August 8, 2025 • 53 mins
From scientists to skeptics, discover the undeniable evidence that changes everything!
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
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Speaker 1 (00:51):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been
on a journey to prove the existence of life after death.
On each episode, we'll discuss the reasons we now know
that our loved ones have survived physical debt, and so
will we Welcome to Shades of the afterlife. What happens
(01:13):
when a person who is absolutely certain that this life
is all there is, that consciousness is just a trick
of the brain, and that death is a final black
curtain is proven wrong. What kind of evidence would it
take to shatter a lifetime of deeply held beliefs, and
maybe more importantly, how do we talk about this with
(01:37):
the skeptics in our own lives. Today we are diving
into one of the most powerful sources of evidence for
the afterlife, the stories of staunch non believers, yes atheists,
and before we meet our first one, consider this. According
to a recent polling, it is estimated that as many
as fifteen million Americans have had a near death experience.
(02:02):
Of course, many million around the world have. This is
definitely a widespread phenomena. In this episode, we will hear
from people who built their identities around logic and science, who,
through their own unexpected and world altering experiences, yes, near
death experiences, were brought face to face with the reality
(02:26):
that they never believed was possible. We'll hear the story
of a hostile atheist professor who found himself in a
terrifying darkness after death, only to be rescued by love
it always denied. We will stand beside two more incredible
women with scientific minds whose atheism was shattered by what
(02:49):
they discovered on the other side, and will hear profound
words of wisdom from a panel of world renowned doctors
and scientists on how to approach these conversations with skeptics,
because we all have skeptics in our lives, and you
and I are still skeptical, and that's good. These aren't
(03:10):
just stories of seeing a light. They are accounts of
profound transformations. So whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or
somewhere in between, get ready to question everything. This episode
is proof that the truth of the afterlife is available
to all of us, especially those who aren't looking for it.
(03:31):
For someone who has built their entire worldview on the
foundation of logic, reason, and the material world, the idea
of an afterlife can seem like pure fantasy to an atheist.
Consciousness is a product of the brain's complex wiring, so
when the brain dies, the lights go out. This is
the end of the story. It's a clean logical perspective.
(03:54):
There's no judgment, no heaven, no hell, just to return
to nothingness where we first came from. But what happens
when that certainty is ripped away by an incredible experience
that defies all logic. Our first story is what happened
to Jose Hernandez. Jose was an engineer and a staunch atheist.
(04:16):
His world was one of physics, schematics, and provable facts.
He described himself as someone who had focused solely on
logical explanations and the spiritual world was definitely not part
of his equation. But one day everything changed. While on
a routine work assignment, the bucket truck he was in
(04:38):
was struck by his partner, who had crashed their other
vehicle into a tree. The impact was severe, leaving Jose
with multiple broken ribs. He was rushed to the emergency room,
his logical world suddenly thrown into chaos and pain. In
the hospital, his condition worsened, his breathing stopped, and the
(05:00):
medical staff began to fight desperately to save his life.
As he lay there clinically dying, a thought he never
had before surfaced. He found himself contemplating God, making a
promise to a being that he never believed in. God,
if you get me through this, I'll change, he said.
(05:22):
It was in that moment of surrender that he noticed
a mysterious presence in the room. He saw a shadow
standing by the door. At that point, Jose thought to himself,
I've endured so much in my life, perhaps it's fine
to just let go. The moment that thought formed the
shadow figure touched his toe. Instantly, an overwhelming sense of relief, calm, peace,
(05:49):
and love washed over him. He describes it as euphoric.
As the medical team performed CPR on his body, Jose
found himself self suspended in the corner of the room,
observing the entire scene from above. He was completely detached
(06:09):
from the frantic efforts to save his body down below.
It was then that a voice spoke to him, not
with sound, but with pure knowing. The voice said, think
of your body as a car. This vehicle has traveled
eight million miles and there's nothing more we can fix.
It's time to bid farewell to your body. Following this instruction,
(06:34):
Jose felt himself pulled downward into a black hole, but
it wasn't frightening. He experienced flying, witnessing mesmerizing cities, breathtaking forests,
and vast herds of wild animals in motion. In this incredible,
vivid realm, it was reassured that he would still be
(06:56):
able to see his children, and most significantly, he was
reunited with his father. Of this reunion, Jose later said,
when I met my father on the other side, I
realized that sometimes we may be unable to express certain
things here, but elsewhere we can. His experience completely shattered
(07:20):
his atheist worldview. It replaced a belief in nothingness with
a certainty that we continue after death with connection and
most importantly love. He had not sought proof, but proof
had found him in the most dramatic way possible. Jose's
story is a powerful example of an everyday person whose
(07:43):
reality was turned upside down. But what happens when a
person having the experience is a highly trained neurosurgeon, a
man who spent his life studying the brain and was
convinced it was the source of all consciousness. This is
the story of doctor Eben Alexander. Most likely you've heard
(08:04):
of him from his book Proof of Heaven. Doctor Alexander
was a respected Harvard neurosurgeon. For him, there was no mystery.
He had heard stories of NDEs from his patients, but
he had a neat scientific explanation for all of them.
They were simply hallucinations produced by a brain under extreme stress.
(08:27):
Doctor Alexander was a man of science and definitely not
of faith. Then, in two thousand and eight, he contracted
a rare and deadly form of bacterial meningitis. The infection
attacked his brain, specifically his neocortex, the part responsible for
all higher level thought, reason, and everything that makes us human.
(08:52):
For seven days he lay in a deep coma. According
to all medical understanding, his contraciousness should have been completely offline,
if not gone forever. But inside that coma, he was
on the most real journey of his life. He first
found himself in a dark, muddy, primitive place he called
(09:16):
the earthworm's eye view, with grotesque faces bubbling up around him.
He felt no connection to his human self. He was
just pure awareness in a place of murky despair. Then
a spinning, brilliant white light appeared above him, accompanied by
a perfect musical melody. The light opened up like a portal,
(09:42):
and it pulled him through. He emerged into a place
of breath taking beauty, what he calls the Gateway Valley.
He was flying over lush green fields and waterfalls, surrounded
by millions of shimmering butterflies. On the the wing of
one of these butterflies was a beautiful young woman. She
(10:04):
never spoke a word, but she communicated with him telepathically.
She gave him three core messages, You are loved and
cherished dearly, forever, and you have nothing to fear, and
there is nothing you can ever do wrong. He was
then taken even higher into a core realm of pure,
(10:27):
unconditional love, accompanied by an orb of golden light that
he understood to be God or the source of all creation.
He was shown the interconnectedness of the universe and given
profound wisdom. He was in a place of pure knowing
beyond time and space. Eventually he was returned to his body.
(10:49):
His recovery was medically inexplicable, and his worldview was definitely shattered.
This neurosurgeon, who believed the brain created consciousness, now had
first hand proof that his consciousness not only existed, but
went on an incredible journey while his brain was, for
(11:09):
all intents and purposes destroyed. Doctor Alexander now spends his
life sharing his story a powerful testament from a man
of science that our consciousness is far more than we
can imagine. And before we continue, I think it's a
good moment just to clarify some of the words we use,
because they're important. An atheist, like Jose and some of
(11:32):
the other people will hear from, is someone who firmly
believes there is no God or afterlife. An agnostic is
someone who is on the fence. They aren't sure what
to believe. But the word skeptic is an interesting one.
I consider myself a healthy skeptic, and I believe it's
a wonderful way to be. A true skeptic is someone
(11:52):
simply who questions things and needs good evidence before they believe.
It's an open minded position, the challenge which comes with
what some call a closed minded skeptic. This is someone
who has already decided the answer is no and refuses
to look at the evidence, no matter how powerful it
might be. The stories we share on the show an
(12:15):
incredible first hand accounts from people like doctor Eben, Alexander
and Moore are for the true open minded skeptic. There
are pieces of evidence for anyone who is brave enough
to simply ask the question, what if? The journey from
non belief to belief is often not a gentle one.
