Near-Death Experiences: Proof of God's Existence? With John Burke

I've included 70 people who clinically died and were resuscitated and claimed not only to experience the life to come but the presence of this captivating God and again these are people all over the globe who didn't necessarily expect that God consistently they encounter the god of the scriptures the god of history and I'll tell you Julie of all the things people said of the wonders of Heaven the beauty the mystery Majesty reunions consistently they would say all I wanted to do was be with him there's nothing like the presence of the Lord he is the love we've always wanted I hope this book breaks people's box cuz we all have a box that we put God in he is far more Majestic and mysterious and Sovereign and in control than we can possibly imagine but he's also more relatable and fun he is the god of [Music] Joy hey everybody welcome back to the everyday Miracles podcast I'm Julie hedenborg your host I have a return guest today I've been so excited to share with you his name is Pastor John Burke his first episode with me was wildly popular I will actually attach that below if you want to go back but today he's joining me to discuss his new book that God has led him to write a little background John was an agnostic he was an engineer as his father was dying from cancer in the 80s he discovered eyewitness near death accounts we're going to be referring to those as nde near-death experience throughout the episode he couldn't help but ask himself could this be real evidence even possible proof of God's existence this led him on a 35-year journey of researching thousands of near-death experience accounts and religious texts he is a founding pastor of 25 years at Gateway Church with his his wife Cathy in Austin Texas he's spoken to thousands of people in over 30 countries on topics of leadership spiritual growth and the exhilarating life to come he's the author of many books and today I'm thrilled to have him here to discuss his latest work which I love imagine the god of Heaven near-death experiences God's revelation and the love you've always wanted it is available November 7th 2023 so enjoy our talk so John Burke I'm so thrilled to have you back with me today great to see you again Julie great to be here yes congratulations on your new book I think it's amazing and uh I thought maybe we could just start off today sharing a little bit about the response that you had to imagine heaven and and now writing this book can you share a little bit about that well yeah um you know imagine heaven was after 35 years of of research of over a thousand near-death experiences because of because of my own story I I was an agnostic and I saw the very first research on this when my dad was dying of cancer and that there were so many people talking about seeing God seeing Jesus like the reality of this life to come it just made me go could this really be evidence and that got me curious and you know then I came to faith in Christ and I ended up going from engineering into Ministry but I've always had this curiosity so after 35 years of researching this I finally there were some interpretive keys I needed and and and that was important and when that started to come together then I wrote imagine heaven and it's uh yeah I've I've been blown away quite honestly at how many people have either come to Faith or said how this is deep in their faith and really from it's it's it's reached people in 22 languages so far which you know is amazing and um I think you know and the and I Julie I actually told the Lord after I wrote it in 2015 okay I think I did what you want I'm done I'm done with writing I said unless you tell me to you called me to be a pastor that's what I'm going to do it's too hard to do both and so I haven't written for eight years and then the Lord made it very clear um I want you to write and I want you to write about me and honestly that was all I was motivated and so this is imagine the god of Heaven um and really the same premise near-death experience is God's revelation and the love you've always wanted that's the subtitle and I'm doing the same thing I'm taking there you know and I told the Lord I said okay but I have 35 years to research before you know you got to help me out here and Julie I was blown away God brought me people from all over the world and I mean people from every continent every religious background Hindus Muslims Jewish people uh Buddhist people Christians atheists and consistently they encounter the god of the scriptures the god of History so imagine the god of Heaven is really what I what I try to do is help people be inspired with a comprehensive view of the god of History who's been revealing himself through the Old Testament prophets and through Jesus and it's really looking at his love story you know people don't realize even who've read the Bible the Bible is the greatest love story of all time it starts with relationship in the garden there's broken relationship there's God's plan which starts in Genesis 12 by the way Genesis 12 God makes a plan he forms a nation out of Abraham and Sarah he says I'm gon to bless you to bless all nations on Earth and so it ends the whole thing ends of course there's sacrificial love in the coming of Jesus and then the whole thing ends in Revelation with a wedding it's a great love story and if you miss that then you miss the lens through which to understand a lot of the bible really yeah and so so we're going into that and imagine the god of heaven but we're also looking at the the heart and the characteristics of God the attributes of God and the mystery and Majesty of God these mysterious things like the Trinity you know and like the sovereignty of God and the imminence but Transcendence of God and all these these theological terms but but here's the difference is I I've included 