Divine Encounters Episode 114 | Near-Death Experience Story
Terry Yoder says his first brush with death came at birth, when he arrived two months early. At 14, a lonely teenager in Indiana, he says he left his body again, heard a voice urging him to let go, and was saved when his father opened a garage door. In this Divine Encounters episode he tells Alex Ferrari how that moment opened his gifts, how he learned to protect his peace, and why he now works as a medium and tarot reader.
Key Takeaways
- Terry says he was born two months early by cesarean, and he believes that birth was a first near-death experience in which he chose to stay.
- At 14, he says, he left his body, hovered above it and heard a voice that kept saying let go. He did not trust it.
- He says his father opening the garage door instantly shoved him back into his body, and that “He saved my life.”
- Terry says this experience opened his gifts, and that a guide then came to him and told him to resist a negative force.
- He describes a simple routine for moments of heaviness: stop, speak a firm prayer, then meditate on white and golden light.
- He says he senses, hears and feels messages from loved ones, and describes scents and a fox as signs from his late mother.
- His message: everyone’s gifts are unique, intention matters, and he hopes everyone finds their way.
| Guest | Terry Yoder |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 114 |
| Age at the time | 14 (Memorial Day weekend, 1979) |
| Life before | A lonely young person in East Central Indiana, growing up gay and coping with escape |
| What Terry says happened | He left his body and hovered above it, heard a voice urging him to let go, and was pulled back when his father lifted the garage door |
| Where he says he went | Hovering above his own body |
| Who he met | A voice he distrusted, and later a guide |
| The message | Intention matters; we each have unique gifts, and we are never out of grace |
Who Is Terry Yoder? A First Brush with Death at Birth
Terry answers Alex Ferrari’s opening question by going back to the very start. He was born two months early. His mother had toxemia, so he was delivered by cesarean. He says that when the doctors cut his mother to take him out, he threw his arms up. The doctor said, “I hope you’re ready for this one.”
He spent a good while in an incubator before he could go home. Terry believes that was a near-death experience, his first, and that it was his chance to choose whether to go or to stay. He chose to stay.
A Lonely Boy in Indiana
Terry grew up in East Central Indiana in the sixties and seventies. He calls himself a very, very lonely young fella. He says he was growing up gay, and that it was a lonely existence. A friend introduced him to a risky way of escaping, and he says it felt like a way of coping and a way out of the reality of things.
He is gentle with himself when he tells it. He says he was not a smart child, only a hurting one.
If you are struggling, you are not alone. In the US you can call or text 988 any time.
Hovering Above His Body, and a Voice
It was Memorial Day weekend, 1979, a Sunday. Terry was 14. He says that after about two hours of this escape, he left his body. He went up and hovered above it, alone.
A voice spoke to him. It was coaxing him to let go. Just let go, come with me, everything will be fine. But something about it felt wrong. “This doesn’t feel like a right voice,” he remembers thinking, and he did not trust it. Terry says he believes it was a lower energy trying to snuff him out, because “I’m here for a purpose.”
Then his father lifted the garage door. Terry says he was shoved back into his body instantly. “He saved my life,” he says, and repeats it.
How It Opened His Gifts
Terry believes that the moment of hovering above his body is what opened his gifts wide. When they first opened, he says, something lay down on the bed with him and whispered his name. That is when he was introduced to his first guide.
The guide came in over him and told him that this was a negative force, something he needed to resist. Terry says that was the point at which his gifts really started to take off.
For readers who want to explore how guides are described, see our glossary entries on spirit guides and psychic protection.
What He Does When Something Feels Heavy
Terry shares the routine he uses today. When he feels something negative, he stops immediately and says, “anything that cannot or will not walk in the light of Christ must depart now,” followed by a blessing. Sometimes he has to pull away and go into meditation. The night before the interview, he says, something tried to affect him as he was falling asleep. He rebuked it three times, it stopped, and he slept peacefully.
He notes that these incidents seem to happen most when he is working toward something for the good of the whole. He believes we are always in the palm of the hand of God, and always protected. And yet: “You’re never out of grace, but you’re permitted to be challenged and tested for your own ability to grow and learn.”
