1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,400 From the time that they pronounced me deaf was a good 45 minutes. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:13,440 They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart, my heart had stopped. 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,120 And I could see people screaming and crying, but I didn't realize that was actually my 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,320 physical body because I was somewhere else. 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:27,400 The only thing that I could feel, if you could imagine, absolute love and peace, there wasn't 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,400 anything else to be felt. 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,520 I was greeted by people I'd known in the past. 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,160 I'm back home again. 9 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:39,040 Incredibly safe and felt at home. 10 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,720 Welcome, welcome to RoundTripDeath everybody. 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:47,880 And please, please give a big smile and welcome for our special guest today, Randy K. 12 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:49,320 How are you, Randy? 13 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,200 I'm great, Eric, and thank you for having me. 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:53,360 Well, you're welcome. 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,280 I've been trying to get you on the show for a while and we finally lucked out and got 16 00:00:58,280 --> 00:00:59,760 a little hole in your schedule. 17 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:01,880 You are a busy man. 18 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:06,000 Would you mind telling us a little bit about you before we get going? 19 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Yes. 20 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,800 Well, we're both busy and I think most people tend to be that way. 21 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,960 I won't go back to childhood if you don't mind. 22 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:17,800 I won't go back that far. 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,760 I aspired toward a career in business and medicine. 24 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:24,320 So I was a bit strange in that way. 25 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:27,720 And I was an agnostic, by the way, in my youth. 26 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:29,920 I went to Northwestern University. 27 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,200 I was an agnostic at that point, tried to disprove all religions. 28 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:39,400 That's how ardent or militaristic I was in my agnosticism. 29 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:48,800 So anyway, I graduated from there, went on to work for Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, 30 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:58,600 Ohio, right out of school, fondly called P&G or Proctor and God. 31 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:05,440 And we were in a very straight-laced environment to be raised in a corporate environment. 32 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:13,160 And then I was part of a startup of a healthcare division in that company. 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:20,200 Now, apart from anything they'd done previously, but then I knew from my work with P&G that 34 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,440 the model really was Johnson & Johnson. 35 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,520 They were the largest healthcare company in the world. 36 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:30,480 So I jumped ship and I went on board with Johnson & Johnson, spent much of my career 37 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,680 there and then kind of caught the entrepreneurial bug. 38 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:42,160 I came down to San Diego and then I worked with a company as a corporate operations director 39 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,440 for a company called the Lawn Pharmaceuticals. 40 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,400 At that time, it was the fastest growing pharma company in the world. 41 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:55,040 We were launching an Alzheimer's drug that would be a potential cure and our scientists 42 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:01,440 were on all of the major networks and we were out in Washington, D.C. We were on the front 43 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:02,440 cover of Time Magazine. 44 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,760 It was a big deal. 45 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:12,960 And then we had some patients in last late stage clinical trials who developed encephalitis, 46 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,400 which is a swelling in the brain. 47 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,600 And so the FDA recalled that drug. 48 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:25,680 Well, immediately overnight, we lost millions of dollars and much of our savings. 49 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:27,440 And so I went over to a biotech company. 50 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:33,280 I was a CEO of a biotech company and spent some time there and anyone that's aware of 51 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,200 that kind of motor supper on day with a startup, you have to raise money. 52 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:44,360 And so I was doing dog and pony shows around the country and eventually I had to raise 53 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:50,480 about $80 million and it sounds outrageous, but that's kind of how it goes in that environment. 54 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:57,000 I decided to divest the company and we had invested much of our resources, remaining 55 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,840 resources into that company. 56 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,920 So I worked then in the cardiovascular space. 57 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,640 I went from neurology to cardiovascular and minimally invasive heart surgery at a clinical 58 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:11,640 team. 59 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,960 We went in and we taught surgeons how to not crack the chest. 60 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:24,160 They could do it through ports and they could perform valve replacements and the patient 61 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:30,880 could be out within a matter of a couple of days as opposed to weeks. 62 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:37,480 From that, I went into consultancy and still worked for that company, but long story short, 63 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:43,280 that's where it leads into the near death experience is that I went out to try to join 64 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:52,040 my alma mater, Johnson & Johnson, and I was eventually offered that job. 65 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:59,720 But what happened is after coming back from the series of interviews, I ended up waking 66 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:05,640 up in San Diego or home overnight at three o'clock in the morning. 67 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,600 My calf was swollen. 68 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:09,040 I couldn't walk down the stairs. 69 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:16,120 I foolishly tried to bicycle up the coast thinking I had maybe a muscle strain. 70 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,840 I should have known better. 71 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:22,120 That exacerbated the condition I had. 72 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:29,880 It was a straight road and it seemed like an incline and I would be dead in a matter 73 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,440 of just a few hours. 74 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,440 Wow. 75 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:42,800 Because you had this scientific background, you mentioned you were agnostic, but really, 76 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:48,560 did you believe in God and an afterlife at this point of your life before your experience? 77 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:50,840 I did believe in God. 78 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:59,160 I remember staring out the window, my window, looking out at the sky and saying to this 79 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:05,800 unknown God, if you're out there, I need to know you more than pages in the book. 80 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:12,600 I had some, I have to be honest, I had some hostility toward Christians and other religious, 81 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,320 I call them zealous at the time. 82 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:23,640 But eventually, I had a severe accident, which the reports, and this was in Cincinnati, on 83 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,880 the news where there was a fatality and the fatality was me and they had to correct the 84 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:29,280 news that I had survived. 85 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:33,320 The car was just completely crushed. 86 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:41,720 I was in a coma, when I was in a semi-coma for a few weeks and I remember, I could just 87 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,880 stare at the ceiling when I came to. 88 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,080 I think that incident really changed me. 89 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:54,040 And oddly enough, it opened me to this unknown God. 90 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,960 And so, eventually, I walked into a church, which was like, to me, that would be like 91 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:02,800 a parting of the waters, you know? 92 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:03,800 That was a miracle. 93 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:04,800 Full miracle. 94 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,800 A personal miracle. 95 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:08,800 Yes. 96 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,840 And then I prayed and I became a Christian. 97 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:19,440 So I became the person I, well, I'll say it, I'm the person I hated. 98 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,680 But I didn't, Eric, I didn't believe in near-death experiences. 99 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:28,560 I was as ardently because of the scientific kind of foundation and how my mindset was, 100 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,120 I thought they were contrived. 