Customer Reviews

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

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I found out about a pretty neat program not too long ago. I could get free books if I'd agree to write a review. As a lover of books, with over 1,000 of them in my library, I jumped at the chance.

The first book I received was titled "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo. Needless to say, as a pastor I was skeptical! I thought, Oh no, not another I've been to heaven book! Beginning with 90 minutes in Heaven, the market has been flooded by books of peoples accounts of their journey to Heaven, Hell, and the Laundromat! I assumed this book would be little different and I thought I'd wind up relegating this book to the "not worth my time" pile. I was wrong.

"Heaven is for Real" is a a heartwarming, simple, and surprisingly biblical glimpse into a little four year old boy's journey into Heaven. Colton Burpo was four year's old when he found himself at death's door. His family didn't realize he had made his amazing journey until small but shocking revelations that amazed and bewildered his parents began to leak out. Colton didn't just have one sit down conversation, he let his journey be known one startling revelation at a time.

How could this little boy know these things? How could he know about relatives who had died long before he was born? How could someone so young offer such amazing insights into Heaven, Christ, and the glories that await Christians? How could he know things he'd never been taught and couldn't know?

As I mentioned before, I'm a skeptic at heart. A book like this one wouldn't likely catch my attention and certainly wouldn't win any praise from me. So many books like these are fanciful, unbiblical, and simply outright inconsistent with what I know to be true from the Bible. Colton Burpo's story was a refreshing and surprisingly accurate portrait of what awaits each of us whose destiny is Heaven. I read the book with a critical eye, looking for those little details that would prove this story to be at best inaccurate or at worst a fraud. I couldn't find them. His tale seemed honest. His descriptions fit the way a child would describe things, not one whose words had been fed him by an adult. Some of his revelations were simply amazing!

Who would be blessed by this book? I'd honestly say almost anyone. If you've recently lost a loved one or maybe you are a mother who has lost a child to miscarriage. You can find something here that will warm your heart and quite possibly help ease your pain. This book is a sweet, touching, and amazing story. I think you'll be blessed by it.

That said, you might wonder if I found anything in the book I didn't agree with. That's a tough question. I found nothing I'd say was blatantly wrong or in direct contradiction with the scriptures. There were a couple of things that made me raise my eyebrow but I can't quote a verse that says Heaven couldn't be like that, just a couple of things that didn't fit my expectation or interpretation of what Heaven would be like. Those things might make you wonder but I think you'll find they don't detract from what this book is meant to do, strengthen your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and maybe just maybe long for Heaven just a little bit more.

Hope this review helps you make your choice of whether or not to pick up a copy of this book. I'd recommend you do.

Micah

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the [...] book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 <[...]> : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

It's a terrible thing to be young and jaded. I confess that, despite my belief that there is a real and dynamic spiritual world interwoven with material reality, I approached Heaven Is For Real with a high degree of skepticism. I have a hard time getting past the logical-critical methods which have been drilled into me through the course of my education. Part of me, I suppose, deeply longs for quantifiable evidence of the spiritual. My jadedness comes from poring over scads of accounts of afterlife experiences and finding so many times that they come coated in a greasy film of sensationalism and self-promotion. Heaven Is For Real might just be the real thing.

Todd Burpo, co-author, husband and father, is a small-town minister and serves as the narrator. Todd went through a trying season of personal injury and illness, taking on large medical debts, which culminated in a life-or-death struggle for Todd's son, Colton. Colton had a bout of what seemed to be, and was misdiagnosed as, the stomach flu, but in actuality Colton's appendix had ruptured and the condition went untreated for five days. Railing against God for this Job-like testing, as Colton was wheeled into the operating room screaming, Todd thought he'd seen his son for the last time.

Against all odds, and through multiple surgeries, Colton miraculously recovered. The caliber of the miracle would not begin to be revealed till months later when Colton revealed to his family that he had been to Heaven. Over the course of time Colton would open up and share details of his experience; offering preternatural knowledge of things about which, his family says, Colton had no prior knowledge. As Todd described it, Colton's revelations came in the sort of call-it-as-you-see-it way of preschoolers who have not yet "learned either tact or guile." From details about Heaven to interactions with family members who passed on prior to Colton's birth, this story is one which invites the reader into contemplation of mystery.

