Embedded Files
In 1999 I was on the faculty of the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine. The teaching hospital was the county hospital, Truman Medical Center, a typical inner-city county hospital caring primarily for the poor and marginalized. “Dismiss to street” was a common discharge order.
Kansas City had a large immigrant population; Hmong, Vietnamese and Thai, from West Africa, the Middle East, Russian Jewish and of course Latinos from not just Mexico but also Cuba, Central and South America. Many came to Truman for care.
I’d been asked if I had any interest in international medical missions, but felt that I was already on a foreign mission field at Truman. Walking in the hallway was like a visit to the United Nations.
A colleagues and Christian friend in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Dennis P., had done two tours as a missionary physician in Cameroon with the North American Baptist Convention. He had returned to K.C. so his sons could attend High School and College. While at UMKC-SOM he organized trips for medical students and residents to Cameroon, and intended to return, which he ultimately did.
He had contacts with lots of missions organizations in the U.S. and had connected with Charlie S. who was leading medical mission trips to Honduras. Charlie operated a dairy in Texas; he was not a minister nor a health professional.
Side story #1
Prior to one of his trips to Honduras the missionaries emailed Charlie and asked him to bring a Veterinarian. The village they were to visit raised chickens commercially, and the chickens were dying. Charlie passed the word, and about 2 weeks before the trip a Vet came to his office asking if he could go.
When they got to the village the Vet told Charlie that a drug rep had been to his office right before the trip with case of medicine that was close to expiration, for avian pneumonia, so he added it to his bag.
The chickens in the village were dying from the avian pneumonia that drug specifically treated.
Charlie’s trips were in partnership with the Mississippi Baptist State Convention which had a mission house in Tegucigalpa, and the missionaries, Jim & Jane, were running trips every 2 - 3 weeks 9 months of the year. Most teams were from the South or Texas. Charlie was asked to bring a team to visit the largest High School in Central America, with 10,000 students. The First Lady of Honduras had facilitated this opportunity, and it would be the first time a Christian medical mission had been allowed into the High School.
He was able to gather college students from Wingate University in North Carolina, an intern from Virginia, a senior med student from Mississippi, several med students from UMKC, and other team members from Missouri, Texas, and the South – 52 people.
The problem was that Dennis P. was scheduled as Attending Physician on the inpatient services and couldn’t go, and the team had no medical director. So Dennis asked me to go.
It has been said that a need, one’s ability, and one’s availability defines one’s “call” to a specific ministry opportunity. But since the needs are infinite, it is important to discern if this need is MY call. I can’t say I received any word from the Lord, other than “Well here it is. Why not?” So I went.
Hurricane Mitch hit Central America, and especially Honduras in 1998 with as much as 3 feet of rain. Homes, farms, coffee & banana plantations were destroyed, roads and bridges were washed out, and people who had lost everything came to Tegucigalpa. When we arrived one year later, every soccer field and the medians of roads were filled with people living under blue UN tarps. There were no jobs and many of the young men were joining the drug gangs, which controlled many areas in the city. At night we looked over the city lights and some hillsides were completely dark where all the homes, and people, had been washed away.
The first two days we set up in a school in a Colonia in the hills above Tegucigalpa. Typically someone will bulldoze a hillside outside of the city, making dirt streets, people will build concrete block houses along those street, and when there are enough houses the government will put in (eventually) water, electricity and sewage, and a grade school. Most Colonias were so dangerous because of the drug gangs, the police didn’t enter them at night.
The people were poor and the kids were sick. I saw 7 kids in a row with ear infections, which if untreated often perforated the ear drum leading to a lifetime of a draining ear and hearing loss. Every person received an anti-parasite pill and the children received vitamins. Many of the kids had Giardia which adversely affects their nutrition and school performance.
We worked with 2 Honduran doctors, and saw more than 700 people the first day and more than 800 the next.
And within the limitations of the setting, we did the best we could to help people.
International medical missions are very hard; physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The people look at us as the Medicos Milagros – the ‘Miracle Doctors’ from the U.S, with one pill that will take care of the problem. During this, and later trips, we’ve seen women with breast cancer, teens with Valvular Heart Disease from Rheumatic Fever, people almost blind from cataracts or pterygium growing over their pupil, with HIV, ESRD on (inadequate) dialysis, orthopedic problems from accidents and injuries, women with severe anemia from menorrhagia, birth injuries and Down Syndrome (women in Central America often had children into their 40s), genetic diseases (we’ve seen families with Neurofibromatosis and Huntington’s Chorea) …and there was nothing we could do…but pray with them.
And there is significant danger. In the U.S. 1 in 5 of patents given an antibiotic will experience some kind of side effect; 1 in 10 then need a visit to a provider, and about 1 in 300 will have a life-threatening complications. In Central America, if someone’s child has a drug reaction, the family doesn’t call the local personal injury lawyer, they get the rest of the family, with machetes, and come to the clinic to get even.
