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Review: Heaven is For Real

This book is an amazing story of a little boy who almost dies, and claims he went to heaven.


Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent co-wrote this book when Todd Burpo's three-year-old son had appendicitis. When Colton's mother, Sonja, first noticed he was not feeling well she took him to the emergency room and was told that Colton had influenza, as all the tests for a possible appendicitis came back negative. As time passed on, Colton continuously kept throwing up, which is when Todd and Sonja knew that he did not just have influenza. When Todd and Sonja went to a different emergency room with Colton, they were told that Colton had to have an emergency appendectomy as he could possibly die. Months after surviving the emergency surgery to remove his appendix, Colton shared the story of how he left his body during surgery and went to heaven. Colton began describing events and people that seemed impossible for him to have known about. Examples include knowledge of an unborn sister miscarried by his mother in 1998 and details of a great-grandfather who had died 30 years before Colton was born. Colton also explained how he met Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and sat in Jesus' lap while angels sang songs to him. He also saw Mary kneeling before the throne of God and at other times standing beside Jesus.

–Wikipedia


Colton was later shown a painting (Prince of Peace) of Jesus by a painter who claimed to have also visited heaven and asked what was wrong with its depiction of Jesus. The seven-year-old (who had not been told of the claims of the painter) said, after a long pause, "Dad. That one's right."

Overall, I rate this book at 5/5. Burpo asks the questions a tough-minded skeptic would ask, and he doesn't lead the witness. However, John MacArthur has criticized it.

Note: I don't know how MacArthur's review got into Answers magazine, as there are many problems with it. Comment "MacArthur" for a full list of problems.


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