The Burpo-Malarkey Doctrine {Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo; The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, by Kevin Malarkey} Article... written in 2012, is by Phil Johnson, edited. Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo, tells the story of Burpos son, Colton, who says he visited heaven while anesthetized for an appendectomy at age 4. Colton, now 13, says in heaven he got a halo and real wings (though they were too small for his liking). He also claims he sat on Jesus lap while the angels sang to him; he saw Mary standing beside Jesus throne; and he met the Holy Spirit (who, according to Colton, is kind of blue) That book is not to be confused with The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, by Kevin Malarkey—another runaway best-seller. Malarkeys book is about his son Alex, who at age 6 was nearly killed (and left permanently paralyzed) in a devastating automobile accident. In the immediate aftermath, and then during his rehabilitation, Alex says he made multiple trips to heaven and back. The Malarkeys version of heaven is considerably darker and not as full of details as the Burpos. There is a hole in outer Heaven, Alex says. That hole goes to hell. The devil evidently uses this portal freely, because he is a major figure in Alex Malarkeys description of paradise. Alex says he has personally seen Satan many times, first at the accident scene and then later in heaven. Indeed, this is perhaps the most vivid part of Alex Malarkeys whole account: The devils mouth is funny looking, with only a few moldy teeth. And Ive never noticed any ears. His body has a human form, with two bony arms and two bony legs. He has no flesh on his body, only some moldy stuff. His robes are torn and dirty. I dont know about the color of the skin or robes—its all just too scary to concentrate on these things! OTHER EXAMPLES OF SIMILAR BOOKS include My Journey to Heaven: What I Saw and How It Changed My Life, by Marvin J. Besteman; Flight to Heaven: A Plane Crash . . .A Lone Survivor . . .A Journey to Heaven—and Back, by Dale Black; To Heaven and Back: A Doctors Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story, by Mary Neal; 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life, by Don Piper; Nine Days In Heaven, by Dennis Prince; 23 Minutes In Hell: One Mans Story About What He Saw, Heard, and Felt in that Place of Torment, by Bill Wiese; and many others. Several of these titles have appeared on various bestseller lists, and most of them are still riding high. Whats different about the current crop of afterlife testimonies is that they are being eagerly sought and relentlessly cranked out by evangelical publishers. They are bought and devoured by millions who would describe themselves as born-again Bible-believing Christians. One major, obvious problem is that these books dont even agree with one another. They give contradictory descriptions of heaven and thus cannot possibly have any cumulative long-term effect other than the sowing of confusion and doubt. THE WHOLE PREMISE BEHIND EVERY ONE OF THESE BOOKS IS CONTRARY TO EVERYTHING SCRIPTURE TEACHES US ABOUT HEAVEN! John MacArthur says, For anyone who truly believes the biblical record, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that these modern testimonies—with their relentless self-focus and the relatively scant attention they pay to the glory of God—are simply untrue. They are either figments of the human imagination (dreams, hallucinations, false memories, fantasies, and in the worst cases, deliberate lies), or else they are products of demonic deception. We know this with absolute certainty, because Scripture definitively says that people do not go to heaven and come back: Who has ascended to heaven and come down? (Proverbs 30:4). Answer: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man (John 3:13, emphasis added). All the accounts of heaven in Scripture are visions, not journeys taken by dead people. And even visions of heaven are very, very rare in Scripture. You can count them all on one hand. Only four authors in all the Bible were blessed with visions of heaven and wrote about what they saw: the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, and the apostles Paul and John. Two other biblical figures—Micaiah and Stephen—got glimpses of heaven, but what they saw is merely mentioned, not described (2 Chronicles 18:18; Acts 7:55). As Pastor MacArthur points out, all of these were prophetic visions, not near-death experiences. Not one person raised from the dead in the Old or New Testaments ever recorded for us what he or she experienced in heaven. That includes Lazarus, who spent four days in the grave. Paul was caught up into heaven in an experience so vivid he said he didnt know whether he went there bodily or not, but he saw things that are unlawful to utter, so he gave no details. He covered the whole incident in just three verses (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). All three biblical writers who saw heaven and described their visions give comparatively sparse details, but they agree perfectly (Isaiah 6:1-4; Ezekiel 1 and 10; Revelation 4-6). THEY DONT AGREE with the Burpo-Malarkey version of heaven. Both their intonation and the details they highlight are markedly different. The Biblical authors are all fixated on Gods glory, which defines heaven and illuminates everything there. They are overwhelmed, chagrined, petrified, and put to silence by the sheer majesty of Gods holiness. NOTABLY MISSING from all the biblical accounts are the frivolous features and juvenile attractions that seem to dominate every account of heaven currently on the bestseller lists. Lynn Vincent, who ghost-wrote Heaven is for Real on behalf of the young boy Colton Burpo and his father, said that she was initially reluctant to include Coltons description of people in heaven having wings. If I put that people in Heaven have wings, orthodox Christians are going to think that the book is a hoax. SHE DID AND THEY DIDNT. {How tragic and telling!!} [MULTITUDES IN THE CHURCHES] have relinquished the principle of sola Scriptura and lost their confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture... they turn from clear biblical teaching on heaven and seek an alternative view in mystical experiences that bear no resemblance to what Scripture tells us.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:03:15 +0000
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