I was taking the plane back from London after a week in Wales to teach at the Bible College of Wales. I decided to take a break from work, in this case, writing my memoirs during the flight. A 2010 movie entitled Hereafter pricked my interest. It was about a woman who had a near-death experience during the tsunami in Thailand. It was also about the paranormal ability of the character played by Matt Damon, who was able to provide amazing information similar to what charismatics would call a “word of knowledge” prophecy. However, he was also a channel for those who died whose loved ones sought contact.
The film was a Clint Eastwood film with the screenplay by Peter Morgan and the executive producer Steven Spielberg. That is quite a team.
One scene was very impacting when the survivor of the tsunami speaks to a scientist who assures her that the evidence from near-death experiences is conclusive and proves that the soul survives the body. I agree with that statement. Materialists/Physicalists are not able to explain the experiences that are so similar where the person leaves the body and accurately describes everything that happens to them in the emergency room, in the operating room, the sequence of interventions, and then leaving the hospital often for a visit to the beyond, whether literally or in part in God-given visions. When a person has been completely out in heart and brain death for a significant period, I call the awakening a death and resurrection experience.
The great book on this that I have reviewed before is by John Burke, Imagine Heaven. He presents the evidence but with a solid biblical and theological framework. The problem with this film is that the theology is not good. It combines paranormal occult ability as showing the same evidence, that there is an afterlife. It does show that there are shysters. One reading from a medium is totally off. But the Matt Damon character is presented as being very accurate. Demon hates having the gift and sees it more as a curse than a blessing and draws too many people to him. It is a responsibility he does not want.
The interesting thing is not that the movie presents accurate theology. Rather it shows that the materialist/physicalist approach to reality is breaking down and people are realizing that there is more. The boyfriend of the tsunami survivor asserts that when you are dead, the lights go out and there is nothing. She does not agree and her own NDE was too compelling for her to accept his atheism. So, while we may take issue with the embrace of both NDEs and the occult, we can see an opening to share the Gospel. This can be a real bridge to present the truth as in the John Burke book.