Dean Braxton: "No, It's Not Your Time. Go Back."

Medical Details

On May 5, 2006, Dean had a kidney stone lodged on his right side along with a kidney infection. He was given antibiotics and kept overnight for a procedure to break up the stones. The antibiotics did not affect his infection, and when the stones were broken up the infection entered his bloodstream; he became septic and his organs began shutting down. He says medical records considered him clinically dead for about an hour and 45 minutes, and the doctor was signing the death certificate when his heart monitor started beeping again. He was intubated.

The Experience

Dean Braxton was a supervisor in the juvenile probation department in King County, near Seattle, a job he loved. In May 2006 a kidney stone and infection led to a procedure that, he explains, released infection into his bloodstream. As his body shut down, he says he was surprised by how little fear he felt. As a born-again Christian, all he could say was, "I'm going home."

He describes shooting up through the hospital floors, into the blue sky and out into space, faster than the blink of an eye. Through a dark area he saw a light that looked to him like a window. When he passed through it, everything was right. There was peace, nothing to agitate him, and for the first time he felt he truly fit. He says everything there welcomed him, even the trees and flowers.

More than anything, he wanted to see Jesus. As he moved through a forest, he felt the trees parting and saying, "He's going to see the King." In a wide clearing, he saw Jesus facing a vast multitude of angels and redeemed people. Dean fell to his hands and knees at His feet and could only say, "You did this for me," and "Thank you," over and over. Looking up, he felt love from every part of Jesus. When their eyes met, Jesus looked at him as if he had never once disobeyed. Dean understood that what God forgives, He forgets, and that his true self would never die.

Jesus told him, "No, it's not your time. Go back." Each time Dean reached the edge of heaven, he sensed his body was not ready and turned back to explore. He describes mountains that moved like ocean waves, rivers and seas in vivid blues, and many animals. Light from Jesus wrapped around him.

On his third return, he noticed his family: his grandmother Mary in front, with generation after generation of relatives behind her, shining and smiling with pure joy. Some were people he had not expected to see there. Then Jesus said firmly, "No, it's not your time. Go back," and Dean sensed He was saying, "I need you there more than I need you here." His grandmother asked him to bring as many of the family back with him as he could.

Dean returned sad, crying like a baby. He hovered over his body as staff were putting things away, then slipped back in as the monitor began to beep.

How It Changed Their Life

He says he now looks at things from an eternal point of view and no longer holds on to things as he did; if something goes, he does not grieve it. He notes his wife could describe the changes in him better than he can.