 to work a miracle in your life today. I'm Tom Hollis. Welcome to Hope Today. I'm here with Amy Schaefer. We're going to hear about miracles. We're going to hear about amazing things that God has done today. Tell us about it. Oh man, talking about this is one of my favorite subjects, eternity, heaven, near death experiences, stories in John Burks new book Imagine the God of Heaven. He recounts stories from people across every continent who have died, resuscitated and claim to be more alive than ever in the presence of a loving God they never wanted to leave. People of all ethnicities, faith backgrounds, professions, including doctors, engineers, CEOs, report their experience with the same God of love and God of light. Tom, I'm on the edge of my seat to hear the stories. They're real. They're real and they're so fantastic. Again, that's the God we serve, the God of the miraculous. Maybe you need something today. Maybe you need a touch from God. You can always call our prayer partners. They're always available. But you're going to need to, you know what, whoever what does it say? You must believe that he is and he's a reward of those who diligently seek him. He is that God. I just have to tell you, it's crazy cold up here. Like I said, it was cold on Monday when I hosted the show. It's like twice as cold today. Last night, we needed to shovel the driveway. Well, it was, it was still light. It was still light when I got home. And Jean's like, Hey, you're gonna, you're gonna, what are you gonna do? You're gonna shovel the driveway? And she had shoveled the sidewalks. So I was like, you know, it's my response. Yeah, I was like, yeah, that's good. But you know, she's, I'm just sitting on the couch. She's like, What do you want to do? I'm like, I want to eat a banana split and sit on the couch. I don't want to shovel the driveway. But I got out there. It was dark after dinner by the time I got out there and I'm shoveling. And it's going all right. And then I hear a voice in the darkness go, would you like a hand? And it was my neighbor, you know, he's like in his late twenties, early thirties, and he comes over and I can tell he's like 30, 35 years younger than me because he's out there shoveling. It was fantastic. So thank you, Jared. I love that. So this younger guy sees this older guy shoveling his driveway. I was doing all right. Well, my sons, we sent them out to shovel. Yeah. And it was the most comical thing I literally thought I have failed as a parent. Their shoveling of snow was the biggest chaotic mess. It almost was worse than before we shoveled. But tis the season, right? I know one thing in heaven, we will not have to shovel snow. Unless you dream of having a mansion with snow, then maybe that might be different. But millions of people across six continents have reported a personal near death experience. Do these accounts prove the existence of a loving God in the book? Imagine the God of heaven recount stories from people across every continent. They've died, resuscitated and claimed to be more alive than ever in the presence of a loving God. They never wanted to leave. John Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, founder of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, and is an international speaker. We are so honored to have John today on Hope Today. Great to be with you. John, we really are on the edge of our seat to hear these stories of near death experiences. But first, where did this passion come from? What intrigued you or motivated you to study about near death experiences? Well, it actually started when I was an agnostic. I was a skeptic about God, Jesus, all of that. My dad was dying of cancer, and someone gave him the very first research on near death experiences, coined the term near death experience. This is three plus decades ago, four decades ago. I picked it up and I started reading it, and I couldn't stop. I read the whole book and I said, oh my gosh, this God Jesus stuff may be real. This may be actual evidence. I was an engineer, so I'm very analytical. I want to know why. How does this make sense? To me, this was evidence, potentially. It opened me up and I later got into a small group Bible study and I saw my questions and came to faith in Jesus. For the last 35 years, I've had this insane curiosity. How do these near death experiences relate to the Scriptures? I've studied well over a thousand of them. I'm trying to show how what they are commonly reporting aligns amazingly well with what Scripture says about heaven and the life to come, but also in this new book, Imagine the God of Heaven, I'm showing, like you said, that these people from every continent and every background, they are seeing and experiencing the same God, and he's the God who's been revealing himself through the prophets and through Jesus. John, I'm excited to hear these stories and I'm excited to see the power of God, but I have to tell you, I'm sure, and I've even put myself in this category, that we can be skeptical. I can be skeptical of these sometimes. Sometimes we've heard maybe things were made up, but what have you seen over these three decades of gathering these stories? Yeah, and in the second chapter of Imagine the God of Heaven, I write about science, skeptics, and Indies, and I write about the 10 points of evidence that actually convince me these are real. These are giving evidence to not only the afterlife, but the God who rules it all. A couple of them I'll give, I won't give all 10, but one is verifiable observations. So when a person claims they die, when their heart stops beating, their brain waves cease, by the way, studies showed that this is millions of people all around the globe. One out