Veteran's near-death experience： a journey of faith, war, and divine intervention
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
192.13184
Summary
What if I told you there was a guy who was told by God that he would die at the age of 32. It s funny because he was sort of raised a Mormon, didn t really practice any faith, but he was nevertheless told by god he d die at 32. And he did. In fact, he died three times over five days and now he s a very good Catholic. You re going to want to stay tuned to this episode of John Henry Weston s show with Robert Bartlett.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
I was naked on my knees and there were stairs. I was like an all marble landing out there.
00:00:05.780
There were stairs going down into this pool and in this pool there's pillars and the first two
00:00:09.640
pillars were broken off and laying down in the pool and then farther out there was two more
00:00:13.900
pillars and in the center of these four pillars was a drip coming from eternity. It was the blood
00:00:18.960
of Jesus. What if I told you there was a guy who was told by God that he would die at the
00:00:33.240
age of 32. It's funny because he was sort of raised a Mormon, didn't really practice any
00:00:39.280
faith, but he was nevertheless told by God he would die at 32 and he did. In fact, he
00:00:45.140
died three times over five days and now he's a very good Catholic. You're going to want
00:00:53.540
to stay tuned to this episode of John Henry Weston's show with Robert Bartlett.
00:00:58.380
Pope Pius XI said men must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ and he urged
00:01:05.920
that the faithful give public honor to Christ the King so that individuals and states would
00:01:10.600
submit once more to the rule of their Savior and that is why LifeSite News
00:01:15.100
is raising up the image of Christ the King across the United States and you can help
00:01:20.540
us reach millions more. Please pledge your support today for these billboards at
00:01:32.540
And let's begin as you always do with the sign of the cross.
00:01:34.860
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:01:40.880
Robert, tell us about your background because I think this is super fascinating.
00:01:44.080
I think everybody's going to want to hear about how you got here and this crazy revelation
00:01:50.520
of God to you when you weren't really practicing any faith at all.
00:01:54.200
Yeah, so my family, I come from a multi-religion family.
00:01:58.300
My mother was a fallen away Catholic and my father was a fallen away Mormon.
00:02:05.940
And because they didn't want to compromise and neither one wanted to convert to the other
00:02:14.520
I attended more Mormon church growing up than anything.
00:02:21.540
It was through the pressure of my grandmother, my mother's mother, that we're all baptized
00:02:27.100
And it's, you know, they talk about the indelible mark.
00:02:30.100
I could still remember what it was like and to remember the room and what the priest was
00:02:34.940
wearing and everything that happened, even though it was when I was like six years old.
00:02:40.900
How does one who basically lives like an atheist or agnostic or whatever hear God?
00:02:46.080
First time I can recall hearing God, I died when I was a little kid.
00:02:51.820
My mom was supposed to be a nurse, you know, God gives us our vocation.
00:02:56.820
And my mother was always supposed to be a nurse because if she wasn't a nurse, then I
00:03:03.620
She had put me on my uncle's motorcycle in the garage and while she was bringing in groceries
00:03:10.000
And I was pretending like I was riding it and rocking it back and forth while the handlebars
00:03:14.380
ended up pinching my, uh, across the throat and, uh, me against the wall.
00:03:21.160
And, and my mother found me out there and she had to resuscitate me.
00:03:24.940
And it was soon after that, I had like a God speaking to me and he, he said, you can never
00:03:31.520
add to me and you can, I can't take away from me.
00:03:36.020
Well, I was a young, um, you know, a young child.
00:03:41.400
I just tried to understand and I spoke to him, you know, a few times and I would just
00:03:47.100
spend time with him when I was in our backyard in our, like a woods garden, uh, area.
00:03:53.100
And I would just talk to him and, um, you know, how could a, I would ask him like, how
00:03:58.420
could a, you know, boy love, love a man, um, or love another boy.
00:04:11.040
And then, you know, because I came from like a pay, it was basically just under a pagan
00:04:24.380
You know, my dad being Mormon, that was pretty telling.
00:04:30.800
Did you tell your parents about this, these interactions that you had?
