Press Interview

An Interview with Bestselling Author
Betty J. Eadie
By Jim Perkins

Betty Eadie's publisher, Gold Leaf Press, was calling her book "Embraced By The Light", a publishing phenomenon after it had been on the New York Times Bestseller list a scant six months. That was in August. In less than a year it has sold more than one million copies. It is the first book Eadie has ever written and that Gold Leaf Press has ever published - it is still going strong.

Gold Leaf Press was formed for the express purpose of publishing Eadie's book. She spoke about her near-death experience several times in the year and a half before her book was published, so people were already familiar with it. The first six months it was on the market it sold primarily by word of mouth. It was called a phenomenon becaue people would read it, then buy 10 or 15 more copies for family and friends.

Eadie is the mother of eight children and grandmother of eight. Her husband Joe, retired from the Air Force, is now employed by a "major aerospace corporation" in Seattle.

As the daughter of a Sioux-Indian mother, Eadie was raised in rural Nebraska and on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. After leaving school at the age of 15 to care for a younger sister, she returned to complete high school and is nearing a college degree. She owns a successful business as a registered counselor and works as a volunteer for a major cancer research center.

Embraced By The Light is Eadie's account of a near-death experience she had at the age of 31. It begins with her checking into the hospital for a hysterectomy. Then something went wrong. She died when she wasn't supposed to. She as restored to life a changed woman, believing she had a message of love to share with other people. The message came from Jesus. She has some startling things to say about him.

TT: Betty, you say in you book that Jesus is a separate being from God, with his own divine purpose. Doesn't this go somewhat against the teaching of most Protestant churches?

Eadie: "My Protestant teaching ws that God the Father and Jesus were one being. When I had my experience I learned that Jesus is the son of God, he shares Godhood, but he himself is not God. The Trinity is still valid if I understand it correctly, though. It's like saying your parents are one: they're not the same person, but they are one in their shared union. As I checked the Scripture out, this made a lot of sense - united as one, but not the same person."

TT: How do you answer people who say you're wrong?

Eadie: "I don't worry about people who say I'm wrong. All I'm doing is sharing my experience. I'm not trying to convince anyone."

TT: How do you answer accusations that you are a New Age believer?

Eadie: "Some Christians along the Bible belt have said my book sounds New Age, but the New Agers say it sounds Christian. Book store owners don't know whether to place my book in the Christian section of the New Age section but it's God-inspired, so it can sit in a section by itself."

"I receive many letters from people who say they can tell I'm Muslim or Buddhist or Catholic. But I believe all faiths have a common thread. Most church goers don't truly know what other religions believe, yet they are very quick to criticize other religions."

TT: In you book you say, quote: "All healing takes place within." Would you elaborate on that a little bit?

Eadie: "I think it's a fairly common belief now that our spirits heal our bodies. I've worked with many physicians and they know that medicine alone does not heal. You can give the same medicine to two people, one will heal, the other won't. If a person is not receptive to the medicince, he or she will no heal.

"It's not what you consume, but what you absorb. If you absorb belief, you absorb the medicine. We can choose to reject sickness. Sometimes, of course, you get sick for a reason. When you get a cold or the flu it's for a good reason; it's to slow you down, give your body rest."

TT: One of the more intriguing aspects of your book is the idea that people, as spirits in heaven, or wherever, choose to come to earth as mentally or physically handicapped children to help themselves and their parents acheive spritual growth.

Eadie: "That's one of the most well-received sections of the book. Many people with handicapped children have come to recognize those children as being special. These kids are so full of love.

"I had a letter once from a person who had been abused as a child. This person said she knew she had to select her parents to helpt them change their memory patterns. Child abuse is not only passed down, but it's contained in our cell's memories. We can't always guess what our purpose in life is, but it is possible that a child's parents might not learn abuse is wrong, but that child will choose not to pass that abuse along. I receive many letters where the writer says, 'I would not have chosen my parents because they were abusive or alcoholic or something else and I choose not to be that way. But these letters just prove my point.

"It's like going to college. You don't take only easy classes. Some classes are harder than others and they're constructed that way to help you learn. Many of us, having a pure knowledge God, selected the situation in which we could grow."

TT: What is pure knowledge? How do you define pure knowledge?

Eadie: "Pure knowledge is pure understanding of anything you want to understand. For instance, I hear you typing on a computer keyboard. If you wanted a pure understanding of your computer, the knowledge of who the manufacturer is, who inspired production, who packaged it, how it ended up on your desk and so one, it would flow through you."

TT: Can we gain knowledge of people in the same way?

Eadie: "In my life review, which was part of my near-death experience, I suddenly understood my entire life, from birth on I understood my parents, my teachers, everyone who contributed to who I am today."

TT: That sounds like something out of psychology. Don't psychologists and psychiatrists try to take you back to your childhood to help you understand who you are today?

Eadie: "Yes and in fact, I became a hypnotherapist because I learned you have to go back to your core, to what made you, what created your emotions (ultimately that's God), what you learned from your environments, your parents and so on."

TT: Hypnotherapy is somewhat controversial these days in that a lot of people believe hypnotherapists are putting false memories of childhood abuse into their patient's head.

Eadie: "You believe many things because someone tells you to believe. You receive subconscious suggestions everyday from the television, from newspapers, etc. Hypnotherapy is certainly no more dangerous than television."

TT: When did you have your near-death experience?

Eadie: "Twenty years ago last November. People have asked me why I didn't write the book then. I certainly could have used the money because I needed money more when my kids were younger. But I waited to write the book because there's a part of it that's about my adopted daughter, now 14, and I felt she had to reach this age to be abe to understand it."

"The timing is right, now. I feel like people need the book now. But I've been talking to others about my experience all along, particularly when I've counseled someone one-on-one."

TT: What's your life like now that "Embraced By The Light" is so successful? Are you writing another book?

Eadie: "I was on Oprah Jan 3. I'm getting ready for a European tour. I have movie and video offers pending. And yes, I am working on another book. It should come out in the middle of the year. It will answer some questions raised by my first book; it's a sequel.

TT: Are you going to become the new Shirley MacLaine?

Eadie: "No, I'm not going to become the new Shirley MacLaine. What motivates me is seeing first hand how my book is changing lives. I was in Toronto yesterday and a woman who once contemplated suicide, called me and said after reading my book, she decided not to take her life, but to work toward putting her marriage back together. That's what inspires me. I believe I was restored to life because I have a mission in to complete."

TT: Do you think everybody has a mission in life?

Eadie: "Yes I do and I think that mission is always there. Each morning when you wake up, you know you have something to do. You don't always achieve your mission, but your spirit is constantly guiding you in the right direction. It all goes back to the old saying 'Follow your heart and you won't be wrong.'"