Divine Encounters Episode 002 | Near-Death Experience Story
John J. Davis was 21, raised in a devout Catholic home, and thinking about almost anything except spirituality when, he says, an allergic reaction to anesthesia stopped his heart during hand surgery. In this Divine Encounters episode he tells Alex Ferrari what he says happened next: a marble orientation center, a spirit guide named Alan, a figure he understood to be Jesus, and a message he has carried ever since.
Key Takeaways
- John says he died at 21 during surgery for a moped injury and was gone for seven minutes, according to his surgeon.
- He describes a spirit guide named Alan who spoke in his left ear and explained everything he saw.
- He says he stood in a vast marble “orientation center” where counselors help people who have just crossed over remember where they are from.
- John describes watching a man in his eighties or nineties appear to become a man in his thirties.
- He says he was told by a figure he understood to be Jesus, “You must tell them there is no death.”
- His message to anyone grieving: the people we lose are not gone, and on the other side it feels as though no time has passed.
| Guest | John J. Davis |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 002 |
| Age at the time | 21 |
| What John says happened | An allergic reaction to anesthesia during hand surgery stopped his heart |
| Time away | Seven minutes, according to his surgeon (it felt like an hour or more to John) |
| Where he says he went | A marble orientation center, then gardens |
| Who he met | His spirit guide Alan, and a figure he understood to be Jesus |
| The message | “You must tell them there is no death.” |
Who Is John J. Davis?
John grew up Catholic. His father loved church, and the family went two or three days a week, plus Sundays. John says he was inundated with Catholicism and had never had an experience of any kind outside it. The part he could never make sense of was the fear of God he was taught to have.
At 21, he was weighing whether to go to college. Spirituality, he says, was the last thing on his mind. After his near-death experience, he says, his entire life changed. He still loves Jesus and reads the New Testament all the time. He has a hard time calling himself a Christian, because he struggles with Christian dogma.
The Moped, the Tree and the Operating Room
His father had won a sales contest and two mopeds came with it. One weekend, John was riding when he hit a tree and tore the tendons off his right hand. It needed surgery. He was 21 and had never been in surgery before.
John says the IV went in, the anesthesia started, and he had some kind of allergic reaction that stopped his heart. “The very second that I died,” he says, he opened his eyes again.
A Marble Building That Looked Like a Hospital
John says his first thought was, “I had no idea the hospital was big.” He was standing in a corridor so long he could not see the end of it. On one side stood white marble columns about 30 feet high, five to ten feet apart. In the middle were marble tables with marble benches, running as far as he could see.
To his left were tunnels that looked carved out of solid marble, with sharp ninety-degree corners, each one lined up with a table. To help people picture it, John says the building looks like the Temple of Artemis in Turkey.
Alan, the Spirit Guide
Right then, John says, he heard a voice in his left ear: “My name is Alan. I’m your spirit guide.” He had no idea what that meant. He says Alan took him to the outside of every place he describes, then to the inside, and told him what each one was for. Everything John shares about how it works, he says, comes from what his guide told him.
If you are curious how people describe communicating with guides, our guide to communicating with spirit guides goes deeper, and the glossary has a short entry on spirit guides.
The Orientation Center and the Tunnels
This is where John says his story departs from the usual pattern. Many accounts describe floating above the body, then a tunnel, then a white light. John says he skipped all of that. He says he was taken to the other side of the white light, to the orientation center where people arrive.
The tunnels on his left, he says, connect people on Earth to the other side. When a lifetime is finished, you cross through one. John says he does not know how it works. He just knows that is how people get there.
He says his guide told him to look at the next tunnel. A man in his eighties or nineties was coming through, one hand on his chest as if in pain. His guide said he had died of a heart attack. At each table, John says, two people sat as orientation counselors. A woman stood, walked to the man, took his hands and led him to the table, holding his hands the whole time she spoke with him.
Why have counselors at all? John says his guide explained that when we come into a lifetime, our memory of the other side gets washed away. Earth is a place of learning and growth for the soul, and our real home is on the other side. The counselors help people remember.
A Man Who Looked Thirty Again
As John watched, he says the man’s appearance began to change from a man in his eighties or nineties to a man in his thirties. Nobody told John why thirty. He wonders aloud if it has to do with the age Jesus died, then adds, “I have no idea.”
