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SIPA Paranormal Afterlife S1 E15 Jesse Birkey from Project Afterlife
16 Plays14 days ago
Today i am delighted to speak to Project Afterlife Presenter Jesse Birkey
Jesse's life changed In 2009, when he witnessed a patient, who was proclaimed dead, come back to life. This experience culminated in a book, titled Life Resurrected: Extraordinary Miracles Through Ordinary People.
I talk to Jesse about some of the individuals that he interviewed who had experienced near death and out of body Experiences
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Jesse Berkey and Project Afterlife
00:00:12
Lee Hatfield
Welcome everybody to another episode of SEPA Paranormal Chronicles. And today I am delighted to have Jesse Berkey with me, who is a presenter from Project Afterlife.
00:00:25
Lee Hatfield
Jesse, welcome to the show.
00:00:27
Jesse
Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me on and I'm looking forward to the time we get to spend together.
00:00:34
Lee Hatfield
Absolutely. And it's it's really good to the fact that you are the first person that I've actually spoke about the afterlife
Jesse's Spiritual Journey and Involvement with Project Afterlife
00:00:40
Lee Hatfield
to. So I'm really going to be drilling you on some of the questions.
00:00:45
Lee Hatfield
Hopefully we've got some really cool answers.
00:00:46
Jesse
no
00:00:47
Lee Hatfield
So can you tell our listeners ah ah just a little bit about yourself before we get into the episode itself?
00:00:47
Jesse
yeah
00:00:56
Jesse
Sure. So I have been in the emergency services field for 22, 23 years. I got started all the way back in 2003 as a firefighter.
00:01:09
Jesse
And I went to paramedic school in 2006. I was promoted to a field training officer around 2012, which means I got to train other paramedics to be in charge.
00:01:23
Jesse
And then in 2019, I was promoted to lieutenant. currently, I'm in the process for a promotion to captain. So the scope of my my influence has varied over the last 22 years.
Concept and Impact of Project Afterlife
00:01:37
Jesse
But it's been it's been a very rewarding time. and you know The career's full challenges and and rewards have gotten to experience a lot of patient interaction, a lot of patient experiences.
00:01:49
Jesse
And I've loved it.
00:01:52
Lee Hatfield
That's really cool. And like say, as we were talking offline, yeah you and I have both got a lot in common with me being but a firefighter and paramedic as well. So yeah even though we're in a different part of the world, the jobs are pretty much the same that we're both experienced.
00:02:09
Jesse
Yes.
00:02:09
Lee Hatfield
and yeah So you've got a nice sideline or you had a nice sideline called Project Afterlife. So how does a ah ah firefighter stroke paramedic get involved with a TV show about the afterlife?
00:02:18
Jesse
Yeah.
00:02:25
Jesse
That's a great question. So it's got a little bit of a back story there, as you can imagine. Back in 2010, 2011, in two thousand and ten two thousand and eleven Everybody who knows me knows that my my faith is a big part of my my life and a big motivator to why and how I do the things that I do.
00:02:46
Jesse
And i was beginning to experience a lot of a lot of inner healing and a lot of transformation just in the way that that I thought about myself, that I thought about others, and began to really progress to a level of maturity in all areas, emotionally, spiritually, physically, you know all all areas of maturity that That really helped me to be a more enjoyable person to be around. so And kind
00:03:11
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
Production Insights and Stories from Project Afterlife
00:03:12
Jesse
of as a natural result of that, I began to to be open to speaking words of encouragement to the patients that I would encounter.
00:03:22
Jesse
to praying for them with their permission, and just to be just to involve my faith in the work that I did, which was generally a ah newer concept for me personally.
00:03:34
Jesse
And so I began to kind of take down that barrier with a lot of really, really fascinating results. And out of those experiences, I wrote a book called Life Resurrected, Extraordinary Miracles Through Ordinary People.
00:03:50
Jesse
And I self-published that book. And about a year later, there was a guy named Johnny Clark that got a hold of that book. And he told me that he was producing a documentary called Dead Racer.
00:04:04
Jesse
Now, there were there were a few testimonies in Life Resurrected, or there are a few testimonies in Life Resurrected, of me praying for people who had who had died. were in cardiac arrest. Their heart had stopped. They were dead.
