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Looking back at our popular culture in 2014, it appears that Hollywood's power is on the wane. Politically, the leftist celebrities and the "Rock the Vote" gang couldn't help dig the Democrats out of their rut. Even that paragon of permissiveness Sandra Fluke couldn't exploit her Limbaugh-victim aura to win a state Senate seat in libertine California. The year's biggest loser was Sony, which looked pathetically powerless in the wake of an alleged North Korea's hack attack. Worst yet were the people involved. A clearly frustrated George Clooney announced there was no one in that industry willing to sign a...

Editor's note: A version of this article first appeared at thecatholicthing.org I recently bought the book “Heaven is for Real” and saw the movie. That was unusual for me. I don’t typically do the books and movies everyone else is doing, especially the touchy-feely spiritual ones. Maybe it’s the snob in me, or, really, I just don’t like to do what the culture is doing. But this time, I made an exception. The story is about the near-death experience of a four-year-old named Colton Burpo, a pastor’s son from Nebraska. I’ll say up front that I didn’t care much for...

A recent popular movie entitled Heaven is for Real is probably well-intentioned, but it taps into almost every modern error related to death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. We have discussed in the past on this blog some of the many modern errors related to these issues.Chief among these modern errors is the notion of “universalism,” which accords the vast majority, if not practically everyone, the reward of Heaven. But of course this notion runs directly contrary to Scripture, which says that many will be lost. And while we cannot assign percentages or make judgments in individual cases, nevertheless we ought not entertain the...

"Heaven is for Real" Review A couple of years ago some people in the church in which I served at the time began asking me one by one about a book they had read. While they had really liked the book, they had some questions about it and some things just didn't seem right to them. So I concluded that it was my duty at that point to read...you guessed it...The Shack. I read the book and posted a strongly critical review online as a way to help people see the danger in that novel.

(Reuters) - Hollywood has embraced God in a big - and lucrative - way. The movie "Heaven is for Real," which depicts the story of a young boy who claims to have visited heaven during a near death experience, is the fourth faith-based film this year to stir movie-going audiences with impressive box office numbers. Made for $12 million, the film, which stars Greg Kinnear, collected $21.5 million over the Easter weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters, finishing third at the box office behind bigger budget films "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" from Walt Disney and "Rio 2" from Fox....

There are few people who know pain as heart-wrenching as a parent who believes that he or she could be losing a child. In the new film Heaven is for Real, the parents of Colton Burpo (Connor Corum) feel that pain. After a series of troubling events, that couple face that pain as they watch and wait to see if their son Colton will survive after his appendix ruptures and he’s brought into the hospital for an operation. In the weeks prior, Colton’s father Todd (Greg Kinnear) — a minister in the local Church— had faced several health crises of...

I’m not one of those twelve million readers who bought the book “Heaven is For Real” and torpedoed it to the New York Times’ Bestseller List. But I did check it out from the library and enjoyed both the story and the accounts of heaven. “Heaven is for real” is, in fact, only one among the many testimonies of near death experiences I’ve heard about from both Christians and non-Christians. With some suspect exceptions, most of the descriptions of heaven are fascinating and inspire me to work hard to aim for the ultimate prize. But that’s just the good news.On...

The wooing of religious moviegoers — a delicate operation, as the “Noah” backlash attests — has been ramping up lately, with major players like Ridley Scott and Ben Kingsley mining the Bible for box office gold. But if there’s such a thing as a safe bet in this genre, it’s “Heaven Is for Real,” a Christian sermon that even the most doctrinaire believer can applaud.

Heaven is for Real is a terrifically entertaining story about a young 4 year old boy's venture to Heaven and back again. I would advise this book as a read for most anyone seeking encouragement, wondering about Heaven, or just seeking an interesting story written in a different perspective. I would strongly suggest this book for anyone that has lost a small child, a child in the womb, or who has recently lost a loved one in general. The story centers around 4 year old Colton Burpo, an "all boy" youngster from Iowa, who loves swords, super heroes, and his...

The story follows the Burpo family through months of trying times all culminating with their 3-year-old son Colton’s appendix bursting and his near-death. A few months after this incident, while on a family-trip, Colton began to reveal that during his surgery he actually visited Heaven. The details with which Colton described his time in Heaven are absolutely incredible. I am grateful to the Burpo family for allowing readers to be brought into this incredible story. As I read the book, there were a few times where I literally dropped my phone to my chest (was reading it on my Kindle...