I have never been a big fan of NDEs or near death experiences where people reported heavenly encounters after dying and then being brought back to life.

But some are certainly remarkable.

Christian apologist and author, Lee Strobel reported on a woman who died during a hospital operation. She said that her spirit left her body and she found herself looking down on the doctors and medical staff trying to resuscitate her.

She also noticed that there was a bright red sticker on top of one of the blades of the room’s ceiling fan.

Intrigued by what she told them, the medical staff took a ladder and confirmed what she saw. Since it couldn’t be seen from the floor, how did she know it was there?

Recently the Daily Mail reported on an NDE involving Florida native, Lisa Small.

In 2008, she was a 24-year-old drug and alcohol addict spending upwards of $150 a day for cocaine.

During one of her cocaine binges, she collapsed while out walking with her boyfriend in Belleview where they lived.

Her eyes were still wide open as she lie on the ground unconscious and not breathing. Fortunately, her boyfriend was able to revive her using CPR.

When it happened a second time later that day, an ambulance was called. At the hospital Small was diagnosed with the often fatal respiratory arrest, where a person quits breathing.

But during both incidents, Small experienced the same NDE.

“All of a sudden I was in this big, huge open field, and there was a tree next to me, and then there was a guy in a white cloth,” Small said.

“Way off miles and miles away, there was a sea of people. I couldn’t physically see anybody, but I felt like I knew them.”

“This feeling of just wonderfulness. I can’t even explain it. It was like euphoria times a million.”

After her recovery, Small struggled with addiction for another ten years, before finally breaking free in 2018.

“Now, she credits the church and faith for her recovery,” writes Emily Stearn in her article for the Daily Mail.

But it seems that these two NDEs also contributed to her becoming a Christian.

But are these experiences legitimate?

I do believe that we have a spirit, which is separate from our human body. It continues to exist after we die. This is clearly shown in several Bible passages (Luke 16:19-31; 1 Samuel 28:3-25).

But the closest we have to an NDE in the Bible ‘may’ involve one mentioned by the Apostle Paul:

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4 ESV)

In this description, Paul wonders if his spirit may have left his body and went to heaven, but he is uncertain.

Paul adds that it took place 14 years earlier, which rules out his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Some have wondered if he was referring to a trance he had during his second visit to Jerusalem (Acts 22:17).

But it may be connected to a another incident that he referred to earlier in the same epistle, where he died, or was near death, and then came back to life:

“As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;” (2 Corinthians 6:9 ESV)

If so, it may be describing the time that Paul was stoned at Lystra and left for dead (Acts 14:19).

Whether this is what Paul was referring to is uncertain. But one of the reasons that your spirit would leave your body is because of death.

Paul added that what he heard and saw during this experience could not be repeated.