Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises,… (2025)

4.5 Stars— “Imagine Heaven” by John Burke was a book I found on Kindle Unlimited as I was looking to ‘switch it up’ after reading too many thrillers in a row. I have a love for books about Near Death Experiences (NDE), and this one did not disappoint. “Imagine Heaven” is a cross between “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn and “Life After Life” by John Moody. It is the first book I have read on the subject that attempts to reconcile some of the more well documented NDE experiences/books with what the Bible says about Heaven. At first I thought that this format was not going to work, but the more I read the more I felt that the author did an excellent job of showing the legitimacy of the NDE by coupling them with what we know about Heaven from the Bible. The book is well researched ( but does rely heavily on the 3 most popular books about and
NDEs —which may be because these 3 are the most detailed accounts). A few of the NDEs detailed were new to me and absolutely amazing ( my favorite being an account by a blind person who had been blind since birth). The author also does a good job of covering less researched NDE topics like the NDEs of individuals professing other religions and atheists. He also does a good job of at least touching on the Hell NDE and the different versions of that event. The final half of the book moved at a fast pace, and I learned a lot about Heaven as Burke used NDEs to illustrate major points in his book. A very nice addition to this topic which I highly recommend.

I have been agnostic my whole life. My parents were non practicing Catholics. The Catholic priests I knew could never answer my questions in a satisfactory way, so I wrote them all off as hypocrites at the age of 12. I just so happen to walk into this church, my first time in a church as an adult (not counting funerals and weddings), on the first day of this Imagine Heaven series. John Burke is the pastor there and he is taking 5 Sunday services to cover the content in this book. Burke is an engineer and a former skeptic and he seems to have written this book with the skeptic in mind, meaning he answered a lot of my (skeptical) questions without seeming defensive (the whole church experience there seems very skeptic friendly, actually). Burke even dabbles in a bit of physics (my husband was educated as a physicist so we appreciated that bit). I would definitely encourage anyone with questions about what happens after we die to read this book. It was a great introduction to the subject for me. It is definitely very thought provoking. Of course, the disclaimer here is I did not read the book in isolation, but along with these services.

The focus of this book is what Heaven is like, near death experiences are used to add color to that picture. He picks people to focus on who have little if nothing to gain by sharing their stories, and in some cases, quite a lot to lose. Each week we've had a guest speaker at the church service, someone highlighted in this book... and I would highly recommended going on Gateway's website (or maybe you can find it on YouTube?) and listening to these people speak. That's what pushed this book from 4 to 5 stars for me, I know that's not fair, but it really does make the reading experience that much better.

I've also started reading some of the books that Burke references. The focus of this book is definitely heaven, how studies of NDE (Near Death Experiences) support the scriptures. I think he does a good job of presenting the data/findings in an unbiased way, and he makes it very clear when he is speculating. But I know a lot of people are interested in the full accounts of specific NDEs and this isn't the book for that, but it could definitely point you to some. My favorite so far is Howard Storm's My Decent Into Death.

I am not sure I have the words to convey how much I loved this book. I needed this book. Every so often I find a book that I cannot wait to recommend to someone that I feel would be touched or encouraged by its contents. This book, however, is one that I feel should be read by everyone who has any interest at all in Heaven. In fact, this book is about SO much more than Heaven.

In Imagine Heaven, John Burke shares stories from many people who have had near-death experiences and ties together the details and commonalities in each of the stories. Each of these stories are set beside the many verses throughout scripture that talk about Heaven and also the author’s own thoughts about what we could possibly expect to experience there. Although these stories are quite compelling, I believe the most valuable part of this book is the beautiful thoughts by the author about life, love and relationships in the here and now. I was so very moved by his words and will be reading them over and over for years to come. As a Worship Leader, Imagine Heaven has given deeper meaning to the lyrics in my favorite worship songs and I find this book to be a wonderful resource in helping God’s people to seek after the heart of God in worship.

I hope that you’ll buy and read this book. It truly is about SO much more than imagining Heaven. I believe it’s also about understanding God’s love for us, for each other and His purposes for His people right here on earth!

Look, I know the title is 'Imagine Heaven', but I was just not prepared for how often John Burke was going to exhort me to imagine heaven! My kindle counts over 55 instances of the phrase 'imagine heaven' alone, and there's a lot more imagining where that came from:

John says "his eyes were like blazing fire" (Revelation 1:14) Yet not like fire as we know it - imagine eyes so magical, you can't stop staring.

