The Light After Death
At the recommendation of long-time reader Margaret Brough from a previous post on Cycles of Creation, I purchased and read “The Light After Death” by Vinney Tolman. I also watched several of his on-line interviews, including this one from Shaman Oaks. Because Vinney’s story includes spirit guides, Amazon recommended “Dancing on a Stamp” by Garnet Schulhauser.
I always read the one-star reviews. As a published author and avid reader, Carol taught me that it is a good idea to get a balanced perspective. I’m not sure how balanced one-star reviews are but they do give you an idea of what to look for that might leave you scratching your head. After reading both books, I recommend “The Light After Death.” It passed several tests for me.
Addicted to Technology
Since my daily work is IT support, I thought I found a “gotcha” moment on page 64 in the chapter on technology. As I wrote in my journal: “He mentioned in his visit to the spirit world he saw people ‘wandering in dark places, yearning for entertainment. Some people were just staring at their own hands, as if hoping for a phone to materialize.’”
I thought to myself, “Wait, this event took place in 2003 and the smartphone (the iPhone) wasn’t invented until 2007.” I discussed it with Carol. She reminded me that we had cell phones in the 90’s. That made me think they could have been looking for a BlackBerry, which was invented in 1999. So, even though they might not have been looking for a smartphone, they could have been looking for a texting device. People were and are addicted to texting.
Dancing on a Stamp
On the other hand, there were numerous passages in “Dancing on a Stamp” that caused me to say, “what Albert is saying about Christ is contrary to what I know to be true.” The voice of Albert sounds very much like the voice of the author. I have read writings from others who said what they received was from spirit guides but turned out to be deceiving spirits. I have some personal experience with deceiving spirits. As Joseph taught, “Try the Spirits.”
Here’s an example from pages 87-88 that contains an introductory line of truth followed by a line that places Christ at the same level as mortals. True, he condescended to be born in the flesh, but Albert does not mention that Christ was divine, in that he was and is the Son of God, the only begotten in the flesh. A number of one-star reviews criticized both books for promoting the role of a spirit guide in our lives over the role of the Savior and Redeemer.
Masters Living on Earth
“God speaks to everyone, and no person or group has a monopoly on these messages. God will often speak through your Soul or your Spirit Guides. Often He sends Masters (who are very advanced souls) to your planet to live amongst humans in order to spread His message.
“Jesus, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, and Muhammad are a few of the prominent Masters who have walked the Earth to help humans with their journeys. There have been other Masters who kept low profiles when they lived on your planet, and there are Masters living on Earth right now who have chosen to stay out of the limelight.
“Jesus was a Master who incarnated as a human in order to spread God’s message to humans and lead them to a higher level of consciousness. Jesus was and still is a son of God — just as all Souls are children of God. Jesus was a very advanced Soul who did not need to experience anything himself; he incarnated solely to help others through his teachings.”
Identity of Spirit Guides
Let me be clear that I don’t agree with the statements above purportedly made by Albert, identified as a spirit guide for Mr. Schulhauser in his book. Jesus DID need to experience mortality and His mission could only be accomplished in the flesh. Jesus was more than a very advanced soul. He was a God who put aside exaltation to fulfil the role of the Mediator.
So, maybe it’s not a good idea to compare these two books. They both contain words that are allegedly from a spirit guide, but for some reason I find the words shared by Vinney in his book to be much more believable. I suppose that’s partly because Vinney was able to later identify his spirit guide Drake as his third great grandfather. That rings true with me.
The Voice of the Author
As many reviewers pointed out on Amazon for Vinney’s book, it was unusual for an NDE in that the focus was not so much on the event itself, but on the message (ten foundational principles) that Vinney was taught by Drake. I’ve reviewed other NDE books (here and here) where I pointed out in my review of “The Message” by Lance Richardson that the book “felt contrived. It seemed packaged. It was slick even though it was in need of further editing.”
