Now that autumn is in full gear, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and that means the return of Give Thanks, our week-long Thanksgiving email devotional!
We wrote Give Thanks to help you contemplate the value of gratitude and thankfulness as the inevitable holiday stress starts to build up. Each day’s reading (which we kept short so you can easily fit it into your busy schedule) consists of a brief devotional and then a story from Scripture that teaches us something about gratitude. Each reading wraps up with a handful of discussion questions to help you think through what the story means for your life.
So if you can already feel the stress of the Thanksgiving/Christmas season looming over the horizon, now’s your chance to pre-emptively fight back against it by exploring the virtue of thankfulness. If that sounds appealing, click here sign up for Give Thanks today! Give Thanks begins immediately upon signup and continues daily for one week.
New Biblica Europe Director Lindsey Holley Outlines Bold Vision
⇨ Premier
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New Welsh Bible So Popular Pre-Ordered Editions Sell Out
⇨ Bible Society
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Churchgoers Pay for Bibles for Serbian Soldiers ‘To Prevent War Crimes’
⇨ The Telegraph
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Support Being Provided to Cameroon Bible Translators Living in the Shadow of Extremist Violence
⇨ Mission Network News
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Wycliffe Associates Partners with National Christian Leaders to Advance Bible Translation for Isolated Groups in Pacific Region
⇨ Wycliffe Associates
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If you read our interview with OS Hillman yesterday, you know that there’s a new daily devotional on Bible Gateway. TGIF: Today God is First was born when Hillman, a successful Atlanta businessman, suffered a long string of setbacks that left him desperate for spiritual help:
I went through a seven-year crisis that began in 1994 in which I lost $500,000 through a “Bernie Madoff” type of scam and lost 80% of my business when a client left and stuck me for $170,000. My wife left me at the same time and my vice-president left and took my second largest account. This ushered me into a seven-year season. I began writing TGIF: Today God Is First during that season in an effort to find answers I desparately needed at the time.
You can find TGIF: Today God is First here on the Devotionals page on Bible Gateway. But while you’re reading TGIF, you might also want to note a new set of features we’ve added to our devotionals: subscription and reminder options.
Subscribing to a devotional on Bible Gateway is a way to keep track of how far you’ve read in that devotional, get email reminders when a new reading is ready, and never miss an entry or “fall behind” on your reading. It’s a new feature that we’re launching in conjunction with TGIF. When you visit TGIF or any other devotional on Bible Gateway (you can choose from our full list of our online devotionals here), you’ll now see a new subscription panel at the top of the daily reading. It looks like this:
This panel lets you subscribe to a devotional that you want to follow. Subscribing to a devotional makes it easier for you to keep up with your devotional reading by allowing you to:
Have reminders sent directly to your email when a new devotional reading is ready
Chose your own starting date, and track your reading progress
Pause a devotional at any time, and easily catch up with readings you’ve fallen behind in
To subscribe to a devotional, you’ll need to be logged into a free Bible Gateway account. (You can follow most of these steps if you’re not logged in, but you’ll be prompted to log in before you complete the process, and may not see all of the options until you’ve done so. Here’s more info about Bible Gateway accounts.) To subscribe to a devotional, visit one of our devotionals and click the Subscribe button on that panel. This will open a calendar view you can use to select the date on which you wish to start reading the devotional. You can also opt to have email reminders sent to you whenever a new reading is reading by selecting the Send reminders to… checkbox:
Choose your start date and (optionally) check the email reminder box, then click the Start button. (You must be logged into a Bible Gateway account in order to subscribe to a devotional; if you aren’t logged in at this point, you’ll be prompted to log in or create a free account when you press the button to subscribe.) Now that you’re subscribed, Bible Gateway will remember where you are in that devotional. Anytime you visit that devotional page, you’ll be presented with the next reading.
You can manage your subscription to a devotional by clicking on the little calendar icon above each reading:
The panel that opens up gives you the option to pause or restart the devotional, start or stop email reminders, unsubscribe from devotional, or “catch up” the devotional by marking all previous entries as “read”:
Once you’re subscribed to a devotional, you’ll want to visit it regularly to do the readings. Most of our devotionals have a new reading either weekly or daily. You can bookmark the individual devotional page, or find it in our big list of devotionals. If you checked the box to receive an email reminder when a new reading is ready, you’ll get an morning email on the appropriate days containing a link to the devotional.