Imagining and living for Heaven is not optional to God - it's the hope God wants us to hold in our mind's eye.

Just imagine, that point of life you feared most - the death of your earthly body - suddenly frees you in a way you never anticipated. [...] Imagine no more aches and pains, those ailments and impairments are gone, and the limitations of movement in your earthbound body do not seem to apply to this new, upgraded spiritual body [...] Recall the strength and stamina of those teen years? Imagine a new body that feels even better than that! [...] Imagine - to live again, forever young, but with wisdom too!

Imagine sharing in God's glory!

We don't feel fully known, understood, or valued by others or even ourselves [...] Imagine how in Heaven, all this gets replaced with an unbelievable clarity of who God created you to be - fully yourself, fully unique, for a unique relationship with your Creator. [...] Just imagine what God wants for you.

Imagine Heaven - the greatest reunion ever - with friends, family, even distant relatives you never know. [...] Imagine all the family hurts and pains, finally redeemed by the love of God. [...] Imagine this new Family of familes God has in store for all who love him. Imagine meeting relatives from hundreds of years past, joined as this family you never knew.

This isn't so bad; there's nothing wrong with an explicitly Christian book about NDEs evangelising for Christianity. And Burke's Christianity is that particularly American sort: open-hearted, naive, friendly, happy-clappy, desperate to share the source of all joy. It's sweet and it's endearing.
However, it does get annoying when the actual NDE stories are given second place. There are too many instances of Burke quoting little snippets of NDE testimony, and then going into depth about how that fits with scripture or what we ought to deduce about heaven, without ever finishing the story. I wanted a lot more of the first-hand testimony. At the very least it would've been nice for each story to begin at the beginning and get to the end before the interpretation began.

However, it's even worse than that. Burke says in the beginning:

I cannot vouch for each individual's authenticity or credibility. Some NDErs I will quote because their reported experience correlates with other experiences and Scripture, yet I do not agree with their interpretations or conclusions. And even if some turn out to be fraudulent (like the boy who made up a near-death story for attention), this does not concern me, because the stories I've chosen could be replaced with many others describing much of the same things.

Uh-oh, it's not a good start when an author makes no effort to verify his facts. But it gets worse:

But some Christians adamantly say all NDEs are satanic deceptions. If so, it seems Satan is doing a poor job of misrepresenting God. Plus, God is allowing little children and Christ-followers (including his pastors) to be deceived. Of course, all of us can be deceived, so it's wise to check all claims against Scripture, and as Jesus said, look at the fruit it produces in a life (Matthew 7:16).

So Burke is not checking his sources for truthfulness, but he is checking for scriptural conformity.

With this in mind, it's impossible not to be disappointed by the book. A book which reviews all the NDE testimonies and gives a disinterested assessment of where they align with Christian dogma would be interesting. So would some apologetics explaining any divergence. But a book which is so openly biased and cherry-picking is not very interesting on the topic of NDEs.
Burke claims that no NDErs ever mentioned reincarnation, which I know can't be true because I've just finished an entire book about a Jewish woman who died and came back convinced of reincarnation: Changed in a Flash: One Woman's Near-Death Experience and Why a Scholar Thinks It Empowers Us All. Knowing that, I don't put much store in his claims that nobody ever encounters a non-Christian deity in the afterlife, or that people who have never heard of Jesus meet him in heaven.

Despite the unreliability of the book, I did enjoy it. It's impossible not to be pulled in by the uplifting and joyful tone and Burke's overwhelming excitement about just how great heaven is going to be. It's so very wholesome I'd be happy to include it in my category of 'comfort reads for rainy days' but, like most other books in that pile, it's probably fiction.

