Comforting, Convincing Glimpse into Heaven

Review of
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, 2010 (163 pp, $16.99, paperback)

Rating 4/5

Cover image from heavenisforreal.net

When I first heard about this book, I was skeptical that it would (or even could) provide its readers a glimpse into Heaven. In fact, I almost refused to read it as a way of letting others know that I did not agree with the idea of God “revealing” Heaven to people today. It just seemed too prone to poor interpretation and too easy of a way to get Christians to buy a book about what Heaven is like. Yet after my wife convinced me to read this short book, I came away convinced that God gave this little boy a visit to Heaven.

The book tells the story of Colton, a four-year-old boy who nearly died from a mysterious ailment that doctors later discovered to be a ruptured appendix. It was during an emergency surgery that young Colton was taken to Heaven where he saw the throne room of God, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, winged angels, his deceased grandfather whom he had never met, and his unborn sister.

For years after this extraordinary event, Todd Burpo, Colton’s father, collected many of the observations and experiences Colton had while he was in Heaven through conversations with Colton. What convinced Burpo that Colton’s journey was genuine was his ability to provide him with information Colton could not have known. For instance, Colton was able to tell his father exactly where he was and what he was doing during the time he was in Heaven (during his surgery). In fact, he said that the reason he was sent back from Heaven was because of his father’s emotional (and admittedly) angry prayers in that moment.

What makes the boy’s tale so convincing are the Scripturally-sound observations Colton made while in Heaven. For example, Colton was able to recall that Jesus told him that his cousin baptized him, that Jesus had a beautiful horse to ride on, the vast array of colors present in Heaven, the fantastically white appearance of Jesus’ clothes, the places where Jesus was pierced while he was crucified (which Colton described as red “markers”), and the side of God’s throne at which Jesus sits. These are all observations that would be impossible for a pre-school student to know with perfect accuracy.

I was most touched and comforted by the sections on the Burpo’s unborn child. As a parent of an unborn child myself, it was very comforting and exciting to read Colton’s account of his interactions with his unborn sister while it was heart wrenching to read about his longing to see her again. While I recognize that this book is not Scriptural, it was incredibly encouraging to read that I may be able to meet my unborn child some day in Heaven.

This book is a very quick read and can probably be completed in a sitting or two. As much as I enjoyed the content of this book, I found some chapters and sections in this book to be unnecessary and seem to have only been added in order to add pages to the book. I recommend this book to anyone looking for encouragement amidst an unbelieving world and especially for parents of miscarried or stillborn children. This book left me believing that little Colton found out first-hand that Heaven is for real.

- Reviewed by Tyler Constable