Local church member near death experience testimony

[bearbear]

My parents who are no longer meeting with LCs recently shared with me a near death experience testimony from a local church member they keep in touch with. I have studied NDEs in the past (along the lines of John Burke's "Imagine Heaven") and never heard of someone in the LCs having an NDE so I was excited to read his testimony.

https://ccbiblestudy.org/CharlieYang/witness/014ce.pdf

... By the second chemotherapy cycle, I fell into a state of unconsciousness for ten days. My body was hooked up to tubes for assisted breathing and feeding. I felt separated from my body, and my soul, much like Aladdin’s flying carpet, was flying about in a cavernous, dark tunnel.

Near the end of my coma, as I drifted about, a terrifying scene unfolded. I heard a loud voice demand from the other side of the tunnel, “You have attempted enough! Give it up! Come with me!” A dark hand stretched forth to snatch my right hand and began pulling me towards the voice. The force was overpowering. I cried to God, “Lord, save me!” Immediately, a pillar about the size of a man appeared in front of me. I hugged it desperately with my left arm to steady my feet and hold my position. Yet the dark hand was relentless, I grew weary, and could not resist for long. I cried out again, “For the saints’ sake, I want to stay on earth!” I cried out these prayers from verses that had been on my heart for some time: Phil 1:24-25 “But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.”

Immediately after my cry, a different hand from behind the pillar reached around me and grabbed onto my right wrist, and in this embrace, together we pulled my hand back an inch at a time. We pulled until my hand was brought back to the midpoint of the tunnel, at which point I heard a loud pop, much like the sound of a great balloon bursting. Suddenly the pillar, the Lord’s hand on my wrist and the dark hand grabbing my right hand all disappeared, leaving what appeared to be debris raining from above. I woke up to the wide stares of my wife and three children at my bedside.