101 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:35,360 I thought they were either imagined or there was some other explanation. 102 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:45,760 But I didn't set out to disprove NDE years like I did a lot of religious people or Christians. 103 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:52,880 But I still, anytime, you know, I saw something, an article or whatever, I thought it was just 104 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,320 imaginary. 105 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:56,960 So let's do this. 106 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,520 Let's go back to this day that you went for the bike ride. 107 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:05,560 This was the day and I'm going to give kind of a spoiler alert here. 108 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,240 We have a pulmonary embolism coming up. 109 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:09,960 So what are the symptoms of that? 110 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:14,280 What were your symptoms and did you have any idea what was coming? 111 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:19,800 Well, it's a good question because I think this will be helpful to people in general 112 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:24,200 because I was a normally healthy individual, exercised. 113 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,760 But pulmonary embolism essentially is a blood clot. 114 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:34,160 The longer you let it go, especially if you go exercising like I did and bicycling up 115 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:42,760 the coast, the more pressure you put on the calf, the more pressure blood flows, pushes 116 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,320 from the calf to the upper leg. 117 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,560 The vessels get larger. 118 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:49,440 Therefore the blood clots get larger. 119 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:57,840 And by the time I was in the emergency room having collapsed, there were seven of them. 120 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:05,640 And they had occluded, that is they had stopped the blood flow into the lungs because the 121 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:14,600 pulmonary artery is the main artery or the artery for blood flow to the lungs. 122 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:22,960 So when we say a deep vein thrombosis, which is usually in the calf, that's a blood clot 123 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:23,960 in the calf. 124 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:29,560 When we say pulmonary emboli, emboli being plural because there are several clots, that 125 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:36,280 means it's in the valve, blocking the valve to the lungs. 126 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,000 So it's the third leading cause of death. 127 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:45,920 There was a patient who came in previously in the morning who died from this lesser case 128 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,680 than mine. 129 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:56,040 The doctor came in after the test, D dimer, which is tests blood clotting, CAT scan and 130 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,360 so forth. 131 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,120 And he said, you were a walking dead man. 132 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:06,360 We just haven't seen somebody at the severity of what you have who has survived. 133 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,800 And they were going to helicopter me to a specialist who had opened, cracked the chest 134 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:15,680 and tried to remove the clots, but they decided I would be dead by that time. 135 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:21,680 So it was kind of a wait and see that pumped with heavy doses of anticoagulants, blood 136 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:27,400 thinners that would eventually cause some bleeding in the brain. 137 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,400 And then of all things, I contracted MRSA. 138 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:38,080 There was a patient next to me who had MRSA. 139 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:44,800 And the MRSA exacerbated my condition, so I was blood clotting now throughout my body. 140 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:50,680 For example, the doctor came in to draw blood from my arm and could not do so. 141 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:54,560 It was like a traffic jam of clots now through my body. 142 00:10:54,560 --> 00:11:03,520 So I was literally at that point at a state in which there was no viable way or no interventional 143 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,000 way for me to survive. 144 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,760 So what did you do? 145 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:10,480 I mean, you're there in the hospital. 146 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:11,840 Did you have family around? 147 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,040 Were you saying goodbye? 148 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,200 Or did it all just happen too fast? 149 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,520 It happened very fast, Eric. 150 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,560 And I called my wife and I said, this is serious. 151 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:26,200 I mean, that's when I could speak because there was a point in which I couldn't speak, 152 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:27,200 of course. 153 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:29,640 I had to have the intubation. 154 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:40,320 And I knew that having been in the medical field that there was a likelihood that I would 155 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,640 succumb to this. 156 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:50,160 And I was on the bed and I was just in a state of panic at that point. 157 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:56,800 And eventually as this was progressing and progressing to the point of non-viability, 158 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,560 I started flopping around on the bed like a fish out of water. 159 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,760 I was out of control. 160 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,880 My entire body was giving out and just fighting to survive. 161 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:09,480 And then I went still. 162 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:16,400 And I was still on the bed, the reason I can tell you I was still is because immediately 163 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:21,960 after that happened, I felt like a tugging at my shirt, my hospital gown. 164 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:22,960 And that's what it was. 165 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:23,960 Like it felt like that. 166 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:29,200 And I felt that was the, I didn't know at the time, I feel now that it was my spirit 167 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,320 coming out of my body. 168 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,640 And I could see my body, my still body. 169 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:41,480 My first thought was, well, this is strange because the prior thought was I was out of 170 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,240 control and now I was looking down and I was being pulled up. 171 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:53,160 I know that sounds cliche, but there was a light and it was pulling me up at a rapid 172 00:12:53,160 --> 00:13:00,680 pace and then it was somewhat galactical in what I was looking at. 173 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:09,320 Again, I'm a scientifically minded person, so this is all, I'm on the ride now. 174 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:17,560 I'm not able to interpret any of it, but then I'm in a space that is very different. 175 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:18,800 It's not heaven. 176 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:25,120 It's a space just that was more the next phase of this journey faded. 177 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:30,920 There was a faded background of hills and then there were figures on either side. 178 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:40,120 There were, again, this sounds fantastical, but they were gargantuan in size. 179 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:47,200 And on the right side, that light was shining on them as it was on me and they were battling 180 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:52,600 over these figures on the left side, which were also very tall and very gangly. 181 00:13:52,600 --> 00:14:00,120 And I thought, well, I didn't think, I thought, I am on this ride and I don't know what's 182 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:01,400 going on. 183 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:09,160 I was seeing these things and I had impressions from what was going on and I believe I was 184 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,640 in the place of spiritual warfare looking back. 185 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:18,480 Much of what I've been able to assimilate, Eric, has been from my having to digest what 186 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:22,760 I was observing versus in the moment I was just taking it in. 187 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:23,760 Sure. 188 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,400 And this was how many years ago? 189 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,200 Well right now, it's almost 19 years ago, so it's been a while. 190 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:32,640 So you've had a lot of time to digest it. 191 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:33,640 Mm-hmm. 192 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:34,640 You've had a lot of time to digest it. 193 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,120 For 14 years, I did not share it at all. 194 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:38,360 I didn't want to share it. 195 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,280 I would not share it. 196 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:42,280 That's so typical. 197 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:43,280 Yes. 198 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,520 Yeah, that is very typical. 199 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,280 I have a couple of questions up to this point. 200 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,600 First of all, the warfare thing I don't hear about a lot when I interview people. 