I'm changing the review I originally had on here (2 stars down from 5), because I've had a lot of time to ponder the book ever since I put it down, and I realize two things that are extremely crucial to this book's credibility:

1. This book is based on emotional pleas, not fact-based evidence. What I mean by that is that this book starts from the assumption (I say this in the most generous of terms) that the Bible is 100% accurate in everything that it says. Once you go off of this assumption, then it's easy to say that what people see in near-death experiences (NDEs) can be linked to the Bible. Religion triggers the same areas of the brain as fear, and therefore alerts similar mental reflexes. Religious people are more afraid of death than non-religious people are, thus causing them to see all of this religious imagery when they have NDEs. But if you don't even take that obvious piece of information into account, the argument is still faulty. Many of the NDEs observed in Burke's own book contradict each other, with different observations of heaven and different accounts on what happens in heaven. All of it is based on psychological, emotional reflexes the brain brings back to the forefront when people are on the verge of death, even for non-religious people who "see" Jesus.

2. There is no proof of God's existence or of Heaven's existence presented in this book. The author goes with the assumption that because these people saw something, therefore it must be believed. As I stated previously, many of the people interviewed for this book give conflicting accounts, and I assume there would only be one heaven if it was real, so not all of these accounts can be accurate. But the one thing tying all of them together is that they have a strong emotional affect on the person who experienced it, and it usually led to them changing their life in some way.

In that case, that presents the effects of religions. It implants itself like a seed from the earliest days of childhood, the first time a parent forces a child to go to church, or to Sunday school, and is forcibly taught something as if it's accurate information and is expected not to question it. Then if/when they have a NDE, these vivid religious images implanted since youth will come to the forefront. (I've already stated many non-religious people - many of whom were previously religious - already know of religious imagery in some way, shape, or form.) These images will scare these people into shaping their lives. Whether or not it actually gets them into "Heaven" remains to be seen.

For now, I remain a skeptic of any religious book having 100% of the answers. I give it two stars because it was an interesting read, and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in the subject. But I would warn them not to be fooled by any emotional persuasions, like I had after my initial reading.

This is an unusual book in many ways. The author takes up many of the NDE (Near Death Experiences) and compares them to what the Bible teaches about Heaven. There is great variety and if you have not read about NDE's, this would be a great book to get a comprehensive view of them. NDE's are somewhat controversial. Regardless of how you may feel about them, there are many thrilling insights given in the book about Heaven. The author believes that many of the NDE's substantiate what the Bible teaches concerning Heaven.

Burke provides interesting biblical support for near death experiences. He suggests that those who have "died" have been given glimpses or tastes of heaven and sometimes hell. It was repetitive and I found myself skimming parts, but it still enhanced my hope of heaven.

The timing of this book is perfect

When I first got started on learning more about Heaven, it was because of a book I'd heard of called "90 Minutes In Heaven". Upon reading this I wanted to learn more about these NDEs. This was the first book I purchased. I was loving all the descriptions of the NDErs' experiences. Months after I bought the book, my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It wasn't a long illness and she was fortunate to experience no pain. We live far apart (about 700 miles) and I am disabled and unable to travel that distance without a lot of pain. Needless to say, I didn't get to visit very often.

Shortly after I got the news about my mom, my sister let me and my brother (who lives 4 hours away from them) know that mom's wish was to see us before she died. The timing was perfect. My husband was taking a half day off from work for a dental appointment on the 4th of July weekend which was cancelled due to a suspicion of a possible abscess and needed antibiotics before getting the tooth worked on. This gave us a 4 day weekend - 2 days to drive down and 2 days to drive back home with an afternoon visit on Saturday and a bit more than a half day on Sunday.

My brother was also able to get there a couple of hours before we had to go. While I sat with my mom on Saturday, she was extremely weak. Eyes mostly closed and when she did open them it was only half lidded. I knew it would be a surprise if she made it through the summer and I instantly thought of this book. We are Born Again Christians, my dad was a pastor for many decades before he had a stroke and couldn't preach any more so we believe in Heaven and Hell.

As I sat talking to her, I mentioned that I had read a book about people who had died and had Near Death Experiences and I'd gotten an idea of what she was going to see. I started telling her the various stories and her eyes were wide open, staring at me very intently which she hadn't done any of the other times I had sat with her. When I was done, her eyes went back to her normal half lidded seeing.

