From the time that they pronounced me dead was
a good 45 minutes. They cut my clothes and then
they paddled. My heart, my heart had stopped
and I could see people screaming and crying but
I didn't realize that was actually my physical
body because I was somewhere else. The only thing
that I could feel if you could imagine absolute
love and peace, there wasn't anything else to
be felt. I was greeted by people I'd known in
the past. I'm back home again. Incredibly safe
and felt at home. Welcome, welcome to Round Trip
Death, everybody. And I'd like to welcome from
SoCal today, Steve King. How are you, Steve?
I'm doing really well, Eric. It's a blessing
and honor to be here on your show. Well, thank
you. Hey, I didn't warn you of this up front.
But one thing that I like to ask each of our
guests is if they'll tell just a little bit about
themselves, if you just take one to two minutes,
just so our listeners get to know who they're
talking to. And then I'll lead you through some
questions to talk about your NDE. Sure. Yeah.
My name is Steve Kang, married to a lovely wife
of eight years. She's a professional pianist.
I work in the local church. I was a radical Buddhist
trying to reach Nirvana, had a near -death experience
of heaven and hell, and now I work as a pastor.
I also work, you know, a normal job as well.
So I love, I believe God loves all people and
I love life and I'm very diligent in doing the
work of God, including being with you. Well,
we appreciate you being with us. I had read your
story quite a few weeks ago and I'm glad we could
finally get together. So let's just jump right
into it. I would like a little bit of your history
about being Buddhist and then Tell me what led
up to your NDE. Yes, so as a Buddhist, Eric,
I had grandparents who were Buddhist on both
sides. They did an arranged marriage from my
mom and dad. They met in the temple. Because
back in those days, a lot of our current grandparents
still went to the temple religiously. And I was
born, so from birth, I was in the temple. I was
at the age of six, though. Unlike maybe some
of the other kids, I was asking the monks and
myself, why is there injustice in this world?
Why is there some poor, some rich, some powerful,
some powerless? Why is there evil and good? And
how do you reach heaven? How do I become right
with God? And the monks told me I need to pray
a million years. And I said, oh my gosh, a million
years to reach eternal life? And they go, yes.
And I was like, I better start now. And they
go, yes, you better start now. So out of fear
of not wanting to be judged and perish, I was
in the temples praying eight hours a day, Eric,
on the weekends. I was in the temple. I brought
the, I wasn't just a nominal Buddhist. When I
do something, I go all in. I was a radical Buddhist.
I had the Buddhist beat on, stared at the statue.
I remember praying many, many hours. In high
school, when I went back to Korea, I remember
waking up an hour before school, like bus came,
because we had school buses in Korea. I went
to an international school in South Korea, and
I would pray to the monks, the monk's prayer.
The Buddha wrote the rules and laws on the wall.
So yeah, I was a very devout Buddhist before
I met God at the age of 19. How old were you
when you had your near -death experience? I was
19 years old, Eric. I had my whole life planned
out. My parents were pretty well off. I went
to a very good private college called Claremont
Colleges, Pomona College. But I remember my near
-death experience happened at the age of 19,
going into the sophomore year. Okay, and this
was a suicide attempt, right? Yeah. Should I
describe how it led to that? Yeah, but let me
just, I love to throw out a little disclaimer.
For listeners, when we're talking about something
like suicide, that really a sensitive topic,
just want to let people know upfront, we're going
to be discussing that and some some pretty rough
things, but we won't go into too much detail
or or too much graphic about it. So, OK, you've
been forewarned. Steve, tell me what led up to
it, because, you know, you were having a pretty
good life. So what went wrong? Yeah, my life
was pretty good. I went to a great school, good
private school in Korea. But one thing that really
I was always afraid of as a Buddhist, Eric, was
I was afraid of death, I was afraid of demons,
and I was always afraid of the dark. And because
in Buddhism, I was taught that all my issues
is a result of my previous life sense. And I
was like, man, what was I in my past life? And
they're like, you know, nobody knows. You can
find out by meditating more. So I'm like, I guess
I did some good in my... previous life, which
I don't believe in anymore. But at the time,
I was living a normal life. But the Asian financial
depression crisis happened where my dad, who
was super wealthy, went from riches to rags.
And then I had no tuition, no place to live.