201 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:57,600 Do you have an idea of who was at war and why? 202 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,280 I believe I was in the angelic realm. 203 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:07,760 Again, looking back on this, a lot of study and prayer and what have you, as you said, 204 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:14,680 it takes a lot of time, years, oftentimes to digest the reality of what was this all 205 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:15,880 was. 206 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,840 It's not defined by any clinical studies or the like. 207 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,240 And I think I saw warfare over my soul. 208 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:31,160 I just understand that, if you will, that when I went into this experience, I was at 209 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,040 a point of consternation. 210 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,840 That is, I had some serious doubt about God. 211 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,000 I had lost my finances. 212 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:47,280 I went from having a nice home in San Diego near the ocean. 213 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,200 I had thought I achieved success. 214 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,920 I'd been promoted 14 times within the corporate arena. 215 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:58,040 I was heading up operations and it was virtually lost overnight. 216 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,400 And then my daughter suffered strokes. 217 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:07,880 And so I was paying on average about $1,000 a day, sometimes upwards of $5,000 a day for 218 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,120 her treatment. 219 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,440 So it's just the perfect storm. 220 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:21,400 So my wife and I were in a coffee shop and we were drowning our sorrows in lattes. 221 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:31,720 And we were talking about this, how we went from the pinnacle to the actual dump yard. 222 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,360 And I said, well, at least we have our health. 223 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,000 And she saw me in a crisis of faith. 224 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,760 Because she said, where's God? 225 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:41,760 I said, where is he? 226 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:42,760 I cried out. 227 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:43,760 I prayed. 228 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:44,760 Where is he? 229 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:46,480 And so that was a crisis of faith. 230 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,640 But I said to her, finally, I want to end with this, Eric. 231 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,200 I said, at least we have our health. 232 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,760 Two weeks later, I was dead. 233 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,560 So another thing that a lot of people tell me, and then we're going to keep moving on, 234 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,000 I'm sorry to slow you down a little bit with your story. 235 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,280 But is some people, as they are leaving their body in a hospital room? 236 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,000 Yes, some go straight through this tunnel. 237 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,800 Some immediately are in some other place. 238 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,840 Some hang around in that room. 239 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:20,240 And they're like up in the corner of the room, watching what's happening to their body. 240 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,000 It sounds like you had a little bit of that before you moved on. 241 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:29,760 If so, tell us, what did it feel like when you're looking down and seeing your body that 242 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,840 now the heart has stopped? 243 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:36,600 And honestly, Eric, I didn't feel much of anything. 244 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:44,200 I mean, I was just in a state where I had been kind of a control freak, if you will. 245 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:46,080 And now I had to give it up. 246 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,040 I mean, I was forced to give it up. 247 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:56,520 I was just in a state not of a reasoning mind as I would try to reason everything to one 248 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:01,520 of just taking it in and trying to assimilate it in some fashion. 249 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:08,560 So especially in the place I was, I think there was something going on, a battle over 250 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:14,760 the rise of my soul, because there were times when I would fear and be anxious. 251 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,920 And there were other times where I had peace and joy. 252 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:26,120 And so I think that had to do with the warring that was going over the rights to speak into 253 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:27,120 my soul. 254 00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:29,320 I can't express it any other way. 255 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,840 That's after the fact, of course, but at the time it was happening, I was just looking 256 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:41,600 at this bizarre, these bizarre figures in this space that I couldn't really put together 257 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,120 in the context of our world. 258 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:46,880 I was just viewing it. 259 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,000 I was watching it. 260 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:55,800 But I knew that I had this, I still had an inkling of faith left. 261 00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:01,520 And so I cried out the name of Jesus. 262 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,720 I mean, this was not just a tempered cry. 263 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:10,960 I mean a full-fledged, desperate cry of Jesus. 264 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,640 I just said his name. 265 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:23,400 And immediately I was just pulled, yanked, and I was cheek to cheek with this figure. 266 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:29,080 And I could feel the bristles on his cheek, or my cheek, excuse me. 267 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,400 And I dropped to my knees. 268 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,600 The first thought I had was, so this is love. 269 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:37,600 So this is love. 270 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:42,200 I knew love is an emotion, had loving family members and friends. 271 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:43,600 But this was different. 272 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:45,680 That was a person of love. 273 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,240 And I was like, I just started sobbing. 274 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,360 I was like a wet rag. 275 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:57,720 He reached down, turned around, reached down and pulled me up gently. 276 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:02,080 He turned me face to face with him. 277 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:08,560 And I looked into the eyes of love. 278 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:15,920 And they tunneled into every dark place within me, illuminating me with the love of Jesus. 279 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,880 And all of my doubts evaporated. 280 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,040 All was a perfect peace. 281 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:30,560 And I thought, I rejected him. 282 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:32,160 I knew him. 283 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:33,360 I didn't know him. 284 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:34,440 I rejected him once. 285 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:39,240 I rejected him twice. 286 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:44,400 And he leaned over in my right ear. 287 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:45,880 He whispered two words. 288 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,320 He whispered, trust me. 289 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,880 And certainly I had never been a trusting person. 290 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,840 I had always had to prove things, including God. 291 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,120 And those two words said everything to me. 292 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:01,600 And they still speak to me to this day. 293 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,120 And then he took me on a journey of my life. 294 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,200 I went through a series of life reviews. 295 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:17,560 And we started as early as when I was a little boy watching at a wake of my uncle Carlisle. 296 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,280 And then he walked me through my childhood. 297 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,520 And then he walked me through what happened to cause my agnosticism. 298 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:28,000 He showed me what that event was. 299 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,840 And I can tell you if you'd like me to share that. 300 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:40,840 And then he walked me through to the point where I was prior to rejecting him again and 301 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,960 saying, you know, you've abandoned me, God. 302 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:45,760 And each time. 303 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:53,800 So here's the thing, Eric, is that every time I failed, every time I just, I mean, really 304 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:59,080 failed, that those failures didn't condemn me. 305 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:04,880 They just reflected the grace of Jesus, the grace of God in all of those times. 