Trapped on the side of a mountain in Canada and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite, a young Peter Panagore knew he was dying.

“I felt myself being sucked out of my core like a vacuum,” said Panagore, a retired pastor who is now host of a daily two-minute inspirational radio broadcast on NBC stations.

Unable to resist the force that was pulling him from his body, Panagore found himself in front of a gigantic door and heard the voice of God with no voice and no language. That voice told him he was dead, said Panagore in a video interview in which he describes the experience that prompted him to attend Yale Divinity School and eventually, to write the book “Heaven is Beautiful.”

Panagore will speak at St. Andrews Village May 3 at 1 p.m. about that book and his near-death experience.

Following the talk, Panagore will answer questions for about a half-hour and then will be available to sign copies of “Heaven is Beautiful.”

Panagore said that while he didn’t talk about his experience publicly for decades, it had a profound effect on the rest of his life.

After finishing his undergraduate education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he went on to Yale Divinity School. One of the things he hoped to find there was a better understanding of what had happened to him.

“I hoped to find people like me among and inside of the ancient books of mystical and contemplative writings. I went to find God, or to find how to find God, or understand what had happened to me,” said Panagore.

As a minister, he has sat with dying people, holding their hands and praying with them, helping to ease their transition out of the world.

He said he is not interested in convincing anybody of the truth of his experience, but at the same time, he offers a message of hope.

“I know that I am beloved and I know that you are too and I know that everybody is and I know that this is not the end of life (when you die), this is just the passage through to real life,” said Panagore on the video.

For more information about the talk on May 3, or to RSVP, please call St. Andrews Village at 633-0920. The talk is free and open to the public but space is limited, so please call if you plan to attend. For more information about St. Andrews Village, please call Bob Drury at 633-0920.