(12:35):
When we return, we'll hear a story of a man
who was not just an atheist, but a man filled
with hostility toward any form of belief, who journeyed to
a place so dark that it was a perfect reflection
of his soul, and something surprising happened when he called
(12:56):
out for help. We'll be right back. You're listening to
Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
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testing options for you. Thanks for listening. Keep it here
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(14:04):
The Coast to Coast AM mobile app is here and
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Speaker 3 (14:44):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain
and we're talking about atheists and the afterlife. For some
non believers, that transition from this life is a gentle
drift into a reality of love and light, as we
saw with jose Hernandez and doctor Eben Alexander. But the
evidence suggests that the afterlife is not a one size
(15:08):
fits all experience. It appears to be a perfect reflection
of the consciousness we carry with us at the moment
of death. For those who have lived an angry, cynical
life filled with aggression, the initial moments of the afterlife
may be shocking and the terrifying reflection of the world
(15:30):
they built within themselves. These distressing near death experiences are
much more rare than the blissful ones, but they are
incredibly important. They teach us profound lessons about personal responsibility,
cause and effect, and the unfailing power of redemption. Here
is the story of Howard's Storm. Before his experience in
(15:53):
nineteen eighty five, Howard was not just an atheist, he
was a proud and hostile one. He was a tenured
professor and a chairman of the Art department at Northern
Kentucky University. He was, in his own words, an aggressive
person who was feared by his wife and his children.
He was arrogant, controlling, and believed the world revolved around
(16:18):
him and his desires. He was certain that all religion
was simply a fairy tale for the weak minded, and
that death was simply the end. He lived a very
egoic life all about himself, believing that any good deed
he did was only to serve himself. He was, by
(16:38):
his own admission, a very difficult and unloving person. In
June of nineteen eighty five, while on a student trip
in Europe, he was in his Paris hotel room when
he was struck with severe abdominal pain. He was rushed
to a hospital and they found a hole in his stomach,
but a surgeon wasn't available for many hours. As he
(17:01):
lay there in agonizing pain, he knew he was dying,
and as an atheist, he expected nothing but oblivion, a
complete end of his being. But then it happened. He
opened his eyes and he found himself standing outside his body,
looking down on his own physical form in the hospital
(17:23):
bed with his wife crying beside him. He felt no pain,
only a heightened awareness. He tried to speak to his wife,
but she couldn't see or hear him. He then heard
voices calling his name from the hallway, Thinking they were
taking him to a doctor, he followed them. The hallway
(17:43):
became dark and dingy, and the beings calling him were pale,
shadowy figures. They became increasingly hostile, urging him down the
hallway with insults and mockery. They were cruel, and they
enjoyed his fear, and something deep within him, a memory
from childhood he had long since rejected, surfaced. A voice
(18:08):
in his mind said, pray to God. Howard, the arrogant atheist,
was so desperate that he tried it. He couldn't remember
a formal prayer, so he just started reciting fragments of
anything he could recall that was remotely religious, even parts
of the Pledge of Allegiance. He mumbled for godden Country,
(18:31):
one nation under God. With every mention of the word God,
the creatures shrieked and recoiled as if burned. Howard was
left alone in the darkness, but the terror was not over.
He felt an overwhelming sense of his own failure, the
waste of his life, a crushing awareness of the pain
(18:54):
he had caused others. He was utterly broken. In that
final moment of surrend under, he called out a name
that he had mocked his entire life. He yelled, Jesus,
save me. Instantly, a brilliant light appeared in the darkness.
It grew brighter and brighter, and as it approached it
(19:16):
wasn't just light, it was an all consuming love. Two
beings of light reached down and gently lifted him from
the darkness. They healed him with their touch, and all
the pain and terror disappeared, replaced by a peace and
love he could have never imagined. These beings of light,
(19:38):
who identified as Angels and Jesus, then guided him through
a life review. But it wasn't about his accomplishments or
his career, he said, All that God cares about is
how we interact with other people. He was shown every
(19:58):
selfish act he did, every unkind word he spoke, every
moment he had caused pain, and he felt the pain
of those he had hurt as if it were his own.
There was no condemnation, only a sense of loving education,
showing him the consequences of a life lived without love.
(20:21):
He was overwhelmed by the love that he felt from Jesus,
a love he described as being a million times more
powerful than falling in love. For the first time, he
was allowed to ask questions. He asked which was the
best religion and was told that the best religion is
the one that brings you closest to God. He was
(20:44):
told that the most important thing in life, the entire
purpose of our existence, is simply to love the person
that you're with, meaning whoever is in front of you
at any given moment, including that person in the mirror.
He was given a choice to return, and he chose
to come back to rebuild his life based on that
(21:07):
one simple principle. Howard Storm, the angry, hostile atheist, returned
to his body a completely changed man. Howard's story is
a powerful lesson and what some call a self created reality.
The dark cruel beings he encountered weren't demons in a
(21:27):
traditional sense. They were a perfect manifestation of the anger, hostility,
and cruelty that he himself had cultivated throughout his life.
He had created his own hell, and he was drawn
to it. But his story is also a profound testament
to grace. It shows that even in the darkest, most
(21:50):
terrifying corner of existence, a sincere call for help will
be answered. It shows that no one is beyond redemption,
that love is always waiting to rescue us, most especially
from ourselves. After his recovery, Howard's life was unrecognizable. He
(22:10):
left his prestigious university position, enrolled in seminary and dedicated
the rest of his life to serving others as an
ordained minister, sharing his incredible story of being rescued from
a hell of his own making by a love that
he had always denied. Next, let me tell you the
(22:30):
story of a man who, by all measures, has achieved
the ultimate earthly success. Doctor Rajiev Partie was not just
a doctor. He was the chief of anesthesiology at a
major hospital in California. He lived a life of extreme
wealth and materialism. He resided in a huge mansion, drove
(22:52):
a Bentley and a Ferrari, and wore the most expensive clothes.
He was a man of science who believed only in
what he could see and touch. Spiritually, though he was empty,
He was often emotionally distant from his family and by
his own admission, had little compassion for his patients, seeing
(23:13):
them more as medical problems to be solved rather than
real people and pain. His world revolved around money, status,
and power. Then, at the peak of his success, that
world came crashing down. Doctor Parti was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The powerful doctor suddenly became a terrified patient. After his
(23:37):
initial surgery, he developed a severe, life threatening infection that
required another emergency operation. It was on that operating table
in late of twenty ten that Doctor Partis died. He
found himself floating out of his body, watching the surgeon's
work on him, but he wasn't pulled toward a beautiful light. Instead,
(24:00):
he was dragged into a dark, terrifying realm. He described
the air thick with the smell of burning meat, and
hearing the horrifying screams of others. In torment. He was
met by beings who mocked him, telling him that his
life had been a complete waste, a selfish pursuit of
(24:22):
meaningless things. In this hellish place, he saw his own
deceased father, who gave him a chilling warning, this is
the hell of your own making. You are here because
of the life you chose to live Doctor PARTI was
filled with a terror and despair that he had never known.
(24:45):
He realized his materialistic life had led him to this empty,
painful place. In that moment of absolute surrender, stripped from
all of his earthly status, he remembered a simple prayer
his mother had taught him as a child, and he
cried out for help. Instantly, a brilliant, loving light pierced
(25:08):
the darkness. He felt himself being lifted out. Rescued from
that terrifying realm. He was met by angelic beings who
guided him through a life review. But this was not
a review of his accomplishments. He too was forced to
experience his life from the perspective of others, in this
(25:30):
case through his patien's eyes, feeling the coldness and dismissal
he had shown them, He felt the emotional distance his
family had experienced from him. There was no judgment from
these beings of light, only an overwhelming sense of loving education,
showing him the profound emptiness of a life lived without
(25:52):
true compassion. He was told that his purpose was not
yet over. He was given a choice to go back,
but with a new mission, not just to numb people's
physical pain, but to help heal their spiritual pain and addictions.
Doctor Parti returned to his body a completely changed man.
(26:14):
He gave up his lucrative career as chief of anesthesiology,
sold the mansion and luxury cars, and moved his family
into a modest home. He now dedicates his life to
spiritual wellness and helping others find the healing and compassion
he discovered on the other side. His journey is a
(26:36):
powerful reminder that sometimes we must travel through our own
darkness to truly find the light. It's time for the break.
We'll be back with more stories. You're listening to Shades
of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to cost
am Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Stay there, Sandra will be right back. Hey the Coast
to Coast dam channel to Coast ghostdam dot com for
more information.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Hey, this is George Nori and you're listening to the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Ghost Damn Paranormal Podcast Network. Thanks
for being here. Now let's get back to more with Sandra.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain.
