Post by Rob W. Case on Jan 8, 2010 1:30:38 GMT -6
On January 5th, 2010 a prominent physician by the name of Dr. Maurice S. Rawlings passed away. Who is Dr. Maurice Rawlings and why is he so prominent? Dr. Rawlings was noted as a man who witnessed the gateway between physical science and the real hell. But before I delve deeper into the details, I want to share with you a little bit of information about this Dr. Maurice S. Rawlings. Dr. Rawlings was a war hero, a scientist (serving as Medical Director for Aventis and ZLB Bio-Science Laboratories), and a doctor. He served as a physician to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and served as a physician to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including famous names to American History such as World War II Generals George C. Marshall, Omar Nelson Bradley, and George S. Patton. He was an associate clinical professor of medicine for the University of Tennessee and a National Teaching Faculty for the American Heart Association (1).
Dr. Rawlings was an extremely accomplished man and a self-professed atheist… that is, until he had a very unusual experience with a patient who complained of chest pains, and by direction of Dr. Rawlings, underwent a cardiovascular “stress test”. While going through this “stress test” which requires that the patient walk, jog, and then run on a treadmill, while the doctor records the rhythm of the heartbeat, Rawlings recalled that the patient had a cardiac arrest and dropped dead right in his office. As Dr. Rawlings described it, “Instead of fibrillating (twitching without a beat), the heart just plain stopped. He crumpled to the floor, lifeless.” As the body was going through a series of scattered muscle twitching and convulsions, his body was gradually turning blue. As this happened, Dr. Rawlings began another procedure. He found that the man’s heart was completely blocked. Trying to bring the patient back to life, Dr. Rawlings attempted to install a pacemaker. After working with trying to install the pacemaker, and nurses around the patient doing all they can to help Dr. Rawlings revive him, Rawlings recalls that the patient began “coming to,” and amidst this, this happened. According to Rawlings, “…whenever I would reach for instruments or otherwise interrupt my compression of his chest, the patient would again lose consciousness, roll his eyes upward, arch his back in mild convulsion, stop breathing, and die once more.” So what makes this experience more different than any he has ever had?
Rawlings explains…
“Each time he regained heartbeat and respiration, the patient screamed, “I am in hell!” He was terrified and pleaded with me to help him. I was scared to death. In fact this episode literally scared the hell out of me! It terrified me enough to write this book. He then issued a very strange plea: “Don’t stop!” You see, the first thing most patients I resuscitate tell me, as soon as they recover consciousness, is “Take your hands off my chest; you’re hurting me! I am big and my method of external heart massage sometimes fractures ribs. But this patient was telling me, “Don’t stop!” Rawlings continues on with his experience saying, “Then I noticed a genuinely alarmed look on his face. He had a terrified look worse than the expression seen in death! This patient had a grotesque grimace expressing sheer horror! His pupils were dilated, and he was perspiring and trembling----he looked as if his hair was “on end.” Then still another strange thing happened. He said, “Don’t you understand? I am in hell. Each time you quit, I go back to Hell! Don’t let me go back to Hell!” Rawlings began being irritated by this man’s behavior. He recounts that, “I dismissed his complaint and told him to keep his “hell” to himself. I remember telling him, “I’m busy. Don’t bother me about your hell until I finish getting this pacemaker into place.” Rawlings goes on. “But the man was serious, and it finally occurred to me that he was indeed in trouble. He was in a panic like I had never seen before. As a result I started working feverishly and rapidly. By this time the patient had experienced three or four episodes of complete unconsciousness and clinical death from cessation of both heartbeat and breathing. After several death episodes he finally asked me, “How do I stay out of hell?” Immediately, Rawlings recalled that shards of what he was taught in Sunday school many, many years ago began rushing to mind. Rawlings recounted that the patient asked Rawlings to pray for him, and Rawlings told him “What nerve! I am a doctor, not a preacher.” So the patient continued to plea for Dr. Rawlings him to pray for him, and so, from the back of his memory, Rawlings began praying something that sounded like this…“Lord Jesus, I ask you to keep me out of hell. Forgive my sins. I turn my life over to you. If I die, I want to go to heaven. If I live, I’ll be “on the hook” forever.” It may have been a rough prayer, but it did something for the patient who did not want to return to Hell. That experience prompted Rawlings to go home, dust off his Bible, and read it. He wanted to know exactly what hell was supposed to be like. Amidst his researching of the Bible, Rawlings found that what he experienced scientifically was supported scripturally. Before this episode, and with an atheistic frame of mind, Rawlings recorded that, “I had always dealt with death as a routine occurrence in my medical practice, regarding it as extinction with no need for remorse of apprehension.” But then after this episode he said, “Now I was convinced there was something about this life after death business after all. All of my concepts needed revision. I needed to find out more. It was like finding another piece of the puzzle that supports the truth of the scriptures. I was discovering that the Bible was not merely a history book. Every word was turning out to be true. I decided I had better start reading it very closely.” Dr. Rawlings became a Christian.