of 25 Americans has had a near-death experience, the Gallup poll found out. So we're talking millions, and when they die, they claim to leave their bodies, but they still have a spiritual body, just like Paul talked about, not with five senses, more like 50 senses. So they feel more alive than they've ever felt, but initially, many are still in the room where their resuscitation is taking place. Now that's very key, because when they come back, when they're resuscitated, they're able to describe things they shouldn't have been able to see, because they had no brain waves. And studies have found that 92% of their observations are completely accurate. Another 6% of many observations they might make are mostly accurate. Only 2% were inaccurate. Turns out that was one person who was probably making it up. And so one thing you see is that they are seeing things that can be checked out in our real life, which gives evidence that this is a real thing. Their conscious survives their brain waves ceasing. Second thing is when people have near-death experiences, people who are blind from birth, when they have one, they see and experience the same things, and they're able to see. And so they are able to describe things that they shouldn't have even heard about on earth. And I'll give you one quick example, is people talk about the light of heaven comes out of everything. It doesn't shine on things. Well, a blind person wouldn't have heard that. Light shines on things on earth. But in heaven, Isaiah 60 says there is no sun or moon because God is its light. In Revelation 21 it says there's no sun or moon for the glory of God is its light. In Jesus, the lamp is its lamp, and the nations will walk in that light. And that's what they experience, this light of God, which is love and life coming out of everything. Now, why would blind people say that? And when they come back and are resuscitated, they're still blind. A third thing that convinced me is really what I'm writing about and imagine the God of heaven. 48% of people having near-death experiences report this God of light and love who all the characteristics they're reporting is the God of the Bible. They're not reporting the God of their religious background or their cultural beliefs. And many of them even they come back and they discover that he is Jesus, that he's the God of the Bible. I'll give you one example. Heidi, do we have time for that? Sure. Yeah, Heidi was a young Jewish girl. She was raised in a Jewish home, but her father was an atheist. Her mother was an agnostic. And her father had a mantra. Every night he would tell her, there is no God. Your life is worthless. And Jesus Christ is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind. And it was an abusive home. And so for whatever reason, she believed in God as a young child. And she prayed to God every night. And she felt like God was there at her bedside comforting her and putting her to sleep. And then at 16, her horse rears back, falls on her and crushes her. She finds herself up 30 feet above watching the scene of the accident. And then she said there's this light over her shoulder, but from a different direction the sun was coming that was cloudy that day. And she turns and looks and there is Jesus. And she said, you know, I knew he was Jesus immediately. But I also, I said, Hey, I know you. She's a 16 year old girl. All she's learned about Jesus is he's a hoax, but she she sought God with all her heart. Remember, it says in the Old Testament, if you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. And that's because there's only one God and she was seeking God and Jesus is God. And so she sees Jesus and and she said, I wasn't surprised like, what's a good Jewish girl like me doing with Jesus? She said, no, this was the God, the man, but the God that I'd prayed to my whole life. And I knew it. And another commonality of near death experiences as many times in the presence of God, people get a life review. So time works differently on the other side, just like first Peter three, eight says to the Lord, a year's like 1000 days and 1000 1000 years like a day and a day is like 1000 years. Well, that's what in the ears say as well. So they relive their lives. And in her life review, she saw herself as a child praying. And she saw Jesus sitting by her bed comforting her each night. That is so beautiful. What story have you heard that you will never be the same again, because you heard that story? Oh, gosh, well, I mean, I, I recount 70 of them in the book. And so many of them, because they date, what I'm trying to show is how the scriptures match what they're experiencing. Because my goal is to expand our imagination of God. You know, we all put God in a box. And he is far more glorious and powerful and almighty and omniscient, not all those big words. But he's also far more personal and relatable. And even a fun person to be with. And Christians even don't often think about God as a fun person to be with. So Heidi's is one of my favorite, because after that Jesus, now remember she's a 16 year old girl who loves to ride fast on horseback. And God understands us. He knows what we love. Jesus act after giving her a life review takes her hand. And he gets this big grin on his face. And they take off. And they are, they are flying, but they're going through our atmosphere, but then out into, like she said, like outer space, she didn't know, but they are flying. But also it's surfing, she said, on like a wave of light. And she said, she reached down and touched it. And Jesus is just smiling and having the most fun. And she said it was the most fun thing I've ever had in my life. We don't often think about God being fun, right? And