00:04:17
Jesse
And before I had a chance to do any treatment or interventions, ah only prey, they came back. They they experienced spontaneous circulation with breathing and the heart started beating again.
00:04:31
Jesse
And so I wrote those things down and in the book, and Johnny Clark got a hold of that, and he wanted to produce a documentary kind of chronicling not only just people being raised back from the dead, but everything that kind of that entails, all circumstances and and what the individuals walk through and and all that. So we over the next two years, we produced that documentary.
00:04:54
Jesse
And after that was complete, we got a phone call from a production company called Screaming Flea.
00:04:57
Lee Hatfield
Now that feel....
00:05:01
Jesse
And they wanted to sell... ah the concept of Dead Razor a network. And so we gave them permission to do that.
00:05:13
Jesse
And there's a discovery-owned network called destination of Destination America who ended up purchasing that. And they created a show called Project Afterlife. And so in 2015-ish, we entered into production for Project Afterlife. and And yeah, it was a very it was a wild ride.
00:05:33
Lee Hatfield
I can imagine. And yeah, I know the banter that goes on in a fire station, firehouse and ah an ambulance station. So you must have got some banter from some of your guys knowing that you're going to be on a TV show about the afterlife.
00:05:48
Jesse
Yeah, they were kind of curious. i don't I don't remember too much. It's not something that i that i really spent a lot of time talking about.
00:05:58
Jesse
i Over the course of my career, I've i've taken you know effort to to keep my my home life and my work life separate so that I don't take my work home with me.
00:06:02
Lee Hatfield
This is what...
00:06:08
Jesse
And i don't take all you know personal stuff into the workplace with me. But yeah, they were of course, my crew knew that I was involved in a TV show. And especially for a Dead Racer, we had we had Johnny Clark and his production team came out to the to the firehouse and took some B-roll and took some footage, some interview and some stuff like that to put into the documentary.
00:06:29
Jesse
And so, yeah, there was some general interest, but but nothing too crazy. so they But you know how firehouse banter is. so
00:06:36
Lee Hatfield
Oh, o for sure. 100%. So, yeah, you've said to you already that you're that you've got like a religious background. So being on a on a TV show that deals with the afterlife, did you find that there was any conflicts between your religious beliefs and what you were asked to do or wanted to talk about on the show?
Exploring Religious Perspectives and Transformation
00:07:01
Jesse
Well, there were certainly some times of tension. And i've i have found i underwent a a pretty big ah ah deconstruction is such a buzzword these days when you talk about faith and faith-based growth and and in that kind of genre and that kind of realm.
00:07:19
Jesse
But I experienced a really a a revolution in my own relationship with God and my and how I thought about God's character and nature back in 2008. And nine through, I mean, there's even stuff happening today that, you know, it's just kind of the way that it is.
00:07:38
Jesse
But I began to let go such intensely strict doctrine. that would conflict with with anybody's personal experience.
00:07:47
Jesse
So i i tend to hold things more with an open hand. So if somebody somebody tells me one of their experiences and that doesn't mesh with my traditional understanding of what the afterlife is, that's a it's okay with me.
00:08:01
Jesse
And you know thank goodness at that time, because you know so often we hold on to these strict religious beliefs and these doctrines that if somebody tells you something that doesn't quite line up, it it creates a lot of anxiety.
00:08:10
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:08:11
Jesse
It creates a lot of fear. because we tend to hold on so tightly to those things. But I found that that the bible the Bible is relatively silent on what happens when we die.
00:08:24
Jesse
i You know, what what is hell? You know, what does that look like? You know, these the the Bible is is pretty silent on that fact or that whole that whole category.
00:08:35
Jesse
And so what we've come to believe is just there's just leaps they're just interpretive leaps that we don't really know for sure. And so who am I to say that somebody can't experience a ah state of purgatory,
00:08:47
Jesse
you know or Or who am I to say that somebody can't experience a place of darkness or or go to a place light? My foundation is in who Jesus is to me and what he means to me. that And there are certain things that that are true to me.
00:09:02
Jesse
But outside of those those central critical issues, I tend to hold a lot of that with open hands. And so it doesn't scare me you know if somebody has an experience that is kind of out ah out of the box.
00:09:14
Jesse
yeah
00:09:15
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, and and that's really interesting because, yeah, obviously everybody knows that they've got you've got multiple religions and everybody has their own idea of what that put particular religion is.
