Amazing Coincidences or Paranormal Power at work?

Stories of remarkable coincidences and synchronicity never fail to make us shake our heads in sheer astonishment, puzzlement, and delight in how the universe sometimes functions. Are they just cases of mere coincidence -- the random appearance of seemingly remote odds? Or is there something deeper, more meaningful, and ultimately more mysterious taking place?
 

FINDER FISH

These two astonishing tales of coincidence both come from Norway and both involve fish. Waldemar Andersen was fishing in the North Sea when he was happy to catch a good-sized cod. He took it home and began to prepare it for a meal. Upon cutting open its stomach, he found a gold earring. Noting that it seemed familiar, he presented it to his wife, who confirmed it was the earring that had lost when it fell into the water a week earlier.

The second story took place in 1979 involves a 15-year-old boy named Robert Johansen, who was fishing in a Norwegian fjord. He was quite pleased to haul in a 10-pound cod that might serve as the family's dinner that night. His grandmother, proud of the boy, agreed and began to prepare the fish for supper. She was shocked to find within the cod's stomach a diamond ring, which she instantly recognized as a valuable family heirloom she lost in the fjord while fishing some ten years previous!

REJECTED MANUSCRIPT

A promising author was disturbed to find his manuscript on his front lawn. It was the manuscript he had given to his publisher in hopes of publication, but apparently it had just been thrown disrespectfully over his front yard fence. Did the publisher really dislike it that much? He called the publisher and asked why his work had been disregarded so tactlessly.

The publisher explained that this was not the case at all; in fact, she had great hopes for the manuscript. So what happened? While she was dining at a restaurant, thieves broke into her car and stole several things, including the manuscript. Keeping the valuables, the thieves later just tossed the manuscript away, over a fence -- right into the author's front yard!

MYSTIC BOOK

Dr. Lawrence LeShan was researching a book he was in the process of writing on mysticism. When consulting with colleague Dr. Nina Ridenour on the subject, she offered several points of advice to him, including understanding the differences between Western and Eastern mysticism. To help in this understanding, she recommended to LeShan a book entitled The Vision of Asia by Crammer-Bing.

Not long after, LeShan began to search for this book, but was unable to find it at two specialized libraries. Then, while walking home, he felt compelled to take a somewhat different route. As he was standing at a corner waiting for the traffic light to change, he looked to the ground and saw a book laying there. He picked it up. It was The Vision of Asia!

This story has one last, strange twist. LeShan called Dr. Ridenour to tell her of the remarkable coincidence regarding this book she had recommended so highly. Her puzzling response was that she had never heard of the book.

FLOATING HOME

In 1899, while touring Texas, Canadian actor Charles Coghlan fell in and died in the city of Galveston. His body was placed in a lead coffin, which was sealed and the interred in a vault.

A year later, a severe hurricane hit Galveston, causing much destruction, including the cemetery where Coghlan was buried. His coffin was washed out of the vault and out of the cemetery by the raging waters and was carried out to sea.

The coffin drifted for years on the ocean currents, out of the Gulf of Mexico, along the Florida coast, and into the Atlantic Ocean where the Gulf Stream carried it north. Coghlan's body had drifted more than 5,600 miles when it was finally discovered in 1908 by fisherman on the shores of Prince Edward Island -- Coghlan's home! His body was reburied in the churchyard of the parish where he was baptized.

THE MYSTERIOUS PEN

This story will make you wonder if the idea of a tulpa is a reality. A tulpa is a thought form -- an object made real simply because it is thought of or meditated upon.

Consider the experience of Barry Smith, who was attending a fancy dress ball at the behest of a friend. Before the dance he went with his friend to a restaurant for dinner. Afterward, when he was changing out of his dinner jacket, he noticed that his gold pen was missing, and he was sure that he had it with him during dinner.

A thorough search did not turn up the pen, so he went back to the restaurant and described it to the staff: it was a gold Schaeffer pen inscribed with his name, "B. Smith." Barry was quite pleased when one of the staff said they had found it and it was returned to him.

That evening, as Barry was packing his bags to return home, he found his gold Schaeffer pen -- another one inscribed with "B. Smith" -- in the bottom of his bag! So where did the one in the restaurant come from and to whom did it belong? Barry returned the one to the restaurant, but it was never claimed. Was the duplicate pen somehow manufactured out of thin air, or was this just some bizarre, unexplained coincidence?

ARTICLES IN THE MATRIX

Several people have told me about experiences similar to the one that follows, and makes us wonder if they are premonitions or if there is a "glitch in the Matrix" that has been corrected.

In Florida on May 13, a woman bank teller greeted a customer she had known for quite some time with a congratulations. She had seen the article about his daughter's engagement in the May 9 edition of the Sunday paper. She even remarked at what a lovely photo it was of his daughter that accompanied the announcement.

One small problem: there was no such announcement. Not yet. The announcement did not actually appear in the paper until May 23. Yet the woman was able to describe the man's daughter exactly from the photo she had seen (she said she did not even know that he had a daughter until she saw the announcement) as well as the precise placement of the article in the paper -- all of which came to pass ten days later on May 23.