The journey from a steadfast atheist to a profound belief
in the continuity of life after death is often deeply
personal and it transforms people. It's a path forged not
by intellectual argument, but by undeniable experiences, and this is
(28:07):
where the stories move from personal testimony to real, hard evidence.
Researchers who study these veritical NDEs, the ones with verifiable proof,
have found that the details reported by experiencers are accurate
over ninety percent of the time. That's right, ninety percent
(28:29):
of the time. This type of evidence is what often
shatters a scientific worldview, especially when the experiencer brings back
information they could not have possibly ever known. I want
to share a few such stories with you, starting with
Barbara Harris Whitfield, a woman whose difficult childhood cemented her
(28:51):
disbelief in anything divine. Barbara grew up in a very
dysfunctional home and was repeatedly traumatized as a child. This
painful upbringing led her to a firm conclusion there is
simply no way there could be a God, because a
loving God would never allow children to be tormented in
(29:14):
such a way. She carried this atheism well into her adulthood. Then,
at the age of thirty two, she underwent a five
and a half hour surgery on her back. Two days later,
her health took a turn for the worse. Her body
swelled up and her blood volume dropped dangerously low. As
(29:36):
she saw the medical team rushing around her, she just screamed,
leave me alone, let me die. The next thing she knew,
she was out of the hospital corridor, floating up near
the ceiling, looking down at her body in the hospital
bed down below. She felt no fear, only a profound
(29:57):
sense of peace. After a beautiful reunion with her deceased grandmother,
she was told it was time to go back. A
week later, it happened again. Trapped face down in her
specialized hospital bed, she was separated from her body once more,
but this time her experience wasn't over when she returned. Instead,
(30:22):
she found herself floating behind the nurse's station, where she
overheard them talking. She heard them say that her doctor
had insisted everyone lie to her about her recovery, telling
her she'd be in a body cast for only six
weeks when it was really going to be six months
(30:43):
or longer. She also heard that her day nurse had
become so upset after finding her trapped in the bed
that they had to send her home early When Barbara
was back in her body and a nurse came in,
she said, I left the bed again again. The nurse
told her she was just hallucinating. Then Barbara said, please
(31:06):
call my day nurse and tell her that I'm okay,
and you shouldn't lie to me and tell me I'm
going to be in a body cast for six weeks
when you know it's going to be six months. They
sedated her again, but the damage to her atheism was done.
She had verifiable proof. She had brought back private information
(31:28):
that was accurate that she could have not possibly ever known.
This is the power of vertical or verifiable evidence, which
is a cornerstone of ND research. It's one thing to
hear about a beautiful light and a tunnel, but it's
entirely another thing to hear about an account like that
(31:49):
of a man named Tom Sawyer. In nineteen seventy eight,
Tom was crushed in a terrible industrial accident. His heart stopped,
he had no pulse for fifteen minutes. During this time
he had a profound ND. He floated out of his
body and watched the resuscitation efforts from above. Later he
(32:12):
was able to describe in perfect detail, not only the
actions of the paramedics who saved him, but also he
described the frantic actions of a friend who had to
run to a nearby building to call for help, a
building Tom had never been in. From his out of
body perspective, Tom followed his friend. He described the layout
(32:37):
of the building's office, the specific posters on the wall,
the clothes people wore inside the building, and the exact
words they were saying. Every single detail he reported was
later confirmed by his friend, who was absolutely stunned that
Tom could have known any of it. This type of
(32:59):
evidence pushes the boundaries of conventional understanding, suggesting that our
consciousness can indeed perceive the world independently of our physical bodies,
even at a great distance. And sometimes the evidence isn't
just about what is seen, but also who was there
(33:20):
to help Take the story of Nancy Rhymes. Nancy was
a scientist and a writer for a science software company.
Raised in a Christian family, she had become a firm atheist,
certain that death was the absolute end, and she lived
with horrible fear because of it. But one beautiful January morning,
(33:43):
she went for a bike ride when a woman driving
a large SUV who was texting on her cell phone
cloud right into her. Nancy was dragged underneath the vehicle.
In this moment of terror, she experienced a duel consciousness.
One part of her was under the car fighting for
(34:05):
her life, while the other part, her soul, she believes,
was standing calmly out in front, watching the entire scene
unfold with a sense of peace. Eventually, a bystander stopped
the woman. As Nancy lay on the ground, a beautiful
blonde woman appeared, introduced herself as Anne, a trauma nurse,
(34:30):
and held her shoulders, telling her not to move. This
woman may have saved her from being paralyzed, as Nancy
had a massive, undetected spinal trauma. Later, the police confirmed
they saw the woman, but she refused to give her
name and then simply disappeared. No one else saw her.
(34:52):
Nancy feels it was a true angelic intervention. Nancy was
rushed to the hospital. Days later, during surgery to repair
her shattered spine, she had her near death experience. Instead
of anesthesia induced blackness, she woke up standing on a beautiful,
misty meadow, hit with a wave of pure, unconditional, welcoming love.
(35:18):
She the lifelong atheist, asked in her mind. I wonder
if I'm dead, and if i am, how come I'm here.
I don't believe in any of this stuff. A divine
presence answered deep inside of her, You're my child. I'm
welcoming you back home. This is where you belong. A guide,
(35:41):
a glowing woman she knew as Mary, then appeared and
taught her many things, including that divine love is the
physical binding force of the universe and that we are
all connected. Nancy came back from her experience and has
dedicated her life to sharing the life lessons she learned
(36:01):
from this light. For Nancy, just like Barbara and Tom,
direct experience completely over wrote a lifetime of scientific disbelief.
It's amazing how a single experience can rewrite a lifetime
of belief. But what happens when that experience lasts not
(36:22):
for a few minutes, but for several days. Let me
tell you the astonishing story of doctor George Redonia in
nineteen seventy six. George was a neurologist and a committed
state sponsored atheist in Soviet Georgia. His life was one
of science. He was certain that consciousness was a product
(36:45):
of brain chemistry and that life ended completely at the
moment of death. There was no room in his worldview
for a soul or spirit. Then he was struck by
a car and pronounced dead. His body was placed in
a freezer, where it remained for three days. While his
body lay cold and lifeless, George's consciousness was on the
(37:09):
most profound journey of his life. He experienced leaving his
body and being plunged into a realm of total darkness,
but instead of fear, he felt a sense of curiosity.
He then witnessed his entire life, not as a linear movie,
but as a three dimensional hologram. He could enter and
(37:31):
reexperience from every perspective. He saw every choice he made
and understood its consequences. He was then pulled into a brilliant,
all encompassing light. In this light, he was infused with
an incredible amount of knowledge. He understood the history of
(37:51):
the world, the nature of the cosmos, and the interconnectedness
of all things. He saw that reality he was not random,
but a part of a beautiful divine plan, and that
love was the most powerful force in the universe. He
was shown the simple, raw experience of a baby in
(38:12):
its crib and understood that this physical life which he
had taken for granted was a precious gift. After three days,
doctors began to perform an autopsy on his body. As
they made the first incision into his abdomen, George's consciousness
was slammed back into his physical form. He opened his
(38:35):
eyes on the autopsy table to the absolute shock of
the medical staff. His long recovery began, But the man
who came back was not the man who had died
three days earlier. This staunch Soviet atheist was gone forever.
He eventually emigrated to the United States, was ordained as
(38:59):
a pre east in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and earned
a PhD in the psychology of religion. Doctor George Redonia,
the man who is dead for three days, spent the
rest of his life sharing his undeniable proof that life
is not an accident of chemistry, but an eternal journey
(39:22):
of the soul. His story is a powerful testament to
the fact that even the most hardened disbelief can be
shattered by the profound reality of the afterlife. It's time
for our break, and when we get back, we'll talk
about how we deal with skeptics and atheists. We'll be
(39:43):
right back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on
the iHeartRadio in Coast to Coast AM paranormal podcast network.
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Speaker 3 (41:21):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain.
We've heard incredible stories today. We journeyed with Jose Hernandez,
Doctor Eben Alexander, and doctor George Redonia from a world
of logic and science into a reality of profound love
and connection. We descended into a self created darkness with
(41:42):
Howard Storm and doctor Rajieve Partie witnessing their rescue by
a divine light they had once denied, and we stood
beside Barbara Harris Whitfield, Nancy Rhymes, and Tom Sawyer as
their worldviews were completely shattered by verifiable proof and the
undeniable feeling of returning home. These are not just fascinating tales,
(42:07):
they are powerful, true to life data points. They are evidence.
