Here is an unfinished work from several yrs ago. Please remember unfinished
Thanks
90 Minutes in Heaven
“A True Story of Life and Death”
By Don Piper
A Critical Review
By Bill M
The Beginning
I must admit that when I 1st heard of the book, a certain skepticism met my heart and quite honestly, I was put off that someone would be compelled to write such a book. Upon actually reading the book even more reservations remain and yet beyond the title the book does have some intrinsic value to add to the discussion of the Christian Life and especially in the area of Christian Ministry and Compassion. Before I address the strengths of the book, I want to review the intent of it and then afterwards give an overall synthesis of its value to 21st century Christianity.
Several months ago, when I was listening to a Moody broadcast, the host announced that Don Piper was joining him to talk about his new book “90 Minutes in Heaven”. I must admit that being put off by that announcementthinking that someone would address the very issue that the Apostle Paul himself seemed not to be allowed by God to address dared not write about with that I changed radio stations and began to listen to something else. Several months later (April of 2009), I gave a lady at a facility in which I work some Christian reading material for which she expressed gratitude and later read. A few weeks later, this same lady handed me Piper’s book at that time I accepted it and was determined that I would read it by weeks end
The Bakground to the Book
Several years ago, an SBC Pastor by the name of Don Piper was travelling home from a seminar when he was involved in an automobile accident while crossing a bridge in Texas. He states that he suffered severe injuries (which are indisputable), and also claims that he actually died and was in heaven for a period of 90 minutes (hence the title of the book). Among his injuries was the fact that he lost 4 inches of his femur bone and spent over a year in a a device known as a “Fixator” (a device which healed the missing bone by never allowing the bone to die, facilitating bone growth, and permitted the top and lower parts of the bone to fuse back together). Don also sustained many other injuries which actually threatened his life and the fact that he did live reveals God’s mercy to his friends, church, and family (especially his young children). The book attempts to address Mr. Piper’s conviction that he in fact died during this accident and then spent “90 Minutes in Heaven” as the title clearly reveals.
The Title
The title of the book is somewhat fixed and determinative, yet the very issue that it attempts to address is basically ignored. Piper defines death within the book as “the stopping of the heart” (p. 200). This is not the Christian view of death (people have heart attacks all of the time in which their hearts stop beating and yet their heart begins to beat again as normal). According to the Bible, a Biblical view of death is the separation of the spirit from the physical body. This is evidenced several times in the bible and even is expressed that in true death it is impossible for the body and soul to be reunited (See the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man in LUKE?????????) ie it is a “Gulf which no man can span”.
Before someone fires the shot at me as “Not believing the Bible” or “Not believing in Miracles”, let me assure you that I do indeed believe the Biblical record! Having said that, there are examples of people overcoming death in scripture ie the raising of Lazarus, the raising of NAIN, Elijah in the OT raised up the widow’s son. These exceptions are revealed to us, so that we can see the permenance of death and more importantly the awesome power of the God of the Bible ie they are not to be seen as norms which is what makes them special and unique!
Even our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ was resurrected in order to express the glory of the Father in His sacrifice on the cross and to demonstrate that He indeed had overcome the finality of death. These exceptions serve to inspire and provide hope to a people who are indeed lost in sin.
The real problem within this particular book is that it fails to clearly articulate what it sets out to reveal to the reader.
The subtitle “A True Story of Death and Life” also fails in some measure to lead us toward the stated goal. In addition to continually referring to personal experience, it is interesting that Piper would have us believe that it is a “True Story” as opposed to what? A Lie? Hopefully, I have taken Piper out of context on this issue, but he is very vague indeed and in fact reveals “Nothing New under the Sun” about the future reward for the people of God (which is a good thing and to his credit).
The Testimonial
Throughout the book, Don continually maintains that he “heard Holy awe and music” (p 28 and 31), “holy swoosh of wings although he says that he never saw any angels (p 29), continually repeats throughout that “others touched him” and that “the embraces were very real” (p. 33), “refers to colors” (p. 33), states that he “did not see anything to indicate Divine presence” (p. 33), “did not see God” (p. 33), and “saw only bright iridescence” (p. 33). He then posits the most interesting statement of all by saying that “he was on the ‘outside’ of heaven looking beyond the pearly gates” (p. 34-35). How can someone write a book saying that they spent 90 minutes in heaven and then refute the same presupposition a mere 35 pages later by saying that he was never there? He is very unclear on the issue. Hopefully, I am wrong on this issue, but he does need to clearly articulate his position on the subject.
Several questions still remain, was his heart not beating for a full 90 minutes? (would not brain damage result?) Could the onsite EMT failed to have detected his pulse before medical assistance arrived? Was the heart beat not strong enough to detect at first on the scene? Maybe the onsite medical personnel were hasty and could not feel a pulse due to their lack of training or haste? As someone once said was he truly dead? Or was he just mostly dead? There is not sufficient evidence to show that he was indeed dead, yet he states that he was only to claim that he never really went to heaven.
All of these statements make it sound like he actually was there and yet not quite there. The question still remains“Was Don Piper in Heaven?”, or “Was Don Piper outside the Pearly Gates and Almost in Heaven?” Scripture makes clear that there is no “in between status” for those who have left this world to enter eternity. Paul states that for the Christian “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” ???????? The writer of Hebrews says that “it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment” ??????? Is the Biblical record correct or not?
The question remains, is his story consistent with the Biblical record of heaven? Before I address that issue, I want to state emphatically that I have never to my knowledge ever met Don Piper nor do I have an axe to grind with him (I do not think that I even know anyone that knows Don Piper, but I could be mistaken on that issue). My only premise is to look at the work in light of scripture, comment on the book as a treatise of death, dying and the afterlife, and then try to determine the usefulness of the book within Christianity at large.
There are 2 specific instances in scripture to which we can turn for an eyewitness account of the glories and majesty of heaven. In Isaiah Chapter 6, the prophet, Isaiah is somehow taken up into heaven and is indeed overwhelmed with the majesty, awe and specifically the holiness of the Triune God. It is here that Isaiah announces “Holiness” unto the Lord 3 specific times. He does not say “Holy is the Lord”. Nor does he say “Holy, Holy is the Lord”. But, infact the prophet states “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole Earth is filled with His glory” (Isaiah 6:??????). Additionally, in Revelation, the Apostle John too is acutely aware of the presence of the Holy God of scripture (Rev. ?????), hence, the biblical focus of Heaven is God-ward. Piper does address this aspect of God but only in passing (p. 28), his foci remains toward the experiential, friends and emotions.
The Weird
During the car accident in which Piper is traumatically injured, he maintains that while he was incapacitated before the arrival of medical assistance that a friend (Dick) was in the car holding his hand and praying for him (assumedly, this would have been while Don was in Heaven for 90 minutes?) (p. 134-135). While also relating this experience, he also notes that when he shared this experience with others who were physically at the scene,they personally noted that “it would have been physically impossible for someone to be holding his hand due to the positioning of his hand in the vehicle (it was presumed hanging down resting on the actual floorboard of the car). While Don was relating this story, another friend of his, Anita tells Don that it would have been physically impossible for this to happen and that it was not Dick hold his hand but “I think you know who was holding your hand” (p. 134-135). This is speculative theology and at best weird. How could he know that anyone was holding his hand if her were indeed in heaven? Thankfully, he does not address the issue, but assumes that the reader knows the answer and remains silent.