Posted by:
MormonRealityCheck
(
)
Date: April 14, 2011 11:20AM
Well ... unfortunately, I do know of one such NDE.
The following is from a book I'm writing. The topic of this section was concerned with whether or not Mormons believed that JS had been resurrected. Here's my extract:
In 1920, The Relief Society Magazine published “A Testimony” by Elder Peter E. Johnson, who was called on a mission to Mississippi in 1898. While there, he contracted malaria and became deathly ill. Johnson records that “I felt that I would prefer death, rather than live and endure the fever and the agony through which I was passing.” At one point, he reported having a near-death experience:
… I made the choice that I would rather die. Soon after that, my spirit left the body; just how I cannot tell. But I perceived myself standing some four or five feet in the air, and saw my body lying on the bed.
After meeting some of his deceased family members, Johnson was taken to meet with “some of the apostles who had lived on the earth in this dispensation.” They told him that, if he chose to remain on earth, he would preach the gospel under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Johnson continues:
This remark brought to my mind a question which has been much discussed here, as to whether or not the Prophet Joseph Smith is now a resurrected being. While I did not ask the question, they read it in my mind, and immediately said: “You wish to know whether the prophet has his body or not?” I replied: “Yes, I would like to know.” I was told that the Prophet Joseph Smith has his body, as also his brother Hyrum, and that as soon as I could do more with my body than I could do without it, my body would be resurrected.
=================================
Here's the footnote ref:
Elder Peter E. Johnson, “A Testimony,” The Relief Society Magazine 7, No. 1 (January 1920): 450-452. Available at
http://www.archive.org/stream/reliefsocietymag07reli#page/n0/mode/2up.