True Christian Testimonies That Will Strengthen Your Faith | Mark Ellis

What happens when God intervenes at the last possible moment?
In this powerful episode of Truth Behind the Mike with Mike Stone, Christian journalist Mark Ellis (GodReports.com) shares jaw-dropping true stories of faith, survival, and eternity.

Mark has spent 25 years collecting real, verified testimonies of God at work—from the only known survivor inside the 9/11 impact zone, to an atheist professor who encountered hell during a near-death experience, to an astronaut who met Jesus on the moon.

These aren’t emotional exaggerations. They’re documented encounters that point to one undeniable truth: God is near, active, and still changing lives today.

📘 Get Mark’s book: When Kingdom Light Shines
🌐 More testimonies: https://www.GodReports.com

🎙️ Subscribe for more faith-building conversations

Key Topics in This Episode:
• 9/11 survivor testimony
• Near-death experiences & eternity
• Evidence for Christian faith
• Testimony as spiritual warfare
• God’s presence in modern times

👉 If you’ve ever wondered “Is God really real?” — this episode is for you.

Time-Stamped Chapters:

00:00 – Atheist Near-Death Experience Begins
 01:10 – Who Is Howard Storm? A “Double Atheist”
 03:05 – Dying in a Paris Hospital with No Hope
 06:05 – Crossing Into the Spiritual Realm
 08:40 – On the Edge of Hell: What He Saw
 11:15 – The Power of the Name of Jesus
 13:30 – Atheist to Believer: A Life Changed Forever

14:55 – Why Testimonies Matter More Than Ever
 16:05 – The Only Known Survivor from the 9/11 Impact Zone
 18:30 – Inside the Tower When the Plane Hit
 21:05 – A Modern-Day Fiery Furnace
 23:15 – God’s Presence in the Final Moment

24:40 – Astronaut Encounters Jesus on the Moon
 26:45 – “Where Can I Go From Your Presence?”
 28:15 – How These Stories Strengthen Faith
 30:10 – Mark Ellis’ Mission: Collecting God’s Stories
 31:45 – Where to Get When Kingdom Light Shines
32:50 – Final Encouragement & Closing Thoughts

