind of stuff, like about my father or whatever. Job obviously didn't think that, or maybe he didn't know that that was the way it was going to be in life after death or anything. He just didn't know. So I just thought that was interesting that we're talking about this, and I was thinking about all these different rumors and speculations that people have that keep people up at night.
Speaker 2:Well, with all the rabbit holes I've gone down and, trust me, I've gone down so many at this point there's never been one in which they've spoken to seeing what's taking place, like currently, like, besides, looking down in the moment at themselves before they return to the body, like the rest of it's like not about seeing loved ones for the most part which is pretty interesting because, again, that was one of Michelle's concerns but when you think about there being like, no pain, no sorrow, I feel like that would be you not getting a glimpse into the world. Unless you're in a state of a spirit where you simply can't like it's impossible for you to fill those emotions. Like, how could you look down at today's world, regardless of what side of the world you're on, and see your family still going through a sinful type of world and being pain, sorrows, become deaf, other type of situations? How could you look down upon that and have your voice still would be a question there.
Speaker 3:And that's what I truly struggled with and I think that kind of kickstarted all of this is. I was truly struggling with that whole thing and like I get it, because if you could look down and you see your family struggling, like you would be sad and if you're supposed to be in a joyful state, that kind of contradicts what should be happening. At the same time, I do believe that I still believe that God will allow signs, kind of like to say, to give us some peace while we're here, when we're questioning if that person that we're thinking of is seeing us. And the reason I say that first and foremost is and I think I've talked about this previously, but way back when, when I was in high school, there was a boy that the first time I saw the back of his head I knew, like I knew my own name. I was gonna marry him and fast forward. We never actually got to date and I felt it in my own being when he passed away and it was shortly after I had graduated and fast forward probably 20 years and for a long time. That's kind of how. And here's a bizarre little fun fact the day he died is actually Pierre's birthday and also the day Olivia was due.
Speaker 3:But I I, for a long time I thought about him every day and it was like, okay, well, if there was one person for me now in my what now? And if that's the fact, am I just settling? And like that was always kind of the thought in my head. And for many years I thought about him constantly, even when I was in a relationship. I just mourned that loss. And when Pierre came in my life it was more few and far between, and I, you know, I would go days and then weeks and maybe have a thought. And then it was months, and one day in particular, olivia was, I don't know, maybe two or three. It had been a while since I'd thought about him and I was driving home from work and I just was struggling, like why is he so, like, why am I feeling so heavy about this today? And I didn't want to bring that into the house with me, but it was just kind of still on my mind and all of a sudden it dawned on me like I just don't know if he's in heaven. I think that's what's bothering me. I don't know where he went, I don't know what that relationship looked like, and so I just kind of said a prayer sitting there and I was like, okay, god, I think I can let this go if I just know that he's with you. Like can you just give me a sign? And at his funeral they had played Cats in the Cradle because his father had passed away previously.
Speaker 3:And the moment I said that Pierre, who I'm not sure knew the new Cats in the Cradle, busts out singing Cats in the Cradle, and I'm telling you to this day it still gives me goosebumps. Because I just looked at him and I was like whoa, it's still one of the craziest things that's ever happened. And for me that was just the. It's okay, michelle, like you can let it go. Like now you can just be happy, you're where you're supposed to be. You know I can work all things for good. This is where you were meant to be in the first place. But having him break out in that, in that instant he just was like you look like you've seen a ghost and I'm like kind of feel like I have.
