A. K. – An Experience Not Of This World

4 February 2007

jesus ich vertraue auf dich

My name is Gerhard Obermann and I would like to give second-hand testimony in this place for someone who does not wish to be named here. Although my own medical history is of little importance here, it at least provides a bridge to the circumstances that occurred at the time.

I myself had a serious skiing accident in Leogang (near Zell am See) in February 2002, in which I only escaped paraplegia by the grace of God. The fall was so disastrous that after I regained consciousness, I could neither move nor feel anything from the neck down, which meant that I was completely paralysed for the time being. At that point, I believed with certainty that I had broken my neck.
The ÖAMTC (Austrian Automobile and Touring Club) emergency helicopter took me to the hospital in Zell am See by the quickest route where, due to the lack of special medical equipment, little could be determined. It was only at the Lorenz Böhler Hospital in Vienna that the doctors - on the basis of extensive examinations - were able to diagnose that the main nerve cord in the cervical area of the spine was partly severed, partly "only" bruised.
By the time I was discharged from hospital, some things had improved, but my musculoskeletal system had been most severely affected and my right hand was completely immobile. Slight paralysis was noticeable all over my body.
After a short "home leave" I was finally transferred to the rehabilitation institution "Weißer Hof" (near Klosterneuburg close to Vienna).
This huge complex of buildings housed an almost unmanageable number of patients, from paraplegics to patients with missing limbs to those who had had accidents and hardly a bone had remained intact. I quickly realised that I was one of the easier cases.
In my sickroom, I met a young man who was my neighbour in the next bed for about 3 weeks. He was an 18-year-old boy whose nice, quiet manner made me like him after a short time and with whom I had many a conversation. Shortly after we met, this young man told me about his serious illness and how it had come about:

 

On 27 May 2001, he and his friend were busy repairing a vehicle belonging to an acquaintance. During this activity, he suddenly felt a strong nausea and so his friend took him to his mother's flat, where he lost consciousness immediately afterwards. His family doctor, who had come in a hurry, at least realised that it must be something serious and, without being able to determine a cause himself, immediately referred him to hospital. From there, after a thorough examination, he was transferred to the accident ward of the Graz Regional Hospital, where a cerebral haemorrhage was diagnosed, but the cause was not clear.
As it was agreed that the young man's condition was extremely life-threatening, it was not possible to wait long and therefore the surgery was prepared in record time. They were also aware that the surgical intervention to follow would be full of risks, but they had no other choice.
Initially, everything seemed to go well with the surgery, but during the intervention, the young man suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest. Resuscitation was started with all available means and miraculously his heart started beating again. Thus, thank God, the vital stopping of the cerebral haemorrhage could be completed.
But the fears of the young man's parents were not yet over, for after the effects of the anaesthetic had worn off, they waited in vain for him to wake up. No matter how hard they tried to "bring him back to life", it was all in vain, for he had fallen into a deep coma. At that time, the doctors thought he had only a two percent chance of survival and they were also sure that if he survived, he would be paraplegic and also severely mentally handicapped.
The parents of the then 17-year-old also almost gave up hope after a few weeks that they would ever see their son alive again. The more time went on, the more the glimmers of hope faded.
But one day the unexpected happened and the young man suddenly opened his eyes. He had awoken from the coma after more than two months. As joyful as this event may have seemed for the parents and relatives at first, it soon turned into deep resignation when it was realised that the 17-year-old's mental condition had suffered greatly. His physical condition was also more than worrying, as the patient's body showed severe paralysis.
However, miraculously, the young man's condition improved comparatively quickly. He spent a long time in the hospital and as there was not much that could be done for him there, he was temporarily transferred home and shortly afterwards to the rehabilitation institution "Weißer Hof", where they began to improve his physical and mental abilities through permanent training. He stayed in this institution for more than half a year, and the last three weeks of his stay overlapped with my presence.
I can still remember one of the statements he made to me, when he said that since the time he had come out of the coma, he was no longer afraid of dying. At that time, however, I could not really understand his way of thinking. Today, of course, I know only too well what he was trying to say . . .
I can also still remember how he was looking forward to being discharged from the Weißer Hof. Before we said goodbye and wished each other all the best for the future, we exchanged our mobile phone numbers so that we could report on our progress from time to time.
In the meantime, almost 5 years have passed since we first met, but we are still in contact with each other, even though the time gaps are getting longer. Just recently I was delighted to find another message in my mailbox from my young friend.
In my reply, I asked him something that I had wanted to know for some time, I only had been reluctant to do so until then. My question to him was whether he had had a near-death experience during his surgery or coma. This topic is so important to me because I was able to deepen my faith so much precisely through the knowledge of the existence of such phenomena (see my personal testimony, last menu item). I expected him to ask me in his next email what I was trying to express with this question in the first place. But his message, which he sent me the very next day, literally said: "Yes, I have had a near-death experience. I went through a tunnel and at the end there was a bright light. There is life after death, I swear."
He suggested to me to talk about everything in detail on the phone and so after a few days we had a telephone conversation lasting about an hour in which he described to me exactly how everything had happened. I was deeply impressed by what he told me, even though I had already read several books about near-death experiences ...
I then asked him if he would mind if I published his testimony on our prayer group website. However, as he was uncomfortable about going public with it, I suggested that everything should remain anonymous. Therefore he agreed and I describe his near-death experience here from his point of view ...