That’s a very cursory introduction to our new devotional subscription feature—and we’ll be working to improve it as we receive feedback from visitors like you, so the details may change a bit. But if you’ve been frustrated in the past by a lack of customization options for our online devotionals, we encourage you to visit our devotionals and try out the new subscription feature (and to let us know what you think)!
The following guest blogpost is by Ann Spangler (@annspangler). In her new book Wicked Women of the Bible (Zondervan, 2015), Ann tells the stories of 20 wicked and “wicked good” women in greater detail. At the end of each story, Ann provides a brief section including additional historical and cultural background as well as a brief Bible study in order to enhance the book’s appeal to both individuals and groups.
Like entrées on a menu, some words simply sound more delicious than others. I’m not talking about words like “butter” or “gelato” or even “chocolate,” but about sharp, pungent words that you can sink your teeth into. Words like “wicked,” for instance. Mix it with words like “women” and “Bible” and the resultant phrase may remind you of that first mouth-watering bite of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
In order to give credit where it’s due, I’ve attempted to rank the Bible’s most disreputable women in order of wickedness, providing a brief refresher on what each one did to make the list.
10.The Woman of Samaria—The Jews and Samaritans had formed a mutual hatred society long before Jesus encountered this woman by herself at a well. Jesus surprised the woman by starting a conversation and then by disclosing his knowledge of her multiple love affairs and revealing himself as the Messiah. Though she was probably the neighborhood floozy, she became the first evangelist, convincing everyone in her town to come and see the “man who told me everything I ever did.”
9.Gomer—Married to the prophet Hosea, she abandoned him in order to pursue relationships with multiple lovers. Her prodigal lifestyle eventually led to financial ruin and she was forced to sell herself into slavery to satisfy her debts. Despite her betrayal, Hosea rescued her by settling her debts and welcoming her home. A prodigal wife who learned the meaning of true love, her story served as a lived-out-parable, poignantly expressing God’s love for a people who had committed spiritual adultery by worshiping multiple gods.
8.Lot’s Wife—She lived in Sodom, a city of legendary wickedness. When an angel told Lot and his family: “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back…,” she ignored the warning and was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife was probably guilty of more than a fateful glance backward. Most likely she abandoned her fleeing family in order to return to the city, thus sharing in its destruction.
7.The Witch of Endor—Also known as the medium of Endor, this woman made her living by attempting to conjure the dead in order to predict the future. Since necromancy was strictly forbidden by King Saul, she risked death whenever she practiced her craft. Ironically, the same king who forbade the practice, visited her home in disguise the night before he died in an attempt to divine whether he would prevail against his arch enemies—the Philistines.
6.Delilah—The wicked girlfriend of a legendary but foolish strongman named Samson, she made a bargain with his enemies, who promised her cold, hard cash for the secret of his superhuman strength. After wheedling the secret from her lover, she told them his strength would vanish the moment they cut off his hair. While Samson lay fast asleep with his head resting on Delilah’s lap, the Philistines snipped off his hair. When her unfortunate boyfriend awoke, they gouged out his eyes and took him captive to Gaza.
5.Potiphar’s Wife—A high-ranking Egyptian woman who fell for a good-looking Hebrew slave by the name of Joseph. Enraged by his refusal to jump into bed with her, she accused him of attempted rape and had him thrown into prison. After Joseph’s release, he became one of the most powerful men in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.
4.Herodias—The granddaughter of Herod the Great, she married two of her uncles, Herod Philip I and Herod Antipas. An ambitious and ruthless woman, she hated John the Baptist for thundering against her marriage to Herod Antipas, whom she had married after divorcing his half-brother Philip.
Unable to persuade her husband to murder John, Herodias arranged an elaborate birthday party in Herod’s honor. Then she asked her daughter Salomé to perform before Herod and his guests. Herod was so pleased by the young girl’s dance that he vowed he would give her anything her heart desired, up to half his kingdom. Consulting her mother, Salomé shocked Herod and his guests by asking for the most stomach-turning gift imaginable—the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
3.Athaliah—She was the daughter of Ahab and probably also of Jezebel, the Bible’s wickedest queen. Married to the King of Judah, she grew paranoid after his death, murdering her grandchildren in order to secure the throne. Thanks to a conspiracy, this ruthless queen was finally overthrown and executed just outside the temple in Jerusalem.