So I ended up living in a drug dealer friend's
house. And then we ended up getting high every
day. So I don't remember being sober, Eric, that
whole summer of 1998, the whole summer of 98,
June to September. I don't think I was sober
for one day. While in one of those parties, I
smoked a very heavily laced drug called the death
bowl in the street language. It looks like marijuana.
So I'm like, I'll get high today. By the way,
I've been drug free for 25 years. Congratulations
on that. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I don't need that
anymore. I get high on the most high for free.
So I smoked this bowl. And I stayed up for 10
straight days, Eric. It was laced with heroin,
cocaine, PCP, meth, you name it. And I felt so
weird after smoking that I lost the track of
time. I lost the track of, I couldn't read one
sentence in a book. My brain was so damaged.
My anxiety, fear level just went up the roof
and I didn't see for 240 hours. Around the eighth,
ninth day, a spirit came to me and I thought
it was a good Buddhist god. And he didn't come
to me, you know, the devil came to me, but he
didn't come to me with pitchforks and horns.
He came to me, Eric, and said, you know, and
you're having a hard time right now. I said,
yeah, I feel like I already died. I looked in
the mirror. I looked at my eyes and the white
lens was like not visible. It was a very scary
time. And this evil spirit is speaking to me
and he goes, if you lay down your life for me
and commit suicide, cut yourself open and give
yourself to me, I will give you 50 ,000 less
years of hell. Mind you, I haven't slept in many
hours. You start losing your mind around the
third, fourth day, fifth day. And it sounded
like a good deal at the time. I thought the Buddhist
God visited me. So I went to, I wrote my mom
a letter saying, Mom, I failed you in this life,
but hopefully in the next life, you know, we
can meet together. And she read that letter and
she was weeping. And I remember when she went
into her bedroom on the 10th day of being up,
I went to their kitchen and I grabbed the biggest
knife I could find and all in the hopes of going
to heaven. I got on my knees and I I put the
knife and I'm about to stab myself to go to heaven
while high. And my mom walks out of her bedroom.
I thought she was sleeping when she comes out.
She sees the whole thing. She calls 911. And
this was at the city of Irvine at the time. So
the cops and the police and the paramedics even,
I think they came right away and they put the
knife down. And the evil spirit goes, it's now
or never. And the cops are there. the evil spirits
here and he's like, you better go now. So I went
for it and I cut my neck open. I cut my stomach
open. I don't want to lift up my shirt right
now, but there's a scar which many people saw
and the scar right here. And I was cutting myself.
The police jumped on me. They took the knife
away. And it was such a painful time. Now the
whole living room was bloody red. Oh, by the
way, in America, about I think roughly a hundred
people commit suicide every day. In South Korea,
my home country, 40 people commit suicide every
day. So there's two countries. This is not weekly
or monthly. It's a daily average. So I was going
to become a statistic, and I did for eight hours.
I was gone for eight hours. But before I was
unconscious on Earth, going from consciousness
to unconsciousness, I have what's called OBE,
which is out of body experience. So my spirit
leaves my body and I see myself but I'm here
and I'm going from eternity to the present world
and I come out and I see myself but instead of
going up I start sinking and it was a very fearful
feeling. I didn't expect that because in Buddhism
I don't believe in hell. They don't teach you
about hell and heaven. It's all about reincarnation.
But here I am sinking into some hole and it felt
like I was in an elevator roller coaster just
sinking going down but never going back up. And
the grandpa was looking for guidance, like, where
are we going next? But he's gone, so I couldn't
ask him for any questions. But after falling
for about five minutes, I remember landing in
a place, just like a big thumb, boom, boom, and
I land. And I look around, and this is not heaven.
This is not what I thought I was going to end
up in. And I'm in this place of just red, purplish
soil and rocks. There's no plants. There's no
light. It's very dark. And I landed there, and
it's filled with so many people. There's people
to my right, to my left, in front of me, behind
me, and I'm like, and I was in so much pain.
I was in so much pain, I could not ask the person
in front of me, hey, how you doing? What's your
name? And the spiritual, physical, emotional,
intellectual pain that I felt in hell was just
a lot worse than earth. So I went from having
a bad time on earth to having a worse time in
hell. And mind you, I don't even believe in hell.
But here I am in hell, and for the first time
in my life, I supernaturally knew in my conscience
that I'm a sinner and a bad person while I landed.
Now, when I was on Earth, I never killed anybody.
I sold drugs, but it was only marijuana. Someone's
gotta sell weed. I don't remember hitting anyone.