70 people who clinically died and were resuscitated and claimed not only to experience the life to come but the presence of this captivating God and again these are people all over the globe who didn't necessarily expect that God and so that's what I'm I'm trying to show and then the last part is really about how to walk with the god of Joy which is a which is a an aspect that a lot of Christians don't even think about yes that's one of my questions and I I'm going to end on that one because I loved it so much excellent answer I want to ask you quickly though before we start to dive in and I loved the the experiences that you used um and it was so neat for me because I've interviewed so many of these people and I could hear them talking as I'm reading um but you know as a podcaster I get so many people that write to me and they say oh I'm binging these experiences and and you know right now we're living in a time where you know Jesus has told us in the scriptures to not be deceived and you know if you don't have that biblical Foundation I just have a I have a concern when I hear that but I want you to share a little bit having been someone that's heard so many a little bit of a word on the discernment with hearing some of these testimonies yeah and and like I've always said I don't encourage people to get their view of the afterlife or God from one or two ndes and here's why there there are several reasons and this is part of the the interpretive key I had to find before before writing about these is that Indie ears and they say about 30% of them say I knew there was a border or a boundary I could not cross and still come back in some cases Jesus tells them and I I I put that in Imagine the god of heaven where where Jesus tells them you haven't died yet you have to go back well but they were clinically dead they had no brain wavs and in and what I've come to realize is that this inie eate is somewhere in between bull biological Life and Full biological death in other words entrance into eternity and we don't know exactly you know how how do you define that but the the idea that when you cross over you can't come back and they're very clear on that they know that they understand that means that these experiences are a peak but you're not getting all of the understanding of Eternity right and so they're getting a small View and another important thing is to realize that just because they they get a view of Heaven or Hell and God that doesn't mean that doesn't say what their state with God is and and and I'll give you a just a Biblical understanding of this Saul who became the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9 was persecuting and killing arresting and killing Christians he didn't believe in Jesus he was persecuting anybody who associated with him when the same blinding God of Light appears to him right on the Damascus Road and he asked who are you Lord and he he says to him I'm I'm Jesus the one you're persecuting now interestingly Jesus did not tell him what to do he didn't explain the gospel to him he didn't he didn't say I'm I'm God believe in me you know follow me he no he sent ananas to do that and this is a very important point because Paul still had to decide will he give his heart to following Jesus will he be baptized for the remission of his sins that's what ananas told him to do and so you have people like like in Imagine the god of Heaven um Chief anesthesiologist at the baker heart hos hospital do Raji parti he was Hindu and he he cries out to God what he calls on the edge of hell but he was he was in a really bad place cries out to God he said in Repentance and two Christian Angels take him through this tunnel to this beautiful place in this God of light brighter than the sun who is personal knows him gives him another Life review and shows the things that need to change in his life and then send him back now people when they come back then can interp that a lot of different ways and and that's what we have to understand is that you know they're going to come back and they're either going to seek to understand who this God is and that's what I'm trying to show I'm trying to show this this God of Light and love didn't just show up in the age of ndes God God has been revealing himself throughout history and I'm trying to tie the two together to show the the prophetic fulfillment that God put in history that's what actually convinced me as AEP skeptical engineer it wasn't the near-death experiences they just opened my heart to really search and that's I think a key thing is that God leaves it up to us will we seek him with all our heart because if we will we'll find it um now Dr Raji parti interestingly when he came back he he was he was seeking he was like this is not like the Hindu gods and and who was this and why and then he later has a vision of his friend who he's he was counseling dying and he's once again in the presence of this God of Light and he says the same thing Saul said who are you Lord and out of the light he says steps Jesus and a beard and a robe and a gold Sash and he says I'm Jesus your savior and you know same same thing happens by Santos akari is a he was a manufacturing engineer grew up in India Hinduism was all knew but when he dies this God of Light and love takes him to this place this is this is actually one of my favorite stories in Imagine the god of Heaven because Santos uh this This brilliant God of Light who he said he knew instantly this is a Divine Light brighter than the Sun and an authority that I had to obey and I wanted to obey because he was he was everything and he said instantly fell in love with this Divine Light because he knew this this this being is for me not against me but he takes him and he's looking out over what he calls and you I've been to India uh multiple times we helped build a hospital there and they're