From the time that they pronounced me that was
a good 45 minutes They cut my clothes and then
they paddled my heart my heart 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 can 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.
I'd like to welcome to the show today, David
Cooke. Thank you so much for being here all the
way from Kentucky, right? Yes, yes. I live in
Kentucky. It is a beautiful place, although the
last time I was there was snowing, but I hear
it's beautiful in the summer. Yeah. It gets to
be, it's pretty nice here. It gets to be hot
and humid sometimes, but you'll find that probably
anywhere, anywhere in the Midwest, I guess. Well,
I know you're a listener of the show and I appreciate
you reaching out. And I hope I don't surprise
you too badly. I just feel like doing something
backwards today. And that is before we've learned
a little bit about you and get into your whole
experience. I want to ask you one question about
your NDE. Okay. And that is, what does it feel
like when you leave this body and enter a heavenly
place? Well, it feels, you know, that's a very
good question, and it feels weightless. It feels
like, you know, you feel the presence of your
hands, you feel the presence of your body, presence
of your feet. I can feel my feet on my legs right
now. But when you go into an ulterior place,
a heavenly place, a place other than your earthly
bounds, you don't feel the weight of your body.
It's like you're walking or you're floating.
You just feel light. You move about. Just moving
you want to go from here to there you go from
here to there Maybe like no gravity Like no gravity
exactly. Okay. Well, there's a little tease of
much more to come But before we jump into your
whole story David tell us just a little bit about
you so our listeners can get to know who David
cook is Okay. Well, I am 58 years old I had a
Tragic, well, not so tragic, I guess you could
say, but a life -changing experience back when
I was 51 years ago, back when I was seven years
old. I am the youngest of four. My oldest sibling,
my sister, and my oldest brother had a part in
my story. They were an intricate part in the
bringing about my My hospital stay, I guess you
could say. I have been a believer in Christ for
probably since I was five years old. And my parents
were missionaries to the Native Americans in
Northwestern New Mexico, the Zuni Indians. And
that's where my story takes place is in Northwestern
New Mexico. I was the youngest of four. I have
a middle brother also, and he was, he really
didn't have a part of my story. I am husband
of my wife. I'm a father of two daughters. I
stepfather of three daughters and a son. I have
a granddaughter and a step -granddaughter also.
That is awesome. Aren't those daughters and grandkids
the very best? Yes. And I say that with joy in
my heart and half laughing because I didn't mention
sons and Will, my son, is doing some editing
on this and hopefully he's getting a little chuckle
from it right now too because he thinks he's
the favorite. So anyway, let's move on from all
that before I dig myself a deeper hole here and
get myself more in trouble with my family. Let's
go back to when you were seven years old. I know
what happened, but Please tell our listeners
what led up to your big fall that day. Well,
OK. I was like I said, I'm the youngest of four.
And this particular day, in fact, it's right
at 51 years. It was March 19th, 1975. So it was
almost to the day I was home. And my mom was
at work. My dad was away on a speaking trip to
raise support for the ministry. And my oldest
brother and a friend of his, my oldest brother's
name is Greg and a friend of his name is Jamie,
they were going to explore a canyon around our
house. And so I followed my oldest brother and
they came upon this canyon and there was this
crevice that led down to the bottom of this cliff
and they went down into this crevice and I stayed
up on top and I was kicking these rusty cans
over the edge of this cliff. This cliff was 75
feet but down to the bottom and before long I
got closer and closer to the edge of that cliff
and I fell. I ended up falling head first. head
first on the rock bottom and Jamie and my brother
Greg heard me fall and they came running out
Jamie screamed and he went and ran to get his
father as he went and ran into his father his
father King came down in their car to pick me
up my brother came out and my brother did what
he remembered that our parents taught us to do
he got down on his hands and knees and he began
to pray. He prayed that God would not let me
die. Jamie's father came and picked me up and
took me to the hospital there and on the way
to the hospital he ran across my sister Christy
and he says Christy you need to get in the car.