Speaker 1:And that's why I like you, Michelle, because you have a lot of ghost stories.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:You freak me out sometimes I don't know if that's good for Pierre.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 2:I have one as well and I think I talked about it. So when I heard of my mom's passing, we were in Cincinnati. We had just taken in our Cubs and Reds game the night before, and so the first time back to Cincinnati since that happened was a Packers and Bengals game that we were going to for Michelle, and it was just tough feelings, knowing the surroundings a stadium, a hotel I was at one and I got that call in the morning, so it was just kind of an uneasy feeling. And walking into the stadium there's a song by Chumbawamba Chumbawamba called Tup Dumping that my mom used to love, just because it had vodka drinking there. She loved vodka and that was her. You take a risky drink, you take a vodka drink, and it talks about getting knocked down, getting back up again, which was kind of her fighting song, so to speak. And so I'm like, ok, it's really odd that this song is playing as soon as we're walking into the stadium. It's an older song for one and this was just a couple of years ago that took place. I'm like, all right, I just kind of brushed it aside.
Speaker 2:So walking out the stadium after the package of one and like overtime, there's this street musician with like a saxophone playing and he's not playing anything. At the time that we're walking, like I can see him. He's just kind of getting set up. And as soon as I walk up by him, he starts to play the Flintstones on a saxophone. And I'm like, all right, you got to be kidding me now, because that was my mom's favorite cartoon, and again he wasn't playing anything whatsoever.
Speaker 2:And the moment I got like right in front of him, it starts to doon and doon and doon. And I look back at Michelle and she just kind of acknowledged the fact that it was playing and I'm like now what are the odds that I hear a song going in? And I'm like, yeah, it's just a song. I hear a song coming out and it's the Flintstones, which hasn't aired and I don't know how long, and the guy's not playing anything until you get up to that point. So for me that was just again a sign that my mom was there and wanted me to feel OK, being back in Cincinnati for the first time.
Speaker 1:See, I know you two a little bit Now. I've never seen you face to face. You guys might look like a bunch of lunatics, I don't know, but I think I know you. I've known Pierre for quite some time now, and no Michelle as well through Pierre and even got a wonderful Christmas card in the mail from you guys.
Speaker 2:It must look like lunatics apparently.
Speaker 1:So that's why I want to say you guys are crazy. I've talked to you, I know you guys a little bit and I can't discredit your own accounts. And it's too coincidental to just be random. You know what I mean, the specific songs, and that's how you start knowing, in my opinion, whether or not people are telling the truth, whether they're lying, all those things. First of all, is there story jive together over a couple of times of hearing it? Right, and I've heard your story a couple of times, michelle, I think, like you said, you've talked about it. Now, pierre, I'm not sure that you've ever talked about that story in depth like that with me or anything, but I remember details and you guys were both telling specific details, using names, using locations, not just some random off-the-cuff kind of facts you know or pretend facts. So that's how you kind of tell whether or not people are telling the truth or whether or not they're lying. And that's why I would want to give you guys the benefit of the doubt that, wow, what they experience is real and what they went through is real, and so I don't want to discredit that. And so I look at something like Job in Job, chapter 14, whenever I did. And I think about what Job is doing and what Job is going through. And you know, maybe Job just doesn't know those intricacies of the afterlife because he's never experienced it. So that's some things I think about with that.
Speaker 1:Now, biblically speaking, there are people who died and came back but we don't really get like insight into what they saw or what they did. I think about the widow's son, when it was either Elijah or Elisha, you know, raised him from the dead and everything like that. But we don't get details of what things are like. It just seems like everything is honky-dory afterwards. Think about Jerry and his daughter and how his daughter was raised from the dead. Everything ever changed after that, just a honky-dory, everything is fine, everything's perfect. You know we don't get any insight there. But Peter, you brought up one and I have one too, whenever Paul starts writing about his time, I guess in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, right, or 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whenever he talks about the thorn in the flesh and he just he goes through that incident with him and it seems like he had some, you know, being called up into a third heaven, right, and it just like out of body experience, maybe on a different plane. Am I going to say that Paul was nuts and discredited everything else he said? Well, is he a lunatic? He doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, that guy was crazy. You know I can't do that and then still count all of his other writings as things I need to live by.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's what kind of prevents some folks from telling their truth is they don't want to come off like they're crazy or a lunatic. And I mean you'll see it. So I tell Michelle this so if you go on YouTube and you watch a bunch of NDE videos, you're like, okay, who's being real, who's in it for like their 15 minutes of fame. But what do I tell you? Pulls me to that even more.