compounds everywhere these high-walled they call them compounds you know they're basically walled in areas and he called it he told me it was this giant compound and he said your your eyesight there is unlimited so it was it was huge unlimited I mean thousands of miles it seemed beautiful on the inside beautiful landscape and and mansions and buildings of other worldly building material and he's a manufacturing engineer so he noticed that kind of stuff and he said in 12 gates I counted them 12 gates and none of them were open to me and he said then I noticed Angels outside the gates and I realized I'm looking at the Kingdom of heaven and he said my longing was to go in it was the purpose of my life to go in to be there and then and then he sees a glimpse of hell and he describes it as an abyss of darkness with fire a lake of fire which I mean he's Hindu this is he he hadn't read the Bible at all same thing with Dr partti and and so you know and then he turns to his right and there he describes Des cribes what he calls the almighty but he looks human like he thinks it was Jesus I don't know but he looks up because he's he's huge and he's sitting on the throne and he looks up into his eyes and his eyes he said are like lightning well that's what Daniel said in Daniel chapter 10 that's what John said in in in John in Revelation chapter one right so if this is Jesus it's the Risen Jesus and is as soon as he looks at his eyes his whole life flashes before him he sees all his sins he realizes that's what I deserve and so he falls to his knees and says Lord forgive me forgive me forgive me and then the Lord speaks to him and he said he was shocked because he experienced such love and tenderness and mercy and compassion and the Lord said I'm going to send you back and you must love your family and you need to love your daughter she really needs you right now which stop and think Julie God cares about every person he created to be his child every single one and he is imminent it's a it's a theological term means he is in all through all and with all that's what it says in in you know in in um Ephesians that uh there is one God in overall in all and through all so he's imminent but he's also overall he's Transcendent and we and we go into of these key theological points but I'm trying to help people see the heart of it and what that means so anyway he sends Santosh back after telling him what I want is honesty I want honest relationship not one day a week 365 days a year and he said walk with me and then he said the wages of sin is death yield yourself to me surrender to me daily Santos comes back and he was like who was this God he's nothing like the Hindu gods I know and he's praying he's saying God reveal yourself he's seeking with all his heart two years later his daughter is invited she was a coral major in college she's invited to sing at a church at Easter Santos and his wife go when they walk in he feels the presence of that Divine God of Light and the message oh I forgot the most important part when he sees Jesus or who he calls the almighty on this Throne he notices a what he calls a narrow door or a narrow gate that is open to him and he says to the Lord when I when I come back I want to go through that narrow gate tell me how and then that that's when when the Lord said I want honest relationship and walk with me surrender yourself and the message that day in the church was on the narrow gate and how Jesus is the gate through which the Sheep must enter the Kingdom of Heaven he goes home starts reading the Bible and he and he says what I'm reading here is what I experienced and he is he's a follower of Jesus to this day that is amazing thank you so much and I I hear that was better than the question that I asked and you also answered the question kind of indirectly which is I probably didn't I proba got lost you didn't answer the question you took it back to scripture and that's why I think having that you know the word of God is our anchor and having that as our lens and our only filter as we hear these things and that's what you did through the story oh and I got lost in the story but here's where I was going so I I tell another um there's an another person in Africa who had an nde she actually got bitten on the head by a lion um yeah and leaves her body and This brilliant what she calls This brilliant glow sunlight Sunset of warmth brought me to this place of incredible beauty and she said there is definitely God and then she she comes back and she says I experienced the goddess Durga that's who that was okay now the thing is the goddess Durga is actually represented as a woman with nine to 10 arms uh you know like 8 to 10 arms with weapons in them sitting on a lion riding a lion or riding a tiger well that's not what she described what she actually described was the same God of of light and love who knew her well who appeared to Moses as a light in a bush that but wouldn't wasn't burning who appeared to the the ancient Israelites is this this light or fire right and um Jesus said I am the light of the world and on the Mount of TR Transfiguration he becomes brighter than the sun right so this is and this is what I'm trying to show but she also comes back and she said I came back with a knowledge of Jesus and Christianity which I had never had before wow so but but what I'm trying to show is that she can still interpret what she reports in her own worldview but that's very different than what she's actually reporting and that's what I'm trying to show so therefore yeah you have to realize that in the ears who come back they still are human I've talked to hundreds and hundreds of them they still struggle they still sin they are just like you and me but they're eyewitnesses of something and so think about it if I went to Jerusalem in the age of Jesus and I interviewed a lot of eyewitnesses who saw him raise the dead and saw him do Miracles some would say he's the Messiah he's of God how could he not be did you see what he did and others would say I saw what he did he's demonic he's a sorcerer stay away from him the religious leaders are warning warning us and so and I witness can see the same thing but interpret it two different ways and that's why it's really important to interpret these in light of what God has revealed through the scriptures and I'm trying to show also in the god of imagine the god of Heaven why you can trust that you know that he's he's given us reasons yeah excellent excellent answer there's two you answered one of my other questions is perfect the god of love and light we kind of touched on that on this one I love the part where you had 10 points of evidence or proof for life after death can you just share one briefly oh just one yeah I'll tell you what Julie I I will I will quickly Share three okay go ahead so and here's why this is important I just got people been pounding me with this CNN article that just came out near-death experiences are just a a blip in the brain study shows now so frustrating because their article didn't even say that that's just that's just a headline but that's what people read and they're like oh well that that's been disproved that's just some something in the brain so in Chapter 2 imagine the god of heaven I'm showing that all these quote alternative explanations other than what Indie ears themselves say which they say the soul lives on in a spiritual body there is a real afterlife and you know Consciousness survives death they at least say that right so for an alternate Theory to work it's got to explain several things uh and not give those 10 points of evidence I'll just give you three that are first vertical observations so there have been many scientific studies done when people leave their when they die clinically no brain waves all right leave their body and they claim to be up above noticing observing many different things about their resuscitation and social scientists have studied them and found that their observations are 92% accurate another 6% are mostly accurate only 2% were inaccurate in the in the study that can't be explained by a BP a blip in the brain second the blind when they have a near-death experience see the same things including things like saying that light comes out of everything in heaven where would they ever get that idea but that's what Isaiah 60 says that's what Revelation 21 says but how do you explain that that they say things that would not have ever been in their brain third is the point of of my book now God the same God is being experienced across cultures and continents proving that this is the God of all Nations do you know in the Bible God speaks about 500 times to all the nations most most gods are local deities they don't care about all the Nations the whole world every single person and and so yes what I think God is doing with these testimonies is he's he's just showing again no I care about every person what I did through Jesus I did for every person I want everyone to know they were meant to be my children come home to me excellent and another question um I love the chapter on prayer because this is coming through and every testimony that I'm sharing right now not necessarily nde either but can you share I mean Jim Woodford the people that come back and the they're seeing some of the prayers I think it's so it's changed my prayer life so can you share a little bit about the prayer yeah it's changed my prayer life too it has because um yeah so so Jim Woodford have you interviewed Jim no I had him booked and then he had flight or something but I yeah you got to interview Jim well I'll I'll I'll try not spoil too much but I I can't he talked to me for four hours and I was still I was enamored so but um yeah Jim was Jim was an agnostic commercial airline pilot very wealthy owned many businesses that was his goal in life he had 19 British sports cars his own airplane a horse farm because he loved horses a yacht and he got guon baret and got a addicted to O opioids and he's sitting in his truck and realized he just overdosed on opioids his wife was a Christian had been praying for him and he realized he was dying and he said for the first time I realized thank God for all the things you thought were your own doing and what he said was God forgive me and his head hit the steering wheel and I jokingly tell Jim you beat the thief on the cross for last minute and he said that's who I identify with but this this shows the the goodness of God too so first he also and and this is a weird thing Julie but I think God did it on purpose I was struggling with it like a lot of these people he brought me first experienced a taste of Hell the reality of hell and then he rescued him and I you know and I and I think part of that is that he wants he wanted them to see that this is real and and and he wanted them come back and testify about I mean Santos he said tell the truth tell everything you've seen about hell about the Kingdom of Heaven about the narrow gate so he wants they are they are to be his Witnesses I think that's why he's asking them to come back but then Jim cries out and these Three Angels come and rescue him and his description of the Angels is amazing right and uh and he's walking with them and one of the things that happens is he he looks up in this the Blue Sky because he said I'm a pilot I'm always trying to get my bearings by the sun he said there's no son he said I had never read the Bible I didn't know that's what it says that there's no sun or moon the glory of God is its light he said but that's what I experienced and he and as he's looking these six streaks go up across the sky and he they they look like either like shooting stars or he said like contrails you know the the jet