David has been hurt. We need to go pick him up.
She jumped in the car with Jamie's father. They
got down to the bottom of the cliff and they
walked up a small slope to where I was laying
at my lifeless body. They picked up my lifeless
body, laid it in the back of their car, took
me to the Zuni hospital for whatever repairs,
whatever the Zuni hospital could do. The Zuni
hospital did not have the adequate equipment
to prepare to do any kind of major surgery on
my head that wasn't needing to be done. So a
airplane had to be called in to fly me from Zuni
to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And when I landed
at Albuquerque, I went in and was checked into
Loveless Batan Medical Center in Albuquerque.
When I was checked into the hospital, this is
where I can first remember an OBE or an NDE,
however it might be described. But I remember
being rushed into the hospital screaming my head
off because I was not only scared to death, but
I was in pain. Not only that, but I could also
remember myself seeing the whole thing taking
place. I was watching it. take place like I was
overhead watching the nurses running in, rushing
in. And I remember a female paramedic say, it's
okay, buddy. You're going to be okay. I was rushed
into the hospital and I entered the hospital
and I had eight days in a coma in the hospital.
My mom and dad showed up at the hospital. My
dad thought he would never hear me ever again.
Eight days in the middle of the night, my dad
heard me pray. And my dad would always kneel
down and pray with us at night before we would
go to bed. And I always would pray the same thing,
Dear Jesus, help us to obey our parents. And
in the middle of the night, the silence was broken.
with me praying dear Jesus help us to obey our
parents and That's the first words that came
out of my mouth when I came out of that coma
During that coma I can remember times where I
would be laying down there in the in bed and
my Spirit my soul would leave my body and would
float Above my body and up float and I would
see myself laying in that bed I would not leave
the room. My soul would not leave the room per
se But I would float back down into my body during
the time in the hospital though. There were times
that I can remember my soul leaving my body and
floating up above the hospital and Just kind
of floating around above the hospital and then
floating back down into my body. And there was
one time in surgery where I was going into surgery.
I had cerebral surgeries on my skull. I can remember
the nurse giving me the shot. I can remember
crying and saying, ow, ow, and crying. And as
I went into the surgery, the doctor said, okay,
come on, buddy. lifted me up off off of the the
crib of sorts and it was like a metal crib and
put me on the operating table and during the
surgery I can remember my soul leaving my body
leaving the hospital not so much floating away
but it was like just walking from one room into
another just as simple as walking from one room
into another and I can remember as it were, being
in a heavenly realm. And I can remember an angelic
figure at a gate, at a large gate. And he had,
as it were, like a clipboard -type thing. As
I went into that heavenly realm, I said, okay,
well, we're going to need to go. And somebody
directed me toward that angelic figure. And I
went toward that angelic figure. I said, well,
I said, I guess here I am. He said, well, he
says, you're not supposed to be here yet. You
have more things to do. I said, why can't I go
over there? He says, you have more purpose on
staying where you're at. And I can remember as
it were, souls crossing the gate. I wanted to
go where they're at. I said, why can't I go where
they're going? And the angelic figure said, you
have to stay. I said to the angelic figure, what
are they doing? And the angelic figure kind of
directed his hand behind me. And I turned around
and I said, can I see? It looked like there was
clouds as He wiped away the clouds. I could look
down and I could see the doctors working on me,
working on my head as I had fallen and was in
surgery. When I was looking down, I can remember
the presence of a person beside me. The person
beside me, I could almost... I have the comfort
of saying that it probably was Jesus. And I have
his arm around my shoulder. Say that he was there
with me. He said, you have to go now. And as
I went down back into my body, it was just like
crossing, just like walking back from one room
into another. And when I entered back into my
body, I could feel the confines, the weight,
the confinement, I guess you could say, of my
body. My hands, my feet, the pain, the pain I
was in. And when I entered my body, I could hear
a doctor say, we got him back. Because I think
when I had left, I think I was probably flat
-lined. They were afraid that they were going
to lose me. When I entered back in the doctor
said we got him back and I think that each of
my outer body experiences each of my NDE was
God's way of Progressively saying I got you David.
I got you you're taken care of you are in my
hands I have you under my control and the amazing
thing is is that the doctors said when I entered
the hospital that there would be a 10 % chance
of life, that I'm more than likely that if I
was able to survive, that my quality of life
would be nothing, that I would just be a vegetable
and that I would never be able to walk or talk
again. Dr. Glover, the neurosurgeon that worked
on me, 10 years later, I was in a restaurant
in Albuquerque with my dad. My dad said, do you
recognize that man over there? I said, no, I
don't. And he says, let's go over there and talk
to him. And he says, Dr. Glover, he says, I want
to introduce you to somebody. This is my son,
David. You worked on him 10 years ago. And Dr.
Glover, his mouth dropped open when he saw me.
because Dr. Glover said that he never expected
to see that I would be able to survive like that.
That is just so beautiful, David. I really appreciate
you sharing. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
Absolutely. Okay. Just help fill in some of the
blanks for me. First of all, it's not uncommon.
for people to have these out -of -body experiences
when they're in a coma. Sort of like you said
earlier, whether it's O -B -E -N -D -E, the terminology
really doesn't matter very much, okay? You were
having these experiences where, I guess we'll
just call it what it is, out -of -body experience,
because you were up looking down on your body,
which could only happen from a third -person
kind of standpoint. But then I imagine if you
were 20 years older than just being seven years
old, you might've asked specifically the doctors
later, hey, when I was in surgery, did my heart
stop? But at the age of seven, of course, you
wouldn't think to ask those kinds of things.
Or say, hey, at this point in surgery, I felt
like I was gone, you know, tell me what was going
on. That would have been fascinating to hear
that side of it, which we don't have. But I want
to hear some more about during the surgery, when
you were out of body and went to what you described
as a heavenly realm, were there any other things
that you felt or that you saw or that you even
thought about? I was just thinking that that
I didn't want to go back. I knew that I had to
go back because that's what they told me to do.
I wanted to go where the other souls were going.
I wanted to cross that gate, and I didn't want
to go back to the pain, to the earthly confines,
so to speak. I wanted to be at peace, but I knew
that I had to. because that's what they said
I needed to do. Were you feeling peace there
or were you feeling just longing for something?
Well, both. I was feeling peace and I was feeling
that I was at rest. I was at my final destination,
so to speak. Obviously I didn't cross the gate,
so to speak. was wanting to be. Because some
would say our human instinct is to stay alive.
It's to be here in our body. So what was it about
that place that made you want to stay? Oh, no,
no, no. When we're here in our physical bodies,
this is a temporal. This is temporary. When we're
there, it's much more. It's 50 times greater.
It's 500 times greater. It's more alive. This
is just a dream. There, it's real life. Here,
it's just a vapor, as scripture says. Okay. I
want to ask you about the angelic figure at the
gate, because it sounded like the description,
the typical Saint Peter with the clipboard at
the pearly gate kind of thing. It almost sounded
too cliche, but is that what you felt was going
on? Was he just checking, hey, you can go and
you can't go? What's the deal with a clipboard?
Well, I think it was also in the minds of a seven
-year -old. I think that if, like you were saying,
if it was 20 years later, the whole experience
may have been different. A seven -year -old The
mindset may have been a clipboard. A 20 -year
-old or 27 -year -old may have been something
different. Someone checking you in, you know,
like a teacher doing bro -call or something like
that. You know, that's an experience of a seven
-year -old in elementary school. The angelic
figure was... A person was, I don't even say
it was a person, but it may have been St. Peter,
may have been, who knows? But it was somebody
or an angel, angelic figure up there who was
just saying, you need to go back. You still have
purpose on earth. And obviously I do have purpose
because If I didn't come back, I wouldn't have
two daughters of my own. All right, let me call
for what may be a little bit of speculation.
