Pronounced Dead

WASILLA — In 1989, Pastor Don Piper was on his way back from a church conference in Texas when an 18-wheeler crossed into his lane and struck his Ford Escort head on. Piper was killed instantly — pronounced dead by four sets of EMTs. Shortly after the wreck, a pastor from the same conference arrived on the scene and began praying for Piper, singing him a hymn. According to Piper, God worked a miracle and sent him back to a broken body. It was 90 minutes he’d never forget.

Today, Piper will offer his true story of death and life at First Baptist Church in Wasilla.

“Crossing a bridge in the middle of nowhere, a truck hit me head on,” Piper said from Talkeetna this week. “Four other cars were involved, but no one was severely hurt. I was killed on the scene.”

In his 2004 book, “90 Minutes in Heaven,” Piper, who lives in Texas, recalls the incident as if it were yesterday.

After being examined by the EMTs who had arrived at the wreck site, everyone had determined Piper had expired.

“My body was covered with a tarp and the CSI were sent to the scene,” he said. “During that time, I had a Heaven experience, not a near death experience. I was dead for 90 minutes.”

According to reports, traffic on both sides of the Trinity River bridge was backed up for miles. Another pastor asked police if there was someone involved in the accident that he could pray for.

“He’s dead,” a policeman said, pointing at Piper’s body. The pastor reportedly then heard God say to him that he should go and pray for the man in the red car. He walked through the wreckage and began singing a hymn to the man under the tarp.

Piper’s church was notified, but not told on phone he was deceased. His ministry began praying, calling other churches in the area to pray as well.

“Ninety minutes later, at 11:45 a.m., with this pastor singing, and thousands of others praying for me, under the tarp, in the dark, I started humming the hymn back,” he said “The pastor was so shocked, he leapt out of the way and told police that I was alive.”

Piper was taken to a trauma center in Houston where he then spent 13 months and since has undergone 34 operations. His left leg and arm were surgically reattached with steel rods and he had screws put into his skull and one in his leg. Doctors told him he’d never walk again.

For the next 14 years, Piper kept what he experienced to himself. Heaven was exactly what he had imagined.

In his book, “90 Minutes in Heaven,” Piper describes the heaven he encountered in great detail.

“It’s the most overwhelming real experience that I had ever had,” he said. “I saw these people I once knew, meeting me at these enormous gates. They were perfect, ageless and without scars or blemishes, and so was I.”

Piper said that as destroyed and beaten he was back on Earth, in Heaven, he was in the best condition.

“Heaven was a great reunion and place of perfection,” he said. “My grandfather, who I loved, was there was to receive me. My former next-door neighbor, who I had known since a small child and had a huge spiritual impact on my life, was also there. It was a welcoming committee of sorts where all had an impact on me being there. I was delighted and overwhelmed.”

Piper goes on to explain that while in Heaven, his senses were on fire. The streets, paved in gold, shined. Heaven’s gates, made of pearl, glistened. Indescribable, he said, was the music he had never heard before or the colors he had never seen. It was quality and quantity, rolled into one.

“It was like a buffet to the senses,” Piper said. “I didn’t want to leave. I was terribly disappointed when I did. If you had been there, you didn’t want to be here, on Earth.”

Piper said that when he crossed the threshold, everything suddenly became dark, the beautiful sounds faded, and he soon found himself back in his car. He was alive.

“I didn’t tell anybody what had happened,” he said. “Eventually, 14 years later I told a friend who said ‘Why do you think you experienced it if you were supposed to keep it to yourself?’ Then I figured that if I wrote the book, then people won’t ask about it anymore. It was therapy in a way.”

Today, at the First Baptist Church in Wasilla, Piper will retell the story of the day he died and offer suggestions from his book on how others can obtain Heaven.

“God had another plan, radically different than what I had in mind,” he said. “Now I’m resigned to tell this story. I want to send as many people to Heaven as possible.

In his book, Piper explains exactly how to get There. His Web site (Donpiperministries.com) reiterates what he tells his audiences on tour. Jesus is the way.

“Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth, the life.’ Jesus is the way to Heaven. When I spend time there in Wasilla, I’ll describe Heaven. The biggest reaction is people are interested on how to get through disasters and losses. I had to figure that out myself. I’m determined the best way to overcome this is to help others overcome their tragedies, try to help people get through their pain. I know what that feels like. You can’t spend 13 months in a hospital bed and not have something to say. I know that now.”

In the past four years since the book was published, Piper said he has been approached by people and organizations claiming his book and story is a hoax. He said with every non-believer comes a string of supporters. He knows what he saw, and that’s that.

Piper said his book is about answered prayer, the miracles of how to live and love life again, and how to find the reality of Heaven.

“There will always be skeptics,” he said. “I’m passing on the message of aspiring to be a better person here on Earth, that’s all.”

Last year, according to the New York Times Book Review, “90 Minutes in Heaven” was the eighth best-selling best book in the United States, selling almost 3 million copies in 28 languages to date.

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” Piper said.

Piper said he waited 14 years to tell his story because her understood the prejudicial disbelief people would have, opting to keep his experience personal instead of making it public fodder. When he finally told a friend, it was a relief.

“I try to give hope to people who hear my story,” he said. “How to live a better life and offer more hope on what happens after.”

Piper said his touring calendar is full until August of 2009, mainly visiting churches of all denominations across the country requesting to recount his experience.

Piper resides in Pasadena, Texas, and is a member First Baptist Church of Pasadena, where he resigned as pastor shortly after his book was released.

“This is my first time to Alaska,” Piper said. “It’s truly fantastic and I really like the people.”

Don Piper will speak today at the First Baptist Church in Wasilla at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., and 6 p.m. He will return at 7 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, 352-2269.