By Guiliana Calderon —
As an atheist, Dr. Donald Whitaker partied heavily — and it drove him into acute hemorrhagic necrotizing pancreatitis.
“I had been laying there in a coma, and while I was in a coma I heard these people speak about how sick I was and I how I was going to die,” Whitaker says.
He woke up from the coma after three days in Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, TX. His surgeon, Donald Duncan, spoke plainly: “Don, if you have anything to get right, if you have anything you need to sign, you get it done because we’re not sure you’re how long you have.”
“Duncan told my two sons that I would be dead before morning,” Whitaker says. “You do not live with acute hemorrhagic necrotizing pancreatitis.”
Atheism was good for the guy who wanted to flout morals, but for a dying man, atheism no longer sufficed.
“It’s very easy by an atheist when you’re successful, when you have worked your way from Oklahoma welfare to being one of the most powerful men in your part of the country. A man can sit back and say, ‘I don’t need God,'” Whitaker says.
“But it’s very difficult to be an atheist when you’re laying on your deathbed because you begin to think, ‘What if these people are right?'” Whitaker remembers.
He needed to get in contact with Ron Short, a friend who was a Christian with whom he debated about the existence of God. “He witnessed to me about the love of Jesus for five years,” Whitaker says. “I didn’t believe him, but I respected him.
“But when I’m laying on my death bed, I thought of him,” he adds. “I sent for Ron.”
Ron was in Alabama at the time. As he waited for Ron to travel to Texas, Whitaker tried to stay awake all night. He was afraid he would pass into eternity
“That night was the longest night of my entire life,” he recalls. “As I’m laying there in bed, I would begin to fade away. And as I would fade away, I would begin to go down into darkness. It was so, so
dark that it penetrated into your very, very being.
” I fought all night long.”
Ron came in the next day. After small talk, Ron led him in a sinner’s prayer.
“There was a peace that came over me like I had never known,” Whitaker says. “I’d searched for that peace. I’d searched for it in the bottles. Alcohol. I’d searched for it in needles. I’d search for it in drugs. I’d search for it with women. I’d search for it all types of places.
“I was no longer afraid.”
Incredibly, Whitaker did not die. He has stayed with Jesus through the years.
Related content: A hockey player’s NDE, Nicole Mullens domestic abuse, Danny Duncan used Tinder to have a place to escape homelessness. Source: Rooted Within