306 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,360 In other words, he wasn't trying to, you know, shame me. 307 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:16,240 He was showing me how he kind of weaved together my life to bring me to that point where I 308 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,680 could see the God of love. 309 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:25,280 And it was the most amazing journey because the life reviews, they weren't like watching 310 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,480 a movie theater, the screen. 311 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:29,600 They were real. 312 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,880 I was there. 313 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:40,320 And each of those events in these sequence of events that he had called out, called CULLED 314 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:51,040 out to show me why I was the way I was, how I became the person I was. 315 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:52,040 And it was incredible. 316 00:22:52,040 --> 00:23:00,200 I was seeing not just every facet of my life, but the ones that were chosen somehow to reveal 317 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,440 God's redemptive plan. 318 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,720 There's no way else I can explain it. 319 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:09,200 I'd like to know exactly what you're feeling as you're going through that because you're 320 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,120 feeling his love. 321 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:17,880 But didn't some of these experiences have you feeling guilt, shame, some of those kinds 322 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,720 of emotions as well? 323 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:20,720 Not really. 324 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:21,720 No. 325 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:29,760 I mean, I thought I would think before going into this that it would cause shame or guilt. 326 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:39,000 But I just, I felt overwhelmingly that he wanted to forgive me more than I wanted to 327 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000 forgive myself. 328 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,880 He wanted to save me more than I wanted to save myself. 329 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:46,880 And it was incredible. 330 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:56,920 I expected Eric to be judged and judged according to my sins because, again, I had doubted 331 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:58,040 him. 332 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,160 I had multiple occasions. 333 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,600 I had persecuted Christians. 334 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:03,480 I got them off campus. 335 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:09,160 I was really ardently against anyone who was a religious nature. 336 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,480 So no, I didn't feel that way. 337 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:12,880 I never felt that way. 338 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:19,840 And that, looking back, absolutely shocked me. 339 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:26,320 That first thought that I had being cheek to cheek with him was, so this is love. 340 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,160 So this is love. 341 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:33,360 And I've experienced love with family and friends, whatever, but this was consummate 342 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:34,360 love. 343 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:36,880 This was the person of love. 344 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,680 And so therefore I did not feel condemn. 345 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:48,640 I felt like I was, I was just loved through all of my failures because he knew my heart. 346 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,040 I want to talk about this love. 347 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:55,080 Someone that hasn't felt it, but they have felt some other kind of love in their life, 348 00:24:55,080 --> 00:25:02,120 a love of a spouse, a love of a new baby, things like that. 349 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:03,760 How can you compare this? 350 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:09,960 I ask people all the time, explain this love to me, even though it's inexplainable, try 351 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,240 to put it into words. 352 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,880 Explain the impossible. 353 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:21,360 Well, I could explain the greatest superlative or the greatest love experience we've had, 354 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:26,640 whether it be a love of a parent or a love of a spouse or a love of a child, whatever 355 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:31,280 it is, multiplied by thousands of times. 356 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:36,600 And it would be minuscule, minuscule. 357 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:43,480 It would be like trying to explain the color blue. 358 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:52,440 It was the person of love was the first time and only time I have met love. 359 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,880 And I mean met the person of love. 360 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:04,720 So when we say love, God is love or, you know, that there's this presence that is love, I 361 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,440 think it somewhat demeans it. 362 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:13,080 That is God, the God or the God of love. 363 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:20,760 I think the closest comparison I could have to what that felt like was that I was the 364 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,440 most important person in the world. 365 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,680 It was like, and that's how I felt. 366 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:37,960 I felt like, I knew that God was looking over millions of people, but I felt like I was 367 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,600 the only one that mattered. 368 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,400 I was the only one he cared about. 369 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,920 I felt like I was the cast me out. 370 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,720 I was the end all be all. 371 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,960 I felt like I was it. 372 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,960 And it wasn't an eotistical feeling. 373 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,800 I just felt like I was what this was all about. 374 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,000 And I knew it was for everyone else that God felt that way. 375 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:10,480 But I felt that I was the most special person in the world. 376 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,800 And I've never felt that way with anyone. 377 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:24,120 I've never felt that degree of exclusivity, absolute devotion, absolute attention, absolute, 378 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:25,120 unfettered. 379 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:30,280 You know, people say, I love you and they've got, they're thinking of 10 different things. 380 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,920 He was thinking just of me, just of me and me exclusively. 381 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,000 And I know that happens for everyone. 382 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,960 But that's how I felt. 383 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,560 I was the most special person in the world. 384 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:45,560 It's hard to comprehend. 385 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:46,560 All right. 386 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,240 Everybody's going to be curious and you probably get this question a lot. 387 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:51,760 You saw him face to face. 388 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:52,760 What did he look like? 389 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,440 Yeah, that's probably the most common question. 390 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:02,520 And I hesitate to answer that because that's not what he was about, but I'll, I'll, I'll 391 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:03,520 try to. 392 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:04,520 And I totally get that. 393 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,040 And I almost hate to ask it. 394 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,280 I'm just trying to ask what's on people's minds. 395 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:10,280 Absolutely. 396 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,280 I know. 397 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:15,120 And that's, that's important to try to answer. 398 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:20,880 So this, this light was emanating from him. 399 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,000 Brilliant light. 400 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,480 And I believe because I was a spirit body at that point, I could, I wouldn't, I wouldn't 401 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:36,200 be destroyed by that light because I had, I could, the light penetrated through me and 402 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,320 it was immense and it was powerful. 403 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,960 And yet there was the figure that I could see. 404 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:47,160 I began with the eyes because that's what impressed me the most. 405 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:52,160 They were what I would, what I term now the colors of the ocean. 406 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:57,040 You know how the light refracts against the water, especially the ocean. 407 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:04,360 And it can be browns and blues and greens and beautiful colors. 408 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,880 And that's how I explained his eyes. 409 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:12,280 I know people get mired in blue, brown, black, whatever. 410 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:22,720 They were a mix of colors in an effervescence that was unlike any person I've ever met. 411 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:28,800 And there was of course the beard and there was the middle eastern look, kind of the nose 412 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,720 was a bit crooked and long. 413 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,700 The hair was long about shoulder length. 