Revised Edition: The True Story of a Young Boy's Miraculous Return from Death

The book is written around 2010 by Billy's brother about an incident that occurred in 1970. Billy had no memory of the event and they used hypnosis to recover the memories.The book describes the hypnosis session -- at which the author was present -- in quite a bit of detail. Unfortunately, the hypnotist (a trained certified clinical hypnotist) did a lot of things that are "no-no's" in memory recovery. I'm comparing to a Texas criminal court case appellate opinion in which hypnosis was used to get an accurate drawing of an armed robber, and also the book Scientific Report on the Search for Bridey Murphy, which discusses hypnosis in detail. Both went into detail about the problems that can arise in memory recovery (conflation and confabulation) if the hypnotist uses poor techniques.Hypnotized people are VERY susceptible to suggestion. Police trained to use hypnosis for memory recovery sit behind the subject so the subject can't see the questioner's body language, facial expressions, etc. They also speak in a fairly monotone voice, because vocal inflections can serve as keys. And most of all, NO leading questions!THIS hypnotist REPEATEDLY used VERY leading questions, e.g.:"[I see sheep in a field in Heaven].""Bill, do you see God?"... "What does He look like?"... "Is there a message from God? Is He speaking to you?"[Billy is talking with Jesus.]... "Can you ask Him if there's a purpose in your going back?"... "Will God or Jesus heal you now?"[Billy says he sees angels.]... "Are they your Guardian Angels, then? Are these three angels your guardians in life?"A major problem is that the use of these poor techniques leaves the book wide open to criticism that Bill may have unintentionally fabricated things in response to the suggestions of the hypnotist. I personally don't think he did, but that is a valid criticism that severely reduces the reliability of the "evidence".Also, the book has ALMOST NOTHING about heaven. Billy felt he was traveling through a tunnel several times, he saw Jesus but really only focused on his face and doesn't remember that well (he was 5). He saw angels and what he thinks were sheep but no other people or animals. There was lots of music. In one place the sky was rainbow COLORED, NOT an actual rainbow. That's pretty much it regarding heaven.I highly recommend the book My Time in Heaven by Richard Sigmund. Sigmund was dead for about 8 hours and his book has EXTENSIVE descriptions of heaven and there was no use of "memory recovery" techniques that are known to often produce distorted or false memories.

This book was incredibly boring - mot of it is about the family, the parents, the kids, their lives together - it really is just a biography of a family - AND an overly long Christian proselytizing tract. The actual incident is very brief in the book. The bits about hypnosis don't make sense if you know anything about hypnosis and how the brain works, and the book is misnamed. "I saw God" should have been named "My Brother Saw God And I'll Tell You a Little About it but Mostly I'll Just Ramble About How Great My Family is."I'm glad these boys had wonderful parents and a great childhood. I did, too. But I didn't buy the book to read about that. I bought it to read a first-hand account of an NDE. I didn't get that. I got brother's spectacularly redundant, verbose narrative of a childhood.There was a little about a possible NDE - and at the end of the book, he has a prayer you are supposed to read that makes you a Christian. I found that highly offensive. ANY person who claims his religion is the only true religion and everyone else is going to hell offends me - and should offend ANY thinking person. I was so surprised to see that bit at the end I wanted my money back.I'm Christian - but NOT fundamentalist. I find people in my own religion who believe people who are not Christian are going to hell extremely offensive. I know FAR too many truly wonderful people of other religions - and atheists - to believe such a thing. And my own work in palliative medicine has taught me that EVERYONE goes to heaven. Everyone.If you're a fundamentalist Christian with very low standards for writing, you'll love this. If you aren't the sharpest tack in the drawer, you'll love this. If you expect writing to be engaging, intelligent, and succinct - and if you are not a fundamentalist Christian - you'll be disgusted by this thing. Don't waste your time or money on it.

I couldn't put the book down! I laughed with him! And I cried with him! And I certainly rejoiced and praised God with him when his little brother was healed and shocked everyone almost speechless! A beautiful story told beautifully! I'm so thankful to him for sharing this beautiful testimony of what God did in their lives! Praise God!

Like the author, I grew up in Ashland, Kentucky so I could clearly visualize the street where the accident happened, the trip to Huntington and the corridors of the hospital. I felt the anticipation as Jim told the story as they lived it. Try to imagine a time before cell phones and total disclosure; the family waited for their parents to return from the hospital each evening and didn't fully understanding the extent of the injuries.Billy was healed by God for a specific purpose. The memory of God's intervention eventually faded, leaving a nagging feeling there was more. Maybe, in the same sense many people long for more.These two brothers ventured the journey through the past to find the missing pieces and discover an amazing event! God has clearly gifted Jim to tell this beautiful story - one 40 years in the making!

Enjoyable, sweet read, told in an engaging way. Hopeful. Made me feel many of us may have these hidden memories like Billy.

Beautiful book, great family, even though this family suffered so much, God as always has a plan like he says at his time not ours. Please buy this wonderful book and believe in miracles, because he did one for me people don't believe it but yes he love's me so much that he healed me completely. God bless everyone who reads this book. Amen

Best book ever

Well written.. clear visually.. I can “see “ what he is saying just from his words! The only thing i wanted to see that he ( the author) missed was identifying his brothers and sisters in the family photo!

Lovely book to read. Well written and informative. Comforting gives one hope and inspiration. Thankyou so much James God bless you.

It’s an amazing story, worth reading

good book .

This book was okay, nothing spectacular. Mostly, it is the author's telling of the story, but no interviews, copies of medical reports, etc. to show proof of what he says. So, it's hard to tell whether this was true or not. Maybe it was written to make money, or maybe it's to spread a message. Based on the fact that there is little, if anything, to corroborate the story, I wouldn't recommend it as reading. Nonetheless, the message and purpose of the book is clear: turn your heart to God because He is real.