This was not the end of Dr. Rawlings experiences with patients who left their bodies, went to Heaven or Hell, and were permitted to come back with some sort of experience that occurred after the patient had passed on. In addition to his practice, he began interviewing individuals from all over the world who had these experiences. Dr. Rawlings wrote many books documenting personal experiences that occurred in his office, while also documenting experiences from other individuals that he had interviewed with similar experiences. In a nutshell, Dr. Maurice Rawlings was a personality that became an unbiased gateway from the scientific to the spiritual realm. His books on the subject include…
Beyond Death’s Door (1978-- and re-issued again after).
Before Death Comes (1980)
To Hell and Back (1994)
Which Way Are You Going? (2008)
Due to the widespread popularity on his books on the subject, 2 unique documentaries were produced based on Dr. Rawlings’ documentations. A documentary on “Beyond Death’s Door” was released in 1979, and in 1996, a documentary on his book “To Hell and Back” was also produced.
If you would like to view the 1996 documentary “To Hell and Back” for yourself, then please click on the link below and you can view it, or download it to your computer in an MP4 format.
I saw this documentary on television before and downloaded it for myself. It is very interesting and very thought-provoking.
The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23), and the experiences that Dr. Rawlings encountered first hand show the rightful judgment that awaits us because of sin. But Christ offered a way out for us to escape that judgment. Christ died to save everybody, but not everybody wants to be saved. Christ’s death on the cross was for all, but those who want to be saved have to by their own free will receive it by receiving Christ as their savior. Dr. Rawlings experienced this first hand, and now he is undoubtedly in Glory. A man who was once an atheist became not only a believer, but a believer who stuck with both his faith and the scientific community.
As his obituary stated, “Dr. Rawlings was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Angiology and Chest Physicians; a diplomat for the American Board of Cardiology; and served as chairman for the TVA Medical Retirement Board.” He not only saved lives, but he also saved souls both literally and through the documentations of his experiences.
Bibliography:
1. Rawlings, Maurice
Served As Physician To President Eisenhower And Joint Chiefs Of Staff posted January 6, 2010 www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_166143.asp
2. Rawlings, Maurice Beyond Death’s Door p.17-20 C. 1978 Thomas Nelson Publishers
Dr. Rawlings was an extremely accomplished man and a self-professed atheist… that is, until he had a very unusual experience with a patient who complained of chest pains, and by direction of Dr. Rawlings, underwent a cardiovascular “stress test”. While going through this “stress test” which requires that the patient walk, jog, and then run on a treadmill, while the doctor records the rhythm of the heartbeat, Rawlings recalled that the patient had a cardiac arrest and dropped dead right in his office. As Dr. Rawlings described it, “Instead of fibrillating (twitching without a beat), the heart just plain stopped. He crumpled to the floor, lifeless.” As the body was going through a series of scattered muscle twitching and convulsions, his body was gradually turning blue. As this happened, Dr. Rawlings began another procedure. He found that the man’s heart was completely blocked. Trying to bring the patient back to life, Dr. Rawlings attempted to install a pacemaker. After working with trying to install the pacemaker, and nurses around the patient doing all they can to help Dr. Rawlings revive him, Rawlings recalls that the patient began “coming to,” and amidst this, this happened. According to Rawlings, “…whenever I would reach for instruments or otherwise interrupt my compression of his chest, the patient would again lose consciousness, roll his eyes upward, arch his back in mild convulsion, stop breathing, and die once more.” So what makes this experience more different than any he has ever had?