00:04:39.760
Um, I don't know if I, I, oh, you know, you always worry about telling somebody something
00:04:48.340
You were also told by our Lord that you would die at the age of 32.
00:04:54.000
In fact, I think he told you some other things in there as well.
00:05:08.180
I thought she was going to get out in the next couple of days.
00:05:15.640
Like, uh, when God speaks to you, it's not always here or here.
00:05:22.340
And I just turned and looked at my buddy and I said, um, my grandmother is going to die
00:05:29.040
And she did, um, and then it was soon after that, I got the, the number in my head would
00:05:36.400
just always be there that I was going to die at the age of 32.
00:05:44.900
You know, I hadn't joined the army at this point.
00:05:46.780
Uh, we were not at war and I ended up having a fiance and then she had an abortion with my
00:05:56.420
She told me eight months later, you know, I just thought she had a miscarriage.
00:06:00.560
And, uh, then I found out I was pro-life and just little things like that.
00:06:04.320
And so I, you know, there's heavy things that were on me and I just, one time, and I couldn't,
00:06:12.440
So I just go fishing and I would just talk to him there and just fish.
00:06:18.180
And it was soon after that, uh, 9-11 happened and, uh, I was told that, you know, uh, and
00:06:28.340
I just found out about the kid eight months later in the middle of a fight, you know?
00:06:41.180
Because this, so you're now 26, 27 years old, um, or 29 already.
00:06:48.040
And so then what, what takes place that leads you to actually dying?
00:06:53.340
I was at sniper school and the number flipped on me.
00:06:56.040
I started saying 31-32, 31-32, 31-32, uh, again, near my birthday.
00:07:01.720
And I, uh, I started going to church when I joined the army a little bit.
00:07:06.820
I started going to mass and receiving Eucharist wrong and not going, I hadn't gone to
00:07:11.960
I hadn't done any tatechism at all, uh, no confirmation or anything, but I just want to
00:07:25.160
And I talked to our chaplain, he's a Baptist chaplain, Michael, Captain Mike Spikes.
00:07:30.060
And I said to him, you know, Hey, I've got, God told me I was going to die at the age
00:07:41.160
For a young soldier who died in his sleep from aneurysm.
00:07:44.880
And I said, I'm going to, uh, he said, let's just pray about it.
00:07:50.400
You know, and, you know, we all think we're going to die young.
00:07:57.160
Uh, I ended up dying and he was holding my hands, praying for me when I went down.
00:08:02.500
Like I have a picture of him holding my hands and you can see the top of his head, uh, right
00:08:21.840
And that day I was doing scouting missions and we just go clear sectors for the day.
00:08:26.720
And we had one more, we had three sectors we cleared.
00:08:31.980
And I'd clear, we'd already cleared one sector and on the way to clear.
00:08:39.200
It was the most placed IEDs in all of Iraq is this one place, checkpoint, 515.
00:08:44.880
So I went past this, uh, it's like a concrete divider for highways.
00:08:56.760
Um, so a car bomber couldn't come from the other side of the road, run through there
00:09:00.600
really quick and blow up our convoy as we were going down the road.
00:09:04.140
So we set these things up so we can always action on them with the, the machine gun that's
00:09:10.020
The bomb was on the backside of the one of those.
00:09:12.180
So as soon as my truck vehicle came around, the bomb came through and these are the bombs
00:09:22.720
It cut me in half from the left corner of my temple down through my jaw.
00:09:26.180
Uh, and, uh, and then we had ball bearings size of quarters coming through the, through
00:09:32.940
So it was a two part and my buddy was killed instantly and, and my gunner lost his legs.
00:09:42.300
So his, he has like a little strap underneath his legs and his butt.
00:09:45.880
Um, so he can sit down in the turret while we're driving and he, he, the bomb, when it, you
00:09:51.900
know, cut me in half, it took his legs off and then the, took the top of my truck commander's
00:09:57.020
head off and then went out the other side of the vehicle, the armored vehicle and kept
00:10:01.720
And it went through you sort of sideways like that.
00:10:05.720
I bounced off the ceiling, hit my Kevlar and then came down.
00:10:09.420
So it's though the bomb, this is a certain type of bomb.
