Fast Lane to Heaven: Celestial Encounters that Changed My Life [Hardcover]

Ned Dougherty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

Ned Dougherty lived a life that anyone searching for power and material wealth would deem successful - until the 1984 incident that caused his death. While medical personnel struggled to restart his silent heart, Dougherty left his body and experienced a series of events so vivid and unusual that they profoundly changed the rest of his life. The experience opened th door to encounters with various aspects of the divine spirit, including the "Lady of Light," a being Dougherty later clearly identifies as the Virgin Mary. To Dougherty and others who have experienced her presence, the Lady is both guide and teacher, fostering spiritual advancement and sharing the Creator's plan for humankind.

- From a featured speaker, former director, and media spokesperson for the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), and founder of the non-profit oragnization Mission of Angels

- Describes the experience that made a wealthy businessman abandon power, drug addiction, and dangerous moneymaking schemes for a life of spiritual purpose

- A vivid look at the "Other Side" - firthand knowledge for anyone who plans on dying

- A powerful lesson in overcoming personal obstacles such as addiction, apathy, and fear

- Describes a series of life-changing encounters with the Virgin Mary - a complement to the surprising number of Marian expericences occuring in recent years

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ned Dougherty, author of Fast Lane to Heaven, almost died at the age of 37--an experience that ultimately saved his life. Before he collapsed on the cement outside of his nightclub in the Hamptons of New York, he was leading a hedonistic lifestyle of heavy drinking and short-term relationships with women half his age. Then, one day after fighting with his business partner, Dougherty felt his chest tighten and suddenly he was unable to breathe. "My sense of hearing turned inward, and I was listening for sounds from my now silent lungs, which seemed to have collapsed," he recalls in his characteristic gripping narration. "For a long, pregnant moment, everything before me stood still. I was dying and I knew it. In a split second, I thought: This is it! This is how it all ends! Suddenly, I felt what seemed like an electrical explosion in my head, and my body collapsed to the sidewalk." As an ambulance crew valiantly tried to resuscitate him, Dougherty shifted in and out of his body. Finally, he felt his spirit lift out of the ambulance and he was left standing before a tunnel that curled like an ocean wave and "stretched directly in the heavens." From there he entered a "life review process" in Heaven that forced him to reckon with his past as well as the life he created in the present. Nothing was the same after that.

Readers can't help but like Dougherty. He's brutally honest about his character flaws and alcoholism, so when redemption comes, it's all the sweeter. (And it isn't instant--he has to return to a few years of hard lessons before the benefits of the near-death experience truly take hold.) Count on an exceptionally smooth read with an endearing narrator who offers classic, yet unique encounters with life and death. --Gail Hudson

About the Author

Ned Dougherty was born on September 19, 1946 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania where he attended St. Gabriel’s High School in Hazleton. In 1968 he graduated from St. John’s University in New York with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Finance. Following a brief career on Wall Street, he became a licensed real estate broker in the Hamptons where he owned an active real estate business. For over twenty years he owned and operated both Club Marakesh of the Palm Beaches in Florida and Club Marakesh in Westhampton Beach, New York.

Ned Dougherty also worked with Dr. Bruce Greyson, the preeminent psychiatrist and leading Research Director of the International Association for Near Death Studies (IANDS). Dr. Greyson currently holds a position at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. In October 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of IANDS and served as Media Spokesperson for IANDS for two years. He has been a featured speaker in the IANDS Speakers and Listeners Bureau and a participant in the New York City and Connecticut Friends of IANDS Support Groups.

He is currently living part-time at Valley of the Lakes, Hazleton, PA where he returned to write and to fulfill a prophecy that was part of his near-death experience--to create a non-profit organization, called Mission of Angels, and to assist in the creation of a new community of spiritually-minded people.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157174200X
• ISBN-13: 978-1571742001
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FROM "ONE WITH HIS TOYS" TO "ONE WITH GOD.", August 21, 2001

By 

Michael E. Tymn (Kailua, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Fast Lane to Heaven: Celestial Encounters that Changed My Life (Hardcover)

Having read dozens of accounts of near-death experiences, I would have to rate Ned Dougherty's account as one of the two or three best, very possibly THE best. It is very well written and keeps the reader captivated and wondering what comes next. As the owner of two prosperous night clubs, Dougherty was leading a very hedonistic life, striving to be "one with his toys." He was a playboy who had strayed far from the spiritual path on which his Catholic school had tried to direct him toward. After becoming involved in an altercation at his New York nightclub, Dougherty had a near-death experience, which involved nearly every one of the characteristics associated with the NDE. He was met on the "Other Side" by an old friend, who had been killed in Vietnam, then accompanied "into the light," where he encountered other deceased friends and relatives and had a life review. "While in the presence of God's light, many revelations were conveyed to me," he writes. "As God was bestowing a radiant energy upon me, I recognized that the energy contained information about universal laws, revelations that were part of God's plan for the universe." Several chapters are devoted to these revelations, but Doughtery's own awakening is what kept me glued to the book. He comes across as very credible in explaining why there is no way that his NDE can, as the pseudo-skeptics claim, be written off as nothing more than an hallucination or dream. It so impacted him that he gave up his nightclubs as well as alcohol to pursue a life of helping others. The book meets my "4-I" test -- interesting, informative, intriguing, and inspiring. I plan to give some copies of the book to friends and relatives as Christmas gifts.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Predictions come true., October 10, 2002

By 

Mark Playford (Dorr, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fast Lane to Heaven: Celestial Encounters that Changed My Life (Hardcover)

The thing that impressed me about this book is that I read it before 9/11. After 9/11 I had to go back and re-read some of his predictions, and he came very close to describing the events in the news today. He discribes religious fanatics who think they are doing Gods will but are not. He says they attack either Washington D.C. or New York, and that these attacks change the way we live. That is pretty impressive to me. If the rest of what he pridicts comes ture we are in for a very rough ride.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Changing your life can be difficult, even after an NDE, January 26, 2005

By 

stkevin "stkevin" (Minneapolis MN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fast Lane to Heaven: Celestial Encounters that Changed My Life (Hardcover)

This is a story of an NDE that happened to a very worldly human being who struggled with the clear message of the NDE for a long time after returning to this world before finally accepting it. Strangely, to me at least, this makes Dougherty's account quite believable and entertaining. Dougherty claims that his NDE immediately affected his life profoundly and turned him into a more loving and less worldly human being. Reading between the lines of Dougherty's book, it's clear that although Dougherty's heart may have been changed, Dougherty still struggled to abandon his old way of life for a long time after his NDE. Despite the change in Dougherty, he clung to his old Nightclub business until it was taken away from him. But eventually he embraced the message from his NDE and changed the focus of his life. The message that I took from Dougherty's book was that even when your heart changes, it can take a lot longer to turn your life's focus around. Dougherty's book inspires you to have hope, don't give up on the changes you want to make, and take heart, sometimes it takes a lot longer to change yourself than you think it will. I like this book and recommend it. As for his predictions and prophecies, they are neither convincing (just a little too unclear) nor unconvincing. If you are looking for miraculous predictions to convince you of the veracity of NDEs, then you are missing the most important content in virtually every NDE.