We earnestly prayed every day over the meds and the pharmacy, and I told the providers to triple check the dosing for every med they prescribed, and to keep things simple to avoid drug interactions and errors on the part of the patients. And the pharmacy double checked every bag before giving the meds to the patients. And there is the challenge of a non-health professional translator trying to explain what we were treating, and how to take the meds.
On this trip we saw 5,200 people and gave 11,000 prescribed meds (not counting the anti-parasite meds given to everyone). Easy to do the numbers and calculate the risk. And add the fact that Satan can effectively destroy a ministry by causing a child to die from an allergic reaction to something we gave them.
After 2 days in the Colonia, we had a break/recovery day, then for 3 days we were in the High School; set up in the open air gymnasium. These were older kids and not quite as sick. But we also saw the teachers and administrators, and anyone else who had received a tarjeta – the card allowing entrance and which we used as a prescription for the pharmacy. One of the teachers made copies of our tarjeta and gave it to all her friends, but we caught it at the entrance gate to the clinic.
One can image the noise and chaos, and I was trying to keep this circus running. We saw more than 800 the first day then more than 1000 day 2 & 3 at the High School.
Side story #2 The Tarjeta
The tarjeta was of great value to the people. It was the ticket for a visit to a provider from the U.S., and each person needed to present theirs to get past the gate.
When we were in the Colonia, Jim was outside of the gate and two men in their 70s asked him if they could get some vitamins for their father. Jim explained (appropriately) that every person must be seen by a provider to receive medicine. They left and 30 minutes later came carrying their estimated to be 100 year old father (he did not know his age) to the gate! We gave all 3 a package of vitamins.
But the rule that everyone must be seen is important. The second day Charle S. came to me and said the Principle of the school asked for some medicine for his headache and couldn’t just I OK something. And I said “No, he needs to come to the gym and I will see him.” In addition to his headache, he was having shortness of breath and chest pain, had marked hypertension and was told he needed to go see his physician…that day! He came to the gym the next day to thank me, having seen his personal doc and was feeling much better on his new meds.
In the middle of the chaos a girl who looked to be 12 came up to me speaking rapidly in Spanish and waving her tarjeta. My Spanish then was not good, I thought she wanted another med after being in the Pharmacy area, and told her in my “mas malo Anglo doctor” voice “Necesita salir!” and pointed to the exit. She started crying. I found a translator and the poor little girl was just trying to give me her tarjeta which should have been collected in the Pharmacy. I felt terrible, hugged her and said I was sorry. It was a powerful 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 lesson that even when you're busy, tired and stressed “do everything in love.”
Finally to Jane
Jane is most certainly not a Southern Belle; she’s a tough and capable Southern woman. Jim & Jane had replaced a young couple with children that left the mission after being robbed and carjacked at gunpoint outside the mission house. Both Jim & Jane carried (legally) a handgun whenever they were out. During about every Jornada (mission trip) Jim would have to show his weapon when someone would try to steal from the truck at the mission site. And outside of every clinic gate there would a crowd of people waiting, or just watching the entertainment, and others who were gang members, high on drugs, or drunk.
A few years later, things were so bad in Tegucigalpa that the Mississippi State convention abandoned the mission house there and moved the ministry to San Pedro Sula.
A few days before we arrived Jane had a tooth problem, saw a dentist that worked with the mission, had some sort of procedure and was given Amoxicillin. The 2nd day at the High School I’m running around and looked at Jane and her neck was swollen and red. I thought she had either Vincent Angina/trench mouth or Strep Necrotizing Fasciitis – both potentially life threatening soft tissue infections. The drug of choice (25 years ago) for severe infections is IV Penicillin, which we had in our emergency kit.
I sent Jane, a RN, and an EMT back to her home, they started an IV, gave her the Penicillin AND SHE HAD AN ANAPHLACTIC REACTION. They gave her Epi and a steroid and she came back. I arrived as she was regaining consciousness, and now the problem is 1) she still has the infection and 2) how am I going to get the appropriate next antibiotic choice? So I called the ID specialist at UMKC who suggested IV Clindamycin. There was a little pharmacy nearby, and the pharmacist called around and found one dose at another pharmacy, which was about to close, but Jim was able to get the Clindamycin and we gave it to Jane without problems.
The next morning she was much better, the pharmacy obtained more Clindamycin, we gave her another dose, and then went to the last clinic day at the High School after giving her strict instructions to stay on the couch. After we left, she pulled out the IV and went to the mission house to do some work!
After finishing the clinic, the team was going to have a banquet at a nice restaurant, but, after restarting Jane’s IV, I was to give her the next Clindamycin dose before going. We were at her home – just me and a preacher from Texas. I gave her the Clindamycin AND SHE ANAPHYLAXED AGAIN! I think that was the worse moment of my medical career. And BTW anaphylaxis from Clindamycin is exceedingly rare.