I was a good person in my eyes. But when I died,
or rather was unconscious in your death experience,
I knew I was a sinner. And number two, I knew
I was going to be here forever, Eric. I knew
this was an eternal place for me to be. And it
was just so weird. I just supernaturally knew.
And then when I looked up, there's demons, and
they're not real small. They were huge, with
cakes on, walking around. And I knew they were
in charge of this place. And I looked to my left.
There's a cliff. I looked down. It's just all
rocks. And there's no plants. There's no light
there. And I experienced eternal separation from
God from a firsthand point of view, from my own
heart. So I know that hell is real, Eric. Let
me ask you a question right here. A lot of people
that I talk to have had a heavenly experience,
and they talk about this feeling of oneness and
this amazing love. They just can't even describe
the love of God that is just so profound. Tell
me how you're feeling at that point, because
I have a feeling it's an opposite. Yeah, hell
was the opposite. Because on earth, you know,
God gives grace and mercy even to the righteous
and the wicked, it says in the Bible, meaning
He blesses all people, you know, because it's
life. But in hell, there's not even one percent
of God. I did go to heaven nine months later.
I can share about that with you as well. Lord
have mercy on me. He took me to heaven nine months
later, which was life -changing and healed me
from all the trauma of hell. But in hell, you
got to understand, hell is a place where God
judges the wicked. and whoever follows the devil
or doesn't believe in Jesus goes there. So I
was a Buddhist monk saying, I'm going to become
God. I don't need Jesus. God is for weak people.
And I was one of those prideful guys. So when
I was in hell, everything I felt pain -wise on
earth, fear, anxiety, condemnation, guilt, powerlessness,
was just multiplied like a hundredfold. It's
the only way I can describe it. So I was trying
to escape pain and I committed suicide, but now
the pain just got worse. So hell is what a pastor
describes the perfect judgment of a perfect God
against His perfect enemies. It's total perfect
judgment from the infinite Creator that judges
wicked. And I was wicked at the time because
I didn't have relations with God, Eric. Sorry,
I'm a little speechless here for a second. Yeah,
I was too when I first encountered that place.
Yeah, just give me an idea of what happened next.
Did it end at this point? Yeah, Noel, it's a
different ending because I'm here in front of
you. So my mom who had one Christian friend who
avoided church and Jesus her whole life with
me, who programmed me not to go to church, sees
her own son praying to Buddha his whole life
and attempting suicide and she's like, something
is definitely not working. Our religion is not
working. Something's wrong. So she goes, you
know, she humbles herself for the first time
and she calls her Christian friend and she says,
this is spiritual warfare. My mom goes, spiritual
what? She calls eight of her intercessor friends
and pastors, Eric, and they came rushing into
the ER at UCR Medical Center, UCR Medical Center,
from a local church called Grace Ministries International,
where two years later I got baptized, and then
eight years after that I became the youth pastor
there. Isn't that amazing how God redeems? They
came and they prayed for me during this operation.
While I'm in hell, on earth the doctor was...
He was a specialist that flew into the emergency
room or drove in and he was tying up all the
blood vessels. But while they were doing the
surgery, my blood pressure and heart rate just
kept dropping and he actually told my mom he
might not make it. It would be a miracle if he
makes it. They did two surgeries over a period
of eight hours or so and I ended up coming to
life. And when I woke up, the doctor said, Steve,
it's a miracle you're here. It's a miracle you're
here. And while this was happening, the surgery
and the operation, the eight intercessors and
pastors, Eric, They were praying for me the whole
time. I am so grateful for them because I never
met them. They don't owe me anything. They were
strangers. But because they were lovers of Jesus
from a Spirit -filled church that prayed and
went for the lost, they came to the hospital,
and here I am standing before you. And right
before I woke up, this is another amazing part
of the testimony, right before I woke up from
hell, thank God I'm not there anymore, because
I believe prayer and intercession changes the
fate of nations and people. In Buddhism, we're
fatalists, like you deserve your fate. In Christianity,
in biblical faith, you can change fate through
prayer. I see it all the time, like God's about
to judge somebody. He's about to judge Sodom
and Gomorrah. King Hezekiah and somebody prays,
or King Hezekiah prays, Abraham prays, and somebody
prays, and God changes his mind. So you know
what? I will relent. You humble yourself and
pray. So the prayers of these saints that prayed
for me at the hospital, I believe brought me
to life. I opened my ass, but before I do, I
don't see Jesus at the time, Eric, because I
didn't see him yet. He didn't reveal himself
to me, but I heard his voice. He said, Steve,
I love you. No more drugs and no more Buddhism.
