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2236
quantitative
webpage
NDERF 2577 Rick M NDE 4994
https://nderf.org/Experiences/1rick_m_nde.html
2009
2011
M
On February 2, 2009, Rick M, a Native American, was rushed to the hospital after three weeks of medical tests and procedures. His duodenal ulcer had been cauterized but doctors failed to check the attached artery, which ruptured after he returned home. By the time EMTs reached the hospital, he had flatlined once. He was resuscitated with tubes everywhere and blood throughout. He flatlined again during surgery and was clinically dead. He received thirteen units of blood and spent nine days in intensive care.
During his death experience, Rick went to a place in the stars. His friend Kuauhtli, a Peyote Road Man and twenty-year Sun Dancer, took him by the hand and led him into a yellow school bus. Once inside, the bus interior transformed into a tepee where a Peyote Ceremony was taking place. Many Elders sat around the Sacred Fire, some very old, including some he recognized. When he looked out the windows, they were floating in the cosmos. He touched the window and felt something outside touch back, creating pressure and tingling around his fingers. The Elders sang Peyote songs and prayed for him. He felt overwhelming peace, joy, and harmony with the universe. No specific veridical observations of earthly events were reported. The experience was entirely spiritual and culturally specific to Native American traditions. Rick felt he had to die to fulfill his place on the Mayan Calendar, where he is ruled by Death (rebirth). His Mayan name is Piltzintecuhtli. After the experience, Rick became more involved in the Native American Church and continues to participate in ceremonies with his twelve-year-old daughter. He reports being more emotional, highly intuitive, and slightly psychic. He interprets his experience as showing that others were praying for him and saved him, so he must do the same for his people. Biblical Assessment: This culturally-specific NDE reflects Native American spiritual traditions rather than biblical imagery. The Peyote Ceremony, Sacred Fire, and indigenous Elders represent a completely different religious framework. While the experience of peace and cosmic unity might parallel some mystical Christian experiences, the specific content draws from Native American Church practices involving peyote as a sacrament. The transformation of the school bus into a ceremonial tepee and the presence of indigenous spiritual leaders indicates a culture-bound vision. From a conservative evangelical perspective, this experience contains several problematic elements. The Native American Church's use of peyote (a psychoactive substance) in religious ceremonies conflicts with biblical teachings on sobriety. The implied polytheistic or pantheistic worldview contrasts with biblical monotheism. References to the Mayan Calendar and concepts of fulfilling one's cosmic destiny through death reflect non-Christian religious systems. While the experience brought positive life changes and increased spiritual dedication within his tradition, it lacks any Christian content and instead reinforces indigenous religious practices that, while culturally significant, diverge from biblical revelation.
2
Hospital
10
1
11
Suggestive Evidence
0
Ruptured artery with two cardiac arrests requiring resuscitation and 13 units of blood
No veridical observations - entirely spiritual/cultural experience
written_account
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1.00
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5/26/2025
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