00:09:28
Lee Hatfield
So, like, yeah, let's just go on a side note for one second. Like, yeah, demonology for most people is but mainly the the Catholic Church, but other religions will have their own kind of,
00:09:41
Lee Hatfield
you know, demonology, so to speak, but they call it different things. So, you the fact that you're open is quite a a sensible, rational explanation. And it's it's nice to have that kind of approach rather than go, no, what I believe in is the truth and nobody can change my mind.
00:09:58
Lee Hatfield
At least you've got that open-handed approach. And that's good to hear with all the troubles that are going around and in today's world, that you're open arms to to everybody that approaches, so to speak.
00:10:10
Jesse
Sure. and it And it helped me. interview people for Project Afterlife because I wasn't it and wasn't trying to lead them toward any particular answer or way of explaining things that would line up to to a traditional understanding of the afterlife or anything like that. It helps me to allow people to tell their story.
00:10:32
Jesse
And, know, I found that that when talking with people who don't share the same faith that I do, it helps me there, too, because it doesn't, if somebody asks a question, and i don't it doesn't it doesn't make me afraid.
00:10:44
Jesse
It doesn't create anxiety. And so it's just it's just a benefit all all around.
00:10:51
Lee Hatfield
And like I say, yeah, I i love ah love love hearing about that kind of stuff. But yeah, let's go on to Project Afterlife. First episode, like if you've not been in front of a camera before, it must have been yeah a little bit like nerve wracking.
00:11:07
Lee Hatfield
But how did you approach that first episode knowing what the the subject was about? And yeah did you have to prepare yourself in a certain way? Or yeah how did you move forward getting getting ready for that first episode?
00:11:21
Jesse
Yeah, so they they the production team, they they looked for, I believe we had 12. It was a six-episode season. And we had 12 stories.
00:11:33
Jesse
And we did two. the ah ah The episodes were an hour long, and we did two stories in each in each episode. Yeah. And so they would they sent us, the production company, they sent us the background information on the case and what had happened.
00:11:46
Jesse
And the the unique element that there were there were a number of things that tied the stories to each other across all 12, which was really fascinating. But each one of them had somebody praying for them to come back.
00:12:00
Jesse
After they had died, they had somebody praying for them to. So that was that was the element that the production company wanted to see. Does prayer does prayer matter? And so all 12 had that. So we got all that information. We got we got what happened. We got who was praying for them. We got all of that kind of information. So so we familiarize ourselves with with that.
00:12:19
Jesse
And then we met the we met the ah the people who had experience who had the experiences and they set it up as a very it was a very laid back shoot. They were when they wanted to do real focused interviews, they took them into a production room and they did they did their thing.
00:12:36
Jesse
But when we were interviewing them, it was laid back. It was it was open air. And we just encouraged them to talk and share their story. So, yeah, if you haven't done that before, I had a little bit of media experience before that.
00:12:49
Jesse
But it was still it was it was really interesting to see how those kind of shows come together.
00:12:55
Lee Hatfield
And would you say that... Because I know that in the episodes, there was four of you doing the presenting and some of you only did certain episodes. so So would you say that you came away from those episodes with a...
00:13:12
Lee Hatfield
more knowledge you know, how, what was your feelings after you doing your particular episodes on, you know, near death experiences or how to body experiences, what, whatever you want to call it.
Near-Death Experiences: Personal Transformations and Interpretations
00:13:23
Lee Hatfield
How did you kind of like feel after you'd finished out your particular episodes?
00:13:30
Jesse
I think that I think that in some ways it it was a mixed bag because some of their experience didn't exactly. And I know that we had talked about being open handed with I was still I was pretty comfortable with that. But at some of it I was still learning it some of their experiences kind of I mean, it was it was out of the box.
00:13:49
Jesse
And so there was a little bit say, wow, you know, experience it. and And when they experience something that's out of the box, like walking through. walking through a garden and reaching down and touching a river and hearing a voice in the background and like all all of these different experience after death experiences that they had, you have to sit there and you're like, well, do i do I believe them or are they a liar? You know, and I have no I have no indication that they're lying. I have no reason to suspect that they're sitting here lying to me. So what's the alternative? you
00:14:22
Jesse
yeah You have the experience. You're the one you have to choose to believe it. And so i I walked away from that with with no answers, really. There weren't there weren't very many answers.