414 00:29:36,700 --> 00:29:43,360 And there was a little bit of a hair, a piece of hair, his hair over the ear. 415 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:44,880 It was, it was wavy. 416 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,120 He was about, about my height. 417 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,720 I'm six feet. 418 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:56,680 So who was about, if we're at parody, he was about six feet. 419 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,600 And then there were the hands. 420 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,720 Now there was an impartation through the head, that hug. 421 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,480 Oh, oh, oh. 422 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,400 You must miss that. 423 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:16,680 Oh, I miss it to the end, I long for it every single day, Eric. 424 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,520 I long for it every single day. 425 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:20,520 I miss him. 426 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:28,200 I miss him so, so much because he wouldn't let go. 427 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,840 He wouldn't let go. 428 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,120 I was sobbing. 429 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,040 I was crying even now. 430 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:39,440 I'm just the after effect, you know, almost 20 years, 19 years. 431 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:41,000 And it was so powerful. 432 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,280 And yet he hung on to me. 433 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,680 And I knew he would hold on to me. 434 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:54,800 And there was a time when we were walking in heaven that he told me I was going to return. 435 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,920 So I had these vignettes of, that were amazing. 436 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,200 He showed me when I gave up on, well, I didn't give up on God. 437 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,760 I just, well, he showed me when I turned against him. 438 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:11,720 And then he showed me so many different vignettes, living waters and, and the people. 439 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:16,240 And I saw this, I don't know if you want me to talk about this, Eric, but I saw these 440 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,120 I saw a woman. 441 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,680 I'll, I'll leave it with this. 442 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:26,480 But so there was this woman who was painting this brilliant landscape. 443 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:27,480 Absolutely brilliant. 444 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:36,440 I mean, of heaven, of heaven, the undulating waters, like, like thousands of millions of 445 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:45,080 melted diamonds, trees growing before me and all of the fragrances beautiful and flowers, 446 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:46,560 colors of a different varieties. 447 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:47,840 Anyway, all of this is going on. 448 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,440 She was painting this landscape. 449 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:55,160 And I asked Jesus, I said, well, what, she's a master artist. 450 00:31:55,160 --> 00:32:00,200 She's like, she could put to shame the master artist, you know, that we can, we would think 451 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,400 of in this world. 452 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,360 And he told me that it wasn't that way in this world. 453 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:13,880 She didn't have a mastery of art, that maybe she was a step above my artistic ability, 454 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,360 which is one step above stick figures. 455 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,240 But she certainly wasn't a master artist. 456 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:28,120 But in heaven, what he told me is that she always wanted to paint loved art, even though 457 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:36,600 she wasn't a good artist on earth, the mastery of her desire, her love of art came to its 458 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,040 greatness in heaven. 459 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,520 And that was, that was true of everyone. 460 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:43,520 I knew it implicitly. 461 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:48,480 I loved to write and I don't consider myself a great writer, but I love to write. 462 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,760 I was trained in writing and journalism. 463 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,120 My first job actually was in journalism. 464 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,480 And I felt like I could write a masterpiece that would rival Shakespeare in heaven. 465 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:03,080 That's just, I felt, and I felt like the person I always wanted to be. 466 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:08,640 I felt like I was perfected in heaven to the point where the person I always wanted to 467 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,960 be was in heaven. 468 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,120 And that was absolutely incredible. 469 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:20,740 And I realized during the journey that I was essentially seeing through the eyes of Jesus 470 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:23,240 because I was loving people more. 471 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:29,000 I was seeing things with greater wisdom or understanding. 472 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:35,400 And all of these things were the cumulative effect of that impartation that I felt initially 473 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,840 that was that light from Jesus that illuminated every dark place within me. 474 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,280 And now, now, I was at home. 475 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:44,560 And this was home. 476 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:49,280 This, I still to this day, I consider that place home. 477 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:53,680 I'm like an alien, I feel like, in this world. 478 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,720 You keep answering my questions before I ask them. 479 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,480 I was just going to ask you that very thing. 480 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,160 Did it feel like home or did you feel like an outsider and thank you for the perfect 481 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,160 answer? 482 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,440 Before we move on, tell me what else you're seeing. 483 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:09,840 Did you see other people? 484 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,800 Did you see beautiful landscapes? 485 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,080 What are you seeing here? 486 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:15,520 I felt, yes, I felt a lot of them. 487 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,280 The artist was one example. 488 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:18,440 I saw all over. 489 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,000 I saw them traveling from abodes. 490 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,440 I saw them nestling with animals of all varieties. 491 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:32,120 I saw including lions and what were, you know, they weren't feasting on prey. 492 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,160 They had a gentle nature about them. 493 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:38,160 In fact, there was one instance where I was bullied when I was a child. 494 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,000 I was severely bullied and I was sick, sickly, a sickly child. 495 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,280 I was in and out of the hospital. 496 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,560 So I was very, and I stuttered and I was overweight. 497 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:53,360 Anyway, I had this little dog, Casey, and Casey was my savior. 498 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:57,280 I had no friends as a child growing up. 499 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:04,880 And my parents gave me this little fox terrier, Casey, and he was my only friend, really, 500 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:09,280 growing up in grade school and junior high school. 501 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,680 And so he had passed away when I was in college. 502 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:17,360 He was jumping up and down. 503 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,440 And there was Casey. 504 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,480 It was Casey. 505 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:27,680 And Jesus said, see, I give you the desires of your heart. 506 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:32,960 And I spent a little time with Casey, held him and then set him down and he ran through 507 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,960 some pastures into those flowers. 508 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,960 And this river was running all through heaven. 509 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:48,960 And then there was an occasion, and Jesus was by my side the whole time, the entire time, 510 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,240 when he wasn't by my side. 511 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:54,640 He was across the river. 512 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:56,640 He was holding these two bottles. 513 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:00,360 They looked like flask full of water. 514 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,760 And these rivers were just pristine, crystal clear. 515 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:06,280 And I didn't know what that was about. 516 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:13,320 So I asked him and he said, I've been collecting your tears during your life. 517 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:20,680 And then what he did next, he took them and he poured out those waters. 518 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:25,440 I'll call them living waters into the stream. 519 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:31,880 And then he came by my side and I felt compelled to reach down into the waters. 