In my mind, this started out as a book review, but I'm not sure I can strictly call it that, as I'm still doing a lot of processing. The book in question is a now-popular little paperback titled Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, by Todd Burpo, with Lynn Vincent. Thomas Nelson published the book in 2010. If I had set this up as a book review, I would have needed to give the number of pages, but mine is on Kindle; I don't have page numbers.
Todd Burpo is a Wesleyan pastor and business owner who wears several other hats, not the least of which is the one he wears as the father of Cassie and Colton Burpo (Colby came along later). The story is primarily about Colton's illness due to a ruptured appendix; about his out-of-body experience, which he confirmed by stating where in the hospital he saw his dad, where in the hospital he saw his mom, and what each of them was doing--all while he was in surgery; and about his time in heaven. Colton did not come out of surgery talking about heaven, but over a period of at least a couple of years, as he remembered things, he mentioned them to his parents.
Keep in mind that Colton was not yet four years old, when his appendix ruptured and continuing spreading poison into his body for five days, before his parents could get a good diagnosis. By that time, Colton had the look of death about him, a look his pastor-dad had seen on many elderly people, as their lives on this earth were coming to an end. Doctors had to operate twice to get him cleaned out.
Later, when Colton began talking about sitting on Jesus' lap and began describing Jesus and his clothes (or, for King James readers, raiment), his dad thought, Wow. Our Sunday School teachers are really doing a good job! But as Colton's revelations of his time in heaven began to include other people he met--Jesus' cousin (John, of course), a great-grandfather who had died long before Colton was born, and a sister who had died in utero (also before Colton was born)--his parents knew they were receiving a gift of monumental proportions.
Other descriptions included angels and what they wore; seeing the Holy Spirit ("He's kinda blue"); seeing angels wielding their swords--yes, swords, in heaven--in the ongoing battle with Satan and all his fallen angels; and seeing the very throne of God. Much that not-yet 4-year-old Colton described we can read in scripture, which the author cited in Notes at the back of the book.
I found real comfort--not pablum, not an opiate, but comfort in much of what Colton experienced, with one exception: Satan--the fact that he continues to fight to dominate heaven, and Colton's reaction when his dad asked what Satan looked like.
But that the spiritual battle continues in heaven, I did not realize. I thought that, when God threw Lucifer (aka Satan) and the angels who sided with him out of heaven, they were gone. I find it a little unsettling that God's angels still have to fight for heaven. But am I worried about the ultimate outcome? Not a bit. The ultimate outcome has already been determined, and Satan loses.
Heaven Is for Real moved me, deeply moved me. For at least two weeks, if I wasn't concentrating on something else, I was thinking about Colton's trip to heaven. I promptly bought a copy of the book for my mom, wishing I could buy up a whole lot of copies to give to other people, over time. But--having been cautioned (albeit unnecessarily) by a wonderful and loving friend--I will point out that Heaven . . . tells of one little boy's experience. I think it gives us some insights, but it comes with no claim to being the Complete Traveler's Guide . . . or The Idiot's Guide to Heaven. Nor do I believe it is Heaven for Dummies.
The fact that Colton was a little kid at the time of his illness and experience in heaven does not, in my mind, render his revelations suspect. Some readers might say, "He was only a little boy!" "Kids are fanciful, and his dad's a pastor; he probably knew more than most kids would know about heaven!" No. Read the book. And while you're into reading, check out what Jesus said about children, including the need for all of us to "become like little children" (Matthew 18:1-6). (If you've never read Too Young to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most, by Dr. Wess Stafford, read that, too, for what might be a different perspective on the vital importance of children to both the Kingdom of God and to the forces of evil as they carry out their work in this world.)
A little child is so trusting, believing easily things that bigger, older, "smarter" adults often don't believe, even if they want to. In the Revelation of the apostle John we read the descriptions of heaven, of animals, of swords and dragons, of angels and their apparel, of the King of Kings and His white horse, and scholars great and mediocre scratch their heads and look for deeper meaning, for symbolism, for whatever they can make of such things. We tend to think John was being metaphoric or hyperbolic or maybe he was hallucinating. Or we believe, but we try to make sense of it, rather than take it at face value.
Two thousand years later, we have a little book about heaven as seen through the eyes of a little boy, while he was there. And, gee golly whiz, it tells of the same things, describing some of the same colors as we read in scripture. Accept it on its face and take whatever comfort and insights the story holds for you, or reject it on whatever grounds you choose. Colton knows the truth of all that he saw, heard and experienced. No skeptic can take that from him.