00:10:15.140
And so when it hits the armor, it, it breaks apart and causes lots of shrapnel to kill as
00:10:27.280
So you're a mess there in, in, in the photos and what, what, what happened thereafter so
00:10:35.000
that they were still sort of with you when the, this minister was even with you at the
00:10:40.640
Well, that would take about, that'd be about 10 minutes later.
00:10:43.840
Uh, so the truck, my, I turned to my right and the, the vehicles full with smoke and fuel,
00:10:51.080
the smelling of fuel and burning hair and burning flesh.
00:10:59.620
I turned to my right and I see my gun, my truck commander is instantly killed.
00:11:04.400
And I had ball bearings hit me in the chest and the other shrapnel.
00:11:08.300
So I had internal bleeding and I had a collapsed lung and I was, my body was filling up with
00:11:13.560
And when your body fills up with blood, it slowly shuts off your lungs and your heart.
00:11:17.600
So with every breath I was taking, I was losing partial breath.
00:11:29.020
And I just leaned forward on the, on the, uh, steering wheel and was ready to die right
00:11:35.200
And that's when my gunner tried to stand up on his legs and those broken legs, he fell
00:11:41.540
Um, and when he did that, that pain stimuli, it helped me get going again.
00:11:46.700
I looked at him and then worked the best I could to straighten out his legs because I
00:11:50.900
had third degree burns on my hands and shrapnel that went through my fingers and my hands.
00:11:58.860
And I mean, I couldn't get a good grip to, to do things.
00:12:03.840
So we put the back of, of my, of my gunner towards the, towards the windshield and then
00:12:14.500
And I just was straightening out his legs the best I could.
00:12:17.940
And, um, you know, they were third degree burns down to the bone.
00:12:23.960
You could see his femur, the bottom of his femur, you know, it was, uh, the, the flesh
00:12:33.760
Um, and then you could see the ball bearing holes through his legs.
00:12:38.760
We get back to the base, you know, my other truck commander, there's two more vehicles
00:12:43.040
behind us and the truck commander from one gets out and a good friend of mine.
00:12:47.760
And he comes to my door and he takes them three yanks, you know, and I always think
00:12:53.700
Cause it took them three tries and that door came open and he looked down at me and I looked
00:12:59.200
up at him and I was laying in my gunner's lap at that time because we, we just thought
00:13:05.180
I just, after straightening out his legs, I just looked at him and he just looked at
00:13:13.680
So I just, I just leaned over in his lap and he just put his arms around me.
00:13:22.600
And I just, you know, and then Sergeant Greer came to the door, three yanks.
00:13:27.500
He was in the seat behind me and the blast that came through the vehicle and blowing him
00:13:32.420
He had a knee brace on, on his knee and it got caught in the corner of the door.
00:13:36.540
And so when the vehicle rolled forward, he didn't get run over.
00:13:40.440
It dragged him along the way until he woke up and then he got, and he was like, you know,
00:13:47.640
and then he did, he could hear the voice of Sergeant Brooks, the spirit telling him to
00:13:52.640
open to how to save my life and my gunner's life.
00:13:56.480
So it was killed in the, you know, in the vehicle with us.
00:13:59.020
Um, so he yanked on the door three times and he asked me if I could walk and he, I said,
00:14:06.620
And then he just, I just helped, he helped me get into his seat in the back.
00:14:10.680
And then we just pulled that vehicle forward a little bit.
00:14:13.340
By the grace of God, the truck was still running.
00:14:15.920
And I don't think there was any tires that weren't flat or destroyed.
00:14:20.460
And there was, there was ball bearings that went through the motor, but it was still running.
00:14:27.060
And I mean, it was a mess, but he pulled that truck, that Humvee forward.
00:14:32.020
And it was just enough so we could get the other two vehicles between us and that concrete
00:14:37.580
Um, and then we loaded into the other two vehicles and then to our camp, which was right there.
00:14:48.700
You know, they gave me a huge, you know, they transferred me to the vehicle with every breath.
00:14:54.680
And so the medic, he hands me when I, when they bring me over to the other vehicle and this
00:15:00.440
So the lieutenant's in the front and he's calling the medevac, the helicopter to get it,
00:15:05.520
Cause it takes a half an hour to get to our base.