For these individuals, belief in the afterlife is no longer
a question of faith. It's a matter of personal, undeniable experience.
This brings up a question I know many of us face,
how do we talk about our beliefs, our experiences, and
(42:29):
our hope with the people in our lives who are
such staunch skeptics or atheists. Knowing this truth for ourselves
is one thing, but sharing it can be really difficult
and can sometimes lead to painful arguments or complete dismissal.
So how do we bridge that gap? I once had
the opportunity to listen to a fascinating panel of scientists
(42:53):
and researchers who have spent their careers studying this very issue.
Their insights are so valuable for all of us. The
panel included neuroscientist doctor Marjorie Woollcott. She said that when
talking to a skeptic, the first thing to find out
is if they are curious at all. Many who identify
(43:18):
as skeptics aren't actually skeptical. They are firm believers in
materialism and they think they already have all the answers.
If they show no curiosity, she advises, it's best to
just change the subject. But if they are even a
little bit curious, she suggests presenting them with the best
(43:42):
data we have, the carefully controlled prospective studies on near
death experiences, where patients with no brain activity report verifiable
out of body perceptions. But doctor Woollcott also says we
must have compassion because she used to be that way herself,
(44:02):
an arrogant scientist who thought she knew all the answers,
and it took a personal experience to open her up.
Doctor Neil Grossman, a philosopher who spent forty years in
academia surrounded by materialists, offered another profound insight. He suggests
we shouldn't use the word skeptic, because being skeptical really
(44:26):
is a good quality that we should all have. Instead,
he calls them believers in the ideology of materialism or
funda materialists, much like a religious fundamentalist who will not
change their belief no matter what the evidence. He shared
a story of asking a colleague what it would take
(44:48):
to convince him, and the man replied, even if I
were to have such an experience, I would believe myself
to be hallucinating. Grossman says you can't argue with that.
He believes the refusal to look at the data, which
he says is now beyond a reasonable doubt, isn't about rationality.
(45:12):
He believes it's really rooted in fear of emotion. These
experiences are filled with powerful emotions as we know, top
among them is love. He said, I think the deep
down fear is the fear of love. The principles of
unconditional love are completely inconsistent with a world often driven
(45:36):
by greed and ego. For someone deeply invested in that world,
the complications of the afterlife are simply too threatening to consider.
Stephen Schwartz, a researcher who co founded the field of
remote viewing, added a historical perspective. He argues that materialism
(45:57):
is not a scientific conclusion, but a cultural affectation that
began with the Council of Trent in the fifteen hundreds.
The Church declared that consciousness was their domain and if
scientists dabbled in it, they would be killed. For three
(46:18):
hundred years, it was a taboo topic. Scientists, to protect
their lives and their careers, simply decided they didn't care
about that game anyway. He believes we are now in
a paradigm crisis where the anomalies, the millions of people
(46:39):
with nves and other spiritual experiences are accumulating to a
point where the old materialist paradigm can no longer hold.
So what's the answer. Stephen Schwartz believes it's not about
arguing data, but about changing consciousness through our own being.
(47:01):
This he shared a story about Gandhi who said he
forced the British to leave India not by what he
said or did, but by the nature of character. It's
about who we are. When we live from a place
of love, compassion, and the certainty of our eternal nature,
we create ripples that change the culture around us. The
(47:25):
work of these incredible researchers and so many others highlights
the importance of having a central place for this information
for both scientists and experienceers. Are like I want to
remind everyone of our friends at the International Association for
Near Death Studies also called IAMS, and find them at
(47:47):
IMS dot org. Their website has thousands of near death
experiences you can read, groups you can join, and every
year they have a conference which you can go to
live or live stream from the comfort of your home. Personally,
I've learned so much from these experts, and it's been
(48:08):
well over twenty five years now of having these conversations
with myself and so many guests between my two podcasts
that I've learned a few things. First, let me tell
you you can never convince anyone of anything if their
heart is closed. The goal is not to win an argument.
(48:28):
It really is just about planting a seed. At some
point in everyone's life we start asking ourselves these big
questions about life, death, and the afterlife. We can't force it,
just like we can't force a flower to bloom, but
we can plant that seed. And the best way to
do that is by sharing a personal story, either your
own or one that you've heard, without any attachment to
(48:52):
whether they're going to believe it or not. Just put
it out there as a gift. Second, lead with love.
Often a person's rigid disbelief comes from a place of
deep fear or pain. Arguing with them only builds the
wall higher, but speaking from a place of love and
compassion can sometimes create a small little crack in that wall.
(49:15):
And finally, our job is to know when to let
it go and not try to convert anyone. Our job
is to live our own truth and be a shining light.
The right people will be drawn to that light when
they are ready. The stories of these atheists and skeptics
are not just about them. They are an invitation to
all of us, an invitation to question our own limiting beliefs,
(49:39):
to open ourselves to the possibility of a grander reality,
and to start living a life based on the profound
truth that consciousness is eternal and that love is the
ultimate force in the universe. Right now, right here, You've
got loved ones in the room around you, taking a
little glance at how you're living your lif life, loving you,
(50:02):
holding you, And of course they'll dart back and continue
their journeys in the unseen world, but they're right here
by our side, especially when we need them the most.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I know.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
You might be like me, a former disbeliever, but open
and on the search for evidence of the afterlife. You're
not alone. Take US Navy commander Suzanne Geeseman, or scientists
and engineer Alan Huguenot, or Mark Anthony, the psychic lawyer,
or Laureln Jackson, a highly regarded English school teacher who
(50:34):
lived a very grounded and normal life. These are not
people who are predisposed to believing in the afterlife. I
can tell you. They're thinkers, analysts, and leaders who are
confronted with evidence so personal and so powerful that changed
their worldview and they didn't just start to believe. Their
experiences open them up to an entirely new reality. And
(50:57):
what's fascinating is that many of them, because of their
analytical minds, have gone on to become some of the
most evidential and respected mediums in the world today. Our
journeys aren't just about blind faith. It's just about being
open to the evidence. My friend, what part of these
stories resonated with you the most? What's made a difference.
(51:20):
Was it the idea that even a hardened skeptic can change.
Was it the fact that there really is verifiable information
from near death experiences? Was it the love that we
each get to feel when we cross over. I'd love
to hear your comments. I do read every review you leave,
whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
(51:42):
Feel free to leave a review on an episode you
know it helps more people find their way through grief
and reminds them they are not alone. And also as
a reminder. You can find me at we Doo'tdie dot com.
We offer classes and of course our free Sunday gathering
inspirational service with medium demonstration included. Come fifteen minutes early
(52:05):
before it starts. I always open it up and I'd
love to meet you it's on Zoom easy to get to. Also,
at the bottom of the page at We Dontdie dot com,
enter your name and your email address, says you get
the first few chapters of my book We Don't Die
as skeptics discovery of life after death, but in secret,
it's the entire thing.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
I know.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Many people come to the show looking for evidence of
the afterlife because they're deeply grieving. Chapter ten of my
book is how to survive grief with some very helpful
tools and an understanding of why and how we grieve.
I want to leave you with a powerful quote from
the great philosopher Carl Jung. He was once asked if
(52:47):
he believed in God and the afterlife. He said, I
don't believe. I know. For the people whose stories we
heard today, this is their reality. They went from believing
to knowing. May their stories give all of us the
courage to find our own knowing. So give yourself a
(53:08):
big hug. It is definitely not easy to be a
human being. I'm Sanders Champlain. Thank you so much for
spending your valuable time with me listening to Shades of
the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
Thanks for listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast
Day and Paranormal Podcast Network. Make sure and check out
all our shows on the iHeartRadio app or by going
to iHeartRadio dot com
Welcome to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM paranormal
podcast network. This is the place to be if you're
ready for the best podcasts of the paranormal, curious, and
sometimes unexplained. Now listen to this.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
The thoughts and opinions expressed by the host our thoughts
and opinions only, and do not necessarily reflect those of iHeartMedia, iHeartRadio,
Coast to Coast AM, employees of Premiere Networks, or their
sponsors and associates. You are encouraged to do the proper
amount of research yourself, depending on the subject matter and
your needs.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been
on a journey to prove the existence of life after death.
