> It would have been more credible if Frankie were to go to Hell HIMSELF and
> come back to tell us, rather than the Myamese monk. The fact that he is
> fabricating the story is enough qualification to go to HIS hell. A true monk
> would have found that all things are illusions. The illusion of life and the
> illusion or fear of Hell. Very difficult for a Christian to appreciate.
>
> "FRANKIE LEE" singnet.com.sg> wrote in message
> news:fc3ck5$nis$1@mawar.singnet.com.sg...

>> My Early Years
>>
>> Hello! My name is Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu. I am from the country of
>> Myanmar. I would like to share with you my testimony of what happened to
>> me, but first I would like to give some brief background information from
>> my life growing up.
>>
>> I was born in 1958 in the town of Bogale, on the Irrawaddy Delta area of
>> southern Myanmar [formerly Burma]. My parents, who were devout Buddhists
>> like most people in Myanmar, named me Thitpin [which means 'tree' in
>> English]. Our lives were very simple where I grew up. At the age of 13 I
>> left school and started working on a fishing boat. We caught fish and
>> sometimes also shrimp from the numerous rivers and streams in the
>> Irrawaddy area. At the age of 16 I became the leader of the boat. At this
>> time I lived in Upper Mainmahlagyon Island [Mainmahlagyon means 'Beautiful
>> Woman Island' in English], just north of Bogale where I was born. This
>> place is about 100 miles southwest of Yangon [Rangoon], our nation's
>> capitol city.
>>
>> One day, when I was 17, we caught a large number of fish in our nets.
>> Because of the many fish, a large crocodile was attracted to us. It
>> followed our boat and tried to attack us. We were terrified so we
>> frantically rowed our boats toward the riverbank as fast as we could. The
>> crocodile followed us and smashed our boat with its tail. Although no one
>> died in this incident, the attack greatly affected my life. I no longer
>> wanted to fish. Our small boat sank because of the crocodile attack. We
>> had to go home to our village that night on a passenger boat.
>>
>> Not long after, his employers transferred my father to Yangon City
>> [formerly spelt Rangoon]. At the age of 18 I was sent to a Buddhist
>> monastery to be a novice monk. Most parents in Myanmar try to send their
>> son into a Buddhist monastery, at least for a time, as it is considered a
>> great honor to have a son serve in this way. We have been observing this
>> custom for many hundreds of years.
>>
>> A Zealous Disciple of Buddha
>>
>> When I turned 19 years and 3 months old (in 1977), I became a normal monk.
>> The senior monk at my monastery gave me a new Buddhist name, which is the
>> custom in our country. I was now called U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya. When
>> we become a monk we no longer use the name given to us at birth by our
>> parents. The name of the monastery I lived at is called Mandalay Kyaikasan
>> Kyaing. The senior monk's name was called U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [U
>> Zadila is his title]. He was the most famous Buddhist monk in all of
>> Myanmar at the time. Everyone knew who he was. He was widely honored by
>> the people and respected as a great teacher. I say he "was" because in
>> 1983 he suddenly died when he was involved in a fatal car accident. His
>> death shocked everyone. At the time I had been a monk for six years.
>>
>> I tried hard to be the best monk I could and to follow all the precepts of
>> Buddhism. At one stage I moved to a cemetery where I lived and meditated
>> continually. Some monks who really want to know the truths of Buddha do
>> things like I did. Some move deep into the forests where they live a life
>> of self-denial and poverty. I sought to deny my selfish thoughts and
>> desires, to escape from sickness and suffering and to break free from the
>> cycle of this world. At the cemetery I was not afraid of ghosts. I tried
>> to attain such inner peace and self-realization that even when a mosquito
>> landed on my arm I would let it bite me instead of brushing it off!
>>
>> For years I strived to be the best monk I could and not to harm any living
>> being. I studied the holy Buddhist teachings just like all my forefathers
>> had done before me. My life proceeded as a monk until I got very, very
>> sick. I was in Mandalay at the time and had to be taken to the hospital
>> for treatment. The doctors did some tests on me and told me I had both
>> Yellow Fever and malaria at the same time! After about one month in the
>> hospital I was getting worse. The doctors told me there was no chance for
>> me to recover and discharged me to make arrangements to die.
>>
>> This is a brief description of my past. I would now like to tell you some
>> of the remarkable things that happened to me after this time...
>>
>> A Vision that Changed My Life Forever
>>
>> After I was discharged from the hospital I went back to the monastery
>> where other monks cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and was lapsing
>> into unconsciousness. I learned later that I actually died for three days.
>> My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating. My body
>> was prepared for cremation and was put through traditional Buddhist
>> purification rites.
>>
>> Although I faded away in my body I remember my mind and spirit were fully
>> alert. I was in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous wind flattened
>> the whole landscape until there were no trees or anything else standing,
>> just a flat plain. I walked very fast along this plain for some time.
>> There were no other people anywhere, I was all alone. After some time I
>> crossed a river. On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible
>> lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this.