Interestingly, her Miniature Schnauzer knew it was happening before I did. She was lying quietly on the couch, and her dog jumped on her chest and stared in her face just before she jerked and was out.
I gave her Epi and steroid and she came back. I did have to ask the preacher to pray less loudly as I was trying to concentrate!
And after more consultation and with great apprehension we gave her a shot of Rocephin the next day and she did fine.
The Rest of the Story
Beth and I led a medical team to Marcala, Honduras the next year. And Jane was a different person.
International ministry is terribly difficult. Things in a 2nd world country don’t run smoothly. Jim and Jane hosted teams every 2-3 weeks, meaning they had to clean up and recover from one team, and buy food and prepare for the next team. Team leaders often had inappropriate expectations and demands. Team members often were not adequately prepared by the team leader or were not physically or emotionally suited for the trips, which were usually to small towns far from Tegucigalpa, where the team slept on cots in a school or church with no hot water or flush toilets. And Jane told Beth and I that we were the only team that treated the Hondurans as partners and brothers and sisters in Christ rather than servants.
Now Jane had a peace, confidence and calm that she didn’t have the year before. And I asked her why.
Jane told me when she first anaphylaxed she had an out-of-body near-death experience. She was looking down on her body. Saw the nurse rushing to get the Epi out of the emergency kit. Was then moving upward toward a bright light and a place of incredible peace and joy, where she wanted to go. She ‘heard’ a voice telling her she had to go back, which she did not want to do. She then was looking down at her body, and then came to. She did not have an out-of-body experience with the second anaphylaxis.
She said “When you know, that you know, that you know you are going to heaven, it changes everything.” And it had.
Meaning of Near-Death Experiences (NDE)
“A lucid experience associated with perceived consciousness apart from the body occurring at the time of actual or threatened imminent death.”
Stories of “being raised from the dead” are common in the mythology of the Middle East, but also in India, China, Mesoamerica and Scandinavia.
The Phrygians told the tale of Attis, who was brought back to life on the spring equinox by Cybele, the fertility goddess of Anatolia. Ishtar, the great mother goddess of Mesopotamia went to the underworld to bring her lover Tammuz back to life. The Egyptians had Osiris, and the Greeks Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades, but who is allowed to return every spring from the underworld.
See David Roos, History Channel, “6 Ancient Resurrection Stories”
https://www.history.com/articles/resurrection-stories-ancient-cultures
The earliest biblical account of someone being raised from the dead is the story of Elijah raising the son of the widow of Zarephath. (1 Kings 17:17-24)
Jesus, Peter and Paul raised people from the dead. Jesus also raised the son of a widow. (Luke 7:11-17)
Rabbi Yosef, the son of the great sage Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, had a near-death experience – he died, but came back to life.
The Talmud tells the story of young Joseph becoming severely ill and he was thought to have died. Then he suddenly regained consciousness. It was as if he had returned from some far-away place. His father said to him: ‘What did you see?’ Joseph said: ‘I saw an Olam Hafuch (a world turned upside down). What is above was below and what is below was above...’ His father said to him: ‘My son, you have seen an Olam Barur (a clear world), you have seen the world clearly...’ (Talmud Bavli, Pesachim 50a)
Visions and trances associated with an altered level of consciousness are described in the New Testament. Ekstaseos means to be “carried out” or transported to another reality. Stephen’s vision of heaven in Acts 6:54-60 occurred before the stoning so it was not a NDE.
In Acts 11:5 Peter stated “In a trance I saw a vision”... a Horama or supernatural appearance. Also not a NDE.
An Optasias is a vision; seeing or hearing while separated from the body.
In Acts 9:3-6, 26:19 Paul was not separated from his body during his “vision from heaven” on the Damascus road.
In 2 Corinthians 12:1-6 however Paul described being “caught up to heaven” but “Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know, but God knows.” The timing of the event however does not fit Acts 14:19-20 in Lystra when “They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.”
Modern research into NDE started with Raymond Moody M.D. publishing Life After Life in 1975. He described an event in 1965 in which Dr. George Ritchie was in cardiac arrest for 9 minutes and during that time was shown different levels of eternity by Christ.
https://www.lifeafterlife.com/
Bruce Greyson M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at U. of Virginia published “The phenomenology of near-death experiences” in 1980.
https://www.academia.edu/25080775/The_Phenomenology_of_Near_Death_Experiences
Dr Greyson describes himself as personally “spiritual” but not an evangelical Christian. He traveled world-wide and interviewed hundreds of people with NDE in very different cultures, and the NDE were similar except the “Being of Light” was interpreted in the context of the person’s religion.
New Age & Oprah then appropriated NDE. Oprah was raised Progressive Missionary Baptist and believes herself to be a Christian, but also in karmic destiny (Zen Buddhism) & reincarnation (Hinduism).