string and as a pilot he's and he's like there can't be contrails in heaven and he asked the guardian angel um what are these 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 he you know he he the the angel saw the the tears in his eyes and he said Jim mankind is losing its will to pray and then he told you know he told him that um every prayer is heard by the father every prayer Dean Braxton said every prayer of the heart in other words just if you're just reciting something from memory if it's not if it's not from your heart from your soul you know that's like rot it's what Jesus said don't just Babble on right but go secret to your father and he hears but they also amazingly see them and they see them as so Dean Braxton says uh after he had sepsis he was dead for an hour and 45 minutes has proof of it medical proof and he said I am I am flying like going I know where I'm going but he's going like through the universe kind of like Heidi bar did you know and and um and Randy too and but he sees these these lights go shooting past him and he knows they are prayers going to God and the ones closest to him are for him and the ones farther away are for other people then you have Randy who is there before the Throne of God and he sees the prayers going into this light that is brighter than can be imaginable and he calls them like they were like sparkling points of light like crystalline points of light going into the Throne of God and then seeing God answer and Angels sent and the angel also said to to Jim Woodford every single prayer is recorded in heaven and he and he showed him a place called the halls of knowledge where every every prayer is recorded and he said and it's not to one day go you know gotcha it's it's that one day when we have our life review that God is going to show how he answered our prayers and in some cases why he didn't and why that was for our good and for the good of others yes and as a mother that was excellent I love that it's probably one of my favorite chapters uh because I I it's so important um Ivan Tuttle is another one who had he was snatched from hell and I just had to say as a mom I was blown away I've heard his testimony before but the angel even knew exactly how many prayers had been prayed for him and they promised his mother that has blown my I pray well for my kids so so happy to hear that well I'll tell you you know it did it changed it changed the way I view prayer because I realized prayer does something I mean I'm a pastor I should that that shouldn't be an aha to me but but this is why I'm writing imagine the god of Heaven there are a lot of these things that we cognitively know but they have not sunk in yeah right to really change the way we live and walk with God and and and walk with each other yes and I do think when people start to hear the scriptures come alive through these 70 people's stories it's it's motivating right oh absolutely absolutely and I've got two more questions questions I want to get in if I can sure okay briefly and this is kind of a detailed question but I get this so often from my listeners because people report Jesus's eyes being different colors and I never knew how to answer this and you talk a little bit in chapter 10 about this that was confusing to me as well and you know I try not to you know I I try to take things as they are and usually the way I look at it is when I hear something from an indie ear that is like what I just kind of put it aside like okay Lord will you show me confirm it in the scriptures confirm it with other testimonies and this is one that you know even in imagin heaven I wrote how it seems like Jesus eyes are blue because of how many people said that who shouldn't have Colton Burpo Heidi who's Jewish you know like she should know most Jews have brown eyes right yeah um and but since then I did start to notice like not always do they describe it that way and that was a little confusing to me and then several things what I started to realize is that you know Jesus appears to people in different ways but in the book I go into this theological understanding that God is both imminent and Transcendent but he's he's infinite and Eternal and you know the Bible says in John chapter 1 no one has seen God but Jesus has made him known or relatable right so Jesus made God relatable to the inhabitants of Earth I believe the father on his throne which by the way is not a chair and and it's not a room we call the throne room but Dean braxon says no it's it's more like outside and Karina Martinez is this Colombian item she was smacked down on this she called it this blue sea of Crystal so it's kind of it's otherworldly um but even the Father in Heaven is a manifestation of God for the inhabitants of heaven but he's far beyond that nobody can fully see as in fully know and understand right and and that's why you know when people say to me well see it says no one has seen God well I go like well except Isaiah in the Bible and Ezekiel and Daniel and John so it must mean something else right yeah yeah yeah so so Jesus eyes you know Mary Neil said they were all the colors and Randy K said I as I looked into them there were Browns and blues and and greens it was like if you've ever looked into the deepest part of the ocean as the as the light is refracting all these different colors he says like that but then you also have people say it's color like in unlike any human eyes it's like you just get lost into them they're mizing so I I think I think trying to pinpoint a color um you know just like what color is Jesus hair well some IND ears say brown some see it as white well guess what it was brown when he was on Earth but Daniel in Daniel chapter 10 and John in Revelation 1 sees white hair and eyes like lightning and a face like the Sun but also a robe and a gold Sash and he says I died and I am raised so it's Jesus