Is there life after death? What happens when you die?

These are questions everyone probably wonders about at one time or another, and while different people reach different conclusions about what they believe after the afterlife (or if there is an afterlife at all), one man who has experienced multiple near death experiences believes he knows what really happens.

The Mirror reports that Dannion Brinkley didn’t always believe in the afterlife, but that was before he died. Now he is convinced that there is an afterlife, and he believes this because he has actually died three times, and he lived to tell the tale.

His first near death experience was in 1975 when he was struck by lightening. He explained, “It went into the side of my head above my ear, it went down my spine. It welded the nails of the heels of my shoes to the floor.”

It didn’t stop there! He added, “It threw me up in the air, I see the ceiling, it slams me back down, a ball of fire comes through the room and blinds me. I am burning. I am on fire. I am paralyzed.”

While doctors pronounced him dead, he had an out of body experience for 28 minutes. He describes “traveling through a tunnel” to a bright light where he met a spiritual being who examined his entire life.

Was this God welcoming him to Heaven? Apparently not, or at least not yet, because he suddenly found himself thrust back into his very badly injured body. It took him two years to recover from his injuries and regain the ability to walk.

His family didn’t believe his story about the afterlife, but he didn’t know at the time that he would have another out of body experience.

In 1989, he died during open heart surgery. Once again, he had an out of body experience. This time he describes seeing a “crystal city” and being taught by “angelic instructors” to use his new spiritual abilities to help people who are dying.

Once again, he survived, and once again, he would go on to have another near death experience during brain surgery.

After the first two near death experiences, Brinkley dedicated his life to helping terminally ill patients by trying to help them not be afraid of dying. He explained, “When you learn you don’t die, when you learn you’re a spiritual being, you’re not going to go to hell. That’s enough to inspire you to change.”

He also wrote a book titled “Saved by the Light.”

Learn more about Brinkley’s book and his near death experiences in the video below.