When difficult people or situations leave him unsettled, he steps away, brushes off, asks for renewal and puts it in perspective. He does a brief meditation, focusing on white and golden light coming in through the top of his head and pushing everything else out, letting it go in God’s name. He shares this as his own practice.
Faith, Holes in the Faith, and a Prophecy
Terry says he was devout. At 14 he gave his life to Christ, and he says he was given multiple spiritual gifts right then, on the spot. He thinks of it as the “grand poobah” opening the portal to receive from spirit. At 14 he also received a prophecy: “Go forth and love my people in my name.” He says that is what he does.
About three and a half years into his devotion to the Christian faith, he says, he began to see holes in it. Even so, Christianity remains the foundation on which his gifts were centered.
Grandma Ruby, His Saving Grace
Terry’s greatest source of help and strength was his grandmother, Ruby. She always told him, “you have a very special mind.” If he opened it up and used it to its fullest, he had great things to do. “She was my saving grace,” he says, “because I had no one.”
He says Ruby had her own gift. When she was four or five years old and visitors came, she would lay her hand on their knee and prophesy. So people began locking her up when visitors arrived. She could feel, sense and receive, but could not express it. Terry feels that in some small way he is doing for her what she was not able to do.
He says he is totally self taught, taught by spirit. He lets flow what needs to flow.
Early Signs: Fourth Grade and the Popcorn Reading
His first inkling came around fourth grade, when he was about ten. A classmate asked what he thought he would do for a living. Terry said he had some special sensitivities, and maybe he was a psychic. He thought he might become a psychic psychotherapist.
In fourth grade, he says, there was another moment. His class was studying Europe, and the teacher asked what France might be like. Terry described a set of steps, and the teacher turned over a picture of exactly that. He counts it as an early sign.
In his early readings for the public, he once told two women sitting in front of him that he kept smelling and tasting popcorn. They gasped. They had just been talking on the way over about how much they love popcorn and that they needed to stop at the store for some. That, he says, “made all the difference in the world,” because they knew he was tuned in.
A Fox and a Familiar Scent
Terry tells one of his most powerful stories about his mother, who died in 2014. About a week and a half later he was driving home from work when a fox leapt across the road in front of his car. He had never seen a fox in the wild before. He felt it had something to do with her.
He looked up the meaning of fox as a totem in his animal book, which pointed to an obsession with one’s hair. His mother, he says, was just that: to the day she died, if someone rang the doorbell, she made sure her hair was in place. Then his living room filled with a scent he identifies with his mother. He adds that before his father passed away, his father would say he woke up in the night and the room smelled the same way.
Smell is a clear way for him to know a loved one is near. “It goes right into the soul,” he says. “It’s a deep, deep connection.” For more on how people describe signs like this, see our glossary page on after-death communication.
How He Works as a Medium
Terry says he mostly feels, hears and senses. He does see some things, but those are not his strongest. He once heard the band Abba over a client’s head, with the words “take a chance,” for someone who had not been in a relationship for 14 years. He hears songs, movie lines, voices and emotions.
He is not big on names, addresses, phone numbers or lottery numbers. He asks a client if there is someone on the other side they would like to connect with. He asks for the name and the relationship. “I feel a vibrational tone go off in my heart,” he says, and when a matching tone connects, he knows the person is there. Then he starts to feel the sensations and messages that are meant to be expressed.
If you would like to explore these gifts further, our glossary has entries on mediumship and clairsentience. He is also self taught in tarot, and he says he reads it his own way, taught by spirit.
His Message: Intention and the Do’s
Terry’s main message is that “everyone’s gifts are absolutely unique.” They are the same gifts, he says, but they are unique for each person. He ties it back to intention, citing a passage he knows from the Bible, that we are known by our works, and that there must be intention before work. He says he reads cards and does mediumship to help people and to glorify God.