And I'm just like, what is this feeling? Who
the heck is that? Because I never went to church
in my life. I was the antichrist. I brought people
from the church to the temple. I repented of
that, by the way. And I always thought Christians
were just a bunch of hypocrites. You've got to
be really stupid to believe in Christianity.
But here I am, before the Lord of Lords and King
of Kings, the only Savior of mankind." And he's
like, I love you. And I was like, oh, shoot.
Who is this? He didn't even say, like, I am Jesus
Christ. It was a new voice, you know, because
Buddha never talked to me during my 19 years
of praying. Oh, I opened my eyes. I'm surrounded.
I have like tubes and staples all over me. I'm
surrounded by these amazing pastors and intercessors,
and they led me in the sinner's prayer. So that
day, Eric, I prayed the sinner's prayer, not
once, twice, or three times. but 10 times to
make sure I don't go back down to hell. And I
described to them what I saw and they said, Steve,
that is hell. And I said, how do I not go there?
And they go, say the sinner's prayer. So that
was my introduction to Christianity. Wow. Now,
did you immediately tell them everything that
you had seen? I didn't tell them everything,
but I told them a very brief overview because
I was so tired from losing blood, getting whacked
by the bat, not sleeping for 10 days. going through
the surgery. But I told them I saw a place that
was utterly dark, filled with people and demons
everywhere. And they're like, Steve, we think
you went to hell. And that was enough for them
to lead me in prayer. Actually, the first thing
they said was they looked in my eye and said,
Satan be gone. And I attempted suicide. Maybe
I was still demon possessed. And I told them,
I'm not the devil. And they go, OK, good. Now
let us lead you in the Lord's prayer. Do you
want to accept Jesus? I said, yes, I do. And
they're like saying that, you know, you have
to lead people in the sinner's prayer. After
three times, I said, can I just have the piece
of paper? Just give it to me. And I prayed it.
And I was like, remember, I was like, I was like
praying it myself over and over again. Yep, September
of 1998. So we've heard the big wide scope of
what happened after that and big changes you
made in your life and stuff. But on a day to
day basis, like, were you in the hospital a long
time? Did you feel kind of lost or did you feel
like you immediately had a direction to go in?
Yeah, I did not have an immediate direction.
I was still recovering physically. I was in the
after, I think it's called the care unit for
a few more days. They even put me in the mental
hospital for a few days to get evaluated. This
guy attempted suicide and they're like, oh, he's
normal so they released me. I'm back in my house,
but I'm out of school. I'm not fully recovered.
So the Christians kept visiting my home with
baked goods and Bible studies. And I remember,
I was like, what's next? You know, I'm just,
it's like time off, right? The Lord gave me a
few months off from September to January when
the next semester starts. So for the next few
months, I read the Bible, but it was so hard
to understand. I was like, what is it? What?
It's just so many books. What's the Old Testament,
New Testament? Thank God that the pastors and
small group leaders, the people visiting at the
hospital even, they kept visiting me, Eric, and
taught me the truth of the scripture little by
little. But I still told them, you know, something's
missing. I said, I get it and I saw hell, but
what's next? And they go, we believe you need
to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And I said,
baptized in the what? Like in water? And they're
like, no, this is different. We want you to be
filled with God's Spirit. So they suggested I
go to a prayer mountain that the church was running.
So Grace Church had a Grace Prayer Mountain back
then there. So I go to the prayer mountain and
there was an amazing pastor there who had service.
It's like a monastery, modern day monastery.