2.Jezebel—A Phoenician princess, she was married to Ahab, one of Israel’s worst kings. She worshipped Baal, who was heralded as the bringer of rain and prosperity. In order to force conversions to her storm god, she murdered many of Israel’s prophets but was eventually made a laughingstock by Elijah and his God. Though this wicked queen came to a very bad end, she spent the last few moments of her life combing her hair and applying makeup so she could look her best when her servants threw her out of the palace window, feeding her body to the dogs below.
1.Eve—The original baddie, she made the fatal-for-everyone mistake of listening to the serpent’s lie that God wasn’t telling the truth about the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. After taking a bite, she offered it to Adam and the two were ejected from paradise. According to the story, giving in to the original temptation let death and suffering loose in the world. Though Eve may have eventually turned her life around, I’ve ranked her first in the order of wickedness because of all the evils she and her husband unleashed on the world.
However you rank them on the scale of wickedness, the stories of these women are dramatic and fascinating. They make delicious reading for anyone interested in how that most ancient of Books—the Bible—has shaped and formed the history of our world.
According to Open Doors USA, Christian persecution is any hostility experienced from the world as a result of one’s identification as a Christian. From verbal harassment to hostile feelings, attitudes and actions, Christians in areas with severe religious restrictions pay a heavy price for their faith. Beatings, physical torture, confinement, isolation, rape, severe punishment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and employment, and even death are just a few examples of the persecution they experience on a daily basis.
[Jesus said,] “If you find that the world despises you, remember that before it despised you, it first despised Me.” John 15:18 (Voice)
The Pew Research Center reports that over 75% of the world’s population lives in areas with severe religious restrictions (and many of these people are Christians). According to the United States Department of State, Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their belief in Jesus Christ.
Rejoice as you share Christ’s suffering. You share his suffering now so that you may also have overwhelming joy when his glory is revealed. If you are mocked because of Christ’s name, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory—indeed, the Spirit of God—rests on you. 1 Peter 4:13-14 (CEB)
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP)—initiated in 1996 with a resolution on the worldwide persecution of Christians passed in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate—now extends to three Sundays in November, appealing for people to pray for those around the globe who are being persecuted for their faith: unable to share their Christian belief or freely read the Bible without personal retribution and physical danger. In 2015, the dates are November 1, 8, and 15.
[Jesus said,] “…But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Matthew 5:44 (NIV)
The Open Doors USA World Watch List ranks the top 50 countries where Christians face the greatest persecution, including North Korea, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Eritrea, and Nigeria.
The following organizations have resources ready to help you help others become more prayerfully aware of the plight of Christian brothers and sisters around the world:
Think constantly of those in prison as if you were prisoners at their side. Think too of all who suffer as if you shared their pain. Hebrews 13:3 (Phillips)
…in the archives of Sidney Sussex College there survives now the earliest known draft of any part of the King James Bible, unmistakably in the hand of one of the King James translators.
The draft appears in a manuscript notebook formerly belonging to Samuel Ward (1572–1643), who was part of the team of seven men in Cambridge charged with translating the Apocrypha.
This find is significant because all the other known material from the King James Bible creation project dates from much later in the translation process and was likely copied made by scribes. By contrast, Ward’s draft—written in his own distinctive handwriting!—gives us a remarkable firsthand look at a Bible translator’s work in progress. They show Ward wrestling with the translation of difficult passages, trying out different renderings and crossing out unsatisfactory attempts.
The material in the manuscript… covers apocryphal books known as Esdras and Wisdom, and it seems to indicate that the process of translation at Cambridge worked differently from what we thought we knew about it. It had long been assumed that the six separate teams, or companies, of translators who were based across Cambridge, Oxford, and London which had been assigned individual sections of the Bible to work on operated more collaboratively on certain sections than individually.
But Ward’s draft seems to indicate that individuals in each company were assigned smaller portions of the biblical sections that that company oversaw, making the whole Bible more of a patchwork of individual labor than a collaborative whole.
This news is a good reason to take a fresh look at the King James Bible this month, particularly if you normally read a different Bible version. Here are a few places to start:
Some of the parts of the Bible that Samuel Ward was translating are not considered by all Christians today to be part of the Bible canon. You can read the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Esdras and Wisdom online in the NRSV translation if you’re curious about them.