The Gardens and the Figure in White
When the orientation ended, John says the man stood, stepped down three steps and walked into what John calls the gardens: wildflower fields and golden hills, the most beautiful he could imagine. John’s guide brought him there, then left.
Alone, John says, a man appeared in front of him with brown hair, a white tunic with a golden sash and gold sandals laced up his calves. He could not see the man’s face, because so much light came from him. John says he understood this was Jesus. He says he was told, “You must tell them there is no death.” Then he woke up in the hospital.
Seven Minutes That Felt Like an Hour
John says he asked the surgeon what had just happened. The surgeon told him they had lost him for seven minutes. To John, it felt like an hour or more.
A Message for Anyone Who Is Grieving
More than anything, John says he wants people to know there is tremendous hope. If you have lost a friend, a spouse or a child, he says, they are not really gone. They are in another place we cannot reach yet, and when your lifetime is finished you go back. He says that when you are with loved ones again, it feels as though no time has passed, because there is no time there as we have it here.
He says he was not given a whole life review. He says he was shown that life reviews are real, and that everything happened too quickly for more. Above all, he says he understood the experience was not only for him. It was for him to share. “Tell them that this is real,” he says.
How John’s Account Fits With Other Near-Death Experiences
People who report near-death experiences describe a handful of recurring themes: a sense of peace, meeting loved ones or a guide, a being of light, a review of life, and a feeling of being sent back, often with a message. John’s account includes several of these. What makes it distinctive is the setting. He describes an organized place of arrival, with counselors, tunnels and gardens, where many accounts describe a light and a threshold.
Researchers have studied these reports for decades. The 16-item NDE Scale, published by psychiatrist Bruce Greyson in 1983, is still widely used to measure the experience. In a well-known 2001 study in The Lancet, Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel and colleagues found that 62 of 344 cardiac arrest survivors, about 18 percent, reported a near-death experience. What it all means is still debated. At Next Level Soul, we share these accounts as experiences, in the person’s own words, and we do not make medical claims.
For the bigger picture, start with our complete guide to near-death experiences and the glossary entries on near-death experience and life review.
Questions to Sit With
- John says his experience was meant to be shared. What have you lived through that you have not told anyone yet?
- If, as John says, there is no time on the other side, how might that change the way you carry a loss?
- Which part of what you were taught about God or death still does not sit right with you, and what do you do with that?
One small step for this week: choose someone you have lost, set a timer for five minutes, and write them a letter you never send. Nothing to prove. Just a way to stay in conversation.
Spiritual Takeaways
- John says there is no death, and that the people we lose are in another place, not gone.
- He describes an afterlife with guides and counselors whose work is to help us remember where we are from.
- He says that on the other side there is no time as we know it.
- He says Earth is a place of learning and growth for the soul.
- He says his experience was not only for him. It was for him to share.
Please enjoy my conversation with John J. Davis.
Guest Links: Connect With John J. Davis
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is John J. Davis?
John J. Davis is a near-death experiencer who was raised in a devout Catholic family. He was 21 when, he says, his heart stopped during surgery and he experienced the afterlife described in this Divine Encounters episode.
What happened to John J. Davis during his near-death experience?
John says he crashed a moped into a tree, tore the tendons in his right hand and went in for surgery. He says an allergic reaction to the anesthesia stopped his heart. His surgeon told him afterward that they had lost him for seven minutes.
What did John say the orientation center was?
John says his spirit guide told him it was an orientation center, a place where counselors help people who have just crossed over remember where they are really from.
Who was Alan?
John says that right after he died he heard a voice in his left ear say, “My name is Alan. I’m your spirit guide.” He says Alan took him to the outside and then the inside of each place he describes and explained what everything was for.
Why did the man John watched change to look about thirty?
John says nobody told him why. He says the man, who looked to be in his eighties or nineties, appeared to become a man in his thirties during the orientation. John wonders aloud whether it relates to the age at which Jesus died, and says he has no way to know.
What did John say Jesus told him?
John says a figure in a white tunic with a golden sash, so bright he could not see his face, appeared in the gardens. John understood this was Jesus. He says he was told, “You must tell them there is no death,” and then woke up in the hospital.
Did John have a life review?