Transcript

0:00

Howard Storm calls himself a double atheist because he was. He was an art professor at a liberal college far away from ever knowing the Lord and a confirmed atheist. His wife was an atheist. And he found himself on the very edge of hell. And if you've seen the replay of the video of that, the second tower being hit, the planes coming in like level, and then right before it hit, hits the wing kind of tips up. And the bottom of that wing went through the top of his office. I mean, he was in the air. He's the only known survivor from the impact zone. Well, I always have said, God, stories are the best stories, and there's nothing that excites my heart more than to hear another believers share their testimony. What if I told you the most powerful evidence for God isn't an argument? It's a story. Well, today's guest has spent 25 years collecting real, documented testimonies of God at work. Not folklore, not hype, but lives that were radically changed. Today, we're talking about the only known survivor inside the 9/11 impact zone, an atheist professor whose near-death experience shattered his worldview, and an astronaut who encountered Jesus Christ on the moon. These stories aren't meant to entertain you. They're meant to confront you. This is Truth Behind the Mike, and this conversation just might change the way you see God. Welcome back to Behind the Mike. And today we've got Mark Ellis with us. And you heard a little bit about who he is. But Mark, thank you for being with us today. I'm so excited to talk about you and what you're doing. You've captured my attention. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. For those who are watching or listening who have never heard of Mark Ellis, can you give us a little background? And then I want to dig into something that caught my attention and made me respond to your publicist. Well, I was raised in a nominally Christian home and only went to church very occasionally. My parents foolishly sent me up to, to Berkeley, and, I like to say, when I graduated from Berkeley, I was an educated fool because I did not know God. And that took another ten years of me through my 20s, living for myself and I finally, at a friend's, recommendation, read the book "Evidence That Demands A Verdict" by Josh McDowell. And it was the chapter on the resurrection that caused me when I finished reading that, that chapter, I got down on my knees, read the prayer at the end of the book, and immediately I noticed things were different. It was as if one operating system had been removed and a new operating system had been put in, because I had a whole different way of looking at the world. Just in those first moments. A lot of us have those kind of stories. I was raised in a Christian home, so I. I had more of the question of, am I going to ride on the coattails of my grandparents and my parents, or am I going to dig into this for myself? And that's what I did. So, I appreciate stories like yours where, something or I should say someone. The Lord just reaches you in a specific way and turns you toward him. So Berkeley, what was what was life at Berkeley like? I've got a son that's in college right now. And that was a concern of mine, was what's going to happen to him? But Berkeley is a little bit even more of a different story. What was it like in that situation? Well, my my freshman year, Patty Hearst was kidnaped. I don't know if you remember. Yeah, I do. She was kidnaped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the SLA, and that was very close to the dorms where I was living. And, Berkeley is probably the only place where the SLA had a popular following. So, on the on the day that they had a shootout in LA and the leader, Cinque, was killed in a fiery shootout, somebody spray paint spray painted on the law library steps where I happened to be studying. Long live Cinque, long live the SLA. When there was still red wet paint that looked like blood when I was coming out of the library. And, so the student body was probably not a lot different than a lot of the other UC campuses, but the surrounding community was pretty radical. Still, things had subsided. I got there in the early 70s, so the Vietnam War was over. Or winding down, I should say. I had a high draft number. So there were not the protest activities against the war, but still the residue of of the, of the hippie movement was there in full force and lots and lots of marijuana around, lots of, you know, lots of that kind of stuff. So I fully imbibed in my freshman year. And, then I got more serious about school. The subsequent, the subsequent years. So I'm curious, being in that environment and like you said, you called it a nominal Christian home. What even possessed you to pick up the book by Josh McDowell to even read it? Well, I, I, had been living for myself through my 20s, as I mentioned, after graduation, started attending a singles, group connected to a church. More to meet girls than to meet God. And so for seven years I was in that group. The message was going in one ear and out the other, and I was just kind of focused on, you know, social life. But finally I heard a guy mention that book title, and somehow it just lodged in my brain. And I thought, you know, I'm 29 years old. I kind of believe in God, but I'm not sure about Jesus. I really need to figure this out, you know? What do I really believe? And I thought, this sounds like a book that will answer my questions. And it was it gave me the evidence that I needed for faith. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people out there who can say that about that particular book. And, grateful for Josh McDowell’s ministry and now Sean McDowell and what they're doing. So, speaking of books, this is what caught my attention. You you've spent the last. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think the last 25 years writing this book called "When Kingdom Light Shines". Now, I've never authored a book, but I never assumed that it took that long to write a book. So tell us why it took you 25 years to write"When Kingdom Light Shines"? Well, I was in the business world for 18 years and answered a call in the Christian ministry, was an assistant pastor at a small church in Laguna Beach, California. And on the side I was doing writing in, in kind of vision for doing Christian journalism and met a guy named Dan Wooding who had, born in Africa, son of missionaries straight from the faith, but came back to the Lord in a big way after taking a, trip to Uganda after Eddie Amin and saw the horrors that had been inflicted on Christians there. And really kind of came back to the Lord and decided he wanted to, turn his journalism skills toward Christian, subjects. So I started writing with Dan, in 1999, contributing stories. He let me do that. My first assignment was covering Promise Keepers in L.A in 1999. So, over those the next 25 years, I was introduced to really inspiring people. Got to meet them and tell their stories. And this book has 60 of my favorite stories collected over those 25 years. Wow, wow. I remember Promise Keepers well, and I remember walking away with my my head just kind of spinning at the stories that I heard, at the conferences, let alone actually being more connected there. So. So tell us, what what captivated you? We know early on the stories there, but what captivated you to continue collecting stories and compile them into this? Into what is now a book? Well, I always have said God's stories are the best stories, and there's nothing that excites my heart more than to hear another believers share their testimony. So I know my website, which is called GodReports.com. I've collected 1400 Christian testimonies, most most written by myself, and every testimony. We connect to a page that presents the gospel that's operated by global media outreach. And so we can track people who receive Christ. And we have about 30 people a month receiving Christ from our stories. So that's really gratifying to know that there's an impact. And we know his word does not return void. And there's power in testimonies, we hear in the book of revelation that they overcome, overcame the attacks of the enemy and his designs through the blood of the lamb and the the word of their testimony. So I love collecting those. And I'll be doing that till I draw my last breath. Yeah. We live in an age right now with the internet, where we are inundated with information, with stories, and I think we're starting to see that with all that information out there, what truly matters is what you're talking about. And that is testimony. That is eye witness, that is personal stories of, in this case, how God has changed my life or affected my life in some way. So I absolutely that's what really drew me to this interview, was talking to you and finding out through these stories, first of all, what it's done to your faith. I'm typically a a skeptical person. I'm a believer, but I've heard a lot of stories over the years. I was accepted. Christ at 12 years old, and I remember hearing lots of stories that sounded very fabricated. Now it's hard to it's hard to determine fabricated stories, so I'm typically skeptical about that. But I also know the power and how God uses our stories to affect the lives of others. We are the church, and we are supposed to be sharing the gospel, and a part of that is sharing our stories. So, how did this change as you're going through these? How did how did this these writings, these testimonies and stories change your perspective on eternity? Well, I think all of us go through ups and downs in our Christian life. And part of the reason for the book and, and wanting to put these stories together is that I have seen that effect in my own life and, remembering what God has done not only in my life and all these other witnesses that I that I've talked to. So when you need a spiritual boost, which, you know, happens, probably regularly for most. Yeah. You know, it's good. It's good to dwell on good reports, I think, because we can turn on the news and really get bummed out right now. Yeah. You know, it's. And, so we need encouraging stories. We need to be lifted up and have our faith fortified, so to speak. Yeah, and that's true for me, too. Yeah, absolutely. I think that, part of the reason that I'm doing this is, is years ago, just a way to encourage people because I know myself, you can walk closely with the Lord, but, boy, we live in the world, and the world's constantly pulling you away from him, trying to pull you away. And and demanding your attention. Sometimes it's hard to, You catch yourself going, where am I at? What am I doing? And, things like depression are all time highs now. So I think stories definitely help keep us grounded. Let's talk about the 9/11 survivor. That was one story that I had heard about that really captured my attention. What happened and what convinced you that this wasn't one of those fabricated or coincidence stories? Well, I, I had the opportunity to interview Stanley Praimnath, and I was able to verify that, you know, he was there on the morning of 9/11. He was on the 81st floor of tower two. And, so his story is, a legitimate story. There's also another man who helped rescue him. And, so it it definitely his story is, is, in legit story. And he was there, as I said, in the morning of 9/11, his tower was the second one to be hit. So he started getting all these phone calls in his office, you know. Stan, are you okay? What's. You know, how are you? And he didn't even know what had happened. But he looked at the window and he started seeing the fiery debris falling from the other tower. And he was going to he was going to evacuate his building. But at that point, they were telling people, your tower two is fine. Stay where you are. Okay? I mean, nobody had any idea that another plane would hit his tower. Sure. Stanley is a guy who, was an immigrant, had worked his way out to hard work to become the, to oversee all of Fuji Bank's operations. And on the 80, let's see, the 81st floor. And that's like one acre, 40,000ft². And Stanley was one of the few Christians who worked at Fuji Bank. And he went every day. He'd eat lunch at his desk. He had his Bible on his desk. He'd read the Bible, eat his lunch. So he's standing, next to his desk on the phone, looking out toward the Statue of Liberty, and he sees a jet coming straight toward his office. He said it was right at eye level. Mine. And even though it was a soundproof building, he said he could hear the engines revving right before it hit the building. And if you've seen the replay of, that of the video of that, the second tower being hit, the planes coming in, like, level and then right before it hit hits the the wing kind of tips up, and the bottom of that wing went through the top of his office. Okay. I mean, he was in the he's the only known survivor from the impact zone. So when, right before it hit, he cried out to the Lord, said, you know, Jesus saved me. And he dove under his desk. And of course, he was engulfed in a massive fireball because of the jet fuel that exploded. So I look at at is it as a modern day case of Meshach, Shadrach in a Bendigo, in the fiery furnace? Yeah. And there was a fourth man in the furnace who was his rescuer. Yeah. And, so when he when he pulled his head