IT’S ALL TRUE! Life after life

by Fred C. Wilson III
April, 2013
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
-1 Corinthians 15:55-
Despite the chaos and corruption of modern living there’s proof that the Ultimate Dimension exists. As secularism grows so does GOD’S grace with associative experiences. Sightings of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, angels, saints, other extra and paranormal faith experiences have been witnessed by millions over time including this writer. Faith and the Sciences are evolving. Science fiction is becoming science fact. Reader, we are living in a new age. As a religious/science person I can attest that the advancements in both disciplines have been extraordinary.
The late Denis Hurley Catholic archbishop of Durban, South Africa and long time apartheid foe once wrote of his encounters with an unsettled soul during an exorcism. There were ghastly photographs of people with their skins ripped from their bodies by this unseen entity. While investigating this case of possible demonic possession the archbishop was nearly brained when this poltergeist hurled a metal pot towards his head! Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece ‘The Poltergeist’ was great entertainment but full of spiritual inaccuracies. Movie blockbuster ‘The Exorcist’ was based on an authentic case of demonic possession. To serious students of the supernatural paranormal events are considered evidence of the existence of the hidden dimension. Like the words of the funeral Liturgy ‘life is not ended but changed;’ nobody really dies.
During the first few months after meeting my wife I was writing a fictional piece based on a make believe continent located in the southern Pacific Ocean 1,000 miles off the Chilean coast. Fictional photojournalist Paula Lee Miller was my protagonist. I love writing; hate typing. I asked my future wife to type my manuscript. She agreed. A page into the story the ‘fictional’ photojournalist seized control of her typewriter and started typing on its own! My wife screamed in horror! I ran to her side and saw her dousing holy water on the typewriter. I yanked the paper from the machine and read the words “Hello…let me introduce myself…I’m Paula Lee Miller…Hi…Are you alright…” The words were mostly misspelled, written erratically, and the sentences piecemeal. I’ve retained that garbled message as a souvenir. The Oceanic continent never existed though I seriously suspect at some point in time the make believe newspaperwoman was real. She somehow forced herself back into conscious reality.
Haunted houses have long been a staple for ghost stories, reality television, and popular Halloween destinations for teenagers but are they real? Are there certain residences inhabited by souls of the dead? Yes! Case in point: 30 years ago I had a 13 room house in South Chicago that was rumored to have been inhabited by the spirit a 97 year old man who died alone in the basement. Three weeks after his death his body was found in a serious state of decomposition. The man was a loner. Neighbors said he’d stash his money in secret places throughout his house. A former demolitions man who had served in the Army during World War II, it was rumored he booby trapped places where he hid his loot.
After purchasing that old house at bargain basement prices my family and I moved in a month later. During nights strange things happened. Loud footfalls in the attic could be heard for hours on end. My ex-cousin’s 11 year old daughter later a Harvard Law grad now prominent attorney during a visit once asked “who is that old man sitting on the sofa smiling at me?” The old man’s furniture stored in the attic could be heard being dragged across the floor. I dismissed these events citing feral cats or large rats. During those turbulent years I had bigger fish to fry or so I thought. Things came to head years later after my first wife and I divorced. She got our son and hefty support payments. I got the house. Living alone in 13 rooms with a resident ‘ghost’ is unsettling. Tired of these nightly ‘air raids,’ I decided to do something. Trudging downstairs ritual book, rosary, candles, Bible, and holy water in hand, I was going to conduct a do-it-your-self-exorcism. I did. It worked! The nocturnal ‘air raids’ and sofa citing stopped. I assumed the soul of the old man was delivered from Purgatory.
Several years later as I lay sleeping, my house was invaded. I sensed a strong presence urging me to get up. Before I could react there was a loud ‘boom’ in the kitchen! It was pitch black; they had seen me. Slashing and waving wildly I greeted my unwelcomed guests with the scimitar I had brought back from a recent trip to Mexico; the old man saved my life! The five men who invaded my home left the neighborhood in a big hurry after I confronted them in the street threatening to decapitate them then decorate my five trees with their heads. Soon after they left the neighborhood; I had made a difference. My ‘ghost’ friend went back to his eternal reward.
Despite her troubled youth my mother died a very holy woman. At the time of this writing she would have been dead nearly 17 years March 24th. She died as she wanted; in her own bed, beholding to no one, and after church. Mom died in her sleep from a massive coronary; she felt no pain. During the night of her death she paid nocturnal visits to me and my lawyer brother. It was when our payroll clerk-I worked for the CPS in those days-told me that Mom was on the phone. I had been recently transferred to Central Office. The payroll clerk never knew Mom had died. Sensing something odd I asked ‘Patricia’ to ask her to call back. Mom one upped me. As I was working a blinding silver light shown over my desk! The light was exceptionally bright but never hurt my eyes. A brown arm emerged from the light and rested gently on my shoulder; I panicked! The person owning the arm said “Everything’s going to be alright.” I ran around the office and shouted to my buddy for help! Reader you’ve undoubtedly read pious stories about Saints Joan of Arc and Bernadette’s apparitions. I’m no saint. The encounter floored me. You can’t hide from the spiritual but running sure felt good. There were more divine ‘sightings’ but page space doesn’t permit further elaboration.
Authenticated cased of demonic possession, exorcisms, vivid dreams, visitations by dead relatives and saints warning us to mend our ways, Night Terrors, and a myriad other worldly examples tell us that death isn’t the end. Physical death is but a portal to a grander reality for those who die in GOD’S favor. The only real evil is dying in mortal sin. Reader you die in the latter invest in a thick pair of asbestos underwear and kiss your sorry butt good bye forever and ever…amen.
Blessed John Paul II was purported to have said that we shouldn’t worry about Heaven; Heaven will take care of itself. Worry instead about life on earth and how we can improve our human species. For life to survive and thrive we need global unity. The study of the sciences, technology, the Humanities, the Arts, and all other positive life disciplines should focus our attentions on building up the Body of Christ and debunk our culture of death. Let GOD worry about ‘CAN’T SEE;’ let us concentrate on ‘CAN SEE;’ next edition ‘Racism and Fraud in Packaging-Buyer Beware.’ Happy Easter…Alleluia! (vamaxwell@yahoo.com)