but it's a Protestant Christian, 6 a .m., 11
a .m., 8 p .m., and I'm there, and He laid His
hands on me on November 28th. And now I'm like
listening to three sermons a day. It's like my
first sermon ever, so I'm kind of understanding
Christianity. It's all about Jesus dying for
my sins on the cross, and I have to live a new
life. But, you know, I'm still a little sick,
still out of it. But when the Holy Spirit baptized
me on November 20th, 1998, roughly nine weeks
or so, 10 weeks after the event happened, I remember
feeling just fire go through my body. I started
speaking in tongues. I didn't even know what
was going on, but this pastor put his hands on
my head and said, God bless Steve, Lord. And
Jesus said, Amen. I got filled with fire. That
day I slept so well, like I felt like my body
got rejuvenated. And little by little, Eric,
just to encourage the listeners, it was a gradual
healing, progressive revelation and gradual understanding
of God. It wasn't like, now that you saw hell,
Now you go preach the gospel. There's situations
like that, but for me, it took me another three
months just to understand the gospel and to understand
church. And then in June, I saw heaven, but I
don't know if I should go into that right now
or... Yeah, let's go for it. So, you know, so
I get baptized in the Spirit. I come back to
school in January, back to Pomona College, thinking
everything has to be fine and dandy. I hope this
also encourages new believers and seekers. I
thought I'd be like this holy guy, not tempted,
but I started smoking again. drinking and partying
again, Eric. Can you believe that? I'm getting
high again. Because somewhere in the Bible, I
read God is merciful. And I was like, He'll forgive
me, right? So I'm like driving and I'm getting
into car accidents. Every time I go out, it was
scary. Steve, welcome to being human. We do stupid
things. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. We need a savior
every day. So he looks at, so my non -Christian
friends look at me and they go, Steve, how come
you're saved? And we heard your story, like everyone
on campus knows about it. Oh, how come you're
still getting high with us? You're a Christian
now." And I go, yeah, you're right. I shouldn't
be here. And they're like, yeah, you shouldn't
be here anymore. Like they were preaching at
me and they don't even know Jesus. So I felt
so guilty and my church friends are like, come
to church with me. And I was like, yeah, you're
right. I need to go to church. So this gradual
sanctification took another six months from January
to June. But I was like, you know what? Yolo,
let me party it out one last time. But every
time I try to go to the world, the Lord would
get me in a car accident, rebuke me, my Christian
friends rebuke me. And I think I broke or surrendered
more in the month of June, June of 1999, the
summer of my sophomore year in college when God
showed me a trip to heaven. He gave it to me.
He showed me heaven, Eric, the heaven in the
book of Revelation 20, 21, 22. When I least deserve
it, when I least expected it, it's called grace.
It's called amazing grace. None of us deserve,
you know, the free gift of eternal life. It's
literally a gift undeserved. And that makes human
beings go, wow, I am thankful because we were
created to thank and worship God. Thank and worship
Him all the time. So here I am in this dream.
I see heaven. I'm standing on top of a hill.
And there is the most beautiful meadow and valley
I've ever seen. I look up, the most beautiful
sky. I was like, wow. And I hear an angelic choir.
just worshiping God. And I knew it was angels,
Eric, because the voice level, the quality, the
depth, the joy, the beauty cannot be humans.
Humans, not even the greatest soloist, baritone,
Italian opera singer cannot sing like that. There's
a worst bring the father. And I look up and I
see this huge light and it speaks to me. And
I knew it was God the Father. And he didn't go,
you know, Steve, like, you know, I like your
hair. He's not like chit chatty. He just said,
Jesus Christ is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Listen to him. Listen to him. Listen
to him. Later on, because I haven't read the
Bible too much at this time, but later on when
I started going to seminary reading the Bible,
like almost every day, Eric, Jesus actually says
that three times out of the four gospels where
God, when Jesus is being baptized, When Jesus
prays, the Holy Spirit falls when He's baptized,
the Kingdom of God comes because Jesus is the
Kingdom of God. Wherever He is, God is there,
the Father and the Son are one. And I remember
hearing His voice. I saw the glory of the Father
and I felt His love for me, Eric. And I was like,
you know what? This is where I belong. And I
want all my loved ones to experience this. I
want my mom, my dad, my brother, my ex -girlfriend,
even my enemies sometimes, my friends who hurt
me. I want them to experience the exact same
perfect peace and presence of God because in
His presence, there was and is and will be a
fullness of joy and peace to the maximum capacity
humans can experience. So I said, wow, I saw
heaven. And then I saw the New Jerusalem, Revelation
20, 21, this huge city made of pure translucent
gold. The whole city was gold coming from heaven.
Just like the Bible says, 2 ,000 stadia by 2
,000 stadia by 2 ,000 stadia. It's a distance
from Texas to New York. It's a perfect cube.
It looked like a triangle looking up, but the
city came down and I saw the heavenly Jerusalem
that the saints of God reign for a thousand years.
It talks about it on the scripture. And I was
like, wow, who needs money when you're going
to live in that thing? Like God has all the wealth
in the world. Wow. And I was just worshiping
it. And I woke up and I said, I just saw heaven.
