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Struck by Lightning

Dannion Brinkley

www.dannion.com

Having been raised in the Southern fundamentalist tradition, I had been taught that our reward for living a good life would be redeemed in heaven. Yet, as a child, I had no interest in that far-off wonderland where angels were playing golden harps on fluffy white clouds. You see I had always been into instant gratification! So, whatever was waiting for me behind some invisible veil seventy or eighty years down the road meant little or nothing to me. It neither motivated me to do good works nor deterred me from being the natural-born hell-raiser, which had made me infamous in my hometown deep in the Carolinas. Like most young people my age, I thought I was invincible; therefore, the thought of dying rarely, if ever, crossed my mind until that unforgettable evening when a raging bolt of lightning decided to teach me the lesson of what a tenuous and fragile mystery life really is.

In September of 1975 I was barely twenty-five-years-old and at the top of my game. I’d returned to Aiken to spend some time with my family after being in South America. The word had spread that I was back in town, so my telephone had been constantly ringing all day. Just as I sat down to dinner, it rang again. I started not to answer it, but there seemed to be a certain urgency in the tone, so I walked to the bedroom and picked it up anyway. From that day on I’ve referred to it as “my phone call from God.” I had no idea what hit me as I heard a deafening roar of thunder and felt a searing pain on the side of my head. Lightning hit the phone line sending thousands of volts of electricity into me. My entire body was then lifted just below the ceiling and momentarily suspended in the air. Then it was as if I was intentionally thrown back down toward the floor by an incredible force. The invisible forced slammed me onto my bed hard enough to break the frame. My body felt as though it was being incinerated from the inside out. My veins were on fire, and every inch of my body was in excruciating pain. Then I heard my girlfriend Sandy yell from the kitchen, “Wow . . . that was a close one!”

In the following instant I watched as she came running down the hallway to the bedroom. But I wasn’t watching her from the bed. I had lifted out of my body by then, and I was viewing the entire scene from above. As fate would have it, she had recently completed a CPR course at work, so she started to pound on my chest and breathe into my mouth as she had been trained. It worked! Instantly I was back in my body experiencing the unbearable agony all over again. Then I lifted out again. From above the scene once more, I saw my friend arrive at the house and right behind him was the ambulance. I sat right beside my body on the frenzied ride to the hospital, and amid all the chaos inside the ambulance, I remember looking down at myself and thinking, “I always thought I was better looking than that.”

In the emergency room the attending medical team did more CPR. Then they put the electrical paddles to my chest. One doctor even gave my heart an injection of adrenaline, but it was all to no avail. By this time all my family had gathered together in the hospital waiting room. And now the doctors had the unenviable job of having to tell them I didn’t make it . . . I was gone. But what they didn’t know was where I had gone.

While the orderlies were preparing my body for the morgue, I was off and running on the most extraordinary adventure of my life. I wasn’t really sure I was dead; I just knew I was ever so grateful for being out of that intense physical pain. And whatever this was that was happening to me was some really cool stuff. First, I found myself surrounded and embraced by a tunnel through which I was moving effortlessly. All around me I could hear the beautiful sounds of seven distinct chimes. Ahead, I could see a light, and as I moved closer, the light became more brilliant. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the Light as a powerful being drew near. This great being radiated an intensity of unconditional love and nonjudgmental compassion which I had never known. Suddenly, and for the first time, I had the sense of being pure spirit without the heaviness of my physical body. I looked down at my hand, and it appeared phosphorescent as the Light danced through it. Looking above and below me, I witnessed the presence of other beings who looked just like me. Some were pulsating at higher vibrations while others were at lower ones. Yet, my attention was quickly diverted when the powerful being enveloped me and I began to relive my entire life, one incident at a time. In what I call the panoramic life review I watched my life from a second-person point of view. As I experienced this, I was myself as well as every other person with whom I had ever interacted.

When the panoramic life review ended, despite the many obvious mistakes I had made in my life, I experienced no retribution—no judgment and no punishment. I was the only judge presiding over my day in court! Given time to assimilate my life in retrospect, I had the opportunity to know, first hand, both the happiness and the sorrow I had created through my actions. I came to the realization that, more often than not, I had lived in a devastatingly selfish manner. My heart was filled with shame and remorse. The impact of that emotional avalanche remains uppermost in my mind to this very day. However, after my time of reflection in the heavens that day, the Being of Light telepathically conveyed these words,

“Who you are is the difference that God makes,
and the difference is love.”

As the being moved away from me, I began to feel lighter. My pain and guilt lessened, and I understood that I had been shown my deeds on earth, not to harshly impugn me but rather to lovingly instruct me. Through the panoramic life review I had been given the knowledge of how to correct my life and use my power of love to make a difference in the world. I was later told that human beings are powerful spiritual beings meant to create good on earth and that good starts with small acts of kindness.

I had one more stop to make on my journey through the heavens before I was to be sent back. The being next took me to the Crystal City where I met thirteen more Beings of Light who appeared much mightier than he. Each one of them emanated a special power or force. For example, it was as if one being was the epitome of Wisdom, while another was the epitome of Strength. Standing before them all was most humbling. They stood in a line behind a crystal podium in what seemed to be a great hall of knowledge. One by one the Beings of Light approached me. When they did, a small black box emerged from their chests and sailed toward my face. Before impact, the boxes would open to reveal pictures, or what I now call visions, of the future. For example, I knew that a great desert war would be fought in 1990. As we all know, the United States military launched Operation Desert Storm that same year.

Initially it was difficult to understand and make sense of everything I was shown that day. And through the years I have had to tweak my take on a lot of it. However, it is still amazing to me how much of what I saw the day I died in 1975 has come to pass over the years. After viewing over one hundred visions, the Beings of Light gave me one last assignment. I was told to create centers for stress relief on earth. And then I was told it was time to go back. But I did not want to leave this wondrous place of peace and love. I recall thinking how sad I was to be leaving.