Speaker 3:He'll always say that it's when he it's not necessarily the people that are in the videos but like the people commenting because they're not in it for anything, it's the comment. He typically goes to the comment section and kind of goes through those because those people aren't the ones that are like necessarily putting their videos out there, like for their like, quote unquote 15 minutes of fame. It's more of this is what I experienced, or whatever. They're not looking for a reason other than that to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no views, no clicks, or just hey, thanks for sharing. Let me share in front of a much lesser audience, with nothing uploaded, and there's tons of them, like there's so many that take place and like I mean, what are the odds that all of these experiences are just made up? To me, that's slim to none. And you'll see, like folks say, I don't really share this because I don't want people to think I'm crazy, or I try to tell my family and they thought I was nuts.
Speaker 2:But, since you have a similar experience, I wanna share what I went through, and for me that means more than the videos. I want those behind the scenes that are just trying to share just to the again, the lesser audience, just to share the experience and not to get any type of monetary value, cause I know, oh, it's the movie. Heaven is for real. I think it was a big popular movie with the kid. I wanna say the thing was Colton that basically said he experienced heaven. And you see the aftermath of that with all the media, all the public attention. Whether he wanted that or not, or his family, is one thing, but if you have someone that's not in it for that whatsoever, that's just trying to share in comments what they went through, that just hits another nerve for me.
Speaker 1:No, I get what you're saying and some people do seem to be after it for their own greed and all that. And we understand that. I say understand it. I don't understand it, but I understand that people will do that.
Speaker 1:But you look at Paul and talk about going up to the third heaven. We even go over to John in the book of Revelation whenever he starts wigging out, I guess, and just writing all those things. But he says I, john, your brother, fellow partaker, in the tribulation, in the kingdom of perseverance which is in Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos. Because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet. And there it goes. Then there goes the book of Revelation, right, but John says he was in the spirit on the Lord's day. What does that mean? And people will just want to say well, we'll never have the complete understanding of what the Bible says with John and we just won't ever understand until we get to heaven.
Speaker 1:Okay, I can accept that. I can understand that that's an easy way out, but I don't want to discredit other people's chaotic times in their life. I don't know, chaotic is there? Not chaotic, but experiences in their life where maybe they were in the spirit. I don't know. I don't know what it was and I do want to reach out and tell people on the Finding Faith in Losing Sleep podcast listeners, if you've had an experience like that and you want to share it with somebody. We won't tell a soul unless you tell us hey, I don't care if you share it or not. You can tell us.
Speaker 1:Pierre's good about reading those things. I doubt Michelle reads those things because she'll just be sitting there crying all day long and I don't know how to do it. So Pierre's good at that. If you want to share those things and get them off your chest, just because it bothers you, it keeps you up at night, I'll encourage you to get in touch with us through those ways that Pierre mentioned earlier in the show and we'll mention them again here at the end of the show and just let them out, cause that's what we're here to do.
Speaker 1:We're here to listen, we're here to talk when and you guys have heard me enough times, you've heard Michelle enough times, you've heard Pierre enough times to know that we aren't gonna think you're crazy. Because even if we do think you're crazy, you can say well, you're crazier than me. I hope you know. That's some of the things. Whenever I've worked with people who are chemically dependent, they look at me and say you know, if that guy right there can make it out of chemical dependency talking about me, I know I can, because he's a lot worse off than I am. You know that's just how they think and I hope that's kind of how our podcast comes across that we're just average, everyday people trying to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. That's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's the whole reason we put it together is we're not big time scholars or, you know, theologians, and we're just average people doing life, talking through life. You know some touchy subjects and some thoughtful subjects, and, again, just conversing and having, hopefully, open conversations that are reaching others. And I personally felt this one wasn't important because I think you know, clearly deaf, the biggest fear, question mark For humans, both their own lives and the lives of their family and friends. And when there's ever really true, deep sorrow, it comes from the unknown of. You know well, I ever see this person again. You're looking at yourself. Will they ever, you know, see me again? Will it be okay when I'm gone? You know what does that mean. And I think that you know Indies can kind of give hope to some extent, because they're not all good.