He describes himself as strong on spiritual truth and freedom. “I’m more about the do’s than the don’ts.” He believes he came in this time to experience being up against the don’ts, so he could undo them and live more in the doing of what is right.
His last hope is simple: “that everyone finds their way, that everyone sees their direction.” He hopes everyone finds their love, joy, hope and peace, and shares it.
Where His Story Sits Beside Other Accounts
People who report near-death experiences often describe leaving the body and looking at it from above. Terry’s account is brief on that part. What he emphasizes is what followed: gifts, guides, and a lifetime of learning discernment. He also describes a voice that he did not trust, and says what he learned from it was to trust his own inner sense and to hold to his faith.
To read more, start with our complete guide to near-death experiences and the glossary page on near-death experience. We share accounts like Terry’s as experiences in the person’s own words, and we do not make medical claims.
Questions to Sit With
- Terry says a voice felt wrong and he trusted that feeling. When has your inner sense told you “this is not right”?
- His grandmother told him he had a very special mind. Who told you something that you carried forward?
- Terry steps away and focuses on white and golden light when he feels heavy. What is your own way of resetting?
This week, when something or someone leaves you feeling drained, step away for two minutes. Close your eyes and picture a warm light entering at the top of your head, then let the day go.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Terry says he is here for a purpose, and that a voice urging him to let go did not feel right.
- He says he is always in the palm of the hand of God, and we can be challenged and tested while still in grace.
- He describes a routine of stopping, speaking a firm prayer and meditating on white and golden light.
- He says everyone’s gifts are the same gifts, and are unique to each person.
- He says intention matters, and he reads and does mediumship to help people and glorify God.
Please enjoy my conversation with Terry Yoder.
Guest Links: Connect With Terry Yoder
- Terry Yoder’s official site
- Terry Yoder on Facebook
- Terry Yoder on YouTube
- Another conversation with Terry Yoder
Listen to the Episode
- Watch this episode ad-free on Next Level Soul TV
- Download the MP3
- More episodes: Divine Encounters
- Listen to Divine Encounters on Apple Podcasts
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Terry Yoder?
Terry Yoder is a medium and tarot reader who shares his near-death experience on Divine Encounters. He says he was born two months early, grew up in East Central Indiana, and left his body at 14.
What happened to Terry Yoder at age 14?
Terry says that on Memorial Day weekend in 1979 he left his body and hovered above it. A voice urged him to let go. His father then lifted the garage door, and Terry says he was shoved back into his body.
Who was the voice Terry heard?
Terry says the voice did not feel right and that he did not trust it. He believes it was a lower energy trying to snuff him out. He also says he is here for a purpose.
Does Terry believe his birth was a near-death experience?
Yes. Terry was born two months early by cesarean because his mother had toxemia. He believes that experience was his first near-death moment, and that it gave him the ability to choose to stay.
How did the experience open Terry’s gifts?
He says the moment of hovering above his body opened his gifts wide. He then had something lay down on his bed and whisper his name, and a guide told him to resist a negative force.
What does Terry say when something feels negative?
He says he stops and says, “anything that cannot or will not walk in the light of Christ must depart now,” followed by a blessing. He sometimes meditates on white and golden light. He shares this as his own practice.
Who was Terry’s grandmother?
Terry’s grandmother, Ruby, was his greatest source of help and strength. He says she told him he had a very special mind, and that she had a gift of prophecy as a child that she was not allowed to express.
How does Terry connect with loved ones in readings?
Terry says he asks a client for the name and relationship of someone on the other side. He feels a vibrational tone in his heart, and when a matching tone connects, he knows the person is there.
What signs did Terry receive from his mother?
He describes a fox that ran across the road shortly after she died, and a scent in his living room that he identifies with her. He says his father noticed the same scent before he passed.
What is Terry’s message?
Terry says everyone’s gifts are unique, that intention matters, and that he is more about the do’s than the don’ts. His hope is that everyone finds their way, their love, joy, hope and peace.