Are all these just amazing coincidences or is it something more?

Are deathbed visions real?

Father lies dying. The hospital is quiet. Visiting hours are over and the sun has long since set. Father has been sleeping off and on all day. His doctor says the end could come at any time. His wrinkled, sunken eyes open slowly. His breathing has been labored, but now it seems to ease and soften. His eyes track to a corner of the room where there is only a faded green vinyl chair. Father smiles.

"You're here," he whispers.

His daughter, determined to be with him in his final moments, takes his hand. "Yes, I'm here, dad," she says. But she knows he's not looking at her.

"No," father says, never taking his eyes off the corner of the room. "There. It's your uncle Jerome. I never thought I'd see him again."

The daughter glances to the corner, but of course sees nothing. Father seems coherent. In fact, she hasn't seen him so alert in days.

"Oh my!" Father's smile broadens. "And Lucille! And mother is with them! They- they say they have come to help me. They have come to take me with them. Can't you see them? They look so wonderful!"

The daughter wraps her father's hand in both of hers. She doesn't know what to think. Father closes his eyes again and the smile slowly fades from his lips. He releases one long, last breath... and is gone.

Such deathbed visions are not just the stuff of stories and movies. They are, in fact, more common than you might think and are surprisingly similar across nationalities, religions and cultures. Instances of these unexplained visions have been recorded throughout history and stand as one of the most compelling proofs of life after death.

Anecdotes of deathbed visions have appeared in literature and biographies throughout the ages, but it wasn't until the 20th century that the subject received scientific study. One of the first to examine the subject seriously was Sir William Barrett, a Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. In 1926 he published a summation of his findings in a book titled Death Bed Visions. In the many cases he studied, he discovered some interesting aspects of the experience that are not easily explained:

It was not uncommon for the dying people who saw these visions to identify friends and relatives who they thought were still living. But in each case, according to Barrett, it was later discovered that these people actually were dead. (Remember, communications then wasn't what it is today, and it might take weeks or even months to learn that a friend or loved one had died.)
Barrett found it curious that children quite often expressed surprise that the "angels" they saw in their dying moments did not have wings. If the deathbed vision is just a hallucination, wouldn't a child see an angel as it is most often depicted in art and literature - with large, white wings?
More extensive research into these mysterious visions was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s by Dr. Karlis Osis of the American Society for Psychical Research. In this research, and for a book he published in 1977 titled At the Hour of Death, Osis considered thousands of case studies and interviewed more than 1,000 doctors, nurses and others who attended the dying. The work found a number of fascinating consistencies:

Although some dying people report seeing angels and other religious figures (and sometimes even mythical figures), the vast majority claim to see familiar people who had previously passed away.
Very often, the friends and relatives seen in these visions express directly that they have come to help take them away.
The dying person is reassured by the experience and expresses great happiness with the vision. Contrast this with the confusion or fear that a non-dying person would experience at seeing a "ghost." The dying also seem quite willing to go with these apparitions.
The dying person's mood - even state of health - seems to change. During these visions, a once depressed or pain-riddled person is overcome with elation and momentarily relieved of pain... until death strikes.
These experiencers do not seem to be hallucinating or to be in an altered state of consciousness; rather, they appear to be quite aware of their real surroundings and conditions.
Whether or not the dying person believes in an afterlife is irrelevant; the experience and reactions are the same.

FACT OR FANTASY?

How many people have deathbed visions? This is unknown since only about 10 percent of dying people are conscious shortly before their deaths. But of this 10 percent, it is estimated, between 50 and 60 percent of them experience these visions. The visions only seem to last about five minutes and are seen mostly by people who approach death gradually, such as those suffering from life-threatening injuries or terminal illnesses.

So what are deathbed visions? How can they be explained? Are they hallucinations produced by dying brains? Delusions produced by drugs in the systems of the patients? Or could the visions of spirits be exactly what they appear to be: a welcome committee of deceased loved ones who have come to ease the transition to life on another plane of existence?

Could they be creations of the dying brain - a kind of self-induced sedative to ease the dying process? Although this is a theory offered by many in the scientific community, Wills-Brandon doesn't agree. "The visitors in the visions were often times deceased relatives who came to offer support to the dying person," she writes. "In some situations, the dying did not know these visitors were already dead." In other words, why would the dying brain only produce visions of people who are dead, whether the dying person knew they were dead or not?

And what about the effects of medication? "Many of the individuals who have these visions are not on medications and are very coherent," writes Wills-Brandon. "Those who are on medications also report these visions, but the visions are similar to those who are not on medications."

BEST EVIDENCE

We may never know whether these experiences are truly paranormal - that is, until we too pass from this life. But there is one aspect of some deathbed visions that is most difficult to explain and lends most credence to the idea that they are actual visitations of spirits from "the other side." On rare occasions, the spirit entities are seen not only by the dying patient, but also by the friends, relatives and others in attendance!

