The Dead Man is Singing
by Jeanne Rogers
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" (I Cor. 15:55)
Tomorrow is Halloween, so let me ask you a question about death. Do you believe a person can be declared dead by four medical technicians, be transported to heaven, and return to his body, singing praises to God? This is the testimony of a pastor named Don Piper, and the life changing events that shares now draw others into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
His book Ninety Minutes in Heaven records the miracle that took place after a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler. Don Piper was killed instantly. Medical personnel declared him dead at the scene of the accident and covered him with a tarp until the coroner could arrive.
A card in Piper’s pocket provided authorities with a church phone number to report the accident. The church staff wasn’t told their pastor was dead, so they called everyone they could think of to request prayer. In a short time, thousands of people were praying for is survival.
A preacher at the scene offered his services to the police tending the accident. “Everyone else is fine except the man in the red car,” they said. “He is dead.”
As the police went on working, the preacher heard God’s audible voice say, “Pray for that man.” As a former medic, he was permitted to lift the tarp on Piper’s body. He laid his hand on Piper’s shoulder and began to pray and sing. Piper suddenly joined the preacher in singing, What a Friend We Have In Jesus.
The policemen didn’t believe it when the excited preacher told them, “The dead man is singing!” He threatened to stand in front of the ambulance if they didn’t check him one more time.
Piper’s live body was transported to the trauma center in Houston, then to a hospital where doctors reattached his arm and leg. Thirty-four surgeries over thirteen months repaired his many injuries. However, the grueling recovery gave Piper time to relive the place he had visited been while he was dead.
“I was instantly in the presence of God. It was a buffet for the senses; the aroma, the sights, the sounds. I saw colors that don’t exist here and heard music that I’ve never heard on earth.
“I was surrounded by people I had known in life: my grandfather—I had been with him when he died, my grandmother crippled in life with osteoporosis stood upright before me, and two close, teenage friends who had told me about Jesus before they died. All the people that impacted me spiritually welcomed me to heaven. I felt at home with them.”
Piper trusted Jesus at the age of sixteen, so death was not the end for him. He became an eyewitness to God’s majesty, and now he lives in a greater dimension of God’s presence.
Piper sees an incredible response everywhere he preaches. “I have a new normal,” he explained. “In Sweden, when I invited people to receive Christ as Savior, they were tripping over themselves--coming to commit their lives to Christ.”
Jesus desires to have a place in us. The incredible gift He offers is a resurrected life, and today, like Don Piper, we can live overwhelmed by the magnificence of His life in us.
This Week
While others celebrate Halloween, celebrate the fact that death has no victory over Christians. Tell someone about the death-defying life they can have in Jesus.
Prayer
“You are the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus. I come to the Father through You, and I will invite others to come with me.”
