Book Review: Revealing Heaven

Revealing Heaven by John W. Price is about near death experiences and how every person who is good and kind gets to heaven no matter their religion, but mean people will face hell.

John W. Price is a member of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation. He is an Episcopal priest. A collection of real life accounts of near death experiences (NDE) are recorded in this book, but I have to say I am disappointed in it. The book contradicts scripture.

The first half of the book works at proving that life after death exists. He says a lot of Christians doubt it exists. Most Christians I know believe in life after death, but when you hear of near death experiences it’s natural to feel skepticism. Price uses scripture to prove life after death. I don’t dispute this part of the book. Halfway through is when I had a problem.

Skepticism plays in when he writes about how some NDE’s return able to read minds and predict the future. One of the NDE’s saw Heaven but remains a Buddhist today. Price talked about how God didn’t care about any sin, unless you were mean; especially a mean Christian. At the end of the book, Price affirms his own belief. Here are the two statements of belief:

Page 137: “Now Jeff had not been baptized a Christian. Yet he and others like him with whom I’ve visited did not go to hell, but rather experienced God’s wondrous love in heaven. How can we reconcile this with statements in the New Testament that way we must accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in order to go to Heaven? I think the conclusion we can draw here is this. Jesus is, in Christian theology, God come to earth. Since God is love, so is Jesus, and he showed and commanded that love for us. Those who do live a life of love are, whether they know it or not, accepting Jesus in his command to love as the central orientation of their lives.” Emphasis mine.

Page 143 [Regarding John 14:1-6): “As an Episcopal priest, I cannot argue with it except to point out that it seems to exclude non-Christians.” Emphasis mine.

Price also speaks about the controversial Rob Bell and his book “Love Wins.” In several places, Price can’t explain the scripture about Jesus being the only way.

In the beginning of the book, Price’s stories of NDE’s returning exemplified changed lives from meeting Jesus, but towards the end it felt like all I had to do was love well to go to Heaven regardless of the choices I make in my life. He got one point correct, however. Jesus is about transformation. Jesus also spoke about loving our enemies. Love is God. However, there is more to God than just love. For clarification, I would recommend reading the Bible and pray. Satan can come as an angel of light, too, and if something contradicts the Bible, one should ask lots of questions. From the point of view of a non-Christian, I am left confused as to how to get to Heaven.

Scant places in the book talk about getting to Heaven through Jesus. Then, many statements talk about God’s love as if that’s His only attribute. I gave this book one star. It contradicts the Bibles’ main point: the only way to Heaven is through accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. You can’t be a Muslim and enter Heaven, unless you have accepted Him as your Savior which means you are no longer a Muslim. His book indicates that religion doesn’t matter. All roads lead to Heaven. This makes Christ’s sacrifice on the cross meaningless.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Updated 3/18/2013: John W. Price left a comment beneath my review on Amazon saying, “This reviewer put words in my mouth/pen. I did not say “every person who is good and kind gets to heaven no matter their religion,” I said the reviews of returnee’s lives shows love is the key question regarding entry into heaven. I did not say, “Love is God.” I said “God is Love.” (I John 4:8). I did not say I didn’t believe in life after death, I said I didn’t know what to believe about it, as the Bible itself is not clear from its various statements. That is very different. The reviewer is right saying conservative Christians will have a hard time with this book, particularly if they are inclined to misquote me.”

My response: He infers it in his book. Others like this reviewer read it the same way, too. Price follows it up saying, “…reviews of returnee’s lives shows love is the key question regarding entry into heaven.” But Price is clear as quoted below that he believes Christ is not the only door to Heaven.

Price says on page 144:

“God’s love is not limited to Christians, but is for all people of goodwill who live with love for one another. The returnees show us this truth abundantly. I cannot in good conscience say that Christianity is the only way. I can say it is the way for me. I can say God’s love is not exclusive to Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or any other faith group, since members of each group embrace and live the command that we are to love one another.”

He also takes issue with me saying he didn’t believe in life after death. I said in the above review, “The first half of the book works at proving that life after death exists. He says a lot of Christians doubt it exists.” I merely mentioned that in my corner of the world I had not heard that. I didn’t say he didn’t believe in it.

I like what this reviewer said on Amazon.

In any case, as a courtesy, I have added his comment to my review. It’s a courtesy I extend to any author.

Culture Is A Petri Dish

Origin Unknown

Culture is a petri dish growing distrust and anger.  People who seem too good to be true are scrutinized like cells on a slide under a microscope.  They lash out at the person, clawing at them, and when they bleed they look for the lies and scandal they expected and have seen in others.  Not seeing it, they continue their abuse, almost hoping to find it.  They rationalize this behavior while speaking love and peace.

Why?

