We all wonder what it will be like when we die, which may be why former atheist, Howard Storm’s explanation of his near death experience is so intriguing to viewers. But what makes his story so interesting is that the formerly die-hard atheist and self-proclaimed arrogant alpha male says his NDE was actually the beginning of his life as a Christ-follower.
Continue on to hear the whole story and watch the video.
How a Near Death Experience Led a Former Atheist Howard Storm to Follow Christ
Howard Storm says his near death experience on June 1, 1985 “changed my life completely.”
Up until his near death experience, the former atheist and college professor had been absorbed in his life as a renowned painter, sculptor, and art professor at North Kentucky University. Describing his life at that time as “completely self-centered,” Storm says, “I was an atheist. I thought that lives were short and sweet and then you die, so the whole point was to be as successful as possible.”
But at the age of 38, he took his art students on a three-week trip to Europe, and his belief that “I was my own God” changed forever when he collapsed in his hotel after a long day in Paris.
It was the group’s last day of their trip and Storm told The Epoch Times that he “exhausted the students, taking them to galleries and museums and some archaeological sites.”
After the collapse emergency services were called and a doctor found that he had a perforated duodenum, and he was at risk for having sepsis.
Once at a surgical hospital, staff determined Storm only had a few hours to live, but he survived for 10 hours, during which the hospital did not have any available surgeons or even the ability to offer pain meds.
“I spent hours begging for drugs,” Storm said. “About once an hour, the nurse would come in and ask me how I was doing, and I would say, ‘I’m dying, I need morphine.’ She’d say she was sorry but no—no doctor, no orders.”
He said goodbye to his wife, who was at his bedside, and then became unconscious.
As Storm describes it, “I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but the next thing I knew I was sitting next to the bed and I felt wonderful.” Only, he realized he was sitting next to his own body. And his scary experience after this eventually led him to call out to Jesus.
And when he came to, he changed the course of his life, returning to the United States to become a Christian minister.
Years later, the former atheist and artist created many works of art that he shared with public, such as this one he posted to Facebook about 10 years ago.
What Exactly Happened in the Near Death Experience?
As Storm had explained that in the moment when he woke up and saw his body beside him, at first, “I felt better than I ever felt in my whole life. I was overjoyed, amazed, thrilled, excited…The next thing I noticed was that my senses were heightened. I could see better, hear better, taste better, feel better.”
But then the former atheist heard people calling to him to come with him, “back in the shadows.” The people told him they’d been waiting for him a long time.
He explained, “They took me on a very long journey” that was getting “darker and darker,” and the people that were leading him “started making crude, rude remarks about [him]…eventually we ended up in a place where there was no light at all–complete darkness.”
Although Storm says he wanted to go back, the people leading him attacked him and “tore me apart.” Realizing there was “no way out,” he heard a voice tell him to “pray to God.”
Although the former atheist resisted this voice during his near death experience, he tried to remember anything he could from Sunday School when he was a child. Although he knew he didn’t believe in God, he wanted more than anything to get out of this hell, so he did what the voice told him to.
