Dr. Moody however, records nothing whatsoever like this: virtually all the experiences of the dying in his book (with the notable exception of suicides, see pp. 127-28) are pleasant ones, whether the people are Christian or non-Christian, religious or not. Drs. Osis and Haraldsson, on the other hand, found something not too far from this experience in their studies.
These researchers found, in their American study, the same results as Dr. Moody: the apparition of other-worldly visitors is seen to be something positive, the patient accepts death, the experience is pleasant, causing serenity or elation and often the cessation of pain before dying. In the Indian study, however, fully one-third of the patients who saw apparitions have an experience of fear, depression and anxiety resulting from the apparition of the “yamdoots” (Hindu messengers of death) or other beings; these Indians resist and try to escape the other-worldly messengers. Thus in one experience, an Indian clerical worker related as he was dying: “ ‘Someone is standing there! He has a cart with him so he must be a yamdoot! He must be taking someone with him. He is teasing me that he is going to take me! ... Please hold me; I am not going.’ His pain increased and he died” (At the Hour of Death, p. 90). One dying Hindu “suddenly said: ‘Yamdoot is coming to take me away. Take me down from the bed so that Yamdoot does not find me.’ He pointed outwards and upwards. ‘There he is.’ This hospital room was on a ground floor. Outside, at the wall of the building, there was a large tree with a great number of crows sitting on its branches. Just as the patient had his vision, all the crows suddenly flew away from the tree with much noise, as if someone had fired a gun. We were very surprised by this and ran outside through an open door in the room, but we saw nothing that might have disturbed the crows. They were usually peaceful, so it was very memorable to all of us present when the crows flew away with a great uproar, exactly at the time the patient had his vision. It was as if they, too, had become aware of something terrible. As this happened, the patient fell into a coma and expired a few minutes later” (pp. 41-42). Some “yamdoots” have a fearful appearance and cause even more consternation in the dying.
This is the most striking difference between the American and the Indian experience of dying in the study of Drs. Osis and Haraldsson, but the authors can give no explanation for it. One naturally wonders: Why is the modern American experience almost totally lacking in an element — the fear produced by frightful other-worldly apparitions — so common both in the Christian experience of the past and the present-day Indian experience?
It is not necessary for us to define precisely the nature of the apparitions of the dying in order to see that they depend to some extent, as we have already seen on what the dying person expects or is prepared to see. Thus, Christians of past centuries who had a lively belief in hell, and whose conscience accused them in the end, often saw demons at death; Indians of today, who are certainly more “primitive” than Americans in their beliefs and understanding, often see beings that correspond to their still very real fears about the afterlife; while contemporary Americans, with their “enlightened” views, see apparitions in harmony with their “comfortable” life and beliefs, which in general do not include a very realistic fear of hell or awareness of demons.
On the objective side, the demons themselves offer temptations which accord with the spiritual state or expectations of those being tempted. For those who fear hell, the demons may appear in terrible forms in order to make a person die in a state of despair; but for those who do not believe in hell (or for Protestants who believe they are infallibly “saved” and therefore need not fear hell) the demons would naturally offer temptations in some other form that would not so clearly expose their evil intent. Likewise, even to a Christian struggler who has already suffered much, the demons may appear in such a way as to seduce him rather than frighten him.
The demonic temptations that beset St. Maura, the 3rd-century martyr, as she was dying, offer a good example of this latter kind of temptation at the hour of death. After being crucified for nine days together with her husband, St. Timothy, she was tempted by the devil. The Life of these saints tells how St. Maura herself related her temptations to her husband and fellow-martyr:
“Take courage, my brother, and banish sleep from yourself. Be vigilant and know what I have seen; it seemed to me that before me, when I was in a kind of ecstasy, was a man who had in his hand a cup filled with milk and honey. This man said to me ‘Take this and drink.’ But I said to him: ‘Who are you?’ And he replied: ‘I am an angel of God.’ Then I said to him: ‘Let us pray to the Lord.’ Then he said to me: ‘I have come to you in order to ease your sufferings. I saw that you greatly desired to eat and drink, since until this moment you have not eaten any food.’ Then I said to him: ‘Who inspired you to show me this mercy? And what do my patience and fasting matter to you? Do you not know that God is mighty to do what is impossible to men?’ When I prayed, I saw that this man turned his face away toward the west. From this I understood that this was a satanic deception; Satan wished to tempt us even on the cross. Soon after this the vision vanished.
“Then another man came up to me, and it seemed to me that he brought me to a river flowing with milk and honey, and he said to me: ‘Drink.’ But I replied: ‘I have already told you that I will not drink either water or any other earthly drink until I shall drink the cup of death for Christ my Lord, which He Himself will mix for me with the salvation and immortality of eternal life.’ When I had said this, that man drank from the river, and suddenly he himself and the river with him disappeared” (Lives of Saints, in Russian, May 3; see English translation in J. A. M. Fastre, S.J., The Acts of the Early Martyrs, Fifth Series, Philadelphia, 1878, pp. 227-28). The third apparition to St. Maura, that of a true angel, will be quoted later in this study; but here already it is clear what caution true Christians have in accepting “revelations” at the time of death.
The hour of death, then, is indeed a time of demonic temptation, and the “spiritual experiences” which people have at this time (even if they seem to be “after” death — a point yet to be discussed below) are to be subjected to the same standard of Christian teaching as are any other “spiritual experiences.” Likewise, the “spirits” who may be encountered at this time are to be subjected to the universal test which the Apostle John expresses in the words: Test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I John 4:1).