>> At first I was confused and didn't know it was hell until I saw Yama, the
>> king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous
>> cultures throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his
>> body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He
>> had a number of horns on his head. His face was very fierce, and I was
>> extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the
>> king of hell, the Destroyer."
>>
>> The terrible, terrible lake of fire
>>
>> The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw
>> the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked
>> closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I
>> saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a
>> car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was
>> confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire?
>> He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a
>> Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their
>> worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell
>> replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus
>> Christ. That's why he is in hell."
>>
>> I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with
>> very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also
>> wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied,
>> "This is the one you worship: Gautama [Buddha]." I was very disturbed to
>> see Gautama in hell. I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and good moral
>> character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?" The king of hell
>> answered me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He is in this place
>> because he did not believe in the Eternal God."
>>
>> I then saw another man who looked like he was wearing a soldier's uniform.
>> He had a large wound on his chest. I asked, "Who is this man?" The king of
>> hell said, "This is Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar." I was
>> told, "Aung San is here because he persecuted and killed Christians, but
>> mostly because he didn't believe in Jesus Christ." In Myanmar the people
>> have a common saying, "Soldiers never die, they live on." I was told that
>> the legions of hell have a saying "Soldiers never die, but they go to hell
>> forever."
>>
>> I looked and saw another man in the lake of fire. He was a very tall man
>> and he was dressed in military armor. He was also holding a sword and a
>> shield. This man had a wound on his forehead. This man was taller than any
>> person I have ever seen. He was six times the length between a man's elbow
>> and the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm out straight, plus
>> one span of a man's fingers when he spreads out his hand. The king of hell
>> said, "This man's name is Goliath. He is in hell because he blasphemed the
>> Eternal God and His servant David." I was confused because I didn't know
>> who either Goliath or David were. The king of hell said, "Goliath is
>> recorded in the Christian Bible. You don't know him now, but when you
>> become a Christian you will know who he is."
>>
>> I was then taken to a place where I saw both rich and poor people
>> preparing to eat their evening meals. I asked, "Who cooked the food for
>> these people?" The king of hell replied, "The poor have to prepare their
>> own food, but the rich people get others to cook for them." When the food
>> had been prepared for the rich people they sat down to eat. As soon as
>> they started a thick smoke came up. The rich people ate as fast as they
>> could to ease their consciences. They were struggling to breath because of
>> the smoke. They had to eat fast because they were fearful of losing their
>> money. Their money is their god.
>>
>> Another king of hell then came to me. I also saw a being whose job is to
>> stoke the fires beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot. This being asked
>> me, "Are you going into the lake of fire too?" I replied, "No! I am only
>> here to observe!" The appearance of this creature stoking the fire was
>> very terrifying. He had ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand that
>> had seven sharp blades coming from the end. The creature told me, "You are
>> right. You came here just to observe. I cannot find your name here." He
>> said, "You must now go back the way you came." He pointed me toward the
>> desolate plain that I had first walked along before I came to the lake of
>> fire.
>>
>> The Road of Decision
>>
>> I walked a long time, until I was bleeding. I was hot and in great pain.
>> Finally, after walking for about three hours I came to a wide road. I
>> walked along this road for some time until I came to a fork. One road,
>> going off to the left, was wide. A smaller road went off to the right hand
>> side. There was a signpost at the fork saying that the road to the left
>> was for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller
>> road to the right was for believers in Jesus.
>>
>> I was interested to see where the larger road led so I started down it.
>> There were two men walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried to catch
>> up with them so I could walk with them but no matter how hard I tried I
>> couldn't catch them up, so I turned around and went back to the fork in
>> the road. I continued to watch these two men as they walked down the road
>> away from me. When they reached the end of the road they were suddenly
>> stabbed. These two men cried out in great pain! I also cried out when I
>> saw what happened to them! I realized the bigger road ended in great
>> danger for those who traveled down it.
>>
>> Looking into Heaven
>>
>> I started walking down the believers' road instead. After traveling for
>> about one hour the surface of the road turned to pure gold. It was so pure
>> that when I looked down I could see my own reflection perfectly. I then
>> saw a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a white robe. I also
>> heard beautiful singing. Oh, it was so beautiful and pure! It was much
>> better and more meaningful than the worship we have in churches here on
>> the earth. The man in the white robe asked me to walk with him. I asked
>> him, "What is your name?" but he did not answer. After I asked his name
>> six times the man answered, "I am the one who holds the key to heaven.
>> Heaven is a very, very beautiful place. You cannot go there now but if you
>> follow Jesus Christ you can go there after your life has finished on the
>> earth." The man's name was Peter.
>>
>> Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed me a place to the north.
>> Peter said, "Look to the north and see God create man." I saw the Eternal
>> God from a distance. God spoke to an angel, "Let us make man." The angel
>> pleaded with God and said, "Please don't make man. He will do wrong and
>> will grieve you." [In Burmese literally: "He will make you lose face."].
>> But God created a man named anyway. God blew on the man and the man came
>> to life. He gave him the name "Adam". [Note: Buddhists do not believe in
>> the Creation of the world or of man, so this experience had a significant
>> impact on the monk].
