life anew

Last night’s discussion during our choir’s formation session was interesting yet scary… it so happened to be about the second coming of our Lord… a.k.a. the end of the world.

It all started with us discussing an article from the July 2004 issue of Totus Tuus Maria. The article was written by our very own choir moderator, and it was about the story of Bro. Stanley Villavicencio.

The highlight of the article (at least for my part, being a BSN student) was the fact that Bro. Stanley had been clinically dead for three days and yet was “raised from the dead” after those three days. That was not the astonishing part for me. I do not doubt whatsoever that part, that was the miracle in itself. The thing that bothers me is the fact that despite being clinically dead, he still had his IV inserted, an ET tube, etc. he was still being cared for by his doctors! Here’s the excerpt to show that part (I’m too lazy to type the whole article in):
“… A man by the name of Stanley Villavicencio, who had been clinically dead for three days, 'rose from the dead', took of his dextrose and the endotracheal tube stuck in his nose – and walked away like any normal person. Three days ago, his heart had stopped, he had turned blue from head to foot and vital organs showed no more signs of life…”

Being in the healthcare field, I had been asked to give my opinion as we discussed the article’s beginning and I just had to point out that ironic fact. As far as I know, upon announcing a person’s death, everything was removed from him (IV, ET tube, cath, etc…) and his body was prepped and, eventually, placed in the morgue. I couldn’t believe the fact that they actually “continued his care” just because his relatives requested (as had been mentioned to us). I mean, seriously! If requests like these were given into, everyone would be requesting that same degree of care. There’s no point for me in continuing this kind of care since it’s totally hopeless to be able to save this client. That basically means the end of medical science.

Ate Anna and Kuya Tutut (okay fine, hold up… Kuya Arthur) clarified this to me by saying that on that first day, he was actually having seizure attacks, and vomiting up blood, gallons and gallons of blood… this made his relatives rush him to the hospital (Chong Hua Hospital, Cebu City).

Okay, so for me, that wasn’t death. He couldn’t have been clinically dead. He was still having seizure, which means there’s still some brain conduction going on. I was asked what the basis for being clinically dead was… so I did try to explain it simply… all that electrical activity of the brain, and such… but found myself talking too scientifically still that I felt as though I was being looked at with blank faces… so I tried to clarify myself, and tried my best to make things simpler still…
“when there’s no more detectable heart beat that no more blood is being pumped throughout the entire body, the lungs no longer give out respirations….”
“Is that all? Are you already dead when that happens?”
“well, no, not really, it actually depends as well on the brain activity… but basically, to make things simple enough, then let’s just say so…”

Moving on, here’s the thing that caught my attention and made my eyes open wide and my mouth gasped… since his coming back to life, Bro. Stanley had been receiving messages from our Lord through dreams and interior locutions. One of the messages of the Lord to him was: “My son, you will witness My final coming.”
Upon the reading of that statement, I felt a shiver travel down my spine. We’ve been told numerous times that the Second Coming would happen during our generation… but I found comfort in the thought that nobody really knows, so people may just be making a wrong estimate of the “signs of the times” but this confirms it. Bro. Stanley was about 50 y/o during this interview, so I’m thinking he must be the age of my parents, our choir moderators, etc… SCARY. I somehow envy Michael Jackson now (yes, I feel sad – and shocked - that he passed away already. I grew up to his music. He’s such a terrible loss to the music industry). Anyway, going back, at least those who’ve already passed away won’t have the hardships of the Second Coming as mentioned in the Book of the Revelations.

After all that, the discussion went to some show (on NGC, I think) which Tito Poyen saw. They did a study on what would happen if a comet were to strike our planet. I wouldn’t explain it here any longer as it’s too complicated and would entail too much details. Bottomline is that during those times, no electrical appliances would work (as mentioned in the Bible) and only the blessed candle could provide light during those days of darkness, which result from the asteroid/comet plunging into Earth. The impact would be so great that the Earth would be tilted out of its axis, there would be earthquakes, tsunamis, and the land would react as it would to an atomic bomb, particles of land would shoot up to the heavens covering the sky and shielding it from any light, thus causing complete darkness where neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars in the sky would share its light.

As I said, SCARY. Kayla was even starting to tear up already. It made me feel so bothered. I’m not afraid to die but I can't commit suicide (as my cousin did for reasons unknown... may the Lord bless her soul, her 2nd death anniversary's coming up)... anyway, going back, to do that would be a grave mortal sin. But I also don’t want to see these days where they say all the evil will be released into the world. And it be best that you stay in your homes when this happens, close all windows, and don’t look out. People will be knocking at your houses, people you know, don’t open the door for them. These are the evil spirits fooling you….

YIKES. That’s it. I’m ending here. I think I’m starting to get paranoid… but hey, I’m just sharing what I know.