The 400th anniversary of the King James Bible was celebrated several years ago, and at that time we (and many others) wrote quite a lot about the KJV’s significance as a Bible translation and pinnacle of Western literature. Take a look here and here for some KJV-related links and articles.
One of the most remarkable features of the King James Bible is just how popular it remains, despite its famously archaic language and the availability of more modern Bible translations. Here’s a Christianity Today piece on the KJV’s enduring dominance in the English-speaking world.
Atlanta businessman Os Hillman has devoted himself to write a daily email devotional featuring four-minute meditations on faith and work life. They consist of practical help in applying Christian faith to the work environment, encouragement and support for people to exhibit their faith, and empowerment to be more effective in work. Whether for individual quiet times, Bible study groups or workplace groups, these daily devotions, available by email from Bible Gateway, help men and women fulfill God’s call on their lives in the workplace.
How did golf circuitously lead you to beginning a relationship with God?
Os Hillman: Golf was an idol in my life. My life in my early and late teens and early twenties was focused on becoming a professional golfer. I had a lot of success as a junior golfer and college golfer. I attended college on a golf scholarship and then turned pro from three years. However, my dream to play professisonal golf failed and it left me wondering about the purpose of life. I accepted Christ when I was one year out of college after realizing I was not going to fulfill a lifelong dream. I was impacted by my mom and a pastor who reached out to me and shared Christ with me.
“We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” Psalm 66:12b
God’s economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God’s economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of himself. It is then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom cannot be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests.
Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, lead us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God’s measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This cannot be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.
What was your initial perspective toward the Bible? Why and how did it change?
Os Hillman: I began reading the Bible the very day after my conversion. I was a voratious student of the Word and have never not spent time in God’s Word daily, now 40 years later.
Describe your organization Marketplace Leaders, its mission, and why you started it.
Os Hillman: Marketplace Leaders mission is to help men and women see their work as a holy calling from God. I realized during my business career that many people struggle to integrate their faith lives into their working lives. They don’t realize God values their working lives and wants to manifest his life through all they do—including their working life.
So often we believe our dreams are dead. There seems to be nothing left in our world to live for. Everything appears to be against us. During these times, God is doing His deepest behind-the-scenes work. During these times, God is performing a deeper work in each of us—a work that cannot be seen.
One of God’s methods for directing His children’s steps is through drying up resources: a job loss, a career change, or a disaster. In these times we are willing to listen more intently, and to seek God in ways we would not normally do.
Os Hillman: I went through a seven-year crisis that began in 1994 in which I lost $500,000 through a “Bernie Madoff” type of scam and lost 80% of my business when a client left and stuck me for $170,000. My wife left me at the same time and my vice-president left and took my second largest account. This ushered me into a seven-year season. I began writing TGIF: Today God Is First during that season in an effort to find answers I desperately needed at the time. I began sharing my writings with others and now 150,000 people in 104 nations read TGIF daily.
What do you mean when you say “turn the Valley of Achor into a door of hope”?
Os Hillman: In the book of Hosea he speaks of the Valley of Achor. Achor means “trouble.” He says God will turn our Valley of “trouble” into a door of hope for those who will trust him.
How is TGIF organized?
Os Hillman: There’s no organized progression, but there are themes—adversity, calling, purpose, work life, prayer, trust, sonship—all spoken of in the devotionals.
“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection….” Philippians 3:10
If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us.
The apostle Paul said he wanted to know Christ, and by knowing Christ he could experience the power of His resurrection. I find this to be the hardest thing for many of us workplace believers to do. So often it is much easier to be busy with the urgent (or even Christian) activity than spending quiet moments before the Lord. Before we realize it, days have passed since our last quiet time with Jesus.
Are you taking the time to get to know Him today?
Why is it important for people to read the Bible?
Os Hillman: The Bible is our compass for life. No one can live the Christian life without spending time reading and applying the Bible into one’s life. The Holy Spirit cannot direct us if we do not have the Bible in our heart and mind. The Bible is the Christian’s everyday food. I cannot imagine going one day without spending quality time getting my spiritual food for the day.
For those who don’t currently read the Bible, what are your suggestions for ways they might begin?
