By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS: Modern “heaven tourism” claims continue resurfacing through books, interviews, and testimonies, but many contradict Scripture and even themselves. Christians should exercise biblical discernment, reject subjective revelations, and trust the sufficiency of God’s Word alone regarding heaven, hell, eternity, and salvation.
Does it seem to you like a lot of folks are claiming to have gone to heaven? Well I am here to admit I DIDN’T ever go to heaven.
For example, a few years ago then-college student Gabe Poirot had a serious skateboarding accident, and spent 18 days in a coma. When he emerged from the coma he claimed that he went to heaven.
Ten-to-fifteen years ago, claiming to have visited heaven was all the rage. A number of books were issued from mainly people professing Christianity, but others who were secular. They said they ascended to the heavenly realms, or met Jesus, or reunited with departed relatives. They saw things.
Then they wrote books.
Some of the more famous tales were by Don Piper (90 Minutes in Heaven), Colton and Todd Burpo (Heaven Is for Real; Colton was 3 1/2 when he said he went to heaven), Eben Alexander (Proof of Heaven), and Alex Malarkey (The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven).
These claims attracted so much interest via interviews, book sales, and even a movie (which grossed over 90M), that the few people who attempted to biblically rebut these outlandish and unbiblical claims were drowned out.
Two of these individuals who consistently rebut claims of visiting heaven, which they dubbed “heaven tourism”, are pastor Jim Osman and evangelist Justin Peters.
Osman even wrote a book about such claims, titled “Selling the Stairway to Heaven: Critiquing the Claims of Heaven Tourists” by Jim Osman (2015).
Or perhaps they were not drowned out. At the time, their voices combined with others such as Todd Friel and Pastor John MacArthur, and then came a very public Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resolution affirming “the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations to guide one’s understanding of the truth about heaven and hell.”
A few months prior to the SBC resolution came the startling admission from one of the authors who was 6 at the time of his alleged vision, that now sixteen year old Alex Malarkey had made the whole thing up. Why? Attention.
Malarkey wrote: I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.
Malarkey urged Lifeway to retract his book, and to their credit, Lifeway did pull that book and other heavenly visitation tales off the shelves. Malarkey admitting his vision or visit was a lie was sobering.
Well, we have had a ten year reprieve from dealing with tales of ‘I went to heaven’ but now we see a re-emergence. Gabe Poirot was a college student in 2021, a committed Christian choosing a biblical studies major and running an evangelistic Youtube channel. One day he was using an electric skateboard without a helmet, went over a bump, and fell on his head. He was in a coma for 18 days, suffering from numerous, life-threatening injuries. During the time he was unconscious, Gabe says, he went to heaven and met with Jesus. And of course, he wrote a book about it, just now released. The book is called –
“18 Days in Heaven: I Left My Body. I Met Jesus. What He Told Me Will Alter Your Eternity”.
Let me burst your bubble right now. No, reading this book will not alter your eternity. The only thing that will alter your eternity is the biblical Gospel, which includes being aware of and burdened by your sin, so that you repent to Jesus as the only solution to escape just punishment in hell, believe in His teaching, resurrection, and heavenly person, and live by His standards bearing fruit for his kingdom and glory.
The words from a skateboarding young author who cracked his head and spent days unconscious and sedated will not change your eternity. I mean no disrespect to the young man, I am glad he is apparently healed. But only Jesus and His INFALLIBLE words given to His identified authors of His Word inspired by the Holy Spirit will change you.
Poirot is making a lot of rounds of interviews in the broadcast news, on ‘Christian’ programs like Sid Roth’s ‘It’s SUpernatural’, and on podcasts.
Immediately, Justin Peters became aware of Poirot’s heavenly tourism claims and issued a video about Poirot. I recommend Mr Peters’ discernment videos, because he is biblical, insightful, and forthright in gentleness. In this video Pastor Osman joined Mr Peters to discuss what they heard via Poirot’s interviews, prior to when Poirot’s book was published.
For example, in one of the interviews they watched of Poirot explaining the three heavens, Poirot said he was the recipient of divine revelations, and went on to describe the second heaven differently than the Bible does. They take a particular statement of Poirot’s and explain why it is heretical Modalism, and parse another statement of Poirot’s which destroys the omniscience of God. Illuminating discussion.
Poirot saw the critique video Peters issued and to Poirot’s credit, requested to come on to his Youtube channel to discuss it. Peters graciously allowed this, joined by Pastor Osman again, and the trio had a 2-hour discussion. In it, Poirot said he heard things that were inexpressible, and interpreted that verse as saying that the visions of heaven were so startling to his finite mind (and Paul’s) that he didn’t have the words to articulate it.