After we got back home, the following Tuesday I got the call that mom had died. I thought how God works things out. Any other time it would have been my father-in-law who would have taken me at a time when I needed my husband with me but he wouldn't have been able to get the days off. The timing was perfect. And the fact that I had gotten this book before my mom got cancer and was able to share with her some of the stories I'd read was awesome. It wasn't my normal reading forte, yet I had bought it and read it. I feel that it might have made her passing a lot less scary and to know that it was this book that made it possible for me to tell her the things I'd read...well there's just no words to describe the feeling. I read this again and, while it made me cry, I could picture her reuniting with her parents who had died at the ages of 50 and 51, along with all the rest of family and friends who had died before her. I could see her in perfect health, with all the music which she loved so much and envisioning what she was probably seeing and doing, gave me a peace about her death that I don't think I would have had if I hadn't read this book.

I know this is not a normal review but I hope I have created enough interest through my own experience that maybe someone will need the same kind of comfort that it has given me and will get it with the reading of this book.

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, the husband of a dear friend who died a few months ago. Although his wife wanted him to go to church with her, he never would. He had attended only one church service since adolescence, and he's now in his late seventies. This book changed his life. He is a believer now, regularly attending church. Praise God!

Since I had read several books about near-death experiences (NDEs), I didn't expect to find much new in this book. However, this book is different in that it includes NDEs of people around the world, with different beliefs and faith practices. The other books I've read were usually written by the person who had the NDE and focused on that individual's experience. This book focused on the commonalities among NDEs of diverse people.

Believing as I do that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," I was curious about what people who believed in other gods saw in Heaven. Although they may have used the name of their god (probably because that was the only name they knew for God), their descriptions describe Jesus as He is described in the Bible. It's not surprising that many people who weren't believers before an NDE became believers after the experience.

Although I have never had an NDE, I was blessed to have a dream or a vision of my husband shortly after his death. He just appeared to me, without saying a word or doing anything. He was almost eighty and very sick when he died, but in my vision he looked young (about thirty) and healthy. The most noticeable feature was the pure joy that radiated from him. Throughout his life, he was happy and smiling more often than not, but his earthly smile was weak and pale compared to the beautiful heavenly smile he gave me in that vision. So I wasn't surprised to read in this book of how joyous people are in Heaven.

One thing that surprised me a little was the assertion that we are active in Heaven. I've never really thought about what people in Heaven do beyond the popular concept that they are sitting on clouds, playing the harp or ringing bells. But John Burke tells us that people in Heaven have work to do and projects to complete. The work is not the hard toil of earth, but it is productive. That was a new concept to me, and I like that idea.

The descriptions of Heaven made me eager to see it in person, and the NDE stories strengthened the impression I received from my husband's "visit" that Heaven is a place of incredible joy.

4.5

This was such a good book.

I’ve been well-churched, and I have a grasp of the glories awaiting believers in heaven. But John Burke approached the writing of this book in a way such that my yearning to be there increased all the more. He pairs many compelling NDE accounts with the soundness of scripture, and then leaves the reader with a thoughtful call to action.

I wish we talked about heaven (and hell) more today. It’s easy to “judge not” the hearts of those around us, while forgetting (or not even knowing) the gravity of the unending misery that awaits those who refuse to accept the free gift of salvation. Not all of the NDE’s in this book are stories of people who had a glorious peek into heaven. There are also many accounts of others who tried to forget what they experienced at the doors of hell. What I read in this book is causing me to think differently and pray harder, lest anyone I love might spend eternity in a place like what they described!

One message was so clear from both sides of studying the NDE coin: “The Lord is definitely NOT slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but IS longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (emphasis mine)

Who should read this book?

Those who don’t know much about heaven, and those who do. Anyone who grieves the loss of a loved one, and everyone who eventually will. Mothers who are bringing up children, and dads who have such a heavy influence. Friends who love and family who care.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” – Romans 10:14

Ik heb de Nederlandse versie van dit boek gelezen: “Stel je de hemel eens voor”.

Dit was denk ik (na de Bijbel) het meest impactvolle, bijzondere en levensveranderende boek (ja écht) dat ik ooit gelezen heb!!

In dit boek worden op een hele wetenschappelijke (objectieve) manier de Bijna-Dood-Ervaringen beschreven van mensen van over de hele wereld. Dit boek toont aan dat deze ervaringen onderling sterke overeenkomsten hebben én ook enorm overeen komen met wat er in de Bijbel staat. Door dit boek krijg je een groot inkijkje in wat ons in de toekomst te wachten staat in de Hemel (of Hel) en vooral de enorme liefde en genade die God voor ons heeft. Het boek geeft heel veel vreugde en hoop voor onze toekomst en zal je juist niet angstig maken! Verder leer je ook door deze ervaringen wat er écht toe doet in God’s ogen hier op aarde en waar we ons dus naar mogen uitstrekken in ons dagelijks leven.

