“Stop Breathing”

Week 2 – Lessons From a Near Death Experience by Pastor Mark Cowart

When I first heard Howard Pittman tell his near-death story in 1979 on The 700 Club on Christian TV, I discerned that he had had a genuine encounter in the spiritual realm. He was a bi-vocational pastor, running for sheriff in his town at the time a ruptured artery sent him to the hospital, presumed dead.

When I interviewed him in person some years later, he talked about deception. He said in his time of relative unconsciousness he asked God to extend his physical life, knowing there is scriptural precedent for this request to be granted. Then he heard an extraordinarily beautiful voice tell him to “stop breathing”.

He had been struggling to draw breath since the injury, and he puzzled over this but thought he would try. But, he realized that this was not God speaking and “screamed as loud as I could in my spirit.” He said, “No, you are not God. With that exclamation, Satan fled from me there in the valley of death, at the door. He lied to me. He told me he was God. He couldn’t kill me. He had to get me to kill myself.”

He went on to say, “You’d better know the Spirit when it speaks to you. We’re all gonna come to that same place. I call it the veil. The veil is not in this world, and it’s not in the other world. It is the door between the two. We’ve all got to go that way. Christians refer to it as crossing Jordan. It’s when we pass from this life to the life to come. Once you cross that veil, flesh and blood can’t cross it.” I think this makes the point in a most sobering way that you have to know the spirit that is speaking to you. It can sound really good and be a lie.

You are a spirit – you don’t have a spirit. God is spirit, and you are created in the image of God. You have a soul, that is your mind, will and emotions. You live temporarily in a physical body you could call your “earth suit”.

Your spirit, if you are born again, cannot be deceived. Deception occurs in the soul realm – your intellect, your thinking processes, your feelings and your will. Howard said he was breathing by “willpower”, forcing every breath in and out. The devil tempted him to give up this painful effort, to stop breathing, thereby ending that present struggle and killing himself. He attacks the vulnerable soul.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. I John 4:1 NKJV

This is talking about a false minister, a false representative of God. And, we know that there are spirit beings of two types. There are angels of God who speak truth, and there are demons who deceive.

There are people who have had encounters with spiritual forces through mediums, for example. In these instances, people believe they are talking with a deceased family member or friend, when in reality they are talking with a demon spirit impersonating their loved one. They are very good at deception. Remember how Howard said the devil had the most beautiful voice he could imagine. Captivating. In another example of this type of demonic activity, Lester Sumrall told a story from his time as a missionary in the Philippines we call “The Vanishing Boy”. There were many eyewitnesses to this event.

A little boy was walking to school with a friend when a beautiful blond woman in the distance beckoned him to follow her. His friend did not see her, but the boy ran after her and he vanished. Following this encounter, the boy became very unruly, was kicked out of school, and his parents tried to lock him in his room to restrain him. He would vanish.

He would go into restaurants and then vanish, and not pay the bill. This was finally identified as a demonic power. When Dr. Sumrall took authority over that devil in the Name of Jesus, the child relayed what he saw. The beautiful blond woman morphed into the most evil, hideous-looking creature that manifested a horrible stench. Then he was set free. We know that the devil is a deceiver.

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. I Corinthians 11:14 NASB

So, how do you test the spirits? The Word of God is the ultimate authority and the best preparation and equipping for this battle. As a born-again, spirit-filled believer, abiding in the vine, you need never fear being deceived. Light always overcomes darkness.

The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 NKJV

Because I was brought up with the Bible, even though it took me a while to walk with God, I believe His Word was always a restraining force in my life, holding me back from moving toward darkness. Today in our society, the Bible is not read in school, prayers are not offered, and there is no acknowledgement of God. This leaves people wide open to the enemy.

Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! Matthew 6:22 NLT

As you probably know, we don’t see with our eyes. We see with our brain. The eyeballs are actually the receivers for light, dark and colors that are relayed to the mind to there be displayed as images. By analogy, Jesus is talking about the eyes of your heart.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18 NASB

It is so important that light is able to get in your heart and soul. Just like there is natural light in a room, there is spiritual light. There is darkness in a room, but it is eliminated by the light coming in. You don’t tolerate the darkness when you walk in your house at night, but instead you turn on the light. When you turn on the light of God’s Word in your heart, “the laws of nature and nature’s God”, you see things more clearly. You are much less likely to be deceived. Light always overcomes darkness.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. I John 1:5 NKJV

When Satan’s ministers appear as what looks like and sounds like an angel of light, there will always be something off. If your spirit is alive to God, you will pick up on it immediately. Once when a friend of my sister’s attended a religious gathering, I was alarmed by the name of it, although I knew nothing about the group. This was back in the days before internet and Google. So, I contacted someone I knew to be an expert on various cults, false religions, and such.

What I found out was that this group was considered a cult, a close counterfeit of the charismatic movement. So, I went with my sister’s friend to the meeting. Let me tell you, it looked good, it sounded good, had admirable praise and worship going on. It was well done. I found out later that the founder wrote a book in which he stated that Jesus Christ is not God. Well, you have to reject it right there. If you deny the sonship and the deity of Jesus, you’ve denied the Father as well.

This is one of the most common ways to lead one astray – to attack the deity of the Lord Jesus. You need to be solid on this. We believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the triune God. So, Jesus said if your eye isn’t healthy and light’s not coming in, what you think is light could, in fact, be darkness. How do you keep that light coming in, so you don’t have to be afraid of being deceived?

I am the true vine,… John 15:1a NKJV

If there is a true vine, there is also a false vine, a counterfeit. A counterfeit is as close to the original as possible, but it is not from the authentic source. So, how do you know the difference. With counterfeit money, bank personnel are trained to recognize the real currency by handling it daily. When the fake stuff comes their way, they usually know it.

There are a lot of teachings out there purported to be genuine, from the Lord, and based on scripture. And, they are very close, but they do not originate from The Word of God.

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 
I John 2:26-27 NKJV

There is a great comfort in this right here. As a born-again Christian, you do not have to worry about being deceived. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you. I recommend that you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Then, as you abide in the Word, and the Word abides in you, there is something that will go off inside of you when a counterfeit comes your way.