Fail Safe

My journey through a near death experience: Feb 2025 Life had been relatively healthy for me, aside from a few setbacks. Generally speaking, I had been sailing along and able to enjoy work, worship, and personal Christian ministry without any physical restriction. Then in 2008 I got word that I had prostate cancer. Friends from the Christian community prayed so earnestly for me, and I experienced God’s healing as I walked through the regimens of treatment that my trusted physicians prescribed. Then another shocking diagnosis was given: Following some blood tests in early 2024, I was informed that I had an incurable form of cancer called AML (short for Leukemia). I immediately started chemotherapy treatments and called on eight men to establish a close-at-hand prayer team. These were men whom I was convinced were men of prayer and commitment. Additionally, so many people discovered my condition and joined in a massive prayer force for me. Then after about a year, following one of my monthly chemo sessions, I collapsed in my home. The rescue unit took me directly to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, a terribly bumpy ride of over two hours. I recall being unloaded, but from then on everything went dark. There in the ICU they found a wound on my back side that had gone septic. Upon further examination, the attending physician stated to my wife, “Well your husband is in a very deep hole and it will be very difficult for him to dig out!” I did not hear this for I was unconscious at this point, but others in the room did. Thus began my journey. It is strange how the mind works when one is incapacitated. Some who have been near death have reported seeing white lights, or hearing angelic voices sing, or even feeling lifted off the bed in spirit. None of those things happened to me, however I did experience a vision. Now, keep in mind, this was a dream or a vision … not a perfectly detailed account of Scriptural facts. In my delirium, I found myself as a WW2 fighter pilot I was seriously injured, but being patched up for another mission—I did not want this! I could not figure why the Allied forces wanted to use a 69 year old man. It seemed they wanted me to become a human bomb in a plane. I wanted no part of it. This part off my experience seems to be where dream met a touch of reality because my wife and others attending me said I cried out in a loud voice, “Fail Safe! Fail Safe!” They said I kept this up as I lay in my hospital bed continually for an hour. They could not console me. Nurses were so unnerved that they even looked it up to see what it meant. Basically, when an airplane has gone out of control and lost its maneuverability, the pilot might be able to pull an escape ring which causes the canopy to deploy and allow him to escape, letting the plane continue to destruction, while the pilot survives (although early versions were very risky). I should have been screaming, “Eject, eject!” But for some reason my mind went to “Fail Safe!” Now, for my part, all I wanted to do was to escape the moment and likely die. I must have been feeling the real time effects of feeding tube insertion, dialysis, wound debriding or whatever other kind of pain was going on. I share this experience of despondency to communicate the depth of my mental state. Was it a fear of death that caused me to cry out? I don’t think so. I just wanted to escape the pain that I was being subjected to. Dying was the preferred option. This ends the experience of “Fail Safe!” So why do I share this “Fail Safe” story?Only to communicate the gravity of my mental state. It was a terrifying time and I remember it so vividly here months later, I wonder if it were more than just a dream. But my mind’s wandering didn’t stop there. Over the course of the next month or more I had more spiritual thoughts. I felt myself transported in spirit into the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs when they were holding the Israelites in slavery. God was sending plagues upon the Egyptians to motivate them to release the Israelites into Moses’ hands so that he could lead them out of the land. So far they had not responded favorably. The last plague was called the angel of death. The people were to sacrifice a lamb and smear the doorposts of their dwellings with the blood of that lamb. If they complied, the angel of death would pass over their house. Otherwise their firstborn would die. Well, this was where in my spirit I entered the scene. I was allowed to step over the threshold of a non-compliant Egyptian home and see what was on the other side. What I saw there horrified me! There before me was what seemed to be hell. Human forms of people in torment were all around and I wanted out! I turned, and as I stepped back over the threshold, things became normal again. But the message was loud and clear. You do NOT want to be found without the blood of the lamb upon the doorposts!! Now, what does this mean?Christians today view this event (which actually occurred in history) as a “fore-shadowing” of what was to happen to Christ upon the cross, (now many years in OUR past). He, being the innocent Son of God, after a lifetime of sinless ministry upon this earth, living as a man, was crucified upon a cross. In so doing He acted as our redeemer. He took our sins and paid our penalty of death. For you see, we have all sinned and the penalty before a just and holy God is spiritual death. Jesus Christ paid that penalty. Now all we have to do to be pardoned is to believe upon his sacrifice and his shed blood (like those Israelites had done in faith when they smeared the blood of an innocent lamb upon their doorposts and escaped death). That’s it! We are “born again” as many call it. It is the beginning of a great journey of being a Christian! There is so much to share about becoming a Christian. But that is the end of the part directly connected with my vision. It left such an indelible impression upon me that I think I shall never forget it! And when I ponder the question of why God spared me from what could have easily been death, I am compelled to think maybe it is to be able to share this experience. And so, I share it with youAt this juncture I must ask, “Have you accepted Christ’s sacrifice for your sins?” It is so easy to do this. The more you give Christ the control and direction of your life, the more He will guide you in the way of Truth. Simply believe that He was that perfect, sinless sacrifice who shed his blood to be our substitute, so that we might not be condemned to spiritual death for our sins. I did this over 60 years ago and I can attest that God has been faithful to refine me and lead me to be more Christlike ever since. Even today, I continue to discover more of God’s gracious provisions. So again, have you accepted Christ’s sacrifice for your sins and experienced this forgiveness? I am personally counting on this for myself. If not already having done so, will you join me? My last 60 years have been such an exciting journey. And I look forward to several more years as God continues to give me health and healing.