On each episode, we'll discuss the reasons we now know
that our loved ones have survived physical debt, and so
will we Welcome to Shades of the afterlife. What happens
(01:13):
when a person who is absolutely certain that this life
is all there is, that consciousness is just a trick
of the brain, and that death is a final black
curtain is proven wrong. What kind of evidence would it
take to shatter a lifetime of deeply held beliefs, and
maybe more importantly, how do we talk about this with
(01:37):
the skeptics in our own lives. Today we are diving
into one of the most powerful sources of evidence for
the afterlife, the stories of staunch non believers, yes atheists,
and before we meet our first one, consider this. According
to a recent polling, it is estimated that as many
as fifteen million Americans have had a near death experience.
(02:02):
Of course, many million around the world have. This is
definitely a widespread phenomena. In this episode, we will hear
from people who built their identities around logic and science, who,
through their own unexpected and world altering experiences, yes, near
death experiences, were brought face to face with the reality
(02:26):
that they never believed was possible. We'll hear the story
of a hostile atheist professor who found himself in a
terrifying darkness after death, only to be rescued by love
it always denied. We will stand beside two more incredible
women with scientific minds whose atheism was shattered by what
(02:49):
they discovered on the other side, and will hear profound
words of wisdom from a panel of world renowned doctors
and scientists on how to approach these conversations with skeptics,
because we all have skeptics in our lives, and you
and I are still skeptical, and that's good. These aren't
(03:10):
just stories of seeing a light. They are accounts of
profound transformations. So whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or
somewhere in between, get ready to question everything. This episode
is proof that the truth of the afterlife is available
to all of us, especially those who aren't looking for it.
(03:31):
For someone who has built their entire worldview on the
foundation of logic, reason, and the material world, the idea
of an afterlife can seem like pure fantasy to an atheist.
Consciousness is a product of the brain's complex wiring, so
when the brain dies, the lights go out. This is
the end of the story. It's a clean logical perspective.
(03:54):
There's no judgment, no heaven, no hell, just to return
to nothingness where we first came from. But what happens
when that certainty is ripped away by an incredible experience
that defies all logic. Our first story is what happened
to Jose Hernandez. Jose was an engineer and a staunch atheist.
(04:16):
His world was one of physics, schematics, and provable facts.
He described himself as someone who had focused solely on
logical explanations and the spiritual world was definitely not part
of his equation. But one day everything changed. While on
a routine work assignment, the bucket truck he was in
(04:38):
was struck by his partner, who had crashed their other
vehicle into a tree. The impact was severe, leaving Jose
with multiple broken ribs. He was rushed to the emergency room,
his logical world suddenly thrown into chaos and pain. In
the hospital, his condition worsened, his breathing stopped, and the
(05:00):
medical staff began to fight desperately to save his life.
As he lay there clinically dying, a thought he never
had before surfaced. He found himself contemplating God, making a
promise to a being that he never believed in. God,
if you get me through this, I'll change, he said.
(05:22):
It was in that moment of surrender that he noticed
a mysterious presence in the room. He saw a shadow
standing by the door. At that point, Jose thought to himself,
I've endured so much in my life, perhaps it's fine
to just let go. The moment that thought formed the
shadow figure touched his toe. Instantly, an overwhelming sense of relief, calm, peace,
(05:49):
and love washed over him. He describes it as euphoric.
As the medical team performed CPR on his body, Jose
found himself self suspended in the corner of the room,
observing the entire scene from above. He was completely detached
(06:09):
from the frantic efforts to save his body down below.
It was then that a voice spoke to him, not
with sound, but with pure knowing. The voice said, think
of your body as a car. This vehicle has traveled
eight million miles and there's nothing more we can fix.
It's time to bid farewell to your body. Following this instruction,
(06:34):
Jose felt himself pulled downward into a black hole, but
it wasn't frightening. He experienced flying, witnessing mesmerizing cities, breathtaking forests,
and vast herds of wild animals in motion. In this incredible,
vivid realm, it was reassured that he would still be
(06:56):
able to see his children, and most significantly, he was
reunited with his father. Of this reunion, Jose later said,
when I met my father on the other side, I
realized that sometimes we may be unable to express certain
things here, but elsewhere we can. His experience completely shattered
(07:20):
his atheist worldview. It replaced a belief in nothingness with
a certainty that we continue after death with connection and
most importantly love. He had not sought proof, but proof
had found him in the most dramatic way possible. Jose's
story is a powerful example of an everyday person whose
(07:43):
reality was turned upside down. But what happens when a
person having the experience is a highly trained neurosurgeon, a
man who spent his life studying the brain and was
convinced it was the source of all consciousness. This is
the story of doctor Eben Alexander. Most likely you've heard
(08:04):
of him from his book Proof of Heaven. Doctor Alexander
was a respected Harvard neurosurgeon. For him, there was no mystery.
He had heard stories of NDEs from his patients, but
he had a neat scientific explanation for all of them.
They were simply hallucinations produced by a brain under extreme stress.
(08:27):
Doctor Alexander was a man of science and definitely not
of faith. Then, in two thousand and eight, he contracted
a rare and deadly form of bacterial meningitis. The infection
attacked his brain, specifically his neocortex, the part responsible for
all higher level thought, reason, and everything that makes us human.
(08:52):
For seven days he lay in a deep coma. According
to all medical understanding, his contraciousness should have been completely offline,
if not gone forever. But inside that coma, he was
on the most real journey of his life. He first
found himself in a dark, muddy, primitive place he called
(09:16):
the earthworm's eye view, with grotesque faces bubbling up around him.
He felt no connection to his human self. He was
just pure awareness in a place of murky despair. Then
a spinning, brilliant white light appeared above him, accompanied by
a perfect musical melody. The light opened up like a portal,
(09:42):
and it pulled him through. He emerged into a place
of breath taking beauty, what he calls the Gateway Valley.
He was flying over lush green fields and waterfalls, surrounded
by millions of shimmering butterflies. On the the wing of
one of these butterflies was a beautiful young woman. She
(10:04):
never spoke a word, but she communicated with him telepathically.
She gave him three core messages, You are loved and
cherished dearly, forever, and you have nothing to fear, and
there is nothing you can ever do wrong. He was
then taken even higher into a core realm of pure,
(10:27):
unconditional love, accompanied by an orb of golden light that
he understood to be God or the source of all creation.
He was shown the interconnectedness of the universe and given
profound wisdom. He was in a place of pure knowing
beyond time and space. Eventually he was returned to his body.
(10:49):
His recovery was medically inexplicable, and his worldview was definitely shattered.
This neurosurgeon, who believed the brain created consciousness, now had
first hand proof that his consciousness not only existed, but
went on an incredible journey while his brain was, for
(11:09):
all intents and purposes destroyed. Doctor Alexander now spends his
life sharing his story a powerful testament from a man
of science that our consciousness is far more than we
can imagine. And before we continue, I think it's a
good moment just to clarify some of the words we use,
because they're important. An atheist, like Jose and some of
(11:32):
the other people will hear from, is someone who firmly
believes there is no God or afterlife. An agnostic is
someone who is on the fence. They aren't sure what
to believe. But the word skeptic is an interesting one.
I consider myself a healthy skeptic, and I believe it's
a wonderful way to be. A true skeptic is someone
(11:52):
simply who questions things and needs good evidence before they believe.
It's an open minded position, the challenge which comes with
what some call a closed minded skeptic. This is someone
who has already decided the answer is no and refuses
to look at the evidence, no matter how powerful it
might be. The stories we share on the show an
(12:15):
incredible first hand accounts from people like doctor Eben, Alexander
and Moore are for the true open minded skeptic. There
are pieces of evidence for anyone who is brave enough
to simply ask the question, what if? The journey from
non belief to belief is often not a gentle one.
(12:35):
When we return, we'll hear a story of a man
who was not just an atheist, but a man filled
with hostility toward any form of belief, who journeyed to
a place so dark that it was a perfect reflection
of his soul, and something surprising happened when he called
(12:56):
out for help. We'll be right back. You're listening to
Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Did you know that test that could save your life
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(13:42):
testing options for you. Thanks for listening. Keep it here
on the iHeartRadio on Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
(14:04):
The Coast to Coast AM mobile app is here and
waiting for you right now. And with the app, you
can hear classic shows from the past seven years, listen
to the current live show, and get access to the
Artbelt Vault where you can listen to uninterrupted audio. Head
on over to the Coast to Coast am dot com website.