John says he did not have a full life review. He says he was shown that life reviews exist and that they are real, but the experience moved too quickly for him to go through one.
How was John’s experience different from a typical near-death experience?
John says he skipped the common first steps of floating above the body and traveling through a tunnel toward a light. He says he was taken to the other side of that light, where the orientation center was.
How did the experience change John’s view of religion?
John says that before his experience, spirituality was the last thing on his mind and the fear of God taught in his Catholic upbringing never made sense to him. Afterward, he says he loves Jesus and reads the New Testament often, but has a hard time with Christian dogma.
What does John say about losing a loved one?
John says people who have passed are not really gone. They are in another place we cannot reach yet, and he says that when you are together again it feels as though no time has passed.
Is a near-death experience proof of an afterlife?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as lived experiences told in the person’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate what they mean. Nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- John J. Davis on the Next Level Soul Podcast: a detailed tour of heaven
- Sharon Milliman describes a detailed heavenly tour after a lightning strike
- Lura Ketchledge on the most detailed tour of heaven she has seen
- Brian Hoyland, a veteran clinically dead for ten minutes, on meeting Jesus
- Nanci Danison on what she was shown about religion
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- What is the afterlife? (glossary)
- Connecting with your higher self
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like, before you died.
John J. Davis 0:08
I was raised a Catholic and saving I was so yeah, I was in my dad. Uh, he loved to go to church, and we would go to church, sometimes two or three days a week. And then on Sundays also, so I was inundated with Catholicism. And before I had my NDE I had never had any experiences of any kind other than Catholicism. I was 21 at the time, and I was considering whether or not going to college going to school and I, the last thing on my mind, was spirituality. I was I had a hard time understanding Catholicism because the big thing that I had a hard time with was the fear of God that they put in you. You were supposed to fear God. And I never really I never really got that. So after I had my near death experience, my entire life changed that way in terms of spirituality and my views of religion. Like I have a hard time considering myself to be a Christian, but I love Jesus. And I read the New Testament all the time. But I have a really hard time with the Christian dogma. My dad had won a sales contest, and he won two mopeds. And it's kind of like like scooters or mopeds. They call them scooters now, but we used to ride those on the weekends. So one day I was out riding, and I had an accident, and I slammed into a tree. And the way I landed, I tore the tendons off my right hand. And it had had to go on to have surgery. While I was 21, I had never been in surgery before. But I didn't know what to expect. I probably been in a hospital, just a handful, the times not very often. So I had no idea what was going to happen. So they give me the IV, and they start to pump in the anesthesia. And I had some kind of an allergic reaction. And it stopped my heart. And I died. The very second that I died, I opened my eyes again. And I was standing in the most beautiful building I had ever seen. And my very first thought was, oh my god, I had no idea the hospital was big. Because this the building that I was in, it was a long, long corridor building is in it couldn't see the end of it, it was so long. And there were columns on the right hand side, marble, beautiful white marble columns, maybe 30 feet high, all the way down as far as you could see. And they were about five or 10 feet apart. In the middle of this corridor, like building with these marble tables, just regular marble rectangle are kind of square tables. And there were marble benches on every single table. And these tables went this far again, as far as you could see. And the most amazing part was what was to my left to the left of this building. bucket. And we're were like a marble, marble, all made of white, beautiful pristine marble. There were these tunnels that looked like they were cut out of solid marble. And in a court they were they corresponded to each table. So there was a marble column, then a table, then these tunnels, again, they went as far down as you could see, each tunnel was maybe five feet apart, and it was seven or eight feet high. And it looks like it would been carved out of the out of the marble solid 90 degree angles like you have in the doorway. Well, I need to tell you something else that happened here, this will look this will kind of help you explain how this process works. We're at that point, right then I heard a voice in my left ear. And it said, my name is Alan. I'm your spirit guide. Well, I had no idea what what that meant. So I I just went through this whole process. And what happened because my spirit guide took me to every place that I'm going to I'm going to describe for your audience. And he took me to the outside first of every building. And then he took me to the inside. And I like to tell people so they can have a kind of a visualization. This building that I was in, looks like a temple in Turkey, the country Turkey. And it's called the Temple of Artemis, everything I I'm going to tell you guys, it's from what my guide was telling me. He