Ik raad iedereen aan dit boek te lezen! Ik geef het 6 sterren, maar dat kan niet, dus dan maar 5 ⭐️ Mocht je het boek willen lenen, dan moet dat zeker een keer lukken!

I read a lot about the topic of NDE's (near-death experiences) and the afterlife. It fascinates me. Not all of the books I read focus on the religious aspect, but many do. I make that point because this one does include references to God, as you can see in the title, and many people who won't read books that do not include God need to know up front that this one most definitely does.

John Burke has been studying NDE's and recording them for many years. In this book, he talks about the similarities in them, including a superior being that many call God or other names, and a place much like what we perceive Heaven to be. He also delves into questions many of us wonder about: are there animals? what about evil people? is Hell real?

This book will answer many of your questions, and it is a very comforting book to read following the loss of a loved one, person or pet alike.

I highly recommend this to people who are grieving, and to anyone who wonders "what happens next"? There are too many similarities in NDE's to discount them to simple oxygen deprivation and the like.

Well, The stories of people's death and return to this world were hard to believe. First of all, the stories recorded were all from a Western worldview and perspective. I would have liked to have heard about near-death experiences from people in other countries. I did not read the last chapter completely because it seemed the author was doing a lot of speculating. As a follower of Jesus, yes, this book is comforting but I still find myself being a bit skeptical. I guess the experiences of children were the most intriguing. So I am a bit skeptical about the book although I am glad I read it because others are reading it. I remember that the big issue when someone died, at least in the first part of the book was, had they loved well. All about love and so I have come across people who are focusing on the love issue in regards to eternity and not mentioning Jesus and His sacrifice, his death and resurrection. Although Jesus does show up in the book in most of the experiences, not all of them, sometimes it is angels, I guess. So still a little confused about the book

This book is about near death experiences. True stories of people that died and came back to life. They all saw a outstanding bright light of love they never could imagine on earth. They saw Jesus. Some woman named Vicky was blind her entire life and she told people she could see herself first when she died and then she went into a tunnel of brightness and saw her family and friends and Jesus. Another 6 year old girl kept on saying she she saw herself die too and saw Jesus. And Jesus asked the little girl if she wanted to back with her mommy. Some people did not believe her. Most of the doctors found out that they had to be telling truth about seeing themselves dead because they gave every detail about what got in their charts.

I loved this book and highly recommend to other Christian’s! It inspired me to do more with the time I have here on earth as well as excite me for what’s in store for us in heaven. It also helped with my fears and anxiety in thinking about death. The only reason I’m giving it a 4 is because I was hoping it would go into more detail on certain subjects such as relationships in heaven, pet’s in heaven, etc. but I felt at times the chapters tended to get repetitive.

Honestly, I feel guilty giving this book 1 star!

To begin with, it is quite true that heaven is a place of perfect bliss—devoid of all sorrow and sin, full of exultation and enjoyment—a place where grace and peace reign totally unchallenged. Heaven is where every true treasure and every eternal reward is laid up for the redeemed. Anyone whose destiny is heaven will certainly experience more joy and honor there than the fallen mind is capable of comprehending—infinitely more than any fallen creature deserves. But if you actually saw heaven and lived to tell about it, those things are not what would capture your heart and imagination.

Now, my question is, it the biblical Heaven recounted in this book, or not? The short answer is a big NO! The Stories presented in this book are dangerous as they are seductive. Readers not only get a twisted, unbiblical picture of heaven; they also imbibe a subjective, superstitious, shallow brand of spirituality. Studying mystical accounts of supposed journeys into the afterlife yields nothing but confusion, contradiction, false hope, bad doctrine, and a host of similar evils. They sound as if they viewed paradise in a mirror, keeping themselves in the foreground. They say comparatively little about God or His glory. But the glory of God is what the Bible says fills, illuminates, and defines heaven. Instead, the authors of these stories seem obsessed with details like how good they felt—how peaceful, how happy, how comforted they were; how they received privileges and accolades; how fun and enlightening their experience was; and how many things they think they now understand perfectly that could never be gleaned from Scripture alone. In short, they glorify self while barely noticing God’s glory. They highlight everything but what’s truly important about heaven.

