This past Sunday (01.19.14), the dear people of Cornerstone EFC put up with some of my ‘speak-first-and-don’t-think-if-I-should-be-quiet’ moments. We were discussing developing a Christian worldview in light of modern medicine and end-of-life issues. A panel of four medical professionals (three doctors and one research engineer) helped us with a definition of death, when that occurs, why it’s difficult to measure and what should we, as Christians, do as we or a loved one approaches that point.
The question was asked by someone in the larger group, ‘What about those who testify to having died, visited heaven and returned to earth? Some books have been written recently about this.’ To which I promptly said, ‘Bunk; pure bunk. Don’t buy them. Don’t read them.’ While I hold to that advice and won’t back down from that, I went on to speak out of ignorance, not out of knowledge. I said these books (primarily two came to mind and were mentioned by others in the group: 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper and Heaven is Real by Todd Burpo) made few, if any, references to seeing Christ while in heaven.
I was wrong and I apologize. I ask the forgiveness of those who heard me say this. I was speaking beyond my knowledge, clearly an unwise thing to do for anyone, but especially for a pastor.
However, and I don’t mean this to take away from my request for anyone’s forgiveness, I do stand behind my advice to avoid these books. If they have been read by any of you, then seek to forget what you’ve read and go read another book, called The Bible, to see what it says about heaven. Heaven is real, not because of a man’s or young boy’s experience. You and I cannot base our hope upon the experience of others. Our hope is to be grounded in Jesus Christ, the only One who has opened the door to heaven for us. Be very cautious (and not just with these heavenly tourism type of books) with anything that seeks to have you, the reader, putting your faith and trust into heaven (or any other Scriptural concept) based upon someone’s experience of it. The problem with doing this is: it’s not your experience. You weren’t there. You can neither affirm or deny it.
Instead, we who believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative and all-sufficient Word of the One, True and Living God, trust that. The Bible does give us glimpses of heaven, but they are far from complete. Note carefully, in 2 Corinthians 12, that no less a figure than the Apostle Paul was ‘caught up to the third heaven’. Did he write a best-selling popular book about his discoveries and experiences? No; in fact, he says, ‘he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.’ Not only did he not, could he not talk about it, what he then experienced was not the world-wide fame and fortune many authors of heavenly tourism books receive, but rather ‘…to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.’
I was wrong in my assertions about some of the content of these books. I was adamant in those assertions in a rather foolish manner. I now see that. Wisdom tells me that caution would have been the better part of valor that day.
If you wish to read some other’s comments about such books on heavenly visitations, here are a few links to check out:
