Posted on 03/11/2011 10:08:14 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
Just two months shy of his fourth birthday, Colton Burpo, the son of an evangelical pastor in Imperial, Neb., was rushed into emergency surgery with a burst appendix.
He woke up with an astonishing story: He had died and gone to heaven, where he met his great-grandfather; the biblical figure Samson; John the Baptist; and Jesus, who had eyes that “were just sort of a sea-blue and they seemed to sparkle,” Colton, now 11 years old, recalled.
Colton's father, Todd, has turned the boy’s experience into a 163-page book, “Heaven Is for Real,” which has become a sleeper paperback hit of the winter, dominating best-seller lists and selling hundreds of thousands of copies.
Thomas Nelson, the book’s publisher, said it had broken company sales records.
The publisher, based in Nashville, began with an initial print run of 40,000 copies.
Since the book came out in November, it has gone back to press 22 times, with more than 1.5 million copies in print.
On the New York Times best-seller list for paperback nonfiction last Sunday, “Heaven Is for Real” was NO. 1.
The book remains in the top spot this coming Sunday.
Colton told his parents that he had met his younger sister in heaven, describing her as a dark-haired girl who resembled his older sister, Cassie.
When the Burpos questioned him, he asked his mother, “You had a baby die in your tummy, didn’t you?”
While his wife had suffered a miscarriage years before, Mr. Burpo said, they had not told Colton about it.
“There’s just no way he could have known,” Mr. Burpo said.
The Burpos said that Colton painstakingly described images that he said he saw in heaven — like the bloody wounds on Jesus’ palms — that he had not been shown before.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Let's start by saying that you don't know, much less are sure. That is little arrogant, don't you think?
I don't expect God to tell me what the room temperature in heaven is, but I think it is reasonable to expect those who claim to have been there to give me some quick and dirty report of the things of interest to an average human when he, say, chooses a hotel to stay in. The tunnel of light, for instance. Your family members are waiting for you there, right? What about the family members with whom you had serious fallouts, will they be there? Is that an unreasonable question?
I can’t imagine any authentic Christian reading the book without feeling closer to Jesus and to Father God.
Santa is not suppose to have a hair cut. Shame on you...
My father shaved his head when he turned grey. As a kid he was a true red head, hair turned brown as he matured and when he turned grey it came in pink..Said his dad also had pink hair. He didn’t shop shaving at his face, he shaved all the up.....LOL been gone since 1988 and still miss him...
Sam’s Club had it in stock a week or two ago.
I borrowed a friend’s copy and enjoyed reading it.
What a riot.
Praise God for good memories.
My drift from reading many such narratives is that God tailors them to each individual
AND WHAT GOD WANTS TO GIVE THAT INDIVIDUAL
AS WELL AS
WHAT GOD WANTS THE PERSON TO DO BACK ON EARTH
IN BEHALF OF THE GOSPEL AND GOD’S KINGDOM AS A FUNCTION OF THE HEAVENLY VISIT.
There are typically some things that God shares with the individuals that they are STRICTLY forbidden to tell any other mortals.
There are a number of things that are mysteries.
GOD HAS HIS REASONS.
DOH!
ALMIGHTY GOD IS VERY MUCH IN DETAILED CONTROL OF SUCH VISITATIONS. The accompanying angels are very good about shepherding the visitor around to the various points as ordered of The Lord. They invariably cram a surprising amount of stuff in given what by earth time can only be several minutes to hours.
However, GOD IS IN CHARGE. DOH! IT IS HIS CREATION AND HIS HEAVEN, AFTER ALL!
Rant at HIM about that, if you wish.
Won’t phase HIM.
He also won’t bend to your standard RC !!!!CONTROL!!!! PHREAQUE !!!!DEMANDS!!!! that
ALMIGHTY GOD [and Proddys]
do everything according to RC sensibilities.
What hubris to the max!
Shessh.
In terms of what I know . . . Holy Spirit makes some things VERY KNOWN to those who follow Jesus and seek to listen TO HIS SPIRIT.
Why hasn't He allowed my best friend, who died last December, to contact me? Is my best friend, in the Great Beyond now, happy with that? What kind of dictatorship do they have there? All foolish questions, yes?
I don’t know that I’d call them foolish.
More unwise.
And, no, I don’t see God as a cruel, fear inspiring God.
