Visits to Heaven and Back: Are They Real? Mark Hitchcock

Mark Hitchcock's new book, Visits to Heaven and Back: Are They Real? is a newly published answer in response to heaven and back accounts.  More specifically, this book was written in the aftermath  of the recent development surrounding the book "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven", by Alex Malarkey and his father, Kevin Malarkey published by Tyndale, in 2010. It is about time a book addressing this subject was written from the biblical point of view.  True, there are plenty of athiests ready to refute these haven accounts, but there are very little articulate biblical based books written to guide Christian readers who often are very gullible and swallow almost any after death account story as long  it comes from a kid.  This book addresses every possible question or issue raised by these books about heaven accounts. One need not be a theologian to understand Hitchcock's writing and the points he makes.  Using scripture, the author grounds the reader with biblical truth.  He compares many of the main points and so called visions and claims of some of the more popular accounts against the truth of scripture.  This book is an eye opener and should be required reading for every pastor, church leader and Christian in general.

In 2014, Kevin Malarkey admitted “I did not die. I did not go to Heaven” in an open letter to Christian bookstores and publishers:  http://pulpitandpen.org/2015/01/13/the-boy-who-came-back-from-heaven-recants-story-rebukes-christian-retailers/  As a result, this bestselling book was pulled from the shelves of bookstores everywhere as well as online retailers everywhere.  And I am pretty sure there are many Christians, believers and bloggers everywhere who aren't so surprised because they did not believe in the validity of life after death nor heaven and back accounts.  In fact there is an entire genre of heaven and back accounts and I am sure the publicity surrounding Malarkey's story casts some  additional well placed skepticism of these accounts, as there very well  should be. I for one addressed my concern about these trips to heaven in a blog post about "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo- an eerily similar account of a little boy of visits heaven and returns.


In sum, these heaven and back accounts are story easy to read, easy to follow, yet raise spiritually complex issues such as the issue of the legitimacy of private visions apart from revealed scripture.  While it is true that some NDE can be ruled out as the side effects of a dying or injured brain, not all can be scientifically ruled out.  Some perhaps might be supernatural in nature.  Nevertheless that does not mean they should automatically be accepted as biblical in nature or truth.  I must admit I am skeptical when it comes to believing modern day visions and NDE.  For example, there are so many alleged apparitions of Mary in the Catholic church, that I believe most to be hoaxes, and in other cases, demonic in nature. 

Convieniently, these entire miraculous story occured to children and in the Burpo case, a pastor's son.  The reader places his faith by accepting the word of the author of the book- that a child did in fact go to heaven and that it is a true account and not fabricated or embellished.   Once the reader decides to accept the author's word that this story is legit,  it is up to the reader to discern the source or supernatural power behind the NDE. This is where most readers will most likely accept with blind faith that this is a true account and that it is based on biblical truth. This is because most people want to believe this heartwarming and comforting message is true. 

 Any responsible reader familiar with the bible will be aware that he or she is faced with the task of determining if the experience of a heaven and back story is spiritually based on truth, or if it perhaps is an indirect attempt of Satan to mislead believers into accepting false information.  Paul warned in the letters of the new testement, especially in the book of Galations, that even Satan, and evil spirits can appear as angels of light, deceiving many.  So, if this is true, then is it possible that a loving father, author or Pastor might be decieved and misinterpret his son's experience as being from God when it possibly isn't?  That possibility must be acknowledged by anyone who reads this book.   While Paul acknowledged the possibility of personal visions in the ancient church, he himself did not place on any believer the burden of accepting any other private vision other than the message containe din the gospel.  As far as the  details- knowledge or information could be obtained from evil sources for the purpose of adding "authenticity" and misleading believers into believeing the other aspects of the visions shared.  The evil spirits are known for mixing truth with falsehood.  We are in a spiritual battle, and nothing is off limits as far as the evil spirits of this world are concerned.  they will try all sorts oftricky and decieving deceptions. They will  try any underhanded tactic even going so far as using an innocent boy and his  Dad, as tools to mislead others.  It isn't always obvious to everyone to sort truth from untruth unless they are firmly grounded in the Holy Spirit. Even those involved in the occult such as palm readers and fortune tellers, can sometimes fortell the future or the past with amazing accuracy with supernatural information supplied by the evil spirit realm. 