Speaker 3:Like there's some dark ones.
Speaker 2:People are seeing the other side of things, but just the thought of there being you know something more I think can help. And again, you look at Jesus himself. Right, you know he was on the cross. What happened? You know it was three days. You listen to some of the biblical scholars. They believed. You know he went down and you know in the hell and took the keys from. You know Hades himself is what some believe took place and his own afterlife. Then he came back. You know resurrection, which will be celebrating here in a few days. So I mean, it's just, it's always been a thought, I think, on many, many, many minds. So I felt like it was good to have a conversation. So you speak about, you know, no reincarnation. The Bible doesn't mention any reincarnation, but a peace interest. You know, because some people say, you know they get up there and they come back and they remember who they were in a past life and it's like, okay, is this real? Are they wacko? I mean, we don't know. That's the thing we don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, and going back to what Michelle said with the young man, she knew from the back of her, back of his head that she was like, oh, destin, to marry him. You know why did that thought come in your mind? Why, when I first saw my wife in the library, first time I saw her, I told my buddy, I said who is that? And he told me her name and I said I'm gonna marry her. Now, look, you guys know I was a lot dumber at 18 than I am even now. Okay, I can't. How did I know that? Was it pretty, destin? Was it one of those things that just uttered out of my mouth and it came to fruition?
Speaker 3:How do you know it was? For me it was super weird because I had a boyfriend, a long-term boyfriend at the time. So I was at a new school and I walked in, saw just the back of his head and knew it, like I knew my own name. So I don't have an answer for that one.
Speaker 2:Very comforting for the boyfriend, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:And my future wife had a boyfriend at the time too, but he was just no match for my swive. What's the way out?
Speaker 2:Well, so here we go, rabbit hope here coming out. So, one of the a couple of times I've watched some of these NDE's that are already read into them, they speak to basically their life being played in front of them and that they were ultimately on a contract where they knew what was gonna take place. So, for example, our lives right now. Some would say that we chose these lives and the reason that we have you know those oh I know I'm gonna marry her or day job moments like I've been somewhere that I shouldn't have been before is because it's actually played out in front of us and we chose to come to Earth and live this life.
Speaker 3:And that's it.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, okay, now I'll even. Can I tell you crazy West stuff? Okay, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I've been looking for crazy West every once in a while.
Speaker 1:So there's theories out there that these are all different timelines. Right, we're all different timelines and sometimes those timelines interact with one another. Now there's a big machine over in Sweden. I wanna say Switzerland, sweden, I don't know, I've never been over there.
Speaker 2:And I don't know what that accent was, but I don't think it's Swiss or Sweden but go ahead.
Speaker 1:I think it was a Swedish or really an accent, but it's a CERN machine, c-e-r-n, and you can Google it and you can see the opening ceremonies. And if you ever watched, like, the opening ceremonies of CERN and their dedication ceremonies, you'll go wow, that is conjuring up some very weird stuff. It looks like you know, it's just weird. And what they do there is they're trying to find the God particle and that God particle they got huge reactors, I guess. Look this, I'm a simple bread man. Some of this stuff goes above my head. This I'm just explaining it in bread man language is all I'm trying to do and it may not be 100% accurate everybody. But they're knocking around particles and they're trying to find the God particle, they're trying to create things, but whenever they're doing that, what people hypothesize is that they're knocking around some of the timelines, right, and they crank up those generators or they crank up those reactors or whatever they're doing, and it's knocking around some of the timelines. And that's where we have some of the Mandela effect. That's out there, where you remember something and you remember specifically it being this way. But now, thanks to Google, where we can go back in time, right, and look at it and it's not that way, but yet you're positive. It was that way, like the way Jif was spelled, or whether or not the whole thing is.