00:15:08.460
So they could life flight us to the main hospital in the, in Iraq.
00:15:17.000
And they walked me over and put me in the back seat.
00:15:19.340
Now he gave me this huge pad cause he just didn't know what to do with me.
00:15:26.300
And it was like the size of a, like a giant diaper, like just so big, took up my, almost
00:15:33.360
And I'm in the back of this Humvee and they're trying to get Todd, my, my gunner into the other
00:15:37.580
vehicle and I, and I just, I didn't know what I looked like.
00:15:46.020
And there was barely any blood on us because what hit me was 3,500 degrees.
00:15:52.420
You know, my issue was I had internal bleeding and that was, that was, that was shutting down
00:15:59.380
I presume they, they were able to flight you over to the hospital.
00:16:06.840
Well, the first time would be at our base at the, we have a little small hospital at
00:16:10.080
our base and I was just a little casualty hospital and the bird was flying into there.
00:16:18.880
And the last thing I can remember was I tried to open up the door and I didn't want my guys
00:16:24.400
to know how bad I was, but I don't know what it looked like.
00:16:27.620
So I opened up the door and I tried to go in the hospital under my own power.
00:16:31.160
So I got about halfway before the soldiers picked me, you know, the medics picked me
00:16:37.440
And then I remember the hit, the gurney hitting the, hitting the, the medical doors, you know
00:16:48.120
From then on out, I was, I was with, I was on the other side, but I can tell you by pictures
00:16:56.580
So when I, when I went through those doors, they put me on a, on a, you know, I was on
00:17:03.540
So I was hand forward in between my legs and I'm just focusing on staying alive.
00:17:11.960
If you ever come up on somebody, if they're one arm forward and leaning forward, they are
00:17:19.060
So that's where I was and Chaplain Spikes by the, by the prompting of Bishop, of Corporal
00:17:26.360
Bishop, Todd Bishop told him to come over to me because he said, Robert's dying.
00:17:35.140
And so he came over to me and, and he was holding my hands and, and that's when I flatlined
00:17:49.820
They had to do a crack on me and get air in my lungs and basically resuscitate me, you
00:17:55.280
And so the medics did that, got me going again.
00:17:58.180
This death experience occurred to you still more over the next five days.
00:18:04.120
So for me, it's the first two or just one long experience on the other side until I got
00:18:10.200
to Walter Reed and they woke me up out of the induced coma.
00:18:13.480
And then the last time is when, you know, I saw, I saw some visions and things five
00:18:23.240
They didn't think I was going to live in launch tool Germany when they air flighted me to launch
00:18:28.180
And so, uh, they were sending flights of that were full at the time back.
00:18:35.280
So they wanted to send people who were going to live.
00:18:37.040
So they held me back until I was a little bit more stable and they thought I could make it.
00:18:43.160
And then I got to Walter Reed one day before Mother's Day.
00:18:46.240
So I was supposed to surprise my mother for Mother's Day.
00:18:49.600
I was getting leave, but I came home on a medical flight instead.
00:18:59.000
I'm pleased to announce the launch of the new LSN TV app, which can bring all the LifeSite
00:19:05.100
News' top video content direct to your phone, tablet, computer, and TV so that you can bypass
00:19:10.860
the sensors and keep fighting with us for life, faith, family, and freedom.
00:19:21.060
Right from the first time you died, which would have been the first and second because you
00:19:27.100
wouldn't recall, you say you were receiving visions or something like that.
00:19:33.440
So what it was, I was naked on my knees and there were stairs.
00:19:44.060
And the first two pillars were broken off and laying down in the pool.
00:19:47.380
And then farther out, there was two more pillars.
00:19:49.260
And in the center of these four pillars was a drip coming from eternity.
00:19:55.640
And as soon as I saw that, I knew it was blood.
00:20:02.020
It's where those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that's where you go.
00:20:11.160
And then I turned behind me and naked on my knees and a huge dragon.
00:20:19.260
I was on a pillar on the same marble landing that I was on.
00:20:23.780
And it came down off there when I started to turn back towards the blood.
