In
recent years, Christian booksellers have inundated the evangelical world with
testimonies from people who say they visited heaven in near-death experiences.
Their stories are full of specific details about what heaven is like, who is
there, and what is happening in the celestial realm. But when we compare their
claims with Scripture, it becomes clear that they are merely figments of the
human imagination, not true visions of heaven as it is described in God’s
Word. The best known of all these tales, Heaven Is for Real, is to be
a major motion picture, released in April 2014. It is the story of Colton
Burpo, whose parents believe he visited heaven when he was just four—during
surgery after a burst appendix nearly took his life. Colton’s descriptions of
heaven are full of fanciful features and peculiar details that bear all the
earmarks of a child’s vivid imagination. There’s nothing transcendent or
even particularly enlightening about Colton’s heaven. It is completely devoid
of the breathtaking glory featured in every biblical description of the
heavenly realm.
Stories
like Colton’s are as dangerous as they are seductive. Readers not only get a
twisted, unbiblical picture of heaven; they also imbibe a subjective,
superstitious, shallow brand of spirituality. Studying mystical accounts of
supposed journeys into the afterlife yields nothing but confusion,
contradiction, false hope, bad doctrine, and a host of similar evils.
We live
in a narcissistic culture, and it shows in these accounts of people who claim
they’ve been to heaven. They sound as if they viewed paradise in a mirror,
keeping themselves in the foreground.
They
say comparatively little about God or His glory. But the glory of God is what
the Bible says fills, illuminates, and defines heaven. Instead, the authors of
these stories seem obsessed with details like how good they felt—how peaceful,
how happy, how comforted they were; how they received privileges and accolades;
how fun and enlightening their experience was; and how many things they think
they now understand perfectly that could never be gleaned from Scripture alone.
In short, they glorify self while barely noticing God’s glory. They highlight
everything but what’s truly important about heaven.
It is
quite true that heaven is a place of perfect bliss—devoid of all sorrow and
sin, full of exultation and enjoyment—a place where grace and peace reign
totally unchallenged. Heaven is where every true treasure and every eternal
reward is laid up for the redeemed. Anyone whose destiny is heaven will
certainly experience more joy and honor there than the fallen mind is capable
of comprehending—infinitely more than any fallen creature deserves. But if you
actually saw heaven and lived to tell about it, those things are not what would
capture your heart and imagination. You would be preoccupied instead with
the majesty and grace of the One whose glory fills the place.
Sadly,
undiscerning readers abound, and they take these postmodern accounts of heaven
altogether seriously. The stratospheric sales figures and far-reaching
influence of these books ought to be a matter of serious concern for anyone who
truly loves the Word of God.
From
John MacArthur
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