The Book Of Colton Burpo
Heaven Is For Real
When doctors inexplicably missed four-year-old Colton Burpo’s burst
appendix, and the resulting infection nearly took his life, his father railed
at God as
Colton’s life seemed to slip away.
Pastor Todd Burpo found a small room in the hospital
after Colton was
taken into surgery, and he unloaded some raw emotions toward heaven.
“Where are you God? Is this how you
treat your pastors? Is it worth it to even
serve you?” he shouted, as recounted in
the New York Times bestseller “Heaven Is For Real.”
After Colton’s surgery and a time
in ICU, the fair-haired boy made a remarkable recovery. It wasn’t until four
months later on a family car ride to South Dakota that Colton’s parents
realized something very unusual happened to Colton as doctors fought to save
his life.
Colton shared with his astonished parents that he left his body in the hospital
and visited heaven, where he sat on Jesus’ lap and met departed family members,
along with other remarkable details.
Todd and Sonya with Colton
He watched his father praying for his life in the small room, a fact that even
Todd’s wife, Sonya, didn’t know. Todd had confessed and repented of his “raw”
attitude toward God in the hospital, but the realization that his son sat on
Jesus’ lap in the midst of his anger melted his heart.
“I screamed at God when he was holding my kid and it was wrong,” he admits.
“When I knew God had forgiven me for that, I knew it was okay to share it with
other people.”
The Throne Room
Colton told his parents one of his favourite places in heaven was the Throne
Room of God – with God seated on a huge throne, and Jesus enthroned on
His right and the Archangel Gabriel on the Father’s left. “People ask Colton,
‘What does God’s face look like?’”
“Colton says, ‘His face is so big I could hardy see it.’” Todd notes that his
son “has nothing to measure God by – he was just a little kid.” Colton
estimated
that God is so large, he could hold the world in His hands.
Everyone Colton saw in heaven had wings, except for Jesus. Colton described Archangel
Michael, as the biggest of the angels — twice as tall as Todd.
“Heaven Is For Real” has been on the New York Times bestseller list for months,
with over six million copies sold. An illustrated children’s edition of the
book came out in November. “There are more details and memories in the
children’s book,” Todd notes. “It’s all first-person Colton and starts with him
leaving the hospital.”
In heaven, Colton was taken under wing by his departed great-grandfather, a man
he never met – who passed away when his father was only a boy. He also met a
sister he never knew, who was miscarried by his
mother.
“When people say Colton met his little sister, he’s quick to correct them. He
says, “She was not my little sister; she was my big sister.’
“She was never born, but she aged to where she was Colton’s big sister,” Todd adds.
This unnamed sister waits in heaven for the rest of her family to arrive, when
they will delight in finally giving her a name.
It appeared to Colton that babies gradually age to their late twenties or
thirties in heaven, while older people regain youthful bodies. “There is no
death or dying in heaven,” Todd notes. “Colton’s memory is that you age to your
prime and then you stop aging.” Colton’s great-grandfather appeared to be a man
in his thirties, having reverted in age.
There are “gobs” of babies in heaven, according to Colton, but it remains
unclear whether this is due to abortion or natural deaths. “The women in heaven
– especially Mary – are involved with raising the kids,” he says. According to
Colton, Mary, the mother of Jesus, has dark hair, brown eyes, and is a little
taller than his mother. Mary had a dark sky blue sash and a light above her
head. She seemed to be in her late twenties, like the other adults in heaven.
“Colton will tell you that King David and Samson were two of his favourite
Bible characters he met in heaven. He always talks about how nice they were.
David would show him around heaven and help him. He went to David a lot for
help.”
The Coming Battle
Even though Colton never read the Book of Revelation, his description of a coming
battle accurately reflects the events depicted in Scripture. “Colton says
there’s going to be a war,” Todd notes. “He says ‘Jesus, the angels and the
good people are going to fight the monsters and the bad guys.” He saw Jesus
throw Satan into hell.
One day Colton asked his father, “Dad, why do I remember a dragon with seven
heads and 10 crowns?”
Todd looked at his son in amazement and said, “Colton, whatever you saw and
whatever John saw is the same thing.”
“Colton says, ‘Satan looks like an angel, but his light was extinguished a long
time ago. They showed me where he used to have a throne in heaven.’”
One of Colton’s favourite activities in paradise was to attend a class taught
by Jesus. “Jesus was his teacher and he had homework. We knew it had to be
heaven because he hates homework down here,” Todd says with a laugh.
Some wonder how Colton could have seen so much in a short period. By Colton’s
reckoning, he was only gone for three minutes from his earthly body. “Peter
said that with God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like
a day. If you do the math, three minutes equals two years,” Todd notes.
“God operates outside of time and time doesn’t limit God,” he adds.
Todd showed his son countless artistic representations of Jesus before Colton
decided on one that matched his memory of the Lord. The image that came closest
was painted by a young prodigy named Akiane Kramarik, who had a powerful vision about Jesus as a child
that led to her painting.
The Beauty Of His Eyes
It may seem surprising to some that Colton and Akiane
recall Jesus with blue-green eyes. “Colton says, ‘Dad, Jesus’ eyes are just so Akiane’s painting of Jesus pretty.’”
“Many attack Colton and say ‘Jesus was a Jew. He
couldn’t have had blue eyes.’ However,
the Bible doesn’t
say Jesus was a Jew. His mother was Jewish, but he was born of
God – the Son of
God.”
Colton recalls that he could always hear people singing in heaven and one
always feels
God’s love everywhere. “Heaven is not a place where you stand in the choir and sing the
whole
time,” Todd notes. “It’s a place where we get to be completely fulfilled.”
Todd sympathizes with the sceptics who question his son’s remarkable story.
“When my son first started sharing this, I wondered how it could be true,” he
admits. “I tried to come up with explanations for what he was giving me. I
tried to dismiss or explain away what he was saying and I couldn’t.”
Colton’s detailed information about his great-grandfather, along with the
specific location of Todd and his wife while Colton was in surgery, erased his
doubts.
[Akiane and Colton]
Akiane and Colton
Despite the book’s enormous success, Todd would not choose to go through this
experience again. “We didn’t ask for this,” he says. “Watching your child almost die
– I don’t ever want to go through that again. I can’t tell you how awful that is. It was
gut-wrenching.”
“This was done to us, not because we’re
super-spiritual. Most of the things that
happened
were completely out of our control. It’s because of God that this happened.”
“If you look at the peace and hope people are finding because of the story, we
can look back and say maybe God had a plan bigger than any of us could figure
out at the time.”