God is believed to be all, and all is God, and many paths lead to God. There is no hell as a place of eternal conscious punishment, and NDE are a wondrous journey to a place of love, joy, peace, and light.
See “The Near-Death Experience Part One: The New Age Connection”
https://www.equip.org/article/the-near-death-experience-part-one/
Not quite.
Dr Greyson published “Distressing near-death experiences” in Psychiatry, 1992
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1557473/
“Most reported near-death experiences include profound feelings of peace, joy, and cosmic unity. Less familiar are the reports following close brushes with death of experiences that are partially or entirely unpleasant, frightening, or frankly hellish. While little is known about the antecedents or aftereffects of these distressing experiences, there appear to be three distinct types, involving (1) phenomenology similar to peaceful near-death experiences but interpreted as unpleasant, (2) a sense of nonexistence or eternal void, or (3) graphic hellish landscapes and entities.”
From “Distressing Near-Death Experiences: The Basics” in Missouri Medicine Nov-Dec 2014
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6173534/
A woman who had attempted suicide felt her body sliding downward in a cold, dark, watery environment: “When I reached the bottom, it resembled the entrance to a cave, with what looked like webs hanging…. I heard cries, wails, moans, and the gnashing of teeth. I saw these beings that resembled humans, with the shape of a head and body, but they were ugly and grotesque…. They were frightening and sounded like they were tormented, in agony.”
The authors state “The primary effect of many NDEs is a powerful and enduring awareness that the physical world is not the full extent of reality.”
Sam Parnia’s AWARE study of cardiac arrest survivors was initially published in the journal Resuscitation in 2014
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25301715/
with a follow-up article in 2023
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37423492/
“Not all NDEs are positive. While euphoric NDEs get the most press, other experiences can be deeply disturbing, dominated by feelings of terror, isolation and agony. And while NDEs often precipitate personal growth, enhanced empathy and less concern for wealth or social status, they can also trigger symptoms of PTSD and cause major disruptions in people’s lives.”
A story from the COVID pandemic
“I'm a practicing advanced care paramedic. One night, we got a call to the condo of a 29-year-old man who had become severely sick from COVID. He had refused to go to the ER the week before, so by the time we got there, it was too late. CPR went on for four and a half minutes. I got him back, but he would fade. This happened three times. During the third and final time, he came back and was with me for just enough time to say, ‘Two worlds wait for us: a beautiful one, and one with fire. Please, I don’t want to go anymore.’”
A pastor friend in Kansas City was also a hospital chaplain and was called to the ER while a man was being resuscitated. As the patient regained consciousness, my friend heard him screaming “Don’t let them take me! Don’t let them take me!”
A 2023 review article in Frontiers in Psychology “Explanation of near-death experiences: a systematic analysis of case reports and qualitative research”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10158795/
is well worth reading and has an abundance of references, with links to the original articles.
The authors note that the occurrence of NDE is increasing related to improved survival rates through out-of-hospital CPR & AEDs and modern resuscitation techniques. They also confirm that some NDEs are “hellish”.
The authors also observed “The heightened senses and the improved consciousness among these individuals indicate that these experiences are very different from dreams and sleep, and at the moment it is difficult to find a recognized medical explanation for NDEs. This phenomenon is medically inexplicable. There is no other type of altered consciousness experience in which events are that clear, consciousness is that strong, and events follow one another in such a specific order.”
“The events observed in the NDEr's life reviews are based on reality. These results assume that if NDEs are real, it is expected that the events observed during the life review be confirmed by the individual, and vice versa, if NDEs are not real, significant errors must occur during the life review. However, the latter is not the case, and everything has been confirmed by the individuals.”
Despite the fact that some exaggerated personal accounts of NDE have been proved to have been fabricated (The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven) it is generally accepted that NDEs are real.
Dr. Jeffrey Long published a study of over 5000 NDE in “Near-Death Experiences. Evidence for Their Reality” in Missouri Medicine, Sept-Oct. 2014 and he is convinced there is “life after death.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6172100/
A YouTube with Dr. Long, “Hidden Beyond The Veil” can be found on the Near Death Experience Research Foundation site
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander is another resource.
But one must be very careful as to the reliability and credibility of the many published stories. And remember that “Satan [who is a deceiver and liar] masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
The physiology of what is happening in the brain causing NDE is uncertain, but is the subject of intensive research, including EEGs and functional brain scanning as someone is dying
https://www.livescience.com/first-ever-scan-of-dying-brain
Jane’s NDE changed her life.
The question for each of us is “What do NDE mean, to me?”
If there is personal conscious awareness/life after death, what/where is that?
What happens there?
Do my actions and beliefs in this life determine that?
What should I do about this?
Jane & Dr. Beth in 2000
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