00:14:34
Jesse
There was just a a there were different experiences, but but. But there were different threads that connected each one that were consistent, you know, a warm, a peaceful presence.
00:14:48
Jesse
And these were people that were, they, some of them had a background in and Christianity. Some of them had turned away from that and they didn't have any background in that. And I say Christianity because that's just kind of where the show was was kind of bent towards since they had somebody praying for them.
00:15:04
Jesse
some of them, couple of them had different religious experiences in the past. and And but they there were just a consistent. It was a consistent, just warm presence, ah comforting presence that they had encountered.
00:15:17
Jesse
And so that part was comforting when I came out of it. But, yeah, it was it was very interesting.
00:15:25
Lee Hatfield
So for those of people that don't know, there actually a difference between out of body experience and a near death experience?
00:15:36
Jesse
Well, I would say that probably one leads to the other. I would say that theres there's a lot of science out there. I had read a lot of articles at that time about near-death experiences and what the brain can do. and and so I would say that a near-death experience would lead to an out-of-body experience.
00:15:56
Jesse
And what we experienced talking to these people was that their their hearts had stopped and they were
00:15:59
Lee Hatfield
I.
00:16:03
Jesse
They were, for all intents and purposes, clinically dead. And they had these experiences where they were away from their bodies. And so, you know, somebody prayed and they came back and they woke up against all odds that baffled doctors and nobody knows what to do with anything like that.
00:16:21
Jesse
And so what do you call it? i mean, I think the general scientific community would want to call that a near-death experience. Yeah. Is it near death? I don't know. You know, it's like we could argue that fact. Like I would say they they were totally dead.
00:16:33
Jesse
i mean, you're about as near dead as you can get if you're if your heart's gone, you know, so.
00:16:37
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, for sure.
00:16:38
Jesse
and
00:16:38
Lee Hatfield
And like and I say, both of us having kind of like a medical background, yeah putting it bluntly, we know when someone's dead.
00:16:46
Jesse
Yeah.
00:16:47
Lee Hatfield
yeah we are We have our own checks. but then For someone to then come back and tell you what they experienced, for that individual, that must be a life-changing situation.
00:16:56
Jesse
Thank you.
00:17:02
Lee Hatfield
to know that they've seen the light, so to speak, or they like you say, they' they've touched that water in that and that river or walked across it, and then to come back into reality. How do you think that, or can you tell me how individuals have changed after having such an experience like that?
00:17:21
Jesse
Yeah, they were there was a marked change in in them. Obviously, i didn't know them before they had the experience, but they' but they would tell us what their life was like before they had this experience. and And the majority of them were, they weren't very happy people.
00:17:36
Jesse
There was drug addiction. There was crime. There was a lot of a lot of different things that we can sometimes find ourselves mixed up in.
00:17:42
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:17:45
Jesse
And so there were definitely things that that were hard and and they weren't doing, some of them weren't doing a very good job at managing. But after the experience, when we got to meet them, and what you would be hard pressed to try to discern that about somebody or to judge that about somebody based on the way that they talked. and And they themselves put a lot of language to how this experience has changed them forever.
00:18:10
Jesse
there was There was one case, I believe that she was on the very last episode. Her name was Valerie. And mean, you can watch her story if you go to Amazon Project Afterlife and you can you can watch her story And she she broke every she wasn't involved in a in a traffic crash and she broke just about every bone in her body and blood out on scene.
00:18:24
Lee Hatfield
the top.
00:18:31
Jesse
And she barely had a pulse when they finally cut her out of the out of the car and she died. And they worked her for about 45 minutes. We're about ready to give up. And.
00:18:42
Jesse
she came back. It's like, and she talks about that after that experience, she, she wrote a book and she did, she started speaking at different events. And, and so her life was completely changed and she, her experience changed her.
00:18:57
Jesse
And so I don't know where any of these people are today because we know that you have to be committed to a lifestyle of change, but those were definitely catalysts for a significant change in their lives.
00:19:12
Lee Hatfield
That is crazy. Yeah. Like i say, both of our experiences, yeah, if you're being cut out of a car wreck, like, yeah, you're in a bad way.
00:19:22
Jesse
Yeah.
