NDE
Near-death experiences all seem to have something in common: the subjects thought they were dying or about to die.
I recall reading an account of a vision experienced by a mountain climber who fell a long distance, long enough to think about it as he dropped. He described, in the detailed manner of so many reports of mystical experiences, nothing less than a vision of the Pearly Gates, with rosy colors, golden clouds, the whole candy box. Then he struck a deeply snow-covered slope, and the vision vanished. He was injured but he lived, and clearly was very impressed by this undoubtedly vivid experience.
My point? The man was not physically ill in any way as he fell; his body and brain were not in any medical sense "near death," but he assumed that he was about to die, and he experienced what sounds like a pretty conventional revelation of the entrance to a cornball heaven. (Well, what would you expect? Mountain climbers can't afford to be very imaginative people.)
I had a near-death experience when a bullet missed me. Didn't have any visions, though; I guess I didn't have time to think about it.
Bring me an honest-to-pete POST-death experience. Bring me Lazarus. "But Lord, he stinketh."