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
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- What is a near-death experience? (glossary)
- Spirit guides explained (glossary)
- Annette Bricca, a psychic, on predictions and humanity’s future
- Susan Dyer on meeting her spirit guides
- Jacob Cooper on dying as a child and meeting his angels
- Ingrid Honkala on drowning at age two
- Channelers and mediums
- 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.
Terry Yoder 0:03
When I was born. I was born six months I was born two months early. I was taking cesarean section because my mother had toxemia. So when they cut my mother to take me out, I jumped up and threw my arms. Doctor says, I hope you're ready for this one. So that was, I believe that was a near death experience. I was in an incubator for quite a while, and before they could take me home. But at 14, I believe that that first one at birth, I believe that that was kind of my ability to choose whether to go or stay. I was very, very lonely young fella. I was raised in East Central Indiana in 60s and 70s. I didn't realize it, while I realized it at the time that I was actually growing up gay, and that was a lonely existence, and I met a friend who taught me to huff gasoline, and it was Memorial Day weekend, 1979 Sunday, I was huffing gasoline, and huffed for probably two hours straight, and I wasn't a smart child, but it was a way of coping. It was a way of escaping the reality of things, and I left my body. I went up and hovered above my body, and I was alone, and there was a voice that spoke to me and was coaxing me to let go. Just let go. Come with me. Let go. Everything will be fine, just and there was like, This doesn't feel like a right voice, and I didn't trust it. I think it was lower energy trying to snuff me out, because I'm here for a purpose. And then, just then, my dad lifts the garage door, and I was shoved back in my body. Instantaneously. He saved my life. He saved my life. So I was just hovering above my body, and I believe it's in that moment that that experience is the experience that opened my gifts wide open. When I was first opening up, I had something lay down on the bed with me and whisper my name, but then that's when I was introduced to my first guide. Is when that experience happened then I literally had this experience where my guide crystal came in over top of me and said, you know, this is a negative force. This is something that you need to resist. And it was at that point that my gifts really started to take off. Whenever I feel something like that, I immediately stop and I say anything that cannot or will not walk in the light of Christ must depart now, and God bless you. Sometimes I have to actually pull away and go into a state of meditation. I mean, I had a situation last night where I had something trying to affect me as I was trying to go to sleep, and I'm just like, I had to rebuke three times, and then it stopped, and I was able to get a peaceful night's sleep. So it does happen, and I find that it happens most with me to try to prevent me from doing or achieving something that I'm trying to achieve for the good of the whole I believe that we're always in the palm of the hand of God. I believe that we're always protected, but I believe that these little incidents like last night came to teach me something. You're never out of grace, but you're permitted to be challenged and tested for your own ability to grow and learn. At one point, I had another local psychic in my area, the Bay Area, who actually sent someone to do a 15 minute telephone reading with me so they could trash me on Yelp. And it was all taken out of context. It was all completely, totally misconstrued. I don't need to deal with this. Let it go. It gets hard, though, because sometimes you deal with difficult people and unbelievable situations. When it's over, I step away, I brush off, I ask for renewal, I cleanse, put it in perspective. I step back, do a brief meditation, focus on white light, golden light, coming in through the top of my head, pushing all of that out, relinquishing all of that, letting it go in God's name. Lie to God. I was so devout in my love of God and my love of Christ, and I really devoted myself to the Christian faith. And about three and a half years in, I started to see holes, holes in the faith. You know, my foundation is in Christianity, and I, I have, it's, it's the foundation upon which my gifts were centered. At 14 when, when I gave my life to Christ, I was. Given multiple of the spiritual gifts right then and there on the spot, I think that was the grand poobah opening the portal and really putting me in place to receive from spirit. My greatest source of help and strength was my grandma, Ruby, and she would always tell me, you have a very special mind. If you'll open it up and use it to its fullest potential, you've got great things to do. And she was my saving grace. She was my saving grace because I had no one. And I'm totally self taught. I'm taught by spirit. It just I let flow what needs to flow. In actuality, she had told me that when she was very little, four or five years old, when people would come to visit, she would come and lay