told me everything I was seeing and what it was for. Well, this building that I was in, he told me this is the orientation center And what's what's kind of different about my experience. Have you ever, you've probably heard a lot of typical near death experiences where the person says that they had an accident or they were in the hospital, and they found themselves floating above their bodies, then they become aware of a tunnel. And at the end of the tunnel is a white light. Well, my experience I, for some reason, I skipped all of that. And they took me to the other side of that white light on what's on the other side of the white light, as soon as somebody walks into it, they're on there in this orientation center. And they come through these, these tunnels that were on my left, the tunnels connect people with earth, to the other side. So when their lifetime is finished on Earth, they cross through these tunnels and the end up on the other side. So somehow, these tunnels are connected to Earth. And I don't know how it all works. But that's how people get to the other side. So he might die told me to look to my left at the, at the next tunnel. So look to my left, and there was a gentleman coming through, he was probably in his 80s, or 90s. And he had just finished his life, he had his right hand holding his chest, like he was in pain. And my guide said he died from a heart attack. So he's coming through the tunnel. And at these tables that I've mentioned, there are two people sitting at each table on the other side, and my guide said they are orientation counselors. So their job is to help orientate people back to the other side. And the reason they have them, is oftentimes when people come into life, somehow, but when we come into a lifetime, our memory gets washed about the other side where we're from, because we're not from earth. Earth is just a place of learning and growth in developing your soul. But our real home is on the other side, or some people like to call it heaven, some people call up the afterlife. And so these orientation counselors help people remember where they're really from. So the woman there was a woman at a table, I was looking, she stood up, she walked over to this man, and she took her hands and hit hits. And she led him back to the table and they sat down. The entire time she was talking to him, she was holding his hands. And my guide said, Watch him. So as I was watching him, his appearance began to change from a man who was in his 80s or 90s, to a man who was in his 30s. And nobody told me, why the age why of 30s. But for whatever reason, we're in our 30s. And I don't know if it has to do with that was the age that Jesus died, I you know, I have no idea. But we're in our 30s. So that's what happens during the orientation. They just talked them about where they're from, you finished your lifetime. Here you are back on the other side. Now, when he was done with that, he stood up, and he walked to the right. And he stepped down three steps. Everybody steps everybody is to have called was between these orientation areas. So he stepped down and walked into what I call the gardens, because it was the most beautiful gardens you could ever imagine energy, if you can imagine the most gorgeous, beautiful wildflower fields you've ever seen. Golden hills, flowers, I mean, just beautiful. So he took me there. And then he left, my guide left. And I was just standing there by myself. And all of a sudden, a man showed up in front of me. And I could see his hair. He had brown hair. I could see his hands, I could see that he was wearing a white robe, or a white tunic with a golden sash around the waist. And he had gold colored sandals on there laced up his calves. And he was different than everybody else. Because I couldn't see his face. There was so much light or energy coming from him that I couldn't make out is what it looked like. And my mind said to me or somebody said to me, this is Jesus. And he spoke to me. And he said,
Jesus 9:41
"You must tell them there is no death."
John J. Davis 9:44
And right after he said that, I woke up back in the hospital. And I asked and everybody was looking down at me, you know, they look at you and here's what would happen to this guy. I said to the surgeon, I said what just happened? So I was trying to see if he could explain to me where I was what was what, what just happened to me. And that's when I found out that I died. He said we'd lost you. We lost you for seven minutes. And I couldn't believe it was only seven minutes. Because it seemed like it was an hour or more that I had this experience. And one thing I want to tell people that more than anything, I want people to know that there's tremendous hope that because you lost somebody, you lost a friend, or, God forbid, you lose a child or you lose a spouse, they're not really gone. They're just in another place that we can't get to get. But that in the end, when your lifetime is finished, you go back. And the strangest thing is that when you get back and you're with your loved ones again, it's like no time had passed, because on the other side, there's no such thing as time, like we have here. I didn't have the opportunity to have a whole life review. They just wanted to show me that people do have life reviews. So they're, they're real. But each one of these place he took me to it. It just seemed like it happened so quickly. That there wasn't enough time they just wanted to show me you have to tell people what this is. Tell them that this happens. Tell them that this is real tell them that, you know because because this experience, it wasn't for me. It was for me to share it.
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