I attended Catholic school for 13 years, including kindergarten, and learned so many things about the Son of God. The thing I loved learning most about Jesus Christ was his unfailing empathy and kindness. For a good portion of those school years, I never thought to question the blue eyes and ivory skin he was so routinely depicted with. Once I got to high school and I learned where Jerusalem was geographically, I realized there was no way he could have looked like that.
Although I am no longer a practicing Catholic and am now quite skeptical, whenever someone details an encounter where Jesus looks more like the Middle Eastern man he likely was, I am much more inclined to entertain it.
Gabe Poirot was skateboarding without a helmet going 30 MPH when he struck something in the road.
Gabe flew off his electric skateboard several years ago and hit his head on the sidewalk, shattering his skull. Unilad reported that his friends gathered around him and prayed, assuring him he wasn’t going to die.
Although his physical body was being cared for on the way to the hospital, Gabe told The Christian Broadcasting Network during an interview that he saw a tunnel of light like he was being “suctioned up to an appointment with Him.”
By the time he got to the hospital, Gabe claims he had died and saw himself outside of his body, his friends praying for him. And that’s when he made his way into heaven.
“It was like this city of pure glory, pure light, pure love,” Gabe continued, per the video. “But then, as the closer I got to the centre of the city, He was there waiting for me. Seeing Him changed everything.”
In fact, he could vividly recall what Jesus looked like.
“He was about 5ft 11 [to] 6ft. Met me eye-to-eye. He was darker-toned skinned, close to like Middle Eastern, yet eternity at the same time,” Gabe recently explained to The Lila Rose Show, a Christian podcast. “So, he was 33 yet eternal.” He also noted Jesus had brown, curly(ish) hair.
The podcast host showed him an image of Jesus that was a more modern interpretation, with brown skin and dark hair, and asked if it was similar to what he saw.
“I like that painting, but can I tell you … there is no image that you can hold in your hands that does him justice. Nothing does him justice,” he said, tearing up.
Perhaps his most moving claim was that no one we lose on earth is ever really ‘lost.’
In an interview with Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News, Gabe said there was a nursery full of babies waiting to be reunited with their parents.
I can admit that the thought of that made my eyes a little wet.
Gabe spent 18 days in a coma and claims it wasn’t until a family friend named Ginger came to the hospital and prayed over him that he woke up.
He also said Jesus’ parting message to him was to “tell them who I really am and tell my family that I am coming back soon to get them.”
Whether you are a believer or not, many people claim to have visited heaven or seen Jesus after a near-death experience, and who am I to say they have or haven’t? We’ll all find out in the end anyway.