There is simply no reason to believe anyone who claims to have gone to heaven and returned. John 3:13 says, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” And John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time.” Not one biblical person ever gave any recorded account of his or her postmortem experience in the realm of departed souls.

It is, however, right and beneficial for Christians to fix their hearts on heaven. Scripture commands us to cultivate that perspective: (Colossians 3:1–2; 2 Corinthians 4:18); Philippians 3:20). Such a perspective is the very essence of true faith, according to Hebrews 11. It will be the eternal abode of the redeemed. No wonder Christians are intrigued with the subject.

But no matter how much they might obsess over what heaven is like, people who fill their heads with a lot of fantastic or delusional ideas from others’ near-death experiences have not truly set their minds on things above. If the inerrant biblical truth God has given us is the only reliable knowledge about heaven we have access to (and it is), then that is what should grip our hearts and minds, not the dreams and speculations of human minds.

P.S. Additional quotations from some sermons by Pastor John MacArthur on Heaven.

Imagine Heaven is so thoroughly researched that even a skeptic can see that Burke has thought of every angle. He's researched near death experiences (NDEs) from all sorts of people: those who have nothing to gain and a lot of credibility to lose (e.g., doctors), those from other faiths, those with disabilities here who have no disabilities in heaven, and those who had negative experiences after dying.

I had a couple of secret beliefs about heaven that appear to be borne out in these accounts. I wondered if we would be the best version of ourselves (the energy of youth, the wisdom of experience, etc.), and that seems to be what people recount. We are still ourselves, and we still know the people who are important to us here. Another interesting point is that there is a life review -- a sort of highlight reel (or lowlight reel -- this ain't Facebook) of what you've done. You can see the ripple effects of your actions. That's something I've believed would happen, but it came with a surprise: those who had this experience didn't feel judged or condemned by God; on the contrary, any condemnation was self-inflicted.

One of the clearest features of many of these experiences was being asked what one did with one's life... how well you loved others while on earth. It really does come down to the way Jesus simplified it for his followers: Love God and love people. All other laws or rules proceed from this.

Words matter. Actions matter. The point of this life is to love others. Our choice to follow God (or our rejection of Him) has eternal consequences. But the choice is entirely ours; He has given us the free will to choose or to reject Him.

Imagine Heaven has encouraged me to try to see others through God's eyes -- His love, mercy, and grace. Naturally I fail at this daily. But knowing a little about the amazing place that God has prepared for us makes me see this life differently, in the best possible way.

Disclaimers: I finished reading an advance copy of this book a couple of weeks ago. I agreed to write an honest review. John Burke is my pastor of 18 years and a friend. However, if he'd written a dud, I'd be honest about it. Currently this ranks as my favorite of Burke's four books.

Great book, exciting for those who question or fear life after death

I've often thought about seeing Jesus Christ, heaven, those who I love that passed and know Him, as well as those who passed and decided to reject Him. What about life after death experiences from people from other countries and faiths, or no faiths such as atheist proclaim. This book studies all these questions and more, empirically and logically, mixing hope and wonder of what is yet to come. Scriptures are heavily used to reference and guide the reader as to how the person who has experienced life after death matches what the Word of God tells us. I really like most how the author states that these sightings of life after death should not by any means take the place of priority over scriptures while using the descriptions of the after life as more of like adding color or highlights to an existing painting provided by God in the Holy Bible. I can't express or urge enough how important it is for anyone, regardless of your beliefs, nationality or origin to read this book. If you are worried or scared of what to expect after life, this, besides the Bible is a great place to start your research into this topic. I for one , who has read through the entire Bible and continue to study what I believe is God's word, highly recommend this book as an exciting view into the afterlife.

Imagine Heaven made me feel closer to my son. I’ve always held God’s truth in my heart that He prepared a place for us to live with Him after we pass away from earth. I’ve looked forward to the beauty, peace, His presence, new discoveries, no struggles. The stories in this book, the amount of research done, and the reputation of the author and those he referenced, added strength to my faith. I have fewer questions and concerns about where my son is. I get so much comfort from Gods Word, this thoroughly investigated book, and the testimonies of people who have experienced death/loss of a loved one. I recommend this to people of all faiths- it’s not written from a strictly western world perspective.

