I was a very rebellious, wild, irresponsible, troubled and stupid young teenager very involved in the drug culture during the mid to late 60s. Not having any of our usual drugs of choice a friend and I decided to get high by sniffing gasoline. My friend didn't like it and said he'd just hang out while I got high. I thought I wasn't getting high enough so I decided to breathe nothing but gas fumes until I did.

I was sitting in a field looking at the blue sky. After a time I started to hear and feel a rhythmic driving hum, it seemed like the pulse of the universe. It was a dark, blacker than dark, curtain "closed" (more like the panels on an observatory than a curtain, dome-like or spherical). It was positioned from either side of my peripheral vision in to the center front of my field of vision and slammed shut, replacing the field and blue sky. I was looking at the hidden universe, lots of stars and different shaped objects and beings moving about. I was stunned. I felt completely stone-cold sober and had an extremely heightened awareness of my surroundings, but I had no idea what was happening.

My body and the normal world were completely gone, shrouded by the now closed curtain. After a while I was being drawn up, moving out into the void stretching to infinity. It seemed like I was being transported in some sort of transparent container, a bubble or something with lots of colors and activity inside and outside, all around. I was moving away from earth and as I looked around I could see others-- many other people--being transported away from earth like me. It was like a stream or river of beings moving along in the same direction. I somehow knew that they were people that had just died. There was really no sense of time passing, or that time was relevant. I didn't know what was happening, but up to that point I don't remember feeling any distress.

Suddenly everything changed for me, but not the others. I was suddenly violently jerked out of the stream of people by a powerful and extremely malevolent force. I was quickly being inflicted with terror and pain. A horrible being was forcing me down and away from all others, into the center of the universe. The pain I felt increased exponentially with each pulse of the hum which I was still hearing, and I dropped a level in the contracting universe at each beat. I became more aware of the being who took me there. I somehow knew him and he told me that somehow he hated me beyond description, and intended to torture me this way forever, with ever increasing pain. He was taking extreme pleasure in my suffering and terror, and laughing evilly at me. I tried to plead with him. I don't think we actually spoke, just communicated. He told me with relish that I was going to be there forever in this place with him. It was like I was in the center of a black hole that was being swallowed by another and another for eternity, causing me more and more anguish with each pulse like the contraction of the universe before the big bang. I was at the center and focal point of all gravity, mass and time. I felt absolute horror! Terror! No words can describe it. In my desperation I screamed to God for mercy. I promised to change my ways if I got another chance. The being laughed at me and told me that he was God, and welcome to my eternal future with him. He said this with extreme pride and contempt toward my idea of God. All that was in me lashed out, and I screamed at him: "NO YOU'RE NOT!" Then instantly I was back in my body.

I was lying in a heap and my friend was panicking. He said my eyes rolled back in my head, I convulsed, and fell over dead.  I had been completely dead for several minutes. No sign of life at all. He looked totally amazed and confused. I got up and we walked home. I didn't tell him or anyone else what happened for some time. After that I researched religion. When I read the bible, I knew it was true; Jesus is the way to truth and life, just like he said. I did keep my promise to God, and I always thank Him for his mercy.

P.S. In my early youth I had many drug induced hallucinations and was quite familiar with them. This had no resemblance to a hallucination. I believe my friend who swears he was truthful and that he made an accurate analysis on whether I was alive or not.