00:20:27.780
He came down off there and he started tearing me apart.
00:20:40.020
I mean, I go into a house that needs to be blessed and I know something's not right there.
00:20:48.240
And then I just turned back towards the blood and I just, you know, I flat out begged God to get out of there.
00:21:00.440
And I, and instantly I was out there and it was like he put me in the palm of his hand.
00:21:09.020
His love is, is the child, our own child, seeing our child born is, is the closest we get to how God feels for us.
00:21:21.300
And that's, that would be like a watch battery compared against all the nuclear power plants, the sun and all the power of the stars.
00:21:29.880
And it still wouldn't do a justice on how far apart it is.
00:21:33.660
Wait, I mean, here you are finding yourself, were you, when you first got to this place in your vision, were you uninjured before the pool?
00:21:40.820
Or were you already injured, still injured from your accident or no?
00:21:46.420
But so then the, the dragon, the demon was ripping you apart, but at the same wounds, which you had in real life.
00:21:54.600
And then three on the body too, there was more, but it was huge.
00:21:58.040
You know, we're created in the image and likeness of God.
00:22:02.320
In terms of what you received, you, you became a Catholic after this, despite being, uh, you were sort of going, you, you had gone to a mass or whatever, but.
00:22:14.700
Like, did you see any of, in any of this, the reality of the Catholic faith?
00:22:21.440
I mean, my buddy's spirit talked to my, my buddy and helped save my life.
00:22:25.680
You know, a lot of people would say that is part of all sorts of religions, uh, you know, where, where spirits talk.
00:22:31.800
But how did you get the sense that it was the Catholic faith?
00:22:42.800
And I could, you know, um, so far fallen and full of sin.
00:22:46.860
If, you know, Moses couldn't see the face of God or he would have died the eternal death.
00:22:52.020
And how far I'd fallen, I think if I saw maybe even the toenail of God, I would have died the eternal death.
00:23:00.420
So being in his presence, he kept me in his palm.
00:23:02.800
He just, I was the only robber he ever created in all of eternity.
00:23:09.780
We're creating his image and like us, his child.
00:23:14.880
But we have to, in love, choose to be his child.
00:23:17.600
So now I didn't want to go back because this place sucks.
00:23:27.740
Now, my buddy who had, who was killed next to me, I wanted him to go back because he had a wife and two kids, you know, two little girls.
00:23:38.520
And I was, you know, single and didn't have anything other than my family to go back to, but no, no children.
00:23:48.200
So I came back and now I'm married and I got three boys.
00:23:53.360
What I prayed for, I prayed for three boys and one girl in honor of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and Mary in that order.
00:24:04.340
This all takes place in your life and the healing process was a long one.
00:24:18.860
So it was a long time when I'd get a surgery and it would just, it would, you know, it's like pick up your cross and it's like falling and getting back up again.
00:24:28.400
You know, one of the longest surgeries was like 14 hours to reveal my face.
00:24:33.780
You got to see a fake, you know, it's a fake eye.
00:24:36.140
They did a lot of, a lot of reconstruction on me.
00:24:38.660
But I remember one of the thing on the other side and sitting underneath the tree and just having a conversation with Jesus.
00:24:47.500
Now that conversation has been held back from me until he's ready for me to know it again.
00:24:57.000
Tell us about a couple of those that, that mean the most to you, that, that struck you the most.
00:25:07.900
My lip, my face is on fire all the time for the nerve damage.
00:25:11.280
So drinking coffee or eating or anything to do with my lips, my lips are on fire all the time.
00:25:18.960
And so when I first got married, it hurt to kiss my bride.
00:25:22.180
And before I lost my lips, I got to kiss her one time at a going away party when I was on leave before I left for Iraq.
00:25:33.460
And that's another story, another miracle in itself.
00:25:36.240
But I got to kiss her one time before I lost my lips.
00:25:41.640
That's what I, that was her nickname when I was overseas.
00:25:47.620
And not that I had, we didn't communicate while I was overseas or anything, but I went to Lourdes, France with the Order of Malta.
00:25:54.360
They took some sick people and they took a couple of vets and their spouses there.