wow so so we just have to realize that God another another amazing thing is you know people in heaven see Jesus right there beside him but then also up at the throne with the father and sometimes manifested to others talking over here it's likew how can that be well he's God yeah and and but it it reminds us that he's God who is infinitely personal and and this is what you know in writing imagine the god of Heaven what I was Desiring is to help first of all people see this is the God of all the nations and there's proof I mean I you know a scientific a scientific principle is what is consistently observed is real and we're seeing something consistently observed across the globe that ties perfectly into what God said here's how you'll know me what more proof do you need he even said I'm giving this as a sign to all the nations but most people don't look at the sign yeah so I'm trying to put all that in as well um but I think you know I what I what I hope is that people see how one wonderful God is and they want to they want to follow him they they realize he is so personally involved with me even if I've not been personally involved with him yet he cares about me more than I could care about my children that's excellent well you know going on to the next one I love all of this but I just want to cover one more thing um one of the things that I read in your book that hit me more than any other sentence was in the chapter that we're getting ready to talk about and Rebecca is having this experience where she doesn't realize that there's a mist or something but she's talking to Jesus and Jesus asks her um do you believe that all Christians truly love him and he's speaking about himself he asked do you think they love the father for the gift of the Son and the son because of the Father's love and mercy or is their worship oftimes that of Duty rather than love he spoke reflectively and gently and uh she says oh how can you doubt the love he must Inspire in all Hearts who seek to know him a radiant glow overspread the wonderful face which he lifted looking directly at me the Mist rolled away from his eyes or from before my eyes and I knew him with a low Cry of joy and adoration I threw myself at his feet and she you know exclaims Jesus my king My Savior and and he wipes the tears but Jesus was asking her do they really love me and I cried when I first read that and uh that's in the chapter that I want to end with because it's so beautiful and you write that uh on page 259 you said that one attribute of one attribute of God that's often overlooked by theologians miscalculated by most people yet clearly revealed in the scripture and I agree I've heard it many times from these experiences um is our Birthright and can you talk about that Joy is our Birthright as those who have given our heart to Christ you know God God is a god of endless joy and you know and this is what I was going to say is that I hope this book breaks people's box because we all have a box that we put God in he is far more Majestic and mysterious and Sovereign and in control than we can possibly imagine but he's also more relatable and fun I mean do you think of God as fun and funny and like your best friend better than your best friend but that's exact L who he is he is the god of joy and um interestingly that that Rebecca was an nde from the 1800s but saying the same things yeah and so yeah going back to Jim woodford's story you know I I I love his because what happened is these angels um before he sees the streaks of light they say to him touch touch my robe and he touches it and he's instantly up above the holy city the same one Santos described and he's he's up kind of like he's flying in like like Landing in a in a in a city which is so fascinating because Captain Dale black who also had an inter in nde that I interviewed was an a commercial airline pilot and he also got this aerial like holding pattern view of the holy city of God and and what it shows you is that God knows us so intimately and he knows what he knows our heart's desire and he actually wants that for us um Jim comes back down and the angels walk with him and they come up to the split rail fence in heaven which by the way we we both mentioned wiping the tears from our eyes which people might go wa there are no tears in heaven because he's wiped all the te no actually we're people and we still have all of our more than ourselves available and there are tears but he does wipe them they don't stay there's not a need for them to stay and and those are tears of joy so he sees a split rail fence and the angel says Jim look and out from behind this Grove of trees come trotting these three gorgeous Arabian white horses and come up to him and he and he pets them and they are and he said I'd never read the Bible I had no idea Jesus comes back on a horse you know like there are horses in heaven and then you know and and he said I I came to believe that God tailors our experience and now you have to remember he never prayed a prayer to God he deserved nothing from God and he says that and yet God loves him so much and is so so longing to pour out good things to him he shows him these things Randy you know when when Randy was with Jesus the CEO he had sepsis and he's he's there with Jesus and he's walking with Jesus and this beauty of heaven and he had a really rough childhood asthma a lot of hospital visits he was overweight he got bullied a lot he only had one friend that friend got beat up and they moved away and Casey is his dog was his only friend and and his little Harrier would come jump up on him and he would hold him and he lick him like a lollipop he said and he's there walking with Jesus and and Jesus says look and he had been showing him a Life review and he had showed him these difficult times and he said Jesus why are you showing me this and then he had the AA he