According to one case documented in the February, 1904 edition of Journal of the Society for Psychic Research, a deathbed apparition was seen by a dying woman, Harriet Pearson, and by three relatives who were in the room.

Two witnesses in attendance of a dying young boy independently claimed to see the spirit of his mother at his bedside.

HOW THE DYING AND THEIR RELATIVES BENEFIT

Whether the deathbed visions phenomenon is real or not, the experience is very often beneficial for the people involved. In his book Parting Visions, Melvin Morse writes that visions of a spiritual nature can empower dying patients, making them realize that they have something to share with others. Also, these visions dramatically lessen or completely remove the fear of dying in the patients and are enormously healing to the relatives.

Carla Wills-Brandon believes that deathbed visions can help change our overall attitude about death. "Many people today fear their own death and have difficulty handling the passing of loved ones," she says. "If we can recognize that death is nothing to fear, perhaps we will be able to live life with more fully. Knowing that death is not the end just might resolve some of our fear-based societal difficulties."

Who is Lucifer?

Lucifer means 'light bearer.' Other names that may refer to Lucifer include Satan, Iblis, Beelzebub, Ba’al, Belial, Apollyon, Azazel, Leviathan, Lumiel, Prometheus, and Devil.

Main Characteristics:

Lucifer was once among the most powerful of all archangels, and as his name suggests, he shone brightly in heaven. However, Lucifer let pride and jealousy of God affect him. Lucifer decided to rebel against God because he wanted supreme power for himself. He started a war in heaven that led to his fall, as well as the fall of other angels who sided with him. As a fallen angel, Lucifer is often referred to in popular culture as Satan, and the fallen angels who work under him are called demons. Many people say that the fallen angels’ work has brought only evil and destructive results in the world, so they try to protect themselves from fallen angels. Others believe that they can gain valuable spiritual power for themselves by invoking Lucifer and the fallen angels that he leads.

Symbols:

In art, Lucifer is often depicted with a grotesque expression on his face to illustrate the destructive effect of his rebellion on him. He may also be portrayed falling from heaven, standing inside fire (which symbolizes hell), or sporting horns and a pitchfork. When Lucifer is shown prior to his fall, he appears as an angel with an extremely bright face.

Energy Color:

Black

Role in Religious Texts:

Some Jews and Christians believe that Isaiah 14:12-15 of the Torah and the Bible refers to Lucifer as a "bright morning star" whose rebellion against God caused his fall: "How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit." In Luke 10:18 of the Bible, Jesus Christ uses another name for Lucifer (Satan), when he says: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'" A later passage from the Bible, Revelation 12:7-9, describes Satan’s fall from heaven: "Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." Muslims, whose name for Lucifer is Iblis, say that he is not an angel, but a jinn. In Islam, angels don’t have free will; they do whatever God commands them to do. Jinns are spiritual beings who do have free will. The Qur’an records Iblis in chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), verse 35 responding to God with an arrogant attitude: "Call to mind, when we commanded the angels: Submit to Adam, they all submitted, but Iblis did not; he refused and was arrogant, being already one of the disbelievers." Later, in chapter 7 (Al-Araf), verses 12 through 18, the Qur’an gives a longer description of what happened between God and Iblis: "Allah questioned him: 'What prevented thee from submitting when I commanded thee?' He retorted: 'I am better than he. Thou hast created me of fire while him hast thou created of clay.' Allah said: 'In that case, depart hence. It behooves thee not to be arrogant here. Get out, thou art surely of those abased.' Iblis pleaded: 'Grant me respite till the day when they shall be raised up.' Allah said: 'Thou art given respite.' Iblis said: 'Since thou hast brought about my ruin, I will assuredly lie in wait for them on thy straight path and will approach them fore and aft, and from right and left, and thou wilt not find most of them grateful.' Allah said: 'Get out hence, despised and banished. Whoso of them shall follow thee should know that I will surely fill hell with you all.'" The Doctrine and Covenants, a scriptural book from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, describes Lucifer’s fall in chapter 76, calling him in verse 25 “an angel of god who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved” and says in verse 26 that “he was Lucifer, a son of the morning.” In another scriptural text from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Pearl of Great Price, God describes what happened to Lucifer after his fall: “And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice” (Moses 4:4). The Bahai Faith views Lucifer or Satan not as a personal spiritual entity like an angel or a jinn, but as a metaphor for the evil that lurks in human nature. Abdul-Baha, a former leader of the Bahai Faith, wrote in his book The Promulgation of Universal Peace: "This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan -- the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside." Those who follow Satanist occult beliefs view Lucifer as an angel who brings enlightenment to people. The Satanic Bible describes Lucifer as “Bringer of Light, the Morning Star, Intellectualism, Enlightenment."

Other Religious Roles:

In Wicca, Lucifer is a figure in Tarot card readings. In astrology, Lucifer is associated with the planet Venus and the zodiacal sign Scorpio.