00:25:59.640
And my wife and I went and we had miracles there.
00:26:02.920
And that was when I started, Jesus wanted me to meet his mother.
00:26:05.740
And that's why I started praying to Hail Mary and became devotional to her as well and my love for her.
00:26:14.940
And started passing out Lourdes, France water for years.
00:26:21.100
I mean, maybe 10 years I passed out Lourdes, France water and I stopped counting the miracles at 40 something.
00:26:26.320
And then, I mean, from cancer to blindness to you name it, head injury.
00:26:33.580
I mean, it was, and it was all, I was giving it to Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, just anybody who was willing to take it.
00:26:50.040
But there's a major one in 2008 before I went to Lourdes, France.
00:26:55.760
And I was just spending time with him in my spirit, just giving him praise.
00:27:00.160
And we were fly fishing in a place called Lebanon, Virginia.
00:27:05.020
And it was so beautiful out because it was about this time, it was close to this time.
00:27:11.100
So all the leaves were all these brilliant colors of corals and reds and yellows and oranges.
00:27:17.200
And we're standing in this valley and the mountains were really tight to us.
00:27:20.840
So it was only like a couple hundred, maybe a hundred yards one way off the river and a hundred yards off the other.
00:27:25.760
And we're standing in this private stream that they'd let the one of the vets fish out, right, from Walter Reed through this veteran program.
00:27:38.140
And I just started giving glory to God, saying how beautiful it was that nobody could create the beauty that was before me.
00:27:45.140
And you couldn't do a picture and it would do it justice.
00:27:50.760
So I was saying our fathers and glory be's and just praising him.
00:27:54.220
And then all of a sudden the sky opened up and leaves were falling on Will and I.
00:28:02.420
So there I was with an atheist and leaves fell on him and I when the sky opened up.
00:28:08.060
And we both looked up at the same time and said, what are these leaves falling from heaven?
00:28:14.900
It was like time and eternity opened up like a knife cut and a leaf would slowly pop through.
00:28:33.660
Now, your journey then after the healing, after four and a half years, I mean, it's stunning
00:28:39.260
that you got married too because you were so severely injured.
00:28:43.500
Now, mind you, that compared to what you've gone through, you look great.
00:28:46.420
So you must have done a lot, a lot of work, obviously over four and a half years.
00:28:49.800
But when did you get married in all this thing?
00:28:54.240
Same chaplain who was holding my hands when I died in Iraq.
00:28:57.420
We got secretly married in Gettysburg, which my family fought in Gettysburg.
00:29:03.500
Our family has been fighting for this country since the Valley Forge.
00:29:06.620
Our name is on the Declaration of Independence.
00:29:11.160
Another miracle, there's like my Fatima statue and three other Fatima statues, all weeping
00:29:18.000
There's images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that used to travel around.
00:29:23.420
And there's four of them and miracles are coming out of that.
00:29:25.800
So you could actually touch the painting and you could feel Jesus in the womb of Mary and
00:29:33.120
He'd kick your hand or you could listen to the scope and hear his heartbeat.
00:29:37.640
And so I could, I could hear, I heard his heartbeat and, you know, in her hair, you touch
00:29:42.620
her hands and they'll be warm or you'll be covered in glitter.
00:29:53.960
Now, why do you think our Lord is doing this for you, with you?
00:30:07.240
And those who are on the fence, you got to decide whether you're going to be with God or
00:30:12.580
not, and being a Christian is, isn't easy, but it's glorious and joyful, you know, and it'll
00:30:23.880
You'll find a joy deeper than you can ever describe, you know.
00:30:28.380
And they, and I think right now that's what God is doing.
00:30:32.240
He's separating the sheep from the goats and he's, he's drawing the line and slowly the
00:30:39.040
hundred year reign, I believe is going away from Publio the 13th.
00:30:42.680
And I've been praying and your, your listeners and they were watching this, please join me
00:30:49.400
in prayer and fighting for this for a moment in time.
00:30:53.240
When the evil one was given a hundred years, will he give us a moment in time to turn back
00:30:59.980
to him and our loved ones to turn back to him with not that powerful influence that they've