Introduction: Crushed Beneath a Truck
On November 16, 2006, diesel mechanic Bruce Van Natta’s life changed forever. What began as a routine day of repairs turned into a nightmare that would leave doctors baffled and Bruce himself convinced that God had intervened.
While finishing up work on a Peterbilt logging truck, Bruce crawled underneath to inspect an oil leak. In a split second, disaster struck. The jack slipped, and the five-ton axle came crashing down directly across his midsection.
“The front axle had come down across my midsection like a blunt guillotine, the five to six tons of weight nearly cutting me in two,” Bruce recalls in his book Saved by Angels (Destiny Image, 2008). “In a moment of panic, I tried to bench press the ten thousand plus pound mass off of me. When reality set in, I realized the gravity of the situation and called out ‘God help me!’ twice.”
The driver scrambled to re-jack the truck, and Bruce managed to pull his head out from beneath the bumper. Blood began coming from his mouth, and he knew his body was shattered. Yet even as he drifted between life and death, something extraordinary happened.
Out-of-Body and Angelic Encounter
“The next thing I remember, I was at least 10 or 15 feet above the scene, looking down at myself and the whole situation… The most incredible thing wasn’t that I was having this experience; it was what I saw next.”
Bruce describes watching two enormous angels kneeling on either side of his crushed body. “They had very broad shoulders and looked to be extremely muscular. There were no wings. … They were wearing white or ivory robes, surrounded by a yellowish light. The angels never moved; they were as steady as statues. … I got to see the two angels that saved my life!”
From above, Bruce noticed details that amazed him—the glowing robes of rope-like fabric, the sheer size of the angels towering over the six-foot truck driver, their presence calm and immovable as they braced under the truck. He felt peace, even as medical responders on the ground doubted whether he could live.
A Battle Between Life and Death
Even after he returned to his body, Bruce felt torn between two voices—one urging him to close his eyes and give up, the other whispering that if he wanted to live, he would need to fight. He thought of his wife and children and chose to fight.
Doctors later admitted his survival defied medical science. He had suffered catastrophic injuries, including severed arteries that should have caused him to bleed out within minutes. Instead, he lived through hours of trauma, multiple surgeries, and, ultimately, a miraculous recovery.
Nine months later, further miracles followed. Scans revealed that Bruce’s small intestine, which had been surgically reduced to the bare minimum for survival, had somehow grown back to a length doctors considered impossible. Bruce attributes this restoration to prayer and the healing power of God.
A Message of Hope and Survival
Bruce’s story is more than just a near-death experience. It is a powerful testimony that God still sends His messengers when we call out to Him in desperation. His encounter with angels at the moment of near-certain death is a reminder that heaven is near and that God’s presence is not bound by the limits of medical possibility.
As Bruce himself says, “People are affected when confronted with the truth of God’s reality, mercy, and love. When I tell people about seeing the angels who saved my life, it permanently affects them.”
Read the Full Story in Saved by Angels
The scene beneath the truck was only the beginning of Bruce Van Natta’s extraordinary journey. In his book Saved by Angels, he shares not only the details of his miraculous rescue but also the many ways God speaks to people through angels, prayer, Scripture, and everyday circumstances.
👉 Don’t miss the full story. Get Bruce Van Natta’s Saved by Angels today on Amazon.