We have a handy video guide to help you get
the most out of your mobile app usage. All the
(14:25):
info is waiting for you now at coastcoastam dot com.
That's Coast tocoastam dot com.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain
and we're talking about atheists and the afterlife. For some
non believers, that transition from this life is a gentle
drift into a reality of love and light, as we
saw with jose Hernandez and doctor Eben Alexander. But the
evidence suggests that the afterlife is not a one size
(15:08):
fits all experience. It appears to be a perfect reflection
of the consciousness we carry with us at the moment
of death. For those who have lived an angry, cynical
life filled with aggression, the initial moments of the afterlife
may be shocking and the terrifying reflection of the world
(15:30):
they built within themselves. These distressing near death experiences are
much more rare than the blissful ones, but they are
incredibly important. They teach us profound lessons about personal responsibility,
cause and effect, and the unfailing power of redemption. Here
is the story of Howard's Storm. Before his experience in
(15:53):
nineteen eighty five, Howard was not just an atheist, he
was a proud and hostile one. He was a tenured
professor and a chairman of the Art department at Northern
Kentucky University. He was, in his own words, an aggressive
person who was feared by his wife and his children.
He was arrogant, controlling, and believed the world revolved around
(16:18):
him and his desires. He was certain that all religion
was simply a fairy tale for the weak minded, and
that death was simply the end. He lived a very
egoic life all about himself, believing that any good deed
he did was only to serve himself. He was, by
(16:38):
his own admission, a very difficult and unloving person. In
June of nineteen eighty five, while on a student trip
in Europe, he was in his Paris hotel room when
he was struck with severe abdominal pain. He was rushed
to a hospital and they found a hole in his stomach,
but a surgeon wasn't available for many hours. As he
(17:01):
lay there in agonizing pain, he knew he was dying,
and as an atheist, he expected nothing but oblivion, a
complete end of his being. But then it happened. He
opened his eyes and he found himself standing outside his body,
looking down on his own physical form in the hospital
(17:23):
bed with his wife crying beside him. He felt no pain,
only a heightened awareness. He tried to speak to his wife,
but she couldn't see or hear him. He then heard
voices calling his name from the hallway, Thinking they were
taking him to a doctor, he followed them. The hallway
(17:43):
became dark and dingy, and the beings calling him were pale,
shadowy figures. They became increasingly hostile, urging him down the
hallway with insults and mockery. They were cruel, and they
enjoyed his fear, and something deep within him, a memory
from childhood he had long since rejected, surfaced. A voice
(18:08):
in his mind said, pray to God. Howard, the arrogant atheist,
was so desperate that he tried it. He couldn't remember
a formal prayer, so he just started reciting fragments of
anything he could recall that was remotely religious, even parts
of the Pledge of Allegiance. He mumbled for godden Country,
(18:31):
one nation under God. With every mention of the word God,
the creatures shrieked and recoiled as if burned. Howard was
left alone in the darkness, but the terror was not over.
He felt an overwhelming sense of his own failure, the
waste of his life, a crushing awareness of the pain
(18:54):
he had caused others. He was utterly broken. In that
final moment of surrend under, he called out a name
that he had mocked his entire life. He yelled, Jesus,
save me. Instantly, a brilliant light appeared in the darkness.
It grew brighter and brighter, and as it approached it
(19:16):
wasn't just light, it was an all consuming love. Two
beings of light reached down and gently lifted him from
the darkness. They healed him with their touch, and all
the pain and terror disappeared, replaced by a peace and
love he could have never imagined. These beings of light,
(19:38):
who identified as Angels and Jesus, then guided him through
a life review. But it wasn't about his accomplishments or
his career, he said, All that God cares about is
how we interact with other people. He was shown every
(19:58):
selfish act he did, every unkind word he spoke, every
moment he had caused pain, and he felt the pain
of those he had hurt as if it were his own.
There was no condemnation, only a sense of loving education,
showing him the consequences of a life lived without love.
(20:21):
He was overwhelmed by the love that he felt from Jesus,
a love he described as being a million times more
powerful than falling in love. For the first time, he
was allowed to ask questions. He asked which was the
best religion and was told that the best religion is
the one that brings you closest to God. He was
(20:44):
told that the most important thing in life, the entire
purpose of our existence, is simply to love the person
that you're with, meaning whoever is in front of you
at any given moment, including that person in the mirror.
He was given a choice to return, and he chose
to come back to rebuild his life based on that
(21:07):
one simple principle. Howard Storm, the angry, hostile atheist, returned
to his body a completely changed man. Howard's story is
a powerful lesson and what some call a self created reality.
The dark cruel beings he encountered weren't demons in a
(21:27):
traditional sense. They were a perfect manifestation of the anger, hostility,
and cruelty that he himself had cultivated throughout his life.
He had created his own hell, and he was drawn
to it. But his story is also a profound testament
to grace. It shows that even in the darkest, most
(21:50):
terrifying corner of existence, a sincere call for help will
be answered. It shows that no one is beyond redemption,
that love is always waiting to rescue us, most especially
from ourselves. After his recovery, Howard's life was unrecognizable. He
(22:10):
left his prestigious university position, enrolled in seminary and dedicated
the rest of his life to serving others as an
ordained minister, sharing his incredible story of being rescued from
a hell of his own making by a love that
he had always denied. Next, let me tell you the
(22:30):
story of a man who, by all measures, has achieved
the ultimate earthly success. Doctor Rajiev Partie was not just
a doctor. He was the chief of anesthesiology at a
major hospital in California. He lived a life of extreme
wealth and materialism. He resided in a huge mansion, drove
(22:52):
a Bentley and a Ferrari, and wore the most expensive clothes.
He was a man of science who believed only in
what he could see and touch. Spiritually, though he was empty,
He was often emotionally distant from his family and by
his own admission, had little compassion for his patients, seeing
(23:13):
them more as medical problems to be solved rather than
real people and pain. His world revolved around money, status,
and power. Then, at the peak of his success, that
world came crashing down. Doctor Parti was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The powerful doctor suddenly became a terrified patient. After his
(23:37):
initial surgery, he developed a severe, life threatening infection that
required another emergency operation. It was on that operating table
in late of twenty ten that Doctor Partis died. He
found himself floating out of his body, watching the surgeon's
work on him, but he wasn't pulled toward a beautiful light. Instead,
(24:00):
he was dragged into a dark, terrifying realm. He described
the air thick with the smell of burning meat, and
hearing the horrifying screams of others. In torment. He was
met by beings who mocked him, telling him that his
life had been a complete waste, a selfish pursuit of
(24:22):
meaningless things. In this hellish place, he saw his own
deceased father, who gave him a chilling warning, this is
the hell of your own making. You are here because
of the life you chose to live Doctor PARTI was
filled with a terror and despair that he had never known.
(24:45):
He realized his materialistic life had led him to this empty,
painful place. In that moment of absolute surrender, stripped from
all of his earthly status, he remembered a simple prayer
his mother had taught him as a child, and he
cried out for help. Instantly, a brilliant, loving light pierced
(25:08):
the darkness. He felt himself being lifted out. Rescued from
that terrifying realm. He was met by angelic beings who
guided him through a life review. But this was not
a review of his accomplishments. He too was forced to
experience his life from the perspective of others, in this
(25:30):
case through his patien's eyes, feeling the coldness and dismissal
he had shown them, He felt the emotional distance his
family had experienced from him. There was no judgment from
these beings of light, only an overwhelming sense of loving education,
showing him the profound emptiness of a life lived without
(25:52):
true compassion. He was told that his purpose was not
yet over. He was given a choice to go back,
but with a new mission, not just to numb people's
physical pain, but to help heal their spiritual pain and addictions.
Doctor Parti returned to his body a completely changed man.
(26:14):
He gave up his lucrative career as chief of anesthesiology,
sold the mansion and luxury cars, and moved his family
into a modest home. He now dedicates his life to
spiritual wellness and helping others find the healing and compassion
he discovered on the other side. His journey is a
(26:36):
powerful reminder that sometimes we must travel through our own
darkness to truly find the light. It's time for the break.