yet who do we think created us with the ability to experience joy and enjoyment? And so I write a whole section on, on doing life with the God of joy. Too many people don't realize, you know, the last thing Jesus said on earth is I've told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may overflow. And when we don't realize that God is like that, we go to other things to get our joy or our enjoyment when we should be going to God, because He's the one who created all that we enjoy. I just love that picture of God as this overwhelmingly joyful creator and lover of our soul. You mentioned in the book that people have experienced the power of prayer. People who have experienced NDE's, near-death experiences, have also experienced the power of prayer firsthand. Could you explain that? Yes. So one guy, Jim Woodford. And by the way, an important thing to understand is that these near-death experiences do not indicate a person's eternity. So some of them see this God of light and love, but He sends them back. And they still have a choice whether they will choose to follow Him or choose to walk away from Him. Just like Paul, when he wasn't a believer in Jesus, when he sees this God of light who then doesn't tell him the gospel, he later sends Ananias to tell him the gospel and Paul still has a choice. And so same thing with these near-death experiences. So one guy, Jim Woodford, he was an agnostic. And his wife was a Christian praying for him every day. He was a commercial airline pilot. He dies in his truck facing the sun when he has an accidental opioid overdose. He had a severe disease and he was taking medication, but he got addicted to it. And as his head is hitting the steering wheel, he cries out, God, forgive me. He realizes this is all real and I've been playing a game and I never thank God for all the gifts he's given. And so, you know, it's a long story, but basically he's taken up. And the first thing he sees is where he was headed. And he has a hellish view. And I talk about those too because they're very real as well. And he again cries out and these three angels come rescue him, take him into the beauty of heaven. He describes this place not unlike earth with mountains and trees and forests and grass greener than anything you've ever seen, but also more alive and vivid than you can ever imagine. And as they're walking along, you know, one of the things that they show him is this split rail fence. And the angel says to him, Jim, look. And on earth, one of the things he loved the most was horses. He had a horse farm. He's a very wealthy man. He had 19 British sports cars and a yacht and the plane and all these things. And yet he realized they were worth nothing without God. And he was like the thief on the cross crying out last minute. Well, here come these horses in heaven. And he later reflects on how, you know, God loves to give us the desires of our heart. We're not going to get every desire on this earth, but be faithful to him because you'll never miss anything because this life is just the beginning of the real life that we were meant to live. And then Jim looks up in the sky and he sees these six. He thought they were contrails. They were like six streaks of light, but they look like, you know, contrails are the jet streams that you see on a cold day, right? And as an airline pilot, that's what he would notice. And he said to the angel, what are those? And the angel said, Jim, those are the prayers of your family for your soul going up to the throne of God even right now. And he just lost it. And at that moment, he found out when he was resuscitated, six of his family members were standing in the kitchen praying, holding hands and praying for Jim's salvation because they had been told he was dead. And yet he came back and he now is a witness to the glory of Jesus. I mean, he can't be stopped. That's what he lives for. John, when these men and women meet Jesus for the first time, do they experience a God of love and a God or forgiveness? Or is this a God that's angry at them and is ticked off? What do they tell you? No, they experience and the reason I titled the book Near Death, Imagine the God of Heaven, Near Death experiences God's revelation and the love you've always wanted is because that's exactly what they say. What they say is in his presence, they realize that all of the loves we imagine, all the loves we experience, a love of a grandparent, I'm a grandparent for a grandchild or a parent for a child or a spouse for a spouse, a lover for a lover, all these are just a microcosm of the love we were created for. And in his presence, that's what they say. They never wanted to leave. And that's what I'm trying to show people is that God is better than you can possibly imagine. And we need to stretch our imaginations because what we think about God is the most important thing we think. It shapes how we live this life, how we're willing to endure suffering, hardship, how we're willing to give of ourselves for others. And that's what God shows them as well. He shows them. It's amazing. It doesn't matter what culture they come from. They come back saying, first, God is love. But second, how we treat one another, how we love one another, how we serve one another, that's what matters most to God. Well, that's what Moses said. That's what Jesus reiterated. That is so perfectly said. Can you just close us in prayer for those that need to know eternity is real, heaven is real, and we want everybody to go to heaven with us. Yeah, absolutely. Lord Jesus, thank you so much that in our day where we are globally connected, where people can watch this literally all over the globe, you are giving evidence of your love and your goodness and your faithfulness, your forgiveness, your compassion on humanity and your justice too. It all came together on the cross of Christ. None of us are perfect. We've all sinned. And yet on the cross of Christ, you paid for that so that everyone who calls on your name, who reaches out to you from their heart, can be forgiven and can know we're right with you. And if you've never just told him that, just tell him, I want the love and the forgiveness that Jesus purchased for me. And Lord, thank you that you are such a good parent. You would take any child back when they turn back to you because you love us all that much. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Wow. Thank you, John, for this incredible book. Imagine the God of heaven. And I cannot wait for everybody to dive into these amazing stories. Well, thank you so much for having me on the program. So good. Let's go now to Sydney and find out what's happening on this week's episode of The Glory Hour. Hey, family, I want you to join me for a very special episode on The Glory Hour. We're going to go into the harrowing realities of human trafficking. January is National Human Trafficking Month and we're going to take a look at the hidden crisis that's happening in our world and how it's infiltrated our culture, especially with the recent document dump from Jeffrey Epstein's case. And we're also going to go into a really insightful conversation with a former SWAT operator, Government Explosive Security Specialist, Joe Sweeney. He is the CEO and founder of the ESERVO project, and he's going to share how his story of how one terrifying phone call caused him to spring into action and track down traffickers targeting teens online. You don't want to miss it in the incredible ways that they have been on the front lines, that they've been able to rescue and help children that are in Nigeria and Nepal and also in America and all around. You don't want to miss that conversation. Also, we're going to talk to a woman and her husband that founded a ministry that's providing trauma-informed mentorship for those who survive trafficking and at-risk youth in one of the biggest trafficking hotspots in Pennsylvania. Her name is Amy Thurston and she is with Hope Inspire Love. So I want you to join me for this really special conversation because it is important for us to take a look at this darkness and seeing how us, we, as the body of Christ, can respond, react, pray, and be on the front lines and join the forces so we can see modern-day slavery end in our lifetimes. Well, I hope you will go to our YouTube channel and watch The Glory Hour because Sydney is having some tremendous guests and doing a great job with that new podcast that she is doing, The Glory Hour on Cornerstone Television's YouTube page. You'll enjoy it. So, fantastic, fantastic stories that we heard from John. I love it. I love that God breaks through all those things, all the walls that we can put up. This to me brings so much hope for those that have lost loved ones or maybe you're questioning if eternity is even real. And I have to tell you, Tom, that my uncle, that we buried last week, had a near-death experience. I didn't even get to share that with our guest, but he had spent his life just foolishly. He was not wise with his life. He didn't choose the Godway like my mom did. And just in and out of prison, addictions, not a terrible guy, like a good guy, just foolish and unwise in stupid situations with the wrong people at the wrong time. And of course, my mom is on him, like, you know, they're picking him up, driving him to church for a year at a time. I mean, really, mom was like a helicopter sister to him and praying for him. And as it got toward the end of his life, he was having incredible heart issues. He's in the hospital. He even has a life vest on when he leaves the hospital. I mean, they're doing everything to keep my uncle alive. And guess who walks in the room? Jesus. Jesus walks in the room of my uncle, who has not served him, who has not loved him his whole life, who has not sought his house and read his word or gotten his presence. Jesus walks in the room of a man who probably feels undeserved, unworthy, unloved by God. And he has an experience with Jesus and he leaves the hospital and he tells my mom, I know Jesus and I know and have experienced that love. So, you know, I just wonder how many people you're thinking, my family member, he is too far gone. He is too lost. He is too out of his mind. He has served the devil. He has lived for the devil. And we were reminded of that scripture, for it is by grace you have been saved, not of your own works, lest any man should boast. It is a gift of God. You didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it. You weren't worthy of it, but it wasn't of your works. It was what Jesus did for us. All the pressure is on him and he dealt with the sin problem once and for all. So, I want to ask you, like, let's draw a line in the sand today. Let's deal with the sin problem and let's ask Jesus to come into our heart, to be the Lord and the Savior of our life. I believe today, Tom, people can have an experience with Jesus and they'll never be the same. Absolutely. And maybe you won't have a near-death experience. You're probably glad about that. But you know what? You can experience the true power of God. You can experience the reality of Jesus Christ. All you have to do is open up your heart. Our guest, John, said that these near-death experiences didn't have anything to do with their salvation. They still had to yield to Jesus. Do that today. Don't let another day go by without serving God and finding out the God who created you. Have a great day.