out from under his desk, everything around him had been destroyed. Okay. Only that desk was standing. All the ceilings had collapsed, the sprinklers were going, there's a massive fireball around him, and, the story. I don't want to be a spoiler. And I don't like. How of how God got him out of that fiery furnace. But it's it's a gripping story. And, he's, an inspiring person to talk to. That is phenomenal. I think for those of us that went through that 9/11, I was a thousand miles away in Missouri at the time, but working for an airline. So it was very impactful to us because, planes all over the country were landing at the small Springfield, Missouri airport, because they brought all the the aircraft down. That is a very impactful story. There's another one, two that I'm curious about. And that's the atheist professor's near-death experience. Now that just seems like a loaded story, full of all kinds of really impactful things as well. Can you talk a little bit about that issue? Yeah. Howard Storm, calls himself a double atheist because he was he was an art professor at a liberal college and, you know, far away from ever, knowing the Lord and a confirmed atheist. His wife was an atheist. He was leading an art tour in Europe in the summertime. And they had just, finished up a tour in Paris, and he had a medical emergency. He was standing in his hotel room. He felt this sharp pain in his stomach. And he had a, perfect perforation of the small, stomach, which is similar to a burst appendix. Wow. And that you need to have surgery within a short a certain number of hours, or you're going to die from peritonitis. Septic shock. Yeah, leading to death. So he went to the hospital in Paris. It's a socialist medical system there. Doctors do a certain fixed number of surgeries during the week, like seven surgeries, and then they're off for the weekend. So the hospital couldn't find someone to come in and do the surgery there. I fall all off in the country or something. Wow. So he's he's he's laying in this bed. Not even they didn't even have sheets on the bed. Did not give him any anesthesia. No. No meds or anything. He's just laying there feeling like he's going south in a hurry. And, then they came in and they said, you know, we're sorry we're not able to find a doctor. And he said he kind of gave up hope. And after that he felt you've heard these stories of like a body rising above your soul, rising above and looking down. Yeah. And that was that was him. He was looking down on his body in the bed and just kind of hovering there. And he started yelling, he said, but nobody could hear him. And then, some people appeared in the doorway and they said, Howard, come with us. So he thought they were on the staff of the hospital and that they had found a doctor in the other leading him to surgery. So he goes with these people, and he thought it was a little funny because they were speaking unaccented English and everybody else spoke, you know, French or had a strong accent, accented French attempting to speak English. But he thought it was a little funny. And so he's walking with, they're going down this long hallway, and it's getting darker and darker and more gray and dark the farther they move down this hallway. And he's thinking, this is this is really strange. And, it is at a certain point, it's it's getting so dark that he it's hard to see. And he says, wait a second, I'm not going any further with you. And then he kind of put up a fight and they started fighting with each other, okay? And he found himself on the very edge of hell. And, His descriptions of, you know, people, the darkness, people crying out in agony, all of these things present such a powerful portrait of what hell may be like. It's, when you read this particular story, you will. You will conclude. I never want to risk eternity to that, to to going to hell. Wow. But while he was while he was in this terrible predicament, he heard the still small voice, a still small voice saying, pray to the Lord. And he thought, that's strange, I don't pray. I'm an atheist. And, so he racked his brain. He had gone to Sunday school as a little child, so he tried to remember any little tidbit of something like, so he said, Jesus loves me. This, I know for the Bible tells me so. And they started they started, cursing at him, maligning at him, these people that were surrounding him, that had been fighting with him. Wow. And saying, God doesn't care about you. And but he noticed that when he did that, they, they they sort of backed away from him. And so then he brought out another like, you know, something that he remembered some little tidbit, the Lord is my shepherd. And as he did that, he noticed they were backing further away when he when he gave them some little voice and finally he cried out, Jesus, save me! And that was the moment when a bright light appeared and pulled him out of that, situation. And, Howard survived, went back into that hospital room and, when he woke up from this whole ordeal following surgery, all he wanted to talk about was Jesus and heaven and hell. His wife, didn't want to hear about it, ended up divorcing him. And Howard later became a pastor. Wow. Okay, so the confirmed atheist. Yeah. You know, we talk a lot about the spiritual aspect of our lives and what goes on that we don't necessarily see. That's a perfect story. And it gives me chills because I believe, I believe that's what happens in our life every single day. Choices that we make, problems in our lives. If we could only see the spiritual realm of that, how strong that would continue to grow our faith, and most importantly, calling out to Jesus Christ at any moment in our lives. And he's there immediately. You said that shaft of light. I love that. I love the fact that, this takes me back to Frank Peretti’s book, “This Present Darkness” from years ago. And, I can I can envision in my mind what is happening in the spiritual, not just those drastic situations, but in our daily lives, the war that's going on. And I think that that is so profound, in his life, my goodness, what he remembered as a child. How important is it for us to hide the Word of God in our hearts? And that's a perfect example of that. My goodness. Yeah. I just wrote another one that's on our website, a similar. And I don't get too many of these. There are more, I think, near-death experiences of heaven than there are of hell. And I just recorded another one, a man named Odin Fong, who was, his parents were Hollywood actors played in the Charlie Chan movies. He grew up in a very privileged Hollywood environment, but got into the hippie movement, LSD and took a ton of LSD, and God