I saw the rivers, the meadow, the grass. I saw
the new heaven and new earth. And I opened my
eyes and I said, you know what, I can't keep
partying. I think something's gotta change. So
after a series of more car accidents, after that
dream, I stopped partying, Eric. I said, Lord,
I surrender. And I went to be a full -time missionary
in China. A year later, I just moved. I quit
school. I just moved to China. Okay, a couple
of quick questions. First one is, I hope you're
okay answering this. You said that you saw the
glory of God. What exactly does that mean? Does
that mean you saw a godly person? What did you
see? Yeah, I didn't see his face. I didn't even
see a body. You know, I know some friends who
saw the Father like sitting on the throne and
they saw his feet and all that. I didn't see
none of that. I just saw an emanating like sun
-looking light and in this light he spoke. I
just knew it was God the Father because he called
Jesus the Son. I didn't see a figure or like
a throne or even or like a hair or face. I just
saw light. emanating at me. And the light spoke,
and I knew it was God the Father. And when He
spoke, the voice was so authoritative, rushing
of many rivers. It's so warm and authoritative.
It's God, the Most High Voice. And when I heard
His voice, it wrecked me. I will never forget
it. It was 25 years ago, 26 years ago, and I
still can go back to that experience like it's
happening right now. That's interesting that
it can sound both warm and authoritative at the
same time. Yeah. And I think that's why Jesus
Christ said, I came full of grace and truth.
He came filled with grace and truth. Some people
say, lovey -dovey, you know, God loves everybody.
He does, but He's also holy. Truth is not evil.
Truth is what is the, what is fact. God is holy.
He is still King. He's my dad. He's your dad.
We can be intimate with Him, but He's still the
highest president, highest king of all. All creation
worships Him. So it's kind of weird because we
like His kids, but we still worship Him and He's
our dad. It's like there's different modes. I
feel like we can have the son -kid -baby moment.
We can have the bond -servant -master moment.
We can have the creation -creator moment. There's
so many facets to our relationship with the Father.
I feel like the human beings are created to experience
all of that, to be intimate. and worshiping and
surrender to God because He's the Creator, we're
the creature. And we were, I'll be very frank
with you today, and every day, we were created
to worship. We were like, I feel like my DNA,
my heart was made to worship. If we worship the
wrong thing, end up all funky and weird, if we
worship God, we become like Him, holy. We become
whom we behold. And God says, when you see my
son Jesus, you saw me. So it's like, He's also
human. His son is, so we can interact with him.
He's very compassionate. He's very merciful.
The other question that I had a few minutes ago,
I asked you about your actual feelings when you
were in hell. What were your feelings and emotions
in heaven? In heaven, I felt accepted, felt home.
I felt like this is my home. I felt bliss, pure
bliss, like no worries. Like hell was like anxiety,
worry, fear. multiplied, heaven was like loved,
joyful, peace, serenity, glory, exciting all
at once. It's like no drug and cafe can produce
that kind of feeling on earth. Sometimes when
I worship, I get close to that feeling. But when
I was in heaven Eric, I felt like I was where
I was supposed to be in my father's bosom. Yeah.
I felt like this is where I'm going to spend
eternity. So every day now I live for heaven.
Every day we pray in the morning one hour, two
hours, we evangelize souls, go to mission fields,
serve the homeless, build a church, forgive the
unforgivable, bless the unblessable, love the
unlovable, and serve those who can never repay
us. Take up the cross every day because that's
the only way to go to heaven is surrender. We're
not saved by works, but this proves we're truly
repented and saved. I feel like the Lord made
us to experience all that. And by the way, God
wants everybody there, Eric. God desires all
men in heaven. Amen, 2nd Timothy, yes. I couldn't
agree more. He does not want anyone to go down
and experience the place where you were. If we
really are His children, He wants us all to come
back to Him. Yes, amen. That's really the bottom
line of His whole plan. How much fear of death
do you have? Zero I think as a Buddhist I was
so afraid to die because in Buddhism I was taught
due to my sin or my past life I'll be born into
an ant if I wrong somebody a cow I was like man
if I die, I'm gonna be a pig in my next life.