Someone they believed in betrayed their fragile trust.  People come from broken homes.  They talk from a wound.  Our culture has slowly inched away from the traditional family, scowled at anything remotely “Norman Rockwell,” and television and newspapers continue to feed their belief that everyone is hiding something.  No one is good or lovely.  Darkness clouds their vision, even those claiming to know Christ.

What can we do about it?

A Christian can speak light and truth until the sun sets, but the person to whom they are preaching won’t hear it unless the Holy Spirit is in them.  It’s so much easier sometimes to believe the worst in someone.  If we believe the best and that person does not live up to our expectations, our heart breaks.  Most people would prefer physical pain or impairment to having someone break their heart.  Instead, people search for the worst, sometimes aggressively, because of the unlikely event that the person they are trying so hard to hate is simply another illusion; a hypocrite preaching truth and living a lie.

Pray.

Sheila Walsh says in her book The Heartache No One Sees that we need to pray for the person we hate or are angry at even if that means gritting our teeth or frequently biting our lower lip.  I have many scars on my lower lip from praying for someone I don’t like.  She also says eventually we will pray for them with all sincerity.

And I did!

A woman wrote somewhere (can’t remember the source) about how her husband wasn’t living up to her expectations.  Their marriage suffered.  Eventually, she read something that changed her thinking.  The Holy Spirit opened her eyes that she needed to pray to accept her husband’s way of doing things.  Over a long period, she began to change and because she truly began loving her husband just the way he was, he also began to change.

I need to realize that only God can change hearts and I need to forgive more and hold grudges less.

I’m not a part of this angry culture, but I’m not immune to it.  I’m a recovering gossip, too.  It used to be that I contributed to family conversations when they would talk behind the back of an absent family member.  As I grew in Christ, I realized how wrong this was and how unfair especially when the family member returned and everyone acted as if they loved that person.  It was as if the sentiment so angrily expressed was never spoken.  It’s important and necessary to forgive a family member for a decision you don’t agree with, even if there is no relationship anymore. Anger rots the soul.  It destroys life.  I wonder if that’s why Jesus said angry thoughts are akin to murder in the New Testament.

We can’t go one day without His grace in our life.  We can’t go one day without giving grace.

Culture’s petri dish of anger and hate should not grow in our life.  We should work on growing a life in grace and truth.  It’s not a popular sentiment.  But then, we shouldn’t resemble the world with our actions or thoughts.  We should work as a family in Christ together to pray for a culture bent on death and destruction.  We should view each person, believer or non believer, liar, murderer, thief, immoral, or apathetic as a valuable life and never wish anyone death or illness no matter how much we disagree with them.

Are you holding a grudge?  Is it changing your life for the worst?  Is it bringing out the worst in you?

Life Illuminated

Week 4/Day 5

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. – John 1:3-5

Life is found 36 times in John. No other New Testament book uses it more than 17 times. According to the NIV study bible, “Life is Christ’s gift and He, in fact, is “the life” (14:6) Light of men. This Gospel also links light with Christ, from whom comes all spiritual illumination. He is the “light of the world,” who holds out wonderful hope for man (8:12). For an Old Testament link between life and light see Psalm 36:9. darkness. The stark contrast between light and darkness is a striking theme in this Gospel (see e.g., 12:35).”

 Life is not merely rising from bed, dressing for work, punching a clock, and coming home. Then, to repeat this the next day. Life is much more than going through the motions like some robot. If we open our eyes to the Light we will see Him working in our lives by the things that He does behind the scenes. Illumination is what we need in our lives.

The very word life insinuates much more than just breathing. It is a powerful word that infers light. Some people use it as, ‘She has so much life’ to describe someone who lives and breathes light. Our Pastor to Seniors today talked about enthusiasm. It’s catching. It’s like a leaf being carried on the powerful thrust of a breeze. Reach up and catch it. Be the light and life that people tend to gravitate towards and wish to share in, instead of the mess and darkness people tend to run from. Life is precious. Don’t give up. Don’t slow down. Don’t waste the moments, the minutes, the very hours given to you each day.

How do you see life?

“Have you experienced God’s majesty? A few years ago I began thinking about this, so one day I asked the Lord to reveal His majesty to me. I basically hid this prayer in the crevices of my heart. Later in the week, I went shopping with a friend who recently had accepted Jesus into her life. In the midst of a great time, my eyes suddenly were drawn upward to the sky. Tears welled in my eyes as I viewed a sight I had never seen or heard about before. As the sun shined brightly, a vivid rainbow encircled the sun. Each color of the rainbow glistened with radiance, intensity, and brilliance as if to sing, “Majesty, praise His glory!”” – Carla MacDougal

You can join the Reflecting Him Bible Study Here.