Os Hillman: The TGIF devotional is a great way to get started. There’s a Scripture verse and an application to each reading. It only takes four minutes a day. That can get you started and when you form a habit each day, it becomes easier to make that commitment.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Os Hillman: I love Bible Gateway. It’s a trusted resource when I do word studies and need to find Scripture passages online. I use the app when I travel all the time to do my readings. What a wonderful time to be alive in regard to technology that allows us easy access to the Word of God!
Bio: Os Hillman is founder and president of Marketplace Leaders (@todaygodisfirst), an organization whose purpose is to help men and women fulfill their God-ordained calling in and through their work life. He’s president of the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (ICWM) and Aslan Group Publishing. Os is an internationally recognized speaker on the subject of faith and work, and is a faculty member of the Wagner Leadership Institute on Workplace Ministry. He’s authored ten books, including The 9 to 5 Window: How Faith Can Transform the Workplace, Change Agent: Engaging Your Passion to Be the One Who Makes a Difference, and TGIF: Today God Is First, and teaches leadership workshops titled Called to the Workplace. He lives in a suburb of Atlanta with his wife, Angie.
Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, safeguarded through the generations by God’s hand. But physical copies of the Bible are typeset, printed, and published by fallible humans, which means that the occasional typographical error slips through. There have been some impressively unfortunate typos in the long publishing history of the Bible, and a recent article at The Guardianlists some of the most memorable:
‘Sin on more’
A 1716 edition of the 17th-century King James version (known as the Party Bible – OK, no it isn’t) replaces “Sin no more” from Jeremiah 31:34 with “Sin on more”. There were 8,000 copies printed before anyone noticed.
‘Let the children first be killed’
This is very awkward. It’s Mark 7:27 and it’s supposed to be: “Let the children first be filled.” A 1795 edition of the King James version.
‘If the latter husband ate her’
Known as the Cannibal’s Bible (yes really), a 1682 printing alters this passage from Deuteronomy 24:3, which is meant to read: “If the latter husband hate her.”
(Note that, as the article says, several of the items in this list are better described as questionable translations rather than typographical errors.)
The presence of occassional typos in Bible printings throughout history is not a secret, and it crops up periodically in entertaining lists like this one. The Washington Post published another list of historical Bible typos earlier this year, and there’s a very extensive list of typos and other quirks at the International Society of Bible Collectors website. Fortunately, most such errors are easily identified as such once they’re noticed (although I distinctly remember wondering, as a child, if a misplaced comma I’d noticed in my children’s Bible cast doubt on the reliability of Scripture!). Fortunately, there is good reason to be confident that modern Bibles accurately convey the language and intent of the original Scriptures, and that the Bible is reliable.
This is the first lesson in Mel Lawrenz’ new “How to Study the Bible” series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
I want to say, right at the start, that I am so encouraged that you, and tens of thousands of other people, are signed up for our ongoing series on understanding, studying, and applying the Bible to our lives. I’m encouraged because I have seen over my lifetime how the power and truth of the word of God have given people life when it seems like so much about our world is going downhill.
I read the Bible when I was growing up, but it wasn’t until I was 17 years old and someone put an easy-to-understand version of the New Testament in my hand and I devoured it one summer, that I experienced the ring of truth and the deliciousness of the word of God. That summer changed the whole trajectory of my life because from then on I knew where I could hear the voice of God confronting me, beckoning me, filling me, correcting me, inspiring me.
I was inspired to read the Bible—slowly, methodically, prayerfully—but I also learned about studying the Bible, which is the subject of the series we begin today.
I want you to be encouraged by the idea of “studying” the Bible, not to be intimidated by the thought. Studying the Bible is for every believer. You do not need to know Hebrew and Greek or invest a thousand dollars in books in order to study the Bible.
The word study (from Latin studium) refers to devotion, concentration, and zeal. So when you pick up the Bible and read, intently longing to understand it and being willing to submit to it, you are studying the Bible. This holy process begins before you turn to any Bible study tool. Studying the Bible begins in the soul. It is when you open the Bible and say to God: I want to know you more, and I am willing to read intently, with devotion, concentration, and zeal.
Now there are many other things we can do to study the Bible that go beyond reading it. In this series “How to Study the Bible” we will look into book studies and character studies and thematic studies and many other methods. But it all depends on this: What is in our hearts? Do we want to hear a word from God? Do we have a sense of responsibility to do the work to get to the actual meaning of biblical texts? Will we concentrate on the Scriptures as a lifestyle, knowing that, with the passage of years, we will become better, wiser, people?
