Man who briefly died during surgery revealed who he saw in the operating room that left him shocked

Mike McKinsey, a man from California, had a life-changing experience after he nearly died during surgery in 2004. He had been suffering from severe stomach pain, not knowing that his appendix had actually burst. Three days later, on August 9, he walked into a hospital in Ventura, about 90 minutes from Los Angeles. What happened next would change his view of life forever.

Once at the hospital, doctors rushed him into emergency surgery. He remembered saying goodbye to his wife before being taken to the operating room. The moment they wheeled him in, he noticed how freezing cold the room felt, even though he had a fever of 104 degrees and was sweating heavily. He was then moved onto the narrow surgical table and felt like there was barely any space to rest his arms. That’s when everything changed.

As he lay on the table, he suddenly saw someone standing next to him. He looked to his right and, to his complete surprise, saw Jesus. He described it as not just a vision or a dream, but something incredibly real—more real than normal life. In that moment, everything else in the room vanished. There were no nurses, no doctors—just Jesus standing there.

At first, Mike was confused. He had heard stories of near-death experiences, where people say they float above their bodies. But he wasn’t floating, so he didn’t immediately think he had died. Still, what he was experiencing didn’t feel like a dream. It was more intense, more vivid—like stepping into a different world.

He described Jesus as looking very different from the way he imagined as a child. His skin was darker, like that of an Arab man, and he wore a white robe. His hair was wavy and brown, and his eyes were a deep mix of green and blue. Mike said when Jesus looked into his eyes, it felt like he was looking straight into his soul. He was overwhelmed by the love he felt radiating from him. It was so powerful that Mike had no doubt this was Jesus.

Then Jesus reached out his hands and asked him a question that took Mike by surprise—did he want his prayers answered? Mike suddenly remembered that as a child, he used to pray and ask Jesus to show him heaven. That moment, standing face-to-face with Jesus, felt like the answer to that childhood prayer.

Mike believes this powerful experience, which happened over 20 years ago, was real. He had been clinically dead for as long as 45 minutes before doctors brought him back to life. But during that time, he says, he met Jesus—and that moment has stayed with him ever since.