The NDE as a real experience - the Matthew Botsford story

Matthew and Nancy Botsford

photo courtesy of Matthew Botsford

Several articles previously written for this column have intimated that I believe the near death experience is a real phenomena. Specifically and for whatever reason, it is my opinion and belief that certain people have temporarily crossed the threshold between life and death and then successfully returned to life.

Articles about the experience of Pam Reynolds, Heather Sloan, Vicky Noratuk and others have met criticism by some who suggest that the dying brain manufactures a hallucinogenic pleasant experience to aid the body in transition to death.

"It isn't scientific!" some claim.

I offer information to the contrary.

"It isn't scientific enough!" they counter.

I offer a definition of scientism.

So where did this leave us? At a standstill?

Let's backtrack for a moment to the criticism that everyone shares this (artificial) pleasant hallucination. If the NDE experience is not real, what on earth could possibly explain the experience of Matthew Botsford?

Why did he go to hell when he died?

Matthew was visiting Atlanta with his brother and another colleague from work in spring of 1992. After dinner at a downtown restaurant, the three men waited for a cab on the curb outside.

With no warning or provocation, a gunman standing at the nearby corner suddenly opened fire, spraying bullets from an Uzi submachine gun at the innocent bystanders.

One bullet struck Matthew in the right rear parietal area of his head, passing through his brain and lodging into his right frontal lobe. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Matthew wrote,

I felt a hot, needle-like pierce, excruciatingly painful, for a brief instant at the top of my head; and then utter darkness enveloped me as if thick, black ink had been poured over my eyes. (pg 35,A Day in Hell)

Unlike the "traditional" imagery of fire and brimstone, Matthew described hell as follows:

Evil was present on all sides. It was an ever-present form of evil...[c]old permeated to the very marrow of my bones -- an icy, water-type cold in that it surrounded all of me, inside and out....Time was of no consequence here, confined in this evil cell of darkness. A cell in hell -- yes, a cell in hell was where I was being kept. (p36)

Further revelations and more graphic detail of Matthew's horrific experience in hell is available through their website found at www.seedsoflove.net.

Emergency crews responded with amazing speed. Still, more than five minutes passed before Matthew reached the hospital emergency room to be resuscitated. Typically patients in his condition suffer permanent brain damage if they somehow manage to survive.

Matthew's prognosis was so bleak, his doctors asked wife Nancy for her consent to harvest his organs.

In their book titled A Day in Hell, while recounting this amazing true story, Nancy describes her feelings about making the agonizing decision of life or death for her husband. Although Nancy admits she was not a Christian at the time, she found herself praying this simple prayer:

Lord, bring back my husband. Bring back who he is, his heart, his personality. Even if he is in a wheelchair, I promise to stay with him forever.

Matthew's account of his rescue from hell is truly astounding. He describes a giant, translucent hand of God literally descending into the bowels of hell and lifting him out as a thunderous voice announced, "It's not your time!"

Though he remains partially paralyzed, Matthew recovered enough to live a relatively normal life. He and Nancy have become ordained ministers and relocated from up north to the state where he nearly died almost twenty years ago.

So why did Matthew Botsford go to hell?

He was surely an innocent bystander, not someone who provoked his own murder. His answer is quite simple.

I did not have the Lord Jesus as my Savior when, upon dying from the gunshot wound to my head, I went straight to hell.

He credits the love of his wife Nancy with a second chance at salvation.

What's truly the most remarkable part of this story?

Though Matthew carries a bullet around in his brain to this day and remains partially paralyzed as a result of the catastrophic injuries he suffered at the hand of a total stranger, he forgave the man who shot him.

By contrast, I have trouble forgiving Blackout his constant barrage of petty insults and personal affronts.

I could learn a lot from Matthew Botsford.

For the rest of his amazing story, you can find their book through Tate Publishing or at Amazon.com.