Daniel Ekechukwu Back from the Dead
Daniel Ekechukwu,
pastor of the Power Chapel Evangelical Church in Onitsha, Nigeria, died from
head and chest injuries sustained in a car accident on Friday 30th. November
2001. He was medically certified dead for more than 42
hours; during this period he visited Heaven and Hell, and was raised from the dead around 5:15 pm. on Sunday, December 2nd. 2001 in the
basement of the Grace of God Mission, located in Onitsha, Nigeria. You can read the full account of this resurrection miracle here
What follows is a compilation of answers
to questions put to Daniel, and Nneka his wife, about this miracle, together
with details Daniel has shared in his many public testimonies.
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| Daniel reads his own death certificate |
Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? Acts 26:8 Holy Bible NIV
Questions People Ask
The three most frequent questions are;
- What happened after he died, and does he remember anything?
- Did he see Heaven, and what was it like?
- How has this changed his walk with God?
What Happened to Daniel After He Died
Daniel was in an ambulance travelling
the 80 km. to his local hospital, he knew that he was dying, and so began to
give final instructions to his wife, Nneka, about church and personal
documents. He called her to continue caring for the church and their son.
Through her tears, Nneka rebuked him for talking of death instead of having
faith in God's power to save.
While she was speaking, Daniel saw two
large angels inside the ambulance, they were completely white, even the pupils
of their eyes. Daniel tried to talk to the angels, but one motioned for his
silence. They lifted him from his broken body, holding him under each arm of
his spirit, which was uninjured. As soon as they left the ambulance, Daniel
became oblivious of this world, and of time itself. To him the 42 hours he was
clinically dead, seemed like only 15 minutes.
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| Daniel`s death certificate |
Daniel Visits Heaven
The two large angels who carried his
spirit from his body passed him to another angel who took Daniel to Paradise.
Whenever a question occurred to him, the angel would supply the answer
immediately and remove any confusion from his mind.
They witnessed a throng resplendent in
white, raising their arms, worshipping and bowing in unison. Daniel thought
they were angels, but was informed that they were believers who had followed
Christ on earth. They had no racial characteristics, and were ageless, apart
from one man who seemed older, the angel told Daniel it
was Father Abraham.
Daniel longed to join the worshippers,
but the angel said they would next go to see the mansion Christ promised the
righteous. As soon as he said it, they were there. Daniel is lost for words to
describe it, except to say that it seems infinite in size, that it was made of light,
and something like glass. He couldn't see any people, but noticed beautiful
singing, the angel pointed to its source, the flowers around the mansion were
swaying and praising God. Indeed the mansion and rooms also appeared to move
continually.
The angel told Daniel, "The mansion
is ready, but the saints of God are not. Jesus is being delayed because
Christians in the church are not ready yet."
Daniel Visits Hell
The angel next escorted Daniel to Hell,
where they stood at the gate. The angel lifted his hand, and let it fall, the
gate opened, and Daniel heard the terrifying sound of people screaming and
weeping. It was too dark to see anything until light shone from the angel, then
Daniel could see people in awful suffering.
He noticed three specific groups going
through cycles of torment, forever reaping in Hell what they had sown on earth.
One group ate their own flesh and vomited it onto the ground, then the vomit
would whisk back onto their bodies, and become flesh that they would eat again.
The angel said these people were those who had eaten human flesh as an occult
practice. Ritual cannibalism is still practised in many parts of the world,
including the West.
Another group had stolen land from
others while on earth. In Hell, they repeatedly dug hard ground with their bare
hands.
A further group, were fornicators and adulterers. In Hell, their
mutilated sexual organs, which after being destroyed, would be regenerated,
only to be self-mutilated again.Those who sin sexually, sin against
their own bodies.
Sinners will be accorded perfect justice; what they have sown
on earth, they will reap eternally in Hell.