He really is altogether Good and Altogether Loving.
It would be a shoddy univese without any standards, justice, RIGHT/WRONG etc.
WISDOM IS
the reverential awe/fear of The Lord.
I do believe that IF ON BALANCE
Your best friend contacting you were decreed in God’s wisdom to be
THE BEST THING FOR YOU ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, then, I believe God would arrange it.
Evidently, God has a different perspective on that.
I am a believer also . The book is a glimpse to our fate in the future.
The best book on this subject I have read.
If I had experienced this few would have believed me. But a 4 year old boy makes it very believable to me.
Well put.
And the 4 year old is entirely congruent . . . as are the rest of his family members.
And enormously above average transparent.
People throwing rocks at any of them are just utterly ignorant and no small amount of smugly, arrogantly haughty
I agree totally. We sometimes are given glimpses of Heaven for some purpose that we will learn later.
I was in Roswell , Walker AFB flying B 36 in 1956 - 1957. I have Masters degree in Social Work but am in real Estate.
I admire your faith and have for some time..
Am DEEPLY humbled and encouraged by your kind comment.
Thanks tons for your blessed gift to me tonight. Greatly appreciated.
I’m just flawed flesh.
Thankfully, redeemed by THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.
PRAISE HIS NAME.
If I may ask, please, . . . What region of the world are you in now and what is your elevation?
BTW, What can you tell of the Roswell crashes?
My son’s primary imaginary friend starting at age 3 or so was “Gatoraid.” Also Totts and Beep if he needed an entire gang for his adventures. I think he just liked the way the word sounded. Thanks for sharing the Gomestas BenGracias story. It made me smile.
Thank you. If I am right; glorify God who helps me, and know that I am not nearly so pleased to point out that someone may be in error, as I am to point out that God is True.
Now consider Jesus’ point in saying, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
Doesn’t Jesus’ claim really hinge upon why they weren’t already convinced to repent by the testimony of Moses and the Prophets?
To put it in modern language, isn’t Jesus essentially saying, “If they’re so deaf they can’t hear the testimony of Moses and the Prophets, they’re too deaf to hear anyone’s testimony no matter how amazing their story is”?
So, why would someone not be convinced to repent by the testimony of Moses and the Prophets?? Wouldn’t that unconvinced person be someone who was not receptive to the Spirit of God?
By contrast, isn’t the person who responds to the work of the Spirit within them, wooing and drawing them to God a person who believes the testimony of Moses and the Prophets and repents? [I speak in the context of the time before the establishment of the New Covenant.]
Now, consider the inverse of what Jesus said, “If they hear Moses and the Prophets, they will also be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
So, what Jesus is really pointing out in the parable is that it doesn’t matter from whom the testimony that leads to repentance and faith comes; what matters is that the testimony is made alive in the heart of the hearer by The Spirit of God. It is not the source of the testimony that draws the unbelieving heart to repentance, but the working of the Spirit in the inner man.
The purpose of Jesus’ statement, then, is not to nullify the testimony of a resurrected person; it is to point out that NO testimony is sufficient to convince a person to repent apart from the inner working of The Spirit of God.
Colton claims to have seen Christ.
Can someone please explain to me why Jesus would still have bloody stigmata on his palms rather than have a perfect body in Heaven? Does this make sense? Why does this make sense?
Since you know that Colton went to Heaven and met Jesus, I have 2 questions.
Does it make sense that Jesus today as resurrected still has bloody stigmata on his palms rather than a perfect body?
Does it make sense that the soul of a boy who dies goes instantly straight to Heaven rather than being delayed until the final judgment day?
Since you read the book and were moved when Colton met his stillborn sister, I have a few questions?
How old was the sister in Heaven? 1 year old? 18 years old? 60 years old?
And does it make sense she is the age she is in Heaven when she died as a tiny infant? Why is she the age she is in Heaven as opposed to some other age?
I haven’t read the book. I have a few questions, please?
Colten met his grandfather. How old was his grandfather in Heaven? Why was his grandfather that age?
Since you read the book, how old was Colton’s stillborn sister’s apparent age in Heaven? Since she died before birth, why was her age that in Heaven and not some other age like 1 or 80?
How old was his grandfather’s apparent age in Heaven? Again, why that age and not 13 or 52?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.