took him on this trip to the edge of hell like this other man. And and it's it's a parallels that story in many ways. So that's it's very intriguing. Wow. To meet two people. Yeah. Who had a similar experience. Yeah, absolutely. Are there any other stories that just really stand out to you? I you've, I just want to say this to, at this point in our, in our, discussion, if you didn't know anything about Mark's book, those two stories are enough for me to go out and get it right now. And I don't have typically I do have read the book that we're going to talk about. I didn't have the opportunity to do that. I can guarantee you that will be on my doorstep here in the next few days because I am, I want to get Ahold of that. We all need those faith builders. So. Mark, thank you for doing that. What are these stories say to you about God's nearness? That last story, especially, just shows even at that last, very last moment, which most people don't get. God was near. Yes. Right. That's right. I mean, God showing up at the 11th hour. Yeah. There are the I prayed had a woman who was 100 years old pray to receive Christ with me. That's always a special, you know, gratifying moment to have someone at that age turn to the Lord. But at any moment, it could be your 11th hour, your dying day. It's never too late. That's right. And, so I have that hope. And no matter where you are, I. Another one of my favorites is, the story of James Irwin, the astronaut on the surface of the moon, having an encounter with Jesus. So, you know, that's 200 and 238,000 miles away. Wow. So, I, I interviewed his wife after Jim's death. Sadly, he left us, due to a heart attack at a fairly young age. But he was the eighth man to walk on the moon. The first to ride in the lunar rover. And he spent three days on the lunar surface collecting, rocks and doing experiments. And he ran into a problem with one of these experiments that he, you know, practiced on Earth. But somehow it was messing up on the surface of the moon. And he was a nominal believer. But he prayed to God. He said, God help me in this situation. And Jesus presence. When he prayed that prayer was so powerful, he looked behind him to see if Jesus was standing there and he never forgot that moment when he came back to earth. He was an unfired Christian. Wow. Because he had an encounter, even on the surface of the moon, with Jesus. So, he devoted the rest of his life to Christian ministry. Retired from NASA, he led several trips to find Noah's Ark and, his wife is fairly convinced about where it might be based on going through all of his research that he did. Wow, how astounding. I I'm always excited when, they find something. I think it was the Pool of Siloam. Recently that they've discovered. And it just continues to to provide us concrete proof, of things that we've read about for, well, stories that go back thousands of years and more. So, yeah. Pretty amazing. And I as far as the astronaut story, it just brought to mind immediately the passage in Psalm 139 that says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I make my bed in the depths you're there. If I settle on the far side of the sea, you're there. And, yeah, doing it on the moon puts another bit of tangible, way for me to understand that. That's very amazing. Yeah. Well, Mark, how is listening to all these stories affected how your faith walk and how you trust God? Well, I believe it is, strengthening, to faith to meditate on stories like this. And that's, as true for me as it is for anybody else. I do need a lift. From time to time. I can get into my own little pity party and and, feel like I've strayed. But due to distractions, we live in a distraction rich environment. And my one of my New Year's resolutions is to, have electronic and screen free evenings. So after dinner, it is shut off the phone, shut off the computer and read good books. So that's that's been my, my practice this year. And I think it's bearing some fruit because, you know, after walking with the Lord for 40, over 40 years now, you do go through peaks and valleys and all of us do. So, I think I've had people ordering,"When Kingdom Light Shines", like multiple copies to give to friends and family because they think it will have an impact. Yeah, absolutely. If people want to explore these stories for themselves, tell us how we get Ahold of that book. I'm guessing I can go to Amazon on my phone after this conversation and get it, but tell us how we can get that. Yeah, it is on Amazon"When Kingdom Light Shines" and, I the cover, cover of the book I is a photo I took on the Sea of Galilee on a trip to Israel a year before the war broke out, so we were happy to be there before all that happened. Yeah. And, anyway, I hope, I hope people will be inspired by the stories I've collected."When Kingdom Light Shines". I'm getting my copy. I would encourage you to look and look in the description, here on YouTube or the show notes on the podcast and get your book. I know it will be inspiring to you. Just these stories that you've shared have just really, encouraged me that, in those down times and, and like you said, we all have them. Mark, thank you so much for joining us. I would love to have you back. I would love to have you share some more stories and things that are happening in your life. I know you're on a mission strip here shortly. I'd love to hear more about that and what you're doing. Tell us again, your website. It's GodReports.com. And then I also oversee AssistNews.net. That site is devoted to the persecuted church around the world. So GodReports.com. We collect inspiring stories, stories of interest to believers and the testimonies and then AssistNews.net, which was started by Dan Witting, the British journalist I mentioned. He's he's now left us. But, we devote all all all those stories to our suffering brothers and sisters around the world. And that's increasing. I think, you know, we're starting to see more and more, I, I hate to even call it, anything against the Christian church here in the US because we have no idea what's overseas, and what they're dealing with for the name of of Jesus Christ. But, I think we're seeing more of more of that here in the United States. And I think it just as a call to arms for all of us to decide, are we going to put our faith in Jesus Christ, or are we going to put our faith in ourselves or whatever's important to us in this life? And even the story from the atheist is enough to to push me and say, you know, we have to take this serious. And so, Mark, thank you again for joining us. I appreciate your time. Wish you best on your mission trip. And, I hope to have you back soon.