Mike Olsen entered the operating room expecting to receive a new pair of lungs.
Instead, the longtime minister says he crossed the boundary between life and death—and encountered the man whose death had made his transplant possible.
Olsen’s journey began years earlier with a devastating diagnosis. In 2014, doctors told him he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a terminal lung disease that left him dependent on oxygen around the clock.
The prognosis was grim. Olsen says his pulmonologist told him to put his affairs in order and suggested he might have only two years to live.
Rather than asking God why the illness had happened, Olsen asked what God wanted to accomplish through it.
“I heard Him say, ‘Mike, trust Me,’” Olsen recalled during an appearance on “Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural!”
To order Sid Roth’s new book, The Glory Story, visit Amazon.com.
Those two words became an anchor as Olsen waited four years for a double-lung transplant. Shortly before the call finally came, his wife dreamed that he would receive new lungs, while a friend said she saw a vision of lungs descending from heaven and being placed inside his chest.
During the approximately 15-hour transplant surgery, however, something went terribly wrong. Olsen says a clamp was removed prematurely, causing him to lose blood in his body.
“I was coming off the operating table, and I’m going, ‘I think I’m dead,’” Olsen said.
He described seeing swirling, rainbow-colored lights that he understood to be angels.
According to Olsen, they sang, “Mike’s coming home,” before the Lord declared that he was only there for a visit.
Olsen says he suddenly found himself in heaven, surrounded by brilliant light, overwhelming peace and the presence of Jesus.
“I couldn’t remember any sin I ever committed because Jesus’ blood washed it all away,” he said.
Then Olsen remembered that another person had died so he could receive the lungs he needed.
“I want to thank my organ donor,” Olsen recalled thinking.
He says Jesus appeared beside the donor. As Olsen attempted to express his gratitude, Jesus placed a hand on his shoulder and delivered a life-changing declaration.
“Mike, these are your new lungs. Receive them,” Olsen recalled Jesus saying.
Olsen agreed, choosing to return because he believed he still had unfinished work and wanted to be with his wife and son. After spending 10 days in a coma, he awoke and told a friend that he had met his organ donor in heaven. Remarkably, Olsen’s wife said she had already sensed the same thing while he was unconscious.
Near-death experience survivor Randy Kay joined Olsen and shared his own glimpse of heaven. Kay recounted standing with Jesus in a magnificent field where everything was alive and flourishing. There, a toy fox terrier named Casey—Kay’s beloved childhood dog—ran toward him and leaped into his arms.
To order Randy Kay’s new book, Heaven Encounters, visit Amazon.com.
Kay said Jesus told him, “I give you the desires of your heart.”
The encounter revealed a depth of divine love that people often underestimate.
“When you look into His eyes, you will see consummate love for you,” Kay said. “He will see you and know you as no one has ever known you before.”
Yet both men stressed that testimonies of heaven are not meant to produce escapism. They are meant to awaken urgency.
“This is a workstation,” Kay said of earthly life. “We are here to do work.”
He urged believers to live as citizens of heaven while there is still time to reach the hurting, the forgotten and those who do not yet know Christ.
Heaven is real, Jesus is near, and no life surrendered to God is without purpose. No matter what one has had to endure, it is part of a greater story—one that points beyond death and toward the eternal hope found in Christ.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