said were you there with me were you there even in all of my sorrow and my suffering and Jesus had a tear in his eye oh and he said I was always there waiting for you to turn to me because he was an agnostic much of his life try to disprove God and and then Jesus says look after he shows him that that time when his he lost his best friend and Casey's dog says look and Randy looks and there in heaven is his dog Casey who had died and he jumps up on him and again he's holding him and he's licking his face like a lollipop and then he jumps down and runs off in this field of flowers and Jesus says see beloved I give you the desires of your heart I love that Psalm 374 do delight yourself in the Lord don't delight yourself don't live for the the things of Earth that pass away but the Lord delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart and I'll tell you Julie of all the things people said of the wonders of Heaven the beauty the mystery Majesty reunions consistently they would say all I wanted to do was be with him there's nothing like the presence of the Lord he is the love we've always wanted the word love doesn't even come close our word love beautiful so I want if you could just a last thought if you would over my listeners today all right I want to share I want to share one more thing that Randy experienced but many others experienced too because I know how this can minister to people who have lost children is that the next thing he said to Randy is is Randy was looking out at these mountains and kind of the hills from the bottom Hills of the mountains he said were like it was like a waterfall but it was a waterfall of Linens that were spilling down the mountain and out onto this valley floor he said but it was it was so captivating because there's this mysterious kind of valley of lenons with all these children jumping and bouncing with angels and just laughing and just silly and playful and Jesus said to him do you see my joy and he he and Randy said who are these and he said these are the children who whose lives were cut short and he knew either through you know miscarriage or even an abortion or just lost early in childhood and he and he said I'm restoring their Joy and and then Randy realized that Jesus was restoring his joy and he sees this river flowing o of of water but it's it's like a golden light kind of water and he Stoops down and he drinks it and he said I was erupting with joy it was just ecstatic and he's just oh my gosh and he turns to Jesus and Jesus is holding a flask and he said 'what that Lord and he said ' I've been collecting your tears and he pours the bottle into the river and what Randy realized is that he was taking all those sorrows you know most people don't know but David said that in the Psalms so I think it's Psalm 56 I I've recorded all your Sorrows I collect your tears in a bottle Y and in Jesus was showing him this and what Randy realized is he is restoring all of my sorrows for joy and then what he also realized and this is what I want to leave your listeners with is that Jesus said to him you know all the sufferings and Sorrows of Earth come from separation from me and what Randy realized he said I hadn't realized before is that I can have joy even in the midst of my trials and my sorrows and my sufferings of Earth because I can stay connected to Jesus and he is Joy you know Jesus said this is last night on earth right he said I've told you these things that my joy may be in you and your joy may be overflowing it's John chapter 15 habach chapter 3 though the you know the cattle are are dead in the fields and the olives rot on the grapes and the stock markets crashing and you're losing your job and your marriage is a mess I'm expounding but that's what he means I will rejoice in the Lord you know I will rejoice in the god of my salvation in other words we can Joy is our Birthright as we stay close to God and and that's what I'm hoping that this book will do it'll it'll open people's minds to see how wonderful God is so that they will walk with him you know in his Joy day by day excellent this has been phenomenal there's so much more but you guys are just going to have to get the book it's so great I know it's going to bless a lot of people so thank you so much John for your time and I'm just praying over what God's going to do through this latest work of yours and over everything he has for you be sure to check the link for the book below imaginethe godof heaven.com where when you pre-order John's amazing book before November 6th you will be eligible to receive a free audio copy of the book which you are going to love I'd like to conclude this interview with a prayer that's found near the back of the book that John has written obviously his hope for you is that you have connected with a true lover of your soul he offers a prayer to help you begin doing just that remember that God knows your heart and that's what he cares about the most God thank you for the many ways you've demonstrated your love for me I realize how you feel about me and I see the good things that you desire for me I need your forgiveness God I want what Jesus did on the cross to count for me so that I know that I'm forgiven thank you for restoring me and to your family forever I invite you to come do life with me leading me loving me guiding me in your ways so that I daily become more and more of the person that you created me to be now and forever amen amen thank you for listening today and God [Music] bless

Channel: Destiny Image

Views: 10,708

Keywords: John Burke, Near-Death Experiences, destiny image, everyday miracles podcast, near death experience, imagine heaven, near death, near death experiences, life after death, near-death experience, imagine the god of heaven

Id: TWDiUIZWXFE

Length: 49min 49sec (2989 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 23 2023