What do you feel was beyond that gate versus
where you were? Well, OK, I think that where
I was at was the entrance to the heavenly realm.
And beyond the gate, I think I believe was was
heaven. was the throne of God, the purling gates,
whatever you may, the streets of gold, however
you may want to illustrate that, the crystal
sea. Or if you want to just call it heaven, call
it heaven. That's okay. Exactly. And I've had
a lot of other people tell me about something
kind of similar, whether it was a gate or a hill
or a passageway or something else. Many people
feel like I'm headed somewhere and I really want
to go there, but I also know if I go I'm not
coming back to my body and It sounds like that's
how you felt Yes, I believe that if I had crossed
that gate Well, the time will come when I will
when I cross that gate then there's no There's
no return to the earthly realms now if you can
think of any other detail that you can remember
about looking down, seeing that person beside
you that you felt was Jesus. Was there anything
else you remember about that? I just felt like
he had a loving presence that had his arm around
me. I just felt his presence beside me. I didn't
look to see who it was. I was looking down to
see what the doctors were doing. I felt love.
I felt belonging, I felt like I will be there
again someday. You also mentioned that you had
been going to church since you were a young boy
years before this. And I forget your exact words,
but it sounded like you really believed what
you were learning in church. And then at seven,
you have this extraordinary experience that most
seven -year -olds don't have. In what way did
that, do you think, changed you? So that, I mean,
you were growing up a different kind of person
than the other seven and eight and nine and ten
and fifteen year olds were. How were you different
than everybody else? How am I different? Well,
I think everybody's different in their own way.
I grew up in a, as a missionary kid in a Native
American culture, standing out like a sore thumb.
really had us surrounded by spiritual training
and really knew, really had us in scripture.
But how did your NDE make you a little bit different
than everybody else? Or did it? Well, I'm not
going to say my NDE made me any different. When
it all comes down to it, when I had an NDE, I...
had an NDE just like anybody else, just like
if it was a kid who never even went to church,
never had any kind of knowledge of God or anything
like that. And if God so sees fit to allow that
child to have an NDE like that, to experience
God like that, then God will do that. I'm not
saying that my NDA would be any different than
anybody else's. Most people in this life have
some degree of fear of death, healthy fear of
death, we'll call it. Even people of faith have
some degree of fear of death. How about you?
Having had this experience of death, I have no
fear. I don't fear death. No, I'm not going to
go walk out and Jump out in front of a semi or
nothing like that. I'm not gonna speed it up
but I don't fear it because The way that I see
it is that I've already experienced it. I know
what it's like It's walking one from one room
into another as far as I'm concerned as far as
what I've experienced and may I suggest that
that is You're not having a fear of death because
the experience is something that did make you
a little bit different than most of us in a good
way. I would, over the next few days, I'm going
to give you a little assignment. Just think on
that topic right there. How did having that fear
of death removed affect your life since then?
Did it make things easier? Did it make them more
difficult? And then you and I'll talk again sometime
in the future. Sure. Well, I can tell you, kids
and stuff like that, they might watch some sort
of scary movie or something like that, and it's
like nothing to me. It's a movie. That's the
way I see things. It just doesn't bother me as
much. I know that my life, my real life is to
come is not on this earth, and I don't fear that.
There were somebody out there today that is really
struggling with faith in the future. They're
really totally afraid of death or they're mourning
the passing of a loved one. What kind of message
of hope do you have for them? My message of hope
is that death does not have to be fear. When
you have a faith in God and a faith in His Son,
Jesus Christ, that this life is just temporary.
This life is just a vapor, and our eternal home
has nothing to do with this earth. Our eternal
home is in heaven, and our eternal hope is in
heaven. And that salvation is through the shed
blood of Jesus Christ and for what He did for
us. That is our hope. That is our home. That
is our eternal life. That is my message. David,
I really appreciate your time today. I really
appreciate you having the courage to share all
of this. Thank you very much. Thank you. 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.