Several years ago Don Piper wrote the book “90 Minutes in Heaven.“ He claimed to have died and gone to heaven and then come back. In his book he describes the things he saw in heaven. Heaven Is for Real is the story of Colton Burpo, the 4-year-old son of a small-town Nebraska pastor, who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room.
Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great-grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “really big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us. And that Jesus helped him with his homework. They have even made this book into a movie.
Are people who claim to have seen heaven really telling the truth? Oh I believe they have seen something but was it really heaven? How do they see things they didn’t know about like Colton‘s miscarried sister?
When we have questions about heaven and spiritual things we have to go to the source of all spiritual truth, the word of God.
Only three times in the New Testament did anyone see heaven. In Acts 7, when Stephen was dying he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
In Revelation the apostle John saw the new Jerusalem and described some things about it. And the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul said in verses 2 and 3, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Did you see verse four? Paul was not permitted to speak about what he had heard in heaven. So if Paul was not allowed to speak about heaven, why is Don Piper and a little 4-year-old boy allowed to speak about it? These books give details about heaven that are not recorded in scripture. Also, these books talk about heaven but never tell anyone how to get there. No gospel message, no one is implored to have faith and trust in Jesus Christ. No hell is mentioned.
Remember the Devil and his fallen angels know every detail about us and seek to deceive us. And what better deception than to have us go to heaven without the gospel, without Christ? This is what happens when we get out of the word of God and depend upon our own experiences. We must examine everything under the lens of scripture. God gave us His word so that we would not be deceived about such things. And in these last days there is much deception out there. Yes, heaven is for real, but no one alive has seen it yet. We could not describe it even if God allowed us to do so.
Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons every Sunday morning at 10:30 on 98.9 WSIP FM. He is also on most other podcasts and video platforms. Check out the Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church Facebook page and our website: tomahawkmbc.com.