00:19:22
Lee Hatfield
And for for someone to actually come back after bleeding out, it's like, whoa, hang on a minute.
00:19:26
Jesse
Yeah.
00:19:27
Lee Hatfield
Like, boom. but Mind blown.
00:19:30
Jesse
yeah
00:19:31
Lee Hatfield
So do these people have similar out-of-body experiences? Like, do they all see a bright light? Or as you mentioned before, do they have all have like a relaxed, comfortable sensation?
00:19:45
Lee Hatfield
How did it differ from case-to-case experiences?
00:19:49
Jesse
So there was that there was definitely a consistent, I believe in you know not only was the the prayer for them something that tied them all together, but all of them had an experience with a a warm presence that brought them peace that they that was that was a greater level of peace than they ever had experienced before.
00:20:09
Jesse
And kind of regardless of... what the other surrounding circumstances were. They, they knew that they wanted to be with this presence, even if they didn't really know what to call it in the moment. um Although, I, I believe that most of them had said, you know, we understood it to be God, you know, this, this presence that gave us a peace that we had never experienced before. And, and,
00:20:35
Jesse
So that was something that had tied every single one of the stories together. Now, believe I recall the first episode that I did, it was a middle-aged guy. He was, don't know, 40, 45.
Memorable Stories and Medical vs. Faith Interpretations
00:20:50
Jesse
And he had started having chest pain a day or so before he ended up going to the emergency department. And he went into cardiac arrest in the waiting room in the emergency department.
00:21:04
Jesse
And they could not they cannot break this guy's arrhythmia. he was they They shocked him 17 times and nothing. And so they unhooked all of the all of the equipment and pronounced him.
00:21:13
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:21:18
Jesse
And a few minutes later, a nurse comes back into the room and he starts moving. And he but you say he's awake.
00:21:30
Jesse
and And he describes his experience as... you a white light, a presence, a warm presence. And, and I believe that he had said he, he ah he was given a choice on whether or not he wanted to come back.
00:21:44
Jesse
And he chose that he wanted to come back. And it was right after that, that who his heart started beating again, and he had a return of pulses. And so,
00:21:56
Jesse
Like, yeah, the not everybody experienced all of those elements, but all of them experienced the the warm presence and a connection to something greater than they've ever known in their in their existence.
00:22:07
Jesse
And so...
00:22:12
Lee Hatfield
It's not like I'll just speak to this then. With having a medical background, and you've got the religious background as too, like i would be so I'd be perplexed.
00:22:24
Lee Hatfield
yeah For that to happen and me to be in that environment, I'll be out like yeah i'll be expecting to see like the the white sheet behind you with the two holes in it going like, what what's going on here? yeah So...
00:22:37
Lee Hatfield
to ask a question for you to have two hats on. What do you think happened as a medical person? And then what do you think happened as a religious person?
00:22:50
Jesse
Well, as as far as the after they had died and what caused them to come back.
00:22:55
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:22:56
Jesse
I, you know,
00:22:59
Lee Hatfield
I told you it wasn't going to be easy.
00:22:59
Jesse
and
00:23:00
Jesse
i Yeah. but I think that it's hard to take off in those kind of events, like where there's no there's no explanation. there's no There's no great explanation scientifically, medically, to explain or you know pathophysiology, yeah why why this person came back.
00:23:23
Jesse
it's It's a medical miracle, you know what they call it, the catchphrase or the buzz the buzzword.
00:23:25
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:23:26
Jesse
And and So in those cases, I have no i have no medical, like by my professional medical provider hat is obliterated. Like I have no no answer for that.
00:23:41
Jesse
All I have in that case is is what I believe to be true about my faith. And I believe that miracles are for today.
00:23:51
Jesse
believe that God can heal. I believe that God can raise from the dead. so I believe those things. And so that's what I fall back on, that God's love is so great for his for his people that in some cases he he will move on behalf of them to heal and to even raise from the dead.
Motivations and Outcomes of Near-Death Experiences
00:24:10
Jesse
And so when when all all the natural, when there's no natural answers, you know, I think we have to fall back onto whatever we we believe to be true about God or, you know, a higher power or whatever that happens to be for somebody.
00:24:20
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:24:25
Lee Hatfield
That's a great answer. should be a politician.