520 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:37,440 And so I reached into these waters that he poured my tears into. 521 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:48,000 And I drank them and I was so full of life and joy and overflowing, overflowing everything 522 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,000 that's positive. 523 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:55,680 And it's immense joy and then he did something which was incredible. 524 00:36:55,680 --> 00:37:00,640 He reached down and he did the same and he baptized me. 525 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,200 He poured the water over my head. 526 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,840 It's the most amazing thing. 527 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,400 The refreshment. 528 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:13,480 It came from those living waters that just seemed to flow through me. 529 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,280 I could feel, I could feel it in my body. 530 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:21,520 It wasn't just the top of my head, like we would pour water. 531 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,200 I could actually feel them infused through my body. 532 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:27,760 It was the most amazing sense. 533 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,440 It was the most amazing sense. 534 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:32,480 And I'll just end with this, Eric. 535 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:43,840 You talked about being at home and I feel like heaven is more real than this world. 536 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:45,760 Heaven is more real than this world. 537 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:46,760 I know it. 538 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,800 I know it's more real than this world. 539 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:49,800 How did it end? 540 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:53,280 Were you told to go back? 541 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:54,280 Yes. 542 00:37:54,280 --> 00:38:05,440 Yes, I was in one of those fields and a butterfly rested on my left shoulder. 543 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,720 And I knew everything in heaven was intentional. 544 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:09,720 There's nothing happenstance. 545 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:13,520 Everything has purpose to it. 546 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:20,440 And so I asked Jesus about that and he said that the butterfly, which rests beautiful 547 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:27,440 butterfly by the way, just iridescent in multiple colors, he said that butterfly represents 548 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:32,080 wisdom that will guide you when you return. 549 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,840 He was telling me that I would return. 550 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:38,320 And it was the first time I really lost my peace. 551 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:43,480 And I so much wanted him to say to me when I came there, well done, my good and fifth, 552 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:47,240 in the Bible, I so much wanted him to say something like that. 553 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:50,520 But he was saying I had to return. 554 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:56,800 I felt like a little kid who woke up on Christmas Day and looked at his presence and was told 555 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:57,800 to go back to bed. 556 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:05,560 I just was absolutely distraught that I would leave my home. 557 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,960 And then I asked him for a blueprint. 558 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,760 Now I was a type A person. 559 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:15,120 I planned out five, 10 years ahead. 560 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,440 So I asked him for the plan for my life. 561 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:19,960 And he refused me. 562 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:28,080 He said if I were to give you, show your life, you would not remain dependent upon me. 563 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:35,160 And then he said moment by moment, I will reveal your purpose to you. 564 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:41,280 Really transform me not just there in heaven, but to this very day. 565 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:46,280 Because now I'm not looking for the next wrong that leads to the next wrong and so forth. 566 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,600 I'm not doing any of that. 567 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:51,880 I'm totally, I'm in a ministry. 568 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:56,080 I'm Randy King ministries. 569 00:39:56,080 --> 00:40:02,880 I am focused to by and large, my stinking thinking gets in the way sometimes. 570 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,400 But by and large, I'm focused in the moment. 571 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:12,920 So I'll see somebody in the grocery store and I'll say, Lord, I have a prompting. 572 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,560 Should I pray for that person? 573 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:17,600 And then I'll pray or I'll talk to that person. 574 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,400 I see them and I see them over a homeless person. 575 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:27,320 I'll go buy a hot dog or whatever and go over there and ask about their life or whatever. 576 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,360 This is so antithetical to the way I used to be. 577 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,160 But it was his instruction to me at that point. 578 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:40,160 He said moment by moment, I will reveal your purpose to you. 579 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:44,880 And that's for the most part, the way I live. 580 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:45,880 It's changed everything. 581 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:49,280 And the other, where the two words he spoke to me, trust me. 582 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,760 You were already a good person. 583 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,600 It obviously made you a better person. 584 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,480 What else changed personally? 585 00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:02,520 A lot of people that I speak to that have had NDEs, they change careers. 586 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:06,680 Unfortunately, a lot of them change spouses. 587 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,480 They change all kinds of things in their life. 588 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:13,560 So personally, what else happened with you afterwards? 589 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,920 Well my wife is still my wife over 30 years now. 590 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:18,920 So that didn't change. 591 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:19,920 But I didn't share with her much. 592 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:24,560 I said, after they revived me, I said, I'm at Jesus. 593 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:29,520 I was like, okay. 594 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:37,480 But what changed in my life was my empathy foremost, I think. 595 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:41,640 And I can prove this, by the way, Eric, because I've been in the field of training. 596 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,400 I used to train corporations. 597 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:46,000 I am in ministry today. 598 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:51,400 So obviously that changed from being in the business field and the healthcare medical 599 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:52,400 field. 600 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:54,320 I would give people an empathy test. 601 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:59,120 It would be an empathy test, and this is a validated test. 602 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:00,720 It's been validated for years. 603 00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:04,600 It's the benchmark in the industry. 604 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:10,920 And it would test on versatility, which is being able to empathize essentially, or be 605 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:19,200 versatile in terms of speaking with somebody and kind of adopting or adapting to them, 606 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:25,000 you know, showing more interest and feeling more of what they feel. 607 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:29,480 So before this experience, I tested way down the line. 608 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:34,720 In other words, I did not have much empathy for people. 609 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:39,080 And that worked for me in getting things done. 610 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:46,800 But after this experience, I was at the highest level on the test. 611 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:55,480 I mean, it was a validation to show how diametrically shifted my character or personality he had 612 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:56,480 been. 613 00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,360 Now, I'm not, hopefully it doesn't sound like boasting. 614 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:06,720 I shocked myself, because again, I was not an empathetic person. 615 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:17,360 But just that test showed me part of him was left with me in this world. 616 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,800 And I never cried, by the way. 617 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:21,560 Never did that. 618 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:22,560 I was broken. 619 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:24,560 I was healed. 620 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,600 I was made tender. 621 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:33,760 So I guess so that I could be more purposeful. 622 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,760 And so I'm in a ministry now. 623 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:43,760 I started a ministry and we've worked with an organization in San Diego feeding thousands 624 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:44,760 of people clothing. 625 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:46,960 We have a warehouse. 626 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,320 We just are in a lot of different places around the world. 