Life After Death > One man's journey to Heaven and back

 

Ex-Atheist Artist Nearly Dies, Recalls Jesus Saving Him From Hell—And Returns to Paint Pictures of the Lord

Courtesy of Howard Storm

By Louise Chambers

10/20/2022Updated:10/23/2022

A former atheist attests to how his belief system was shaken to the core when he experienced meeting Jesus during a near-death experience. He recalled his savior transporting him from a hellish realm to the kingdom of Heaven for a glimpse of what could be earned in life. It was here that he also realized the grave error of his old ways.

Howard Storm, now 75, admits that he had an obsession with success in his earlier years. Raised in a suburb of Boston, he attended school in California before taking a job as an art professor at North Kentucky University in 1972. He became a renowned painter and sculptor, and that pursuit consumed him. Today, Storm is a retired ordained minister and lives in Fort Thomas.

“I Was My Own God”

“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,” he told The Epoch Times. “I was an alpha male ... I was totally self-absorbed. I considered myself to be a good person because I didn’t flagrantly break the law, rob, steal, or murder anybody. I was my own God.”

But on June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, a brush with death changed Storm’s outlook on life completely.

A painting by Howard Storm; (Inset) Howard Storm in his early life and more recently. Courtesy of Howard Storm

He said, “I was taking a group of art students, along with my wife, on a three week tour of Europe. We spent our last week in Paris. The last day ... I exhausted the students, taking them to galleries and museums and some archaeological sites.

“At the hotel ... I collapsed to the floor with the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life. My wife called the hotel desk, they called the emergency services, and a doctor came in quite promptly. With a great deal of effort, he got me off the floor and examined me ... I had to have surgery immediately, or I would die.”

Storm had suffered a perforation of the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine where gastric acids enter the digestive system, and was at risk of having sepsis. The cause of this was never determined, but Storm believes his life of excess—alcohol, overeating, and stress—was to blame.

He was rushed to a Paris hospital. Storm has since conferred with doctors in the United States who suspect that he had only two or three hours to live. Yet he survived ten hours; it was a Saturday, and there were no surgeons on the ward. He had to wait in agonizing pain.

Between Life and Death

“I spent hours begging for drugs,” he recalled. “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.”

Struggling to breathe, Storm felt he was nearing the end. Tearfully, he and his wife said their goodbyes, before Storm lost consciousness.

“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,” he recalled. “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—much better than I ever had before.”

Storm performed a “reality check” on his body, feeling his way from his feet to his head. He felt “real.” He tried to communicate with his wife and ward mate; despite raising his voice and even yelling, they stared right through him. Next came a troubling vision: a lifeless body in the bed beside him.

“The sheet went up over the shoulders, the neck, and the head was turned away from me. I bent over and looked at the face of the body, and to my complete horror and surprise it looked like me,” he said.

The horror continued when Storm realized he was not alone in this realm of what he found out was the afterlife.

The Hell Realm

“I heard people calling me outside the room,” he said in a video testimony. “There was a group of people in the dark hallway, back in the shadows, maybe eight ... They said, ‘We know all about you, we’ve been waiting for you for a very long time, and it’s time for you to come with us.’”

Storm wanted to believe these were medics, but as he followed the group into a dark abyss their professional demeanor changed, their numbers increased, and their words became cruel, blasphemous, and mocking. Storm became scared and lost.

He said, “I’m going back!” But the figures wouldn’t have it, and they beat him into a crumpled heap on the floor. He found himself in a hellish place, and Storm was compelled to call out to Jesus, despite his atheism. He remembered the format from Sunday school as a child.

A painting by Howard Storm depicts the strange figures who tormented him in a hellish realm during his near-death experience. Courtesy of Howard Storm

“The prayer was very simple: Jesus, please save me. My prayer was from the heart, out of pure desperation, and it was simple and direct,” Storm told The Epoch Times.

In answer to this, a man in a white robe appeared, causing the cursing figures to retreat. The robed figure had “a beard and long hair,” Storm recalled. He was “very well-built, very athletic” and “exceedingly gentle and kind.” This was Jesus. He led Storm to a safer place, bathed in a comforting light.

A Glimpse of Heaven

“He gave me a tour of Heaven but I was never admitted, I was strictly a tourist,” Storm said. “He said, ‘You don’t have the character to fit into heaven, and that’s why life is the way it is.’