Am I gonna be somebody's barbecue? You know,
so I was McDonald's, you know Big Mac and I was
so worried and I was so afraid of demons because
the monks never taught me how to battle demons
in Christianity You bind that sucker. You're
saying, Jesus seeing the devil be gone, I'm not
afraid of you. My Savior fights my battles. Jesus
is inside of me. So His perfect love casts out
all fear. Now the last enemy to be defeated,
according to the Bible, Eric, as you well know,
and hopefully some of the listeners can think
about this, is the last enemy to be defeated
is death because the devil used death, which
is a result of sin or us choosing to go away
from God at the Garden of Eden. Death is like
the ultimate price to pay for not being with
God. But Jesus took care of all that on the cross.
So after seeing heaven and hell, Eric, I have
no fear of death. Sometimes I look at earth and
I go, man, I experienced everything on earth
and nothing here for me. I'm just an alien and
a stranger or a pilgrim just passing through,
just like first Peter says. And I look forward
to death. I look forward to heaven. I look forward
to seeing my maker and saying, Lord, All I want
to hear from you is, well done, my good and faithful
servant. Enter into the joy of your Master. And
my Master is Jesus. My Lord is Jesus. He dictates
my life. Whatever He wants, I do. What doesn't
please Him, I fight and say no to, sin and whatever
He wants. I say, yes, Lord, help me to obey You.
So yeah, I can boldly tell you with all my heart
and mind that I have zero fear of death. That's
why I'm preaching in mosques, preaching in temples,
preaching at Costco, preaching in the streets,
byways, opposition, homeless people, drunk people,
people who hate you, love you, it doesn't matter.
We preach the gospel anywhere, everywhere. Not
because we're cooler, like we're better than
them or we want to cause a scene, but we got
to get the word out that Jesus is Lord and He
wants to save everybody. He loves everybody.
All right, very last thing that I'm gonna let
you go and that is our show is all about hope
and Giving people hope and there is one person
out there and it only matters if this is for
one person That needs some kind of a message
today. Maybe they lost a loved one Maybe they've
just had really a rough year with every trial
you can imagine What kind of message of hope
do you have for this person? Yeah, Eric. Yeah,
that's such a good thing. I love how your show
is about giving hope to people. The God of Mercy
visited me at my lowest state when I was totally
hopeless, totally dead, and that's the kind of
God we have. Now, this message I really pray
with all my heart in Jesus' name will encourage
at least one person or even more. The Lord, when
we come to Him, Jesus, He doesn't ask us about
all the wrong He did. In the Bible, when he encounters
tax collectors, even prostitutes, fishermen,
violent people, he doesn't go, look what you
did. When he met me, he never said, Steve, you're
such an idol worshipping Buddhist. I can't believe
you didn't come to me until now. All he told
me was, I love you. No more drugs, no more Buddhism,
Steve, and I love you. And God is telling you
right now that He loves you. He's not going to
ask about your mistakes to your past ex -husband,
your sins, your... all the mess -ups you made,
He already knows all that, and He has chosen
to forgive you. So please come as you are, surrender
at His feet, and no matter what stage in life
you're in, or you've been Christian or not, what
religious background you have, just come to Jesus,
say, Lord, I need you, I need your mercy. Father,
God, help me, and He will help you. And you might
be like, what if He doesn't help me? What if
He does help you? What if He doesn't show up?
What if He shows up and He will show up? Because
in Him is always yes and amen. And the Lord is
asking you to not fear. Fear is a tactic of the
enemy. The God is telling you today it's going
to be okay. Do not fear. Do not be anxious about
anything. Just thank me and let me guide you.
He says he has you. All he wants is your heart.
And you might be like, my heart is dirty. It's
not perfect. Welcome to the club. Eight billion
people have broken, messed up hearts. But when
I gave my broken, messed up, idol worshiping,
suicidal, depressed, zero self -esteem, no value
for others, heart to God. I said, Lord, this
is all I have. He said, you know what, Steve?
It is not clean, but you gave me what you have.
And he took it, and he gave me a new heart. So
today, I want to say God bless you with a new
heart and a new spirit, because that's what Jesus
does. He's not religion. He literally gives you
a new heart and a new spirit. He's called being
born again, and He will take charge of you, and
He loves you very much. He will never leave you
or forsake you, in Jesus' name. Amen. You nailed
it, Steve. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Yeah,
thank you for your time. Thanks again for listening
and sharing this podcast. Don't forget to hit
the follow or subscribe button and sign up for
our newsletter at roundtripdeath .com. If you
want to share your near -death experience, or
if you have questions or comments about the show,
send an email to eric at roundtripdeath .com.
Until then, I wish you everything good that you're
looking for in this life and the next.