her hand on their knee and prophesy. So literally, they started locking her up when people would come. So what ended up happening was she could feel and sense and receive, but she couldn't express anything that she got. I believe that in some way a product of her, and in some small way, I'm helping do for her what she wasn't able my first crackle in this was about fourth grade, so I guess I was around 10 years old. Somebody asked me, a classmate asked me in the reading section of the room what I thought I was going to do for a living in my life. And I said, you know, I believe that I have I believe that I have some special sensitivities, and maybe I'm a psychic, I don't know, but I think maybe I'm going to be like a psychic psychotherapist. I had a reading one time when I first started doing it for the public, I had two women in front of me, and I'm like, ladies, I keep smelling popcorn and tasting popcorn, and I feel like there's some significance of popcorn. And they're like, Oh my God. We were just talking on the way over here about how much we love popcorn and that we're out and we have to stop at the store on the way home to get some well, that made all the difference in the world, because now they know that I'm tuned in one of the most powerful stories I have about Claire Sinclair Allen's the Clear smell. My mom died in 2014 and I came home from work about a week and a half later, and a fox ran and jumped across the road in front of my car. And I'd never seen a fox in the wild before, and I'd never seen a fox fly like Rocky the Flying Squirrel, so it really stuck out. And when I got home, I said, Mom, you know, I feel like that Fox had something to do with you. And I looked it up in my animal speak book and said, Anyone with a totem of Fox would have an obsession with their hair. Well, kind of tough, but then my mother, to the day she died, if someone rang the doorbell, she'd make sure her hair was in place. So I felt it was my mom that does. Fox was a message from my mom, and then all of a sudden, my entire living room filled with the scent of noxima. And that's my mother. And you know, a few times before my dad passed away, he would tell me, I woke up in the middle of the night and the room smelled like noxima. So when mom comes in, it's not SEMA. When smell occurs, it's usually a very to me, it goes right into the soul. It's a deep, deep connection. Usually, I'm not big on scene entities or spirits. It has happened feeling Claire audience, I hear, Oh, I hear everything. Sometimes, you know, somebody hasn't been in a relationship for 14 years, and I've got Abba above my head. Take a chance. Take a chance. Take a chance. Take a chance. I hear songs. I hear movie lines, I hear voices. I hear emotions. I sense emotions. I do see some, but feeling, hearing and sensing is really my strongest. It's difficult to describe how you can feel somebody from the inside out. I am not big on getting names, addresses, phone numbers, lottery numbers, none of that. The way that I work is I'll ask someone, is there someone on the other side that you would like to connect with? And they say yes, and I say, may I have that person's name and May I know your relationship to them when they give me the name and the relationship, I feel a vibrational tone go off in my heart. So then when that matching tone comes in and connects. I know that's the person, and then I start to emote and feel the messages and sensations that are supposed to be expressed. I'm unique in the way that I read tarot. I'm self taught. I'm taught by spirit. I'm unique in the way that I work in mediumship that is. Very important message to everyone is everyone's gifts are absolutely unique. They're the same gifts, but they're unique for every person. I believe that it reverts back to your intention. Because there's a there's a passage in the Bible, it says it's by your works that you're known before there's work there has to be into intention. So it's through the intention. I don't read cards and do mediumship to glorify the devil or any negative force. I do it to help people and to glorify God. I mean, I was given a prophecy at 14 that said, Go forth and love my people in my name. That's what I do, is love God's people in God's name. And oddly, my French teacher in school was from Kentucky, so Bonjour, bonjour class, comme on allez vous aujourd We but when I was in fourth grade, again, fourth grade, we were studying Europe, and the teacher said, Okay, based on its position and based on what you know about France, what do you think it would, what you think it would be like, What would and I described the steps up to sac, and the teacher turns over a picture, and it's the steps up to soccer. And I'm very strong on spiritual truth and freedom. I'm more about the do's than the don'ts. And I think that I came in this time to experience this so that I could undo all the don'ts that I had been up against in my life and be more on the freedom of the do's the doing of what is right. It's my hope that everyone finds their way, that everyone sees their direction, that everyone finds their love, their joy, Their hope, their peace, and that they share it.
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