Rawlings explains…
“Each time he regained heartbeat and respiration, the patient screamed, “I am in hell!” He was terrified and pleaded with me to help him. I was scared to death. In fact this episode literally scared the hell out of me! It terrified me enough to write this book. He then issued a very strange plea: “Don’t stop!” You see, the first thing most patients I resuscitate tell me, as soon as they recover consciousness, is “Take your hands off my chest; you’re hurting me! I am big and my method of external heart massage sometimes fractures ribs. But this patient was telling me, “Don’t stop!” Rawlings continues on with his experience saying, “Then I noticed a genuinely alarmed look on his face. He had a terrified look worse than the expression seen in death! This patient had a grotesque grimace expressing sheer horror! His pupils were dilated, and he was perspiring and trembling----he looked as if his hair was “on end.” Then still another strange thing happened. He said, “Don’t you understand? I am in hell. Each time you quit, I go back to Hell! Don’t let me go back to Hell!” Rawlings began being irritated by this man’s behavior. He recounts that, “I dismissed his complaint and told him to keep his “hell” to himself. I remember telling him, “I’m busy. Don’t bother me about your hell until I finish getting this pacemaker into place.” Rawlings goes on. “But the man was serious, and it finally occurred to me that he was indeed in trouble. He was in a panic like I had never seen before. As a result I started working feverishly and rapidly. By this time the patient had experienced three or four episodes of complete unconsciousness and clinical death from cessation of both heartbeat and breathing. After several death episodes he finally asked me, “How do I stay out of hell?” Immediately, Rawlings recalled that shards of what he was taught in Sunday school many, many years ago began rushing to mind. Rawlings recounted that the patient asked Rawlings to pray for him, and Rawlings told him “What nerve! I am a doctor, not a preacher.” So the patient continued to plea for Dr. Rawlings him to pray for him, and so, from the back of his memory, Rawlings began praying something that sounded like this…“Lord Jesus, I ask you to keep me out of hell. Forgive my sins. I turn my life over to you. If I die, I want to go to heaven. If I live, I’ll be “on the hook” forever.” It may have been a rough prayer, but it did something for the patient who did not want to return to Hell. That experience prompted Rawlings to go home, dust off his Bible, and read it. He wanted to know exactly what hell was supposed to be like. Amidst his researching of the Bible, Rawlings found that what he experienced scientifically was supported scripturally. Before this episode, and with an atheistic frame of mind, Rawlings recorded that, “I had always dealt with death as a routine occurrence in my medical practice, regarding it as extinction with no need for remorse of apprehension.” But then after this episode he said, “Now I was convinced there was something about this life after death business after all. All of my concepts needed revision. I needed to find out more. It was like finding another piece of the puzzle that supports the truth of the scriptures. I was discovering that the Bible was not merely a history book. Every word was turning out to be true. I decided I had better start reading it very closely.” Dr. Rawlings became a Christian.
This was not the end of Dr. Rawlings experiences with patients who left their bodies, went to Heaven or Hell, and were permitted to come back with some sort of experience that occurred after the patient had passed on. In addition to his practice, he began interviewing individuals from all over the world who had these experiences. Dr. Rawlings wrote many books documenting personal experiences that occurred in his office, while also documenting experiences from other individuals that he had interviewed with similar experiences. In a nutshell, Dr. Maurice Rawlings was a personality that became an unbiased gateway from the scientific to the spiritual realm. His books on the subject include…
Beyond Death’s Door (1978-- and re-issued again after).
Before Death Comes (1980)
To Hell and Back (1994)
Which Way Are You Going? (2008)
Due to the widespread popularity on his books on the subject, 2 unique documentaries were produced based on Dr. Rawlings’ documentations. A documentary on “Beyond Death’s Door” was released in 1979, and in 1996, a documentary on his book “To Hell and Back” was also produced.
If you would like to view the 1996 documentary “To Hell and Back” for yourself, then please click on the link below and you can view it, or download it to your computer in an MP4 format.
I saw this documentary on television before and downloaded it for myself. It is very interesting and very thought-provoking.
The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23), and the experiences that Dr. Rawlings encountered first hand show the rightful judgment that awaits us because of sin. But Christ offered a way out for us to escape that judgment. Christ died to save everybody, but not everybody wants to be saved. Christ’s death on the cross was for all, but those who want to be saved have to by their own free will receive it by receiving Christ as their savior. Dr. Rawlings experienced this first hand, and now he is undoubtedly in Glory. A man who was once an atheist became not only a believer, but a believer who stuck with both his faith and the scientific community.
As his obituary stated, “Dr. Rawlings was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Angiology and Chest Physicians; a diplomat for the American Board of Cardiology; and served as chairman for the TVA Medical Retirement Board.” He not only saved lives, but he also saved souls both literally and through the documentations of his experiences.
Bibliography:
1. Rawlings, Maurice
Served As Physician To President Eisenhower And Joint Chiefs Of Staff posted January 6, 2010 www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_166143.asp
2. Rawlings, Maurice Beyond Death’s Door p.17-20 C. 1978 Thomas Nelson Publishers