What allows me to take this story seriously is the sense of humility and circumspection present in the narrative. The Burpos tread carefully with Colton letting him tell his story as he was ready. Seven years passed from the first inklings of Colton's experience to the publishing of the book.

The single aspect of Heaven Is For Real that concerned me was when Colton's reporting shifted from descriptive to predictive, recounting visions of a great battle-to-come at the end of time. In these visions, the forces of Heaven are arrayed against the forces of Hell and Christian men wield either swords or bows-and-arrows as part of God's army. Colton reported to his father that he saw him as a participant in that future conflict. What gives me pause is this: the Armageddon visions come much later than the earlier stories shared by Colton and are in a narrative peppered by frequent references to Colton's early and ongoing love for superhero battles played out with sword-wielding action figures.

Don't use this book as a basis for theological discernment about either the afterlife or the end of time. Take this book for what it is: a sweet story of the love of parents for their child, the care of Christians for each other in times of crisis, and the surprising mystery of the grace of God.

For those of you who are going to rant and chastise me for being judgmental, save it...

I, too, have had a terrifying experience where my child was extremely sick, doctors could not diagnose him for a couple of days, he went into the hospital, and when he was finally diagnosed was not expected to live. This is where my 'judgmentalism' comes from...

Thinking I was going to be buying a sweet little, uplifting tale that would resonate with me as I am a person of great faith and unfathomable love and thankfulness to God _ I came to a point in this book (about midway through Chapter 6) where I had to quit reading this book. The more I read (as written by the little boy's father) about the actions of these parents before actually seeking medical attention for their obviously sick child, the more judgmental I became. I don't like it when I find myself judging people, so the best thing for me to do was to delete the book from my Kindle and just forget about it. If I could ask for my money back, so that no money goes into the hands of people who acted so ignorantly, I would.

Here are a few examples of their behavior that just stupified me: When little Colton first became sick, before a trip, his mother took him to the doctor and the doctor wrote his illness off as a stomach flu. The parents prayed not that their sweet little 3 year old get better, but that he would get better enough not to interrupt a trip. (The trip was for a district church denomination meeting.) So, little Colton seems to be back to his old self the next day, so they go on their trip. While out on their trip, both of their children become sick one night and the parents believed there was a revisitation of the stomach flu. That's understandable. However, when the 6 year old daughter who only threw up a couple of times overnight and the 3 year old continues to vomit "hourly", without any sign of improvement whatsoever, do they check-out of the hotel and take him to the ER or head back home? Nope, they take him to the home of some friends (let's just give this virus to everybody we know) so the mother can take care of him while the father attends church with one of the friends. Ignorant, selfish call I think. But, we're all entitled to a dumb move now and then. So, I keep reading. Once church is over, the father and his friend come home to find the 3 year old still very sick and vomiting "profusely". The male friend the father went to church with that morning is concerned, thinking the symptoms might equal appendicitis. The father, whose experience as a pastor and garage door salesman make him an expert, decides that it's not appendicitis. Fine, anybody can be wrong. Keep reading... so dad decides it's not appendicitis and must still be the (contagious) stomach flu, therefore the family will just stay another night with their generous hosts - just in case they haven't made them sick yet, I guess. The following morning,after a night of the little boy STILL vomiting, the parents pack up to go home and their host, seeing the sick child cradled in his mother's arms, says that the little boy looks "pretty sick" and suggests that the parents take him straight away to the ER. Well, the parents reason that the 3 hours they would sit in an ER would be better spent driving home, so they head on home. They call ahead to their local doctor, make an afternoon appointment, and before heading out explain their reasoning to their host. The host "said he understood", but the father "could tell he was still worried". Okay, even now the friends of the parents are apparently thinking "what are you DOING?". Two hours into the drive, after the parents have had to stop and change clothing on an already fully potty trained child (!!!) whose began soiling himself and the child is by now "crying constantly" and they've had to stop "every 30 mintues" for him to throw up. So, they're still an hour or so from home, and they STILL DON'T STOP AT AN ER! I mean, come on people, it doesn't take a triple digit IQ to figure out at this point that 48 hours of hourly to half-hourly vomiting by a 3 year old can result in dehydration so severe that he could be having organ problems. Wait, the dad even says that 2 hours into this 3 hour trip home that they know he must be getting dehydrated (ya think?!?) and they STILL DIDN'T STOP. So, they get back to their hometown in 3 hours and, though earlier in the book Dear Old Dad says they called ahead for an appointment with family doc, when they get home you know what they do? They go to the ER. FINALLY! And when they get to the ER, the kid is so sick, they don't make the family wait the dreaded 3 hours that the parents had speculated about earlier, no, one look at the child and the ER staff immediately takes them back. Blood work is performed, Xrays are performed, and IVs are run. Results... the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with the child, but the Xray shows 3 masses in his stomach. While the IVs and antibiotics (antibiotics... they don't give those for stomach virus) are dripping, friends begin streaming in. One friend suggests that the parents should have the boy transported to Denver Children's (ya know, since doctors at Podunk Hospital don't know what's wrong). The parents dismissed this, instead deciding (I suppose) to let the Podunk docs google until they make a diagnosis. On day two, after the boy is STILL throwing up and only getting worse "faster", mother stays on at the hospital while Dad works and prays. Finally, on day 3 at Podunk, it dawns on the parents of little Colton (whose looking like death to his parents)that maybe they should take him to another hospital. Denver Children's? Noooo, that would be too far from the parents "base of support". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT ABOUT COLTON'S MEDICAL SUPPORT? This is where I quit reading. I know from the photo on the cover that little Colton survived and is doing well (he's obviously not 3 anymore). But I just, at this point, had formed such an unfavorable opinion of these parents selfishness or ignorance or both, that I just didn't want to read anymore. As a parent, I love to the point I would die for my kid. Sitting in an ER 3 hours from home is a far cry from death. Subjecting him to days of continual degradation of health and wellbeing so that I can be close to those who will pat my back and tell me it's all gonna be alright is not my idea of taking care of my child. I'm sorry if this feeling is offensive, but it's why I could not finish this book.

