A three year-old German boy who died after drowning in a pond claims to have seen his grandmother standing “by a gate” who told him to “go home to mummy and daddy” before he was resucitated. London’s Daily Mail is reporting that Paul Eicke of Lychen, Germany, is believed to have been lying unconscious in his grandparents’ pond for several minutes before being discovered. His father began to administer cardiopulmonary and mouth-to-mouth resucitation until paramedics arrived and flew the boy to a nearby hospital. Doctors worked for hours to revive the boy and were just about to give up when his heart suddenly started beating on its own. “I have never experienced anything like it,” said Professor Lothar Schweigerer, director of the Helios Clinic where Paul was treated. “When children have been underwater for a few minutes they mostly don’t make it. This is a most extraordinary case.” Even more extraordinary was what the boy told his parents after he awoke. He claims that while lying clinically dead on a hospital bed, he saw his great grandmother Emmi standing by a gate. “There was a lot of light and I was floating,” the boy said. “I came to a gate and I saw Grandma Emmi on the other side. She said to me, ‘What are you doing here Paul? You must go back to mummy and daddy. I will wait for you here.’ I knew I was in heaven. But grandma said I had to come home. She said that I should go back very quickly.” He added: “Heaven looked nice. But I am glad I am back with mummy and daddy now." Equally miraculous is the fact that Paul suffered no brain injury even though he was “dead” for three hours and 18 minutes before his heart started beating again. Doctors believe that because the pond water was so cold, the boy’s body temperature remained low, which slows the metabolism and allows the body to survive longer without oxygen. “I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and have never seen anything like this,” Professor Schweigerer said. “It goes to show the human body is a very resilient organism and you should never give up.” Near death experiences (NDE) continue to confound the scientific community. Some doctors believe they may be caused by narcotics such as morphine or other anesthetic drugs typically used to treat patients after severe accidents, during surgery, or to ease the pain of death. Others believe they could be caused by hallucinations, or the result of the large amount of endorphins released near the end of life which can cause a natural high that some people interpret as an near death experience. Another possible cause is hypoxia, a condition where the brain is deprived of oxygen and a person hallucinates and experiences pleasurable feelings. There is also convincing evidence that many of the people who report having NDEs were never medically dead but only thought they were. New Age enthusiasts, whose writings dominate this field, typically represent NDEs in religiously neutral terms, with God depicted as a “light” or “force” rather than as Jesus Christ, and rarely mention any negative experiences. However, medical and scientific study reveals that there are definitely negative or distressful NDEs and many that involve encounters with Jesus Christ and even Satan. For a more detailed explanation of how the New Age has hijacked the field of NDEs, read “Ned Dougherty and Near Death Experiences” available here: /?p=35 Send your New Age question to newage@womenofgrace.com