We'll be back with more stories. You're listening to Shades
of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to cost
am Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Stay there, Sandra will be right back. Hey the Coast
to Coast dam channel to Coast ghostdam dot com for
more information.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Hey, this is George Nori and you're listening to the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Ghost Damn Paranormal Podcast Network. Thanks
for being here. Now let's get back to more with Sandra.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain.
The journey from a steadfast atheist to a profound belief
in the continuity of life after death is often deeply
personal and it transforms people. It's a path forged not
by intellectual argument, but by undeniable experiences, and this is
(28:07):
where the stories move from personal testimony to real, hard evidence.
Researchers who study these veritical NDEs, the ones with verifiable proof,
have found that the details reported by experiencers are accurate
over ninety percent of the time. That's right, ninety percent
(28:29):
of the time. This type of evidence is what often
shatters a scientific worldview, especially when the experiencer brings back
information they could not have possibly ever known. I want
to share a few such stories with you, starting with
Barbara Harris Whitfield, a woman whose difficult childhood cemented her
(28:51):
disbelief in anything divine. Barbara grew up in a very
dysfunctional home and was repeatedly traumatized as a child. This
painful upbringing led her to a firm conclusion there is
simply no way there could be a God, because a
loving God would never allow children to be tormented in
(29:14):
such a way. She carried this atheism well into her adulthood. Then,
at the age of thirty two, she underwent a five
and a half hour surgery on her back. Two days later,
her health took a turn for the worse. Her body
swelled up and her blood volume dropped dangerously low. As
(29:36):
she saw the medical team rushing around her, she just screamed,
leave me alone, let me die. The next thing she knew,
she was out of the hospital corridor, floating up near
the ceiling, looking down at her body in the hospital
bed down below. She felt no fear, only a profound
(29:57):
sense of peace. After a beautiful reunion with her deceased grandmother,
she was told it was time to go back. A
week later, it happened again. Trapped face down in her
specialized hospital bed, she was separated from her body once more,
but this time her experience wasn't over when she returned. Instead,
(30:22):
she found herself floating behind the nurse's station, where she
overheard them talking. She heard them say that her doctor
had insisted everyone lie to her about her recovery, telling
her she'd be in a body cast for only six
weeks when it was really going to be six months
(30:43):
or longer. She also heard that her day nurse had
become so upset after finding her trapped in the bed
that they had to send her home early When Barbara
was back in her body and a nurse came in,
she said, I left the bed again again. The nurse
told her she was just hallucinating. Then Barbara said, please
(31:06):
call my day nurse and tell her that I'm okay,
and you shouldn't lie to me and tell me I'm
going to be in a body cast for six weeks
when you know it's going to be six months. They
sedated her again, but the damage to her atheism was done.
She had verifiable proof. She had brought back private information
(31:28):
that was accurate that she could have not possibly ever known.
This is the power of vertical or verifiable evidence, which
is a cornerstone of ND research. It's one thing to
hear about a beautiful light and a tunnel, but it's
entirely another thing to hear about an account like that
(31:49):
of a man named Tom Sawyer. In nineteen seventy eight,
Tom was crushed in a terrible industrial accident. His heart stopped,
he had no pulse for fifteen minutes. During this time
he had a profound ND. He floated out of his
body and watched the resuscitation efforts from above. Later he
(32:12):
was able to describe in perfect detail, not only the
actions of the paramedics who saved him, but also he
described the frantic actions of a friend who had to
run to a nearby building to call for help, a
building Tom had never been in. From his out of
body perspective, Tom followed his friend. He described the layout
(32:37):
of the building's office, the specific posters on the wall,
the clothes people wore inside the building, and the exact
words they were saying. Every single detail he reported was
later confirmed by his friend, who was absolutely stunned that
Tom could have known any of it. This type of
(32:59):
evidence pushes the boundaries of conventional understanding, suggesting that our
consciousness can indeed perceive the world independently of our physical bodies,
even at a great distance. And sometimes the evidence isn't
just about what is seen, but also who was there
(33:20):
to help Take the story of Nancy Rhymes. Nancy was
a scientist and a writer for a science software company.
Raised in a Christian family, she had become a firm atheist,
certain that death was the absolute end, and she lived
with horrible fear because of it. But one beautiful January morning,
(33:43):
she went for a bike ride when a woman driving
a large SUV who was texting on her cell phone
cloud right into her. Nancy was dragged underneath the vehicle.
In this moment of terror, she experienced a duel consciousness.
One part of her was under the car fighting for
(34:05):
her life, while the other part, her soul, she believes,
was standing calmly out in front, watching the entire scene
unfold with a sense of peace. Eventually, a bystander stopped
the woman. As Nancy lay on the ground, a beautiful
blonde woman appeared, introduced herself as Anne, a trauma nurse,
(34:30):
and held her shoulders, telling her not to move. This
woman may have saved her from being paralyzed, as Nancy
had a massive, undetected spinal trauma. Later, the police confirmed
they saw the woman, but she refused to give her
name and then simply disappeared. No one else saw her.
(34:52):
Nancy feels it was a true angelic intervention. Nancy was
rushed to the hospital. Days later, during surgery to repair
her shattered spine, she had her near death experience. Instead
of anesthesia induced blackness, she woke up standing on a beautiful,
misty meadow, hit with a wave of pure, unconditional, welcoming love.
(35:18):
She the lifelong atheist, asked in her mind. I wonder
if I'm dead, and if i am, how come I'm here.
I don't believe in any of this stuff. A divine
presence answered deep inside of her, You're my child. I'm
welcoming you back home. This is where you belong. A guide,
(35:41):
a glowing woman she knew as Mary, then appeared and
taught her many things, including that divine love is the
physical binding force of the universe and that we are
all connected. Nancy came back from her experience and has
dedicated her life to sharing the life lessons she learned
(36:01):
from this light. For Nancy, just like Barbara and Tom,
direct experience completely over wrote a lifetime of scientific disbelief.
It's amazing how a single experience can rewrite a lifetime
of belief. But what happens when that experience lasts not
(36:22):
for a few minutes, but for several days. Let me
tell you the astonishing story of doctor George Redonia in
nineteen seventy six. George was a neurologist and a committed
state sponsored atheist in Soviet Georgia. His life was one
of science. He was certain that consciousness was a product
(36:45):
of brain chemistry and that life ended completely at the
moment of death. There was no room in his worldview
for a soul or spirit. Then he was struck by
a car and pronounced dead. His body was placed in
a freezer, where it remained for three days. While his
body lay cold and lifeless, George's consciousness was on the
(37:09):
most profound journey of his life. He experienced leaving his
body and being plunged into a realm of total darkness,
but instead of fear, he felt a sense of curiosity.
He then witnessed his entire life, not as a linear movie,
but as a three dimensional hologram. He could enter and
(37:31):
reexperience from every perspective. He saw every choice he made
and understood its consequences. He was then pulled into a brilliant,
all encompassing light. In this light, he was infused with
an incredible amount of knowledge. He understood the history of
(37:51):
the world, the nature of the cosmos, and the interconnectedness
of all things. He saw that reality he was not random,
but a part of a beautiful divine plan, and that
love was the most powerful force in the universe. He
was shown the simple, raw experience of a baby in
(38:12):
its crib and understood that this physical life which he
had taken for granted was a precious gift. After three days,
doctors began to perform an autopsy on his body. As
they made the first incision into his abdomen, George's consciousness
was slammed back into his physical form. He opened his
(38:35):
eyes on the autopsy table to the absolute shock of
the medical staff. His long recovery began, But the man
who came back was not the man who had died
three days earlier. This staunch Soviet atheist was gone forever.
He eventually emigrated to the United States, was ordained as
(38:59):
a pre east in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and earned
a PhD in the psychology of religion. Doctor George Redonia,
the man who is dead for three days, spent the
rest of his life sharing his undeniable proof that life
is not an accident of chemistry, but an eternal journey
(39:22):
of the soul. His story is a powerful testament to
the fact that even the most hardened disbelief can be
shattered by the profound reality of the afterlife. It's time
for our break, and when we get back, we'll talk
about how we deal with skeptics and atheists. We'll be
(39:43):
right back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on
the iHeartRadio in Coast to Coast AM paranormal podcast network.
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The Coast to Coast AM mobile app is here and
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Speaker 3 (41:21):
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain.