Speaker 1:Mandela died and everybody remembers Mandela dying, but then he died again and everybody's like wait a minute, I thought he already died and he didn't. He didn't die, he was in the hospital. I believe it was near death, but everybody remembers him dying and then he didn't die for like eight years later. I may not know the exact time, whether or not the fruit of a loom logo from when I was growing up as a kid, whether or not that had that little wicker basket behind it or not, or whether all the things were in the wicker bag. And it doesn't, but it did when I was growing up as a kid. Flintstones, pierre. Is it Flintstones, or is it Flintstones when you're watching it as a kid? How was it spelled? Hannah Barbera, how was it spelled?
Speaker 2:You know, and the publisher's clearinghouse thing I think was one of them did.
Speaker 1:So people are hypothesizing that the timelines are getting mixed up and that's why we have those deja vu moments. We have these interactions with people like I'm gonna marry her, like I talked about my wife, because we were crossing those timelines and we're reliving it. And one of the things that I can't explain how in the world do child prodigies almost seem to come out of the womb being able to play a piano or guitar or be able to play chess and beat grandmothers? How in the world can they do that and they'd never been trained? That stompifies me, okay.
Speaker 3:I don't know how that happens Like I can tell you for sure. I have had multiple moments where I can tell you exactly how this conversation is gonna go, because I've already heard it, or driving somewhere, and I can tell you what's gonna be around the corner. And I know for a fact I've never been there in my life or seen a picture, but there was one that you had said.
Speaker 2:Which one?
Speaker 3:What was it? He just said something about not necessarily conversations or whatever, but it's gonna drive me crazy now.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Are you talking about deja vu?
Speaker 3:Yeah, but we're. Oh, it was like the little kid that swears he's like the princess of whales or something.
Speaker 2:Like people oh yeah, so they feel like they know their past life. Like I know there was one kid that said he was little white boy, said he was a black woman in his former life and they just kind of laughed him off and they ended up putting some research stuff in front of him and he was able to point to like a Chicago newspaper and point out the woman that he was and they gave like images of different women and he pointed out exactly first time which woman he was that had like died in a Chicago like accident years ago and he swears that that was him.
Speaker 3:And he knew facts about his life and such.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, he knew facts and again could point her out, knew where she was from, pointed out the news article about it and stated that too, that too he was in his past life.
Speaker 2:And again, like this happens in some of the NDE rabbit holes, where folks have their lives kind of played before them and they can choose to come back, like sometimes they get the option to come back, not just in their present life, but choose to come back and try things over things they did not accomplish perhaps in their first life. They get a go at it again and again they're agreeing to this, maybe in a second life, and I know that's tough, but you have something that are done, like you see people that see their loved ones and like, hey, I can't go on. And they're like, no, you have to keep going because, like Michelle said with the friend she knew you're not done yet your life's not done, mine, mine is done and complete. I'm here, I've accomplished all I want to accomplish, but you still basically go back until you get it right, whatever that may mean, which, again, these are just some of the scenarios that I've come across, but it's interesting.
Speaker 3:So Well, I've had too many things happen that to get me to where I am now that it's just too much to be coincidental for me.
Speaker 1:I will refrain from telling you some of the stories I've heard about people talking about alien abductions after they died, because if my pastor is listening to this one right now, he's just rubbing his head anyway. So it's I will refrain from the pastoral staff visit into my house by refraining from telling those stories that I've heard.
Speaker 2:I'm just Tell your pastor to get into a conversation and scientists should not figure out as well, because no one has the answers or what these people are experiencing.
Speaker 1:I agree and I say no. No, I just mean like I'm kidding, it's a little bit ingest. You know what I mean. But I'm sure if he listens to some of these podcasts he's rubbing his head sometimes.
