Is Heaven For Real? - John 14:2

"In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you..."

It has been a long time, about a month, since I wrote a new post. In one sense, I apologize to those of you who have faithfully come here looking for a fresh commentary from God's Word only to be disappointed. I truly regret that. But in another sense, I am not sorry because the last month has been incredibly busy and difficult. Besides all that, I just simply have not been moved to write about anything. However, this morning I just finished a book I have been trying to read for a couple of months.

It is a book that has been on the New York Times Best-Seller list for some time, but much more important, it is a book about heaven. I love books about heaven, though a good one is rare, and this is a good one in my opinion. Randy Alcorn's book on heaven is still my all-time favorite, but this may be second. Why? Because it is written by a pastor in Nebraska named Todd Burpo (no belching jokes, please) about his son, Colton, who had a near death experience (NDE), and supposedly was transported to heaven during an emergency operation to save his life. I say "supposedly" because not everyone believes that NDEs are real, including a lot of evangelicals, not just pagan skeptics. But having talked with down-to-earth, sensible, normal people who have had them, I do believe in NDEs, as long as what the person experiences is not contrary to Scripture. If it is, then I have to conclude that they were either deceived by Satan or that they failed to remember things accurately.

Having qualified my belief in NDEs, Colton, who was about four at the time of his operation and NDE, tells his father in the first year or so afterward many wonderful and scripturally verifiable things about heaven. A few of them are difficult for me to accept, i.e., that people have wings to fly. But there is little or nothing that I can say for sure is bibically wrong, and there are some things that are absolutely extraordinary. Colton says that he saw Jesus and that He has red "markers" on His hands and feet. Could he be referring to the marks of our Lord's crucifixion, which He still bears (see Revelation 5:6)? Colton also says he met a girl in heaven who claims to be his other sister. It turns out that his mother, Sonja, had a miscarriage. He believes that he met his sister in heaven, but he never knew about his mother's miscarriage. He also met his grandfather, "Pop", who died many years before he was born. Colton identified him not by a picture of him in old age, but in his grandfather's youth. But I'm not doing justice to the book. I recommend that you read it. Even if you don't believe in NDEs, or think that the kid was lying, or assume that the father made all this up to sell a book, you need to read it. It is at the least, very thought-provoking. At the most, it could convince you that, as Colton says, "Heaven is for real."

 But the truth is that Jesus already told us that heaven is for real (John 14:2) and He even went so far to tell us that if heaven did not exist, and did not have a "dwelling place" for us, He would have told us and set the record straight. So even if you don't believe Colton Burpo, we really should trust Jesus on the subject of heaven. Who would know better than the Son of God !? But I still recommend that you read, Heaven Is For Real. This little boy's perspective on heaven is priceless!