Seriously???? We are suppose to believe that the stories and descriptions came from this four year old boy. Just unbiased, as a matter-a- factly , oh yeah I saw God. I am pretty open minded to most all ideas of what heaven or afterlife can be but this is the pastor-daddy exploiting his child to make money on a book. It is not that I don't believe a four your old couldn't have experienced such things however the wording that he says this child used is not words from a child. I agree totally that this seems to be pastor-daddy's literal interpretation of the King James and wants to really push his views as fact. Sorry. Not buying this story at all. I wish I could get a refund. I regret he is making money on this book!!! Shame on you!!

Around the world, people of faith all have different views of the nature of God, Jesus, and Heaven (not to mention other prophets, gods, and revelations). Of course, these differences exist not just between religions, but also within Christianity itself (there can even be many, many differences between believers within the same congregation and even within families). Even people engaging in similar approaches to biblical interpretation (e.g. literal readings of the King James Version of the Bible) can yield very different conceptions of the nature of Heaven. The result, of course, is that within Christianity, there are thousands and thousands of good-faith understandings of God, of the permanence of the soul, and of Heaven.

Given this, how could it be conceivably possible that Colton Burpo's revelation of the true nature of God and Heaven happened to conform exactly to his father's views on them?

I should note that you do not have to question the existence of God or of Heaven to wonder about this. In fact, I think the question is more troubling for true believers. For real believers, the question is not whether there is a heaven or not (that is beyond question); the real question is whether Mr. Burpo is using his son as a false prophet.

I think people should really consider that before endorsing or supporting this book.

I read this book truly hoping to find an account of life after death that I could believe in. Unfortunately the story has several factual errors which cast serious doubts about the legitimacy of the story. Add that to the increasingly fantastic imagery that emerges as the boy grows older and is exposed to more Christian "schooling" and Hollywood media and the whole story loses credibility.