“When I asked Jesus, ‘Am I going to go back into the pain?’ He said, ‘Yes, but you will learn from that. You will suffer a lot.’ He wanted me to fulfill the purpose with which I was brought into this world in the first place: to be a loving, kind person.”

Storm woke up, certain in the knowledge that Heaven is vast and ruled by God’s love, and all that is good, and ever will be, is already there. But he had not yet earned his place with his savior.

Of course, you cannot earn your way to Heaven, Jesus has already paid the price for your tuition.

Google AI Overview > The phrase "be worthy of your calling" in the Bible, often found in Ephesians 4:1, emphasizes living in a manner that reflects and honors the purpose and plan God has for a person's life. It's a call to live according to God's will and to show gratitude for the blessings received, including salvation.

What would have happened if he had died at that moment? Would he have ended up in a Heaven that he wasn't ready for? Are you worthy of your calling?

A painting by Howard Storm depicts a path with a divine destination. Courtesy of Howard Storm

An hour later, Storm was on the operating table. Upon his return to the United States, he was readmitted to the hospital for two months, with complications, before being sent home for a months-long recuperation.

Weak and bed-bound, he had time to contemplate his spiritual experience.

“The only thing I could do was read,” he said. “I got my wife to get me a book on Buddhism, and on Hinduism, and I had a Bible. I came to the conclusion that the Bible was much closer to what I'd experienced than the other books, so I decided that I was going the way of Christianity.”

When Storm was strong enough to walk, he took an old colleague up on an invitation to join her at a local church. Storm attended with his wife, and quickly felt at home in the company of others seeking God. Yet finding his own spiritual path was easier than convincing his friends and colleagues in the art world.

Conviction

“Everybody made fun of me and told me I needed to see a psychiatrist,” he said. “All my friends, all the other university professors were atheists. One of our favorite topics was making fun of people that were religious, as they were the equivalent of adults who believed in fairy tales.”

To be loving toward those who attack you and do not share your same values is a life-long journey, he added, but Heaven is the final destination.

“We’re just really raw amateurs at love,” he said. “When we go to Heaven, as we become perfect, are holy, sanctified, fully and wholly in love, we are given responsibilities. In time, we may be ruling and working in cooperation with God over other systems: people, maybe some cities, maybe some countries, maybe some worlds.”

A depiction of Jesus by Howard Storm Courtesy of Howard Storm

The year after having his near-death experience, Storm returned to the university. In 1989 he left to attend seminary, eventually becoming an ordained minister. His longest service was 14 years at Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood, Ohio.

His work, he said, even involved exorcising “demonic entities,” counseling people following “demonic attacks,” and championing the power of prayer. “It’s got to be sincere, it’s got to be from the heart, it’s got to be forceful,” he said.

A heavenly landscape painting by Howard Storm. Courtesy of Howard Storm

Now retired, Storm works with a village mission in San Victor, Belize. He has written four books based on his experiences: “My Descent into Death” (2005), “Befriend God: Life with Jesus” (2019), “Lessons Learned: A Spiritual Journey” (2014), and “It’s All Love” (2014).

He has rendered several oil paintings about his experience, including portraits of Jesus. But capturing the luminous eyes of the Lord escaped him. “They are radiance, coming from His love and light, and I haven’t figured out how to depict them,” he said.

Today, Storm’s doctrine is simple. He echoes the words of his savior: “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter

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Easter Miracle for elderly Chilliwack couple

 

Chilliwack couple looks back at 'miracle' survival of Easter Sunday car crash

Diane and Norm Melanson were saved in multiple ways after their accident

Jessica Peters
Apr 18, 2025 5:30 AM

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1 / 6 Norm and Diane Melanson are pictured in their Chilliwack home on April 10, 2025.(Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

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Norm and Diane Melanson know they've lived to see a miracle — or perhaps a series of miracles — and it happened last Easter Sunday. 

The Chilliwack couple was coming back from church. It had been a beautiful service, and they were on their way to meet family for dinner. Norm was at the wheel as they drove over the Yale Road overpass, when he suffered a major medical emergency. 

His heart rate sped up incredibly high, so his pacemaker stopped and he seemed to pass out.  