This would be a good time for you to invite your friends and family, a group you belong to, or a congregation you lead, to sign up for “How to Study the Bible.” Each week Bible Gateway will email a new piece in this series for you to read at your convenience.
Just point people to the Bible Gateway signup page here (do it today, if you can):
It is great to be on this adventure with you in the months to come!
Mel Lawrenz
Mel Lawrenz trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a Ph.D. in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, the latest, How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See other books here.
It’s obvious from bookshelves and movie screens that Heaven is a popular topic of entertainment and conversation. But what does Heaven really look like? What will we do forever? Are near-death experiences useful to our understanding of the biblical description of Heaven? What does the Bible say?
John Burke: Heaven is a real place—in fact more real, tangible, and exhilarating than Earth! That’s what the Bible has said all along, but I find most people don’t have a good image of it. We don’t “set our eyes on things above” or live for Heaven, like Colossians 3:1-3 says, when we can’t imagine it. I’ve investigated close to a thousand near-death experiences (NDEs)—accounts of what people experienced when they were clinically dead—and I’ve compared them to an extensive study of the Bible’s view of the afterlife. I was astounded by how NDE reports color in the picture of the afterlife painted in the Bible. Imagining what Scripture says through their eyes makes you feel like you’ve been there. I wrote the book to share the hope and motivation I’ve found from imagining the incredible life to come.
You write that how a person views Heaven changes everything about their life. Explain what you mean.
John Burke: When you can really imagine what God promises in the life to come, it changes how you love others. In the book you’ll read about the Life Review people experience in God’s presence, and how they see the ripple effect of their loving or unloving actions. It changes how you endure suffering because you see how God does work everything for good, and you will read stories showing how he creates beauty out of Earth’s tragedies in Heaven. It changes how you give, sacrifice, and serve because you can see that Heaven is the life to live for; exponentially better than the best retirement you’ve ever imagined!
Why do people tend to have a boring view of Heaven?
John Burke: I have no idea, because evidence shows Heaven is better than anything we’ve imagined on Earth. Both Scripture and NDEs describe beautiful mountains, valleys, rivers, flowers, and forests—not unlike Earth, but experienced in a new dimension; not with five senses, but with what feels like 50 new senses. We’re fully ourselves, yet we’ll feel more alive than we’ve ever dreamed possible—real relationships, real hugs, real communication, and the greatest reunion with loved ones ever imagined. And Jesus is the Highlight of Heaven—more glorious than you’ve ever pictured; no one ever wants to leave his presence, and the good news is you don’t have to in Heaven!
What sparked your interest in near-death experiences?
John Burke: When my dad was dying of cancer, a friend gave him Life After Life, the first book on near-death experiences. I picked it up off his nightstand and read it in one night. I was not a Christ-follower, but after reading it, I was shocked. I said, “Jesus, you are real—I want to be with you when I die.” It was that compelling. The next year, I was invited into a Bible study where I understood God’s grace and started following Christ. For 35 years, I’ve studied the Bible (in seminary and out), and I’ve read about 1,000 near-death experiences. I don’t advocate forming your view of Heaven from individual NDEs because each one is an interpretation, and our view should come from Scripture. But I found that NDE commonalities corroborate with one another and with what the Bible says in compelling, vivid, colorful ways that help you imagine Heaven and want to live all-out for it.
Of the thousands of NDEs you’ve studied, what elements do most have in common?
John Burke: In Imagine Heaven, I discuss the 12 commonalities that many NDEs share, like being aware of a new spiritual body—still with arms, legs, fingers, and toes, but with intensely heightened senses experienced in a new dimension of time and space. People recognize each other, communicate in perfect heart to heart understanding, and experience a deeper unconditional love than they can put into earthly words. People commonly meet a man of brilliant light who radiates to them a love they never want to leave—those who know Him know he’s Jesus. And many have a Life Review in the presence of God where they relive every action, thought, and motive, and experience how it affected others. The main message they get is the centrality of love, and it changes many of them forever!
Some studies estimate 1-in-25 have had NDEs. How do you know these stories are real and why do you believe they’re occurring more often?
