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Heaven is for real. Hell is for real.

Thank you for posting this! I have known Todd Brady, the author, for almost thirty years. I haven’t seen him lately, but he is a fine man.

That aside, I heartily agree with his point. Modern accounts of personal encounters with Christ and visits to heaven never seem to be in accordance with Scripture. We must get our understanding of the thrice Holy God from HIS WORD not the subjective experiences of other men. The Bible is all we need to be made perfect and complete in Christ. It is the Scriptures that make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
—2 Timothy 3:14-17

I cannot speak to other modern heavenly encounters being in accord with scripture. But, it occurs to me that in the case of the Burpo family, would not God not want to terrorize a four year old child and present him a vision that is both comforting and understandable to a four year old?

“near death” is near death. It is not death. To see Heaven, you have to be dead.
The boy was not dead.
He did not see Heaven.
Let the flaming begin.

Opening Easter weekend with $21.5 million in ticket sales,>>>>

The money is what the real thing is.

Any one who has been 4 years old should already know things and has experiences they do not understand.

1 John 2:13
I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

John regards every one as little children but the way he separates them here is pretty telling, we have known the father before we were born.

Even older people has experiences they do not understand but it seems to be much more prevalent in the young.

I’m still waiting for someone to have a real-death experience, as opposed to a near-death experience, and come back to tell about it.

Opening Easter weekend with $21.5 million in ticket sales,>>>>

The money is what the real thing is.

Any one who has been 4 years old most likely have had dreams they do not understand, and also

1 John 2:13
I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

John regards every one as little children but the way he separates them here is pretty telling, we have known the father before we were born.

But that is not what the Gospel is all about and people who embrace this type of witnessing are mostly just filling the pockets of those who are using it for financial gain.

If any one wants to hear some ones dream they don`t have to spend a lot of money going to see a movie or buying a book,
they can just get close to almost any small child and they can get an earful.

It may not be about heaven but it might be interesting.

The near death experiences that have been reported - such as Colton Burpo’s - share one common theme: their almost innumerable uncommon threads among all of their accounts. The young Burpo claims to have, among other things, met Jesus. But when you hear and read the accounts of several other NDE’s - children's included - many of them make no mention of seeing or speaking to Jesus. In fact many of them make no mention of religion at all. No two NDE reports yet describe having ventured to the same exact “place”. Many of them describe places they ascend to vividly, and in tremendous detail. But never are two accounts of the same location ever seen, or heard. Many talk about a “light” - and describe their observations of it - and even in a location where they see it (the light is not always reported to be seen in a tunnel). Many accounts refer to seeing and chatting with dead relatives; yet others report seeing people and chatting with people with whom they have no earthly recollection of who they are. Some accounts do not describe seeing people at all - just a full experience of more love, more peace and more wisdom than can be understood on earth.

There are a few common threads. The vast majority describe a far richer feeling of unconditional love; a far richer experience of the earthly senses, sight and sound most often, than can be experienced here on earth. One major thread common to NDE’s is that communication is full, clear..and almost always unspoken. Communication in the NDE state apparently happens when you think your thought and that thought is immediately understood fully without speech. This is described quite often. What is also common is how much the NDE is a reflection of the life each person has lived - that's why it appears to be that no one reports to going to the same place, or seeing the same people, or entities, or anything else. Their NDE account is as unique as their own living experience. Colton Burpo’s father Todd is a Christian Minister. That his son knew of Jesus within his 4 year life span before his own NDE is a given. So his account of meeting Jesus would also be consistent with many other accounts reflecting experiences & information already held in a person's consciousness pre-NDE. But there are large numbers of reported NDE’s who make no mention of any earthly religious figures. Others have written book accounts of their own NDE’s, such as Eben Alexander (”Proof of Heaven”); and Anita Moorjani (”Dying to be Me”). Both are astounding accounts of an NDE afterlife-type experience, yet each vastly different from one another. And each vastly different from Colton Burpo’s.