00:24:27
Jesse
yeah so
00:24:29
Lee Hatfield
so So because it it's really interesting to know.
00:24:30
Jesse
right Thank
00:24:31
Lee Hatfield
So I like, yeah, I don't want to be in that position where I'm having a near death experience. However, I wonder from that individual what the turning point was.
00:24:43
Lee Hatfield
You said that people got asked if they want to return or not. Obviously, if they said no, then the body would stay deceased. So obviously, and you may have spoken to these individuals about this, they may have decided that they want to come back for a specific reason.
00:25:03
Lee Hatfield
yeah They haven't finished their role on on Earth or yeah they've still got unfinished business, that kind of thing.
00:25:07
Jesse
Mm-hmm.
00:25:09
Lee Hatfield
So what do you think was the deciding factor for them to actually, if they did speak to the higher being, on their decision to come to come back rather than to say stay deceased, so to speak?
00:25:24
Jesse
Yeah, well, I'll answer that with one of the greatest mandates that we're given through the Bible, through Jesus, was go out and make disciples. Go out and make disciples of all nations and teach them to follow in my ways.
00:25:36
Jesse
And so if these people are connecting with with a higher power, of the God of the Bible, then if if they feel like, if if the the higher power is asking them to come back or if they want to come back or, and telling them that if they do, there, there, there's so much good that they can still deposit into the world and pour out into the people around them.
00:25:57
Jesse
Then there, there is a greater calling than just themselves as individuals. Sure. They could stay, they could stay in paradise. They could stay with God, you know, and, and that's it. But the, the, the undertone of the biblical narrative and, and the story of Jesus is, is more about community.
00:26:13
Jesse
And so if they felt a calling or a mandate that they to go and and continue to pour into the world, then that is a higher calling than just getting getting you know everything for yourself.
00:26:13
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:26:24
Jesse
And so and and of course, this is this is speculation, you know, into the motives and the desires of these people's hearts. But that that could be certainly be one of them, to where they felt like they still had – or they could take their story now and be a great influence to bring people together instead of you know pulling them apart and to let them know that there's that there's something out there that loves them intensely.
00:26:49
Jesse
that they can begin to to run toward instead of withdrawing into themselves and instead of wounding other people. So that's one, that could be one motivating factor, or one reason.
00:27:00
Jesse
Another one could be, you know, to to come back and actually pursue ah ah relationship with God or the higher power. Not all of these people had relationships with the higher power or God.
00:27:13
Jesse
And so if there's a consequence of separation, ah yeah if if the choice is to eternally at the end of our experience on this earth, if the choice is to be eternally with that presence or separated from that presence, then, i mean, how merciful and gracious is that higher power to give them an opportunity to goe to go back and actually start living their lives for eternity?
00:27:38
Jesse
self-sacrificial love or to to start to bring people together, to begin to stop wounding other people so that they can actually know have a relationship with this higher power and and not be eternally separated.
00:27:51
Jesse
So those are just couple of the reasons that that came to the forefront of my mind.
00:27:58
Lee Hatfield
See, I love catching people off guard by asking them to really random questions. And like, oh, hang on a minute. I need to think about this one. So what did god do with regard to the the people that you had on the show, you mentioned about the girl that was in a car wreck.
00:28:16
Lee Hatfield
But do any of it other of the subjects stand out to you as being a remarkable near-death and then come-back-to-life experience?
00:28:29
Jesse
we talked about the traffic crash and then the the the guy who who got shocked you know seventeen times that was certainly a that guy was That guy was pronounced, and the physicians left the room, and the nurse called the doctor back in the room because she noticed that he had a heartbeat again.
00:28:46
Jesse
and then that doctor called another doctor back into the room, and they were all freaking out at that place. yeah So that was that was a wild experience. But yeah, there were there were other stories. One was was a Native American who had ah ah died, I believe, of a drug overdose on on a reservation and his experience was a little bit darker but he also had an experience with a ah warm presence or something that he wanted to to pursue and so when he came back you know that was ah certainly a catalyst for him to start changing the way he experienced life in the way that he was being experienced by others to pursue healing and whatnot but each one of the 12 cases i mean they're just remarkable stories uh
00:29:10
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:29:34
Jesse
Not all of them had as many elements as you know the traffic crash or the the the heart attack guy or or the drug overdose. But all of these people had had a you know death experiences and then and then an after death experience that that will encourage you and challenge you.