627 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:55,760 And it's a totally diametrical opposition to what I was doing before. 628 00:43:55,760 --> 00:44:01,160 And then we are we're hosting an afterlife conference in San Diego, California. 629 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:08,200 So Andy Denier goes to this stuff and it's like, this is crazy. 630 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:11,040 It's amazing how people can change, isn't it? 631 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:15,880 Okay, I've got some questions for you now that there's no right or wrong answers. 632 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:20,880 I want to get your opinion on some things, maybe have you speculate just a little bit. 633 00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:26,480 And you've not only had your own experience, you've talked to many, many people that have 634 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,400 also had near-death experiences. 635 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:31,000 You've written books on the topic. 636 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,160 You just mentioned your conference. 637 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:38,400 By the way, if people want to find you and all your stuff, randike.org. 638 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:39,400 Yes. 639 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:40,400 Correct. 640 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:41,400 Okay. 641 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,800 They can find everything there, including your books and you promised to send me one. 642 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:46,520 I'm going to hold you that promise. 643 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:47,520 Yes. 644 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:55,000 Why do you think that's different people have different kinds of experiences in their NDE's? 645 00:44:55,000 --> 00:45:00,600 As you know, some are disturbing, some are wonderful like yours. 646 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:02,280 There's everything in between. 647 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,200 Some see people they know, some don't. 648 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,320 Give me your thoughts on that whole thing. 649 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,120 Well, I did see my grandmother in heaven. 650 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:17,440 So I checked that box, but I get your point that, and it's a very good one because as 651 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,480 you all know, these experiences do vary. 652 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:25,080 So there's a journey that I guess each of us take. 653 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,320 I don't think anyone has the definitive answer. 654 00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:34,800 So to try to extrapolate too much, I would be, I think I would be over-speaking what 655 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:35,800 should be said. 656 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:45,360 I think bottom line, I would say that people have a tendency to assimilate their experiences 657 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:48,840 based on what they understand at that given time. 658 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:55,040 In other words, if they come from a non-religious background and they stay non-religious, they're 659 00:45:55,040 --> 00:46:01,560 focusing on some of the ethereal points that speak to them in a personal way that speak 660 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:05,960 to I think what is important to them. 661 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:12,240 And then there are those who enter in with some religious maybe experience or even a 662 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:13,240 preconception. 663 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:21,680 And when they come back, some of that is filtered through that experience or that belief. 664 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:27,960 And then there are others who are kind of, they're still searching. 665 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:35,000 And so a lot of heaven, I think, or a lot of afterlife experiences in my opinion are 666 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:38,760 so far apart from the world in which we live. 667 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:45,760 There are some familiar things and there are some non-familiar things that the overinterpretation 668 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:50,400 of some of those experiences can get us into trouble. 669 00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:57,560 So for example, if I saw, and I did see a building or structure that was made of stones 670 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:02,160 and other things and people were going through it and they were fellowship with one another 671 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:04,760 and things of that sort. 672 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:12,040 My point of view is to try to translate that from a biblical standpoint where a mansion 673 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:13,880 in heaven, right? 674 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:20,360 Well, so I did a further study in that and it wasn't, it was the mansion in heaven really 675 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:21,760 was the presence. 676 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,560 I did a word study. 677 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,480 So my interpretation was different coming back. 678 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:34,960 I just took it in, assimilated, but I think that assimilation can only be done to a certain 679 00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:43,360 point because it relies on the listener or the ones that is the objective point of view 680 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:52,280 as you and others who are listening to this to make a determination for themselves. 681 00:47:52,280 --> 00:48:02,880 But all I can say is, and I did this as an agnostic, is pray that if you're not a believer, 682 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,760 just pray, seek the truth. 683 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:07,760 Seek the truth. 684 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:10,520 I studied all things. 685 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,680 I'm not saying I'm the Oracle of Truth here. 686 00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:20,440 I'm just saying that be a truth seeker and seek the God of love. 687 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:29,160 And if anyone spoils that or has, you know, then I have questions, you know, because I've 688 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:34,600 interviewed a lot of people who have had hellish experiences or hell experiences and they 689 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:44,560 come back and one fell into a very rigid, religious dogmatic group. 690 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:47,800 And another one became a Christian. 691 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:55,520 What I'm saying is that they tend to want to group together in a way that helps explain 692 00:48:55,520 --> 00:49:01,120 what they went through as opposed to, I don't want to use a term open mind, as opposed to 693 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:06,280 just seeking the truth, being a truth seeker, I guess is what I'm saying. 694 00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:10,960 And I think that truth seeking will come to the conclusion and saying, I just want to 695 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:11,960 know. 696 00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:13,520 I just want to understand. 697 00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:18,280 And moreover, most importantly, I think I just want, I want to have a more loving heart 698 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:19,280 is what I want. 699 00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:24,840 I know that sounds cliche and, you know, trite sometimes, but I think that's the bottom line 700 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:31,920 is we if it imparts love and a more loving attitude, if it has that effect, I think it's 701 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:33,920 good if it doesn't. 702 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:40,800 And I think that deserves more intro or extra inspection, if you will. 703 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:45,240 Something else that I've theorized and you give me your opinion on this is that people 704 00:49:45,240 --> 00:49:50,880 are only given how much they can handle or how much is going to make sense to them. 705 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:58,760 If there was someone who had no belief in Jesus or had not studied at all, and they had an 706 00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:04,160 experience like yours, I don't know, maybe to be a little, a little more than they could 707 00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:05,680 handle. 708 00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:11,680 Some other people have are studying, you know, Eastern religions and other things like that, 709 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:16,240 and they have experiences a little bit more down those lines. 710 00:50:16,240 --> 00:50:22,760 So I've sort of come to the conclusion that we have experiences that are really best for 711 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:29,400 us, that we can learn the most from, get the most from. 712 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:33,760 There's obviously commonalities, the feeling of love that you talked about and things like 713 00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:34,760 that. 714 00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,000 Do you have any thoughts on that? 715 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:38,000 Yes. 716 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:41,200 Well, the fact is that all of us returned. 717 00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:44,960 Otherwise, we wouldn't be speaking to you or with you. 718 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:47,240 There's a commonality. 719 00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:48,760 There's a commonality, yes. 720 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:53,160 So then there's a reason why that is. 721 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:54,400 I wanted to stay. 722 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,080 I did not want to return. 723 00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:01,560 But I think I mentioned that I wanted to hear these words. 724 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:05,960 I wanted to hear, well done, my good and faithful servants. 