Pastor Daniel also recognized
individuals he knew. There was a former military dictator of Nigeria. He saw a
Christian who had become involved with occult practices and fallen away from
the Lord, and a pastor who had appropriated funds illicitly from his own
church, and lied about it. The former pastor could see Daniel, but not the
angel, and pleaded that he would return the money if Daniel could help him
escape Hell. But there is no escape; there is no way out of Hell if Jesus is
rejected as Lord on earth. All of the people in Hell twisted in agony under an
unseen power that gripped them repeatedly. They shouted, wailed and gnashed
their teeth.
Pastor Daniel says that if every
Christian could see what he saw, there would be no need to preach the Gospel, because
every Christian would become the Gospel.
Hell is real, God's Judgment is final, be sure that you are saved
and following the Lord Jesus Christ.
The escorting angel really shocked
Daniel by saying to him, "If your record is to be called
here, you will in no doubt be thrown into Hell." Pastor
Daniel declared, "I am a man of God! I serve Him
with all my heart!" But a Bible immediately appeared in the angel's hand,
open at Matthew 5, where Jesus warned that anyone who calls his brother a fool,
is guilty enough to go into the fire of Hell.
Pastor Daniel was convicted. He wasn't
living right before God. Indeed he'd been arguing with his wife before his
fatal trip, and spurned her attempts to reconcile on the morning he left. He'd
spoken angry words to his wife. The angel reminded him that Jesus said that God
would not forgive our sins unless we forgive others (Matt. 6:14-15). The angel
told Daniel that the prayers he uttered as he lay dying were nullified by
unforgiveness for his wife. Sobering thoughts for all of us.
How this changed his walk with God
Daniel wept at this revelation, but the
angel told him not to cry, because God was going to send him back to the Earth
'to grant the rich man's request'. This refers to Luke
16:27-30 where the rich man in torment in Hell asked for
Lazarus the beggar to rise from the dead and warn his
family of Hell. That particular man's request was refused
him because his family's hearts were too hardened. But it doesn't rule out
future people coming back from the dead warning sinners
of Hell.
The angel said Daniel's resurrection
would serve as a sign, and be the last warning for this generation.
Have you heard sinners rebuff your
evangelising with sneering comments like, 'Well, has anybody ever come
back from Hell to warn us?' I hear replies like this frequently, even
from unsaved relatives. Daniel is not the first person to report on the reality
of Hell, God has shown it to many people. Christ Himself spoke of it more than
anyone else in the Bible. It's real, it's important, it's final.
Pastor Daniel was then led to the top of
a mountain, where there was a large hole full of darkness. The angel handed
Daniel to a man standing there whom he didn't recognize,
but later realized was German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. The angel told Daniel
that Bonnke would help him proclaim the Gospel of salvation. Daniel and
Reverend Bonnke fell into the hole, and that is when Daniel sat up from the
table where he lay at the Grace of God Mission. He was back in his body, alive after at least 42 hours of death, nearly two full days.
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| Reinhard Bonnke with Daniel |
This experience caused Daniel to repent
of all sin he was aware of; it has transformed his walk with
God. What was wrong in his life, he immediately put right. His testimony has
the same effect on almost all who hear it. The CfaN camera crew who filmed his
testimony, could not sleep for three days until each of them brought their
lives up to God's Word. Christ wants His people holy, walking in righteousness,
and love, being merciful as He is merciful. Daniel says that just being near
people who are arguing makes him wince. Do you understand what he means
Beloved? His testimony has certainly made me more conscious of God, and careful
in my walk with Him.
Daniel has since preached to millions,
sharing his testimony at CfaN crusades around Africa.
Over 9 million souls have been saved in
six months of such crusades. Bonnke describes it as glorious ocean wave rolling
on, unstoppable despite much opposition from Muslims. Daniel has been on
Christian TV and radio around the world bringing people to genuine repentance
and faith in Christ.
God is certainly using his resurrection
to reap the final harvest before Judgment Day.
Get right with God. Warn nominal
'Christians' to repent, and tell sinners what God has done for them in Christ.
You may be the last person to point them to the only Saviour. Time is short.
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| Pastor Daniel and wife, Nneka |
Postscript: In March of 2003 Pastor
Daniel and Nneka were both in hospital following another car accident,
but they quickly recovered and resumed their Gospel ministry.
Nine million souls have been saved in
six months