Hitchcock has written a book that I feel very strongly about- its message needs to be heard. So many readers, even those in church leadership positions, are falling for these heaven and back stories.  It is as if so many Christians have thrown their common sense and bible belief out the window.  Hitchcock's book grounds people into reality. His book not only gives the historical background into the NDE accounts, he provides a survey of the main bestsellers involving NDEs as well.  Not only that, he addresses these claims one by one in light of scripture.  He does what every pastor should have been doing but has neglected to do because of political correctness and fear of popular opinion. Finally comes a writer who is courageous enough to speak biblical truth.  As a blogger I received a copy of this book published by Tyndale for the purpose of writing this review.








My original review on Heaven is for Real:

Heaven is for Real  -A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, By Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent, claims to be an account of a true story.  A pastor, writes the account of his son's trip to heaven, that happened during the emergency surgery of his 4 year old son near death experience.  While alleged near death experiences are somewhat common, based on the media attention in documentaries, articles and even books, what makes this story unique is the fact that it comes from a 4 year old boy, who upon his return to his parents, reveals information that he could possibly not have known everywhere else.

Even though this story is easy to read and easy to follow, it raises spiritually complex issues such as the issue of the legitimacy of private visions apart from revealed scripture.  While it is true that some NDE can be ruled out as the side effects of a dying or injured brain, not all can be scientifically ruled out.  Some perhaps might be supernatural in nature.  Nevertheless that does not mean they should automatically be accepted as biblical in nature or truth.  I must admit I am skeptical when it comes to believing modern day visions and NDE.  For example, there are so many alleged apparitions of Mary in the Catholic church, that I believe most to be hoaxes, and in other cases, demonic in nature. 

Convieniently, this entire miraculous story occured to a pastor's son.  The reader places his faith by accepting the word of the pastor- the author of this book- that his 4 year old son did in fact go to heaven and that it is a true account and not fabricated or embellished. While the pastor does not admit to adding to his son's depictions of heaven, he interprets them in light of scripture.  In of itslef there is nothing wrong with doing that.   Once the reader decides to accept the author's word that this story is legit,  it is up to the reader to discern the source or supernatural power behind the NDE. This is where most readers will most likely accept with blind faith that this is a true account and that it is based on biblical truth. This is because most people want to believe this heartwarming and comforting message is true. 

 Any responsible reader familiar with the bible will be aware that he or she is faced with the task of determining if the experience of Colton is spiritually based on truth, or if it perhaps is an indirect attempt of Satan to mislead believers into accepting false information.  Paul warned in the letters of the new testement, especially in the book of Galations, that even Satan, and evil spirits can appear as angels of light, deceiving many.  So, if this is true, then is it possible that a Pastor might be decieved and misinterpret his son's experience as being from God when it possibly isn't?  That possibility must be acknowledged by anyone who reads this book.   While Paul acknowledged the possibility of personal visions in the ancient church, he himself did not place on any believer the burden of accepting any other private vision other than the message containe din the gospel.  When Colton urgently claimed that all must know Jesus to enter Heaven, that is accurate- and perhaps the most significant piece of information that could possibly validate the experience as being in line with scripture. As far as the other details- knowledge of his grandfather and unborn sister- that information could be obtained from evil sources for the purpose of adding "authenticity" and misleading believers into believeing the other aspects of the visions Colton shared.  The evil spirits are known for mixing truth with falsehood.  We are in a spiritual battle, and nothing is off limits as far as the evil spirits of this world are concerned.  they will try all sorts oftricky and decieving deceptions. They will  try any underhanded tactic even going so far as using an innocent boy and his Pastor Dad, as tools to mislead others.  It isn't always obvious to everyone to sort truth from untruth unless they are firmly grounded in the Holy Spirit. Even those involved in the occult such as palm readers and fortune tellers, can sometimes fortell the future or the past with amazing accuracy with supernatural information supplied by the evil spirit realm.  The details of the throne of God, the angels and other aspects are questionable, as to their spiritual authenticity.