Last Sunday at The Story was extraordinary. John Burke, the founding pastor of Gateway Church in Austin and New York Times bestselling author, traveled to Houston to share a message about his most recent book, Imagine the God of Heaven, which is a masterful companion to his 2015 bestseller, Imagine Heaven. In both books, John mines the towering mountain of evidence supporting the controversial phenomenon known as Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), and on Sunday, he gave our congregation a superb, 40-minute crash course.
John began his message by acknowledging the skepticism that many people have about this topic. He began his message by saying,
I was a skeptical, analytical engineer when I first started studying NDEs. How do you know NDEs aren’t just hallucinations, or anesthesia, anoxia, or just a trick of the dying brain? I was an agnostic, thought Jesus was a legend, but as my dad was dying of cancer, someone gave him a book about NDEs. I read it in one night and it opened my mind to seek to know if God is real…
Maybe you’re thinking, “This is weird—this guy talks to dead people? And he believes them?” Actually, they’re not dead when I talk to them, and it’s way more normal than you’d believe!
If we’re honest skeptics, we should also be willing to acknowledge and wrestle with the thousands upon thousands of testimonies of people who’ve clinically died and come back to life with stories to tell about “the other side”. Statistically, the number of people who’ve had NDEs is significant, as Burke said:
In 2019 the European Academy of Neurology reported a study across 35 countries and found that 5% of people (or 1/20) who clinically died reported a Near-Death Experience (or NDE). That’s millions of people. I believe God is giving these testimonies as global evidence of his great love and grace offered to all nations—[and they align with who God revealed himself to be for all recorded history].
And what’s even more compelling is how, across cultural and religious divides, the stories these people come back telling are remarkably similar:
All over the world, when a person’s heart stops beating, brainwaves cease yet they are resuscitated or miraculously revive, they say their soul was more alive than ever, in a world more real than ours, and they meet the same God of Light and Love…
I believe John Burke is a gift to God’s Church, and Sunday was a special day that I never want to forget. With that in mind, I’d like to share my three biggest takeaways from John’s message.
1. People are dying to know more about Heaven.
We’ve talked about all sorts of catchy and controversial topics at The Story over the years, but I’ve found that nothing captures more people’s hearts than conversations about the afterlife. We welcomed our largest non-Easter crowd ever on Sunday, and I think that’s because so many people desire deeper understanding about what’s waiting for us on the other side of death.
Not only did people show up in droves, but many of those in attendance were deeply moved as John shared details from some of the documented, near-death experiences he writes about in his books. As I looked around the room at our congregation, I was shocked by how many folks were in tears. Situated in the most affluent, buttoned-up neighborhood in Houston, The Story isn’t usually a very emotional congregation, but on Sunday, we wore our hearts on our tear-drenched faces. I heard actual sobs when John closed his sermon by saying,
You are His child. He wants you to know him, love him, trust him, and walk through life with him, experiencing his joy. All he needs is your heart—your willingness—your faith trusting him. After hearing this, where is your heart toward God right now? He’s here, he knows your heart…
What was it about John’s message that moved so many of us? It wasn’t his delivery. John preaches like the analytical engineer that he is – methodically, unemotionally, with precision. It was the depth and truth of John’s content that wrecked us; Sunday’s tears were spiritual, not sentimental.
Why was this my #1 takeaway? Because I was convicted by the fact that we’re living in a world full of people who are lost and longing for connection, and the topics that most Christians choose to talk about most of the time (politics, LGBTQ+ issues, culture wars, etc.) only serve to push unbelievers further away from Christ. Perhaps if we chose to speak more often about topics and themes that strike at the hearts of more lost people, we’d see even more folks professing faith in the God of the Bible!
2. God is bigger than your box.
We all prefer a God who fits in our box. Faith feels more comfortable that way. Above, I alluded to the controversy surrounding NDEs and Christianity. Even in our congregation, a few people expressed concerns to me about inviting John Burke to speak at The Story. Much of the pushback had to do with their concerns that Burke’s teachings on NDEs contradict the Bible and may mislead people to believe that everyone who dies goes to Heaven – whether or not they know Christ.
When you actually read or listen to John Burke, it’s clear that he is very careful to honor the Scriptures and to stick to sound, Christian doctrine while discussing NDEs. For example, on Sunday he addressed the question of universalism:
Does everyone go to Heaven? No, in fact 23% of NDErs report hellish experiences—I have three pastor friends who had hellish NDEs, cried out to God for forgiveness, and he rescued them. Half the people in these videos saw hell’s reality. NDEs are not indicative of a person’s eternal destination—they come back and they still can choose to follow Jesus Christ or not.
More important for all of us is Burke’s challenge to expand the God-box that we’ve grown accustomed to. The simple truth is that, no matter how big we may think God is, He is bigger. Mightier. Greater. Better. Kinder. More loving. More merciful.
How else can we explain why so many non-Christians, including Jews and Muslims as well as many others who were irreligious and anti-God at the time of their NDEs, experienced a taste of Heaven and/or Hell before being sent back to this life to make their own faith decisions? It’s an important reminder that God loves more than just the people you and I love. He made every human being in His image, and He wants every single person to know, accept, and love Him!
3. Joy is Heaven’s “Love Language”.
Perhaps the most surprising part of John’s message was his assertion that, based on the preponderance of evidence in NDE testimonies, joy and laughter are the language of Heaven. As he said on Sunday,
God is far more personal, loving, relatable—even fun—than you’ve ever imagined. So many of us don’t wholeheartedly follow God because we think He is a killjoy, party pooper, sitting up there saying, “Is anybody having fun down there…cut it out and get back to work!” We don’t imagine God as the scriptures actually declare him to be–the Most understanding, relatable, joyful Being there is! So we run from God, or we may believe in him, but we don’t want to follow him. If that’s the case, you don’t know the God of the Bible!
John also reminded us that it was CS Lewis who once wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven,” and it is in the supposedly dreadful book of Leviticus that we find divine commands like this: “Celebrate with joy before the Lord your God!” (Lev. 23:40)
It shouldn’t surprise us that joy is Heaven’s native tongue. Throughout the Bible, God is consistently portrayed as inherently joyful and as the source of our joy.
“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
– John 15:11
– John 15:11
I don’t know when so many Christians decided to be so stuffy and stiff, but in the words of the (real) star of this Sunday’s Super Bowl, it’s time to shake it off! Christians should be the most joyful people on earth. We’re free! We’re redeemed! And most of all, we’re loved by the God who is Love!