725 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:10,920 So for any Christian, that's like the end all be all. 726 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,440 Go to heaven. 727 00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:16,680 Jesus says that to you and you're in. 728 00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:22,760 Your life is complete, or not complete, but it's basically been codified by God. 729 00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:24,040 And I've dwelt on that. 730 00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:25,040 Why didn't I hear those words? 731 00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:27,000 I so much wanted to hear. 732 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:33,040 And I know it's now, I believe, that it's because my life was unfinished. 733 00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:39,960 So I believe I'll hear those words, whatever may not be verbatim, those words, because 734 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:42,840 I felt it in heaven. 735 00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:51,160 And I didn't feel like God would return me unless He was going to bring me back. 736 00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:58,520 That would be, from my vantage point, cruel to go through that and not being able to return. 737 00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,360 And that's not the God I met. 738 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:06,400 So every time I talk with somebody who has an afterlife survivor who has a different 739 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:12,240 translation or an experience that is kind of filtered through and expressed in a different 740 00:52:12,240 --> 00:52:19,440 way, I just say to them, essentially, I believe you first. 741 00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:21,320 I believe you. 742 00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:25,480 Secondly, I don't save anybody. 743 00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,200 That's not my job. 744 00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:33,160 And I was an agnostic, and the only way I came to it was not through Christians being kind 745 00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:34,160 to me and good to me. 746 00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,600 No, it was quite the opposite, actually. 747 00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:44,160 It was through seeking the truth and allowing that to be unimpeded to some extent. 748 00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:51,880 But again, of course, I made my own determination, but I don't judge somebody who doesn't make 749 00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:53,000 the same determination. 750 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,400 I'm commanded to love them. 751 00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:56,720 I'm commanded to love them. 752 00:52:56,720 --> 00:52:58,960 And that's my only charge. 753 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:03,720 And that's really hard sometimes. 754 00:53:03,720 --> 00:53:13,760 But I know that my responsibility, trust me, trust God, stay in the moment, and just love 755 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:14,760 on people. 756 00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:18,920 And there was somebody not too long ago who spat on my face. 757 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:22,480 And I've gotten some really kind of nasty things. 758 00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:28,280 And I don't think I don't express nasty things, but I don't think. 759 00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:33,320 But this person, for some reason, had a lot of animosity spat on my face. 760 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:39,160 I just paused, and then I just dropped to my knees. 761 00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:44,760 And I said, Lord, God, what about how it is shouting vitriol? 762 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:53,640 I mean, I can't repeat, obviously, but so I finally, okay, trust me, return good for 763 00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:54,640 evil. 764 00:53:54,640 --> 00:54:03,880 I stood up and I said, God loves you so much, you don't have. 765 00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:05,480 I never understood that. 766 00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:11,680 I died and I met him, he loves you so much. 767 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:18,080 And if I didn't have an inkling of that love, I would be so enraged with you, but I forgive 768 00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:19,080 you. 769 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,080 I forgive you. 770 00:54:22,080 --> 00:54:27,000 And he saw it was sincere and I was sincere. 771 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,320 And he didn't know how to deal with it. 772 00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:32,360 And I think I saw it tearing his eye. 773 00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:37,600 I think I saw it and I ended up talking with him for a while. 774 00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:42,120 And he shared his life a little bit and I realized why he was this angry, angry person, 775 00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:43,840 bitter person. 776 00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:46,400 And then he became humanized. 777 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:55,400 And then we were able to talk and we parted ways and I wasn't trying to processize him. 778 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:56,840 That's not my job. 779 00:54:56,840 --> 00:55:01,000 I was just trying to share that love a little bit of that love. 780 00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:04,880 And I think it tenderized his heart a little bit. 781 00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:07,320 That's beautiful. 782 00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:13,560 Before we wind down here, I'm just wondering if there was anything about your experience 783 00:55:13,560 --> 00:55:15,840 that really surprised you? 784 00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:17,720 Like what? 785 00:55:17,720 --> 00:55:21,640 Why did that happen? 786 00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:23,040 Or anything funny? 787 00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:25,680 Well, besides all of it. 788 00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:32,120 That surprised me, I guess. 789 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:40,480 There was a time that I had this funny conversation with Jesus. 790 00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:45,200 Just silly talk. 791 00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:52,800 And I said to him, I said, I hate the taste of toothpaste. 792 00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:53,800 Why? 793 00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:59,160 I mean, it was like we were in the moment of having this banter. 794 00:55:59,160 --> 00:56:04,960 And his response back to me is I didn't invent it. 795 00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:07,320 And we chuckled together. 796 00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:08,320 That's perfect. 797 00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:16,440 But yeah, I mean, the biggest surprise probably was the people I saw there. 798 00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:21,480 Because I had an understanding of where they came from. 799 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:27,360 It was, I could understand people and the person. 800 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:32,880 And I had some insight into their lives in some cases. 801 00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:37,080 And these were people I would never associate with on earth. 802 00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:42,120 I mean, whoa, even that person? 803 00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:45,240 Yes, even that person. 804 00:56:45,240 --> 00:56:48,040 And that surprised me probably the most. 805 00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:51,960 And again, that reflected on the grace of God. 806 00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:55,600 All right, any last thoughts before we wrap up? 807 00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:59,200 Eric, you have a wonderful tender heart about you. 808 00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:08,920 And I mentioned this before, how you accept us for our experience in a non-judgmental 809 00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:10,040 sort of way. 810 00:57:10,040 --> 00:57:15,000 And that's so much appreciated because that's one thing I think that near-death experiences 811 00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:20,520 as you know are very reticent about sharing with others. 812 00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:26,480 I enjoy hearing other people's story, but I hesitate to share my story. 813 00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:34,920 And then I come across somebody like Eric Bennett who opens the door to understanding 814 00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:37,880 and to sharing in a way that is genuine. 815 00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:39,800 And so I thank you for that. 816 00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:43,440 I thank you for what you do and bringing these stories to light. 817 00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:49,560 Because I think we as afterlife survivors or near-death experiences, I tend to term 818 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:52,000 afterlife survivors as people who died. 819 00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:54,120 And then your death can be coma or whatever. 820 00:57:54,120 --> 00:58:00,000 But I think we feel like orphaned children a lot of times. 821 00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:01,360 Like we're not accepted. 822 00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:02,720 I did lose my career. 823 00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:09,400 I did, well, there were a lot of sacrifices because we're viewed a different way. 824 00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:16,280 And I thank you for honoring us with exposing us in a positive way. 825 00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:19,320 Well, thank you for being with me today, Randy. 826 00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:22,720 I really appreciate it. 827 00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:25,520 Thanks again for listening and sharing this podcast. 828 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:31,600 Don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign up for our newsletter at roundtriptest.com. 829 00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:35,880 If you want to share your near-death experience or if you have questions or comments about 830 00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:40,200 the show, send an email to ericatroundtriptest.com. 831 00:58:40,200 --> 00:59:07,760 Until then, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and the next.