Chapter 1: The near-death experience
H# Chapter 1 Introduction She died after an allergic reaction, but what she saw on the other side was something no song could ever explain. Jesus received her and revealed the six types of Christians the devil fears most. My name is Elisa Cartman. I am 41 years old and I live in Lion in southeastern France. I have been a Christian since I was a teenager. I grew up in the church, but when I was about 34, I began attending a more contemporary church.
I became increasingly involved with worship and music. I loved singing. I loved the atmosphere of worship. I loved seeing people raising their hands, crying, kneeling, and experiencing what seemed to be the presence of God. But there was something I did not understand. I thought that because I was singing about God, I was necessarily worshiping God. I thought that if the music moved people, then heaven must also be moved.
I was wrong. A few months before what happened to me, I began having a deep uneasiness in my spirit. I could not explain it. I would go to church and sing, but something inside me would say, "Is this really for God?" At first, I ignored that voice. I thought I was simply tired. I thought I was going through a spiritual season. I continued singing. I continued serving. I continued doing everything I had always done.
Then came the retreat. It was held in the mountains near Anessi. There were many people there. We spent time praying, singing, listening to the word, and seeking God. On the final day after one of the meetings, we were given something to eat. There was a chocolate pastry. I had no idea that it contained peanuts. I had a severe allergic reaction. At first, I thought I could control it. My throat began to close.
I could barely breathe. People around me started shouting for help. Someone called the emergency services. I remember falling to the ground. Then everything went dark. I heard voices around me, but they seemed very far away. I could no longer feel my body. And then I died. I know that sounds strange. But I am not saying that I almost died. I died. My heart stopped.
Chapter 2: Encounter with Jesus
The paramedics were trying to bring me back. And while they were fighting for my life, I found myself somewhere else, I was no longer in that room. I was somewhere I cannot fully describe with human words. And then I saw him. Jesus. I knew immediately who he was. I did not need anyone to tell me. I did not need a sign. I did not need an explanation. I knew. And when I saw him, the first thing I felt was not excitement.
It was holiness. Absolute holiness. I suddenly understood that I had spent years talking about his presence without truly understanding what his presence meant. He looked at me and he said, "Alisa, you have sung many songs about me." I began to cry. He continued, "But not everything that sounds like worship reaches heaven." Those words broke something inside me because I realized that I had confused sound with worship.
I had confused emotion with worship. I had confused the reaction of people with the approval of God. Then Jesus began
Chapter 3: Six types of godly worship
showing me things. He showed me six kinds of worship that hell fears. Six kinds of worship that the enemy cannot easily destroy. And I understood that these were not merely songs. They were lives. They were Christians whose worship had become a way of living before God. The first thing he showed me was worship that is born in secret. Not worship that begins on a stage. Not worship that begins when the microphone is turned on.
Not worship that begins when people are watching. It begins when nobody sees you. Jesus showed me that true worship is formed in hidden places. There are people who sing beautifully in front of thousands, but their private lives are empty. And there are people whom almost nobody knows, but whose lives are continually crying out to God. I understood something that day. Heaven is not impressed by a volume.
Heaven sees the heart. A song may fill a building, but only a surrendered heart can fill heaven with worship. Then Jesus showed me the second kind. worship rooted in the word of God. He showed me people who did not build their faith on feelings. They built it on scripture. When the emotion disappeared, they continued. When the music stopped, they continued. When they did not feel God's presence, they continued because their foundation was not an atmosphere.
Their foundation was the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I understood that a Christian who knows the word cannot easily be manipulated by emotions. The enemy can attack feelings. He can attack circumstances. He can attack the atmosphere. But when the word of God is planted deeply within someone, there is a foundation that remains. Then Jesus showed me the third kind of worship.
Worship with reverence. Holy fear, not terror, not the fear of punishment, but the deep understanding that we are standing before a holy God. I saw Christians who spoke about God casually, sang about God casually, and lived as though God were merely an accessory to their lives. And I saw others who approached him with humility. They understood that he is father, but he is also holy. They understood grace, but they did not use grace as an excuse to live however they wanted.
Jesus reminded me of the words, "Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling." I understood that true worship contains joy, but it also contains reverence. It contains celebration, but it also contains surrender. Then came the fourth kind, worship in the middle of suffering. This one shocked me because I had always associated worship with good moments. When everything was working, when people were smiling, when prayers were being answered, when the church was full.
But Jesus showed me something different. He showed me people who worshiped while they were hurting. People who had lost things. People who had been betrayed, people who were waiting for answers. People who prayed through tears. People who could say, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." That kind of worship frightened hell. Because suffering had not made them abandon God.
It had driven them closer to him. Jesus showed me Paul and Silas. They were imprisoned. They had been beaten. They had every reason to complain. Yet at midnight, they prayed and sang hymns to God. And suddenly, there was an earthquake. The doors opened. The chains fell. I understood. There is a kind of worship that does not wait for the prison doors to open. It worships while still inside the prison.
That worship is dangerous to darkness. Then Jesus showed me the fifth kind. Worship directed toward God and not toward ourselves. This was painful for me because I realized how much of my worship had been about what I felt, how I sounded, how people reacted, whether people cried, whether people raised their hands, whether they applauded, whether they said that the worship was powerful. But Jesus showed me that there is only one audience that ultimately matters.
God. Not the congregation, not the musicians, not the worship leader, not the internet, not the number of views, God. He showed me that a person can stand before thousands and still be worshiping themselves. And another person can kneel alone in a bedroom and give God something infinitely more precious. Then came the sixth kind, worship with holiness, worship that refuses to mix God with the world.
Jesus showed me that there are people who want the presence of God without giving up the things that separate them from God. They want blessing without surrender. They want anointing without obedience. They want heaven without holiness. But true worship requires a life that belongs to God. I understood that holiness is not an old-fashioned concept. It is not about pretending to be perfect. It is about being separated for God.
It is about saying, "Lord, what is mine belongs to you. It is about allowing him to change our desires, our words, our relationships, our choices, and our priorities." Jesus looked at me and said something I will never forget. Hell does not fear music. I was shocked. He continued, "Hell fears holiness." Then he said, "Hell fears when the church sings as though it already belongs to heaven." I began to cry because I finally understood.
The problem was never music. The problem was never instruments. The problem was never contemporary worship or traditional worship. The question was, "Who is receiving the worship? and what kind of life is behind the song?
Chapter 4: Returning to life changed
Then everything began to fade. I heard voices again. I heard people shouting. I felt pain in my body. And suddenly I opened my eyes. I was back. The paramedics had managed to resuscitate me. I was alive. But I was no longer the same person. The first word that came out of my mouth was, "Holy." I could barely speak. I kept repeating. Holy, holy. The people around me did not understand, but I understood.
I had seen something that I could never forget. I had understood that worship is not simply something we sing. Worship is who we are before God. And that day, I realized that the greatest threat to darkness is not a beautiful song. It is a holy life. It is a Christian who continues to worship when nobody is watching. It is a Christian who knows the word. It is a Christian who reverences God. It is a Christian who worships through suffering.
It is a Christian who refuses to make worship about themselves. And it is a Christian who chooses holiness. That is the kind of worship that hell fears.