We've heard incredible stories today. We journeyed with Jose Hernandez,
Doctor Eben Alexander, and doctor George Redonia from a world
of logic and science into a reality of profound love
and connection. We descended into a self created darkness with
(41:42):
Howard Storm and doctor Rajieve Partie witnessing their rescue by
a divine light they had once denied, and we stood
beside Barbara Harris Whitfield, Nancy Rhymes, and Tom Sawyer as
their worldviews were completely shattered by verifiable proof and the
undeniable feeling of returning home. These are not just fascinating tales,
(42:07):
they are powerful, true to life data points. They are evidence.
For these individuals, belief in the afterlife is no longer
a question of faith. It's a matter of personal, undeniable experience.
This brings up a question I know many of us face,
how do we talk about our beliefs, our experiences, and
(42:29):
our hope with the people in our lives who are
such staunch skeptics or atheists. Knowing this truth for ourselves
is one thing, but sharing it can be really difficult
and can sometimes lead to painful arguments or complete dismissal.
So how do we bridge that gap? I once had
the opportunity to listen to a fascinating panel of scientists
(42:53):
and researchers who have spent their careers studying this very issue.
Their insights are so valuable for all of us. The
panel included neuroscientist doctor Marjorie Woollcott. She said that when
talking to a skeptic, the first thing to find out
is if they are curious at all. Many who identify
(43:18):
as skeptics aren't actually skeptical. They are firm believers in
materialism and they think they already have all the answers.
If they show no curiosity, she advises, it's best to
just change the subject. But if they are even a
little bit curious, she suggests presenting them with the best
(43:42):
data we have, the carefully controlled prospective studies on near
death experiences, where patients with no brain activity report verifiable
out of body perceptions. But doctor Woollcott also says we
must have compassion because she used to be that way herself,
(44:02):
an arrogant scientist who thought she knew all the answers,
and it took a personal experience to open her up.
Doctor Neil Grossman, a philosopher who spent forty years in
academia surrounded by materialists, offered another profound insight. He suggests
we shouldn't use the word skeptic, because being skeptical really
(44:26):
is a good quality that we should all have. Instead,
he calls them believers in the ideology of materialism or
funda materialists, much like a religious fundamentalist who will not
change their belief no matter what the evidence. He shared
a story of asking a colleague what it would take
(44:48):
to convince him, and the man replied, even if I
were to have such an experience, I would believe myself
to be hallucinating. Grossman says you can't argue with that.
He believes the refusal to look at the data, which
he says is now beyond a reasonable doubt, isn't about rationality.
(45:12):
He believes it's really rooted in fear of emotion. These
experiences are filled with powerful emotions as we know, top
among them is love. He said, I think the deep
down fear is the fear of love. The principles of
unconditional love are completely inconsistent with a world often driven
(45:36):
by greed and ego. For someone deeply invested in that world,
the complications of the afterlife are simply too threatening to consider.
Stephen Schwartz, a researcher who co founded the field of
remote viewing, added a historical perspective. He argues that materialism
(45:57):
is not a scientific conclusion, but a cultural affectation that
began with the Council of Trent in the fifteen hundreds.
The Church declared that consciousness was their domain and if
scientists dabbled in it, they would be killed. For three
(46:18):
hundred years, it was a taboo topic. Scientists, to protect
their lives and their careers, simply decided they didn't care
about that game anyway. He believes we are now in
a paradigm crisis where the anomalies, the millions of people
(46:39):
with nves and other spiritual experiences are accumulating to a
point where the old materialist paradigm can no longer hold.
So what's the answer. Stephen Schwartz believes it's not about
arguing data, but about changing consciousness through our own being.
(47:01):
This he shared a story about Gandhi who said he
forced the British to leave India not by what he
said or did, but by the nature of character. It's
about who we are. When we live from a place
of love, compassion, and the certainty of our eternal nature,
we create ripples that change the culture around us. The
(47:25):
work of these incredible researchers and so many others highlights
the importance of having a central place for this information
for both scientists and experienceers. Are like I want to
remind everyone of our friends at the International Association for
Near Death Studies also called IAMS, and find them at
(47:47):
IMS dot org. Their website has thousands of near death
experiences you can read, groups you can join, and every
year they have a conference which you can go to
live or live stream from the comfort of your home. Personally,
I've learned so much from these experts, and it's been
(48:08):
well over twenty five years now of having these conversations
with myself and so many guests between my two podcasts
that I've learned a few things. First, let me tell
you you can never convince anyone of anything if their
heart is closed. The goal is not to win an argument.
(48:28):
It really is just about planting a seed. At some
point in everyone's life we start asking ourselves these big
questions about life, death, and the afterlife. We can't force it,
just like we can't force a flower to bloom, but
we can plant that seed. And the best way to
do that is by sharing a personal story, either your
own or one that you've heard, without any attachment to
(48:52):
whether they're going to believe it or not. Just put
it out there as a gift. Second, lead with love.
Often a person's rigid disbelief comes from a place of
deep fear or pain. Arguing with them only builds the
wall higher, but speaking from a place of love and
compassion can sometimes create a small little crack in that wall.
(49:15):
And finally, our job is to know when to let
it go and not try to convert anyone. Our job
is to live our own truth and be a shining light.
The right people will be drawn to that light when
they are ready. The stories of these atheists and skeptics
are not just about them. They are an invitation to
all of us, an invitation to question our own limiting beliefs,
(49:39):
to open ourselves to the possibility of a grander reality,
and to start living a life based on the profound
truth that consciousness is eternal and that love is the
ultimate force in the universe. Right now, right here, You've
got loved ones in the room around you, taking a
little glance at how you're living your lif life, loving you,
(50:02):
holding you, And of course they'll dart back and continue
their journeys in the unseen world, but they're right here
by our side, especially when we need them the most.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I know.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
You might be like me, a former disbeliever, but open
and on the search for evidence of the afterlife. You're
not alone. Take US Navy commander Suzanne Geeseman, or scientists
and engineer Alan Huguenot, or Mark Anthony, the psychic lawyer,
or Laureln Jackson, a highly regarded English school teacher who
(50:34):
lived a very grounded and normal life. These are not
people who are predisposed to believing in the afterlife. I
can tell you. They're thinkers, analysts, and leaders who are
confronted with evidence so personal and so powerful that changed
their worldview and they didn't just start to believe. Their
experiences open them up to an entirely new reality. And
(50:57):
what's fascinating is that many of them, because of their
analytical minds, have gone on to become some of the
most evidential and respected mediums in the world today. Our
journeys aren't just about blind faith. It's just about being
open to the evidence. My friend, what part of these
stories resonated with you the most? What's made a difference.
(51:20):
Was it the idea that even a hardened skeptic can change.
Was it the fact that there really is verifiable information
from near death experiences? Was it the love that we
each get to feel when we cross over. I'd love
to hear your comments. I do read every review you leave,
whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
(51:42):
Feel free to leave a review on an episode you
know it helps more people find their way through grief
and reminds them they are not alone. And also as
a reminder. You can find me at we Doo'tdie dot com.
We offer classes and of course our free Sunday gathering
inspirational service with medium demonstration included. Come fifteen minutes early
(52:05):
before it starts. I always open it up and I'd
love to meet you it's on Zoom easy to get to. Also,
at the bottom of the page at We Dontdie dot com,
enter your name and your email address, says you get
the first few chapters of my book We Don't Die
as skeptics discovery of life after death, but in secret,
it's the entire thing.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
I know.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Many people come to the show looking for evidence of
the afterlife because they're deeply grieving. Chapter ten of my
book is how to survive grief with some very helpful
tools and an understanding of why and how we grieve.
I want to leave you with a powerful quote from
the great philosopher Carl Jung. He was once asked if
(52:47):
he believed in God and the afterlife. He said, I
don't believe. I know. For the people whose stories we
heard today, this is their reality. They went from believing
to knowing. May their stories give all of us the
courage to find our own knowing. So give yourself a
(53:08):
big hug. It is definitely not easy to be a
human being. I'm Sanders Champlain. Thank you so much for
spending your valuable time with me listening to Shades of
the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
Thanks for listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast
Day and Paranormal Podcast Network. Make sure and check out
all our shows on the iHeartRadio app or by going
to iHeartRadio dot com
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