A wonderful compilation of over 120 NDE accounts brought together in one source. Heaven became tangible to me as the author brought these accounts and compared them with biblical scripture. This text brings such vivid picture of Heaven with testimony after testimony from witnesses who've seen it. It also gives several accounts of the horrors that await those who choose to live separated from God eternally -- something I would not wish upon anyone.

This book is a keeper that will remain on my bookshelf forever.

Awesome book. Gives hope that God exists, to any that still might doubt. It highlights many examples of those who've had near death experiences. After reading this, I have no doubt, there is life after death, and it'll be quite amazing.

[read for a book club, with a hearty amount of discerning discussion]
read with a Bible beside you, discern well, and remember the Socratic condemnation of exclusively using one's experience and then compounding it with other's experiences to prove a claim. rather rash.

Read this bc I’m interested in NDEs! Was interesting, but pretty repetitive and was heavily Christian based. A little preachy at times.

I wish I had annotated in this one. I might do a re-read and do that little by little. Lots of great information, moments that make you think no matter where you might stand in your beliefs.

It was a little scientific for me, but I really enjoyed reading what people's experiences were. Kind of makes me excited to see for myself.

Another wonderful book detailing the beauty and love that awaits us after death. As I age and witness many of my elders passing (sadly, even some from my generation), it gives me great comfort to know not that they are simply in a "better place", but insight into what that place is like.

I have read many books on this topic and this one is in line. Essentially, the lesson we are to learn during our mortal lives is love. Not just the easier love of family/friends, but of neighbors and everyone. It's a hard lesson to learn, but one day you have to account for it during a life review, specifically as it relates to love of your fellow humans.

How can so many that have experienced life after death recount similar stories? Why not err on the side of caution, living and loving? You will be eternally rewarded with an infinite amount of love in the end.

Most humans are afraid of dying. We want to know what comes next, but we don't know. Is heaven real? That's the question this book tries to explore. There has been research on thousands of near-death experiences (NDEs) and the author has compiled the stories and examined them for commonalities. Out of these thousands of stories, there are some curious similarities: an overwhelming sense of love and peace, a celestial welcoming committee, a being of bright light. It all certainly suggests heaven is real. And if it is, it sounds like one amazing place.

Never before have I felt so exhilarated in reading a book. I was crying tears of joy as I read about fellow Christians getting a glimpse of our true home. I didn’t expect to be so frightened and “shook” as the kids say about the NDEs of Hell. I am glad those were in there.

The best part about Heaven that I am taking away is the constant source of the most real and all encompassing love being put out by Jesus, God the Father, angels, and all who are there.

I’m waiting with hope and excitement!!! Thank You Lord for the promise of Heaven and for making a way for us to get there.

One of my pastors, Steve Harper, gave this book to me to give to my sister when he heard she was in hospice care. She read it and found it so encouraging. I wanted to read it, also, so we could discuss it.

John Burke investigated and chronicled near death experiences. Then he compares them to the Bible's descriptions of heaven. The similarities are amazing and faith-building! This was especially helpful as my sister was preparing to meet God. It filled her with joyful anticipation!

But the book also caused her to consider how she had spent her life. Many of the near death experiences included a life review as these individuals stood before Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). "I wish I had done more for God when I was healthy," she told me. Each of us have been given the gift of one life by God. What have we done with this gift? When one man's life was reviewed by God, he was surprised that none of his professional successes and awards were mentioned. God does not value what this world values!

Finally, the book also includes some near death experiences of hell. They are frightening! And they should be. One man became a pastor after his near death experience with hell. As Christians, we have no reason to fear. We have been saved by Christ's sacrifice on the cross. But for those who have never placed their faith in Christ, this book will enable and encourage them to do so.

I gave this book a 5 star because I read it after my cancer diagnosis and it really helped me with my fear. It's so much more than a collection of NDEs; John Burke is an evangelist at heart and he filters the many, many testimonies through the lens of Scripture. My imaginings of Heaven broadened. The love of Jesus, heaven being a very REAL place, and God preparing an unspeakably beautiful home for His children are the main things I got from this book. I'd read it again!