>>
>> Sent Back with a New Name
>>
>> Then Peter said, "Now get up and go back to where you came from. Speak to
>> the people who worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell them they must
>> go to hell if they don't change. Those who build temples and idols will
>> also have to go to hell. Those who give offerings to the monks to earn
>> merit for themselves with go to hell. All those who pray to the monks and
>> call them 'Pra' [respectful title for monks] will go to hell. Those who
>> chant and 'give life' to idols will go to hell. All those who don't
>> believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell." Peter told me to go back to the
>> earth and testify about the things I had seen. He also said, "You must
>> speak in your new name. From now on you are to be called Athet Pyan
>> Shinthaw Paulu ["Paul who Came Back to Life."].
>>
>> I didn't want to go back. I wanted to go to heaven. Angels opened a book.
>> First they looked for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book, but they
>> could not find it. They then looked for the name I had been given when he
>> entered the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya) but it wasn't
>> written in the book either. Then Peter said, "Your name is not written
>> here, you must return and testify about Jesus to the Buddhist people."
>>
>> I walked back along the gold road. Again I heard beautiful singing, the
>> kind of which I have never heard before or since. Peter walked with me
>> until the time I returned to the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached
>> down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder didn't reach to the earth, but
>> stopped in mid-air. On the ladder I saw many angels, some going up to
>> heaven and some going down the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter,
>> "Who are they?" Peter answered, "They are messengers of God. They are
>> reporting to heaven the names of all those who believe in Jesus Christ and
>> the names of those who don't believe." Peter then told me it was time to
>> go back.
>>
>> It is a Ghost!
>>
>> The next thing I was aware of was the sound of weeping. I heard my own
>> mother cry out, "My son, why did you leave us now?" I also heard many
>> other people weeping. I realized I was lying in a box. I started to move.
>> My mother and father started shouting, "He is alive! He is alive!" Other
>> people who were farther away did not believe my parents. I then placed my
>> hands on the sides of the box and sat upright. Many people were struck
>> with terror. They cried out, "It is a ghost!" and ran away as fast as
>> their legs could carry them.
>>
>> Those who remained were speechless and trembling. I noticed I was sitting
>> in smelly liquid and body fluids, enough to fill about three and a half
>> cups. This was liquid that had come out of my stomach and my insides while
>> my body was lying in the coffin. This is why people knew I had indeed been
>> dead. Inside the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet fixed to the
>> wood. This sheet is placed there to retain a corpse's liquids, because
>> many dead bodies release much fluid like mine did.
>>
>> I learned later that I was just moments away from being cremated in the
>> flames. In Myanmar people are placed in a coffin, the lid is then nailed
>> shut, and the whole coffin is burned. When I came back to life my mother
>> and father were being allowed to look at my body for the very last time.
>> Moments later the lid of my coffin would have been nailed shut and I would
>> have been cremated!
>>
>> I immediately started to explain the things I had seen and heard. People
>> were astonished. I told them about the men I had seen in the lake of fire,
>> and told them that only the Christians know the truth, that our
>> forefathers and us have been deceived for thousands of years! I told them
>> everything we believe is a lie. The people were astonished because they
>> knew what kind of a monk I had been and how zealous I had been for the
>> teachings of Buddha.
>>
>> In Myanmar when a person dies their name and age is written on the side of
>> the coffin. When a monk dies, the monk's name, age and the number of years
>> he has served as a monk are written on the side of the coffin. I had
>> already been recorded as dead but as you can see, now I am alive!
>>
>> Epilogue
>>
>> Since 'Paul who came back to life' experienced the above story he has
>> remained a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Burmese pastors have
>> told us that he had led hundreds of other monks to faith in Christ. His
>> testimony is obviously very uncompromising. Because of that, his message
>> has offended many people who cannot accept there is only one Way to
>> Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite great opposition, his experiences
>> were so real to him that he has not wavered. After many years in the
>> Buddhist monk hood, as a strict follower of Buddhist teachings, he
>> immediately proclaimed the Gospel of Christ following his resurrection and
>> exhorted other monks to forsake all false gods and follow Jesus Christ
>> with all their hearts. Before the time of his sickness and death he had no
>> exposure to Christianity at all. Everything he learned during those three
>> days in the grave was new to his mind.
>>
>> In a bid to get his message out to as many people as possible, this
>> modern-day Lazarus began distributing audio and video cassette tapes with
>> his story on them. The police and Buddhist authorities in Myanmar have
>> done their utmost to gather these tapes up and destroy them. The testimony
>> you have just read has been translated form one of those cassette tapes.
>> We are told it is now quite dangerous for citizens of Myanmar to be in
>> possession of these tapes.
>>
>> His fearless testimony has landed him in prison at least once, where the
>> authorities failed in their bid to silence him. Upon his release he
>> continued to testify of the things he saw and heard. His current
>> whereabouts are uncertain. One Burmese informant told us he is prison and
>> may have been killed, while another informant was told he is now released
>> from prison and is continuing his ministry.
>>
>>
>>
>>

>
>