It happened during brain surgery ...

I suddenly moved through a black tunnel, at the end of which an exceptionally bright light shone, but it was not dazzling. I subsequently had an encounter with this light, from which such love emanated that I had never experienced before. I felt a deep inner peace and tranquillity that I had never felt before in my life.

After this encounter, I came to a golden-brown, wrought-iron gate that was locked but had a key on it. Through the bars I saw a housing estate which I knew well because it had been very familiar to me since childhood. There were only a small number of people to be seen. The peculiar thing was that only people who had already died were in this estate, but I knew them all and they had once lived in this estate, which really exists on earth.
The surroundings were so beautiful and radiated such a fascination that I didn't want to leave. It is simply not possible for me to express in words the rapture that the sight through the gate had triggered in me.
I wanted to turn the key that was on the gate and unlock it to get into the property, but the bit of the key suddenly broke off and the gate would not open. I can still feel the bitter disappointment that overcame me then because I was not allowed in.

So I finally had to make my way back. On the way there, my aunt, who had already died about 20 years ago, suddenly met me and told me in a loving but decisive way that I had to go back to earthly life. An unusually strong love emanated from her, and upon her explicit recommendation, I decided with a heavy heart and despite inner reluctance to leave that blissful place.

On my way back, I suddenly found myself in an operating theatre, hovering a little below the ceiling. There were doctors and some nurses present who were performing a surgery. I was quickly aware that the person who was being operated on was myself. Nevertheless, I was not at all worried. I watched the operation, heard what the doctors and nurses were saying, and at a later stage I was able to describe exactly how the nurses and doctors were dressed and what instruments and tools were used for the surgery. I could see exactly how a doctor used a swab to remove the blood from the wound caused by the opened skullcap.
What happened next and how I came back to my body ... - I can no longer remember.
A long time later, a nurse who was present during my surgery confirmed to me that everything I had seen was true.
I am completely convinced that my experience was not of this world, but that it was reality with a 100 per cent certainty. These perceptions and the love I had felt are quite simply not possible in this world in which we live.

Since that time I have totally changed my life and live by far more consciously, because I now know that there is life after death, although I did not think that was possible before.

At a later stage, when I told my mother, who is a nurse by profession, about my experiences during my operation, she pointed out that I had had a near-death experience. I myself had never heard of such a phenomenon until that time ...

A. K.


Since I know from several books that such near-death experiences are certainly not imaginations or hallucinations, because there is much evidence for them and some facts have stood up to scrutiny, it was a great concern for me to publish this testimony here. Unfortunately, this subject is often misused by esotericism and associated with reincarnation and necromancy.
Some time ago I also spoke with Anneliese Scherer about this subject, who confirmed to me as well that near-death experiences are real and that the person concerned is usually given the insight to change his or her life, but that they have nothing to do with esotericism.

Gerhard Obermann

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