The first factual error is the fact that the boy mentions that Jesus had red marks on his palms and feet (where supposedly he continued to bare the marks of the nails of his crucifixion even in Heaven). It is not a well known fact that Jesus was crucified through the wrist and NOT through the palms, as it is not possible for nails through the palms to support the weight of the body. This has been proven through scientific tests using cadavers. Even the Shroud of Turin if indeed it is authentic, bears stains that would correspond to a wound on the wrist NOT the palms. This is one of the most important errors because it is a description that occurs soon after the purported meeting with Jesus, and not years afterwards where the effects of a child's hyperactive imagination could, and in my opinion have, created incredible scenes.

Colton also says he watched Jesus send "power" in the form of the "holy spirit" down to his father (a pastor) while he gave his sermons. The only problem is that during the time he was supposedly in Heaven watching Jesus do this, his father was at the hospital and not preaching.

Another factual error was Colton's idea that Jesus looked like the painting by the God inspired child prodigy Akiane, which depicts a fairly light skinned man. Now most Christians in the Western world might like to believe Jesus was "white", but the truth is he was born in the Middle East. Just take a look at what the typical Jew living there looks like and you will see that he would have actually had dark skin and most likely black hair.

Another problem is that ONLY Christians can get into Heaven according to Colton, so all other religions, agnostics or atheists, no matter how good they are -- are screwed. Yet - conveniently, his miscarried sister who was never born to be baptized a Christian, turned up in Heaven.

As Colton gets older the story gets even more fantastic with "future" scenes of Heaven waging war with Satan with... wait for it: SWORDS as well as BOWS and ARROWS. Not surprising this happened to coincide with Colton's recent viewing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Not to mention that only males were warriors. It appears that female emancipation in the modern world has regressed in the future according to Colton.

Having been raised as a Christian and having religious parents and a Grandfather who was a Pastor, I am in no way anti-Christianity. However, like many, I am looking for the truth, not blind propaganda. When I read this book it pained me to eventually realize how fake it was.

Add that to the fact that the co-writer Lynn Vincent has written many political books, including ghostwriting Sarah Palin's, and the only conclusion I could come up with was that this book has to be taken with a bucketful of salt.

The father of this boy, although a minister, isn't what I would consider objective. He only seems to acknowledge scripture that agrees with Colton's story. There are many disturbing things about this whole book that should raise a red flag to any Christian: The inconsistency - he first said he was sitting in Jesus' lap then later, that they had gotten him a little chair; the assumptions that 'he never saw that or he couldn't have known that'. Right now in our church's children's Sunday school room is a picture of Jesus wearing a white robe with a purple sash - and a crown; the contrary-to-scripture statements and other things you might see in a picture, such as Jesus' wounds being in the middle of his hands. It is almost certain that His wounds were in His wrists. He oicked his dead grandfather "Pop" out of an old picture - sure hard to do when the other people in the picture were a grown woman and 2 young children.

Scripture tells us that 'we are appointed once to die and then comes judgment'. Satan is the angel of light, he was the most beautiful of angels and can appear as anything he wants outside the true heavenly realm. He can even appear as a counterfeit Jesus and since noone has ever seen Jesus, can easily persuade. He is the great deceiver, the father of all lies and is a master at it. What better way to send the world - including Christians - off the path than by showing an innocent child a false vision of heaven. He also knows who has died and can appear as any of them - as in passed family members.

It was interesting how the story just grew and grew over the years as the boy got older, not fading as a childhood memory should. I don't believe he was coached, but he was clearly encouraged and possibly subconsciously led by the adults in his life. And the parent's non-stop inqueries about what he saw didn't hurt. Very few remarks were spontaneous with the exception of the generic 'Jesus loves children' and 'you can't go to heaven without Jesus in your heart' - messages he had to have heard a hundred times as the son of a minister.

The big give-away was at the end of the book, when the father references another heaven-child named Akiane. She is a child prodigy in painting and drawing - mostly of visions she supposedly saw in heaven. She is also listed as one of the wealthiest 'child entrepenuers' in the country. One of her pictures is of Jesus, and Colton, having been shown this picture, concurred that, "Yes, this one's right" (that that's what Jesus looks like). A white, blue-eyed, handsome man with a longish shag haircut.

