Show Notes
In this rich and moving episode about NDE's, host Eric Bennett sits down with David McGinley — psychospiritual specialist, former Lutheran pastor, and 25-year hospital chaplain based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. What begins as a conversation about a rare and life-threatening illness quickly opens into one of the most profound explorations of consciousness, faith, death, and the nature of the afterlife. ________________ Squarespace FREE Trial & 10% OFF purchase: https://www.squarespace.com/ROUNDTRIP Coupon Code: ROUNDTRIP _________________ David has faced cancer four times and as a result has had multiple NDE's, including a full near-death experience at age 27 that he describes as the single most transformative event of his life. Over three decades later, that experience continues to shape everything he does: how he sits with the dying, how he counsels the grieving, how he thinks about God, and how he understands the purpose of his own existence. What makes David's perspective especially compelling is that he has lived on both sides of the hospital bed. David shares the vivid details of his near-death experiences: the grassy hill, the celestial being who greeted him like an old friend, the overwhelming sense of being completely and utterly home, and the heartbreaking moment when he realized he could not stay. He reflects on the painful return to physical consciousness — the feeling of his expanded awareness being compressed back into the narrow confines of ego, language, and linear thought — and the years of quiet grief that followed, before he even had the vocabulary to understand what had happened to him. The conversation also turns to David's work advocating for a richer understanding of NDEs within faith communities, his serious concerns about the expansion of medical assistance in dying (euthanasia) in Canada, and the urgent message he believes near-death research holds for clergy who may be proclaiming hope on Sunday mornings without fully realizing how much empirical support that hope actually has. He closes with a tender, eloquent message of comfort for anyone listening who is grieving the loss of a loved one — a reminder that no one walks alone, and that all the love we have known in this life is preparing us for something even greater. Video Version of This Episode RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/ David: https://www.davidmaginley.com/ https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0995881111?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_FV4S43VSRSSZ3J9J8CC0&bestFormat=true&newOGT=1
More from Round Trip Death Podcast - NDE
What happens when your heart stops for over ten minutes and you come back not just unharmed, but “upgraded”? Rosemary Thornton joins host Eric Bennett, to share her Near Death Experience (NDE), which followed a botched surgical biopsy. ____________________ Podcast listeners save 30% at Otter Spirit https://otterspirit.com/?ref=roundtripdeath Code: ROUNDTRIP30 Note: 30% off for orders over $99. 20% off for all other orders, use code: ROUNDTRIP20 ______________ Widowed by her husband’s sudden suicide and in deep despair, she describes floating into blackness, meeting a vast feminine presence who told her, “I’m the original,” and being washed in white mist before choosing to return. Her NDE experience had no tunnel or chimes, only wit, wholeness, and the message that God loves us as we are. Afterward, doctors found no heart or brain damage, and a second biopsy found no trace of her stage-two cancer. The conversation also explores the stigma suicide loss survivors face, their heightened risk, and how society often blames them instead of supporting them. A raw, funny, and moving listen for anyone curious about near death experiences (NDEs). If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) in the U.S. VIDEO version now available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube ______________________ RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/
To mark the show’s 250th episode (in 4.5 years), host Eric Bennett is joined for the first time by his son Will, who edits the podcast and works behind the scenes. They look back on what they have learned from more than 250 interviews with people who have had a Near Death Experience. They also address listener feedback and the show’s future, which will include Will doing some of the interviews, a possible subscription option, and improvements from listener feedback. Among other topics, Eric & Will discuss common themes among NDEs, hellish experiences, how to tell the authenticity of near death experiences, God's unconditional love, and how NDE Experiencers no longer fear death. VIDEO version now available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube ______________________ RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/
Declared dead, zipped into a body bag, and headed for the morgue: that's where Vinney Tolman's NDE Experience begins. After accidentally overdosing on a supplement, Vinney collapsed in a locked Dairy Queen bathroom in Orem, Utah, and was found cold to the touch. Then a rookie medic broke protocol, ripped open the bag, and shocked his heart back to life just feet from the hospital doors, with Vinney floating above it all. ________________________ Get 15% off OneSkin with code ROUNDTRIP at https://www.oneskin.co/ROUNDTRIP #oneskinpod #sponsored __________________________ He saw golden light glow around the rookie's heart. Host Eric Bennett calls it one of the most amazing NDE stories he's ever heard. Vinney's Near Death Experience carried him through a life review, a radiant guide, angels, and a heaven where every blade of grass poured out more love than all the parents on earth combined. After three days brain dead, he woke at 1:11 a.m., tore off life support, and sent two nurses screaming as he hit the elevator button, determined to go home. Hours later, he was out jogging! This is one of the most remarkable NDE (near death experiences) you will ever hear. VIDEO version now available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube ______________________ RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/ Our first interview with Vinney: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/301-vinney-tolmans-nde-after-being-dead-15-hours-part-1/
When Science Meets Spirit: A Near Death Experience That Bridges Two Worlds. Biochemist, cancer researcher, and lifelong martial artist Crystal Cassidy joins host, Eric Bennett to share an NDE experience that began in March 2020. After months of premonitions, she became critically ill with COVID, was hospitalized in isolation, and had to say goodbye to her husband. As a cytokine storm took hold and her nervous system began to fail, she reached a moment of deep surrender, "a giving over" rather than giving up. In response, a "loving intelligence" arrived and activated her energy centers, and she found herself back in her body without pain. Crystal's near death experience took an unusual turn when she began seeing glimpses of a medieval man's life, which she believes was a past life or a simultaneous timeline. She describes how her own healing seemed to change his story. Crystal also explains how her analytical, scientific mind has come to reconcile with her spiritual experiences, why she thinks science and spirituality are converging, and how people can lessen their fear of death through meditation and direct experience. VIDEO version now available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/ Crystal Cassidy: https://www.soulpodapp.com/
Is this an NDE? You Decide... What if you spent eight and a half years trapped inside a body you no longer recognized—and then, in a moment when doctors thought you were gone, something brought you back? Elena’s story begins with a devastating head injury, years of unexplained symptoms, and a family desperately searching for answers. Then, during a medical crisis, everything suddenly changes. After an unexpected response to treatment, Elena begins remembering things she hadn’t been able to remember in years—and tells her daughter about an experience that she insists was not a dream. During her NDE, she heard thunder. She found herself in complete darkness. Then a voice spoke to her, telling her, “I am your Father,” and promising to wake her up. What happened next left Elena convinced she had encountered God—and that she had been given another chance for a reason. Was it an NDE, a dream, a neurological event, or something far more mysterious? In this unforgettable episode, Ricky and Elena share a deeply personal Near Death Experience, the strange details surrounding it, and the remarkable journey that followed. It’s an NDE Experience that raises some big questions about consciousness, faith, miracles, and what might happen when we reach the edge of life. VIDEO version now available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube RoundTripDeath.com Donate to this podcast: https://www.roundtripdeath.com/support/ Rikki Jo Neyer: https://www.rikkineyer.com/