John Burke: Modern medical resuscitation keeps improving, so millions of people who have been clinically dead, for minutes to hours, are being brought back to life. I devote a chapter to show why many skeptical doctors have been persuaded that these NDEs are real. NDErs report details of their resuscitations that they could not have witnessed or heard while in their physical bodies. Hundreds of studies conclude the most logical explanation of what they report is that consciousness survives bodily death. While I am still skeptical of any one story alone, so many NDEs say similar things that it’s very important for Christians to understand them in light of the Scriptures.
As a pastor, do you have a hard time believing some of the NDEs you’ve come across? Why do you think Christians are often skeptical of NDE stories?
John Burke: I’m skeptical of individual stories, and yes, some I have a hard time believing. I don’t advocate building your understanding of Heaven based on individual accounts, but rather looking first to Scripture, then seeing where many common experiences corroborate and align with Scripture. That’s why I include so many Scriptures illustrated with 120 stories in the book—stories that could be replaced with many more saying similar things. When you read enough NDEs, you see how much people struggle to put their multidimensional experience into three-dimensional terms. That means every person is interpreting their experience, and many who are not Christian interpret them in ways that don’t gybe with Scripture. I think that’s why many Christians are skeptical, but if you look at the common experience described rather than interpreted, it’s amazingly biblical.
What does the Bible say about what we can expect in Heaven?
John Burke: Heaven will be abundant life like we always knew it should be—unconditional love that makes us feel forever at home. It’ll be way more “earthy” than imagined—the Bible describes tall mountains, valleys, palm trees, rivers, beauty like that of earth, yet exploding with vibrant new colors that come from the very light of God (remember, he lights up everything according to Revelation). Heaven will be a glorious reunion with friends and family in Christ, where Jesus said we’ll eat and drink like at an elaborate wedding feast!
But that’s just the beginning; we’ll have projects to do, music to compose, work to do but without the frustrations or deadlines of Earth. All of it will reflect God’s glory. We’ll have property, valuables, animals to care for (Isaiah and John said animals will be there too), some people will rule cities or nations, all will have unique work to do that brings us great enjoyment and God great joy. I could go on and on, but you’ll have to read the book to see everything—but this is what the Bible says!
What can NDEs teach us about Heaven that the Bible can’t?
John Burke: Nothing important. But having said that, most Christians don’t live like Heaven is a treasure worth selling everything to purchase—because we can’t imagine just how wonderful it’ll be. While NDEs are not needed to add content to what the Bible teaches, they do add color to the Bible’s picture of Heaven. For instance, Revelation tells us there’s no Sun for God is the light of Heaven. We could probably infer that the color spectrum of God’s light far exceeds that of our Sun, but when you hear many NDErs describe the vivid, dazzling colors—a sensory explosion more captivating than the northern lights—and you hear multiple blind people who could “see” the light of God coming out of everything and radiating inexpressible love—you see the compelling nature of Heaven.
What about hellish NDEs? How prevalent are they and do you believe there’s any truth to them?
John Burke: Very few who research NDEs even address that an estimated 23% of those who report having an NDE had a hellish or distressing experience. Given the fact that people are hesitant to report heavenly experiences, for fear of being labeled “crazy,” I think it’s safe to say hellish experiences are underreported as well. In Imagine Heaven, I spend a chapter reconciling these hellish experiences with the Scriptures. Because none of these experiences are irreversible death (many reported a boundary, and they all came back), I don’t think one’s NDE experience is always a good predictor of their final destination, but I do think these experiences are just as real as the good ones. In the book, I wrestle with the troubling questions these hellish experiences raise.
What other common questions about Heaven do you answer in your book?
John Burke: I grapple with just about every question most people have about Heaven, including “Will I be myself and recognize others?” “What will we do forever?” “What will it look like?” “Will my pets be there?” “Who goes and who doesn’t and how can I know my final destination?”
What do you hope people will learn from reading your book?
John Burke: I hope people with faith will see how beautiful and glorious Jesus is, how wonderful the world to come will be, and like the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, I hope they will live courageously for what lasts. I hope those without faith will learn from this book that God is real, and Heaven is real. I pray many will be compelled by his great love and grace to give their lives to him.
Bio: John Burke is the author of No Perfect People Allowed, Soul Revolution, and Unshockable Love. The founder with his wife, Kathy, of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, John is also the president of Gateway Leadership Initiative (GLI) (@gatewayleaders), a nonprofit organization. As an international speaker, John has addressed hundreds of thousands of people in twenty countries on topics of leadership and spiritual growth. He and his family live in Austin, Texas.
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