Jesus was a Jew, probably dark skinned with brown eyes. The Jews of Jesus' day wore close-cropped hair like the Romans. Paul tells us 'that it is shameful for a man to wear long hair like a woman' - he would never have written that had Jesus worn long hair. Isaiah tells us that he was not handsome, he had no comeliness that we should be drawn to him (because of his good looks). He was most likely by our human standards, a homely man. The Book of Rvelation describes Jesus as now having 'white hair, like the Ancient of Days with eyes piercing like fire'. NOT a heavenly George Clooney.

The Bible tells us to test the spirits and if it is contrary to what the Bible states, it is false. Where in the Bible does it say that the Angel Gabriel sits at the left hand of God? Nowhere, in fact, the left hand of God is a position of disgrace. He also says that Colton saw Mary in heaven who still acts very much like Jesus' mother as she stands next to Him by the throne. Where is this in the Bible? Nowhere, in fact Jesus said, there would be no marriage in heaven (no earthly relationships). And BTW: it is Michael who fought the spiritual battle in Daniel, not Gabriel as the minister states here.

We need to be very, very careful with these NDEs and OOB experiences because as it implies - it's NEAR death, it is out of body, not actual death itself. Anywhere out of our not-dead body is in the spirit realm but NOT in heaven - the spirit realm is the playground of the devil himself. Between this hype and the media darling Akiene, this should be more than enough reasonable doubt that these visions may be anything but Godly. The fact that Jesus, who DOES love children, would allow this small boy to see satan *which clearly frightened him*, is evidence in itself that this was not a true trip to heaven.

There's been a lot of doubters and naysayers over the past 2,000 years but a 3 year old has laid it all out for us ! This concise little book details the story of little Colton Burpo. Let's look at some of the things he reveals.

First, we enter heaven through wide golden pearly gates (no GPS needed they are huge....can't miss 'em). To go further you need to fulfill this one point; do you accept Jesus as your lord and savior ? If you answer no, you take the express elevator to hell. He does this because he loves you (sorry all you billions of Hindus and Muslims....your toast). That aside, you enter heaven and are greeted by deceased friends and relatives. You may have trouble recognizing them at first because everyone is perpetually about 25 years old. Unless of course you were a fetus, then you are about 7. If you died as a kid, you still get to stay a kid. Kind of sucks that kids don't get to fast track to 25 also, but God makes the rules.

Also one minute equals approximately an hour. It still seems like a minute in heaven but on earth it would be an hour. But, heaven is eternal so I'm not sure why God makes things happen so slow in heaven. But wait, what about those relatives I DON'T want to hang with ? Yep, you get to spend eternity with crazy Uncle Leroy. Except, those 30 minute visits you painfully endured on earth are now 30 hours !!!! Continuing on....

Dress code is pretty simple. White robe, bare feet and a sash. Furniture in heaven is sparse. Two thrones and that is it. One for Jesus, and a massive mountainous one for the big guy. If you think you will be bored, think again. You get to have a pair of wings to float around with. Now I admit, that has great appeal.....for about 60 minutes. Actually, that's 60 hours heaven time so flying about will keep you occupied for a nice stretch.

There are lots of colors and rainbows in heaven. That's nice, everyone should have something pretty to look at for eternity don't you think ? Now, here's the kicker. Guys get to have swords ! Women and children are out of luck. That's because the men need to protect the women and children for the upcoming battle with Satan. This is not a garden variety sword battle. No no no, it involves the real deal....dragons and monsters. Satan is bringing out the big guns for the final showdown. But, Jesus tells everyone to chill...the guys are going to win anyway.

This picture of heaven would not be complete without some tidbits about how Jesus helps all us mortal folk out from time to time. If you pray hard enough, he will "shoot power" down from heaven to help you. Kind of like a bolt of lightning except you don't feel anything. Oh yes, if you don't believe in Jesus....no power bolts. Kind of a bummer really, I bet it'd be nice for non-Christians to get some heavenly juice every once in awhile !