Lynn Taylor, who wrote this book with Vinney, did a great job. This book does a better job of what “The Message” tried to achieve. Lynn is a member of the board of the Christmas Box International. I love his tagline on Facebook: “Our life is as bright as the thoughts we entertain.” Although it’s Vinney’s story, I’m sure Lynn did more than just transcribe the recorded words Vinney shared with him. You can confirm that in the preface and here.
Getting the Word Out
Vinney has not been shy about promoting his book. When I bought it from Amazon, it was delayed from a half dozen other NDE books I bought that day. That’s because it was shipped from the Richard Paul Evans Online Store (Ascendt Publishing). I don’t know how much publicity Vinney got from his publisher, but he has done a whole lot of marketing himself.
Getting the word out is the key to success in bookselling. You can have a great story, a great book, and great reviews but without publicity, people will not be moved to buy it. That’s why I’m so impressed with Vinney’s story beyond his story. Do a search on “Vincent Todd Tolman” in YouTube. Watch some of those interviews. See if you aren’t moved to take some action.
The Ten Foundational Principles
By the way, here are the ten foundational principles Vinney shared that he said were taught to him by Drake, his spirit guide, who he said he later recognized as his third great grandfather:
- Be Authentic
- Understand the Purpose of Life
- Love Everyone
- Listen to Your Inner Voice
- Use Technology Responsibly
- Release Prejudice
- Exercise the Power of Creation
- Avoid Negative Influences
- Understand the Purpose of Evil
- Know That We Are All One
Thoughts on Spirit Guides
As noted before, some of the one-star reviewers were very put off by the idea that any kind of spiritual guidance could come from anyone other than the word of God as found in scripture. You’ll have to decide for yourself if you have ever felt inspiration or heard a voice in your mind prompting you to do or say something. I have. All my life. From a source I trust:
“True spirits do the following: testify of Christ; lead to repentance; are consistent with existing scripture; edify and enlighten the mind; are understandable and do not cause confusion; cause light to grow within; turn one toward Christ, not men; never cause pride; make one a better servant; increase one’s love of his fellow man; clothe one with charity for the failings of others; conform to the true whisperings of the holy ghost that had been previously received; leave one humble and grateful for God’s condescension; make one want to bring others to the light; are grounded in love toward God and all mankind; and lead one to rejoice.
“On the other hand, false spirits will: deny Christ; cause pride; make one believe he is better than others because of the experience; contradict the scriptures; appeal to carnality and self-indulgence; cause confusion; lead to ambition to control others; make one intolerant of others’ failings; seek self-fulfillment rather than service; appeal to one’s vanity and assure him that he is a great person; bring darkness; repulse the holy ghost; prevent one from repenting and forsaking sins; interfere with serving others; and focus on oneself rather than the needs of others.”
Did Vinney have a true spiritual experience? Did he really die? (Yes, he did). Did he really meet a spirit guide who turned out to be his great-great-great-grandfather? Do you think the message Vinney has shared, published and promoted came from a true spirit? Do the ten foundational principles Drake gave to Vinney lead us closer to Christ? You decide.
The only NDEs I generally treat as authentic are what Dr. Raymond Moody published years ago. Since then, I’ve found them to be vehicles for agendas. After all, anyone can say whatever they want (and they do) about the afterlife and their visions of the future, and who is to say they’re wrong? It became clear to me when I read an NDE book that depicted the returning 10 Tribes piloting hover tanks and shooting lasers to chase away the wicked bad guys to reclaim Zion (completely against scripture and a bit silly anyway). Looking into it the person basically admitted the publisher wanted her to spice things up to entice people to buy the book, and I’m sure her writing partner came up with these kinds of creative ideas. I’m particularly suspicious of those who have co-writers, such as your example, because they definitely influence what is in the book. They can shift the narrative in any direction. Pontius admitted he excluded things from Visions of Glory (which is total bunk, Pontius was probably duped). But I suspect NDEs have become a tool for spreading disinformation by the other side – just look at all the YouTube videos and what these people are saying. Dr. Moody found a lot of patterns in NDEs in his initial research, but now that has changed, and likely intentionally.
The real problem is we have itchy ears. People are looking at NDEs as a substitute for revelation that they aren’t getting.