Diane was texting their daughter about Easter dinner and realized that Norm, a very cautious driver, was accelerating over the overpass. 

"I said 'Norm, slow down,' and I looked at him and he wasn't with me," Diane says, sitting with Norm one year later at the kitchen table in their Sardis condo. "He went to 55 to 125 in seconds. We hit the curb and then I saw where we were going." 

She "turtled" to protect herself, and the vehicle hit the curb, then a pole. That sent their car about 25 feet into the air, and when they landed, they rolled three times before stopping upside down.

READ MORE: Driver still in hospital days after rollover crash in Chilliwack

It was a terrible, violent crash, but didn't involve any other vehicles. And that was perhaps the first miracle of this story. 

The second miracle was that one of the men travelling behind them happened to be an off-duty firefighter. 

"He said to dispatch: 'Send everybody. Now.'" 

This meant the Melansons were afforded as quick a medical response as one could hope for, with five ambulances, three fire trucks and 22 paramedics.

It had been a shift change at the nearby firehall, and everyone showed up. Another miracle.

Norm's life was truly on the line, and they later learned he had died at the wheel. The firefighter could not find a pulse through the window of the crashed car, and declared him dead on the scene. But there was a valiant life-saving effort by everyone involved, with paramedics taking turns at chest compressions, several Epi-pens and three uses of an AED machine. Twenty minutes later, Norm was finally showing signs of life. 

"The doctor told our daughter that if I survived, I would never walk again and to be prepared for the worst," he says. "Well, the worst didn't happen. God made sure that everyone knew He was in charge." 

The Melansons were already a devout couple, and one year later it's still not lost on them that the crash happened right in front of the Chilliwack Salvation Army. Upon hearing the crash, the people inside ran out, and many of them prayed for the couple while they watched the first responders work. One of them called the couple's daughter, Robyn Marshall, who by chance had just finished training to be an EMT. 

That was March 31, 2024. 

This Easter, they wanted to tell their story and use it as a way to thank everyone who was there for them on the scene, and in the days and months that would follow. It's a long list, and they know they can't thank everyone. There are anonymous donors from the GoFundMe, and those would never want to be publicly acknowledged. There were former customers from when they owned Jim's Pizza, who reached out and donated to them, and their adult children's friends, and so many more. 

The Melansons want to say thank you to them all. From the passerby who pulled Diane from the car and the firefighter who reacted so quickly, to those who fed and comforted them even in the last while as they continue to recover. There are the first responders out there that came to the call, and the staff and doctors at Royal Columbian, and physical therapists and counsellors who have turned the entire ordeal from a potential tragedy into a blessing of sorts. Even the ICBC adjuster they were assigned was a kindred spirit, and they're thankful for her. 

They also want everyone to know what life is like today for them.

Norm came home in June 2024. He now walks so much, every day, that Diane can't even keep up. He uses a cane, and has a care aide who walks two to three kilometres a day with him, close to the Melanson's home. He is regaining skills as time goes by, including playing pool in their building's recreation area. But he cannot be left alone, even for five minutes, due to the effects of having a traumatic brain injury. 

In bad weather, he walks the hallways. He will never get back the time from the crash until he woke up again at the end of May. Everything he knows about that time is what's been told to him by others. 

"I having trouble right now with the idea that I'll never be able to drive a car again," he says, along with coping with the vulnerability that comes along with needing people to look after him, all the time. 

He has also come to terms with the fact that he died that day, and was saved. He has one single memory from the event, and that is meeting his mother-in-law again. 

"Clear as a bell," he says to Diane. "Just as clear as you sitting there." 

Diane was more injured than first believed, and still is in regular physiotherapy care. With the medical shock she suffered in the crash, that day was long and arduous. So stressful, she says, that nobody realized as they watched and waited for Norm's prognosis, that she had multiple injuries. They didn't even think to go across Royal Columbian to the ER for her care, until prompted by someone else. 

The day he woke up, the two prayed together. Someone snapped a photo of them, cheek to forehead, and it's a treasured moment in a sea of traumatic ones. The fact he woke up, and was still himself, was the biggest miracle of them all. 

They have told their story to the congregation at their church, highlighting even more of the ways they feel God has stepped in along the way. 

But more than anything, together, they care for each other as much as possible.