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 ...
Am humbled, blessed and honored, you’d say so.
Likewise.
As the kid's father (a minister) said (to paraphase), 'little kids don't describe heaven from a theological point of view...they just say what they saw.'
This story seems perfectly plausible particularly because the father takes pains to present it in an intellectually honest way and to make sure that he doesn't, in any way, lead the kid or put ideas in his head.
This simple (and simply told) story is self-evidently true and will be a great comfort to many.
As an added note, God's obvious intention here is not to use this story to win souls but to comfort those who love Him.
wow, what a negative view point!
problem with that is , he saw things that were happening while outside of his body in the hospital that there was no way he could know otherwise. He was not in a dream state....that is the mistake you and others are making here.
Belgian...or as those from the old country call it, Belch.;-)
Thanks for pointing this out!
I think you’re right.
Though I suspect God plans to ALSO use the story to win souls—and will thereby.
Heaven alone will show how many.
For some reason, these threads seem to bring them out.
Absolutely indeed.
Evidently, facing the truth comes tooooo close to frying some folks circuits
or
. . . frying their biases, constructions on reality, assumptions, arrogance, stubbornness etc.
Glad you were able to download it. I don’t have Kindle, and I’ve often wondered how good it is. Do you recommend it?
You’re very welcome...
Exactly...
Exactly...
Thanks for your kind reply.
As to the little Kindle itself, I didn't think I would like it because I like old fashioned books. But I bought one for my 90 year old mother because the print size can be adjusted to "large" and, when she decided she didn't like it, I started using it and quickly came to prefer it for certain books.
The Kindle is lighter than a paperback and is great for traveling and reading in bed. Also, the fact that Kindle books can be downloaded instantly is a great feature (from that point last night when I decided I should probably read "Heaven is for Real" until I had it downloaded in my Kindle and available to read, perhaps only 1 minute had lapsed).
Truly amazing...
“Anonymous angel helps stranger to live”
“Robert Finley said the death of his 3-year-old daughter left him feeling so desperate that he simply saw no way out.
It was while relaying these events to a friend who works at the Family Express on Burlington Beach Road that Finley’s angel came, unexpectedly, into his life.
‘My good friend Brian works there and he asked how my daughter was doing. I told him my daughter just passed away. A woman listened in on our conversation and left, and when I returned to the store a few days later, there was a package waiting for me,’ Finley said.
‘There was an anonymous letter that said, ‘I had not seen you before yesterday and likely will not see you again. But there was a reason why I was given a glimpse into your pain.
I thought about you all day and prayed for you and your family. I will pray you find peace,’ and she bought me a book called ‘Heaven is For Real,’ by Todd Burpo, about a little boy who goes to heaven and comes back,” he said.
Finley says he still doesn’t know who this woman was and his friend who works at Family Express says she’s not a regular customer.
‘I’d like to thank her because I was in a bad place and this book helped it to go away. I hated everything, wanted an answer and wasn’t getting it and hated God for doing this to me. ...
But I got that book and I’m actually reading it for the third time and I don’t even read much. ... Without that book, I don’t know if I’d be here today. I was that far down,’ he said.”
(There’s a sentence that seems to praise obamacare, but I didn’t pay attention to that.)
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WAYS OF THE LORD.
One of the reasons I bought the book was that my father is near the point of passing and my mom has not had an easy time of it. He's 93 and has had a wonderful life...and I think he would like to go but my mother won't give him permission.
I think that, if I can only get her to read the book, it will make this passing much easier for everyone.
I have suspected for some time that Christ didn't look quite the same after the resurrection, and that this was deliberate on His part: He didn't want to be recognized by such things as the length of His nose, etc., that we seem to think so important. After all, my own outward appearance is not what it was 30 years ago, but I'm still me.
Case in point: Mary Magdalene didn't recognize Jesus in the garden until He called her name. It was the sound of His voice that she recognized, not His appearance. Same with the two disciples on the Emmaus road: it was the way He blessed the dinner that clued them in. In both cases, Jesus was recognized by personal mannerisms and attitudes that were more an essential part of His character than His outward seeming.
Of course, when He appeared to the disciples later that evening, He showed them the scars in His hands, feet, and side, which He had kept to show that this was the same body that had been on the cross. Apparently, they needed to see that to be sure.
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.