00:29:42
Lee Hatfield
So
00:29:52
Jesse
And so it was just a great mix of people.
00:29:56
Lee Hatfield
so You've done, I say, you've read you've wrote a book on this, but do you find or have you heard of people that have had a near-death experience or an out-of-body experience so but had kind of negativity rather than a white light, a peaceful environment?
00:30:15
Lee Hatfield
Are you aware of any times when it's been negative rather than peaceful?
00:30:19
Jesse
i We did not talk to anybody who had had an overtly negative, hopeless experience. Every one of the 12 experiences were we're hopeful.
00:30:32
Jesse
they They were encouraging. i there was there was There was some thread of encouragement, even with the the guy who died of the drug overdose who who found himself in a little bit of a darker arena far as the ambience or the environment that he was in. there was still There was still an encounter that was full of hope and purpose and and warmth and light.
00:30:55
Jesse
And so, no, we did not talk to anybody who had just a negative experience. I know that there's some and there's some testimonies out there that have been written where their experience was was pretty ugly.
00:31:08
Jesse
But I can't, it's hard for me to speak to some of that because we didn't talk to anybody like that. and
00:31:14
Lee Hatfield
Okay. How common would you say that near-death and out-of-body experiences are? and of yeah Obviously, America is a big place. Canada is a big place. Then you've got Europe, et cetera, around the world.
00:31:26
Lee Hatfield
You've just done one series of 12 people. Yeah, it'd be great to see some more, to hear some more of these fantastic stories. But how common do you think this really is? this rare is
00:31:38
Jesse
Well, as far as after death experiences, I think that every single person, and this is this is my faith bias, but i think that everybody has an after death experience. ah ah everybody who dies is going to have an after death experience.
00:31:50
Jesse
Now, how common is it for them to come back? Great, great question. i I have no, i have no idea, you know, how many, how many people out there are having after death experiences and then, and you know, coming back to talk about it.
00:32:08
Jesse
Probably more. You know, it's probably more than than what we we would anticipate or guess. And we're just not hearing too much about it.
00:32:20
Jesse
It would be. it's it's not something that would be easy to talk about, because I'm sure that a lot of these people who are having these experiences aren't really sure what to do with them. Yeah.
00:32:31
Jesse
How do I how do I share this in a way that doesn't make me seem or sound crazy? You know, what if what if i'm a what if I'm a Christian who had an experience that doesn't line up with my my theological or my doctrine?
00:32:44
Jesse
You know, or what if i'm a what if I'm a Hindu or a a Muslim who has an after-death experience that doesn't line up with with my understanding or or what I've been taught in in religion for my entire life? You know, what are you supposed to do with those things?
Jesse's Future Plans and Conclusion
00:32:57
Jesse
that would That would be extremely hard. Yeah.
00:33:00
Lee Hatfield
That's the million dollar question. Okay, so yeah we've done so we've done the episodes of Afterlife.
00:33:07
Jesse
Thank you.
00:33:09
Lee Hatfield
You've wrote the book about it. You're going through your captain examinations. What's next for Jesse Berkey?
00:33:18
Jesse
and Well, as far as my my professional career, I think it's going to be you know another eight years or so of of you know interacting with emergency scenes and helping people on their worst days.
00:33:29
Jesse
don't know if there's, there may be another book or two me at some point. Not really sure about that. um um i you know i Every now and then I do a speaking event and you to talk about different things, mostly mostly from a ah mostly from a ah faith-based perspective.
00:33:46
Jesse
I'm doing some of that and, you know, continuing to raise a family. And so those are the things that that's I'm looking at in in my present day and in the short term future.
00:33:59
Lee Hatfield
That's awesome. Well, Jesse, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. You've enlightened me on some of the fantastic stories. So thank you for coming onto the podcast. It's been absolutely great. And I hope the listeners enjoy it as much as what I've done asking you some really tricky questions.
00:34:19
Jesse
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
00:34:19
Lee Hatfield
So awesome. So all I can say now is thank you very much for your time and enjoy the rest of the day. And hopefully we'll we' talk again very soon.
00:34:29
Lee Hatfield
Take care.
00:34:30
Jesse
Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Thanks so much.
00:34:32
Lee Hatfield
Bye-bye.