Speaker 3:Are two, it's okay.
Speaker 1:And it is, and we're just trying to figure this stuff out. But there's something that I know in my heart that in a previous life of mine I was dead and I was buried with my trespasses and sins. Okay, I've been on both sides of the Bible. I've been on the side that fought against it. I've been on that side and that was my prior life, and I'm speaking for Michelle and for Pierre as well. We've both been on that side. We weren't necessarily walking in God's path, Although you know we'll say that God brought us around to the path that we're on now.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:But we also see on the other side of that Bible, where, when you believe, when you try wholeheartedly, with a genuine, pure spirit, to carry out those commands that he's encouraged you to do, not for his good but for your good and for his glory in other people's eyes by spreading that goodness. I would like to say that I have been personally changed. I have had a near death experience where my old man, my old self, was dead. I've been buried. I have been resurrected into a new life through baptism. That's what I've been. I am now walking as a new man and I'm proud of that guy and I can see who that is and I can see who my past self was. And so, pierre and Michelle, you gotta take a minute, because it is Easter Sunday, right around the corner here and people are listeners. I gotta ask ya are you ready? We don't know a hundred percent for certain, because if you pitch yourself right now, you'll know you're awake. You would know you're here, but we don't know what's on the other side. I Know the Bible is true With my heart of hearts, because I've seen how life doesn't work without it and I've seen how life works with it, and so I'm gonna put some weight into what I can see, what I can touch, what I can feel, with the Bible being active and alive and sharper than a two-edged sword and Separating my heart in different paths. Okay, I can see that, I can feel that, and so I want to encourage our listeners. Are you ready to take that next step? Are you ready to say, okay, I don't know where this is gonna lead me, but I know I want to put my old self behind me and I'm ready to move into that new chapter of my life. I'm gonna. I'm gonna trust in God. I'm whatever Michelle, pierre and Wes are saying and talking about God I'm gonna trust in that same God and I'm gonna start living my life for him, because I don't want to face the afterlife Not knowing what's coming, but knowing that the Bible tells me if I don't put my faith and my trust in him, it ain't good. Right, is that the southern person coming out of it ain't good? Yeah, but very well said. And and that's what I want to do I did something to think about on this resurrection Sunday, because I truly believe that Jesus died, he was buried and he was raised to walk a new life.
Speaker 1:Right, and the reason why I believe that is because people believed it during the time that he was alive and they gave their lives up For that truth that they believed. They. They were threatened. You either tell us the truth or you're gonna die. Tell us Jesus stayed in that tomb or else we're gonna kill you. And they said, okay, how can we tell you that? We saw him with our own eyes. Mm-hmm, we know he's alive. And then they killed him. They killed the people who confessed those things, and and that's that is such a big testimony to me. So I'll just encourage the listeners to do that. Pierre, michelle, if you didn't mind me saying that, not at all.
Speaker 3:I think it's perfect West.
Speaker 2:I agree, I don't. I don't think we have enough faith to be an atheist.
Speaker 1:I Like that here. Tell everybody how to get in touch with us again If they want to share any of their experiences or their stories or anything they just want to get off their chest. By all means, we are in open. We will be happy to listen.
Speaker 2:Yes, Contact us. Get outreach over at finding faith losing sleep at gmailcom. Also on the X slash Twitter machine at finding faith pot.
Speaker 1:Very good. Thank you, pierre, michelle. Hey, you guys have a good Easter. There's one thing that you got to know for Easter and if you're gonna go to church, I think you got to know this, the and I hope you guys know this If I say he has risen, what are you supposed to say? You don't know he is risen. Indeed, there it is, there, it is okay. You've heard it before. I think I've quizzed you about that before, but yes, that is an old, old, old church tradition that's gone way back, and this Sunday, anyway, at my church, the pastor will say he has risen and the church will say he has risen indeed.