After reading this book, two important points came to mind. First, I understand why people find this inspiring. It's portrayed as a child's REAL experience in heaven. Not maybe true, or kind of true..... but absolutely true. So, that is comforting I am sure. But, the real problem with this tale is that ADULTS, who never, ever, ever, ever would take the testimony of a 3 year old at face value without being at least slightly skeptical accept this tale without question. There is nary a breath of skepticism in the author's words. I wonder why ? Can you say....."agenda" ? Would you put it past a 3 year old to say "Mommy, I saw Santa Claus last night and he wants me to have chocolate chip cookies for every meal". Wouldn't you be just a tad skeptical of such a vision ? Would you be surprised that a 3 year old would say that and believed it were 100% absolutely true ? Of course you wouldn't.

Secondly, and this seems the most obvious. All of these descriptions of heaven are perfect......for a 3-4 year old !!!! Look closely....wings, robes, rainbows, swords, dragons monsters and even dear old Pop. I couldn't imagine a 3 year old coming up with something better. But, the author links all this stuff with some various texts from the book of revelation and wow !!!! This kid is a prophet !!

In my opinion, I find it surprising that more adults here don't exercise a bit more critical thought to the claims of this book. Yes, it is inspiring to think there is a heaven, that we may see our loved ones again and that there is a loving God in the after world. But, are people so desperate for answers to these questions that we have to prop up the imaginations of a 3 year old to verify our claims when there are millions of God-fearing humans, Christian or otherwise, that are suffering and dying every day that don't seem to be getting the "bolts of power" from God ? What about teens killed in car wrecks, cancer victims, or a billion other conditions that cause premature death and suffering ? Does God not want to help them ? Or is it just a "mystery" and God "has his reasons". Well, if Jesus told a little kid his reasons and he helps some, but not others....sorry that alone is a principle of doubt for the claims of this book.

I think it's a powerful story about a sick child who came back from the brink of death (oh yeah he was never dead at any point either). And, that the things he envisioned are very inspirational to people, particularly those who have lost loved ones. I think it gives people hope, and for that, it's worth something. It helps to rationalize untimely death with a belief in a loving God who intervenes on behalf of human beings all the time.....but just the lucky ones.

It's a well written story that swings from telling about a typical family life with kids to some of life's most terrifying moments with kids. While the storyline is good, and at times heart breaking, the actual details about heaven could have been consolidated into about one paragraph. Most of the book, while good, is about the trials and tribulations that this family dealt with during a trying period in their lives. The part about heaven is very small and scattered toward the end of the book. I was disappointed, I suppose, because like most humans I want to peek behind the curtain to see the afterlife, and I felt cheated. Perhaps we are not meant to know too much, but I had hoped this book would shed some new light about that mysterious transition we shall all make one day.

On another website I heard about a little boy who went to heaven, so I ordered this book without reading the description or comments.

First: this is for scriptural Christians only. There are many scriptural quotes from the father that support what the little boy saw in heaven, i.e. in heaven Jesus has a purple sash and the scripture quoted is about Kings wearing purple. There are also claims by the little boy that one "has to have Jesus in his heart and has to know Jesus or he can't get into heaven" - pg 57. Then a few pages later the father ponders about his son's concern over whether an adult stranger who is dying "was saved" by having Jesus in his heart - pg 59. Another example is when the boy says God has the "biggest chair of all" in heaven and that Jesus has a chair on the right side (the correct side per scripture) and angel Gabriel has a chair on the left side - pg 101. Of course, the little boy saw satan and he says the angels use "swords" to keep satan out of heaven. And, there's going to be a "war" and that "women and children stand back and watch" while "good men, Jesus, and angels" battle satan and Jesus wins - pg 136.

Second: most of this book has the father describing times the family spent together, paying the bills, etc. In fact, the book is 154 pages and the first mention of leaving the body, seeing angels, etc. is on page 61. From then on, the father contiues his family descriptions with tid bits tossed in about what the little boy saw in heaven, then the father presents scriptural proof to support what the boy saw. I did not find it preachy, more like the father was struggling to accept what his son saw and he went to scripture as the proof so he could accept it. At least that's how it's presented (there is an experienced co-author).

I did not find this book to be a great example of the after life, but if you are a scriptural Christian and want an easy and fast read, then you'll probably enjoy this book. There are other things in this book you may like, such as members of the father's church all pray for the little boy and he starts getting better quickly.

If you want a detailed book about the after life, this is not the book. If you want a book that describes non-scripture based experiences of the after life, this is not the book.