Peters noted that the verse in English and the Greek says ‘not permitted’, as in not lawful. It wasn’t just a matter of being unable to express things, the word meant it was against God’s Law to do so.
Poirot glossed over that. Peters later said that Poirot’s stance that Paul was struck inarticulate, but Poirot wasn’t? Because he found the words to write a book about it?
Peters and Osman made several other videos parsing what the alleged heaven visitor said and what the Bible says after reading the now published book. I recommend any of their videos on the Gabe Poirot heavenly visitation claims, for two reasons:
First, they deconstruct this specific issue of Gabe Poirot’s claims. But secondly, beyond that, they show HOW to view such claims by their careful explanations of what the Bible says on the topic of heaven. They help transform your mind into a critical thinker- not critical as in judgmental, but a discerning, analytical thinker. After watching yu will likely be able to assess other claims of heaven tourism in good discernment
Justin Peters’ has a Gabe Poirot playlist, where all the videos on Gabe’s claims to have gone to heaven ar elisted in one place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxMd-UHrADE&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fTfgQcirvm9v6E3YVSz6K-&index=3&t=119s
Please take note that these heavenly visitation stories contradict the Bible. What Peters said was that glimpses we have been given of the place where God dwells are at odds with some of these stories heavenly tourists relate. In addition, many of one author’s stories contradict other authors’ stories. Worst of all, these authors contradict themselves. The tale bearers say one thing in one interview and later contradict him or herself.
If these stories were indeed true, they would not contradict at all at any time. Paul’s vision of the Lord on the Damascus road was recorded three times in the Bible and it did not change or contradict any of the times we read about it.
Todd Friel makes a short video here about a different person who recently had a tragic accident and claimed to have visited heaven-
Some who died and/or had a vision of heaven and wrote what they saw up there: Duplantis, Beth Moore, Burpo, Eben Alexander, Don Piper, and more recently- Gabe Poirot.
Their tales make them a lot of money, attract huge attention, and/or give them a certain celebrity cachet.
Some who died and/or had a vision but never wrote a book on what they saw in their afterlife or even discussed it:
Paul, Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus, the Shunammite’s Son, Eutychus, Tabitha, Widow of Zarapeth’s Son, Elisha’s grave man, holy saints post Jesus’ resurrection. Hmmm.
If you feel left out by not having been given visionary glimpses or visits to heaven, don’t feel bad. I didn’t go to heaven either!
I wrote the following a few years ago:
I don’t want to diminish anyone’s terrible medical tragedy or be insensitive if anyone has mental problems, demonic dreams, or just plain seeks attention in this bizarre manner. There is no doubt that for Piper and Wiese (who claimed Jesus gave him a tour of hell for 23 minutes) that whatever they experienced changed their lives. They are constantly sharing their testimony, witnessing, and evangelizing. But was what they experienced from God? Or not? And how should we as Christian readers respond?
My opinion is that what they experienced was not from God. I personally do not believe that Jesus is in the business of giving personal tours of heaven or hell. Jesus said that we will not see Him again until he comes in glory. (Matthew 23:39).
We do know that Ezekiel, Isaiah, Paul, and John saw the heavenly things. But once the Bible was completed, I believe that is all that Jesus has to say on the subject. We read in the Bible that we die once and then the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27). I could go point-by-point on the things in these books that are unscriptural, but I want to be more general than that-
The title, for example, “Heaven is for Real.” Do we really need a book dictated by a three-and-a-half year old to tell us that heaven is real? The title 90 minutes in Heaven, for example, is disingenuous. Don Piper did not enter heaven, he only made it to the gate reuniting with passed away relatives and did not see Jesus. Yet the Bible says that when we are absent with the body, we are present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Bible does not say “absent from the body you will hang around the entrance to heaven for 90 minutes only to be turned back without seeing Jesus.”
The Bible tells us all we need to know about heaven, AND hell. The Bible. It should be all we need to have hope in the future promise of heaven. His Word is impeccable, solid, and sure. Christian Book reviewer Tim Challies has a good review of these books here. He also addresses the underlying reluctance and guilt we have to reject such books: saying, ‘who are we to dismiss another’s experience?’
Challies said: “If you struggle believing what the Bible says, but learn to find security in the testimony of a toddler, well, I feel sorry for you. And I do not mean this in a condescending way. If God’s Word is not sufficient for you, if the testimony of his Spirit, given to believers, is not enough for you, you will not find any true hope in the unproven tales of a child. This hope may last for a moment, but it will not sustain you, it will not bless you, in those times when hope is waning and times are hard. So reject this book [Heaven is for real]. Do not read it. Do not believe it. And do not feel guilty doing so.”
Please always be discerning! The Bible is sufficient for all we need to know about the Godhead, heaven, and our spiritual life on earth!
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