Book Review: Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

Deluxe, keepsake edition of the best-selling book and true story of a young boy's visit to heaven after life-saving surgery.
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.
Colton said he met his miscarried sister whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.
Told by the father but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready there is a coming last battle.


I have to admit that this book was not at all what I thought it would be.  The story is more about the dad than it is about Colton.  I understand that the background is given so you have a better idea of the family and what they were going through at the time, but the focus of the book to me seemed a lot more on that and less on the things that Colton experienced while in heaven. The trials the family experienced and the prayers that were answered are a very uplifting story, however  I think the book would have been better written if it were truly written from a child's perspective and not the father's.  I did appreciate and enjoyed the child like simplicity in the descriptions given by Colton about what he saw and experienced while he was in heaven.  We as adults would be much better off we had the simple faith of a child.

 I think we need to be careful about recommending this book and other's like it.  I am a believer.  I believe in the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I believe in Jesus, heaven, and angels.  I believe there is only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ.  I believed all of these things before I read this book.  I think it is natural to be curious about what heaven will be like and what better way to find out then by reading or asking someone who has been there.   We need to be careful to put our faith in God and His Word, not in man and his word.  If you are looking to read this book for the purpose of reading about this child's experience then I would recommend it.  If you are looking for "proof" that heaven is real and the word of God is true, I would recommend you look to God and His Word, the Holy Bible.

I received a complimentary copy of Heaven is For Real for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation.