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The Manifestation of an Angelic Comforter
Rev. Maurice Elliott and Irene H. Elliott state that they were present at the bedside of a dying woman when an angel-comforter appeared to stand near her and say, “I have come to take you home.”
According to the minister and his wife, three other angels and the images of many of the dying woman’s deceased friends and relatives were then seen to join the angel-comforter. A white, hazy mist rose above the woman, hovered there for a few moments, and eventually congealed to take on perfect human form.
After the soul-body had been released from its physical shell, the woman’s spirit left in the company of the angels and those dear ones who had already become residents of a higher dimension.
Deathbed Research of Rev. W. Bennett Palmer During the course of his extended research into reports of deathbed visions, Rev. W. Bennett Palmer commented that in the typical account a bedside witness sees a mist or a cloudlike vapor emerging from the mouth or head of the dying man or woman. The vaporous substance soon takes on a human form, which is generally a duplicate of the living person—only in most cases any present deformities or injuries are partially or wholly absent. Angels or spirits of deceased loved ones are often reported standing ready to accompany the newly freed spirit form to move to higher dimensions of light.
In numerous reports, the immediate process of death is not witnessed, but the deceased is seen leaving the earth plane for the higher world, most often accompanied by angelic beings. Frequently, such spirit and angel leave-taking is witnessed ascending upward, but this seems to be a mode of disappearance, rather than an indication that Heaven is in any particular spatial area.
“A fact often noted in connection with deathbed visions is that they are quite different from a patient’s delirium and are coherent, rational, and, on reflection, apparently real,” Rev. Palmer said. “It has also been observed that visions of the dying are different from visions of those who only think themselves to be dying, such as those undergoing a near-death experience. However, visions of the dying are similar to those who claim to have been outside their bodies during altered states of consciousness.
“Revelations concerning the nature of the future life which are received in deathbed visions seem to be regarded with favor by all churches, and no stigma attaches itself to the deathbed visionary experience,” Rev. Palmer continued. “Persons having deathbed visions often claim to have seen the dead—or what is so regarded—and to have had them reveal knowledge of events which could not be known in any normal way. Frequently, the person having a deathbed vision claims to see a person in spirit who is not known to be dead. Later, investigation proves that the person was deceased at the time of the visitation.
“Another aspect of deathbed visions,” Rev. Palmer concluded, “involves visions of angels and other Holy Figures seen by other persons in the presence of the dying.”
Bill W. told Rev. Palmer that he saw the spirit of his brother as it was disengaging itself from the dying body. The cloudlike vapor took on human shape, clapped its hands for joy, then passed upward through the ceiling in the company of an angel.
Jerry C. of Denver, Colorado, said that at the time of death of his ten-year-old son, he saw the child’s spirit leaving the body as a luminous cloud and rise upward toward the ceiling.
In Rev. Palmer’s church in New Port Richey, Florida, two members of the congregation, Mr. and Mrs. S., who were very ill, had been placed in separate rooms in their home to insure periods of peace and uninterrupted sleep for both of them. One afternoon, as Mr. S. back against the pillows of his bed, he saw the form of his wife pass through the wall of his room, wave her hand in farewell, and rise upward in the company of an angel.
In two or three minutes, the nurse came into his room and informed him that Mrs. S. had passed away. “I know,” he said, blinking back the tears. “She had enough of this desperate struggle to maintain life. She came to say good-bye and to ask me to join her with the angels.”
Mr. S. died two days later.
When Mrs. Ernestine Tamayo entered the sickroom to bring her husband his newspaper, she saw a large, oval light emerging from his head. The illuminated oval floated toward the window, hovered a moment, then was met by a lovely angelic figure. Within seconds, both the oval of light and the angel had vanished.
“I knew that Miles was dead even before I reached my husband’s bedside,” she told Rev. Palmer. “I had seen his angel guide come to take him home.”
His many years of research led Rev. Palmer to record that people who are about to transcend the physical shell often mention a final boundary. After the dying persons have passed that line of demarcation, they cannot return to their physical bodies. In fact, they are sometimes turned back before they can reach it again.
The environment and the scenery described in deathbed visions may be said to be much like the scenery of Earth, only it becomes more beautiful as the spirit progresses. Eventually, the environment becomes ineffable, incapable of description in human terms or in earthly comprehension.
In instances wherein it appears that one has achieved a glimpse into Heaven, the forms of deceased relatives and friends, as well as esteemed or saintly figures, are often seen. Angels are frequently described in the company of deceased loved ones. The angels may come to sing heavenly music, to summon the soul from the dying body, or to accompany the newly released spirit to the other world. Most of the men and women who have perceived spiritual deathbed comforters are able to describe the beings in great detail, including their eyes, hair, apparel, and other attributes and accouterments.